Chapter Text
Shrimpo and Finn sat by the river, watching its crystal-clear waters glisten in the sunlight, and the soothing sound of the current created a melody. Finn, like always, had excitedly pulled Shrimpo along to the riverbank, eager to spot and identify all the fish swimming beneath the surface. Finn had already noticed Shrimpo's enthuiasm waning - He had the same old grumpy face. What a suprise that was. He couldn't be bothered to identify the fish, so Finn was left having to find out what all of them were. At least Finn finally got Shrimpo to come with him, it was a rare thing, and for some reason, it made Finn's heart feel warm, or maybe melty. Finn comfortably slumped his shoulders and leaned back, nervous to talk.
"Ya know... This is nice, we should do this more... Even if you don't really say much when we're out here, it's enjoyable, or you could even say, it's fishtastic" Finn looked the other way, knowing that Shrimpo was probably judging him in some way. It was no surprise that he still got no answer, so Finn sighed and looked over to Shrimpo, "You aren't talking that much.. is it really that bad?" Finn giggled with a mischievous smile.
"What's so enjoyable about this, we're literally looking at stupid fish, I HATE FISH!" Shrimpo growled with a negative mind, yet it only made Finn smile and roll his eyes, a mixture of annoyance and happiness stirred in his head. He laid back into the grass and felt it embrace him, while Shrimpo was hugging his legs and staring at him in annoyance, "This is boring, I'm leaving." Shrimpo stood up and marched forwards in the direction of the Gardenview. Finn quickly stood up and followed from behind.
"Hey, man- don't leave yet, I still want to talk to you!" Finn reached out to Shrimpo and tripped over air, giggling to himself. He looked up from his hand and saw Shrimpo getting further and further out of his reach, like it was something he couldn't catch. Like a swordfish, too fast to be able to notice leaving. Finn soon felt all the warmth leave his body, and so he quickly ran over to catch up with Shrimpo. By the time he got there, he was tired and panting, so he placed his hand on Shrimpo's shoulder, just to see it get flung off by him. How cute. Sometimes Finn would wonder how Shrimpo thought. Did he actually secretly just at least like anyone? Did he actually even like Finn? Something in Finn's heart strangely made Finn feel desperate for an answer.
Without saying a word, they both eventually got back to the Garden view and were met by pretty much everyone. Astro, Rodger, Goob, Sprout, Cosmo and Vee were all gathered by the tree, discussing about something that couldn't be heard from the door. Shrimpo just went off in the direction of the toons rooms, probably going to hide in his room. Finn knew that he would probably be out soon. He started to amble over to everyone else, which caught their attention, causing them to look at him. A few of them said 'hey' or 'hello' but then they turned back to their conversation. Finn tried to fit in with the others, reaching out a hand and nervously tilting his head to the side, "What are you all talking about...It seems interesting, can I join in?"
"Uhm.. We're just talking about how Shrimpo is, you know.. We can't tell if he's trustworthy or not...you can join in only if you aren't a snitch, because, you seem to be a big fan of Shrimpo, we've been watching and we noticed so..-" The straightforward voice of Sprout called out, making Finn jump a bit. In slight panic and worry, he slowly nodded instead of talking, not sure what to do about the situation. Would he stay quiet and listen or just leave? What was so bad about Shrimpo and why would they need to have a whole conversation about if they should trust him or not? Shrimpo wasn't really that bad was he, he hadn't done anything that could end the world?
"..No I'm not a snitch, why would I do that.. and most of all what's so bad about Shrimpo, did he do something wrong or...?" Finn finally spoke, scratching the back of his head and looking at the floor, nervous to talk to a main, he rarely ever got attention from them, so it was new to him.
"Well, that's a relief because... honestly, he ruins our runs, have you even seen it? Last run, he was chasing Yatta around with a bat, you're supposed to hide from the twisteds, not be them! Did Delilah ever even care to check what the toons were doing!?" Sprout complained, causing some of the others to laugh at the memory. Finn hadn't seen it, yet the thought of it made him strangely smile. "And then, he also had the audacity to steal my precious machine?" Sprout sobbed some more, making a small 'tsk' sound. Hearing all the things Shrimpo had done before made Finn giggle, usually when Shrimpo was around him, the most he would do is throw a random rock from the floor at a twisted, maybe he just acted different around other people or something?