Chapter Text
Plaster cracked around Shrimpo’s fist as he punched a previously unharmed bit of wall, next to another hole he caused. Punching the wall made him feel a little less angry at having to spend time with Finn, something he wasn't sure why he agreed to in the first place. He hated the way that he hated Finn less than everyone else. He walked over to his desk to write on the loose pages he used as a journal, stepping on the stool in front of it to reach.
I HATE FINN.
I HATE HIS SMILE.
I HATE HIS JOKES.
I HATE HIS FACTS.
I HATE HOW HE GETS WATER EVERYWHERE.
I HATE BEING FRIENDS WITH HIM.
I HATE HOW I WANT TO BE NEAR HIM.
I HATE CONFUSING FEELINGS.
HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE.
He immediately crumpled up the paper and threw it next to a toppled trash can. He should burn that paper next chance he gets, alongside all the other pages he wrote about Finn on, which were many. If those got into the wrong hands, he would be done for. A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts. He walked over and angrily swung the door open to reveal Finn.
“Heya, Shrimpo! It's great to sea you!” Shrimpo rolled his eyes. “You ready for our sleepover?” Right, he'd forgotten that was what he agreed to. He didn't say anything, just left the door open as he went to grab his sleeping bag, alongside the pillow from his bed. Finn poked his head in the door, looking at the new hole in the wall. “Is that one new?”
“YES.” Shrimpo was honestly surprised he’d noticed. Had he visited his room that much? Shrimpo wasn't sure what to think about that. Finn smiled, but said nothing. Shrimpo walked back up to him, sleeping bag and pillow under each arm. “LET'S GO ALREADY.”
They took the elevator to Finn’s floor, passing by a couple closed doors before reaching his room. Finn held the door open for Shrimpo, and he had to complain.
“I HATE WHEN YOU'RE POLITE!” He walked through the open door anyway, and Finn knew he didn't mean anything by it.
“Don't be so crabby, Shrimpo!” Finn winked, and Shrimpo felt his rage bubbling up again. He scowled, rolling out his sleeping bag in front of Finn’s TV, at the foot of his bed, trying to avoid any wet spots on the carpet. That was the worst part of spending time here, next to spending time with Finn. Shrimpo wasn't sure why they wouldn't replace the carpet in his room with hardwood so it would be easier to clean, what with the constant spilling of water from Finn’s head. Finn set up his sleeping bag next to Shrimpo’s. Why he wouldn't just sleep in his own bed, Shrimpo had no idea. Maybe it was for the sleepover ambiance.
“So, what do you wanna watch?” Finn crawled over to a stack of tapes. “I've got old episodes, fish documentaries, and… well, that's about it.” He smiled sheepishly.
“I DON'T CARE.” Shrimpo crossed his arms as he sat on his sleeping bag, back resting against the end of Finn’s bed. Both sounded like a bad idea to him. Finn’s smile widened.
“Fish documentary it is, then!” Shrimpo regretted his indecision immediately as Finn excitedly popped a tape in the VCR.
The voice was boring, and Shrimpo didn't care about the information being relayed. Finn seemed immensely interested, though, looking as though he was on the edge of his seat. He would chime in every now and then with related facts not included in the documentary. Shrimpo's permanent scowl twitched a small amount, as some weird feeling made its home in his chest. It must've been that new form of hate he had been feeling whenever he saw Finn for a while now. What else could it have been but hate, after all?
“THAT WAS BORING.” Shrimpo made his displeasure known as soon as the movie was over.
“It was fun!” Finn smiled at Shrimpo, not giving into his negativity. “Admit it, you were interested…” He nudged Shrimpo’s shoulder jokingly, to which Shrimpo scowled harder.
“NO, I HATED IT.”
“Yeah, yeah, hate, hate, hate. Is there anything you like?” Finn teasingly emphasized the word ‘like,’ tilting his head to the point of almost spilling water on their sleeping bags.
