Work Text:
1.
Moomin doesn’t think he’d ever been so tired before. He, Little My, Sniff, and their new friend, Snufkin, had been climbing this mountain for who knows how long. He wondered if the scientists at the observatory ever leave their labs and telescopes to walk back down it.
Needless to say, he was very glad when Snufkin suggested a short rest at a thicker part of the cliffed path.
Looking over, he found Snufkin didn’t look tired at all. He wondered if Snufkin ever got tired, or if he always looked as cool and relaxed as he’s been since they’ve met. His voice was breezy as he spoke.
“Soon, we’ll pass a ravine full of garnets, and after it won’t be much longer until we make it to the observatory.”
“Garnets? Do you have any?” Little My asked.
“I own whatever I look at. Once I see it, I’ll forever have it in my memory.”
Moomin thought that sounded ever so romantic.
“Hear that, Sniff?” Little My yelled over to the boy as he crawled along the path behind them, “If you hurry up you’ll see garnets!”
“I don’t want flowers! I want a bed and sandwiches!” he whined back.
“Garnets aren’t flowers, stupid! They’re gemstones!”
“Gemstones?” and no sooner than he heard that, Sniff was ahead of them.
“Don’t you want a rest, Sniff?” Moomin called.
“No! I’m not tired at all!”
“Oh, I shouldn’t have told him they were gemstones…”
Moomin looked over to Snufkin again to see him grinning at the three’s antics. Snufkin caught his eye and smiled a little wider. Moomin smiled broadly back.
“Help!” a scream that was most certainly Sniff sounded ahead of them and served as the sign they should get a move on.
Moomin, ever so excited to show his new friend that he actually wasn’t tired at all, bounced up and offered his hand.
“Thank you, Moomin,” Snufkin took it gladly.
2.
“Snufkin!” Moomin ran to the river where Snufkin was happily playing his harmonica.
“Hello, Moomin!”
“Oh, I didn’t expect to see you back so soon, Snufkin! You only left last autumn!”
“Yes, but I didn’t want to miss springtime in Moominvalley. The comet didn’t let me see much of its beauty last I was here.”
Moomin was then filled with such a giddiness of seeing his friend again that he couldn’t help but grab Snufkin’s hands and spin him around three times.
“What did you do while you were away?”
Snufkin told him of all his adventures; that he had gone south to escape the biting winter of the north, and of all the people he met along the way.
“One lovely fellow,” he began, “gave me these orange candies after I helped him mend his boat.”
“Orange candies?”
“Yes, would you like one?”
“Do you have any?”
“Of course,” Snufkin got up to fetch his bag, and only then did Moomin realize they had kept holding hands throughout his stories, “I made sure to save some just for you.” He then revealed a small tin and offered it to him.
“Oh, thank you,” said Moomin before opening it up and trying one of the small treats.
“It’s delicious!” he said after a moment, “tart and sweet at the same time!”
“That’s what I thought,” Snufkin smiled and came back to the bridge to sit next to the troll.
Moomin ate another candy and found that he rather wished he could still be holding Snufkin’s hand.
“What happened after you got the candy?” he asked instead, and found that Snufkin’s stories, while interesting, couldn’t completely distract him from that wish.
3.
They were on their way to the beach. The whole group, not just Snufkin and Moomin, even if Moomin wished it were just him and Snufkin.
Though he supposes that it’s good they’re all going, it can get rather awkward when it’s him swimming while Snufkin watches from his fishing line.
“Moomin,” Snorkmaiden looked over at him from where she was walking with Little My, “Do you think seashells have feelings?”
“What?”
“Well, Little My was telling me that they do, and that they must be very sad to be taken from their home so I should stop collecting them.”
“Um… well…” Moomin hated to admit it, but he had very little knowledge over the feelings of seashells, so he turned to Snufkin instead, “What do you think, Snufkin?”
“I think they must have feelings, Snorkmaiden. At least the leftover feelings from whoever their owner was, but I also think they like being found and having a new owner. That’s the way of shells, you know.”
“Oh, really?” Snorkmaiden seemed absolutely delighted, “See, Little My? We were both wrong.”
“Well, I think you’re both wrong,” said Little My, “In fact, I’m going to hide all the shells before you get there! And then you can’t take any home!” she laughed a little wickedly before dashing off ahead of the group.
“Oh no you won’t!” cried Snorkmaiden and quickly followed after her.
“Guys!” Sniff ran off too, leaving only Snufkin and Moomin on the path. Moomin glanced over to Snufkin to find him already looking his way.
“We should probably go help stop her,” said Moomin.
