Chapter Text
Finn’s eyes fluttered open as he stared at the darkness of his room. He turned around in his bed and saw the fluorescent yellow light peeking under his door.
He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and tiredly made his way to the door, leaving his room and heading for the kitchen. He was up rather early, earlier than he usually wakes up. Which is already early, since he enjoys early morning fishing trips.
Someone he likes to bring on those fishing trips is Shrimpo, even if he despises them with every fiber of his being.
Shrimpo. Just his name just makes Finn smile. He doesn’t really know why he likes him so much, he just loves being around him and he would do almost anything for him to be friends, or something more.
As Finn walks to the kitchen, he glances at the clock. 5:42 A.M.
Once his gaze returns to the kitchen tables, his eyes come across a familiar shrimp boy sitting at a table with his head down in the corner.
“Shrimpo? What are you doing here? It’s 5 in the morning!” Finn sat at a chair across from him as Shrimpo sat up, processing his presence.
He looked impossibly tired, his eyes red with purplish eye bags forming under them. “WHAT? WHAT DO YOU WANT?”
His voice had the signature angry tone, but it sounded less malicious than usual, possibly because he was so tired.
“No-fin-g! I just wanted to know why you’re up so early, that’s all.” Finn flashed Shrimpo a goofy smile as he dropped the pun.
Shrimpo’s eyebrows angled downward slightly, and he frowned a little harder, but he didn’t bring up the pun.
“I DIDN’T SLEEP. SLEEPING IS FOR LOSERS!” Shrimpo declared, leaning in Finn’s face in an attempt to be intimidating.
Finn played along, widening his eyes as he leaned back. “Why not? Did something happen?” Finn continued prying, he was a rather curious guy after all.
“IT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!” Shrimpo yelled again, with no concern for the people sleeping.
Finn noticed how Shrimpo hadn’t asked him to leave yet. Usually when he hangs out or forces Shrimpo to hang out with him, he would scream at him to leave him alone. However, right now, he hasn't.
Finn took this as an invitation to keep talking to him, after all, he just loved talking to him. Is this what this feeling is? Love?
“Are you shore??? You can tell me any-fin!” Finn beamed as Shrimpo leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes, his expression softening slightly.
When met with silence, Finn decided to move his chair closer and look at Shrimpo with a warm, soft smile. “Just tell me. What’s floating around in your mind?”
Shrimpo growled and his face’s angry expression returned in full force. “YOU KNOW WHAT IS ON MY MIND?! HOW MUCH I HATE YOUR STUPID PUNS! THEY’RE SO DUMB AND NOT FUNNY!” Shrimpo yelled directly in his face, his eyes jittery and his hands balling into weak fists, his muscles still too exhausted to do too much.
Finn’s smile faltered as he looked at Shrimpo, analyzing his furious expression. He was analyzing for a bit too long, and Shrimpo took notice.
“WILL YOU STOP STARING? YOU LOOK STUPID.” He said, the last bits of real anger in him decaying into minor annoyance.
“Sorry! S-Sorry…” Finn stuttered and looked away, leaning down and twiddling his thumbs.
The silence between them was deafening, and the ticks of the clock only reverberated through their bodies with each passing second.
“ALSO, YOU LEFT YOUR STUPID CORK IN.” Shrimpo said, breaking the silence and pointing to his head, where Finn’s cork he uses while sleeping was indeed still in.
Finn felt his head to confirm the theory. “Ah! So it is! Haha, well some mornings I just keep it in because I know I’ll be going right back to sleep!” Finn laughs awkwardly as he spews out the quickly formed lie, a blush on his cheeks forming as his embarrassment spiked.
Shrimpo just stared at him with an unreadable expression, his eyebrows furrowed slightly as Finn popped the cork out and scampered off to his room.
Shrimpo just sat there, still staring where Finn was sitting. He was really tired, but he just wanted to stay up and talk to him more. Something about him just lit up his day. He was having a really bad one, evidently, and just the small conversation made him feel a twinge of happiness in his heart.
He embraced the silence that Finn’s absence provided, placing a hand underneath his head, his elbow on the table, acting as a kickstand as he nearly dozed off, to be hastily interrupted by Finn’s return.
“Don’t doze off, buddy, I thought we were still talking!” Finn said as he sat back down next to him.
Finn wanted to grab his hand, to hold it and caress it. In a friendly way, of course. To show Shrimpo how much he cared. But he wasn’t sure if that’s what Shrimpo wanted. A friend.
Maybe Shrimpo just wants someone to trust, someone to talk to, someone to look for in a crowd full of unfamiliar faces. Isn’t that what a friend should be?
Shrimpo’s eyes popped open and locked onto Finn’s straight face, his smile having faded after overthinking about whether or not he should attempt to make physical contact with the shrimp boy in front of him.
Another long moment of awkward silence stretched between them, this time being interrupted by a drawn out gurgle emanating from Shrimpo’s stomach. It seems the poor boy hadn’t eaten either. What could’ve happened to him?
