Work Text:
After all these years, you would have thought that Snufkin and his friends had already explored the Valley’s most hidden parts. They’d been going around the deepest parts of the forest, the steepest parts of the mountains, and into the darkest caves.
And yet, there they were, exploring, yet, another new cave, in a deep part of the forest, leading to the side of the mountain, where no way led up to it.
Snufkin had discovered it, once, when he was exploring with Moomin, enjoying some peaceful time together. They’d been excited about the new place to explore, and, despite how much they wanted to go in immediately, and explore with only the two of them, they’d decided that their friends would love to go in with them, and probably would hold it against them if they explored it without them anyway.
So, that day, they all regrouped, to go deep in the forest and find that new cave again, well intent on exploring it, all together.
Of course, a dark cave only meant that, despite how curious he was, Sniff would whine about being scare during the whole exploration. And, with that, it meant that Little My would be arguing with him the whole way, telling him to shut up and go wait outside while they explored without him.
Snufkin and Moomin, much too used to this, and not really caring about it much, took the front, leading everyone into the darkness of the cave, while Snorkmaiden stayed next to the other two, trying to get both of them to calm down, and to be quieter.
Now, normally, it wouldn’t have been anything to be annoyed, nor concerned, about. But, this time, something was different.
Snufkin suddenly stopped, making Moomin stop next to him and look at him in confusion, while the three other, behind them, followed as well, Little My and Sniff still arguing, as Sniff started to whine about how dark it was, and asking if there was anything dangerous up ahead that had made their friend stop like that.
“Shh. Quiet down.” Snufkin shushed them, trying to listen to something that none of them could hear.
“What? I- Is there a monster?!” Sniff whined loudly.
“Oh! For the lord of- Will you fucking shut up already!” Little My exclaimed, tired of him.
“Bu- But! I’m scared!” Sniff argued. “An-”
Suddenly, Snufkin’s head snapped up, before he turned around and dashed into the three of them, pulling Moomin’s paw with him to make him follow.
There was a loud noise for a moment, something very heavy, as they all fell to the ground with Snufkin.
“What the-?” Little My exclaimed as she got back to her feet.
A big pile of rocks was sitting where they all had been standing, more, smaller, rocks still falling from the ceiling, as the bigger ones, still up there, threatened to accompany them.
Snufkin, while they all got back up, looking in shock at the pile of rocks, managed to free his foot, that had gotten caught up, and stuck, into the pile. Thankfully for him, nobody seemed to have noticed it.
“B- B- Blood!!!” Sniff yelled, startling them all with how loud and panicked he was.
Indeed, Sniff’s arm was bleeding, having been caught up on some rock while he’d fallen, and hurt by the falling ones.
“Calm down!” Little My tried to get him to quiet down. “You’ll get more of it coming!” Of course, she couldn’t help being loud herself, despite how much effort she was putting in not yelling.
“I- I’m going to d- Die!” Sniff continued, clearly not listening.
“There’s no time.” Snufkin shook his head, as Moomin looked at him for guidance, hoping Snufkin would take the time to examine their friend, so he would calm down. “Let’s get out before we’re buried.”
With that, Snufkin took hold of Sniff’s wrist, on his unharmed arm, and pulled him towards the exit, leading all of them out of the cave, as it was much too dangerous and unstable.
He was glad that he was so used to hiding injuries from when he traveled, managing to not even limp as he made his way out, pulling the poor, whining, Sniff with him.
“Here.” Snufkin let go of Sniff’s wrist, guiding him to sit down by the entrance of the cave. “Let me give it a look.”
“Th- There’s s- so much b- blood!” Sniff cried, agitating his arm.
He looked so pale, and so frightened, that they were actually amazed that he hadn’t fainted from the view of the blood yet.
Too bad for them.
“Calm down.” Snufkin said firmly, tried to stop him from moving so much, so that he could give it a look. “Please, don’t move. You’ll make it worse.”
“I- I’m going to die!” Sniff just wasn’t listening.
“Sniff, it’s okay. It’s just a small cut.” Snorkmaiden tried to reassure.
“Yeah. Snufkin will make it better in no time. Don’t worry.” Moomin tried as well.
“I need you to calm down. Let me look.” Snufkin instructed again, more firmly, handing out his paw for Sniff to give him his, so that he could look at the damage.
Still, Sniff was much too panicked to acknowledge it. He continued to get more and more agitated as he looked at his bleeding arm, ignoring them all as they tried to reassure him, trying to get him to calm down.
“WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!” Little My, who’d been unusually silent until now, finally snapped, startling them all. “STOP MOVING AND LET SNUFKIN TAKE CARE OF IT, FOR FUCK’ SAKE!”
Sniff, finally, quieted down, looking startled and scared as he looked at her, then back at Snufkin, who reached out again, asking silently for his arm.
This time, Sniff stayed silent, still crying, as he finally held out his arm for Snufkin to see. This one quickly examined the wound, before moving to get a cloth he had in his pocket and damping it in the nearest stream.
Sniff continued to cry, obviously still freaking out, as Snufkin cleaned the wound, before bandaging it with a roll of bandage that he always kept with him, just in case.
“There.” Snufkin let go of his arm, after he’d finished bandaging it. “You’ll be fine now.”
Sniff wasn’t really looking convinced, of course, but he stayed quiet, not voicing his worries, as he could still see Little My glaring at him, warning him to stay quiet.
“Let’s get you back to MoominMamma. You’ll feel better once she’ll have taken a look at it.” Snufkin sighed, sounding annoyed. “Let’s go.” He said as he got back up to his feet ignoring the pain that shot through his left ankle, and started to walk onto the path back.
The group followed him, Snorkmaiden and Moomin staying close to Sniff, this time, to try and comfort him, reassuring him that he was fine now, and that he wouldn’t die, or anything.
“You should have Mamma get a look at your ankle too.” Little My huffed as she walked alongside Snufkin. “Don’t even think I didn’t notice it. They might not have seen it, and you might be good at hiding things from everyone, but you won’t be fooling me.” She pointed out, annoyed.
“Too bad for me.” Snufkin huffed, ignoring the way his lips tugged upwards a little.
“Even if I didn’t notice it, you know you can’t escape Mamma’s eyes.” The little mymble noted as well, a smirk growing on her face as she glanced at him.
“You’re probably right.” Snufkin let himself chuckle a little.
“What do you mean ‘probably’?” Little My huffed. “You know I am right. Always am!” She puffed up proudly, sounding falsely offended.
Snufkin chuckled some more, enjoying quietly the smile that grew bigger on her face as he did.
When they got home, MoominMamma quickly took a look at Sniff’s arm, agreeing and reassuring that Snufkin had done a very good job of it already, and that it would quickly heal on its own as long as he didn’t touch it too much.
She also quickly noticed Snufkin’s ankle, even before he said anything. She waited for everyone else, aside from Little My and Snufkin to have gone back out, to distract Sniff from his injury and help him feel better about it, to approach Snufkin.
“Let’s get a look at that ankle, dear.” She just said, a knowing smile on her face.
“Told you!” Little My puffed up proudly.
Snufkin rolled his eyes, although he didn’t hide the smile that made its way on his face. Still, he followed MoominMamma as she led him to sit down on the couch, and let her roll his pants leg up, taking off his boot, to get a better look at the damage.
Snufkin hissed in pain, as his boot was taken off, letting go of the pressure that helped his ankle stay in place, helping the pain.
MoominMamma apologized about it, but continued examining him, touching his ankle lightly, making him suck in another breath as the pain intensified.
“It’s definitely sprained.” She hummed, getting up and going to fetch the first aid kit. “It’s swollen, but it should be fine in no time, as long as you don’t put pressure on it.” She pointed out, coming back to him. “You don’t need to hide it.” She gave him a serious glance, before she took to taking care of it. “I understand that you don’t like showing when you’re hurt, but, at least, you should allow yourself to limp. It’ll make it worse if you force yourself to walk properly with it.” She explained.
“That’s what I told him.” Little My huffed. “He never listens.” She shook her head, giving a desperate and annoyed sigh.
“Shut up, My.” Snufkin huffed. “You know why I do that.” He pointed out, looking out the window.
“Well, yeah. I know. Still, you’re not out there. You’re in the Valley.” She countered. “You have a reason to do it out there, not here.” She put her paws on her hips, standing in a scolding way, on the couch, next to him.
“No so easy to make a difference.” Snufkin sighed.
“Oh! Come on!” Little My huffed, annoyed.
“It’s okay.” MoominMamma smiled, letting her paw run through Snufkin’s hair, as she got up, having already finished bandaging his ankle tightly. “I know, it’s not easy to get rid of bad habits, even less when you still need it when you’re out there. Still, you should try to allow yourself to show us.”
“I’ll try harder.” Snufkin sighed, giving her a small, thankful, smile.
“You better!” Little My huffed.