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Lamentis - 1 was as good as any place to refuel. The process could take a while - Quill and Rocket liked to bicker over service prices - leaving Thor free to explore the place on his own. It was perhaps selfish of him to wander off as the other Guardians were running errands, but experience had taught them that Thor could be a hindrance when he was in a mood. And he was in a mood.
It started when they landed on Lamentis. Unlike his mother, Thor was not a magical being, but he was Asgardian, and as such, happened upon premonitions every now and then. He’d felt one - vague, but prescient - as they disembarked. Later, as they adjusted to their surroundings, he caught a glimpse of something - someone - unexpected. Loki.
It couldn’t be Loki. His brother was dead - had been dead for five years now. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time Loki exaggerated his own death. And wouldn’t that be just like him, to fake his death and hide in the outer reaches of space while Thor toiled on Earth, haunted by Thanos. No. Loki was well and truly dead.
Weary of this line of thought, Thor decided to pass the time with a drink or two. The bars in Lamentis were all the same - neon exteriors, dark interiors. The one he entered didn’t strike him as particularly noteworthy. Only when he noticed two of its patrons did he reconsider.
There, sitting comfortably in a red-leather booth, was Loki. He was in deep conversation with his companion, an ordinary looking man, and didn’t seem to have noticed him. The man with him, however, did. Though Thor didn’t know him, he seemed to recognize Thor. Gently, he nudged Loki, drawing his attention to his furious brother coming his way.
“Hello, brother,” said Loki, a familiar snake-like smile on his lips.
If Thor had harboured any doubts about the identity of the supposed dead-man, that smile quelled them. This was Loki - no one else smiled quite like that. Which of course begged the question of what he was doing here.
“You’re alive?” thundered Thor, “again?” (It was becoming annoying, to mourn him only to find his brother alive and well around the corner). “Where have you been?”
Loki winced, turning to his companion.
“Do you want to tell him, Mobius?” he offered.
“No, you go ahead,” said Mobius with a smirk, “he’s your brother.” Loki made a face. “‘I’ll back you up with the technical details,” he added. Something like tenderness passed between them.
Turning to Thor, Loki said: “you may want to sit down.”
There followed for Thor a moment of awkwardness as he puzzled over whether to sit next to his brother (his anger at his reappearance made this a risky course of action) or next to Mobius (this too felt risky - he could feel Loki’s keen eye upon him every time he approached the man). Ultimately, he borrowed a free chair from another table and sat between them, expectant.
“Well?” he demanded, “how did you do it? How did you survive this time?”
Loki considered his question.
“I didn’t,” he said, “not really. I’m… I’m not the Loki you knew.” He paused, taking in his brother’s confused expression. “Let me put it this way, the last time I saw you was right after… New York.”
That did little to clear things up.
“But that was… over 10 years ago,” stuttered Thor, utterly lost.
“For you it was,” replied Loki, “but for me it wasn’t nearly that long.”
Perhaps sensing that Loki was doing a particularly bad job of explaining the situation, Mobius jumped in.
“He’s from a different timeline,” said the man, exasperated, “the Loki you knew died in this timeline, but this one,” he pointed towards the God of Mischief, “took a different path.”
“When you put it like that, you make it sound like I chose to end up at the TVA,” commented Loki.
Mobius seemed ready to return the barb, when Thor interjected.
“The TVA?” he asked, growing irritated at his continued state of confusion. He understood the concept of timelines well enough - the time heist was still fresh in his mind - but now the pair were descending into incomprehensible jargon.
“Time Variance Authority,” said Mobius, as if that explained anything.
“Don’t worry about it,” Loki told Thor, “it doesn’t exist anymore.”
“Because you destroyed it,” snapped his companion.
“We destroyed it together, darling,” was Loki’s retort.
Darling? Thor looked at the man with new eyes. He appeared to be human, with greying hair and a distinctive moustache. He dressed plainly, in contrast to Loki who wore a tunic of rich purple. And yet, there was a way his brother seemed to be looking at him - and a way he was looking at Loki.
“Just who are you?” he asked.
The man offered his hand.
“Mobius M. Mobius,” he said as Thor shook it, “formerly of the TVA, currently…”
“Timeline expert at large,” suggested Loki.
Mobius grimaced. “I was going to say…”
His brother interrupted again, “And my boyfriend.”
The so-called timeline expert grumbled. “I was going to say jet-ski enthusiast,” he mumbled, smiling nonetheless. There was in his eyes a warmth, an appreciation for his brother’s mischievous streak, that Thor recognized as belonging to those who loved Loki.
“So,” he said, unsure of how to proceed, “which timeline are you from exactly?”
Loki and Mobius smirked in unison.
“Well you see,” said his brother’s companion - his brother’s boyfriend, “that’s actually quite the story.”
Loki turned to Thor. “Do you have time?” he asked.
There was a wanting in his voice that made it impossible to refuse. And when Thor nodded, his eyes lit up the way they did when they were little and Loki less guarded, when he wasn’t scared to show his brother he cared. Quietly, he commed the Guardians, letting them know it would be some time before he returned. Loki had a story to tell and Thor wanted to hear every word.
--
Sometime and many drinks later, Loki excused himself, leaving Thor alone with Mobius.
“There’s one thing I still don’t understand,” he said (they had, by then, discussed timelines and turnpads and the TVA in detail). “Why track me down here? You could find me anywhere.”
Mobius considered the question.
“Well, this is - was - the sacred timeline,” he said, “and Loki does have a bit of a fondness for Lamentis.” He paused. “But, and keep this to yourself, I think he figured this version of you maybe needed to see him most.”
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