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Mobius was not happy with him.
That much was evident. The dark look on his face and the forceful way he kept Loki walking just slightly faster than his normal pace with a hand pushing at the small of his back was enough to keep him silent, for once. He didn't bother to ask where he was being led.
The longer they walked in silence the bigger the pit in Loki's stomach grew. He was sure they should be there by now, right? Mobius had only pulled him away with a short "Let's go," no other indication of what was to come, but Loki wasn't stupid.
He had been warned that further escape attempts would not be tolerated. But Loki just couldn't help himself! He knew the limits of the TVA, but when Mobius just seemed to trust him so damn much, even leaving his tempad alone on the table when he went to grab them lunch, what was he supposed to do? It wasn't really an escape attempt anyways. He was just exploring a bit. He had every intention to return himself back to the moment he had grabbed it, but then the stupid thing had stopped working! It was only charged enough for one short movement, so when Loki found himself standing in the middle of the office again, but this time surrounded by dozens of agents and hunters that were prepared for him, and armed only with a dead tempad, he felt just a bit foolish. Even more so when Mobius blew into the room, all strict, dark authority figure, leading Loki away with his tail tucked between his legs.
Then here they were. Loki wasn't exactly sure what the consequences would be for so crassly going against the TVA once more. He was rather sure he wasn't going to be pruned, or Mobius would have already done so. And he hadn't bothered to lock him up or restrain him in any way, so surely it would be nothing more than added desk duty, or maybe he would be refined to his quarters for a day or so, he thought hopefully.
Lost in his musings, Loki didn't notice they had finally stopped. Mobius opened the door, but when Loki took a moment too long to step in, he drew his hand back and- CRACK!
Popped Loki across the seat of his pants, sending the stunned man scampering halfway across the room with a yelp.
Mobius had struck him! Hard! His hands flew back to the offending place, the warmth still lingering. Loki was sure he could feel a welt from every fingertip all the way through his clothing! His jaw dropped and he stared at him incredulously, back turned safely away from the other man. "What was that?!" He demanded, but kept a safe distance between them. He had no desire to allow Mobius to repeat what he had just done, ridiculous as it was. But it was a bit worrisome, he thought as he rubbed the stinging spot. Mobius had never hit him before, not even punched or slapped him, but even Thor had never held back when Loki wronged him...
Taking a moment from his thoughts, Loki quickly surveyed the plain room around him. He put together that it must be Mobius's in an instant, but an extra pair of his boring shoes tucked near the door and a brown suit jacket tossed over the back of the modest couch was the only personal affects he could see. He hadn't seen Mobius's personal chambers yet, always accompanied to a private, quiet cell at the end of each work day. It was clean and plain, with just a few pieces of smart furniture littering the room. A screen in front of the couch silently replayed clips from the TVA videos Loki was growing more and more familiar with, and he could see a short hallway with a few closed doors along it at the other end of the room. One corner was taken by a small kitchen area, but other than that, there was little else in the humble apartment.
Shutting and then locking the door, Mobius turned to his stunned charge with his arms folded over his chest. Both of Loki's hands were still behind his back, either still rubbing or clasped protectively over his backside, Mobius couldn't quite tell. But the red blush that had spread to his ears was testament that what he had planned would have the desired affect, so it was time to make sure Loki was aware of it.
"That was a little hint at what's going to happen here, Loki," He spoke, voice low and deceptively calm. He was the picture of confidence and surety, while Loki was growing more and more panicked by the second as his words, demeanor, and previous action sunk in. This wasn't at all what he had imagined. There was no-! No way he would-!
But the burning handprint on his ass said otherwise, and so did Mobius's rapidly advancing form. Loki tried to scramble backwards, hands now held protectively far in front of him as he back-peddled quickly away from his determined looking handler.
"Now, Mobius, just wait a minute! Let's talk about this like adults! I didn't do anything! I was merely checking your tempad, I don't know what I clicked but if you just give me a moment to explain-" Cutting off in the middle of his lie, Loki stumbled backwards on his own feet and almost fell, hard. But Mobius was quick, darting forward and grabbing his wrist in an iron fist, hoisting him forward and towards him.
But just as quickly as the relief at not falling came, it was dashed as Mobius wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling the squirming young man against his side in a vice like grip. Cinched under his arm and trying desperately to push off and away from him, Loki was tipped forward so he stood precariously on his toes, Mobius's hold on him the only thing keeping from face planting into the floor.
But this left one wiggling, open part of him quite easy for Mobius to access, and he quickly grabbed Loki's dress pants and wrenched them down, exposing white undergarments and milky, muscular thighs underneath. That was were Mobius started, easily getting Loki's attention as he began to smack the back of his legs calmly, completely ignoring the tantrum that he immediately caused by yanking his clothes down.