Finn was rocked back to reality following the sound, and he looked down at Shrimpo’s abdomen. “Oh, you sound hungry! I can make you something if you’d like!” Finn inquired kindly, standing up to saunter over to the counter.
Instead of saying something expectable like ‘NO! I HATE FOOD!’ like Finn had assumed, Shrimpo stayed quiet for a moment, eventually piping up after a few seconds.
“...SURE. AS LONG AS IT MEANS I DON’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING.” Shrimpo said, kicking his feet up on the table with an evil smirk.
Finn pulled out a bowl and decided to fix them both some cereal, the soft bite-sized charms the shape of Dandy’s recognizable flower head.
He listened out for any complaints from Shrimpo as he completed both of their bowls. He set Shrimpo’s bowl in front of him with the spoon in it and sat down next to him, setting his own bowl in front of him.
They both ate in yet another awkward silence. The only sounds filling the air were the crunching of cereal and the ticking of the clock, which now read 5:53 A.M.
Finn’s alarm is always set for 6 A.M. so he can get ready for his morning fishing trip, and Shrimpo isn’t usually awake for them, so he decided to take this opportunity of a lifetime.
“When we’re done, you wanna head out to the lake next to Gardenview and-”
“NO! I DON’T WANNA FISH WITH YOU!” Shrimpo yelled with his mouth full, some food bits splattering around as he shouted.
“Oh, come on, please! I made you breakfast, it’s only fair!” Finn pleaded, his hands coming together to form a praying symbol as he leaned down.
Shrimpo scoffed and sighed. “FINE! FINE! UGH!” Shrimpo went back to the bowl, finishing up the rest of it.
Finn followed in his footsteps, eating fast so Shrimpo would not get to sneak away like he’s done many times before. He grabbed the bowl and drank the rest of the milk in it.
Before long, they were both headed to the pier in pajamas, Finn slinging a fishing rod over his shoulder and walking alongside Shrimpo, who wasn’t exactly the happiest person right now.
Finn looked up at the moon as it shined down on the lake. The serenity of the scene was overwhelming, it seemed to be enough to soften Shrimpo’s expression.
The moonlight shined down onto Finn, the light refracting through his glass skin, lighting up his body and the water inside.
It was a surreal moment as Finn looked down at himself, his body almost glowing through the cozy pajamas. Shrimpo couldn’t help but stare as well, his eyes wandering up and down his body— no, stop it! That’s weird, Shrimpo.
Shrimpo flustered and looked forward, but the blush quickly faded as he continued walking up through the path to the dock.
Finn finally remembered what he came out here to do and scurried to catch up with Shrimpo, who was already at the edge of the dock, sitting down and staring out at the pitch black water, a jaded line down the middle where the moon’s illustrious light bounced off the calm waters.
Finn sat down next to Shrimpo, excitement barely contained inside him. “Wanna send out the first line?” He asked him excitedly.
“No, not really.” Shrimpo said, his voice soft and tired.
“Suit yourself!” Finn said as he cast the line in the water, and waited patiently for something to bite, kicking his feet and swaying his head to an imaginary beat in his head.
He hummed softly to himself as Shrimpo stared out blankly at the serene setting, taking it all in.
A few more moments went by with no bites, so Shrimpo decided to engage in small talk. “Why do you even like fishing so much anyway? This is so boring. You just sit here and do nothing, and I HATE doing nothing.” Shrimpo said, his voice still with an uncharacteristically quiet tone.
“Ah, it just… calms me down, you know? After a long busy day of teaching kids that come in every day, I come here in my off hours. The water is so beautiful at all hours of the day. In the mornings it sparkles in the sunlight, and at night it glimmers in the moonlight, like right now.” Finn said, his expression softening as he looked down at the water. “It’s most beautiful during sunrises. Seeing the sun peek over the horizon and light up the water ever so slowly…” Finn stares out at the nothingness ahead of him, his eyes nearly tearing up as he thinks about it all.
Shrimpo looks at Finn, and then out at the water once more.
Suddenly the line is tugged gently, then sharply, which catches Finn off guard, and he nearly drops the rod. “Woah! Looks like we got a bite!” Finn smiled widely as he pulled on the rod and stood up to get better leverage.
Shrimpo’s eyes also widened as he watched Finn struggle with the fish that was now thrashing underwater, splashes surfacing as large ripples before becoming actual flicks of water that land on the dock and Shrimpo, much to his dismay.
“UGH! IT SPLASHED ME!” Shrimpo yelled in complaint before one final tug from Finn pulled the large fish out of the water.
“Woahhh!!! This is the biggest bass I’ve ever caught!” Finn’s eyes sparkled as he held up the squirming fish closer to his face, mentally measuring it. “It’s gotta be at least 2 feet long!” Finn grabbed the thrashing fish to hold it still, before he looked over at Shrimpo. “I gotta start coming here in the mornings with you! You’re like my good luck charm!”
