Chapter Text
Y/N wasn’t sure what time it was, but it was certainly no time for her to be awake. She woke up seemingly in the middle of the night when her allergies were so bad, it was getting a little difficult to breathe out of her nose. She had pushed the comforter aside as the high temperature made her feel even more stuffy, but it still was not enough to make her feel comfortable enough to go back to sleep. At this point, she wasn’t quite sure what to do, because she could leave to blow her nose, but if the sound of her steps didn’t wake anyone up, blowing her nose certainly would. Having nothing else to preoccupy her mind as she lay there in dead silence, her thoughts began to run wild. She came up with an idea soon enough —though she thought it was pretty crazy, and she wasn’t sure she was willing to go through with it. However, her congestion became too much, and she sat up to put her shoes on that were right by her bed.
With careful, slow steps and actions, she creaked the door open and cautiously looked out. Expectantly, no one was awake or at least out. After a few seconds of hesitation, she came out just enough to where she could close the door gently behind her. She didn’t move for a second, keeping an ear out for any noise that could suggest that someone was awake, or that she had awakened them. After hearing nothing, she tip-toed to the stairs and slowly made her way down them. After she made it to the bottom, she felt more comfortable as she knew that she couldn’t be heard as easily from now there. Still, she knew she wasn’t completely in the clear, so she had to do what she was going to do quickly. With light steps, she walked to the bathroom door and opened it quietly, closing it just a little behind her. She was expecting to get a few strips of toilet paper, but, luckily, they had a tissue box already opened for the taking on their bathroom counters. She pulled one out and turned to walk out until she stopped and turned her head to look back at the box. No, it was fine, she only needed one tissue, and she didn’t want to carry more than she had to. Then she turned back and walked out.
Now, this was the tricky part, and she was beginning to have second thoughts. She froze for a bit she was thinking over if this was really a good idea. She finally decided that, while she had already made it downstairs and had the tissue, she might as well follow through. As fast as she could while still being quiet as she could, she paced to the bathroom door, opened it, scurried outside, and still turned towards the door, closed it tightly with both hands on the knob. Oh my goodness, I’m outside in the middle of the night! She thought. She felt alarmed by her commitment but was most proud that she had pulled that off. She just hoped she wouldn’t have trouble getting back in.
This was her first time being outside since the momma Moomin invited her in, and at the time, the exhaustion from the trip and the anxiety she felt about what she was going to do once she got there didn’t allow her to take it all then fully. Instead of the heat from the summer air in the daytime suffocating her, it was cooler at night, added with a nice breeze. In addition, even in the darkness, she saw how large the land spread was and how beautifully it all merged. Any neighbors the Moomins have must be at a great distance away from their house. The openness excited her, making her feel for a moment that she could go as far as she wanted without running into or bothering anyone.
Because she couldn’t blow her nose in the house, she figured she would do it outside. However, now that she was outside, she still wasn’t completely sure she felt completely comfortable doing it in front of their house. What if the walls were thin? What if a window was open? What if they heard her and thought that she was some kind of beast luring around their house? What if they actually happened to see her? So, as the openness of the land allowed her, she decided it would be best to walk some distance away from the house, just enough where she was confident she couldn’t be seen and definitely couldn’t be heard.
She just started walking along the path that led up to the Moomin house when a strong gust of wind came behind her and her tissue flew out of her hand. “Oh no!” she cried and ran after it. However, the wind was too strong and before long, it was way ahead of her. Just as she began to slow while she was watching the tissue in dismay fly over the bridge that crossed the river next to the Moomin house, a hand suddenly reached up and grabbed it in the nick of time. Y/N halted to a complete stop. She didn’t notice before because she didn’t pay attention and because it was so dark, but someone was sitting on the bridge floor with their back against the bridge railing.
She watched, modified, as they stood up slowly and held up the tissue. “Is this yours?”
Y/N gripped her nightgown in an attempt to calm herself, her face red hot from sheer embarrassment. Had they seen her come out of the Moomin house? Had they been watching her this whole time? These questions clouded her ability to think properly as her face only raised in temperature.
“I-” she managed to force out. She moved a little closer. “Y-Yes, I’m sorry, it is.” She awkwardly walked toward them, the speed at which she was doing it was very inconsistent, even stopping for a second before continuing to walk. She hesitantly took the tissue from them and put that hand to her side, squeezing the tissue as if she was trying to make it disappear. The whole time, she didn’t look them in the eye once, not that she was really thinking about this as she was still wholly embarrassed and felt very self-conscious.
After this, she just stood there, looking at her feet, not sure if she should say something or if she should walk away. She wasn’t sure what this person she’s never met expected of her. She didn’t have to wonder for much longer, though, because they were the one to walk away. She watched them curiously as they leaned over the rails of the bridge and lit the freshly filled pipe they had between their teeth. This piqued her interest as that was something she was not expecting.
