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It was a slightly abnormal day in the abandoned Gardenview Center, and Shrimpo hated it. This was no surprise to anyone, seeing as Shrimpo hated a majority of things, but he hated abnormal things the most.
The day actually started off pretty normal. Shrimpo woke up face first in his pillow, about 2 hours late for breakfast. He grumbled while pulling on a pair of shorts (with debatable cleanliness) and yanking a sleeveless shirt over his big shrimp head. He hated big heads, including his own, but especially Cosmo’s.
As he made his way to the dining area, he gave any toons he saw in the hallway a major stink eye. Most ignored him, used to Shrimpo’s attitude. That made him scowl even deeper, somehow.
Seeing as he was always late to breakfast, he would usually root around in the fridge for leftovers and eat them cold. Finn had made a habit of waiting for Shrimpo to come out, and harassing him with fish puns while he ate. Shrimpo HATED fish puns. He also hated Finn’s dumb smile when he said them. He hated Finn’s tooth gap that whistled whenever he laughed. More than anything, Shrimpo hated the weird warmth in his face and feeling in his stomach.
Shrimpo squeezed his eyes closed and shook his head, trying to rid his mind of thoughts of Finn. It was stupid. Everything was stupid! He stomped the rest of the way to the dining area.
When he finally got there, it was emptier than usual. Finn wasn’t in any of his usual spots, and he wasn’t even in the fridge! (Shrimpo checked thoroughly, and also grabbed a few cold bacon strips to gnaw on.) The place was completely devoid of the nautical nonsense that Finn brought everywhere he went.
He didn’t wait for Shrimpo.
The shrimp grumbled to himself. Did Finn think he was too good for his company?! Shrimpo hated that! He’d make it known, too. That fishbowl wouldn’t get away with it!
Shrimpo whipped his head around, looking for any toons nearby. Tisha was finishing sweeping around the tables, so Shrimpo made a beeline for her, pointing with one hand and waving his fist with the other.
“HEY!”
She turned around, snapping out of her cleaning haze.
“Huh? Oh, hello Shrimpo.” Tisha nodded before going back to sweeping. She was unfazed by his tone, as it was always the same angry yell day after day.
“DON’T TURN AWAY FROM ME. TELL ME WHERE FINN IS.” Shrimpo demanded, hands on his hips.
That made Tisha stop entirely, leaning back on a table to think.
“Hm, good question… he never came down for breakfast this morning. He might still be in his room, I’d check there first.” She shrugged, before going back to her cleaning.
“I WON’T CHECK THERE! I HATE FINN!” Shrimpo shouted before turning around and marching back to the hallway. He was definitely checking Finn’s room, but Tisha didn’t need to know that.
Tisha only signed before continuing her sweeping. She didn’t get paid enough to deal with him.
Shrimpo knew where Finn’s room was, as he went in there occasionally. Finn had shrimp in his big fish tank, and Shrimpo liked to visit them to assert dominance over them and remind them of their place below him.
Finn would always watch him while he did it, giggling in a dopey way for a reason Shrimpo wasn’t sure of. Finn did a lot of things that didn’t make sense. Shrimpo hated it!
When he finally came across the fish-patterned door, he didn’t bother knocking before barging in. He wanted an explanation, and he was getting one immediately!
“FINN! HOW DARE YOU ACT LIKE YOU’RE TOO GOOD FOR SHRIMPO!” He shouted, hands on his hips as he sauntered into the center of the room. There was an unusual stuffiness in the air, and Shrimpo didn’t get a response except for a confused groan that came from Finn’s bed.
Shrimpo looked around, spotting Finn underneath several blankets in said bed. His eyes were half lidded, and the water in his fishbowl head was abnormally murky. Barnaby looked about as distressed as a toy fish could.
“YOU LOOK TERRIBLE.” Shrimpo blurted out, walking up and getting a closer look at Finn. The fishbowl looked up at him, eyes barely widening.
“Shrimpo…? Water you doing here…?” Finn’s words were slightly slurred and he still managed to make a nautical pun.
