Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Snufkin sighed and tugged at the sleeves of the suit he was currently wearing. It was stifling, restricting, he wanted nothing more than to run and quickly put his comfortable old coat back on. That’s not to say he wasn’t thankful, after all, Moominmamma had spent the time to make him this new suit just for the event. He was very appreciative of the love and care she had put into it, but still… it felt so out of character for him to wear such a thing. But he had promised Mymble, his older sister, that he would dress formally for her wedding.

“Snufkin, quit messing with your outfit, you’re gonna mess it up!” Little My snapped from beside him. She didn’t seem to be fairing much better than him, in his opinion. The two of them had somehow both agreed to be part of the wedding party, Snufkin as a groomsman and Little My as a bridesmaid.

It was clear to everyone that neither of them were particularly thrilled to be in this positions. For Snufkin it was terrifying, knowing he would not only be forced to act much more proper than he ever had before, but to be forced to do so infront of so many people? The idea of all those eyes on him made his skin crawl. Little My wasn’t thrilled either, the idea of having to sit still and be polite for hours made her fidgety, she wanted nothing more than to go cause some trouble. Neither would complain aloud of course, they had a soft spot for their older sister, surely a few hours of discomfort was worth it for her sake.

“Oh don’t you two look adorable!” Mymble cooed at her younger siblings. She was currently in the middle of getting prepared. By the looks of it, Snufkin would guess she was going to get her hair done. He didn’t understand all this fuss over appearances, what did it truly matter in the end? But at least Mymble seemed to be enjoying all this pampering, so he supposed it was worth it.

Snufkin only grimaced and mumbled “Yes well, I would hope you would like it. You were the one to pick these designs out for us, after all.”

“Little My, don’t forget to wear that pretty bow we bought for you. Oh and Snufkin, I’m sure Moominpappa would be able to help you with that tie, I’m not sure where he is though…” Mymble rushed out before the hairdresser began shooing her away from her siblings and into a chair.

“That’s all right Mym, I’ll go ahead and look for him” Snufkin called at his sisters retreating back. Truthfully, he was just thankful to be able to get out of this bustling room, it was beginning to become to much.

“Hmph, no fair that you get to escape while I’m stuck here” Little My pouted.

Snufkin chuckled at his older sister’s childish behavior. “You’ll be fine Little My. Good luck with the rest of this, I should be off getting ready.”

“Yeah yeah, go on then” Little My shooed him away.

Snufkin sighed in relief as soon as he was out of the room. Now to find Moominpappa to help with this frustrating tie. Maybe with his luck he would run into Moomin as well. Though he was sure his boyfriend was probably running around like crazy helping with various preparations. His first thought was to check the room where Too-Ticky was getting ready, perhaps Moominpappa was helping her with her suit. He knocked softly at the door.

After hearing a confirmation he gently opened the door, to be met with a much less crowded and bustling room. Sure enough, he found Moominpappa helping make last minute adjustments on Too-Ticky’s suit.

“Well hello Snufkin” Too-Ticky smiled at him. “How is my dear Mymble holding up?”

Snufkin smirked at his soon to be sister-in-law. She was a lot like him in that she preferred things to be quiet and lowkey. Of course, she was also more than happy to have a big elaborate wedding to please her fiancé, but they seemed to have found a good middle ground that allowed them both to be happy.

“Oh she seems to be doing all right, I think she quite enjoys having so many people fuss over her, if I’m honest”

Too-Ticky chuckled at this. “I’m glad she’s enjoying herself then. Is there something you needed?”

“Oh yes, actually. You see, I couldn’t quite figure out how to…. um…” he made a vague gesture at his tie.

At this Moominpappa looked up from his work and chuckled brightly. “Not to worry my dear boy, I’ll help you with that.”

“Thank you, Pappa” Snufkin watched as the man quickly tied his tie, clearly with years of experience in doing so.

“No problem my boy, you look very dashing! Just wait until ol’ Moomintroll sees you” Pappa nodded as he admired his handiwork.

Snufkin felt his face start to heat up and went to cover it with his hat, only to remember that he didn’t have his beloved hat with him today. Instead he simply cleared his throat and forced himself to regain composure. Thankfully Moominpappa didn’t tease him any further. “Actually, have you seen Moomintroll? I haven’t seen him since this morning.”

“Oh I think he’s downstairs helping his mother with the food, I’m sure they could always use an extra hand.” Moominpappa smiled at him as he got back to adjusting Too-Ticky’s suit.

“Thank you Pappa. I’ll see you both later” He waved lightly at them both as he left the room.

Now that he was pretty much all dressed and had no more obligations, he felt the desire to go see Moomintroll. This was all overwhelming, surely his boyfriend’s calming presence would calm him down. So he began making his way downstairs.

