Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

‘So is this the place?’

‘Yes. Why’ 

‘Nothing, it just seems a bit...’ Thor gestured with his hands trying to find the right word, ‘Not your style… yeah that’s it.’

The two were standing outside this local coffee shop, it looked warm with this fascination of browns and oranges that didn’t seem to let up. 

‘I needed a job. And I’ve got one.’

‘You don't need a job Loki, you just have to apologise to him.’

‘No I don’t.’

Loki fixed a strand of their hair quickly in the glass reflection before opening the door gesturing for his brother to come in as well.

Thor walked up to the counter as Loki made his way behind into the back to put on his apron and clock in. He watched the silver, or blond- Thor wasn’t too sure, haired man watch his sibling before turning to face his customer with a light smile.

‘What can I get you?’

He was there for a while, bringing out his laptop to do some work until Loki came over during her break. Setting down opposite with his coffee and sandwich before noticing their brother smiling rather smugly at him. 

‘What is it?’

‘Who’s uh… the guy?’

‘What guy? There’s quite a few in here.’ he looked around dramatically as if it were enhancing their point.

‘No, I mean the guy, the dude who you work with!’ Loki turned around entirely to see Mobius leaning against the checkout reading some book before looking up to catch their eyes. Loki turned around quickly, his cheeks heating up slightly. 

‘OH. Him. Yeah he’s just my coworker.’ 

Thor smirked slightly, ‘Yeah ok if you say so’. Loki’s cheeks began to heat up. 

‘No, no no I don’t know why you’d even say something like that?’

‘You just seemed close. He looks at you, you look at him. Very Jane Austen.’

‘How do you know about Jane Austen? I'm still surprised you can read.’ 

‘Very funny brother. Bruce was talking to me about it last night.’

‘Aw, Cute’ pulling a mocking face.

‘Yeah he is,’ Loki took another sip of his coffee watching Thor look over their shoulder, ‘He’s been looking at you a lot.’

‘He’s probably waiting on me to come back from my break. You know he’s so annoying. I mean when I started out I was new to the whole thing obviously but he was so snide.’

‘You are too.’

‘Well, you aren’t wrong. We’re just friends.’

A different voice cut through the bubble of the brothers booth with a joking tone, ‘Cold Loki, I was working up the courage to propose.’

‘Hey Mobius, you know it's rude to eavesdrop.’

Mobius hummed in response, a beat of silence before he continued, ‘Are you almost done with your break?’

‘Yeah, yeah I’m done.’ 

Thor watched the interaction unfold in front of him with a massive grin hidden behind his mug. Loki lifted himself out of his chair to make his way back to the counter. 

‘I’m Thor by the way.’

‘Nice to meet you, Mobius. You are lokis…’

‘Brother.’

‘Ah, yeah I see it.’

‘Come sit with me, I got some stories about Loki for you.’

As afternoon went on, Thor got a call from Bruce making him leave his position in the coffee shop’s booth, after waving a quick goodbye to Mobius and whispering a small ‘you guys would be cute’ to Loki making them give him a death stare as he left. 

Hunter had called to take the day off so Mobius ended up accompanying Loki for the rest of the work day. They never really talked much unless a conversation arose. It wasn’t too awkward, Loki would even go as far to say they liked being around Mobius, not that he’d ever admit it. But since Thor's little visit today everytime Loki would catch Mobius’ eyes they felt this pit in his stomach, or at least this funny feeling that he didn’t fully want to accept.

Fuck.

Valkyrie watched Loki dramatically drape themselves over the couch forcing her to sit on the coffee table. ‘I think you’re overreacting loki.’

He raised his head to look across at her, ‘I’m not though. Ever since Thor even brought up the idea I always get this,’ he gestures chaotically, ‘feeling in my stomach.’

‘Butterflies?’

‘What? And now maybe what if I do you know… like him?’ His friend rolled her eyes slightly while getting up. 

‘Then you can face those feelings like an adult,’ she swatted him on the thigh, ‘Now get up and go hide in your room or go out, I have a date.’

Loki moved himself upright and muttered, ‘Well at least that makes one of us.’

