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Snork sat in the corner of the party, grumbling and fiddling with his model flying ship with his favourite screwdriver. He didn't know why he let his sister drag him to these things. He'd been working on the ship for ages and he didn't want to put it down for even a minute. Snorkmaiden was off dancing with some boy she had charmed, leaving him to work alone. It was typical behaviour for her, but that was fine; he preferred to work rather than socialise.
He scowled in concentration at the model flying ship. It wasn't as though he wanted to dance - he didn't want to be here at all. Only his baby sister had looked up at him with such large, pleading eyes when she asked him to take her to the party. Ever since their parents had passed, Snork had taken care of his sister and taking her to the ocassional party was a simple, small thing he could to for her, even if he hated them.
"That looks interesting. What are you working on?"
Snork jumped and scrambled not to drop his model ship. He was surprised; nobody ever usually spoke to him at parties. Nobody ever wanted to. Snork felt a small twinge of annoyance. He had thought he was doing a good job at exuding an aura of rejection towards any potential conversations. He looked up to find out who this person was; the one person in the entire world who may be worse at reading people than Snork, himself.
Snork caught sight of his new conversation partner and almost choked on his own tongue, in his suddenly dry mouth.
He was a boy with autumnal auburn hair and a charming, heart-stopping half-smile. He rested his forearms on the table and leaned in closer to Snork. He was gorgeous. He likely had hundreds of partners lining up to dance with him at just this party alone. Snork felt as though his heart skipped a beat. It hadn't, of course, as that was scientifically impossible. Surely there were enough people here to keep the boy entertained? Why would he bother talking to Snork?
The boy waited patiently until Snork remembered he'd been asked a question.
"O-oh! This is my flying ship."
"That's incredible! Does it really fly?" He looked impressed.
"W-well- no. Not yet. But I'm very close to a breakthrough!" Snork blustered, embarrassed at not having a finished product to show.
He hadn't expected anyone at the party to actually ask about it, especially not someone so attractive. No offense meant to his sister, but the people she associated with tended not to care about much beyond their own appearances. Those who cared about more than their own appearance also cared for their partner's and children's appearances. It was all a little bit silly and shallow, in Snork's opinion. The boy didn't look like one of those shallow people at all, despite being the most attractive person in the room, according to Snork's highly scientific and objective opinion. He wore a scruffy, patched and faded coat along with a matching hat and brown walking boots covered in dirt and dust. It was a different outfit from the rest of the party-goers who were clad in silken dresses and two piece suits. Snorkmaiden had wrapped a golden scarf around her neck and even managed to convince Snork to put on a black bow tie around his own. The boy wore only a threadbare yellow scarf, meant for warmth rather than fashion.
The boy nodded at his model flying ship. "Can I look at it?"
Snork clutched it closer to his chest. He felt that he wanted to let the boy look, but his mind flashed back to the last time he'd let someone else hold his model flying ship. The way they cruelly mocked his idea, the way they tossed it aside carelessly as though it was worth nothing, the way it crashed against the ground and broke irreparably. He remembered how Snorkmaiden screamed in anger and chased them away, how he picked up the pieces and did his best to fix it and failed.
Then he looked again at the boy's large, beguiling brown eyes and found himself handing over the model ship automatically. Their paws brushed and Snork did his best not to turn pink. The boy took the model carefully and inspected it closely. Snork blushed as the boy stared at his work without comment. He'd never wanted the opinion of anyone who wasn't a respected inventor or his own sister before, but he craved the knowledge of what the boy thought.
"It's beautiful." The boy complimented and Snork found himself blushing despite his best efforts. "It's really going to be able to fly?"
"Yes! I'm going to invent the world's very first flying ship!"
The boy returned the ship to him then sat down and leaned his chin on his paw. He looked at Snork with an expression Snork had only ever seen on his sister's dance partners, and fluttered his long, dark eyelashes. Snork fumbled with his model flying ship for only a second before he recovered.
"Will you tell me about it? I've never heard of such a thing before."
"Of course." Snork agreed, always eager to talk about his work to those who would listen. "If you tell me why you're at this party. Forgive me for saying but it doesn't look like the sort of event you'd like."
The boy laughed. "This is my only outfit, you know. I don't own any other clothes I can wear to parties."
