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Finn fiddled with the small plushie in his hands. His knees sat on the ground and his elbows were resting on the bed. He sat in silence as his mind wandered.
He remembered that day when he went to the aquarium with Shrimpo. The lights were dimmed and there was no fish, but they still ended up having a good time. They sat and just talked. Laughing until their stomachs hurt and walking around until their feet did too.
“Hey Shrimpo?” Finn asked while sitting down on the blue bench that rested against an empty glass exhibit.
“What.”
“Doesn’t that fish plush look turtle-ly adorable?” Finn said as he elbowed his friend. He then pointed to a blue and white fish with stripes hanging on the wall of the gift shop part of the aquarium floor.
“No.”
Finn frowned before making puppy eyes at Shrimpo.
“STOP THAT.” Shrimpo said as he started to scowl. This didn’t get Finn’s face to go back to normal.
“FINE.” Shrimpo yelled before pulling out a couple of tapes and stomping over to the gift shop. He placed his tapes on the counter before going behind it and grabbing the fish plushie. Ever since garden view was shut down, everyone agreed on just leaving the tapes on the counter before taking things.
Shrimpo obviously didn’t listen to this rule, but when he was with Finn, everything was different.
He stomped back to the blue bench and forced the plushie into Finn’s hands. Finn smiled and opened his arms for a hug that Shrimpo was very hesitant to reciprocate. He quickly hugged Finn before rolling his eyes, letting go, and sitting back down on the bench.
“You o-fish-ally love my hugs !”
“I hate you.”
Finn wasn’t actually sure what they did after that, but even if he did remember, he was interrupted by the sound of knocking on his door.
“Which one of my fin-tastic friends is it ! “ Finn called out. He had a million fish puns, even if he just needed to ask who was there.
“It’s Dandy!” The voice called back.
Finn’s expression turned confused. Dandy usually never visited him. He plopped the fish plushie down and hopped up to go see what Dandy needed.
“Hey bud !” Dandy said as he held out a piece of mail in his hands.
Finn looked down at the piece of mail, now very curious. “For me?”
“Yup!” Dandy said.
“Oh koi!” (Oh boy) Finn said as he took the piece of mail.
“Who’s it from?” Finn asked. If any of his friends had something to say, they could’ve just knocked. He didn’t bite!
“Not sure.” Dandy said as he looked up in thought. “Someone just left it in my office and it had your name on it so I assumed they wanted me to bring it to you.” Dandy said as he continued.
“Oh, o-cray!” Finn said as he smiled and waved bye to Dandy.
“Well, I’m off!” Dandy said as he waved back and turned around to leave.
Finn shut the door and looked at the letter in curiosity. He walked over to sit on his bed before turning the letter over in his hands and open it.
Hi, Finn.
I don’t really write letters, so sorry not really sorry if this is bad. I’m really only writing this to tell you that I like you. (The words “I love you”were scribbled out, but you could still kind of see it.)
I don’t really get feelings like this, but when I talk to you or hear your stupid fish puns, something just.. sparks I guess. I actually think you’re really fucking annoying. Sorry, scratch that. That’s a lie. You’re KINDA funny I guess, and you’re sweet too. I think the way that your fish bowl glistens in light and the way that just by looking at you, I can see how kind hearted.?? You are.
Anyway, I can’t keep this feeling bottled up, so I decided to write a letter. I don’t know if this will ever make it to you, or if you’ll even like me again when you find out who sent this letter, but if it does, and if you will, here’s some things to help you.
- I’m on the same floor as you
- We go to a lot of floors together
- We’re somewhat alike.. i guess.?
I’m probably going to regret this letter, but I don’t really care. Good luck.
Finn put the letter down. He sat for a moment looking at the wall. It was blue, but only because of the light that projected fishes and blue light all over the room. He thought about it for a moment before cracking a slight smile. Someone liked him. Someone liked Finn Wilikers! The toon that was always going around telling fish puns, completely convinced everyone hated them. Someone liked him!
He jumped up before realizing he didn’t know who had sent the letter. He sat on his bed again before reading the hints again a couple of times. He was going to need help. He thought it over.
Shrimpo..? No, he would think it’s stupid.
Teagen.?? No, she probably just wanted the gossip.
Brightney..? Possibly, but she was insanely busy with the library today.
He soon decided on Rodger since he was the detective toon. He was pretty convinced that Roder hated his puns, but he was the best toon for this.
He hopped up once again, and opened his door to head to the elevator.
—————————
Rodger sat on his chair typing away at the old, yellow-ish, boxy computer. No one else really had a computer except for him and Brightney for their work. His flow state was interrupted when he heard a knock.
“Yes.?” Rodger called out to see who was there.
“Hey buddy !! It’s me, Finn !”
Rodger rolled his eyes. He was not ready for a lifetime supply of fish jokes. Still, Finn never visited his room so it had to be something. He got up from his chair to go open the door.
“Yes, Finn?”
“I need help!”
“With..?”
Finn held out the letter for Rodger to take. Rodger looked at the letter before inviting him in so that he could take a closer look.