“Yes, but I doubt she’ll really be able to dig up and hide all the seashells. Only Snorkmaiden’s really good at finding them.”
“True,” giggled the troll, “but it will still be fun to watch, come on!” and with that he grabbed Snufkin’s hand and they ran down the path as well.
They let go once they were close enough to the beach to see Little My already started her digging rampage, and Moomin hoped Snufkin hadn’t noticed him trying to hold on a little bit longer.
4.
Moomin ran down to the river bank where Snufkin was painting his fishing bobble.
“Hello, Snufkin!” He tried his best to appear that he did not have a surprise of the dragon variety waiting in his bedroom.
“Hello,” Snufkin continued painting.
“Fishing?” he asked as he sat next to him.
“Yes, the cards told me that if I caught five minnows, all in a row, I’d be traveling south.”
“South!” Moomin very much did not like the sound of that, and he very much hoped Snufkin could be distracted from minnows with his dragon. “Oh, tell me you’re joking!”
“Not at all, Moomin. You can’t go against the cards, you know.”
“Well, come with me first!” he grabbed Snufkin’s hand to pull him up, “I have to show you something!”
“But the minnows!”
“You can catch them later! The stream’s too fast for fishing anyway. It’d be better to wait until it slowed down.” Snufkin finally got up.
“Well, I suppose.”
“Good!”
He made sure to have a firm hold on Snufkin’s hand all the way to the house.
5.
Snufkin looked so pretty in the moonlight, and Moomin knew this was the moment.
He'd been waiting for the moment for a while now, but somehow it was always interrupted by someone or something being very distracting.
But now, they were very alone and looking up at the stars in a small clearing of forest. Moomin doesn’t particularly know why Snufkin woke him up in the middle of the night to look at stars in a small clearing in a forest, but obviously it was important to Snufkin, so Moomin didn’t mind.
Before the moment truly began, though, Moomin reached out to hold Snufkin’s hand in case he wouldn’t be able to any more after the moment passed.
Snufkin turned to him at the contact.
“Snufkin?” Moomin found he couldn’t look at him, so instead he looked up at the stars as he talked.
“Yes, Moomin?”
“What would you say if I told you I liked you a whole lot?”
“Probably thank you, and that I knew that already.”
“No, not in the way you knew.”
“Oh?”
Moomin finally got the guts to look right at him.
“What if I told you I was in love with you?”
Snufkin was very quiet for a moment, and then to Moomin’s horror, he took his hand away.
Moomin now felt very embarrassed and sad, and Snufkin still hadn’t said a word, but he did look away from him to the ground.
“I’m sorry,” and Moomin’s voice was stuffy, “I’ve ruined everything.” He promptly got up and started walking away. He doubted Snufkin wanted to watch the stars with him anymore.
6.
Snufkin had never been more mad at his own voice. He kept telling himself to say something, or do something, but he found he couldn’t get himself to do anything at all.
He found his hand was very cold.
“I’m sorry,” he heard Moomin’s voice, and it sounded choked, “I’ve ruined everything.”
No! Snufkin wanted to say. You haven’t ruined anything at all! But his voice still wouldn’t work, and Moomin was walking away.
Moomin left, and Snufkin still couldn’t move.
Perhaps it was shock, thought Snufkin to himself. Shock that Moomin did like him. Shock that Snufkin wasn’t the one to get rejected in the clearing.
“Oh dear!” he said aloud, “I’ve rejected Moomin!”
That realization seemed to finally get his feet to work, and with his feet came the rest of his body. He bolted up and out of the clearing towards Moominhouse.
He won’t reject Moomin any longer.
When he got to Moominhouse, he went straight up the ladder to Moomin’s window, as he knew Moomin’s window was always unlocked.
He did knock before coming in, though, he had manners.
“Snufkin?” He looked over to see Moomin sat in his bed. Quickly, he ran over and grabbed both of the trolls’ hands.
“Moomin!”
“Why are you here? Am I in a dream?” Closer, Snufkin could see a teary redness in Moomin’s eyes, and he found himself very glad that he hadn’t waited any longer to do this.
“No, I’m just an idiot.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“Yes, I am. Moomin, I love you. I love you so much that sometimes I feel sick with it. I’m sorry I made you run away.”
“I really am dreaming.”
Snufkin pinched him.
“Ow!”
“No, you’re not. I love you, Moomin, and that is very real.”
Moomin sighed, “Thank goodness, it’s not like me to be so heartbroken.”
Snufkin laughed and rested his forehead onto Moomin’s own, “No, and I never want you to be again.”
His hand was warm once again.