They ended up wandering around town for a small while before finding themselves in a smallish dive bar solemnly drinking some badly named drink they quickly forgot before feeling a gentle tap of paper on his left arm. As he turned his head he recognised the silver blond hair, Mobius.

‘Loki. Hi.’

‘Heya Mobi.’ The man raised his eyebrows with a pleased look on his face. 

‘Don’t call me that. How's your evening?’ Loki groaned loudly, resting their head in their hands slightly, ‘Not good then?’

They lifted their head up, forcing themselves to snap out of whatever this feeling was, ‘Could always be better, what about you then? You don’t seem the type to go out. Date bailed on you?’

Mobius chuckled, taking a sip of his whisky, ‘Uh, no surprisingly. Date didn't bail but it sure was a bad one.’

‘What sort of date ends this early… Oh Moby you didn’t?’ they left their mouth slightly agape trying to emphasise their faux-shock

‘Don’t call me Moby’

‘You bailed on your date’ 

‘Well… Yeah. I didn’t leave her there I just… lied’

 Loki slammed their hand on the table laughing, ‘How come?’

‘Just not my type.’ There was something in Mobius’ eyes just then, this warmth that Loki wished they could see all the time.

‘Hm? What is your type then?’ They leaned in slightly, that pit in his stomach becoming more noticeable so they took another sip. 

‘Not women, I can tell you that much. What about you? What's the infamous loki doing out moping in this bar?’ Loki could’ve sworn that Mobius checked him out as he leaned into his seat, the smirk never quite leaving his face.

‘I’m infamous?’

‘To some I’m sure.’

‘Right. I just got kicked out of my apartment so my roommate could have her date.’

‘Ah, so you’ve got no date either.’

‘...’

Mobius glanced down at his empty glass then up at Loki, ‘Well since I’m here I could do the gentlemanly thing and buy you a drink.’ 

‘Please do, I can’t remember what this drink was called so just get something.’

‘Okay.’ There was this softness in his voice they weren't too used to hearing. They liked it. 

As they watched Mobius walk away with this faint smile they felt the pit in their stomach become more noticeable. ‘Oh god’ he whispered to himself, putting his head back in his hands. 

Chapter Text

The sound of an alarm pierced through Loki’s sleep making them wake up, the hangover from the night before making itself present and the morning alarm vibrating his skull. He lifted his head off the pillow while trying to find his phone to snooze the alarm made him realise that this wasn’t their bed.

What the fuck. He shot upright, the tiredness being washed away as alarm bells went off in their head. 

After some detective work, Loki still had no idea where he was. Nobody was in the bed beside him. Their jacket was on a hanger and shoes by the end of the bed. After deducting that nothing worth remembering happened last night since she was still wearing her jeans, they left the awkwardly decorated room.

‘Mobius?’

‘Loki! You’re up,’ but she wasn’t quite sure she was, it felt weird and surreal. But that feeling was back as Mobius walked up to him. It felt like a dream but the pit sat firmly in his stomach to remind him it wasn’t. Mobius handed them a glass of water and painkillers, ‘I’ve got to go and quickly feed my neighbours fish. Bathrooms down the hall.’ He leant in slightly as he moved away and walked out the door.

‘So? I don’t get what the big deal is?’ Thor murmured through a mouthful of cereal. 

‘The deal is that I don’t know where we stand now. What if he expects me to remember?’ Loki continued to stare up at the ceiling as he contemplated this new found issue. 

‘Why don’t you just ask him about what happened?’

‘Why don’t you eat cereal at your own home.’

‘I felt lonely. Bruce went to do this thing with Tony,’ Loki rolled her eyes and groaned at the ceiling, ‘... so I thought why shouldn't I drop in and check with my little brother.’

Loki groaned louder, ‘I know you’re here for a reason before you knew about me having boy troubles.’

‘Ok fine. You got me,’ He put the bowl down onto the table, ‘So mother wants us to have dinner on the 23rd, she wants to meet Bruce and to see how you’re doing- since you won’t answer their calls.’

‘I shouldn’t have to answer their calls.’

‘It’ll just be one dinner.’

‘Yeah except I’m highlighted again as the disappointed now you’ve got Bruce.’

‘Well why don’t you just bring someone?’

