Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Loki didn’t want to fight the man, he was innocent, just a pawn in whatever game the variant was playing at. Usually, he wouldn’t be too concerned about it, but the man was being mind controlled by the Variant and with that, Loki could relate, it wasn’t too long ago he was in a similar situation under Thanos. So instead of using his powers to summon daggers or an actual weapon he summoned a vacuum that was on one of the shelves and used it to fight him off. He was fighting with just enough force to stand his ground but not enough to hurt him.  

He realised a bit too late that he probably should not have played too nice when the man got the upper hand and managed to use the cord of the vacuum to strangle him. 

Loki could have easily fought it off; however, the moment the cord wrapped around his neck, cutting off his air supply, he was thrown off his rhythm and reminded of the file he saw not so long ago when he first arrived at the TVA. He recalled how he saw his future self’s life being choked out by Thanos’ hand. He remembered the sound of his bones breaking and the sound of his last attempt at a breath and yet the file had kept on rolling which meant his future self had still been alive after his neck was broken. He briefly wondered if this was how his future self felt. 

Problem was, now was not the time to dwell on it, he had to force himself to snap back to the present time, he had to do something quick if he wanted to get out of there alive. “If you had any honour, you’d fight me as yourself.” He started to wrangle from his grasp, trying to get as much air into his lungs as possible. Right now he needed to get the Variant to show himself so it could be a fair fight. He would have no problem fighting his lesser self, he would not hold back then. 

“I have shit to do.” The Variant responded through the man’s voice. He shoved Loki at an arm's length and before Loki could get his bearings once again, the man pulled out a knife he had hidden and in a swift motion, punctured Loki’s upper abdomen, almost in his chest, before throwing him to a shelf. 

Loki did not even have the time to process the sharp, agonising pain radiating from his abdomen when he was already crashing into the shelf. He felt as his back collided with various hard objects before he finally landed on the floor. His head cracked against the cold tiles and felt his head tumble and buzz for a few seconds. Blinking out the blur, he realised he was surrounded by what seemed to be toy robot dogs. He groaned in pain and began to sit up. 

He hadn't even made it halfway through sitting up when he was painfully reminded of his stab wound. Wincing in pain, he looked down and saw his shirt was damp and turning redder by the second. Having been stabbed many times before along the course of his life, he knew enough about them to know this was not a good sign. Judging by the velocity of the blood pouring out of him and the fact he was already getting dizzy, he guessed it would not be long before he would lose what he had left of strength or pass out. 

Usually, he would have been able to power through his injuries until he could deal with them later, but ever since he landed at the TVA his magic had been acting out. Whatever the hell was the place he now spent most of his time in, it stripped him off his powers and even though at the moment he was not there, but back in the timeline, his powers were not what they used to be. 

He decided to give up on trying to stand up, it hurt too much to move, and it was better if he conserved what was left of his strength for when he had to inevitably fight again. However, there was no way he would let himself lay on the floor any longer, he needed to at least sit up. He was too exposed if he just laid there while the enemy was close by. He had been through too much to know that even when hurt he had to keep his guard up and prepare to fight his way out. After about half a minute of shuffling, and biting down cries of pain, he managed to prop himself against one of the shelves.  

The man which the variant was controlling had been kneeling a few feet away, working on a device which looked like the tempads from the TVA. However, once Loki sat up, the man stopped what he was doing and stood up to face the god. Loki tensed and subtly looked around for anything that could be used as a proper weapon. 

The man made no further move to hurt him and just stood there. 

  “What do you want from me? What is this about?” Loki managed to say with a stable voice, he raised his voice and made it sound deeper than it usually was. 

The man just stared at him for a few seconds before he smiled. “Brace yourself, Loki.” His eyes flashed an odd colour green and slumped to the ground. Loki was smart enough to know what that meant. He had spent the entirety of his time here coaching the Variant to show himself and now it was finally time to face him. 

Loki was not sure he wanted to meet his other self now, not when he was slowly bleeding out on the floor with no real chances of surviving another fight. 

Barely a few moments passed when he heard hushed voices, it took him another couple of moments to realise said hushed voices that were getting louder were his own voice from earlier. What do you want from me? What do you want from me? What is this about? The recording just kept repeating itself on a loop, the lights flickered, and he looked around.  

A couple of feet behind him, there he was, the infamous Variant he and Mobius had been looking for all this time. He was standing there, green magic surrounded his hands and if Loki had been more coherent at the moment, he would have realised that the green colour looked different from his usual type of magic. The Variant was wearing a hood, not moving while Loki laid there, his eyes fixed in place, looking at him, slowly moving his free hand towards one of the objects from the fallen bookshelf. 

The variant took the hood off and that's when Loki realised that even though the TVA, Mobius and he had thought of the Loki Variant as a man, he was face to face with a blonde woman, she was wearing Loki’s signature horn crown, however, one of the horns was missing. “This isn't about you.” She said in disdain and grabbed onto her stolen tempad, typing onto it while paying minimal attention to Loki.  

A portal opened from the TVA device and the Variant made her way near the portal, she was about to go through when she stopped and looked back. “You could be useful.” She pondered out loud. 

“Stay away from me.” Loki sneered and prepared himself to fight.  

The Variant did not bother to fight him, seeing as he was weak enough from the blood loss, she figured her best bet would be to use magic. After some struggle, she managed to touch his arm, letting her magic course through him.  

Loki braced himself the moment the Variant was making her way towards him, it was clear as day she intended to use her magic on him, judging how her hands glowed green again. On a good day, he would not be worried since he was good at fending off other’s magic from himself, but today was not a good day. He managed to grab one of the toy robots and flung it at her, but she easily deflected it and touched his arm. 

He felt the moment her magic began to course through him, he did his best to block it and fight it off, he couldn't let her win. Not knowing how much time passed, he felt his energy draining at an alarming rate, using every last bit of his strength to fight her powers took a toll on him. He could not hold much longer. 

For the first time during this fiasco of a situation he got himself into, he wondered where Mobius was, he hoped the other man was unharmed. He knew if Hunter B-15 had not separated them, the night would have gone quite differently. 

If Mobius had been there, perhaps he would have not gone easy on the mind-controlled man, and fought as he usually did, because he would have had to protect not only him but Mobius too, that would have been a better incentive to not get stabbed. He wondered if Mobius would think Loki abandoned him when he inevitably did not find him around. He laughed bitterly at the irony, the one time he was not running, he was still letting people down. That was his last coherent thought before he felt The Variant’s magic engulfing him and he began to black out.  

