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Chapter Text

"Who are you? What’s your name?"

And only then did Loki notice that look in his eyes. A look that Mobius had never given him before. It was blank, disarmingly blank. Mobius had always looked at him as if he knew more about him than Loki imagined, as if he knew parts of him that even Loki wasn't aware of, but now, now he was looking at him the way everyone else looked at him.

And Loki understood.

He understood that this person before him was not Mobius, or at least not the Mobius he knew. It was another version of him and Sylvie, conscious or not, had sent him to another universe.

And that was when he noticed the huge statue that stood in the lobby of the TVA. It depicted Kang, He Who Remains, an element that in the TVA he had lived in for a few days was not present at all.

"Sir? Please come with us."

Loki turned around. Guards stood behind him, helmets on their heads and batons in their arms. They grabbed his arms and put them behind his back. The gesture was so abrupt that Mobius intervened: "Easy, take it easy. Can't you see that he's not resisting? Bring him to my office, I'll take care of him, all right?" said Mobius, and Loki let them take him away. The walk to Mobius' office was made in complete silence. Mobius walked ahead of him and flipped through folder after folder that Miss Minutes showed him to find his real identity. He did not turn his head to look at him. It was amazing how that whole situation was deteriorating Loki from the inside out. Seeing a Mobius treating him like a complete stranger hurt. When they reached their destination, the guards sat Loki down in a chair and then left, closing the door behind them, leaving Loki and Mobius alone.

"So," Mobius began. "The files tell me that you are Loki Laufeyson, the God of Mischief. How the hell did you get here?"

"It's a long story and I don't think you have enough time to listen to it. The TVA is in chaos. Shouldn't you go and help?"

"By now the situation has deteriorated. Numerous multiverses have been created, endless timelines. It is impossible to control them all. Which brings me to what you were babbling about earlier in the archive. You talked about freeing the timelines. All this is your doing?”

"No. Yes… Sort of. It was another version of me."

"Another Loki?"

"Exactly."

"And how do you know my name?"

"I come from a universe where the two of us worked together."

"Another version of me worked with Loki Laufeyson?"

"We're friends."

Mobius raised his eyebrows and stared at him in amazement. "Friends? Well, I'm surprised. The Mobius of your universe must be very different from me, then."

"No, not at all. You are identical," Loki commented hastily. Then he wrinkled his brow and said, "You must help me, Mobius."

"Help you?"

"Send me back to my universe. I must return there as soon as possible."

"All TemPads have been seized. We are no longer allowed to use them. And even if I had one, I wouldn't know how to send you back to your universe. There are so many branches, so many timelines, it's impossible to tell which one you come from."

"From the Sacred timeline, the original one."

Mobius looked at him strangely. "There is no original timeline."

"But there was! Until a few minutes ago!"

"If there ever was such a thing, well, it's gone now."

"Can't it be traced back?"

"We'll do what we can." But with that sentence Loki realised that the TVA would do absolutely nothing to help him, in fact he would most likely be pruned within minutes. Mobius stood up and made to leave, but Loki held him back.

"Mobius, wait, I want to go with you. I can help you, I mean it," he insisted. "I understand that trusting me is difficult for you right now and who knows what you found in those files about the Loki of this universe. But that's not me, Mobius. I'm from another timeline."

"Is that so?" Mobius looked at him cynically. He flipped through the folder in his hands again and read it quickly. "You tried to get rid of your brother Thor with the Destroyer to secure the throne of Asgard?"

"Well, yes..."

"You used and mentally controlled hundreds of people with the Scepter?"

"Yes..."

"Did you cause the Chitauri Invasion and destroyed New York?"

"Yes.”

"Have you transfigured your appearance into that of Odin and stolen his throne?”

"No, I didn’t do that.”

"Anyway, you don't seem that different from the Loki of this universe."

"The TVA captured me after the events of New York. I was a variant to be eliminated, but you..."