‘Who would I bring?’

Thor paused for a moment to think of someone, ‘Val?’

‘God this is so sad,’ Loki rubbed her face groaning at the ceiling, ‘I’m not taking Val and not going, alright’ They checked their watch and swung their legs off the couch and stood up ‘ok well I’m going but to work instead. Because I do not need family.’ she glanced at Thor who had gone back to his bowl of cereal, ‘I don’t need them .’ They corrected themselves. 

Loki grabbed his jacket and moved to the door before turning to address Thor, ‘You can stay, just don’t eat my cereal if you don’t want to pay me back.’

The coffee shop was quiet. It had the regular few high school students who laughed at their phones taking advantage of the free wifi and the odd person of two sheltering themselves from the rain. Loki sighed and dropped his head as he leant against the counter. 

He felt this pang of guilt when thinking about their conversation with Thor. Maybe she’ll try and find someone to go with him, for Thors sake. 

Hey Val are you free on the 23rd?

No

I told you the other night that me and carol were having our mini road trip

You never told me that

I did

You called it lame then talked about that guy you work with

What's his name

Rombus?

Just ask him. You guys seem close

His names Mobius

You’re basically married already :)

‘Fucks sake.’ 

The door chimed, making Loki pocket their phone to look up the customer. ‘Ah Mobius.’

‘Nice to see you actually work when I’m not here.’ He snaked around the counter and Loki, his hand lightly hovering above the small of his back. 

‘Very funny.’

‘I thought so too, you can take your break now if you want. It doesn’t matter too much since it’s pretty empty anyway.’

As the shift continued a few people came and went. The obnoxious group of teens traded out to this awkward highschool couple who traded nervous glances before becoming engrossed in some conversation. And multiple people coming in and sitting for a while, the tame coffee shop acting like a respite for those being chased by the storm outside. Mobius sat at eating his salad checking his phone for something, his face falling making him look up and tapping his phone with his finger before grabbing his salad and walking over past the counter. 

‘I’m just, uh going to take my break round the back. Just... watch over this place for fifteen.’ He turned the corner and Loki heard the back door open then close slowly. 

Thor????

??!!?

How do you comfort someone ?

I don’t know? Just be nice

Why 

What's happening 

?

Loki?  

The back door opened and shut, Loki awkwardly sat next to Mobius on the step, their knees coming up to their chest as she avoided getting her shoes wet. 

‘Are you okay?’

Mobius shoved the remainder of his salad into his mouth, answering with a shrug. 

‘Right. Did you… want to talk about it?’

‘Why are you doing this Loki?’ his head turned to face her.

‘Wh- doing what?’

‘This!’ he gestured at Loki, ‘you sitting here- asking me what's wrong.’

‘I’m just being nice.’

‘You’re never nice. Pretty sure I once watched you pour salt into someone's coffee.’ Mobius sighed and ducked his head as if he was suddenly defeated, ‘Is this about last night? Are you trying to repay me or something?’

‘What? No. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.’ Loki made a mental note to try and find out what happened last night, there was a slight panic to it but it could wait.

‘I applied to be a professor at a college near here and they denied me.’ Loki gave a blank look since this was very new news to him. They never really asked Mobius about his past and why he was working at a coffee shop and not doing something else with his life. ‘I’m only at this coffee shop more as a favour to Ravonna and it was to keep with an income as I worked on my masters. Now that I've done all of that I thought it’d be good to move on and do something I’ve wanted to do for a while. But here we are.’

‘Oh, Mobius I-’

‘Wait- why aren’t you at the counter?’

‘Oh, I just locked the door and said we're closed after those two kids left.’

‘Jesus christ.’ Mobius hopped up from his step and through back to the front where he unlocked the door and changed the sign. 

Chapter Text

‘...Loki!’ he painted a pained smile, ‘you look… good.’ Val watched as Loki rushed about their apartment, trying to piece together whatever chaos was unravelling before her. 

‘Ok, I’ll bite. What are you doing?’ She leaned against the bathroom door frame as Loki checked themselves out while brushing his teeth. 

‘I’ve got a date,’ he spoke through his toothbrush so it came out slightly muffled before he rinsed his mouth, ‘Thor set it up.’