“YOU WEREN’T AT THE DINING AREA. AND I HATE YOUR PUNS!” Shrimpo crossed his arms, looking down at the toon. Finn was looking and acting weird, or at least weirder than normal.
Finn stopped to consider for a moment, before a goofy looking smile spread over his face.
“Awh… you came looking for me? That’s reel sweet of you Shrimpo!” He sat up in bed, leaning closer to the shrimp toon.
“SHRIMPO IS NOT SWEET! I COULDN’T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH DITCHING ME!” Shrimpo stepped back, fists clenched as he yelled. Finn flinched at the loud noise, and Shrimpo did not feel bad, nope, not at all.
“Oh. Okayyyyyy thennnnn…” Finn sank back down into the bed, pulling the blanket up to his chin. Barnaby swam in circles, running into the glass wall of the bowl at one point.
There was an awkward silence for a moment before Shrimpo peered into Finn’s head.
“I THINK YOUR FISH IS BECOMING SOUP.”
That made Finn bolt upright.
“BARNABY?! My son! Shrimpo, can you kelp him?! Please please please please please please please please please-“
“UGH! IF IT MAKES YOU STOP BEGGING.” Shrimpo groaned before reaching inside Finn’s bowl head. The water was uncomfortably warm, and Barnaby seemed even more out of it than Finn.
Shrimpo scooped up Barnaby with an uncharacteristic gentleness, before walking over to Finn’s huge fish tank and tossing him in. The fish recovered quickly, swimming in a figure 8 that may or may not have been a show of gratitude.
“Ohhhhh Shrimpooo you saved my son… you’re a hero…” Finn actually started tearing up, leaning back once again.
“YOU’RE WEIRD TODAY. I HATE IT!” Shrimpo turned to shout at him before looking back at the fish tank, searching for the shrimp.
“Sorry… I’ve been f-eeling out of it today…might be a bit under the weather.” Finn sniffled, wiping his eyes. The fishbowl certainly wasn’t his normal self. Shrimpo continued to stare at the tiny shrimp in the tank.
“Mm, that soup did sound good.” He said mostly to himself, but Shrimpo heard and whipped his head around.
“WOULD SOUP MAKE YOU BE NORMAL AGAIN?” Shrimpo walked up to Finn, narrowing his eyes and staring the toon down. Finn’s water bubbled slightly.
“I mean, I, um… it could kelp with healing...? Woah, Shrimpo, where are you going?!”
Shrimpo could not answer, because he had bolted out of the room. Finn was being super weird, and he didn’t like it one bit! He couldn’t enjoy dominating the other shrimp when Finn was all soft and mushy…
He didn’t have the slightest idea of how to make soup, but he knew exactly where to get that information. He would get the soup instructions even if he had to fight someone for them.
The door to the library had a sign on it that read “Therapy currently taking place! Knock if urgent!” It wouldn’t stop Shrimpo because he can’t read.
It took only a minute of him pounding on the door before someone answered it. Brightney barely pushed the door open, hands on her hips.
“Shrimpo, what’re you-“
“I NEED A SOUP BOOK.”
It was silent for about 5 seconds. Brightney’s eye twitched.
“…Shrimpo, I’m very busy with Astro and Squirm at the moment, so if you could come back another-“
“I. NEED. A. SOUP. BOOK.”
Brightney sighed heavily, before holding up her index finger and walking off. She was only gone for a minute before she came back, handing him a large book. There was a bowl of soup on the cover, and the corner had a bite taken out of it.
Soup book! Shrimpo always wins!
He held it up and ran off, not bothering to say anything else to the toon who gave it to him.
“What does he even need that for…?” Brightney muttered, shutting the door.
As Shrimpo made his way to the kitchen, he started flipping through pages. Not fish soup, that would get Shrimpo banned from Finn’s room. Not potato soup either, as Finn had mentioned not caring for potatoes a couple weeks ago.
Near the end of the book, he flipped to a page that showed a simple vegetable soup. Low effort, comforting, easy on the stomach. Shrimpo would make this soup.