Still squeezing the tissue, she brought both of her hands up to her chest and took a step onto the bridge curiously. She opened her mouth to speak but she couldn’t think of anything to say to them. She looked around nervously and almost immediately saw that there was a tent set up near the bridge on the other side of the river. She didn’t know how she didn’t notice it before, maybe it was just unimportant to take note of before, but now she was really starting to question its presence and the presence of this puzzling stranger.
“...Is that your tent?” she asked after a few seconds of building up the courage to do so, looking at the tent. “Over there?” She turned back to look at them for an answer. As they turned their head to look at her as she spoke, the light of the moon showed just so that it illuminated their face, and for the first time, she got as clear of a view as the stranger’s hat would allow her. She wasn’t quite sure why, but she almost gasped. She’s experienced a lot of strange things recently and met a lot of strange folks, but this stranger was the least strange thing so far. Even though their hat covered up the top half of their face, she could see at least that the stranger had a look that was more youthful and soft than she was expecting, and the hair that stuck out from under the hat looked messy but somehow still fell together gracefully, but the thing that really struck her was this look they had that she couldn’t put her finger on. It was a neutral look he had but it somehow had this depth that she couldn’t ignore. It seemed impossible to figure out what they were thinking at that moment or what they were feeling. Were they interested? Annoyed? Confused? Maybe it was just her. Regardless, it only made her feel more intrigued. It almost had this weird charm.
“It is.” They inhaled a bit of smoke from their pipe and exhaled after a moment of holding it in. They turned away from her to the river to do this, but a bit of the smoke still made its way to her, and she coughed a little while waving it away, afterward taking the tissue she luckily still had to wipe her nose carefully. They looked at her for a moment while she did this before turning back to the river. “I suppose you are staying with the Moomins, hm?” She looked up. She wasn’t that surprised that they knew the Moomins since the Moomins seem to befriend everyone they meet. This also confirmed that they did watch or at the very least saw her as she came out of the house. Embarrassing.
“Uhh yeah…yeah, they let me…” she stuttered. She averted her eyes, feeling somewhat awkward because she felt like they wanted a better explanation, as do most people.
He didn’t ask for one though and instead responded admirably with, “I would guess it. It doesn’t matter who you are, they welcome everyone.” Y/N knew that this was true of course, so she let out a bit of a chuckle.
“Yeah…” she agreed quietly.
There was another moment of silence where the stranger smoked and Y/N watched discreetly. After a short while though, she started to feel awkward again as she didn’t want to leave but didn’t know what else to say. She looked off and her vision found its way to the Moomin house.
“It can be a bit much for me at times — actually most of the time, but truly I do enjoy it.” Something about this stranger made her want to talk; she felt like they could be trusted like she could tell them anything and it would stay between them. Maybe it was naive of her, but she couldn’t resist the temptation. For the first time in her life, she was the one carrying the conversation.
She didn’t look away from the house, feeling a bit self-conscious; she was hoping that they didn’t feel pestered by her. “Well, everyone does eventually,” they hummed. Y/N timidly turned back to them and hesitantly glanced at their face. Their eyes were closed with their head held high, allowing the light of the moon to illuminate their face as they let the wind breeze by them, the smoke from their pipe following the wind. She saw their similarities at that moment, something she had known in the back of her mind when she first laid eyes on them but wasn’t able to see clearly. He was just a regular boy, just like the few ones she’d met before, yet somehow, so much different.
Y/N found herself wanting to know more about this boy, which for most people wasn’t usually difficult, but it was clear that this was someone of few words. She glanced away to think for a moment without turning away from the boy. He seemed to know a lot about the Moomins, maybe he was like Little My? Then again, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Moomins knew everyone who lived in this valley. She hadn’t met a lot of people besides the Moomins yet, but regardless they seemed to have the same idea, even Y/N herself. A part of her wondered if it was too good to be true.
“So, you know the Moomins?” she was hoping he wasn’t judging her for asking such an obvious question.
“Indeed I do,” he nodded. She was once again hoping he would say a little more. Thankfully, he didn’t sound at all annoyed, which made her more comfortable asking him more questions. Though, of course, that didn’t stop her from possibly overthinking everything she wanted to say for fear that she was being invasive.
“How...do you know…the Moomins…?” she hesitated, not knowing how else to ask him. He took his pipe out from between his teeth and turned to her with a small, amused smile.
“Moomin was the first one I met. He and his friends found me camped in the lonely mountains.”
“The lonely mountains…?” she questioned quietly. He pointed the tip of his pipe towards the mountains miles away in the opposite direction that formed around the valley.
