A/N: I regret nothing of this chapter; it's about time Finn had some fun. XD
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"Mu-um!"
Ant's voice echoed clearly through the ducts. Finn, barely a few yards from a grate, tried to simultaneously pull himself further, stifle panicked laughter, rub his sore shoulder, and not drip water on the metal duct. A snicker escaped him at Ant's next declaration.
"Cooper struck again!"
In Finn's defense, he'd been bored.
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Fifteen minutes earlier...
Fontaine was outside with Ant, clearing the propellers of seaweed. Kaiko was on the bridge, where she usually was. Will was in his study, studying the runes he'd ignored for nearly two weeks and Fontaine still hadn't gotten pictures of.
Feeling cooped up in the hideout, Finn wandered the ducts. Fontaine was the only person to frequently enter the ducts, so Finn never had to worry about running into anyone.
Just in case, though, Finn always kept his tablet on him. Dots on the screen, color-coded to indicate each of the Nekton family, showed where everyone was on the Aronnax.
Finn crawled to one of the vents and peered at the empty hall. Or, seemingly empty. Finn ducked back as Jeffrey swam slowly through one of the numerous tubes through the Aronnax.
Finn automatically checked his tablet, but the orange and green dots were still outside. Weird, Jeffrey was usually with Ant. Finn shuffled back to the vent.
Jeffrey stopped in the tube and turned. He stared toward Finn.
"Nobody else notices me," Finn informed the fish.
Jeffrey just blinked at him. If fish could glare, Jeffrey was doing it.
"Okay, you caught me." Finn opened the grate, since the hall was unmonitored. "Can you keep my secret?"
Jeffrey blew a bubble.
"Cool." Finn sighed. "I can't believe I'm talking to a fish. I think I've been on the Aronnax for too long."
Jeffrey twirled in a circle.
Finn chuckled. "Sure, make fun of me. Why aren't you with Ant?"
Jeffrey stared.
"Hey..." Finn checked his tablet again. "Want to play a joke on Ant?"
Finn decided that he'd definitely been on the Aronnax too long, because he could have sworn that Jeffrey smiled. But, since he was bored and rather wanted to mess with Ant, Finn decided to just go with it.
"Wait here," Finn said.
Finn backed away and was halfway to the hideout before the absurdity of telling a fish to "stay" really hit him. Again, he shrugged it off.
Finn dropped into the hideout. He grabbed his water bottle and an empty container from breakfast. At the last second, he put on his diving gloves. Ghosts don't leave fingerprints, after all.
Jeffrey was still waiting when Finn returned. Finn checked the hall and communicator trackers once more, then dropped into the hall. Finn poured water into the container, then found an opening in Jeffrey's tube.
"Now, how do I..." Finn trailed off as Jeffrey swam to the opening and jumped out, landing squarely in the container. "...okay, then."
Finn set the container inside the ducts, hopped inside, then closed the vent. Finn shuffled along the ducts, holding the container in one hand and his tablet under his arm.
"Amazing, right?" Finn said when Jeffrey appeared to study the ducts. "I know, it's not much. Better than some areas of the Dark Orca, though."
Jeffrey turned to him.
"At least the Aronnax doesn't leak."
Jeffrey blew a bubble.
"Don't need to rub it in."
Finn crawled up to another vent and sat. He set Jeffrey's container aside, then checked the tablet again. Nobody had moved.
"You sure about this?" Finn asked in an exaggerated whisper.
Jeffrey nodded.
Okay, then. Something was up with Ant's fish.
Finn hopped into the hall, careful to be quiet. He was in a more travelled hall near the Moon Pool room and, even though everyone was elsewhere, Finn was being cautious.
Finn set Jeffrey's container in the middle of the hall. There weren't any tubes or fish tanks nearby, leaving no logical way for Jeffrey to have gotten in the plastic tub of water on the floor.
Finn cocked his head, considering his plan. This was his first intentional "ghost" act, but he was curious.
After he'd made repairs in a section of the Aronnax that few people were supposed to be able to access, Will and Kaiko's attempts at finding an intruder had nearly stopped. Did they really suspect there was a ghost on board? What sort of things had the Nektons encountered?
Finn's thought was disrupted when the Aronnax suddenly turned. Finn braced his feet to ride out the motion.
Bam!
The loud crash was accompanied by a huge jolt through the Aronnax. Finn was thrown sideways and slammed shoulder-first into the wall. He sprawled on the ground in a puddle of water, then scrambled to his feet.
Motion from Jeffrey's container stilled Finn's bolt to the vent. He groaned when he saw Jeffrey, staring sorrowfully up.
While the container had miraculously stayed upright after the jolt, most of the water had splashed out. Jeffrey was barely submerged.
"Okay, but we'll have to be fast," Finn said, snatching up the container. "Whatever happened will probably bring Fontaine and Ant back."
Finn darted into another hall. Lucky for Jeffrey, Finn knew there was a tube in a nearby hall that was also unmonitored.
Finn ran to the opening in the tube and stuck the container inside. It quickly filled up, but Jeffrey didn't retreat to the safety of the tube. The fish stared at Finn.
"Really? You still want to do this?"
Jeffrey blew a bubble. Finn groaned, then lifted the container and bolted back to his original spot. He plunked the container on the ground, then stumbled to another halt.
Ghosts didn't leave puddles, either.
Finn huffed and jerked off his jacket to hastily mop up the water. He chucked the wet jacket into the ducts. As he boosted himself inside with slick hands, Finn heard the Moon Pool room door open.
Finn jerked the vent cover into place. He scrambled down the duct, then his sore arm gave out at the first turn. He pulled himself out of view from the vent, then heard Ant's voice.
"Mu-um!"
Finn was mostly successful in smothering his laughter in his dripping hands. Mission accomplished.
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A/N: The next chapter is very short and primarily to fill the gap, except for one thing. XP I'll post it tomorrow at some point.
YOU ARE READING
Interning on the Aronnax
Fanfiction(AU starting on S1E7; mostly drabble-sized chapters) Finn makes his choice, but somehow gets kicked off of the Aronnax and the Dark Orca. Joining the Nektons is still his hope, but first he has to convince them that he's a good guy. Luckily, he's go...