‘Is this because of the dinner thing with Odin? Why don’t you just ask Mobius?’

‘I thought you didn’t know his name.’ Loki brushed past her heading to his room to grab his coat as Val followed.

‘I didn’t you keep talking about him.’

‘We’re just-’

‘Co-workers,’ she finished his sentence, ‘I know’. They rolled their eyes at her before heading to the front door before she called out jokingly from outside her room, ‘Be back by 8!’

The restaurant was semi-crowded, the light murmur of conversation and cutlery hitting the plates. Mobius sat near the far end of the restaurant with his head in his hands as Hunter was talking to him about how it wasn’t ‘that bad’. 

‘I’m just saying, you can do something else. What was it you wanted to do before this again?’

‘I wanted to write,’ He sighed, lifted his head to take a sip of his whisky, ‘It doesn’t matter anyway, I might just talk to Ravonna about taking more shifts and make this whole thing more... permanent.’

‘Alright whatever you want man, your sad middle life crisis not mine. I’m just here to be a friend.’

‘What are friends for if not to watch the other have a life crisis.’ Hunter chuckled into her drink before taking another piece of the bread and looking and chuckling at something on her phone. Mobius lifted his head up looking around for the waiter before spotting a familiar figure towards the entrance, Loki. He quickly ducked his head back down, earning a strange look from Hunter.

‘Did you want to order food then? or were the four drinks you ordered enough?’

‘I’m just going to… use the bathroom’

‘...alright then.’

Mobius awkwardly rushed into the men’s room leaning against the sinks and staring at himself in the mirror, ‘what the fuck was that?’ he asked himself, ‘It’s just Loki, why would Loki coming to a restaurant looking like that be an issue?’ He ran his hands over his face before washing them and going to head back out. Repeating the same ‘it’s just Loki’ in his mind.

As he opened the door he walked right into someone.

‘Mobius!’

‘Thanks Mobes.’

‘Just Mobius is fine, so you uh here on a date?’

‘Yeah, Thor set it up… he’s trying to get someone for me so I go to the next family dinner.’

‘Right’ Mobius shifted on the spot, shoving his hands in his pockets, ‘Well I better get to Hunter, I’ll see you at work.’

‘...ok see you’ Loki watched the man walk through the corridor and back into the dining area before going into the toilets.

When Mobius returned back to the table he put his head in his hands before looking up at Hunter after a sigh, ‘So shall we order?’

‘You alright?’

‘Yes, all fine, all good. I was thinking about the salad.’ 

‘...alright then.’

It was a weird rest of the evening. Jealousy wasn’t the best look on Mobius, and it certainly wasn’t one he has had to deal with before. The next line of questioning for himself was why  he was jealous but that was something he left for another evening, another evening where he was much drunker. So instead Mobius was left with feeling this horrible ball of rage that sat in the pit of his stomach whenever he looked over at Loki laughing and lightly brushing the person's arm. 

The next day Mobius watched Loki when he arrived, moving back around the counter after serving these two kids who had made themselves ‘regulars’, although Loki hated calling them that. The pit in his stomach was gone, as he sighed in relief he greeted Loki. 

‘You’re late.’

‘And you’re still annoying.’

Charming as ever.’ Mobius muttered under his breath as Loki walked past him going to grab his apron off the peg just around the corner before returning to Mobius’ side to help with the queue, Mobius’ eyes followed them as they moved to check the order list that was beside their coworker. They stood in silence for a while, Mobius taking orders off the few customers until they had all moved to their seats, he moved next to Loki to start on another drink.

‘...So, how was your date then? A match for your highness?’

‘No, he wasn’t a match.’ Their voice sounded defeated which made Mobius sigh a little bit as she left his side to go and serve a coffee and pastry. 

The rest of the shift Loki remained pretty out of it, Mobius was too if he was to be honest, the copious amounts of alcohol he had last night wasn’t a great mix for a full day of work the next day. Mobius leaned against the counter since the place began to quiet down, he would look up every now and again to look at Loki leaned back in his chair scrolling on his phone then back down to his jet ski magazine, until a familiar voice interrupted his routine.