Chapter Text

Snufkin was glad the ceremony was being held in the yard at Moominhouse, as it allowed him no trouble finding his way to the kitchen. Moominhouse seemed to be the focal point for all major events in the valley due to the open space and lovely view, as well as the Moomin’s immediate desire to help. They did love celebrations after all.

The door to the kitchen was already open, and he could see Moominmamma and Moomin bustling around. They didn’t seem to notice him, so he gently knocked at the doorframe so as not to startle them.

“Snufkin!” Moomin’s ears shot up in surprise as he ran to greet his boyfriend. He stopped a foot or two a way to get a proper look at him, his face turning a bright red even beneath his fur. “Wow…you look…wow….”

Snufkin suddenly felt self-conscious. He really did look very different. A traditional black suit replaced his normal green coat, with a pastel blue tie replacing his scruffy yellow scarf. His boots had been replaced with slick new loafers, and even his hair had been combed thoroughly, looking much softer than it had in years. “Is it all right?” Snufkin couldn’t help but stare at his feet and fiddle with his hands under his boyfriend’s gaze.

“Is it all right? Snufkin, you look amazing!” Moomin excitedly grabbed his hands and began jumping from one foot to another in excitement. “You look so handsome! I mean, you always look handsome, but wow, that suit really looks wonderful on you! Oh and I love how I can see so much of your beautiful face! And you’re hair looks so soft!”

At this point Moomin was rambling his affection and admiration for the boy in front of him, and poor Snufkin had turned a deep scarlet, incredibly flustered and happy.

Moominmamma giggled at the scene. “Now Moomin, do give the poor boy a break, he looks as if he’s going to burst.”

Brought out of his rambling, Moomin glanced at his now tomato red boyfriend. His mother was right, he was adorably flustered, which just made Moomin want to gush over him some more. Instead he just settled for giving him a quick peck on the cheek, which seemed to bring the mumrik out of his reverie as he smiled lovingly at the moomin. “Come on, you can help us finish these cupcakes!”

Snufkin let himself be dragged by the paw towards what seemed to be a mountain of pastel pink cupcakes. Thankfully it seemed the majority of the cupcakes were already iced.

“Here, you can help me ice them” Moomin smiled and pushed a bag of pink icing Snufkin’s way.

“A-ah, I’m not sure that’s the best idea, I’ve never done this before” Snufkin stumbled, looking at the way Moomin iced the cupcake infront of him. The last thing he wanted was to make his sister have a bunch of ugly looking cupcakes for her wedding.

“Oh don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll do fine!” Moomin assured, not looking up from his careful icing.

Snufkin took a deep breath and did his best attempt at copying Moomin’s technique. It came out….. well to put it bluntly it was the most dreadful looking cupcake Snufkin had ever seen. “Oh dear…”

Moomin glanced over to see what Snufkin was worrying about, only to burst into hearty laughter at the sight of Snufkin’s cupcake.

“Don’t laugh” Snufkin mumbled, his cheeks flushing pink. “I tried my best, you know.”

“Oh I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh Snuf! But um… ah… well I’m sure you’d get the hang of it with more practice, I’m just afraid we don’t have the time to properly teach you right now.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right, I wouldn’t want to mess up all the hard work you and Mamma have done” Snufkin sighed, placing the bag of icing back down.

“Oh don’t fret, Snuf, you can still help! Why don’t you start putting the sprinkles on all of the cupcakes I’ve finished icing already.”

Snufkin smirked despite himself. “Yes I suppose that may be more doable for me at the moment. Ah, but…” he turned back, picking up his ruined cupcake. “What do we do with this one? Surely we can’t put this one out for everyone to see.”

Moomin hummed thoughtfully before surprising Snufkin by running his finger over the cupcakes frosting and plopping a bit of it on his boyfriend’s nose playfully. “I guess we’ll just have to eat that one ourselves then. It will be hard, but I’m sure we’ll manage” he dramatically put the back of his paw against his own forehead, feigning distress.

Snufkin could only chuckle at his boyfriend’s silly antics as he wiped the frosting off of his nose. “You’re right, my dove, we’ll just have to muddle through it.”

“Mamma” Moomin called out. “Where did you put all the sprinkles?”

“Over here, dear.” She pointed to a box beside her. “And thank you for helping us out Snufkin, we appreciate all the help we can get.”

“Of course Mamma, I’m happy to help” Snufkin assured as he brought the box over to his workspace.

From there the three of them worked together in a pleasant silence, the music from the gramophone playing from the other room.

Indeed, Snufkin found that sprinkles were a much better task for him than icing, and soon between the two of them all of the cupcakes had been finished to perfection.

“Thank you so much for the help, my dears.” Moominmamma smiled at them from where she was finishing up icing the bigger wedding cake. “I should have things under control for the time being, but Moomintroll you need to go get yourself ready.”

“Oh right!” Moomin wiped off the icing from his paws and grabbed Snufkin’s own paw. “Let’s go, Snufkin.”