"I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean-"
"One set of clothes is enough for me." The boy waved off his stuttering apologies. "And I'm at this party because I thought it would be fun. I didn't know everyone here was so snobby when I broke in through the window."
"You broke in?" Snork yelped. "What on earth for?"
"Well," The boy looked at Snork meaningfully. "I was hoping to dance."
Snork frowned. "But you aren't dancing." He observed.
"Not right now."
"Why not?"
"Nobody's asked me yet."
"What? I-I find that improbable. I'm sure there must be plenty of people here who want to dance with you."
The boy smiled and ducked his head. "Oh? You're a bit of a flirt, aren't you?"
"N-no-! I-I only m-meant-"
"Would you dance with me?" The boy extended his paw to Snork, who stared at him, red-faced. His model flying ship slipped in his paws and he quickly put it down on the table next to him so he wouldn't drop it. Snork glanced over his own shoulder and the boy's eyes shone with amusement. "I'm asking you."
"O-oh!" Snork squeaked and couldn't say anything more. He placed his own paw in the boy's and was pulled up from his seat and towards the dance floor. He gulped as the boy placed his other paw on Snork's waist. Snork nervously put his own spare paw on the boy's shoulder.
"You never told me why you were here." The boy prompted. "You don't seem to have a very high opinion of your fellow party-goers."
"A-ah, you see, my little sister dragged me here. She enjoys these kind of things; parties and dancing and dresses."
"You're here for your sister? That's sweet of you."
The boy spun Snork out and then back in again, bringing him right against his chest. Snork was bigger and taller than the boy; he had no idea how he was manouvering him so easily, but he wasn't going to complain when his knees felt so weak and shaky. Now the boy had also brought up a topic Snork was an expert on - he could talk about his sister for hours. It was his favourite topic, other than his inventions, but for some reason most people didn't want to hear about his scientific breakthroughs.
"I've been looking after her since our parents, um, can't any more. I don't mind indulging her silly whims every so often."
"I think it's more often than you're letting on."
"Oh? What makes you say that?"
"You're soft." The boy said with a soft, half-smile. "I can tell."
They continued to dance until the songs slowed down to more romantic tunes. Snork waited for the boy to stop dancing with him, for the boy to insist that he didn't want them to be mistaken for lovers. The comment never came and the dancing never stopped.
"How would you even know if I were soft? You don't know me, not even my name."
"Well then, what is your name?"
"Snork."
"You're soft, Snork. I can tell."
"How could you possibly tell?" This didn't sound like a very scientific observation to Snork.
"Why not? I know your name now, don't I?"
"Aren't you going to share yours?"
"Snufkin."
"Snufkin." Snork sighed. "Are you soft too, Snufkin?"
"I can be."
"Oh?"
"I can be sharp too." Snufkin grinned, exposing his sharp canines to his dance partner. Snork didn't know exactly what he meant, but his demeanor was both intimidating and alluring. "I think you're soft." Snork blurted without meaning to speak out loud. Snufkin looked surprised, as though nobody had questioned him before, and perhaps nobody had. Perhaps attractive people such as Snufkin wandered through life with everyone agreeing with them to seek their favour.
"Why do you say that, Snork?"
"You've been acting softly all evening. You asked me about my invention and you invited me to dance."
"Is that what it means to be soft?"
"You tell me. You're the one who brought it up first."
"Ah, I see you're sharp too, only differently." Snufkin gently tapped one finger on Snork's temple. "Very sharp."
"Differently? Is that bad?"
"Not at all. Being different isn't good or bad, only different, you see."
"So you think I'm sharp too."
"We're both sharp in different ways. You're sharp, I'm sharp. We are both still sharp."
Snork wasn't sure he could keep up with this nonsense conversation, but he wanted to try.
"Do you like that I'm sharp?"
"I'd say it's a positive trait."
They finally stopped dancing and Snufkin lead Snork back to where they were sitting. It seemed he'd grown bored of dancing with Snork now. Snork expected him to make his excuses and leave immediately but he didn't. Instead Snufkin sat next to Snork and placed his paw on Snork's thigh, leaning in close. Snork's head felt light.
"You never finished telling me about your invention. Do you still want to talk about it?"
He hadn't brought it up all night, for fear of boring Snufkin away but it sounded like he was truly interested.
Snork smiled.