“T-That’s where I came from!” Y/N gasped. “Did…did you come from there then too..?” He let out a small, cheerful chuckle, which caused Y/N to sink back into her previous position of timidity.
“Not quite.” He leaned over the bridge rails a bit to rest on them. “I come from all over.”
Oh, she understood. It explained the tent.
“So you’re traveling?”
“Yes I suppose that is it,” he responded, turning his head to look at her thoughtfully. “Though I don’t plan on moving away from Moominvalley until winter, as I always do.”
Y/N put her hands on the rails. “So then — you don’t live anywhere?” she turned her head to look at him. “No home?”
“I would consider it to be the opposite, actually,” he protested gently. Y/N tilted her head curiously. “I live everywhere.” Y/N looked away thoughtfully, processing what he was saying. She pushed her body away from the rails for a moment before pulling herself back, still holding onto the rails.
“Well, I guess that is a good way to look at it,” she said, watching the river flow thoughtfully as it disappeared through the bridge. She turned to him. “In that sense, I suppose you never get lost, do you?”
“I do sometimes,” he admitted. Y/N looked back down at the river.
In any other situation similar to this, her habit to overthink everything might have made her feel a little embarrassed, suggesting something with certainty that wasn’t necessarily true. Naturally, meeting him at first, it was no different. For the most part, she was watching what she said during the whole conversation, but slowly she was becoming more comfortable, much like the first time she was left alone in bed that night.
“Well, I’m lost — so…I can relate I guess,” she said boldly. He turned his head to her.
“Lost? How come?” he queried. Y/N smiled. She was hoping he would take an interest in her troubles.
“That’s why I’m staying with the Moomins, you know.”
“Ah, I suppose that makes sense.” He turned his head back to stare at nothing in front of him as he took another draw from his pipe and let it go, Y/N, this time, moving away for that moment before going back to where she stood. “Not to worry though, the Moomins will help you get back on track in no time.”
Y/N smiled. “You seem so sure.”
He only turned to face her with a small and gentle smile. Without looking away from her, he took a hit from his pipe that would be the last bit of tobacco he put in it. “I hope you enjoy your time here.” He dumped the few amounts of tobacco crumbs left. In one sudden movement, he moved off the railing and began walking to his tent. Y/N unrelaxed herself off the rail and watched him as he went. For the first time, Y/N wasn’t the one walking away. She perfectly understood his distance, it was his confidence in it she didn’t understand. It was interesting.
He disappeared behind his tent and Y/N watched a glow arise inside of it that she assumed was light he just lit and his silhouette appeared. She wasn’t completely aware that she was doing it but she stood there just watching for a little bit. She wasn’t sure that she had met anyone like him.
It didn’t take much longer for her to become self-aware of how strange she would look if he happened to catch her watching him, so, she turned away and look at the river for a moment. Then, before she turned away to walk back toward the house, she looked back at the tent for just a second.
She was just as careful going in as she was going out. She was so scared of making noise going up the stairs that she was practically crawling up them. When she finally made it up, she let out a sigh of relief. She started walking towards her room but stopped like a deer in headlights when her door began opening. Moominmomma walked out and Y/N’s heart dropped and her face heated up.
“Oh, hello, Y/N,” she smiled warmly. “Forgive me, I noticed you were struggling with a stuffy nose yesterday and didn’t consider that you would have trouble sleeping like that.” She walked past Y/N to her room. “I put a humidifier in your room, hopefully, that will help,” she smiled.
Y/N should have been surprised as she watched Moominmomma close the door to her room behind her, and in a way, she was, but the Moomins had been nothing but kind to her. She should have expected that instead of worrying the whole time she was gone.
Finally feeling safe, Y/N felt at peace for the first time that night and realized how tired she was. She landed on her bed face down with a thud. She turned to watch the newly installed humidifier work its magic. Since meeting the stranger outside, she forgot about her congestion and it didn’t seem to pose as much of a problem anymore. Most of the time she couldn’t even sleep through the summer because of it, so she was definitely thankful for it.
After a minute of lying there, she gained the strength to get up just enough to pull the blanket over her and sink into the bed with a big smile on her face. She hadn’t even been here a full night, and she had already seen and experienced more than she was used to in her own life. Her fear of the unexpected and situations that would potentially make her uncomfortable was slowly going away and replaced with excitement, and she couldn’t be happier.
Her thoughts soon drifted to the boy she met tonight and she realized in the midst of her nervousness, she completely forgot to get his name. He was so odd in the most…err, she wasn’t quite sure how to put it in her mind just yet, but he interested her. She wanted to talk to him again, if not to ask him questions, then just to talk, to get him to open up to her, to watch the way he composes himself. She crossed her fingers in hopes that the strange boy hadn’t left again by the time she woke up.