"THIS is what you're going to get by acting out with me from this point on, Loki. I warned you once that you need to start taking things seriously around here. And lying to me? Will get you absolutely nowhere," he smacked as he talked, Loki's shouting, squirming, and kicking form proving to be very little hinderance as he quickly turned his upper thighs a bright, angry red. At the angle Mobius had him- practically jack-knifed and hanging under his arm- his toes barely scraped the floor and he couldn't get enough traction to properly kick or try to stand up and get away, and it had the added affect of making the poor variant feel incredibly small. Loki's hands then went from shoving at Mobius's side to trying to throw them behind him; but his splayed fingers just barely reached his ass in his bent over position, let alone his thighs.
Each strike on the bare, sensitive skin of his legs was somehow so incredibly more intense than that first strike over his pants had been; and that had hurt. And Loki already felt tears gathering in the corners of his eyes, his protests futile and utterly ignored by the older man.
There was nothing he could do to get out of this. Nothing he said or did was having any affect on the current events, in fact, this wouldn't even be happening if he hadn't done anything in the first place. But now Mobius had overpowered him embarrassingly quickly and easily, and he had no magic or weapons to fall back on. Even his mind, his greatest weapon, was frazzled; all he could focus on was Mobius's hand falling, again and again on his thighs. And how he would do anything to stop it!
At a loss for anything else to even just pause the vicious smacks to his legs, that's exactly what Loki proclaimed in panic.
"M-Mobius! Please- Ow! Stop! I'll d-do anything-ah! I p-promise!"
"You want me to stop, Loki?" His handler asked casually, finishing his question with a hard CRACK against the kicking legs that currently held his focus, keeping his palm pressed where it landed. His only reply was frantic nodding, and he felt Loki heave a dry sob and fist Mobius's shirt behind his back, toes scrabbling on the floor as he rode out the sting that was ignited by his hand. Mobius was pleased that after just a few minutes of attention Loki's attitude already seemed much better, so he decided to let him have the break he was so desperate for.
"Okay, I'm going to give you two options then, big guy. Are you ready to listen?"
Part of Loki wanted to retort that he didn't have a choice, well, did he? But he wisely bit his tongue, just grateful that he had stopped striking him, and mumbled out an affirmative, shifting uncomfortably where he was still cinched tightly against Mobius's side, hyper aware of his state of undress. He was more than a little happy that he didn't have to face the other man, as he was positive he was quite the mess, hair frizzy and hanging messily around his red face, and bloodshot eyes that shined with tears under his low brow. He was humiliated to be debased so thoroughly and easily by his handler, and still be standing there with his trousers around his knees while he was spanked and spoken to like a child. Though he certainly felt like one, under current circumstance.
Mobius smiled softly at the much more subdued young man he now held. However, Loki wasn't likely to be happy about this next part, so he didn't remove his hand from where it still pressed against his red thighs.
"If you want to take a break and you want me to stop spanking you, you can go stand in the corner for about twenty minutes," at the choked off noise of protest Loki uttered, Mobius bit back a chuckle and pushed through before he could be interrupted. "Or, we can keep going until you're ready to go to the corner." At this, he finally lifted his hand from his legs, but kept it raised to strike again.
"What will it be Loki?"
Loki felt like he was going through the five stages of grief. When Mobius informed him he might stop he had no idea that meant humiliating himself to such a further degree! But when he raised his hand again and delivered the threat of further spanking, Loki panicked; the dread was heavy in his gut and he somehow blushed another shade darker as he shook his head frantically, practically bouncing with his panic. "N-n-no, Mobius- PLEASE don't start again, I'll go! I'll go!"
This time, Mobius didn't hold back the laugh that bubbled up at Loki's antics. The poor thing was clearly reaching his limit; unfortunately, they still had a ways to go.
Loki just hung his head in shame, letting his hair cover his face again as he slumped in the other man's grip.
"I'm glad to hear it," Mobius remarked warmly, straightening himself and pulling Loki up at the same time. He smiled at his distraught charge, who immediately bent to redress himself and hide his face for a few more moments.
But Mobius quickly swept in, batting his hands away. "Ah-ah-ah, you're not going to need these!" He said, tugging his trousers back down. Loki's jaw dropped as he looked at him with utter disbelief, his ears warming in response to the humiliating treatment. Mobius then led a very reluctant Loki to a suspiciously empty corner of the room, ignoring him as he bitterly complained about walking with his pants around his knees, face flushed a bright, embarrassed red.
Pushing his nose into the corner, Mobius manhandled Loki into the exact position he wanted him in. A hand pressing into the small of his back corrected his posture, then he pulled Loki's arms to hold themselves at the elbows, and tilted his chin up just a bit before he finally paused. Loki took all of it in silence, absolutely appalled at being put in time out, but cowed at the possibility of being smacked again, and rather too aware of the vulnerable position he was in.
Then Mobius swiftly yanked Loki's underwear to join his pants at his knees.
Loki squawked, jerking away from him and letting his hands fall from his elbows to flutter uselessly in the air at his sides, turning enough to look over his shoulder in disbelief, but not far enough to expose his front, as he opened his mouth to say something very nasty in response. His face was almost unbearably hot and he felt sick with humiliation at being undressed in such a fashion by his handler.