Shrimpo’s eyes widened at that silly compliment. It wasn’t meant as much but Shrimpo’s mind raced as his face flushed with embarrassment. Once again, Finn was too enraptured by the large bass on the hook to notice Shrimpo’s horribly red face staring right at him.
“Ha… haha…” Shrimpo laughed awkwardly as he watched Finn toss the fish back into the water, the fishbowl waving goodbye as he did so. “Now what?” Shrimpo asked.
“Now we do it again!” Finn said as he sat back down on the now wet dock, though he didn’t pay too much mind to the wetness as he cast the line into the water once more.
This line took significantly longer for anything to happen, and eventually Finn found himself daydreaming and dozing off as well.
A sudden weight on his shoulder shook him awake. It was Shrimpo, laying on his shoulder, asleep. Finn’s eyes widened and a deep blue blush assaulted his face. He started to sweat nervously, not wanting to move in fear of waking him up.
He pulled the line out of the water to prevent any unwanted fishing tragedies and set the rod next to him as he let Shrimpo rest on his shoulder.
Finn looked out at the horizon just as the sun crested over it, its rays gleaming along the water’s edge, the sparkles catching Finn’s eye and effectively bedazzling him.
He confidently and gently wrapped an arm around Shrimpo’s waist to pull him closer. Once they were close, Finn could feel the rising and falling of Shrimpo’s chest as he breathed, and he couldn’t help but lay his head on Shrimpo’s.
For a moment Finn just held him. This is what friends do, right? Finn faltered and pulled his hand back from his waist and set it in his lap.
He just couldn’t tear his eyes off of Shrimpo, even with the most beautiful sunrise in front of him, the shrimp boy next to him was just prettier in his eyes in every way.
Finn decided to help Shrimpo get to bed, he’s had a long day and should receive some proper rest, not some power nap on Finn’s shoulder.
He was going to have to be careful though, one wrong move could mean the end for their possible friendship and what may possibly be one of the most embarrassing things to ever happen to him.
Finn leaned down and slid an arm under Shrimpo’s legs, the other arm holding up his back, before he picked him up gently, bridal style. It was really humiliating, and he hoped no one was up at this early hour to see him carrying Shrimpo like this.
A cerulean blush was ever present on his sweating face as he held him. He stumbled his way back through the path and back to Gardenview, making sure to step carefully to keep the shrimp boy asleep in his arms.
It was about here when he realized just how awkward this would be. If Shrimpo woke up now it would be mortifying, but even if Finn did successfully put Shrimpo to bed, he would easily be able to deduce what Finn did while he was out cold.
Damn, it seems he really just can’t win. Well, he’s already in his hands now, so he might as well just finish the job. A particularly rough step Finn took while zoned out made Shrimpo toss a little in his sleep, a soft groan escaping his throat, as Finn’s breath caught in his own throat.
He stayed perfectly still as Shrimpo’s breath calmed and continued as normal. Finn exhaled quietly and reached the Gardenview back entrance.
He opened the door with his butt, pushing it open and entering backwards, being extra careful to not bump Shrimpo’s head on the door.
He headed for the toon rooms, his legs starting to ache from the long trek. Shrimpo wasn’t impossible to carry, but he wasn’t exactly the lightest toon, especially for a twig boy like Finn.
Finn’s knees began to shake as he turned the corner towards Shrimpo’s room, before he was faced with one final challenge. The door. The Gardenview entrance was easy, since all he had to do was push, but for this door, he has an actual knob he needs to turn.
He bends his knees with all his might and reaches with the hand under Shrimpo’s legs. He holds back a whimper from the strain on his back and knees, but he eventually gets a grasp on the handle, and swiftly turns it, throwing open the door.
It makes a loud creaking sound as it opens. Loud enough to wake a sleeping person.
Finn looks down at the shrimp in his arms and they lock eyes.
Neither of them know how to react, but their faces do, a messy profuse blush quickly making their presences known across both of their faces.
Shrimpo was left speechless, still processing what’s happening. Finn was sweating very badly now, and he needed to do something. “M-Mind if I just…”
Finn continued carrying Shrimpo to his room, placing him gently in his bed.
Shrimpo stared at him like he had just been stabbed in the stomach, the blush still heating up his face. Finn looked around everywhere, at anything else, anything to not look at Shrimpo’s face.
Finn quickly left after that, not wanting to overstay his welcome. He gently closed the door behind him as he left and ran back to his room, his heart beating in his ears and his stomach still trying to climb back up after sinking to his feet.
The only thing he was thinking about was Shrimpo. His entire mind was filled with Shrimpo. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason, because it wasn’t just the horrific incident that just occured. He fell to his knees as he panted.
What was it about Shrimpo that just pulled him closer? He just couldn’t tell. Was it his face? His body? The way he dressed? His funny reactions to everything?
It was just the thrill of the catch for Finn.
And boy, did he catch a big one.