The two sat in silence as Rodger read over the page.Rodger sat down the paper and tilted his glasses while looking at Finn.
“Sorry if this comes off as rude, but someone likes.. you?” Rodger said in his usual calm tone.
“I know right! I couldn’t believe it myself! This has a one in a krillion chance of happening!” Finn said as he watched Rodger roll his eyes at the fish pun.
Rodger tilted his glasses back up. “Alright I’ll help you. First we need to make a list. Grab a pen and paper from my drawer would you?”
Finn stood up to go and retrieve a pen and paper. After grabbing them, he headed back to Rodger and sat them on the desk.
“Alright. So, this person is on your floor. Who all is on your floor again, Finn?”
Finn thought for a moment. “Connie, Teagen, Sprout, Cosmo, Gigi, Glisten, Goob, Scraps and Shrimpo.” Finn said after some thinking.
“Alright.” Rodger said as he scribbled down the names. He crossed off Teagen’s, Cosmo’s, and Sprout’s. (They all already had partners.)
- Connie
- Gigi
- Glisten
- Goob
- Shrimpo
- Scraps
Finn looked back down at the paper before making a discovery.
“Goob never cusses, so it can’t be him.” Finn said as he looked up from the paper and at Rodger.
“Huh, it seems you’re right.” Rodger said before crossing off Goob’s name.
- Connie
- Gigi
- Glisten
- Shrimpo
- Scraps
“Who do you not go places with?” Rodger asked after looking over the hints.
Finn looked up in thought. He had been on a lot of adventures with a lot of people! Except for Glisten who had denied almost every hangout that included him. Glisten hated his fish jokes and that definitely wasn’t a secret. That’s the reason he avoided any hangouts with him. Remembering this, he picked up the pen and scratched off Glisten’s name.
He thought again before also crossing off Connie’s name. Finn never really saw Connie, so he never really got to ask her to hangout. Connie was the type of person to keep to herself and hangout with just two or three friends all the time anyway.
- Gigi
- Shrimpo
- Scraps
“We’ve narrowed it down to three people. Who do you NOT share similarities with?” Rodger asked, emphasizing the “not”.
Finn put a finger to his chin and thought once again. He and Gigi were kind of alike..? They both had round shaped heads that they could store things in, except, Finn only stored his fish in his. He crossed off scraps unsure of what he shared with her. He knew that both him and Shrimpo were aquatic toons. Though, he wasn’t sure how Shrimpo had made it this far in his list. Could Shrimpo really like him.?
- Shrimpo
- Gigi
“Well what now.?!” Finn said with a frown on his face. He no longer had any clues. He watched as Rodger rolled his eyes.
“I only know this because Teagen told me, but Gigi definitely doesn’t have a crush on you. She likes someone else though. Don’t tell anyone I told you though.” Rodger said annoyed by what he had to do.
“So.. it’s Shrimpo?” Finn said slightly confused. He acted confused, but he could feel a slight smile slowly creep on him and tug at his lips. He had been thinking about Shrimpo a lot more lately, and even having dreams about him. He didn’t think much of it, but now that he knew Shrimpo might be the one that had a crush on him, he was thinking about it more and more.
“I guess so. Who knew the little creature had feelings.” Rodger said as he smiled at his own joke. Finn ignored him and grabbed the letter to run to the crustacean’s room.
“Thank you Rodger!!” Finn said as he slipped out of the door and ran towards the elevator.
“Any time.” Rodger calmly called out. He then went back to typing on his computer and taking a sip from his coffee.
—————————
The elevator door made its usual annoying sounds as Finn headed down it. He was practically bouncing on his heels while he impatiently waited for the elevator to open.
When the elevator finally opened, Finn found himself running towards the room next to his. Shrimpo’s room. He soon found himself in front of Shrimpo’s door. He was now unsure if he should knock. What if it wasn’t Shrimpo? What if he would just embarrass himself? No of that mattered now. He had already knocked while his mind was wandering.
“What, Fish boy?” Shrimpo said after opening the door.
“W.. was it you..?” Finn said hesitantly. Shrimpo looked confused. Before he could open his mouth, Finn quickly cleared up what he was talking about. “The one who sent the letter..?” Finn asked.
Shrimpo went quiet for a moment before turning his head slightly to not face Finn and then nod.
Finn’s face quickly turned from worried to excited. He was smiling. He quickly picked up and pulled the slightly shorter Crustacean into a hug.
“GET OFF ME!!” Shrimpo yelled. He would usually fight back, but this time, he didn’t. He just hugged back instead. He pretended not to like the hug or even care. Soon, Shrimpo was doing something no one except Finn had seen him do. He was smiling.
After what felt like hours to Shrimpo(it was probably like 30 seconds), Finn put him down.
“So is that an ‘I like you too or..?’ Shrimpo asked.
Finn quickly nodded and kissed the crustacean on his head before quickly skipping back to his room.
Shrimpo sat there, his mind completely blank. His fuzzy cheeks completely were red.