‘Ah, Mobius!’ he looked up to see a tall blond grinning at him.

‘Thor,’ he grinned, ‘What can I get you?’

‘Just a mocha, regular.’  Thor handed him a random note, ‘Keep the change, or just put it in the tip jar, whatever it is you guys do here.’ 

‘Thanks,’ Mobius put a considerable amount of change and a $5 note into the tip jar before moving to make the drink, ‘So how are you?’

‘I’m good, I've just been trying to convince Loki to come to this family dinner.’

‘Yeah, he mentioned. Is that why he’s so down?’

‘I’m not too sure,’ Thor gave a glum look over to Loki.

‘Well, if you ever need any help, I can try and talk to her?’ Mobius moved the cup, grabbing a lid and pressing it down.

‘Thank you my friend.’ 

‘No problem,’ Mobius smiled as he handed Thor his drink. He gave a small cheers gesture to Mobius as he headed over to Loki and sat opposite them. 

Chapter Text

Bumping into Mobius did seem to distract Loki that evening, it was quick into her date that she realised it wasn’t going to be a good one but still they kept the flirting act up. But he still would glance over Mobius every now and again who seemed to get continuously drunk chuckling at whatever his date was saying. A pit in their stomach became evident. So they ordered another cosmopolitan and laughed at whatever dull joke his date just said. 

‘I didn’t expect you to be home so early,’ Val said from the kitchen as she watched Loki trail in and collapse face down on the couch, ‘the guy you were with looked nice.’ 

Loki remained silent, Val watched over the kitchen island taking the teabag out of her mug and moving over and tapping Loki’s leg, ‘Come on, move your leg. This is becoming too much of a common occurrence,’ she sat down at the edge of the couch looking over at Loki who was still lying down, his legs just shoved onto the ground, ‘What's up?’

‘Bad date.’ The answer was muffled since Loki was still face down on the cushion.

‘...alright then.’ The two stayed in silence for a short while, Val quietly sipping their tea before Loki turned around to lie on his back sighing.

‘I ran into Mobius-’ Val let out an annoyed groan, ‘and he seemed really… I don’t know but I’m pretty sure he was on a date.’

‘So? You were too.’ 

Val’s response made Loki cross her arms in a huff, ‘Not my point. I couldn’t even see who he was talking to but Mobius looked kind of,’ she paused moving her hands to her face rubbing it as if it was going to sober them up, ‘happy. Why have I never seen him like that?’

‘Because you are just co-workers you guys have hung out once and you ended up blacking out.’

‘Shut up.’

‘If that's what you want.’ Val gave a small pat on Loki’s knee before getting up and heading to her room. 

They ended up falling asleep on the couch, after spending a good while staring at the ceiling with their arms crossed. The date was a bust, so they just weren’t going to go with Thor that week. Loki made a mental note to ask what sort of friends Thor has, that person they met with almost put him to sleep, he was handsome what Val said earlier wasn’t untrue but Loki had found herself looking for some more substance to her partners. They were what, 27 and have never been in a proper relationship no wonder Thor was so excited to set him up. 

Then came the Mobius problem. It was barely a problem the more Loki thought about it, just annoying and confusing. He had started to have this urge to be kind back to the blond since that's all he ever was to them. Perhaps kindness wasn’t the right word since Mobius had proven himself to be just as much of a dick as Loki, he just hid it well. And it amused Loki, they admired it. Wouldn’t be much of a reach to say that they liked the man. 

And that was the last stream of thought Loki could remember having before he passed out. A while later being woken by a text from Thor asking how the date went. Loki ignored it and carried himself to his room and then their bed only to sleep through their alarm the next morning.

Loki looked up from her phone watching Thor sit down, ‘How are you brother?’

‘Better than you I’m guessing,’ Thor shifted in his seat, making himself comfortable, ‘The date wasn’t any good then?’

Loki put down her phone to look up at her brother with a slight glare, ‘No… it wasn’t. All he did was talk about himself and make terrible pop culture references.’

‘Will you still come?’

‘I’ll think about it.’ Thor hung his head in defeat sighing. For the rest of Loki’s break Thor spent talking about his date night with Bruce, explaining the movie they watched in strange detail. 