Immediately, Mobius wasted no time in smacking the naked pale white bottom in front of him, framed nicely between the hem of Loki's shirt and his red thighs. A hand pressing harder now into Loki's back pushed him against the wall as he cracked his other palm down four times in quick succession. A strangled cry left Loki's lips and he stomped a foot with each strike, hands balled into fists under his chest, too stunned at the swift response to say anything in protest.
"Back where I put you, Loki, now. I know you're not happy about it but you're going to learn to do what I say, even if it's uncomfortable. Got it?" He asked, laying down two more strikes onto Loki's bottom, turning it a dusty pink.
"Ye-yesss-I-I do! Ow! I'm sorry Mobius! Just please sto-o-p!" He wailed, feeling the flush spread as his childish whine reached his own ears, still trying valiantly to squirm away from the extra punishment.
Loki was incredibly dismayed to find that the strength behind Mobius's strikes only seemed to grow the longer he stayed like this, so he hastily pushed himself from the wall and clasped his hands at his elbows, breath coming in quick gasps as he struggled to hold back tears. He trembled from head to toe, but was relieved when Mobius ceased his assault.
If Loki had been close to tears before, being shoved against the wall and having his bare ass smacked was almost enough to push him over. And now, as he stood there pathetically trembling while he gave Mobius a perfect view of his punished legs and backside, the only thing that kept him from saying anything to get himself in more trouble was the fear that if he spoke, the tears would spill over.
This was all just so hard! Mobius was being so strict with him, and Loki wasn't used to real consequences or not being able to worm his way out of unfortunate situations. Every attempt to placate or escape just earned him more punishment, and he just got his ass handed to him for moving!
"Good boy, Loki. Thank you, I'm really proud of you for doing what I asked," the older man praised softly.
Loki unraveled.
His vision blurred and he reeled at the praise. Mobius had just as quickly gone from cruel punishment to gentle words, praise that made Loki completely melt, despite how disgusted he felt at the knowledge. But it felt so good to be good, when it felt like all felt like he'd been was bad. Even now, he was still being punished, but Mobius called him good? He heaved a sad sob as tears slipped down his cheeks, but carefully kept his hands wrapped around his elbows, back straightened, and chin up, just as Mobius had directed him, even as he lost what little composure he still had.
It pulled at Mobius's heart to watch Loki struggle so badly with receiving praise in the midst of a punishment. He knew that Loki loved to be complimented, but to a deeper degree, he needed to be reassured of himself and his actions. He would kill him if he said it, but Loki sought and reacted to praise and attention above any other reward. Now, though, the relief at being told that he had done good was warring with the knowledge that he was being punished for not being good.
Mobius knew that he needed to leave Loki to sit here and think alone, but he couldn't stop himself from briefly brushing his hair back from his forehead with a gentle hand, rubbing his shoulder warmly with the other, hoping to reassure him through body language as well as words. He withdrew to sit back on the couch, watching the sniffling boy as his tears slowed and he heaved several heavy breaths, his back remaining straight despite how it shook minutely, his chin up, and Mobius couldn't help but think about how brave his Loki was.
The gentle touches from Mobius were like a salve for Loki, and he soaked it up hungrily. He was embarrassed at being half naked in front of the other man and certainly upset, and not at all happy with these current events, but if it got him those gentle words and touches, well, maybe he could put up with it and do as Mobius bid. No matter how badly his ears and cheeks burned at keeping his pants and undergarments around his knees.
All too soon, the twenty minutes was up. Mobius didn't move, but watched Loki turn his head just the tiniest fraction of an inch in question when his mental timer alerted him. Mobius smiled.
"Okay, Loki, you can go ahead and pull your underwear up, but keep your pants down and come over to me," he directed, gesturing to a spot on the floor next to him. Loki immediately yanked his clothing up, hissing as it grazed the sore skin, and scowled at the rumpled pants that were now at his feet. He didn't know what would be more embarrassing; just stepping out of them and walking to Mobius in only his undergarments, red thighs only too visible under the hem of the leg holes, or humiliatingly hobbling his way over with them at his knees again. Conflicted, he turned and looked at Mobius with big, sad eyes.
He didn't even have to say anything. Mobius smiled warmly at him, gesturing softly with his hand once again, and spoke with that gentle, slow voice he seemed to reserve for situations like this, "That's okay. Just leave em there, bud, we'll get them later. Walking will be a bit easier, and I don't care," he shrugged, and Loki's shoulders sagged at the decision being made for him. He gingerly lifted a foot from the fabric, toeing it aside slowly as shame roiled within him once more. He couldn't control himself as his eyes flickered to the door, wondering if he could make it out before Mobius caught up with him...
His thoughts were interrupted by a firm voice.
"Just that look has made me really sure that you need the rest of this spanking, Loki. If you try to run away from me you won't be so lucky to just have my hand to worry about," He warned gravely, as fingers brushed the belt at his waist. "And when I catch you, which I always will, l'll finish what we started the second I have my hands on you. No matter where we're at, or who might be around it watch it," He promised.