“NO. I HATE EVERYTHING.” Shrimpo poked Finn’s head back up so it wouldn't spill. The last thing he'd want is to sleep on a wet sleeping bag or pillow.
“Sure, sure…” Finn totally didn't believe him, Shrimpo could tell. “Well, Mr. ‘I hate everything,’ what do you want to do next?”
“SLEEP.” Shrimpo slid his legs into his sleeping bag, but didn't lay down yet. Finn looked a little disappointed, but hid most of it fairly well.
“Oh, alright. Yeah, let me just get ready.” Finn hopped up, walking over to an empty tank in a particularly damp corner of the room. He proceeded to empty his head into the tank, plastic toy fish and all. Shrimpo had been curious as to how he slept with all that water in his skull. He supposed the answer was he didn't. Shrimpo was a little surprised to see him get in his sleeping bag with his vest still on.
“ISN'T THAT UNCOMFORTABLE?” Shrimpo pointed at Finn’s vest.
“Huh? Not reel-y. I never notice it.” Finn shrugged. Whatever. It's not like it mattered for anyone but Finn, and if he didn't care, then Shrimpo didn't care, either.
“HM.” Shrimpo sat for a moment, before silently sliding into a laying position, with his head on his pillow, facing Finn. The other Toon followed suit, smiling at Shrimpo. Shrimpo didn't like how close their faces were; it made his chest feel weird. He flipped over so he didn't have to look at Finn. It took about half an hour, but Shrimpo eventually fell asleep to the sound of Finn snoring. Maybe that was how he wormed his way into his dream.
It started out fine. Shrimpo dreamed he was wailing on the punching bags in his room, punching the ones hanging from the ceiling and kicking the one on the floor. This was a good dream for Shrimpo. It was satisfying to get his unending anger out, even in his dreams. It would've stayed a good dream, had a certain someone not materialized behind one of the punching bags.
“Woah! Watch out!” Finn stopped one of the bags from hitting him in the chest by throwing his arms out.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Shrimpo was not happy that Finn was here all of a sudden.
“I just wanted to watch you spar!” Finn smiled with his stupid tooth gap. It made Shrimpo want to knock another tooth out of his mouth. He gave into his thoughts and took a swing at the Toon in front of him. He missed. “Woah! What was that about?”
“I HATE YOU!” Shrimpo yelled and swung another fist at Finn, which he managed to dodge. Suddenly, arms wrapped around his waist from behind, confusing him. He looked over his shoulder to see another Finn holding him from behind. A wave of calm washed over him, before promptly being replaced with more anger. “WHAT?”
“Shh, it's okay.” Finn nuzzled into the crook of Shrimpo's neck, causing Shrimpo to flush. He hated this, but there was something… nice about it. He turned around in his arms, looking the second Finn in the eye. Finn smiled, before giving Shrimpo a gentle kiss on the forehead. His eyes widened in shock, but he didn't make any movement to escape Finn’s grasp. Finn’s smile softened as he leaned down to kiss Shrimpo on the mouth. Shrimpo instinctively closed his eyes, but right before their lips connected…
Shrimpo jolted awake to find himself wrapped in Finn’s arms. He blinked once. Then twice. Then three times, before freaking out and trying to wrestle his way out of the grasp he found himself in. This, of course, woke Finn.
“Whuh? Wha? Oh, morning, Shrimpo.” He yawned before grinning, lopsided. Shrimpo was unsuccessful in freeing himself, face flushed. “What time is it?”
“WHY ARE YOU HOLDING ONTO ME?” Shrimpo ignored the time question, because his question was more important.
“Huh? Oh! Well, you kept trying to hit me in your sleep, and this was the only way to calm you down.” Ah, Shrimpo's dream. The details were a bit fuzzy now that he was awake, but he vaguely remembered trying to punch Finn. That must've bled out into the real world.