"Me?"

"Long story short, there was another variant of me that was causing problems for TVA. You, the Mobius of my universe, had the idea of using me to capture her.”

"And did you succeed?"

"Technically, yes. But then other things happened."

"Ah. You betrayed my variant, I suppose?"

Loki parted his lips in protest, but then said nothing. Mobius understood that he had hit the nail on the head and shook his head, not at all surprised. "Most illuminating."

"Mobius, please," Loki spoke, in a pleading tone. "Help me."

"Is what you said true? Are we friends in your universe?"

"Yes, we are. You are... You are important to me," Loki admitted. "I want to go back to my universe, I want to help the Mobius I know. The TVA is almost certainly in chaos right now, as it is here. I caused this situation and I want to fix it. I want the timelines not to be at war with each other."

"You want to eliminate them all, like Kang did?"

"No, absolutely not. I intend to... Wait. You know about Kang?”

"You appeared at the most critical moment, Loki Laufeyson. The TVA turned against Kang a few days ago when we found out the truth about him and the timelines. We did everything we could to capture him, but he managed to escape. And then... Then all this happened. The multiverse."

"Kang is dangerous. He's the most dangerous person in all the multiverse. We have to stop him."

"Yes, I agree with you.”

"Will you help me, then?"

"I'll help myself, rather. If the Mobius you know is your friend, then I certainly can't keep you in this universe, can I? He would miss you." Mobius smiled. "Come on, get up."

"What are you going to do?"

"We are going to steal a TemPad."

Chapter Text

Stealing a TemPad when they had been carefully locked away in a secure location by TVA agents wasn't exactly an easy task, yet with Mobius by his side, Loki managed to pass through doors that he would not have been able to pass through otherwise, and, moreover, without being suspected of anything. Loki was still wearing the TVA uniform, which made him pass for an analyst very easily. He also noticed that Mobius was highly respected by his colleagues, not that this was any different in his universe, but he seemed to be more important here. Or maybe it was just the chaos of the moment. The TVA in this timeline no longer had a leader, as he had fled, so the agents leaned on each other and paid respect to those they thought deserved it.

Mobius led him to a vault in the deepest basement of the TVA. It was well protected, with many guards watching over the entire floor. Nevertheless, they let Mobius through without batting an eye. Loki grimaced with amusement at how easily Mobius was committing an infraction. Everyone seemed to know and trust him.

It was Hunter B-15 who first figured out what they were up to. She caught them right in the vault, where the most varied items from who knows how many different timelines were stored. To the right, in special drawers, they found the TemPads. Mobius was about to grab one when suddenly Hunter B-15 came through the doorway, with an angry look distorting her face and the baton ready to be used.

"I didn't expect you to do something like this, Mobius", she said, with a disappointed, almost hurt expression. "Cooperate with a variant? Help him escape? Breaking into the vault and stealing a TemPad when we've been expressly forbidden to use them?"

Mobius remained silent. He didn't know what to do or how to act, so Loki came to his aid.

Loki laughed. He laughed with relish. It was one of those bursting laughter, capable of attracting all the attention of the people present. He stood on the other side of the vault, looking around with a distinct curiosity. He slipped his hands into his trouser pockets and looked at Hunter B-15 with a dangerous gaze. He was strangely relaxed in a situation that should have alerted him.

"Oh, come on," he spoke, with a grin. "Do you really think this is his doing? I charmed him. I ordered him to come here, to open the vault, to steal a TemPad."

Loki lied. He lied because he wanted to keep Mobius safe. He played the villain; he was particularly good at that.

"That is not possible. Magic doesn't work here."

And Loki laughed even louder. "You are fools. Fools to think that in other universes I haven't discovered how to make it work. It was so easy to burn this place to the ground as soon as I got my magic back. You know, I could do it again. Again and again. In every universe, in every time. It amused me once, and it could certainly amuse me fifty or a hundred times!”

