Chapter Text
His day was not going well. When he woke up, Finn was still gone! He said he would come back eventually, but he'd already been gone for 2 days, something that would happen on occasion, but it made him worry a bit, the possible thought of him cheating on him was upsetting, to say the least.
When he went to get breakfast, they were out of his favorite cereal, so he had to settle for Poptarts, which he then bumped into Goob and dropped said Poptarts onto the floor, which he wouldn't usually complain about, but Tisha still hadn't woken up, meaning she hadn't cleaned the floor yet!
Then, when he went to get dressed for the day, his favorite outfit was still in the washer! And since he only has two other outfits-pajamas and nothing at all-he had to walk around in his pajamas all day!
And finally, he was still confused about what he saw in the water! And that only frustrated him more! He hates it when he doesn't know things!
He decided to go fishing again. Not only to figure out what he saw in the water, but also to calm down. Fishing reminded him of Finn, so naturally, it calmed him down when Finn wasn't there.
He rowed out to the spot Finn always did, and cast his line. But rather than sitting down and holding the rod, he leaned the rod against the side of the boat and dipped his feet in the water, lying down on the seat of the boat.
He needed this.
But that didn't last for long, since yet again he felt the rod get pulled on insanely hard, which somehow ended up in the boat being dragged across the water, almost to the other side before the line snapped.
As the boat slowed, it ended up beaching itself on the shore. He hadn't explored the other side of the lake. He thought he might as well while he's here, seeing as this is where the beast was headed.
He dragged the boat up onto the shore so it wouldn't float away, and he noticed something. There was a backpack resting against the tree. He immediately recognized it as Finn's, but it didn't make sense. Why would Finn be over here?
The other side of the lake was basically a large forest, with a river leading to the lake. He decided to follow the river. He liked the sound, plus it's basically rule number 1 of survival.
As he walked, he started hearing something. The river was a bit deafening, but he swore he could hear rustling up ahead, along with some kind of eating sound?
He continued walking and came across a small part where the water expanded into almost a puddle.
And then he saw it.
It was... Finn? But he looked different. For one he was nude, which was a shock, (thank god for the toons not being built with any reproductive organs). And on top of that, he had a tail!? Not like a tail like what Goob or Scraps had, but a full-on fish tail! It was a huge tail too! He even had webbed ears! His back was turned to him, crouched over, eating, so he couldn't see his face, but just the sight he was currently seeing was terrifying enough.
He didn't know what to do, so he spoke up.
"... Finn?"
Finn jumped and scrambled, turning around, his eyes wide, a dead fish with mostly yellow accents in his mouth with blood running down his chin.
"..Hi..." Finn awkwardly waved.
Shrimpo just started yelling.
Finn jumped at the sudden loud noise and ran over to slap a webbed hand over his mouth.
"Shh! I don't want to get caught like this!" Finn slowly removed his hand from Shrimpo's mouth. "I didn't even want to be caught like this by you!"
Shrimpo was at a loss for words. He completely ignored whatever it was Finn said, instead just staring at him.
"What... Are you?" He asked, looking at him, he was a bit terrified. Just a bit.
Finn smiled and took a step back to do a spin. "Mermaid! Merman?" He looked down at himself. "Weremaid." He concluded.
"Wha- When? For how long!?"
Finn simply shrugged. "For as long as I can remember. I didn't want to tell anyone because I thought they'd see me differently, or weirdly.." Finn rubbed his arm uncomfortably.
Even though Shrimpo didn't entirely know what was happening, he hugged Finn. He was so relieved.
"I am so fucking happy you aren't cheating on me.."
Finn just laughed and hugged back. "Cheating on you? Why in the world would I do that!?"
"Well you're only available every other day, and you never want to shower or basically do anything with me..." He said weakly.
Finn sighed. "Well, I didn't really have that much of a choice. I can only spend so much time out of water. Plus, I can't hide my gills, so I thought if you saw them you'd be weirded out by them."
They released the hug, and Shrimpo looked at the gills on his torso, they were large lines that were basically on his ribcage. It was weird to see, but at the same time, it was cool.
"They're still weird." He said, looking away.
Finn just giggled and walked past him. "Whatever, come on, let me go get my bag and get dressed." Finn was already hiding his ears and tail, which slowly disappeared into his form, making him look like a regular toon again, excluding the gills still on his chest.
"Can you keep your shirt off?" Shrimpo asked quietly, hoping Finn wouldn't hear what he said.
Finn looked back at him. "What was that?"
"NOTHING, YOU DIDN'T HEAR ANYTHING."
Finn laughed, he definitely heard what he said.