The last thing he was aware of were his surroundings, how his body felt when it slumped onto the floor, just as he heard, or thought he heard, someone calling out his name. Loki paid no attention to it; he must have imagined it, it must have been wishful thinking. With no more energy left to stay awake, he welcomed the darkness and unconsciousness. He hoped he could get himself out of whatever situation he would find himself in when he woke up… if he woke up.

Chapter Text

“Mobius.” 

Mobius was walking past the hallway when he saw Hunter B-15 approaching him, he stopped in his tracks when he noticed that she was alone, not a Loki in sight. He didn’t have to ask to know where Loki was, or wasn’t, but he did anyway. “Where is he?”

“I- I lost him.” She replied. 

“What happened?” Mobius began to walk again, he had to find him before it was too late. She stammered out some words, trying to formulate an answer but Mobius paid no attention to her. He knew it had been a bad idea to be separated from Loki. He was the one was in charge of keeping an eye on him, he was the one who knew everything about Loki and therefore knew there was always a chance of Loki playing his own game and not following the rules. He should have planned for this. He should have avoided this. 

“Looks like your favourite Loki betrayed you.” The other TVA agent told him.

“Just move!” Mobius yelled frustrated. He knew that, but now was not the time for his co-workers to call him out. Everyone knew how much of a fan he was about the Loki variants, and they all had warned him from the beginning, ever since he took responsibility for this Loki. It was like they were all waiting for it to go wrong, and Mobius, as much as he hated it, could not fault them for that, they were correct after all. 

He shoved down the feeling in his chest. He knew Loki was known for his tricks and deceit, he was the god of mischief and chaos after all. Mobius had studied his whole life story, he knew how he operated, and on top of that not a day earlier did he talk to him about how he always stabbed people in the back and betrayed them. This was a long time coming yet it hurt him, nonetheless. He, regardless of every logical thing to do, had become attached to the god and cared for him, maybe even more than he cared to admit to himself.

Now he had to fix his mistake, finding Loki before he caused more problems was the top priority, well, technically, finding both Lokis, but if he was honest with himself, which he was not, finding his Loki first was his main concern. The variant should come first, he was more dangerous and his job depended on it, but he could not help it.

As they looked for him, they heard what sounded like a clash, far into the left area of the place, Mobius spared a glance at the rest of his team to see if they had heard it too before making their way towards it.  

They stopped when the lights went out all of a sudden. That’s when everything went from bad to worse; the reset charges all activated at the same time, and he saw how each of them disappeared as they went through different portals. He inwardly cursed, this was not good, the opposite of good, this was quite terrible, and the worst part was he could do nothing to stop it. Whatever the hell was going on was going to be a big problem for his near future self. “Where are they going?” Mobius became more terror struck as he saw more and more of the devices activate and disappear. 

The other two agents looked as panicked as he did. Before they could react the lights turned on again and all the devices were now long gone. He heard what sounded like an argument a few hallways away, it was just beyond reach to be able to recognise the voices. Odds were, it had to be one of the Lokis. Now whether it was his Loki, or the Variant was yet to be determined, either way, he had to find them. Instinctively, he knew it was his Loki, it had to be. Making a run for it, he did not wait to see if his team was following. 

The first thing he saw as he got near, was the blood, lots of it. There was a pool of blood near a broken shelf and a trail of droplets moving away from it, objects that had once been on the shelves were coated with a gruesome red. Whoever’s blood that was, they had lost too much to possibly be alive. At the sight of it, he suppressed a shiver. He was used to this in his line of work, but he hated the casualties, nonetheless. 

It was not long after when he discovered that Loki had in fact not betrayed him. However instead of relief he felt his blood run cold and his stomach drop. No matter how much his work prepared him for these situations, he froze at the sight. No, please, no . He found Loki alright, both of them, but in the worst way possible. He had expected many things when coming across the variants, but not this. 

“Loki!” He screamed. Too much emotion must have shown on his face because Hunter B-15 and the other agent were thrown off the loop at his reaction. He didn’t mind them at all, he had other things to worry about. 

The trial of blood ended where Loki laid on the ground, covered in blood, he found him just in time to see the god closing his eyes for good. In that moment he almost wished he had been right earlier. If Loki had betrayed him then at least he would not be hurt... Or dead. 

Mobius paled at that, oh god, what if he was dead, he couldn't be, could he? If he was dead then that meant he would never be able to talk to the god again, there would not be more ruined salads or impromptu trips to apocalyptic times, he would no longer see how Loki’s eyes lit up after his chaotic shenanigans and smiled adorably at him— he didn't know what he would do if he was dead… no, he was not dead, that simply was not an option. He snapped himself out of those thoughts, now was not the time to think down that path nor think about how he had become too attached to him and what that entailed, he had other bigger problems to deal with. 

The main problem was that Loki was passed out next to a woman, Mobius guessed she was the Variant, he didn’t bat an eye at the fact he had gotten the variant wrong by profiling her as a man. Loki was genderfluid so he supposed that the variant being a woman was always a possibility. 

She had a portal open to god knows where and was currently dragging Loki along with her. He could not let that happen, no matter what. He had to save his Loki. 

“Wait!” he found himself yelling and running as fast as he had ever run in his life. “Wait! Get away from him!”

The variant stopped dragging Loki’s body to the portal and looked down at the body. “It’s not like you're worth much.” She whispered and waved at Mobius before stepping into the portal and disappearing.

“Wait!” Mobius yelled but it was no use, the portal was closed, and he lost the Variant once again. Now that the Variant was gone, Mobius snapped back to his main concern: Loki. He ran towards him and knelt on the ground by his side. “Loki, c’mon, wake up.”

Loki didn’t respond, he simply laid there motionless. His skin was paler by the second and Mobius could see tints of blue in it, but he didn’t know if it was from his Frost Giant heredity or due to the blood loss, possibly it was a bit of both. The blue of his skin only helped to contrast the deep oozing red from the wound. 

Mobius checked for a pulse and was shocked to find his skin cold to the touch, he’s dead he’s so cold, freezing even. He panicked for a brief moment before remembering that frost giants are colder than people and he further calmed himself when he felt a pulse, it was scarce, but it was there. 

“We need help over here! A medic!” He yelled at Hunter B-15. He trusted she heard him, and he brought his attention back to Loki once again. His training reminded him that the wound needed pressure to stop the bleeding, so he frantically took off his suit jacket, put it on Loki and began to press down. “Wake up, you have to wake up you mischievous scamp.” He gritted his teeth as he spoke. “ Please, ” he whispered.

Someone tapped his shoulder and he looked up to see who it was, he found Hunter B-15 there. “The infirmary has been notified but with the timeline in chaos, they won't come here. The Variant is most likely dead or on its way to death. The best course of action is to leave him. This place is about to be destroyed any minute now, we have to leave.” She could see he cared for him, but she had to think critically, it was simple probabilities, at this point it was not worth to risk all of their lives for a variant. 