Mobius glanced at Loki, accidentally making eye contact through the window as he started to carry in the outside furniture before they locked up, they looked… nervous, which was an odd sight to see. As he came closer, setting the table on the ground, ‘You alright Loki?’

‘...Yeah, yeah I’m fine,’ Mobius gave them a small look before turning around to get the last chairs, ‘Wait-’ Loki chased after him, ‘Are you free this coming weekend?’

‘I can be.’ Mobius grabbed the two chairs, going back into the cafe, Loki still tailing him.

‘So I was wondering if you could accompany me to my family dinner,’ Mobius stopped and turned around to look at him, ‘I’ll owe you.’

Mobius caught their gaze and looked at them for a short beat before he chuckled slightly, ‘You really couldn’t find anyone else?’ 

‘Come on Mobius, this is embarrassing for me. Just say yes or no.’

‘Embarrassing?’ he raised his eyebrows before turning around to place the chairs away, ‘Wow, thanks Loki.’

‘Wait- nono that isn’t what I meant.’ Loki followed him past the counter towards the back where he watched Mobius hang up his apron and shrugged on his coat, ‘Is that a no then?’

He scoffed in response, ‘I’ve got to go,’ he checked his phone, ‘Casey has called me four times, message me if you need anything.’ he moved past Loki, not giving him a chance to move out of the way so she felt Mobius’ breathe ghost his skin briefly before Mobius left calling out after him, ‘Lock up please Loki.’

Hey.

Mobius.

What is it Bee?

Why is Loki texting me and asking what chocolates you like?

He’s probably just going to try and apologise to me.

Tell him I like any. I could do with something sweet.

I already answered

But why is he asking?

He just did something stupid.

Stupider than accidentally stabbing you??

Well… No I was just being mean I guess.

Ok then

Oh btw I told him you were home so he’ll probably be over soon 

Mobius looked at his phone in a slight panic, then the doorbell rang. He glanced around him searching for a tshirt or at least something to cover himself slightly more than the towel around his waist. The bell ringing became more and more impatient, ‘Loki’ he muttered before calling out ‘Just a minute!’ as he grabbed sweatpants and a tshirt off the ground and pacing towards the door. 

The door opened to reveal Loki staring down at his shoes before his gaze quickly reaching Mobius’ where he grinned, showcasing the chocolates and wine in his hands. 

‘Are you trying to bribe me?’

‘What a way to say hello Mobius.’

‘Why are you here?’ he leaned against the door frame, ‘

To say sorry, with wine and chocolates, Loki's brows furrowed as he studied Mobius’ state, ‘your hair is wet.’

‘I was just in the shower, did you want to come in?’

‘Sure.’ Loki placed the wine and chocolates on the kitchen island as his eyes followed Mobius moving to get a glass of water, making a gesture of a glass to Loki who put a hand out to decline, ‘So… Have you mulled over my question from earlier?’ Mobius smiled slightly into his glass.

‘Why can’t you just go alone?’

‘They’re just less likely to be extremely judgemental as to why I’m still alone,’ Loki flopped himself onto the couch, looking at Mobius who was now leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed, ‘Now Thor has his boyfriend it’ll be even more noticeable that I’m the failure.’

When Loki stopped they looked up locking eyes with Mobius who stayed in the same position. He looked like he was chewing on his gums as Loki looked up and slightly furrowed her brows making a slightly pained expression. 

‘Fine. You got me. You look like someone kicked a puppy.’

‘It was all a part of my plan’ She looked at Mobius as he walked towards them and sat down on the couch next to her, sighing slightly as he leaned back.

‘Of course it was. You can stay for a bit longer if you want, since you came all this way, I was just going to watch a movie.’ he gave them a short smile, his eyes radiating warmth that Loki basked in.

‘Thanks.’ She leaned back slightly as Mobius turned on the TV.

Chapter Text

Hey Thor. I can come next week. 

Did Vals plan fall through?

No I have a date

Who

Was it the guy I set you up with?

Someone else. You’ll meet them later.

…… ok then.