“Cut the bullshit, variant. You’re both under arrest.”

Hunter B-15 attacked. Mobius was closest to her, so she turned all attention to him first. She raised her hands, ready to hit him, but her hand was held back by a firm grip. Loki had taken on a look of such fury that it frightened even Mobius. Loki fought against her. Hunter B-15 tried to hit him with his baton, but it soon ended up on the ground, thanks to a well-assisted blow from Loki. The baton slid away on the shiny floor, a few feet away from them. Loki had no intention of killing or causing permanent injury. He struck the woman with extreme precision, in the most vulnerable places, until she lay unconscious on the floor.

Loki and Mobius heard shouts coming from outside the vault, hurried footsteps approaching. More agents were arriving on the scene, because of all the noise Loki and Hunter B-15 had caused during the fight. They had knocked objects to the ground, pieces of glass had flown everywhere. Mobius had been watching Loki the whole time, almost fascinated by his fast movements, his fighting style that seemed impossible to counter.

"Are you all right?" asked Loki, genuinely concerned. He took a step forward towards Mobius, but he seemed to be afraid of him.

Loki stopped immediately.

"Mobius, I'm not going to hurt you," he tried to reassure him. "'Your friend is only unconscious. She will recover soon."

"I've never seen someone fight like you," Mobius spoke. "It was a great show."

Loki chuckled, amused by his way of downplaying.

"They're coming," Loki pointed out and Mobius nodded, calmly.

"Come with me, Mobius. If you stay here they'll accuse you of helping me escape."

Mobius seemed to soften at those words. "Oh, don't worry about me. I can manage, as usual." He grabbed a TemPad and threw it across the room. Loki promptly caught it with one hand, smiling at him.

"Thanks for your help," he said. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"Go, don't waste any time. You have a long way to go to find your home. As soon as you arrive in your timeline say hello to my variant. Tell him he's found himself a pretty good bodyguard."

Loki grinned. "Goodbye, Mobius."

Chapter Text

As the Mobius variant had stated, there was no such thing as a sacred timeline. On his TemPad all timelines looked similar to the others. Loki therefore proceeded at random. He saw universes that were strikingly similar to his own, while others were completely different. There were some where he had never existed, others where he had been king of Asgard for several centuries. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. But he didn't care. He didn't care how long it would take him to return to his timeline. He would keep searching, relentlessly, and he would keep marvelling at all those universes that were so strange, so identical, so absurd. There were times when he accidentally created other timelines because of his presence. At first he tried to avoid doing that, but then he changed his mind completely. He thought that if he alternated the timelines, sooner or later someone would come looking for him to stop him, right?

He figured that making his presence known in universes where he never existed would be more than effective. And so it was. He created numerous timelines in which a Loki Laufeyson who shouldn't have existed changed the fate of the universe. The more timelines he created, the more likely it was that someone would notice. He hoped it would be the TVA of his universe, or the lanky Sorcerer of New York.

One day he opened a timeline and found himself in a completely destroyed Midgard. Loki looked around. There was no one there, and the ground was dark, pitch black, and completely scorched. Loki looked at his TemPad and the coordinates. Yes, that was Istanbul in 2067. The sky was covered by a blanket of grey clouds. The air reeked of burning. What timeline had he ended up in? Seeing all that desolation and destruction reminded him of Lamentis-1

He made to leave, but suddenly another portal opened a few feet away, from which a man appeared. Loki recognized him at once, though he looked very different from the man he knew. He was younger, with blond hair and a smooth face without a moustache. Loki could not even speak, surprised as he was. He had not expected that the first to find him would be Mobius, or rather, a variant of him. Loki stared at him in complete astonishment. He was even more stunned when that Mobius ran at him with extreme speed, throwing him to the ground in one move and aiming a blade at his throat.

"Whatever you're doing here, Loki, I strongly suggest you stop it now before someone other than me notices and gets you killed."