Mobius frowned and shook his head vehemently. “I am not leaving him.” Not wasting any time, he stopped putting pressure on Loki’s wound so he could put one arm under his neck and the other under his legs in order to try and carry him. Loki was much heavier than he looked so he barely made it halfway up before falling back to the floor. 

“Mobius, what are you doing? We have to leave.” Hunter B-15 said. 

“I’m going to take him to the TVA. The medics won't come here so I’m taking him there. I am not leaving without him, and you can either help me get up or you can leave. Nothing’s stopping you.” 

Hunter B-15 mumbled something under her breath, clearly frustrated. Mobius was expecting her to leave him there but instead she grabbed onto Loki’s legs. “You pick him up from the arms, I’ll take the legs.” 

Mobius didn’t waste any more time. He gave her a quick nod and they got to work. With help it was easier to pick him up, once the god was no longer on the floor, the two agents made their way onto the portal and into the TVA. Said portal closing behind them just in time before the supermarket they were in seconds ago, got completely destroyed.

Chapter Text

Mobius had just made it to the TVA when Loki was snatched from him so he could be taken to the infirmary. It took a moment to react, but when he did, Loki was already long gone. Immediately, he began to make his way there.  Loki couldn’t be left alone, not because he didn't trust him, but because he was hurt and he had to make sure he was alright. Halfway through, he was stopped by no other than Ravonna. 

“Mobius.” She frowned. “How hurt are you?”

Mobius frowned, confused, he was fine why would she ask that? He only noticed why when he looked down at himself and realised his clothes, arms and hands were all covered in blood. Loki’s blood. “Oh. It’s Loki’s. I’m fine.” He said numbly. 

Ravonna didn’t ask any further questions about that, she cared for her agent, not for the Variant. “What the hell happened? The timeline is in chaos.” 

“It was the Variant. We found her.”

“Her?”

“Yeah, the Loki Variant is a woman.” He shrugged. “We had her and then... I don’t really know what happened, all the reset charges activated and disappeared…” he tensed. “How bad is it?” 

“Bad and then some.” She murmured. “We have never seen so many branches in the sacred timeline, every available agent is being sent to fix it. We have enough reset charges to fix it, but I don’t know if we will have enough time before the nexus events cross the line.” 

“What is she even trying to accomplish? Why attack the timeline instead of here, after all, she wants to take down the TVA, right?”

“I don’t know, you tell me, you're the Loki expert.” 

“Yeah. But something is off...” Mobius knew all there was to know about the Lokis, but this move the Variant did was not something a Loki would do, not like this. But he couldn’t pinpoint why exactly, his mind was too scrambled from today’s events. 

“Well, it doesn’t matter why or how she did it. We have to make sure the timeline stays intact. If you’re not hurt then I want to see you work, take Hunter B-15 with you, choose any available nexus event and fix it.” Usually, Mobius wasn’t the one in charge of the reset charges when he visited the timeline, he was an analyst, but Ravonna needed everyone to help. 

“But—” Mobius hesitated. In any normal situation he would have helped without batting an eye, but he had to go check on Loki... make sure he was still alive. 

“Mobius, I don’t care you’re not used to dealing with the reset charges. You’ve been in the field long enough to know how it works. This is an all-hands-on deck.” 

Mobius felt slightly relieved that Ravonna misunderstood his hesitation, if she knew the real reason he was hesitating it would not be good. He had no other choice than to nod and follow orders, at least until Ravonna was out of sight, then he turned around and made his way to find Loki. Time nor luck, however, were not on his side because just when he was about to enter the infirmary, Hunter B-15 found him. 

“Mobius, there you are.” She walked up to him. “I’ve been looking for you since we got away from the mission. Come on, we have work to do.” She did not wait for an answer, she simply put a hand on Mobius’ back and nudged him to walk with her. 

Mobius' only response was to splutter some half formed words. He was not a silver tongue, not to the degree that Loki was, so there was no way he could talk his way out of this. It was his life’s work after all, and it would not bode well for neither he nor Loki if his co-workers or bosses found he was not following protocol for the sake of a variant. After a few seconds of indecision, he sighed with unease and went with Hunter B-15. He just hoped when he returned, Loki would still be alive.

 __________

Before even opening his eyes, Loki was already taking in his surroundings. He would not admit it aloud but he was surprised he even woke up at all. He had been so sure that the variant would have killed him way before that. Now that he knew he was alive and conscious once again, it was time for step two, test the waters to see what his current situation was. 

He chose not to open his eyes just yet, in case anyone was around. Focusing on his limbs, he was surprised to find out he was not chained or restrained at all, and to top it all, he knew his stab wound was not bleeding anymore. He was expecting the worst of the worst when he passed out at the hands of the Variant, and yet the more he found out the more it did not make sense. He finally decided to open his eyes and found himself in a barely empty room, except for the bed he was in and a small table next to it. 

It only took him a few more seconds of looking around to figure out he was somewhere inside the TVA. He frowned, something was off, if he was back at the time agency, then where was Mobius? Last he saw him, the man had been separated from his sight when they entered the grocery store. What had happened once he had passed out? 

With difficulty, he stood up and ignored the pain that radiated from his injury. It was all bandaged up and stitched up, he was in no immediate danger of dying from it, so for now he would simply ignore it. He had better things to do than worry about it, like find Mobius.

Dark thoughts crept up on him, what if he was safe because the variant took Mobius instead of him, he vaguely remembered hearing someone calling out his name before he blacked out, what if he had not been imagining it and it had been him. Loki shuddered, he hoped it was not what happened, there was no way Mobius could have taken on the variant by himself. 

No, focus. Loki thought, He could not waste time thinking up ridiculous, worse scenarios, he had to be logical. The man had to be around somewhere, because if he wasn't, then Loki would not be here. Mobius was the only one who backed Loki up, without him, he knew any other TVA agent, except perhaps Casey, would try to prune him once and for all, not patch him up. 

Loki couldn't stop the other possibility from creeping in, what if Mobius had abandoned him? The man was usually around him more often than not, they were doing a good job at working together and Loki had come to enjoy his company. He’d like to think that they were friends, or something similar. But maybe he was wrong, now that Loki was hurt maybe Mobius saw he was not of use anymore and left to do better things. It wouldn't be the first time someone was just being nice to him to get something out of it. 

Loki physically shook his head to fight the thoughts. He hated when others jumped to conclusions about him, so he would not do the same to others, especially not to Mobius. More determined now, he stood up from the bed to start his quest of finding the man. 

That's when he finally caught up to the fact that he was not wearing his usual clothes but some horrible hospital gown. He scowled, this was hideous and absolutely horrendous to fight in, and being in a hostile environment, he must always be prepared to fight. He needed a change of clothes. 

