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Shrimpo started down at the plate of fish fingers in front of him. “I don’t want this.”, he said coldly, half to himself, half to Finn who was sitting across from him. Sprout stood next to their table, “Well, it’s what you’re getting. You could ask Finn if he shares with you but that’s the only other option.” Finn did in fact have a seperate meal from the others, given that he doesn’t eat seafood. “I HATE SHARING!”, Shrimpo was getting louder now. “Shrimpo, please. There’s other people here.” “I don’t mind sharing!”, Finn said happily, “I’ve got enough” Shrimpo started blushing, very obviously flustered. “I- I HATE you!” Finn just giggled since he knew it wasn’t true.
Shrimpo kept insulting Sprout, the food, and really anything else he could think of. He suddenly raised his hand up, about to smack the plate off the table, but Sprout was quicker, quickly grabbing his wrist. “Don’t you FUCKING dare.” Shrimpo flinched at Sprouts tone and quickly pulled is arm away. Sprout was fed up, he was done with having to deal with Shrimpo. “CAN YOU ACTUALLY STOP?! THE WORLD DOESN’T REVOLVE AROUND YOU. GENUINELY WHY ARE YOU SUCH AN ASSHOLE? YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO BE CAUSING A SCENE, DON’T YOU?” At this point it was Sprout being the one causing a scene, everyone was looking over to them. Shrimpos usually loose and relaxed posture tensed up, he pulled his shoulders up and put his legs up onto the chair to rest his head on his knees.
“So.. S- Sprout..! How about we all clam down and just..”, Finn tried to deescelate the situation but it was too late. Shrimpo started softly sobbing onto his knees and covered his head with his arms as far as possible. “Fucking hell..”, Sprout mumbled, “See? Here he goes again acting all childish!” Finn gritted his teeth and balled up his fists at Sprout. He was mad. He was boiling. He stood up staring Sprout dead into his eyes. “Stop.”, was all he said, then he walked over to Shrimpo. Finn kneeled down to eye level to Shrimpo and carefully put a hand on his back. “Hey.. It’s okay.”, he said softly, “Come here..”, he gently put his arms around Shrimpo. He slid off his chair like a ragdoll and fell into Finns arms. Sprout still just stood there with his arms crossed. “Go. Let me handle this.”, Finn said, every ounce of his usual goofy personality gone. “If you say so.”, Sprout grumbled.
Finn sat Shrimpo down in the corner of the cafeteria, away from most toons, tightly holding him on his shoulder so he wouldn’t accidently tip over. Shrimpo stared down onto the floor. His lips trembled as tears rolled down his face. “I’m sorry.”, he barely managed to whisper under his breath. “It’s okay, you don’t need to apologize to me..”, Finn wiped the tears off of Shrimpos cheek gently with his thumb. “Do you want me to get you anything?” Shrimpo shook his head. “Stay..”, he sniffled. “Of course I will.. if that’s what you want”
Shrimpo didn’t seem to be getting better, worse in fact. His breathing was quick and unsteady, and his whole body was shaking. Finn was getting unsure of what to do and he didn’t want to ask for help since he knew no one would want to help “the bully”. He could hear Sprout whispering something to the other toons. Finn apparently was not having that. He got up and stormed over to him. “Are you actually kidding me?!”, Finn yelled, “Are you seeing him?? He’s obviously completely overwhelmed right now, and all you’re doing is talking shit. Isn’t helping people your thing, because it doesn’t seem like it right now.” Sprout was flabbergasted, he was about to speak up but Finn wasn’t done. “How can you actually be so cruel?! He’s over here having a shutdown and you don’t even once think of helping, or at least apologizing to him for screaming?” “B- but he always screams..!”, Sprout tried to justify himself. “And you should be better than that! You can’t fix violence with violence!!”, Finn was about to start crying too, from anger. “Go make yourself useful.”, he scoffed. “But how? What am I supposed to do??” “Well if you actually want to be helpful, go grab the weighted blanket from Shrimpos room.” Finn then walked back to Shrimpo to try and calm him down again.
Shrimpo had started hitting his head with one hand while the other was clawing at his chest. Finn grabbed Shrimpos hand and held it in his. “You can’t hurt yourself like this..” Shrimpo was unresponsive and just kept crying. He was rocking back and forth helplessly when Sprout returned. He had surprisingly actually gotten the blanket and now tossed it over to Finn. “Why is this thing so heavy?! God damn..”, Sprout asked “Because it’s filled with sand?? How about you use your brain..” Finn only mumbled that last part so Sprout couldn’t hear it. He gently started wrapping the blanket around Shrimpo. He sat down next to him, started rubbing his back and quietly shushing him. “Should we go to your room or do you want to stay here?” Shrimpo still didn’t respond, but Finn figured he wouldn’t want to stay in the crowded cafeteria. He got up and held his hand out to Shrimpo and smiled sweetly. “Come on, let’s get you outta here..”
Finn took a few moments to figure out how to get Shrimpo to stand up, since he wasn't stable enough to stand up by myself, but he managed to put his arms around him and pull him up. You could hear the single grains of sand in the blanket trickle down as Shrimpo dragged it behind him, no one saying anything as Finn helped Shrimpo stumble out of the cafeteria towards his room. Finn gently opened the door to Shrimpos room and let him in, then he followed. Shrimpo dragged himself to his bed and flopped onto it. Shrimpo pulled his weighted blanket over his head and started sobbing more loudly, now that he was away from all the others. “You’re going to suffocate yourself under there”, Finn said as he walked over to Shrimpo. He slowly pulled the blanket down a bit so he could see his head again. Shrimpo took a deep breath and wiped the tears from his face. “You wanna be alone?”, Finn asked gently. Shrimpo stared down at himself. He didn’t want to admit it, but he’d very much prefer not being alone.
“Don’t worry about it. I reely don’t mind!”, Finn giggled at his own joke but he knew to stay somewhat serious. “It’ll all be okay. I’ll make sure of it..” Shrimpo started to slowly quiet down, but his eyes were still puffy from the salty tears. He started biting around on the side of his thumb but Finn gently pulled his hand away from his mouth. “Sorry..”, the Shrimp mumbled. “Don’t be sorry! I’m just trying to make sure you don’t hurt yourself.”
Finn ended up getting Shrimpo some crackers and water so he’d at least eat and drink something, then they just talked until it got dark outside.