Mobius had him pinned down, and pretty well, from what Loki could tell. Loki made no attempt to free himself from his grip; he was far too stunned to move a single muscle. The Mobius on top of him stared at him with great interest, his gaze so fierce that it looked as if it wanted to eat him. Loki was not worried, on the contrary, the situation was particularly sensual. He felt his body on top of him, the cold blade pointed at his skin. Those blue eyes of his penetrating him deeply.

"I didn't expect you to be the one to appear," Loki commented, no shade of fear in his tone.

Mobius raised an eyebrow. "Who did you think would intervene?"

"Kang or some TVA superior."

"What the hell is the TVA?"

Loki didn't answer and Mobius tightened his lips, annoyed.

"You look so sickly," he pointed out. "What's happened to you? And for heaven's sake, what on earth are you wearing? These clothes are hideous, they don't suit you at all."

"I know," Loki agreed.

"Well? I'm waiting, Loki. I suggest you start talking. What are you doing? Why are you deliberately opening timelines?"

"I'm trying to get attention."

"As usual."

"I thought if I altered a lot of timelines someone would come after me. I was hoping the Mobius from my universe would come, but..."

"Disappointed, sweetie?"

"I wouldn't say that, no."

"So, from what I understand, you're lost."

"I want to get back to my universe, but I don't know how."

"Oh, you poor child, so afraid and so alone."

"Can you please let me go?" asked Loki. He felt exposed in that position.

"Why? Don't you like it?" Mobius turned a smirk on him. Then his expression became serious. "We must leave. The others will be here soon."

"Who are you talking about? Who are the others...?"

And it was at that very moment that four more portals opened at the same time, from which four Mobius emerged, one identical to the other, wearing the uniform of the TVA. When one of them was the first to realize the situation Loki was in - on the ground, with a Mobius holding a dagger to his throat - he let out a frightened cry: "Don't hurt him!"

"Hurting him is the last thing I want," the younger Mobius explained. "I'm here to warn him, and I imagine it's the same for you as well."

Loki was rather amused by what he saw. He was surrounded by five Mobius from different timelines, all genuinely concerned about him.

"To call this situation bizarre would be an understatement," he said.

The younger Mobius broke away from him. He held out a hand to help him up, and Loki grabbed it. The other four approached him, looking at him from head to toe.

"You are so different from the Loki of my universe," said one Mobius. Without warning, he reached out to brush his fingers over his hair and Loki pulled away from him abruptly. Mobius, surprised, turned a smile to reassure him. "Forgive me, it was a spontaneous gesture."

"What timeline are you from?" asked another Mobius.

"From the Sacred timeline."

"You are aware, aren't you, that there is no such thing as a Sacred timeline? Whatever you've heard about it is an ideology created by Kang. He has such an egocentric view of things that he is able to say that the universe he was born into is the 'right' one, the original one, wishing to wipe out all the others, because in his opinion they are unworthy of existing."

"I intuited that, yes," Loki murmured.

"You say you come from the sacred one, but there are hundreds of timelines that call themselves such."

Loki sighed, unable to hold back his growing despondency. He looked at the five Mobius in front of him. It was amazing how they were all there to help him, regardless of whether he was a Loki from another universe.

"I come from a timeline where Kang is dead. Another version of me killed him."

"You killed Kang in three hundred and seventy-two different universes."

Loki widened his eyes. "Oh, okay. Um... It was a version of me that was born a woman."

"That doesn't help."

"Seriously?"

"Does that surprise you?"

"No, not really."

"Give us more information," said a Mobius, as he was intent on researching his TemPad.

"She has blonde hair," Loki said, jokingly. He tried to think of something else, but surprisingly that irrelevant piece of information said as a joke was of great help.

"Oh! It's timeline 616."

"616?" asked another Mobius for confirmation.

"Yes, I'm sure of it."