Opening the door from the room, he found there was no one around. Good. he had expected agents all around to keep an eye on him, but apparently they probably thought he was too weak to leave. Loki smiled, fools. He, with great difficulty, made his way through the hallways without anyone noticing him. After a while of roaming around, he finally found some clothes that fit him in what seemed to be a very weird supply closet. From all the moving around to change clothes and walking around, it exerted him more than he should be with a stab wound.

He needed rest, soon, but he also needed to find Mobius. After a long internal debate, he decided to rest and once he recuperated some of his strength he would continue to look for him. He couldn't go back to the infirmary, it was not safe for him, too many things could go wrong. 

The choice of where to go was simple, really. The only place he ever felt safe was Mobius’ office, so that's where he would go. The reason it was a safe place for him was because usually Mobius was there with him, but the place on its own would have to do for now. It was a closed space he could lock and maybe, just maybe, he would find Mobius there. 

With a deep breath and pure spite, he walked all the way to Mobius’ office without passing out. Thankfully, his stitches were holding up but the pain was getting close to unbearable. Well, he could deal with it, after all he had been through so much worse after he fell from the bifrost and found Thanos, but at least then he had some of his powers with him to help him out. Here, he had to heal the slow way round, without any magic to ease his pain. 

Once he was inside, he locked the door and sat down on one of the chairs that were there. A bed or couch would have been so much better for him but this was the only place he would even think of letting his guard down enough to rest and get his energy back. He double checked the lock again, and he let his body relax. 

Something was off though, he couldn't pinpoint it right away, but then he realised, he had sat down on his usual chair, which left his back too exposed to the rest of the place, even if there was no one there, it was the principle of the thing. 

He begrudgingly stood up and made his way to Mobius’ chair at the other side of the desk, and decided to move it to one of the corners, so he could face the whole room from where he was. Before he could sit down, he heard someone speak behind him. Caught off guard, he took a pen from the desk to use it like his knives and turned around. He relaxed immensely once he saw who it was. 

______

Mobius returned to the TVA after what felt like an eternity, and for him that was saying something. Every time he went to fix a nexus event it felt like forever, it did not help at all he could not stop thinking about how Loki was doing, if he was alright; every action he did, every place he went, that thought was always lurking on the back of his mind in a loop. 

He had been going all around the timeline throwing reset charges wherever he went. He didn’t know how much time had passed, time worked differently here after all, but they had succeeded. The timeline was back in its righteous order, at least somewhat, it wasn't perfect but it was good enough that he could finally catch a break, an unofficial one, but a break nonetheless. 

In the brief window of time he had between nexus events, he snuck away from B-15, and hurried to the TVA’s infirmary, where one of the agents was working at the entrance desk. “I need information on a patient here. I need everything you have on Loki Laufeyson”

The woman in charge looked at her screen and back at Mobius. “There’s no information about anyone named Loki.”

“What do you mean no information? He was brought here after he was almost stabbed to death. I need to know where he is. Now .” 

“One moment.” She instructed and began typing. “Apologies, there is a Loki Laufeyson in the infirmary, but since he is a variant, he was admitted as Variant L1130, not as Loki. His current location is in recovery room 42.” She raised an eyebrow judgingly. “It's not usual to see a variant here, I don’t understand why they didn't just prune him.” She mumbled more to herself than Mobius but he still heard.

Mobius bit back an angry response in favour of getting to Loki sooner. 

He made it to the room in no time, yet instead of seeing the man he so wished to see, he found it completely empty. The bed had wrinkled, making it obvious someone had been there until recently. His eyes darted around and let out an exasperated sigh, of course Loki was not where he was supposed to be. He had run off to who knows where. 

Mobius had to find him before anyone else did. It was not even remotely an option to tell the others Loki was missing, not after what had just happened. Everyone was out of patience having to deal with the timeline fiasco and Loki was injured, he could not let them hurt him, which they would if they thought he was escaping.

He made his way out of the infirmary and subtly looked around each room and door where Loki could be. He ignored the nagging thoughts and possibilities about how Loki could be long gone by now or maybe, the other agents had found him alone and decided to prune him without notifying him. The timeline collapse occurred thanks to a Loki variant and he didn't know what they would do to his Loki, even if he was not the one to blame. 

He had to think, be better. So far he had been doing it wrong, he was looking for Loki from his own perspective, that's not how he would find him. He had to think like Loki. What would Loki do? He was currently injured and alone. From having watched all his files, his first thought would be that Loki was long gone, between all the chaos lately, it would be easy to pickpocket a tempad and leave the place to literally anywhere in space and time. 

However, after spending so much time with the actual Loki, he knew him better than trusting what a few films said about him. Loki was injured, and when he was injured he was more paranoid about his surroundings, so he would not be hiding in plain sight or anywhere near people. 

His eyes widened at the realization and he sprinted to his office, hoping and almost praying that he was right. He made it to his office and found it locked, he had a glimmer of hope. Could it be? He took out his spare keys and opened the door. He had barely made it inside when he laid his eyes on Loki, who had his back turned on him, currently moving his chair to the corner of the room.

“Loki.” He breathed out relieved, he barely said it above a whisper but Loki must have heard him because he turned around as quickly as he could, pointing a pen at him threateningly.

Chapter Text

Neither of them said anything while they stood facing each other. Both men were too busy with their thoughts. 

Mobius' first thought was of absolute relief and happiness, Loki was there with him, alive , he hadn’t ran away or gotten killed while he was away. He silently swore to himself that he would not let him out of his sight anymore, the stress of not knowing if he was okay all this time was something he did not want to experience again. He quickly buried the unhelpful thoughts about how that was possibly a bit too codependent of him, it did not matter because now Loki was there.

“Mobius.” Loki murmured, overwhelmed in disbelief. He quickly scrunched up his face in concern as he eyed Mobius up and down searching for any visible injuries. Mobius looked like he had gone through a slaughter, his clothes were far from the clean suits he usually wore. His first instinct was to check up on him and heal him with whatever means necessary but then he assessed the situation more closely, even though Mobius looked like he was hurt, his pose did not. 

He was simply standing there, and had a soft smile on his face which confused Loki a little bit, his face showed no signs of pain and he knew him, he was not the man to be able to hide pain. Once Loki decreed that Mobius was not harmed, he relaxed just enough to put down the pen he was using as a weapon and used the desk to support himself upright. 

“You should be resting.” Now that he could see him better, he could tell Loki was paler than usual and there were dark circles around his eyes. Except for the fact he wasn’t bleeding out anymore, he didn’t look any better than when Mobius had seen him last. 

