Author's Notes: Short; Snufkin/Moomintroll - although it's weirdly both romantic and platonic in my mind.
Little My asked, on the occasion of Moomintroll's marriage to Snork Maiden, why Snufkin allowed his heart to be broken, why he did not fight for Moomintroll's affection. He responded:
I think, I know, I should prefer to have a broken heart to one that has grown cold and hard from resentment. I cannot stay, no matter how much he loves me and I him. She can stay, and she does love him.
And he loves her.
So it isn't a matter of not fighting for him. It's a matter of loving him enough to know for both our happinesses to let go.