"Give me your TemPad, Loki," suggested a Mobius, and Loki instantly obeyed. The man typed something, pressed a few buttons and directed the next portal into timeline 616.

"There, it's ready," he said, handing the TemPad back to him. "The portal will open in Mobius' office."

"Really? It was that easy?"

"I come from a universe where the TVA has catalogued every timeline. I know how to find them with accurate precision."

"All right, that's enough, can you explain to me what the hell TVA is?" the younger Mobius said abruptly.

The four of them just looked at him, not answering.

"Thank you," Loki said to them all, touched.

"No problem."

"I find it really curious, you know?"

"What, Loki?"

"The knowledge that we know each other in at least five different universes."

"Actually it's a lot more than five, Loki."

"Really? But I've been in a universe where Mobius didn't know me."

"That's extremely rare," the younger Mobius argued. "Or perhaps, simply, you were still too early."

"Well, either way, it's very reassuring," said Loki.

All five Mobius smiled at him.

"Have a safe trip home, Loki."

Chapter Text

Just before crossing the threshold of the portal, Loki cast one last glance at those Mobius who were so alike, yet so different from his. The younger Mobius winked at him and, with his hand, encouraged him to go. Loki stepped through the portal and he immediately realized it was definitely not Mobius' office, but that of Ravonna Renslayer. Thankfully, there was no one there at the moment. The room was silent and no noise could be heard from outside.

Then, Loki ran. 

He threw open the door and he ran fast, through corridors, antechambers, landings, down and up stairs, looking for one person. His breathing was laboured, not from fatigue, but from nervousness. The place looked like the TVA he knew, but he had been fooled once before and had no intention of being fooled again. 

As he had imagined, everything was in chaos. Agents were running all over the place, hurrying who knows where. The situation had gotten out of hand with the opening of the multiverse and some had no idea what to do. No one was getting orders from above and most people had been left to themselves.

"Casey!" shouted Loki, when he saw his face in the midst of all that mass of people. Casey looked around, unable to figure out who had called him. Then he saw Loki running towards him. 

"Oh... Hello. I don't have much time, so..." 

"Alright, alright! I just want to ask where Mobius is?"

"Ah, Mobius. Yes. The last time I saw him he was on the third floor." 

"Thank you!"

"You're very welcome." 

And it was on the third floor that Loki finally found him. He was sitting behind a desk with a frown on his face. He was intent on looking at the computer and flipping through a document at the same time. Loki stopped his run. He watched him for a few moments. His heart was in turmoil, perhaps because he was afraid, afraid of discovering he was in the wrong timeline again. 

"Mobius?" he whispered, slowly. 

And Mobius suddenly lifted his eyes, rested them on him, and, to Loki's relief, they lit up. 

"Loki!" 

He had recognised him. And Loki smiled. 

"Loki, what happened? Where's Sylvie?" 

Loki crossed the distance between them and enveloped him in an embrace. Loki held him close, avoiding squeezing too tightly so as not to hurt him. He rested his chin on Mobius’ shoulder and closed his eyes. 

"Hey, hey, easy, boy."

"There are so many of them, Mobius, thousands of timelines so different from each other..." whispered Loki close to his ear. For some reason, his tone of voice was higher than usual. His throat was battered with emotion. "I thought I'd never make it back." 

"Loki, hey, calm down. Everything’s fine. You're fine." 

Mobius broke away from the embrace and took a long look at him; he looked him straight in the eye and then smiled, kindly. He squeezed his arm in the hope of comforting him. "Come, let's go to my office. You clearly have a lot to tell me.”

Loki walked alongside Mobius without uttering a word. He couldn't take his eyes off him, so happy was he to see him again. 

"Have a seat," Mobius suggested, when they arrived at Mobius' office.

"I can't sit down, I'm too agitated."

"OK, do as you feel most comfortable." 