It was the morning before dinner. Loki was rushing about, a toothbrush in their mouth as they searched the couch, picking up the cushions and messily placing them back down, muttering ‘where are you? Where are you?’ to himself over and over again before he moved to the bathroom. Making a dramatic amount of noise, waking Val. She throws a random object at him, making him look over with a shocked expression.

‘What was that for?’

‘It’s a Saturday morning, can you please be quiet.’

‘Sorry Val but I’m going out.’ she furrowed her eyebrows, her interest piquing slightly.

‘Where? You usually just sulk about.’

‘I don’t sulk , I relax. I’m going for brunch then we’re driving to Odins.’

 ‘Ah, so you’re going ahead with the fake dating thing then? Who is it you’re meeting?’

Their mouth opened to answer as the buzzer went off making him quickly move to jump over the mess, hopping slightly as he moved to let the person in. A minute or so after Loki pressed the button there was a knock at the door, ‘Ah Mobius! Just come in and stand there, give me a minute.’ They rushed back to the bathroom, continuing to make an unnecessary amount of noise as Mobius muttered a small ‘Okay.’ standing awkwardly by the front door studying the open front room as he waited.

‘So you’re Mobius then?’ He turned his head to see who he assumed was Loki’s roommate leaning against the wall, as she seemingly examined him.

‘Last time I checked, yes.’

‘Hm, alright.’ He furrowed his eyebrows at the short conversation as she turned around the corner making some noise in the kitchen. Before Mobius could ponder on the experience for too long Loki emerged holding a small dark green suitcase, opening the door Mobius followed closing the door after him. Mobius walked out to the street towards his car, opening the boot, letting them swing the case beside Mobius’ duffel bag.

 ‘So where are we going?’ his fingers drummed on the steering wheel. Loki just grinned in response, making Mobius turn to stare at them, ‘...Loki?’

‘Oh- yeah right, just follow my directions.’

Loki directed them to this cafe two streets away from the TVA, a cosy place that definitely had its fair amount of pins on pinterest. When the car was parked Loki pulled out a small box from their jacket pocket, the man next to them watched as she tried to connect the back of the gold chain necklace. He watched the struggle for a few seconds before he muttered, ‘Turn around.’Loki shifted slightly so he could have better access. She felt her cheeks flushed slightly at the light brush of Mobius’ fingers against their neck. ‘There we go.’ his voice just above a whisper. How was it that Loki was already regretting asking Mobius before anything had even begun.

‘So, why the necklace?’ Mobius gestured with his fork to the small green gemstone that hung just below the clavicle supported by the slim gold chain. 

‘Oh well, I built up a little story for us, since Thor already knows you-’

‘Can’t we just tell him?’ 

‘He’s the worse liar known to mankind’

‘Who makes you the god of lies?’ Loki goes to open his mouth before Mobius interrupts, ‘Ah ah, just because you share the name of the God of Mischief doesn’t mean it directly translates to you.’ he chuckled, taking another bite of his salad. 

‘I don’t know I reckon we’ve got similarities.’

‘Ha! So when did you give birth to the snake that surrounds our world?’

‘Ok, who made you the expert on norse mythology?’

‘It was my whole thing, the whole university shebang, you know the deal.’ 

‘Yeah,’ Loki fell silent for a beat before they finished the rest of his coffee, slamming his hand on the table dramatically, ‘Right, earlier this week I came over and confessed my undying feelings and gave you the best night of your life.’

‘Lucky me.’ Mobius interrupted, laughing softly finishing off the salad.

‘The next day we came here for brunch and you got me this lovely thing.’

‘Right, do we take a photo to celebrate the occasion my dear ?’ 

‘I suppose it couldn’t hurt.’ he shuffled closer fixing his hair as Mobius pulled out his phone to take the picture. 

They soon settled into the car Loki gave Mobius the address and they began driving. It wasn’t like they lived super far away but it took long enough for Loki to get bored and fall asleep periodically. If they fell into silence, it was comfortable and if they spoke it would be a conversation Loki enjoyed. 

‘What's that?’

‘Coffee.’

‘From a gas station? You spent an hour explaining coffee to me when I started and you drink instant coffee with such ease?’