“Mobius.” Loki spoke louder this time and looked at him quizzically. “What the hell happened to you? I get briefly incapacitated and you go kill someone, without me? Honestly that is quite rude.” He had had a long day and he was out of his element, he needed some semblance of normalcy and control, so he resorted to his smart ass comments. 

“I did not kill anyone.” Mobius furrowed his brow. 

“Your shirt says otherwise.”  Loki pointedly looked down at his shirt and then back at his face. Maybe this way he could properly find out what exactly happened to Mobius without having to outright ask. He was already physically vulnerable with his injury, he did not want to add to that by showing emotional vulnerability and basically parade how much he cared for him. No way in the nine realms was he doing that.  

Mobius remembered he still had not changed his clothes from earlier. He had been too busy fixing the timeline as quickly as possible to get back to Loki that he simply did not have the time to change. He winced at the fact the entire TVA must have seen him walking around like he just murdered someone. Realising he had been lost in his thoughts for too long he answered. “This is your blood, Loki.” 

“Oh my… how did that end up there.” Loki feigned indifference. He hadn’t moved from where he was standing and was subtly leaning against the desk. He had been vulnerable around enough people today to last a lifetime, so he had to act like everything was alright. 

“You're smart, figure it out.”

“You brought me here?”

“Bingo, we have a winner.” He spoke. “Yeah, I brought you here, and tried to stop you from bleeding out, at least long enough to figure how to get you to the infirmary since the medics would not come to the apocalypse to get you.” he said the last bit with distaste towards the TVA. 

“Oh.” Loki gulped. Everything he was hearing and the implications that entailed were too much for him. Mobius had saved him, he had apparently brought him to safety regardless of others suggestions. He did not have to do that, he could have left him to die and call it a casualty of the mission. But he didn't . Loki realised the other man had his back. That was odd to think about, he was the one who would sometimes look out for others, like his brother or people he found along the way, but it was never a two way street. This was not what he was used to but it was definitely not unwelcomed. “Thank you.” He said barely above a whisper. 

“No need to thank me, it's my fault after all, I should have not let us be separated back at the grocery store. I’ll make sure it doesn't happen again next time.” Mobius stated with a shrug. He tried to sound as professional as he could with it yet there was some part of him that felt to blame about it, Loki was under his charge, under his supervision, so when he got hurt, he could not think of anything else except that that was on him.

Loki pressed his lips together and rolled his eyes. “Do stop with the guilt, it doesn’t suit you.” He said sharply. He was not going to tolerate that from Mobius, Loki cherished him too much to see him sulking in guilt, it was simply unacceptable. “If you had been there, you might have been hurt too. You did more than enough with helping me once I passed out and for that I am thankful.” He paused. “I do not thank easily so better accept it instead of doubting it.” He raised his eyebrows to make his point.  

Instead of furthering the argument Mobius simply gave him a thankful nod. “Okay.” 

“Okay.” 

“So, care to tell me why you are up? You need to rest.” Mobius said after a few moments of silence between them. He did not even ask why he was in his office, he suspected it was the only place that would almost guarantee no one around. 

  “I’m fine.” Loki shrugged the concern off. 

“You were stabbed !” Mobius couldn't even put his concern into words, Loki had no idea what he had been through. Loki was acting all nonchalant after what happened when Mobius had to see him almost dead, he had to make sure he did not bleed out, hell he was still soaked in Loki’s blood. Oh gods he was still soaked in Loki’s blood , that thought made him want to puke. 

“I admit, that did complicated things but now I’m better.” He forced a smile. 

“You know, for the god of lies you are a bad liar.” Mobius sighed. “No, don’t try to deny it. I can see you look like death; I have seen corpses look healthier. You have been leaning onto the desk ever since I arrived and god or not, one is not simply ‘fine’ after being stabbed just a few hours ago.” At least he thought it had been hours ago, but time passed differently so he wasn’t sure.

Loki was about to be his stubborn self and argue once again that he was fine, but he decided to tell the truth, he wasn’t sure why he was compelled to lower his guard, but he did. “I can’t rest… I’m too vulnerable in such a hostile place.” He almost gritted his teeth saying that. It was unusual for him to speak about his troubles, but somehow Mobius had something about him that made him open up either way.

“Hostile?” Mobius questioned without any hint of judgment. He wanted to say so much more but he knew it was best to let Loki do the talking now, it was now or never and he was very interested in what he had to say. 

“The TVA might be your home or treasured place or whatever you feel like calling it, but I don’t trust it. I’m a variant and everyone knows it and makes damn sure to show their contempt. I'm not enough of a fool to stay out in the open. So I simply laid low until I found a safe place.” 

“Okay.” Mobius nodded along to his words. “So what was your big plan then, you say the TVA is hostile, sure, but you can't exactly leave .” His words may have been a bit too stern than what he would have liked. From what Mobius was hearing, Loki considered the place unfriendly, he could not fault him for that, but his words made it seem like his past doubts had been right, Loki was planning on leaving to a safe place and leaving him . Would he have missed him if he came a few minutes later? Loki might have been gone by then. 

Loki gritted his teeth and looked down, mumbling something Mobius did not hear. 

“What was that?”  

“That’s why I’m in your ludicrous office.” He cursed. “It's the only place I feel safe in this ghastly nightmare.” Loki tensed his jaw and began to move towards the door, ignoring the pain blaring from his injury. “Mock me if you want but I won't be here to hear it.” 

  “Oh , Loki .” Mobius whispered as he processed Loki’s words. He wanted to take his last comment back, he had dreadfully misunderstood what he meant about the safe place. Loki was not planning on leaving him, au contraire, he was going to him. He had too much to think about, like the fact Loki trusted him enough to feel safe around him. 

He realised that as much as Loki was trying to hide it, he was showing emotional vulnerability in front of him and that was something almost unheard of from the god, he ignored the tugs at his heartstrings at that revelation. “C’mon.” He grabbed onto Loki so the god stopped walking away and so that he could lean on him. 

“What?” Loki frowned. He was expecting Mobius to leave or at worst, to mock him. Not, whatever he was doing now. 

“Trust me.” Mobius said softly. 

Loki narrowed his eyes, deciding whether to stay on his own to Mobius' office either way or to agree to go with him. If he went with him it would be like announcing that he did in fact trust him and that would entail having a disadvantage on him. Trust, he had come to learn, was like a dangerous game of russian roulette, and he seemed to be the unlucky one who always ended up with the particular bullet of betrayal.

But maybe, putting his trust on him would not end like that. Either way it was too late to decide, Loki realised, he already trusted him, a trust that came so easily despite having met him only a short amount of time and met him in incredible untrusting circumstances. He answered the only answer that came to mind. “Lead the way.” he replied back, just as softly. 