Loki told him everything. About Kang, about Sylvie, about how she had betrayed him and how she had opened the multiverse by killing Kang. He described in detail every timeline he had visited, of his desperate search to find his home. Then he told him of his plan, how he had altered many timelines, and how five variants of Mobius had found him and helped him return to this universe. Mobius did not interrupt him once. He remained silent the entire time, listening, analysing his every expression, his every change of tone. 

"Mobius, the TVA that has existed until now has lost its purpose. We must create another TVA, one with a different aim than the one it had before. Every universe has a right to exist. We must preserve each timeline and keep it safe. And we must avoid a war between universes at all costs." 

And they talked, God knows how much they talked. About the TVA, about the critical situation they were in, about their new goal, about Kang, about how to stop him. They talked for hours, until everything was said, everything was considered and analysed in great detail. Then, there was silence. A strange silence. Mobius looked at Loki with an expression he had never seen him use before. 

"I'm so sorry, Loki." 

"What are you sorry about?"

"I am sorry about many things. About Sylvie. You didn't deserve this, you didn't deserve any of this. I'm sorry that TVA turned your life upside down like this. You could have gone on living a chaotic existence, travelling with the Tesseract and wreaking havoc everywhere. I ripped you out of that life and now you can never return to it." 

"It wasn't such a good life after all. All that lay ahead from that life was complete loneliness." 

"Do you mean to say that you no longer feel lonely now?” 

"Your presence is of great benefit to me." 

"Benefit? Is that so?"

"You have always been kind to me, Mobius. No one has ever been so kind to me." 

“Oh, shut up. I'm not always kind.”

Loki did not reply. He looked at him condescendingly. Mobius was clearly flattered by those words.

"Well?" continued Mobius. 

"Well what?"

"Sylvie. She broke your heart, I can feel it."

"There was a moment when I believed it myself."

"Are you in love with her?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"There must be a why?"

"With you there's always a why."

"I'm in love with her like I'm in love with myself." Loki sighed. "Why fall in love with another version of myself if not because I believe anyone else could never understand me? Anyone else could never accept me for who I am and could never see me any other way but as a villain; the God of Mischief, the jealous brother of the mighty Thor. I am convinced that I cannot be loved by anyone other than myself." 

"But you are loved, Loki. You always have been. By your mother, by your brother, and even by your father. For hundreds of years the earthlings have worshipped you. Not only as the God of Mischief, but also as the god of great cunning. You are not a villain, Loki. I have never seen you as such.”

Loki had a lump in his throat. He swallowed several times to get rid of that feeling, without succeeding.

"Loki."

"Yes?"

"You're hiding something from me." 

"I'm not hiding anything from you."

"Liar”, said Mobius, in a tremendously gentle tone. “It’s clearly there, in your gaze. You avoid looking at me because you are afraid that I will understand.”

“You'd better leave it alone. Maybe mine was just a wrong intuition.”

“What intuition?”

“Mobius, I…”

“Loki, don't worry. Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

“Better not.”

“Loki.”

“They loved me”, Loki burst out. “I could see it clearly in their eyes, in their gestures, in the way they spoke to me. Their eyes... Their eyes were so open, so generous, so loving.” Loki began to walk around the room, unable to stand still or look at Mobius. He was tremendously uncomfortable with what he was saying. “It was not a superficial love, nor a simple one. It was not of little importance, nor of short duration. They looked at me in a way that...” 

Loki trembled. He was petrified by the sensation. A feeling so intense from which he had no escape.

"And do you see something different in my eyes?” Mobius asked, cautiously.

Loki's breath caught in his throat. "Yes," he admitted. "But, Mobius, I understand. I understand why you wouldn't want to be with someone like me. I don't blame you for that. You deserve a better person, someone who's as good as you are, someone who makes you happy and isn't messed up like me. Someone calm, quiet, trustworthy." 

"Loki..."

"Mobius, really, it's fine. I don't want to make you uncomfortable. It's okay and I accept that." 