Loki paled as his gaze was drawn to the thick piece of leather he fingered, and he swallowed past the lump in his throat at the promise of continued punishment and the horrifying threat. He squeezed his eyes shut, sucking in a sharp breath as he tried to force his feet to move forward. He did not want Mobius to be more upset with him, or Gods forbid spank him more on top of what he was getting or with anything else, but it went against everything in him to submit to punishment like this.
Thankfully, Mobius was patient, and allowed Loki his slow shuffle across the room. The skin on his legs felt too tight and Loki's face burned as he made his way over to his handler, feeling the very picture of chastisement. Too quickly, he stood about a foot away from Mobius, worrying at the hem of his shirt as he looked at him from under his lashes, a small, sad pout on his lips.
Mobius leaned forward and gently took Loki by the wrist, guiding him forward. He parted his legs to pull him in between them, then settled a warm hand on his variant's back, smiling warmly up at him.
"Come on, lean over and I'll help you, alright? I know I don't have to be rough with you anymore, right, champ?" He asked, and although his voice was still gentle and warm, Loki didn't miss the calm warning at the end. He gulped, shaking his head as he begrudgingly did as he was told, slowly leaning over until Mobius caught him and pulled him down over his leg.
As Mobius pulled him close and adjusted him to his liking, Loki felt the cold pit of humiliation inside himself grow. Here he was lying half spanked across this man's lap, and what's worse, was he willingly put himself there. Sure he had the threat of Mobius beating him with that belt as encouragement, but he hardly put up a fight! Even now, he just wiggled a bit and grabbed Mobius's ankle tightly in one hand as he made his final adjustments. But when Loki felt fingers at the waistband of his undergarments, he couldn't take it anymore.
His relative calmness dissolved into a fit as he bucked, hard, almost succeeding in throwing himself off the older man's lap, shouting wordlessly as he flailed and tried to shove himself off of Mobius's knee in a sudden burst of anger and protest.
"Whoa-! Loki, stop!" Mobius grunted, temporarily abandoning his attempts at baring him to grab his wiggling variant around the waist and haul him back over his knee. He wrestled the suddenly thrashing man mostly back into the position he had him in with some effort... Loki's kicking legs, which threatened to knock him in the eye if he leaned too far over, was handled with a muscular leg of his own being thrown over them. Then, he lunged for Loki's fists, which were currently beating a staccato against his legs, and gripped them hard in his own hand, pulling them to the small of his back in a quick motion.
Now that Loki's physical protests had been taken care of, he tried to desperately plead with the other man in a last ditch effort to stay his hand. "M-Mobius, you can't! It's humiliating, a-a-and it hurts!" He gasped, a little breathless from the strain of said protests. He still wiggled violently, but Mobius had expertly corralled his efforts, and there was little he could do now but voice his upset and drum his toes against the ground uselessly.
"Oh, I absolutely can, bud. And for that little outburst? You're at five." Mobius was panting with the exertion of holding Loki down, but his grave promise was still plenty threatening.
Loki stilled.
"Five..? Five what? I'm at five what, Mobius?" Loki asked frantically, straining to look over his shoulder.
"Five extra with my belt once we're done."
"Five? Why so many?!" Loki exclaimed, feeling a bit ill.
"Five to start with, champ. Another outburst like that and I'm doubling it, and you can have ten with my belt when all is said and done," the analyst promised, patting his back reassuringly.
Loki could burst into tears at the appalling consequence. He wanted to panic, knowing the belt would be awful on bare skin if just Mobius's hand was unbearable. But he knew Mobius was not levying an empty threat at him, those extra strikes were a promise, and not one Loki was particularly thrilled to have doubled.
So he took several deep, shuddering breaths. When he once again felt Mobius start to remove his last semblance of protection, he just ducked his head and squeezed his eyes shut as humiliation swirled deep inside, willing his body to stay still. As the fabric scraped over his already abused thighs, a dry sob suddenly choked him and he shuddered as they were tugged all the way down to his ankles, his shoes stopping the garment from falling off his legs. If standing in the corner with his bare ass on display was humiliating, Loki was positively going to shrivel away at being bared over his knee.
"I know, I'm sorry, big guy, I know that hurts," his handler murmured, rubbing his back consolingly.
Loki allowed himself to soak up the bit of comfort, knowing it would be the last of it in the very near future. He flinched, hard, when Mobius rucked up the hem of his shirt and flushed a deep red at the gentle murmur Mobius directed his way in response. He was so on edge that it took him several minutes to realize that he was not being spanked, and Mobius was just... sitting there.
Huffing, he twisted to look behind himself at the other man. But the attitude melted away at the warm smile and kind expression on his face. "You're too tense, Loki," he chided gently. "You need to try to relax. I know it's hard, but if you don't, this is going to be a lot more uncomfortable than it needs to be, right? Come on," he rubbed circles on his back as Loki heaved another shuddering breath and willed his muscles to relax. He was strangely silent, now, but the stark difference in this gentle, caring punishment to the fight they had with each other before Mobius put him in the corner was enough to subdue him, and he was reluctant to bring on Mobius's ire once again and make it worse for himself.