“Okay.” Mobius answered simply. He bit back a smile that threatened to break through his face so Loki wouldn’t think he was making fun of him. He wasn’t but Loki was being more susceptible towards others’ reactions. He wanted to smile because Loki did trust him after all, it felt nice that the trust went both ways. He vowed there and then he would never willingly betray said trust. Grabbing Loki’s arm and putting an arm on his back to steady him as they walked, he led the way.

Chapter Text

They walked for a few minutes until Mobius stopped in front of a door. “Where are we?” Loki asked.

“Believe it or not, I have a small apartment, it's not much but I can assure you it's a better place to rest than my office.”  

Mobius didn’t say anything else while they walked into his apartment located in the same building they had been in. He paid no attention when Loki leaned onto him for more support as soon as the door was closed. Now that Loki did not have to hide how hurt he was, his energy faded away quickly.

Mobius helped Loki to his bed. Since TVA agents did not have the time to have lives outside work to form close friendships or relationships, they all lived alone; which meant Mobius only had one bed in his apartment. 

He decided that he could take the armchair for now. He wished he had a couch but an actual couch would be too big for his place. It was fine, though, he could sleep in an armchair one night, Loki needed the bed more than he did. He made sure Loki was comfortable and brought him a soda from his fridge. He didn’t have much, not even a proper kitchen, since he always ate at the cafeteria at work, but he always had his favourite drinks stocked up.

Once he saw Loki was settled in and finally resting— he refused to sleep, which he clearly needed, but at least he was not walking around straining his injury—  he left him alone so he could take a much needed shower and a change of clothes. He wanted nothing more than to get out of the bloody clothes and never see them again. 

The warm water fell on his face and he let himself relax under it while simultaneously having a small and much needed breakdown. Ever since he stepped inside the Alabama grocery store he had been working non stop, it had been one thing after the other and each one getting worse. The variant escaping, the bombing of the timelines and having to fix it, and worst of all, Loki getting hurt. He had been terrified for Loki. 

Now that he finally had a minute to stop and breathe everything flowed through him, all the stress, all the chaos, all the horrifyingly vivid memories of Loki bleeding out… he forced himself to take a few deep breaths and focus on the water droplets cascading on his face to stop himself from hyperventilating. 

Everything turned out alright, Loki is alive, he is in your room, the only thing between you and him is the door. He is alive. He repeated in his mind while he finished showering. 

Once he had finished, he was relieved to find he had managed to calm down considerably. He walked back into the bedroom silently in case Loki had fallen asleep. He soon found out the god was not asleep but very much awake, he was wearing an expression of regret and alarm until he spotted Mobius and his face went completely blank, devoid of any emotion. 

“I did not hear you come in.” Loki said. 

“Yeah well, I didn't exactly announce my presence in case you were asleep.” He shrugged and stared at Loki, trying to decipher what was up with the god now.

“How was your shower?” Mobius recognised the thing Loki did in which he clearly tried to start a conversation to avoid another conversation. 

“It was alright.” Mobius answered before narrowing his eyes and walked calmly to his armchair before asking. “Now what’s up with you.” 

“I have no idea what you mean.” Loki said a bit too quickly with one of his signature forced smiles. 

“Loki.” Mobius sighed and shook his head. He has had a long day and he doesn't have his usual patience to deal with whatever Loki is doing now. “You practically looked like a spooked puppy,  when I walked in, so what is it?”

“I did not.” Loki looked affronted at being compared to a puppy. Mobius threw him a pointed look and he relented. “Fine, if you must know…” he sighed as if this conversation was the most annoying thing for the god, but Mobius knew he was just stalling. “I’m terribly sorry, but I may have pulled my stitches when walking here, and it seems your blanket is slightly stained now.” 

Mobius tensed up, worried. “What.” He instantly began to make his way to Loki’s side to check up on him, to see how much he was hurt. 

Loki reflexively put out his hands in front of him as a barrier between him and Mobius. “Before you get mad, know I was about to move from here so you don't get any more blood on your bed and I’ll find you a new blanket. I am sure I can find a better one somewhere around this place, Casey had infinity stones on his desks so how hard can it be to find a proper blanket?” Even though he was rambling as he usually did nothing could hide the look in his eyes, that were wide and apologetic. 

Mobius wanted nothing else than to hug Loki, he looked so small and had automatically brazed himself for rejection and anger, it broke his heart just a little bit. “Don’t worry about it, it's just a blanket.” He signalled Loki to stop trying to get up. “Just stay there, you’re going to pull more stitches if you keep moving.” He said softly before going to the small drawer he had in the room, knelt down so he could scavenge through the bottom drawer looking for something. “Aha!” He found what he was looking for. 

Mobius saw the frown forming on Loki’s face as he saw the box he had with him, so he explained. “It's a first aid kit, this one is from the early 2030’s I believe, I nagged it from one of my missions a while ago.” He made his way and sat next to Loki on the bed, his movements were more cautious and slow, sometimes it felt like he was dealing with a scared wild cat when it came to dealing with the god.
“Technically I can't keep things with me from my work, the trinkets I collect usually go to Ravonna, except the Jet ski magazines, which I get to keep since we have an understanding of, basically she gave up after she caught me with the eight jet ski magazine I had gotten from various missions and let me keep them.” He continued talking normally as he took out the butterfly stitches and bandages from the first aid kit. “She doesn't know I have this with me, but sometimes it's just easier to use this than go to the infirmary and have to do paperwork for it afterwards.”

Loki grinned at that. He had been confused when Mobius simply started talking normally rather than get angry or upset about him getting blood in his apartment, but the more he listened to him talk the more he would find himself relaxing ever so slightly. “So you can break the rules.” He said a bit too pleased.

“You do know I have gone against most orders since you arrived, right?” Mobius pointed out. “Stealing a first aid kit box is down at the bottom on my list of concerns.”

“I know, but you broke those rules thanks to my wonderful influence, you're welcome by the way.” He said cheekily. “However, the first aid kit stunt, the magazines… that you did all on your own.” Loki could not keep the admiration out of his tone as he spoke, luckily Mobius did not catch onto it. “I had originally thought you had gone rogue thanks to me, as I keep telling you a little bit of chaos is always fun, but looks like I can’t take all the credit.” He tried to make his signature trickster smile at that but instead he was simply smiling lovingly at him. “Seems like you are not a goody two shoes after all.” 

Mobius smiled sheepishly. “No, I guess not.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you, Agent Mobius.” Loki chuckled, the words came out from his mouth before he could stop them. He tensed up and his first instinct was to move so he could put more distance between him and Mobius, since he had been sitting too close to him, but Loki barely moved an inch when he was reminded, quite painfully, of the reason this all was happening: his stab wound. He flinched at the pain.