He was an amazing chef, he’d show them all!
The first one being Cosmo, who walked in on Shrimpo whacking a carrot with a knife on the bare countertop.
“Ack! Shrimpo! You’re gonna scratch the counters!” Cosmo scrambled to grab a cutting board and scoop up the roughly chopped carrots before dumping them on the board.
“HEY! SHRIMPO IS A MASTER CHEF, I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!” He started whacking the carrots quicker, thankfully so longer scratching up the already worn counters.
“That is NOT a safe kitchen practice…” Cosmo warned, looking over his shoulder with concern.
“AGH! THEN YOU CAN DO IT!” Shrimpo slammed the knife down on the counter before stomping away, looking for more ingredients.
Cosmo gave the toon a wary glance before taking over, dicing up the carrots and doing the same to the rest of the vegetables while he was at it.
Shrimpo was boiling some broth, throwing spices in randomly. Or, at least it looked random to any outsider. Shrimpo knew exactly what he was doing. This was the perfect blend to make Finn be normal.
He strutted over to the cutting board, snatching it up and dumping the diced veggies in the pot. Cosmo huffed and crossed his arms.
“You’re welcome for the help.” The toon said pointedly.
“YOU’RE NOT USELESS ALL THE TIME, I GUESS.” Shrimpo muttered, although with his natural loud voice, it was a pretty normal volume.
Cosmo put a hand to his heart, genuinely touched. That was the nicest thing Shrimpo had ever said to him. He left the kitchen, wiping a tear from his eye.
The soup took a bit to boil, and so Shrimpo spent his time thinking of all the things he hated: Finn, Cosmo’s big head, Finn’s dumb fish puns, elevators, Finn’s constant fun facts, loud noises, quiet noises, Finn’s goofy looking face, being warm, Barnaby staring at Shrimpo with those big ole eyes…
The soup started to smell edible, and so Shrimpo peered down into the pot. Yup. Soup.
He turned off the stovetop and grabbed the entire pot, not even bothering to put any in a smaller bowl. Fortunately for Finn, he did remember to grab a spoon.
Cleaning was a task that Shrimpo was unfamiliar with, and so the mess would be left for Tisha to find later.
Shrimpo trekked all the way to Finn’s room, pot in hand. He hated heavy things! The smell was tempting, and he briefly considered eating the whole pot of soup himself. No, Finn was being weird, and he needed to get back to normal so Shrimpo didn’t have to witness his weirdness!
The toon kicked the door open, startling Finn who had not moved from his spot in his bed. He didn’t look any better; he actually looked a bit worse.
“Wha…? Shrimpo?” Finn’s eyes widened, “You’re back? And you brought soup? For me?” The fishbowl’s eyes began to water.
“YOU BETTER NOT CRY. EAT SOUP AND BE NORMAL AGAIN!” Shrimpo swept everything off of Finn’s nightstand and plopped the pot right on it.
Finn grabbed the spoon, trying and failing to scoop up any soup. His eyes were just too watery, he couldn’t see a thing.
“You’re, hic, the most fin-tastic friend I ever, hic, had…” Finn dropped the spoon to wipe his eyes. (which didn’t really do much, seeing as the tears kept coming.)
Seeing Finn with a trembling lip, tears down his cheeks, and a slightly snotty face made something inside Shrimpo tense up. He hated seeing Finn like that.
“I… UH… SHRIMPO HATES TEARS! SOUP!” More carefully than he had ever done anything, Shrimpo scooped up a spoonful of soup, and popped it into Finn’s mouth.
Finn blinked at him, before swallowing and licking his lips.
“Pretty good. You could be a Michelin sea-star chef.” His tears dried up, but Shrimpo continued to feed him the soup. The adoring look in Finn’s eyes paired with his goofy smile gave Shrimpo a fuzzy feeling in his stomach.
It felt really weird. And he didn’t hate it.
They stayed in that strange bubble of euphoria until the door swung open out of nowhere.