For his part, Mobius was inching more and more towards just letting Loki go and being done for the night. He was already so distressed, and he really just wanted to scoop his poor variant up and cuddle him until he stopped crying and looking so damn forlorn. Even when his attitude started to rear its head, his watery eyes and red cheeks kind of took away from the whole idea.
But he already promised Loki the rest of his punishment, and somehow he knew that even if Loki might think he wanted to stop now, leaving him to stew and worry over his spanking until the next day would be much worse for him. So when Loki slumped over his leg, acceptance of the situation clear, Mobius followed through.
He lifted his hand from Loki's back, raising it in the air and eyeing the light pink bottom in front of him. He could just see the marks from where he had smacked his ass in the corner, but compared to the fire engine red color of his upper and mid-thighs it almost looked normal. With that thought, he tightened his grip on Loki's wrists and started smacking.
Loki's response was instantaneous. He didn't try to fight Mobius, but made his discomfort clear as he jerked in pain after each strike, crying out pathetically. A small part of him wanted to try and remain stoic, but the larger part that won out couldn't focus long enough to do so. He wriggled to try and disperse the pain, but didn't even try to pull his hands away from Mobius or say anything rude as his palm smacked down over and over again. It wasn't necessarily the most painful thing he had ever experienced, but it did hurt quite a bit for a place that was generally virginal to most pain, and that combined with the humiliation of it all was enough to destabilize the normally proud god.
Of course, as much as he tried to accept it, Loki couldn't help but finally give voice to his pain as Mobius steadily gave more color to the rapidly reddening bottom under his hand. Even though it wasn't quite as painful as the smacks to his legs had been, Mobius was spanking even harder and faster than he had been before, and the cumulative affect from the many strikes blending in to each other was extremely unpleasant.
"M-Mobius, please, I'm s-sorry for taking your tempad and running off! I-I assure you, it won't happen again! Can you please stop?" He begged, his voice sounding close to tears once again. He still didn't try to break Mobius's grip on him, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try something.
Unfortunately, his attempt to de-rail the punishment just earned him a dark chuckle from his handler and, sickeningly, Mobius started to strike him harder.
"Ahh! Ohh!! Ow-!" Loki wasn't given time in between smacks to try and speak again, and all he could vocalize was pathetic noises of pain that rained from his lips as Mobius expertly drew them out.
"Oh, I'm sure it won't happen again, and you're about to be real sorry, bud, but we're getting there. You're going to learn that you have no control over a spanking, and when we stop is up to me, not you. Got it?" He finished his question with an almighty CRACK across both cheeks, making Loki rear up with a cry and desperately nod his head.
As he fell back down, and Mobius seemed to still lose no energy or signal to be stopping soon, Loki gasped hard and finally lost his battle to the sobs that were bubbling up inside him. He slumped, all protest and wiggling completely spent from him, and just cried as Mobius continued to spank him viciously, now returning to already red patches of skin that he determinedly transformed into an even darker shade of crimson. Each fast strike blended into the next so that Loki's whole ass was just a burning inferno. He was sure he would never stop, that Mobius's hand would fall down forever until Loki could never sit again!
At least, that's how it felt. In reality, Mobius took great care to ensure he wasn't actually harming Loki. His hand never struck his angry thighs again and he carefully dispersed his smacks to avoid bruising. It did hurt, but in a few days the sting would be gone and Loki would be causing trouble again, he was sure.
Finally, when all the fight seemed to be wrung out of his variant and his bottom was a uniform bright red as he just sobbed, pathetically limp over his knee, Mobius stopped. Loki didn't even move, just stayed in place even as Mobius gently released his wrists, his hand rubbing his back consolingly. Unfortunately, they still weren't done, so he didn't take his leg off of Loki's quite yet, but he knew he had to calm the boy down a bit before they finished.
Just like before, Loki responded immediately to the calming touches. His breath stuttered in his chest and he hugged Mobius's leg tightly as he tried to regain control of himself. He was grateful to have his hands back, and scrubbed pointlessly at his face to try and slow the flow of tears. He didn't even try to rise; he remembered Mobius's deadly promise after his earlier fit, and cringed at himself. He could be done with this whole unpleasant mess already if he had just let Mobius do what he wanted!
"Hey big guy, how ya doin'? Can you talk to me?" Mobius asked, voice still so gentle and soft. Loki still had five to go with the belt, but if he was too upset Mobius would make him wait. But when the Asgardian nodded his head tentatively and hugged Mobius's leg even tighter before sucking in a heaving breath, Mobius just smiled warmly at his brave variant.
"I-I'm, uh, okay," Loki murmured, feeling his cheeks grow warm. As much as he was accepting of Mobius's punishment now, it didn't make acknowledging it any easier. "It hurts," he whined, his voice quiet. He kept his head downturned in shame, hiding behind his long hair.