“WELL, YOU CAN LET GO NOW.” Shrimpo pushed on Finn’s face, trying to get him to let him go.
“Right! Right, sorry.” Finn let go, and Shrimpo immediately flopped over to his other side so he didn't have to look at him anymore. He didn't like how looking at him right now made him feel. It's almost like he forgot something important…
Suddenly, a flash of the image of glassy lips on his forehead made its home in his mind, causing his eyes to widen and blush to deepen. Was that Finn? Why did he do that? What else did he forget from his dream?
“You o-cray, Shrimpo?” Finn put his hand on Shrimpo's shoulder, which he immediately shrugged off. Finn raised his hand defensively, despite Shrimpo still facing away from him.
“SHRIMPO IS ALWAYS OKAY.” This was, of course, a huge lie, but he would never tell anyone. Especially not Finn.
“I'm gonna check the time.” Finn shuffled behind Shrimpo, presumably getting up to look at his alarm clock. “Huh, it's still around 5. We should probably head back to sleep, huh?”
“I GUESS.” Shrimpo ignored Finn settling back down, closed his eyes, and tried to remember the rest of his dream. All he got back were either the images he'd already seen, or a haze of colors. Shrimpo gave up and decided to just go back to sleep.
This time, he dreamt of shadows crowding around him, and he had to fight them off. It started out easy, but more and more surrounded him until he couldn't keep up. Whenever one was knocked down, another would take its place almost instantly. They got closer, and closer, almost suffocatingly so, and Shrimpo fell to the ground as the shadows encircled him. He closed his eyes, preparing for the worst.
“Hey! You okay?”
Shrimpo opened his eyes to see Finn standing above him, reaching out a hand to help him off the floor. The shadows were all gone. He took his hand, and was pulled up against his chest. This time, Shrimpo was the one who wrapped his arms around Finn, letting himself enjoy the contact.
“Thank you,” he muttered into his chest at an uncharacteristically low volume. Finn smiled, closing his arms around Shrimpo. They stood in each other's arms for the rest of the dream, until Shrimpo was woken up by a loud alarm.
He wasn't even surprised to see Finn with his arms wrapped around his shoulders again. He could assume his dream had seeped into reality once more and he had started swinging. This time, however, he remembered his dream fully, and he hated it. He hated how calm Finn’s presence had made him feel. He hated how he got overwhelmed in the first place. He hated Finn for inserting himself in his dream again.
“Mmn…” Finn let go of Shrimpo to rub the sleep from his eyes, stretching his arms over his head while he yawned. “Good morning, for reel this time,” he chuckled. “Didja sleep well?”
“I SLEPT FINE.” Shrimpo glared at him. “TURN YOUR STUPID ALARM OFF.”
“Oh! Right!” Finn jumped up, and slammed the button on top of the alarm clock to get it to shut up quickly, then pressed a button on the back to turn it off until tomorrow. “There we go! It's breakfast time, we should probably head on down.” Finn walked to stand over Shrimpo, offering him a hand. Shrimpo glared up at him before standing, not taking the hand offered.
“I CAN GET UP ON MY OWN!” Shrimpo huffed.
“Okay, sorry.” Finn looked very slightly offended, but he made no further moves to help Shrimpo. He went to roll up his sleeping bag, and tossed the pillow back on his bed. Shrimpo followed suit, except he just propped up his pillow against his sleeping bag once it was rolled. Finn went to the tank in the corner and emptied its contents into his head. Shrimpo admired, for a second before he stopped himself, the strength it must’ve taken to lift the full tank so high, and the practice it must’ve taken to not spill anything.
“Ready to take those back to your room and get breakfast?” Shrimpo nodded silently, picking up his bag and pillow. They took the elevator back up to Shrimpo’s floor, and left the objects in their original spots in his room.
Something was off, though, and it didn’t take long for Shrimpo to notice as he was leaving.
Several crumpled papers were missing.