Anything Mobius was going to say was cut short when he saw Loki wince, he too, for a moment, was so lost in their animated conversation that he forgot about him being hurt. But that moment was gone now and he went back to worried mode. “C’mon, lift your shirt up, let’s fix you up, again.” 

There was no point in arguing about it at that point, Loki was too tired, so he simply moved the blanket that was covering him, now revealing the red stain on both his shirt and blanket, and lifted his shirt. 

“May I?” Mobius motioned at the bloody bandages hiding the injury. Loki nodded. The agent began to carefully unwrap the bandages until he could see the torn stitches. 

Mobius kept his expression calm and almost blank, after all his life working for the TVA he could do a good poker face, however he could do nothing at the horrible feeling that he felt at the sight of the injury. Sure, it wasn't as bad as when Loki first got it earlier, it was mostly stitched up and it wasn't bleeding profusely, just enough to make it stain Loki’s shirt and the blanket, which wasn't much Loki had made it more dramatic than it had to be, but then again, that was how Loki was and he would not have it any other way. 

Still, it wasn't bad, Mobius knew he could fix it easily with no problem, but it had not been long since the incident happened and it freaked him out to see the person he very much cared about so hurt. He was taken back for a moment to when he found him on the floor of the supermarket, he blinked a few times to get that memory away and focus on the present, focus on Loki who was right there with him. 

“Alright, it's not as bad as earlier. I am simply going to clean it, and put some butterfly stitches,— to replace the three stitches that got pulled, the rest of them look well enough— and then bandage it up again. Is that okay?” Mobius asked before making any move to start. He knew Loki, he knew he hated people seeing him hurt, so he decided to let Loki know he was only there to help, he wouldn't intrude in his personal space unless it was okay with him.

Loki looked at him with something he couldn't decipher for a few moments and then nodded.

“Okay,” Mobius said before grabbing one of the bandages to clean the excess blood away. He said nothing when Loki tensed up when he touched his skin and then relaxed a few seconds later, he simply pretended he did not notice for the sake of the god and carefully, he cleaned it up. 

Mobius then proceeded to get the butterfly stitches out and as he worked through placing them around the wound, he talked through his process, thinking it would calm Loki down. “Now this might feel weird as I’m placing them, but once it's done it will be better. Thankfully you only pulled three out of the ten stitches they gave you so these butterfly stitches should do the job, I’m no doctor but I’m guessing if you pulled a few more we would have had to go all the way back to the infirmary. I know that you would rather not go back there, so it all worked out.” He was almost done placing the stitches now, every movement he did he did with utmost care and love, he wanted to make the healing experience as least uncomfortable for the god as he could. 

He kept on talking as he applied the stitches and then as he bandaged it up, all the time looking at the injury and what he was doing, he paid no attention to Loki’s expressions as he tended the wound. He had to focus, which was why he did not notice the myriad of thoughts and emotions going through the god’s head. 

In the meantime, Loki was quiet for the entirety of the time Mobius was helping him, he had too many thoughts going at once and all he could do was force himself to not move and flinch away. He did not want to flinch because of his wound and the pain, no, he could deal with that just fine. However, what made him want to retreat and pull all defences up was the fact that he was not used to this, any of it. Mobius was taking the time to help him , and he was being so nice and careful about it. Loki wasn't sure when was the last time he was touched so lovingly, the only person that came to mind that showed him that courtesy was his mother, everyone else usually was out to get him. 

The other thing he couldn't get out of his head while Mobius talked was how great he was, if he wasn't so stunned by him helping, Loki would have smiled while hearing Mobius talk. It was so comforting and it just felt safe, at home. He was terrified and did not want to think about what that last thought meant. He could hear him talk for hours, his attention unwavering, because Loki had come to find that everything the man had to say was important to him, even if what he was saying wasn't. 

“There we go, all done, try not to move too much so the stitches hold until you're healed well enough.” Once Mobius was done, he looked up to find Loki already staring at him, it would have been weird if they had any other circumstances, but since they were so close, Mobius invading his personal space by sitting on the bed next to him and leaning very closely to tend the wound, well, he simply figured Loki would stare at him so closely to make sure he wasn't stabbed in the back. Mobius would never do that, but he understood where that need from Loki came from. 

Mobius simply smiled at Loki softly, fighting the urge to tuck a strand of hair back that was in the middle of Loki’s face, he stood there two seconds before standing up to go put the first aid kit away and the bloody old bandages in the trash. 

While he was moving around his tiny apartment, cleaning up, he did his best to ignore Loki. The god kept staring at him and it slightly unnerved him because he could feel the stare at the back of his head as he shuffled around the apartment. The few times he threw a glance at him, Loki kept staring at him, he was frowning and ever so often would squint as if he was trying to solve a puzzle. All Mobius wanted to do was ask what that was about, but he refrained himself from doing so, he knew enough about Loki to know he would speak up if he let him stew in his questions enough. At least he hoped it would.

Once he had nothing else left to do, he decided to sit down in his chair to read his jet ski magazine before he went to sleep. The last half an hour had been spent in comfortable silence, it was clear Loki was trying to figure something out, so Mobius simply let be in peace and quiet. The staring had not stopped and he was now actively ignoring it. Before he could begin to read, Loki broke their comfortable silence. 

“Why are you being so nice to me? I get that you need me alive to catch the Variant, but you didn’t have to do all this. You could have left me at the infirmary and called it a day. Why are you being so nice, so caring ?” He blurted out before he could stop himself. 

Mobius blinked in response. After everything , Loki still did not understand how much he cared for him? He stuck his career on the line more than once for him , he broke protocol to take him to prove his apocalypse theories, he had his back on the mission. He was so bad at hiding it even Ravonna knew Loki was important to him at this point, hell even Hunter b-15 helped him out earlier because she knew . Apparently, everyone knew except Loki. 

“I’m nice to you because I care about you.” Mobius stated simply and wanted to yell in frustration and desperation when Loki looked at him like he grew two heads. 

“Why would you do such a thing? You said it, ‘I bring death and destruction wherever I go.” He laughed bitterly. He wanted more than anything to believe the man but he was too scared to. 

“Yeah I care about you, you’re chaotic and mischievous and you drive me crazy but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. You are my partner, my friend,” you mean so much more to me that you will ever know. “And yes, I am being extra nice because you scared me. You were gone and then I found you and you looked dead , and she was taking you away. I almost lost you .” His voice wavered and by the end he was almost whispering due to all the emotion in his voice. All the fear he felt, the love he has for the god, the desperation to be believed, all of it was combined in the tone of the last sentence.