Mobius had to fight down the overwhelming urge to grab Loki up and cuddle him until he stopped sounding so heartbroken. Mobius hated this more than he had realized; he had chastened Variants before in a similar manner, but had never been so affected by their distress. Of course Mobius didn't enjoy punishing anyone, but normally they didn't tug at his heartstrings like this Loki was managing to do so damn thoroughly. However, he knew he had to finish this and keep his word or else Loki would never be able to trust him during his punishments. So he hardened his heart as he reached for his belt buckle, undoing the clasp and pulling it free from his waist. Loki shuddered and sobbed at the noise, ducking his head even further as his whole body stiffened in preparation for the strikes. Loki desperately fought the overwhelming urge to throw his hands back to block the area, but somehow knew that the resulting consequence for that would not be pleasant.
As Mobius folded the strip of leather over in his hand and started to eye the target in front of him, he flattened his other hand over Loki's back and rubbed gently for a moment before gripping his hip and pulling him closer. Mobius heard the poor variant suck in an unsteady breath as he raised the belt, slapping it down with considerable force to the crest of Loki's bottom.
The response was instantaneous, and Loki bucked hard in his grip, crying out loudly and drumming his toes against the ground. He squirmed and gasped as the pain dispersed, feeling it throb and sting as he whined and let more tears fall at the discomfort.
The second one landed just below the first and equally as hard, and Loki choked and gasped pathetically. He trembled from head to toe and was now gripping Mobius's ankle hard enough that his knuckles were turning white, and he wanted to just collapse into a puddle of tears at the thought that he still had three more to go, a number that seemed infinite to his stressed mind.
The third quickly fell at the bottom of his ass, and Loki short circuited. His accompanying whine of pain was embarrassingly long and high pitched, but he couldn't bring himself to care much. His squirming lasted much longer after this strike, and he couldn't see through the tears that blurred his vision. He couldn't even speak through his distress, but for once, he didn't really want to. He just wanted to be done with this unpleasantness, and then maybe Mobius would see fit to give him more of those gentle touches and calming words, no matter how disgusted he felt at actually wanting such a thing.
Eager to be done, Mobius slapped the belt down twice in quick succession on his thighs, the lashes fast enough that Loki hardly had time to flinch in between each one. They weren't particularly hard, but applying the belt to such a sensitive spot that had already gotten so much attention earlier would be awful, Mobius knew. Loki keened, low and sad, collapsing limply over the older man's knee as he cried, too spent to even kick and squirm any more.
Loki felt as if he had truly reached his limit. His breaths came raggedly, his shaking hands clinging to Mobius tightly as tears slipped down his cheeks and sad, pained sobs wracked through his prone form. He distantly felt Mobius slowly pull his undergarments back up around his hips, the accompanying pain little compared to the throbbing lashes he could still feel all the way down his backside. He didn't even try to scrub at his face, letting his tears drip to the floor as he hung his head low between his shoulders. He whined pathetically between sad sobs, trembling when he felt Mobius begin to card his fingers through his hair.
"It's okay, Loki, it's all over. You need to take deep breaths for me, sweetheart. Can you do that for me?" Mobius prompted gently, his voice so soft it was hardly above a whisper as he leaned close to his boy.
Loki's breath stuttered at the soft tone and pet name. He automatically seemed to breathe easier, taking deeper, much more calm breaths as he hung limply over Mobius's knee, his hand rubbing circles on Loki's back where he had rucked up his shirt, the warm contact point soothing to the upset god.
Mobius was pleased to see Loki settle down at his words, a warmth rising in his chest at how easily Loki could be calmed when showed just a bit of affection and praise. He felt awful about the state Loki was in, and impatiently wanted to pull him up and into his arms instead of letting him cry it out all alone. But his variant was easily spooked, and too much too fast, no matter how positive or well-intentioned, would not be accepted.
"Good boy, Loki, thank you," he murmured, pushing his shirt up more to have more access to the clammy skin underneath, where he massaged gentle circles as he felt the convulsions under his hand lessen in their intensity.
"You did real good for me, champ, letting me take the lead and accepting the consequences of your actions. I'm very proud of you, Loki. I know you gave me some fight there in the beginning, but I know better than to think my Loki is gonna accept a punishment like this willingly," he said light heartedly, squeezing his shoulder affectionately. "I trusted you enough to not hold your hands at that last bit, and you didn't make me revoke that. And I could tell that you finally accepted it and let me do what I needed to as your handler. I know that's not easy, and I'm proud of you for it, and for being so good for me," he finished warmly.
And Mobius was. When he had drug Loki into his apartment earlier and finally gave into the temptation to pop him on the ass as hard as he could for doing something so stupid, he still could not have imagined that Loki would try so hard to behave himself by the end of it. He had his moments, of course, but his boy willingly kept himself in the corner, took his licks without (much) complaint, and responded well to his comfort and praise. Even if it was just to save his own ass, Mobius knew that Loki had withstood torture under duress and had gone through pain Mobius could hardly imagine. But Loki responded so well to the structured discipline, he had to wonder why no one else in the sacred timeline had ever done this for him.