“Finn! I heard you weren’t feeling good and wanted to make sure you were-“ Looey waltzed in speaking but cut himself off when he saw the scene in front of him. Shrimpo felt as if his face burst into flames. Even Finn started a simmer a bit, eyes wide as he realized they were caught in an… interesting situation.
“…yknow what, I’ll leave you guys to it…” Looey did a full 180 degree turn, walking right back out the door. He closed it carefully, and decided to pretend he didn’t see anything at all.
Shrimpo dropped the spoon in the pot and shoved the whole thing into Finn’s arms, shouting, “YOU HAVE ARMS… FEED YOURSELF!”
The shrimp stomped away with his arms crossed and his face scrunched into a scowl, stopping in front of the big fish tank. Finn sighed, looking a little disappointed that he would have to take over the task.
They shared the space in relative quiet, the only sounds being the bubble of the fish tank and Finn’s spoon clinking on the pot. Shrimpo’s face cooled down. He HATED being embarrassed.
“…LOOEY IS STUPID. I HATE HIM.” Shrimpo declared. He could hear Finn laughing behind him, a sound that wasn’t nearly as annoying as he wished it was.
“Brrr…” Finn shivered, wrapping his blanket around himself before whining, “Shrimpoooo…”
Shrimpo whipped his head around, eyes narrowed, “WHAT DO YOU WANT?”
Finn bundled up even deeper into the blankets, saying “It shore is cold in here…”
“WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ABOUT THAT?” Shrimpo raised an eyebrow. He put his hands on his hips, walking over to the fishbowl wrapped up burrito-style on his bed. Finn didn’t say anything, he only opened the blanket invitingly, a pleading look in his eyes.
Shrimpo wanted to shout at him for even suggesting such a thing. He HATED cuddling! He hated EVERYTHING! But… he hated Finn the least. He hated sleeping the second least. So maybe… just this once.
“…IF YOU TELL ANYONE, I WILL DRAIN YOU.” Shrimpo muttered, crawling into the bed with a flushed face. Finn grinned triumphantly and wrapped the blanket around the both of them, nuzzling close in a way that made Shrimpo feel like he just ran a marathon. He hated running, but this wasn’t quite so bad.
“Mmm, warm… you’re seal-riously… the best… Shrimpo…” Finn fell asleep quite quickly, the exhaustion from the sickness finally catching up to him. Shrimpo laid there stiffly, unsure of what to do now that Finn was sleeping.
Over time, he relaxed and reflected. Shrimpo knew he was the best. But for another toon to say that about him? Unheard of. Finn was… different from other toons. He felt so angry at the idea of spending time with most toons, but with Finn? Almost no anger at all. That was scary. And confusing.
“…I hate being confused…” Shrimpo whispered, staring down at the fishbowl sleeping against his chest. Without even really knowing why, Shrimpo gave Finn the quickest peck on the forehead, immediately turning the other way after doing so.
Finn wouldn’t even remember, and if he did, Shrimpo would just scream until he forgot. Easy peasy, Shrimpo always wins.
___
That next morning, Shrimpo skipped breakfast like usual. This time, however, it was not on purpose. His head ached, his face felt stuffy, and his stomach was queasy. He just couldn’t bring himself to get up.
The first and only toon to check on him was, predictably, Finn. The chipper fishbowl peeked in before opening the door all the way.
“Shrimpo! You didn’t come down! I shrimply wanted to thank you for-“ Finn stopped in his tracks at the sight of the bedridden shrimp. He paced over to the side of Shrimpo’s bed, worry evident on his face.
“Oh cod, are you okay? Did I get you sick? I’m reel-ly sorry a-trout that! Don’t even worry, I can kelp you!” Finn gave him his usual goofy smile, before leaning down and pressing a kiss to Shrimpo’s forehead.
Shrimpo just didn’t have the energy to yell or be angry about it, so instead, he let the warmth and fuzziness in his chest take over his whole body. If Finn was here to take care of him, then Shrimpo reel-y did always win.