"Loki."

"I hope by all means I can have your friendship, or whatever you wish to grant me. Whatever you want me to be, Mobius, I'll be it for you. A friend, a brother, an acquaintance, an assistant… Having you in my life will be enough.”

"Loki, may I speak?"

"Sorry."

Mobius smiled. "What you said is true." 

Loki lowered his gaze and prepared himself for what was to come. To rejection, to disgust at the suggestion that they become lovers. Mobius did not want that, and as difficult as it would be, Loki had to accept it. 

"I tried so hard not to fall in love with you."

"…what?"

"I love you, Loki, but I have always tried to hide it from you. I've always tried to chase those feelings away. At first because you were a variant, then because you fell in love with Sylvie. I was so jealous, Loki. So jealous... Sylvie was perfect for you, because she was you. I could never compete with another version of you. You looked so happy when you looked at her." 

"You were jealous…?" 

"Extremely jealous and I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, to be honest. I have never felt that way before.”

Loki was shocked. He stared at Mobius with a dumbfounded expression. He no longer walked back and forth across the room, but stood motionless, as if petrified, a few steps away from Mobius, who was sitting in a chair with his arms resting on the armrests.

"Heavens, I've left a god speechless”, joked Mobius. Then he stood up and approached Loki, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Loki, calm down." With his other hand still free, he took Loki's hand and shook it. Mobius soon realised how much Loki was shaking. His hands were frozen, as if deprived of all strength. "It's okay. There's no need to be nervous, not with me." 

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise. I'm the one who needs to say sorry. I made you uncomfortable." 

"No. No. I'm just incredulous. I can hardly believe it."

"I understand. You need time to process. Do you want me to leave you alone for a while?" 

"No!" Loki exclaimed, and clasped a hand on Mobius' wrist to prevent him from leaving. "Don't go."

"All right, all right, don't fret. I'll stay." Mobius looked at him fondly. "What do you need, Loki? Tell me." 

"I need certainty." 

"Certainty?"

"How do I know you won't abandon me in the future?" 

"You cannot know. You have only to trust me. Can you trust me, Loki?"

"Yes." Loki answered immediately, almost without thinking. 

"Good. I have no intention of abandoning you, betraying you, breaking your heart, deceiving you or not loving you. Do you understand?" 

"Yes." 

"Is there anything else?" 

"Why? Why do you want to be with me?" 

"Unlike you, I don't need a why. I just know that it comes naturally to me to love you."

And it was at that moment, with that sentence, that Loki's eyes filled with tears. 

"Oh, Loki", Mobius caressed his palm, with a light, gentle touch, as if Loki was made of glass and he was afraid to break him. 

"I feel... so vulnerable”, Loki confessed. 

"And that scares you?" 

“It would scare me if I were so vulnerable in front of any other person. But with you... With you I feel that it's OK, that I can show you everything about myself, that I don't need to hide anything.”

"And how does it make you feel then?"

"Good. Extremely good. It makes me feel... important." 

Mobius hugged him, ran his hands down his back, and then up again, with firm, calm gestures. Loki was still very emotional, but those caresses calmed him down. He stopped shivering and enjoyed the closeness. Mobius' scent intoxicated him.

"Thank you," Loki whispered. 

"I should be the one thanking you, Loki. You are so strong, so brave. To love is not easy. To love is to drop your barriers and reveal yourself to someone, to love is to be weak and strong at the same time, to love is to open up to someone and be honest. You did that for me. And I cannot thank you enough.”

Loki stepped back, just enough to see his face. It was amazing how someone could love him like that. He had never imagined that he deserved such love.

"With you it all seems so easy”, he said.  

And then Loki placed his lips on Mobius'. Their first kiss was a slow one, so light it was almost imperceptible. It was a careful kiss, full of generosity and patience. They both explored each other's mouths very gently, without being intrusive or too eager.