Loki shuddered under the onslaught of his emotions. Although the painful welts on the already abused skin of his bottom and thighs still throbbed painfully, his tears slowly dissipated at Mobius's comfort. He sniffled and blushed at the praise and hugged the leg underneath him when Mobius called him good, his body trembling as he tried to hold back further tears at the difficult to accept words.
He said nothing, opting instead to try and calm the sobs that threatened to bubble up in his chest. Loki wasn't used to struggling to control his emotions, and he couldn't help but feel terribly weak and childish while doing so. Especially while still upended over his handier's knee, pants long fallen off his kicking feet, red thighs only too visible where he lay.
The warm hand on his back was nice, and Loki was grateful for the contact, but found himself wishing that he could cuddle up in Mobius's arms, be held and gentled in a slightly more comfortable position.... but immediately shoved the feelings down, his back shaking as more tears welled up at how weak and silly he felt, wanting such a thing! As if Mobius would even want such a thing, would want to coddle and hold him like an infant. Loki felt disgust welling up inside himself, and along with it came hot, furious tears at his own foolishness.
When Mobius heard Loki's tears intensify, he felt concern spike for the variant. He was finally calming down, so it couldn't be from the pain? Right? Anxious, Mobius gently ran his fingers up Loki's sensitive thighs to check for bruising or broken skin, tugging on the waistband of his underwear to pull them down a few inches and expose his angry red bottom to his eyes once again. Thankfully, what bruising the belt had left was minor and nothing had seemed to worsen too badly. He fixed Loki's clothing again, wincing as heaving sobs shook his shoulders, the hands wrapped around his leg adjusting their grip to hold him more tightly as Loki's back heaved.
Alright, something clearly wasn't working or had gone wrong, Mobius thought. And now he just felt like a monster, to be the cause of such difficult emotions for the boy over his knee.
Of course, the punishment method he decided on resulted from a long, intense conversation with Ravonna. She was less than happy that Loki had access to his tempad in the first place, so that meant that Mobius got written up for mishandling of TVA technological property. It had left him fuming; in all his time as an analyst for the TVA he had never run afoul of the organization or their rules. In fact, Mobius took pride in being a staunch defender of TVA policy. So to know that his reputation was even slightly blighted because his impulsive child of a variant decided to screw around had left him more than frustrated. But when Ravonna gently suggested pruning him and starting over, just to avoid any more trouble like this falling on his head, the older man's anger had been replaced with anxiety. He thought about how grateful he was that a more prune-happy Hunter hadn't made it to the main office where they knew Loki would land first. Or that Ravonna seemed more upset with Mobius for trusting Loki around his equipment, rather than jumping to take care of the variant herself.
So he talked her away from that unpleasant thought, knowing immediately that even if Loki fucked up badly enough to really effect his job, Mobius would still spend his last breath protecting the boy. He had used spanking as disciplinary action on variants who had a history of responding well to such treatment, but Loki had never really been spanked before. A combination of being a Prince, momma's boy, and very good at worming his way out of trouble resulted in this Loki never really having had his bottom smacked, ensuring he grew up to be the mischievous chaos-causer he was supposed to be.
But Mobius knew Loki better than anyone, and had a hunch that spanking the variant would be the best way to keep him out of trouble. Ravonna had been skeptical, knowing herself that this Loki wasn't supposed to ever receive discipline of that nature, but, well, they did want this version of him to change his ways a bit, didn't they? So she begrudgingly signed off on it, letting him collect his boy from where he sat in the circle of armed Hunters, looking terribly small and anxious.
And now here they were.
Could Mobius have miscalculated? Had this been too much for the Asgardian to handle? While these thoughts swirled through his mind, his hand slowly stilled it's calming circles under Loki's shirt. He was pulled back to reality when, through the heavy tears he still hadn't managed to calm, Loki released a pitiful, sad whine that tapered off when Mobius continued his ministrations at the sound.
Oh. Oh.
Mobius felt guilt stab into his heart as he took in the sad sight before him. His poor variant just needed more reassurance and care, and was suffering under his own insecurities. Mobius had told Loki that he had done good and how proud he was of him, but he hadn't shown him. And for a guy that had been told lies his entire life, sometimes just words were not enough to calm the storm in his heart.
So Mobius shifted, moving back on the couch a bit as he tried to coax Loki up.
"Why don't you come up on the couch, big guy? I'm sure you'd be a lot more comfortable if you let me hold you up here instead of staying over my knee. It can't feel too good, and I know I'd rather have ya up here with me, bud," he said warmly, squeezing Loki's shoulder comfortingly.
He heard Loki's breath hitch, and watched as his back seemed to sag for a moment, all the tenseness bleeding from his body at Mobius's words. He felt his own heart lift, pleased that he had realized what was upsetting Loki and was rectifying it quickly. He couldn't have his variant scared of him or worried about being neglected after such a fraught punishment.