‘It's good,’ he shrugged, tapping Loki’s legs to get him to take them off the dashboard as he started the car and made his way back onto the main road, ‘nearly there.’

‘You have arrived at your destination.’ Mobius looked up at the house they were approaching, letting out a soft ‘wow’ before looking over at Loki who had fallen asleep again. He pushed on the break harshley, throwing Loki’s head forward slightly and doing well at waking him up.

‘What the hell was that for?’

Mobius smiled slightly, ‘You kept falling asleep, we’re here now anyway.’ he brought the car to a still, softer this time, in front of the gates, ‘When were you going to tell me you were rich then? Could’ve asked to be paid for this exploit.’ Mobius joked as Loki ran his hands across their face in an attempt to wake up before grabbing and then the half empty cup of gas station coffee. 

‘ They are rich, I work in a coffee shop.’ They corrected, hands quickly moving to search in their pockets.

‘I work in the coffee shop too. And I’m here as a favour which I certainly don’t have to deliver on.’

‘Yeah yeah, here.’ Loki handed Mobius a keycard for him to open the gates with.

As they parked up on the pebbled driveway Mobius looked over at Loki clapping his hands briefly, ‘Right, before we go in- is there anything I should know about or is it just a happy couple and lying to mummy and daddy?’

‘They aren’t my parents.’

‘...Right. Is there something-’

‘No.’ Loki’s voice was dark for a moment, Mobius shifted to ask if they were alright before Loki quickly carried on, his mood forcibly being changed, ‘Okay so we best go in, it looks like Thor is already here.’ Mobius pocketed his enquiries about what happened later when they were alone again.

Chapter Text

“Loki!.. And Mobius?”

“Hi Thor.”

“Did he give you money to come with him?”

“No,” Mobius laughed, “We’re uh-”

“Dating, he is my boyfriend.” Loki wrapped their arm around Mobius’ as if they were clinging to him, Mobius stiffened slightly not entirely used to the contact, probably should’ve expected it. The three of them stood awkwardly in silence for a moment before they heard someone calling for Thor, making them snap out of the moment as he invited the pair inside. 

Maybe someone would call it the awkward windings of fate of how they ended up together, or at least faking and ignoring the mutual feeling that brewed beneath the surface which without a doubt had been brewing for sometime. 

Around a month ago 

Loki had been working at the TVA for a month or so and Mobius thinks they've come to some mutual understanding of each other, perhaps Mobius more than Loki but he had always been more perceptive than most. 

Working a shift with Loki was never the easiest thing, Hunter finding him increasingly annoying and Ravonna being on the edge of firing him within his first week if not for Mobius’ backup saying he would deal with training Loki and take most of his shifts, blaming it on his morbid curiosity for the strange character as well as the idea of having to deal with any of the others he interviewed gave him an urge to run into wall. 

“Nice to see you’re on time, Loki.”

“Always am.”

Mobius smiled to himself as Loki moved round to the back looking up at the customer that tailed Loki inside, “What can I get you?”

Both were rather lucky that it was a slow day since Hunter wasn’t able to come in today, not that Mobius truly minded, he could do without her knowing stares whenever Mobius spoke to Loki, her and Ravonna trading secrets about what Mobius tells one of them, now they both had the leverage to tease him of that one dream he had of Loki when they started working in the TVA. Call Mobius selfish, but he enjoyed Loki to himself. Sometimes when one of them were on a break they’d end up sitting near the counter and making the other laugh, but today Loki seemed to have company. He sat in the booth throughout Loki’s shift, staring at his phone for most of it then up whenever Loki and Mobius seemed to chat. 

He watched her settle across the man laughing at something, after a while the blond guy looked up over at him quickly making Mobius quickly look down at his magazine again and then checking his watch, he’s been covering Hunters’s shift again while she’s out of town with her girlfriend and could do with a break. 

“-but he was so snide.” 

“You are too.”

‘Well, you aren’t wrong. We’re just friends.’

“Cold Loki, I was just working up the courage to propose.” 

"Hey Mobius, you know it's rude to eavesdrop.”

There it was again, that feeling. It had become more and more common, something Mobius had just accepted but it definitely worsened playing Loki’s fake boyfriend, he was really enjoying his role