Chapter Text
It was a boring day. A horrible day. Shrimpo sat at his desk, gripping a pencil as he glared down at the paper before him. “ Today was shit ,” he wrote, “ I HATED today .” He leaned back for a moment, contemplating what else to write as he rolled the pencil between his fingers. “ I HATED seeing Cosmo and Sprout act like fools together. I HATED the dinner they made for us. I wish I didn’t eat that shit. I HATED how everyone was laughing and having fun. There is NOTHING to be laughing about. I wish everyone would shut up. ” Shrimpo paused, reading over what he wrote. He nodded slightly to himself, crumbled up the piece of paper, and shoved it into one of the drawers in his desk, like he always does.
Shrimpo got up from his chair, shoving it in and letting it make an unpleasant scratching noise against the floor. He went over to the punching bag hanging in the corner of his room, and slammed his head against it. He threw a few punches as he thought of the shitty day he had. A groan of frustration and anger escaped him, and he shoved the punching bag out of the way, sliding down the wall to sit, making sure the back of his head slammed against it on the way down. He pulled his knees to his chest, rubbing his face as he let out another frustrated sigh.
There was a knock at the door. “Who THE FUCK is it,” Shrimpo thought as he got up, “I swear on my life if it’s Dandy I’m going to beat the shit out of him. I don’t want to talk to ANYONE right now, let alone that motherfucker.” He opened the door, preparing in his mind all the insults and curses he was going to use in a few moments.
To his dismay, there actually was someone at his door, and it wasn’t just his imagination. Great. “Hi Shrimpo!” Finn said with a small wave. “What.” Shrimpo said flatly, not happy about his alone time being interrupted. “Uh so!- would you perch -ance like to come out and hang out with us?” Finn asked with a cheeky smile. Shrimpo scowled, going to slam the door closed, but Finn fought to keep it open. “Haha, ok ok, I know you don’t like my puns, sorry,” he said, still smiling a bit, “But I’m serious. You’re always in your room.” Shrimpo glared at him through the small gap between the door and the doorframe as he continued to try to close it with no success. “Maybe because you guys are annoying,” he replied, applying a bit more pressure to finally get the door closed. To his dismay, Finn was pretty strong, and the door remained cracked open. “ Fuck this guy. How is he so strong? He doesn’t even look strong ,” Shrimpo thought to himself. “Waaiiiitttt,” Finn said, “Just this once? And didn’t management say you need to come out of your room more?” Shrimpo groaned in annoyance, abruptly stopping his pushing on the door. The door swung open, and Finn stumbled to the floor, spilling water onto the carpet. “Oh for fuck’s sake-” Shrimpo snapped, rubbing a hand across his face. Finn scrambled to his feet, his cheeks a bit pink. “Oops, haha. Let me get a towel.”
Shrimpo stalked off, heading to the commons area and leaving Finn to clean up his mess. A few eyes glanced up at him as he approached, but no one said anything to him. As usual. In the corner of the room was a small table and a few chairs quite a bit aways from everyone else and therefore perfect for Shrimpo. He sat down, observing the other toons as they chatted together, most of them occupied in a card game. Nobody was paying any attention to Shrimpo, thank god. Or so he thought, but as he was scanning the room with disdain, he locked eyes with Dandy from across the room. “ That fucker… that stupid smile on his face… ” Shrimpo thought as he glared at Dandy. He was not going to be the first to break eye contact. And of course, he won because it was soon Dandy’s turn in the card game.
Basking in his small triumph, Shrimpo turned his attention to the table he was sitting at. He noticed the colored pencils scattered around, and the various sheets of paper and artwork. “ Oh fuck, is this Finn’s- ” Before Shrimpo could even think about moving, Finn walked up. “Oh, hey! I’m glad you chose to sit here too.” “I thought you were playing with the others,” Shrimpo said in an almost accusatory tone, like Finn had even said anything like that. “Nah, I’m fin -ished with card games for now,” Finn said, ignoring Shrimpo’s tone and sitting down in the seat next to him. The pun earned an eye roll from Shrimpo. “Just shut up.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, and Shrimpo himself was even surprised he stayed longer than 2 minutes. The corner of the room was far enough away from the crowd that the chatter and laughter wasn’t too obnoxious, and Finn was being quiet enough that Shrimpo could ignore his presence. Shrimpo let his gaze wander to Finn, who was focused on drawing. On closer inspection, the drawing was of… people. Kids. Fishing with Finn. Hm. Interesting.
As if he could feel Shrimpo’s eyes, Finn glanced up, a small smile on his face. As if sensing the quick retort Shrimpo had prepared, he chose to stay silent, gaze falling back to his drawing, which he put to the side. He grabbed a fresh sheet, and returned to his quiet concentration. Shrimpo, bored of thinking and staring off into space, decided to grab a sheet too.
With a red colored pencil, Shrimpo started scribbling on the paper, not caring if it shook the table. The paper was soon covered in angry faces and words such as “HATE,” “FUCK YOU,” and “GO AWAY.” Shrimpo slammed the red colored pencil down with a quiet thud and admired his masterpiece. Feeling eyes on him, he raised his head and saw Finn looking at his paper too. “… I’m better than you,” Shrimpo muttered, but then he saw Finn’s paper and his heart felt weird. There seemed to be sketches of… someone that looked suspiciously like Shrimpo. Shrimpo scowled, snatching the paper from Finn, and observing it more closely. Finn chuckled nervously, wringing his hands.
Shrimpo stared at the paper, the scowl never leaving his face. The sketches were of him… What the fuck… Shrimpo’s eyes snapped back up to Finn’s. “What is this??” he said, gesturing to the paper like it was some evidence of a crime. “You,” Finn answered with a small, nervous smile. Shrimpo’s eyes darted from the paper to Finn. “Why do I look like that?” he growled, gripping the paper a bit tighter. “Like what?” Finn asked. Shrimpo paused, not sure how to phrase what he wanted to say. “… I don’t know- like… like some pretty boy!” he snapped, bristling, “And I’m not cute! Or a pretty boy!” He felt his cheeks heat up at how stupid he sounded, and he hoped Finn wouldn’t notice.
Finn’s hand came up to his mouth, presumably to hide a smile. “What, you think it looks cute?” “That’s not what I said!!” Shrimpo said angrily, crumbling the paper up. “I hate you and your stupid drawings. You’re always trying to find a way to get on my nerves!” Finn looked a bit bummed that his artwork got crumpled up, and with a small sigh, he reached for his paper ball of artwork. “I didn’t mean to make you salty ,” he murmured apologetically. But Shrimpo kept the ball out of his reach, still holding onto it. Finn looked a bit surprised. “What, you want it?” he asked. “What- no! I don’t want your stupid drawings!” Shrimpo said defensively. Finn stared at Shrimpo for a moment as he thought. “… okay, you can… ‘not’ keep it,” he said. Shrimpo rolled his eyes. “I don’t need permission from you.”
“Anyways, I’ve been here long enough. I’m tired of this,” Shrimpo announced, standing from his chair. Finn shifted in his chair, watching as Shrimpo started walking away, arms crossed and crumbled paper in hand. Finn smiled a bit, feeling confused but a little happy Shrimpo took his drawing. “Goodnight!” he called after him.