Loki gulped. “I’m okay now.” He said softly. He didn’t know what else to say. He now truly believed he cared for him, he could hear the truth in his statement, there was no denying it, he still couldn't understand why he would do that, why care, but he did.

“You almost died !” Mobius raised his voice and ran a hand through his hair, waving his hands around to make his point. “You almost died and if you hadn’t made it, you would have died in my arms .” He needed Loki to understand what he just went through. He had never lost someone in the field that he cared about this much and that was messing with his brain. “I don't know what I would have done… You couldn't die.. You simply could not, I could not have handled it, not that , not losing you .” He went from yelling to whispering, barely audible to Loki, but he managed to catch onto the last part.

For once, Loki couldn't shield his face from showing all the emotions going through his mind at once.  He was stunned, sure he finally realised that Mobius was not just using him to catch the variant but he cared for him. One thing was to care, but Mobius cared . He felt ill at the amount of despair he heard in Mobius' voice at the thought of him dead, he would never want to cause him that level of anguish in his life, he felt responsible. But he still did not understand, after all Loki has done, why would he care so much? Why would it matter? It wasn't like he cared in the same way Loki cared for him and— 

Oh. 

So that was why, then. 

After the revelation Loki had, he looked back at Mobius lovingly and sympathetically. He focused on him and finally saw what he had been too busy to see before, he looked utterly exhausted and drained, it was clear he needed a rest after all he had been through, just like Loki did. He scooted over and patted the bed. “Come here.” He said softly. 

Mobius frowned, he knew he had been yelling not so long ago, he accidentally poured his heart out to him in a state of frenzy. He was expecting Loki to ignore him, scoff with a silly remark or in the worst scenario, laugh at him, but he was not expecting that. “What?”

Loki rolled his eyes fondly. “Look after everything you need to rest too, that armchair won't do it and we can both fit here.” That was a reason he was telling him to come, but not the main one. “Just, come on will you?”

Loki was right, he was too tired, both physically and emotionally. At the option of resting he decided to trust Loki and walked to the bed, laying down on one side, leaving enough space between them. 

Loki, who had been leaning on the pillows, not quite laying down yet, turned off the lamp next to him and went to lay down. Mobius laid on the bed next to him and became momentarily frozen in place when Loki simply leaned onto him and placed his head on his shoulder. He placed it there and waited to see if it was okay, leaving space for Mobius to move. Neither of them did, and neither of them said anything for a while, happy to be in comfortable silence. 

“I wouldn’t have died.” Loki murmured after a while, his voice wavering from the lack of use and wanting to comfort Mobius after the talk earlier. “I’m a god. I can’t be that easily killed. This wasn’t even my first stabbing…”

“That is not as reassuring as you think it is.” Mobius chuckled but unconsciously held Loki tighter, as if he wanted to keep him safe  in his arms.

“Hmm.” Loki shifted his position, right when Mobius held him tighter he inched closer to him, moving carefully to place his head on his chest while Mobius managed to snake an arm under Loki so he could hold him closer. “This is… pleasant.” Loki said after a few minutes.

“It is.” Mobius agreed, he was glad it was dark because he was smiling widely to himself at how nice, unexpected, but nice, it was. 

“Mobius?” Loki spoke, Mobius could feel the rumble of his voice in his chest. 

“Hm?”

“I do too, you know…” he trialled off. 

“Do what?”

“I also… hold you dear, and would hate it if anything happened to you.” Loki said barely above a whisper and quickly. This was the closest he would admit to doing feelings.

Mobius froze in his place as the words set in, but then he moved his head down, and placed a soft kiss on Loki’s hairline, since Loki was all but curled in his chest, the placing was just too perfect for him not to do it. “You’re wonderful, Loki.” he whispered.

“You know, the first time I got stabbed, is quite an amusing story, if I may say.” Loki felt too open, emotionally after that so he gulped and changed the subject before he freaked out more. He clearly did not think it through when he began to tell one of his childhood stories since he barely talked about it, but he felt content telling him.
“Once I accidentally stabbed myself when I was a young child. I had just learned how to conjure daggers with my magic. Mother was busy at the time, so I had no supervision. Back then I did not know how to wield my knives in the air. I tried to catch one of the daggers after spinning them in the air and well... I ended up with one of them on my leg… Mother was frantic when I interrupted her afternoon by showing up at her chambers with a knife sticking out of me.” Loki smiled sadly at the memory, he might not be close with Odin, but Frigga was very dear to him, and he missed her. “She taught me healing magic shortly after, and I learned how to use daggers properly from then on.” 

Mobius smiled softly and  began to twirl his hair with one hand as he listened. “So, what I’m hearing is you have always been danger prone?”

“Life isn’t fun without chaos, and you can’t have chaos without risks. That wasn’t even the most danger prone story.” Loki told him. “Oh, and that same year, shortly after I accidentally impaled myself, I learned enough magic to shapeshift, which was when I turned into a snake just so that when Thor picked me up as a snake, I could transform myself back to normal and stab him.” Loki chuckled softly. “That was not the last time I stabbed him.” 

Mobius knew all this from the files but somehow hearing it from Loki made his heart feel warmer. “Tell me more?” 

He did. 

Loki spent the next hour or so, telling Mobius about his adventures back when he was younger. He normally would not have told anyone this much about him but Mobius kept listening attentively and Loki could feel how much he cared, which was odd, he was not used to it, and he knew it would take a while to get used to, but all in all, Loki also cared for him, enough to take the risk of trusting him. A decision he felt was right after a lifetime of wrong ones. 

After a while, Loki changed the subject, asking him about jet skis and fun stories from his time on the TVA. He closed his eyes, just focusing on his voice. He could hear him talking for days on end, of course he would not say this out loud, but he enjoyed listening to him. 

After a while of comfortable silence, both of them drifting between simple relaxing and sleeping, Loki spoke up again. “I’ve decided that from now on I’ll stick with you on missions. Given that you and I have a 100% success rate on missions together and the first time we’re separated I get stabbed and the timeline goes to shit, I rather prefer our chances of survival if I stay.” 

“It’s cute how you think there was another option. I’m not going to let you out of my sight.” Mobius said sleepily as he continued to twirl Loki’s hair.

“And I get my daggers.”

“Absolutely not.”

“But it’s for safety reasons.” Loki almost pouted and tightened his hold on him. “That way I can have your back.”

“No.” 

“I’ll get my daggers.” Loki mumbled determinedly.  

“Sure you will.” Mobius does his best to sound sarcastic but he knows he ended up saying it more warmly than he intended. It is only a matter of time since he caves in and gives him his knives, probably next time. How can he say no to him after everything? With a smile he closed his eyes, letting the repetitive sound of Loki’s breathing lull him to sleep.