"Come on," he urged gently, patting the unscathed side of his thigh. "Just slide back a bit and I can pull you up, alright? Nothing to it. We'll be much more comfortable up here, together, I think," he chatted, hoping that Loki would trust him enough to do so.
Thankfully, Loki apparently did, and sucked in a shaky breath before detaching his hands from where they still clutched Mobius desperately, swiping roughly at his face to try and clear his vision. He sighed, a heavy, breathy thing as his back continued to shake minutely, and started to shift.
Just like he promised, as soon as Loki's knees hit the floor and his back straightened up from where he was bent over his knee, Mobius immediately leaned forward to wrap his arms around Loki and pull him up and onto the couch with him.
He shifted awkwardly a bit, manhandling Loki's lanky frame to best suit their needs, while murmuring apologies, praise, and comfort as his movements irritated Loki's punished backside and he squirmed uncomfortably, face alight with a burning flush at the new position.
Mobius ended up deciding on having Loki straddle his waist, knees on either side of his hips with his own arms wrapped tightly around Loki's back, pulling him into his chest and taking some of the weight off of his abused bottom as his variant deflated into him, hiding his face in the hollow of Mobius's collarbone with a shaky sigh.
Although a few tears still made their way down his cheeks and he couldn't control his pathetic trembling, the cuddle had already started working magic on Loki's demeanor and he slowly calmed himself once more.
All the while, his handler rubbed one hand up and down his back, the fingers of his other hand scratching idly at his side, his mustache tickling Loki's neck and ear where he nuzzled against him and continued to whisper reassurances.
Loki found it all too easy to ignore the niggling part of him that insisted that this was all wrong, as he went limp in Mobius's arms. Despite how much his bottom still stung (not to mention his pride as well), Loki realized that he felt safer and more comfortable now than he had in a long, long time. When was the last time someone had truly embraced and held him? Thor's rough shoulder-grabs made him more uncomfortable than anything, but... the last person he could remember was his mother. The woman who's death he would have gone on to be responsible for. At that thought, Loki's heart panged sadly and a shudder overtook his form.
Immediately, Mobius's grip tightened and Loki sunk impossibly far into him. It was beyond him how someone he had just recently met could have such power over his emotions, but it was hard to look too far into it when it felt this good.
So Loki stopped overthinking it, his tears slowing to a stop as he finally caught his breath and became boneless in Mobius's arms.
"There we go, pal. That's it. I know it hurts, I'm sorry, bud," he murmured as he felt Loki finally relax, all of the tension from the day and his difficult punishment dissipating. Loki's tired, leftover sniffles stabbed right into his heart, and Mobius felt so grateful that he had his boy safe in his arms, where he belonged. He was almost concerned about his sudden intense dedication and affection for this silly variant, but figured that it's got to be a bit normal to form an attachment to the subject of your life's work once you become responsible for said subject.
Besides, it was hard not to. Loki had no one else, and because Mobius was the chief Loki Variant analyst and observer, he knew him better than he knew anyone, even himself. So it was no surprise when Loki frequently seemed to unconsciously trust Mobius, naturally follow his direction and even look to him for guidance and approval. He was so childlike in his wonder for the new world around him, his mischief, and even his naughtiness, that Mobius couldn't help but always see him as that scared little boy, left alone in the cold.
Well. As long as he was taking care of Loki he would never be alone. He was already fiercely protective over him, and was even now mentally going through methods to prevent anything like earlier from happening again, and putting his charge in harms way. Or rather, pruning's way.
After a few moments lost in thought, Mobius realized Loki's breathing had fully evened out, and his back rose and fell deeply in his sleep.
His heart swelled impossibly large for his sweet variant. How Ravonna could even suggest that his life would be easier without him in it was beyond him. Loki brought so much light and excitement to the usually monotonous TVA, and Mobius thanked the Time Keepers every day that this place hadn't dulled him in the slightest. As much as he drove him crazy sometimes, Mobius would do anything to keep him safe.
As he yawned widely, he realized that he was pretty tired, too. Loki definitely had a better reason to be wiped out, he thought wistfully, but Mobius had been under an immense amount of stress those few moments where no one was sure if Loki was actually where he was supposed to be, or if someone else had gotten to him first, or if Ravonna had tried to take action against him.... no. No reason to think on that, anymore. Loki was here, safely with him, well-spanked and cared for and surely not going to do anything like that for a long, long time.
Well, no reason to wake Loki up again to move, then. Hopefully when he woke up the variant wouldn't be too upset about what Mobius was about to do...
Turning a bit and scooting himself back, he slowly and gently pivoted and adjusted himself, with Loki still asleep on his chest, so that they were laid out on the couch, Loki's long legs tangling with Mobius's as he pulled a thin blanket from the back of the couch over Loki's briefs and red thighs. Mobius sighed, settling back into the cushion as he gazed fondly down at the Asgardian fast asleep on top of him.
Only to be startled when one eye opened, his bright green iris shining through the shadows on his face as Mobius froze, expecting an immediate tantrum at their change in position.
But instead Loki's lips curled into a small, tired smile as he snuggled more firmly into Mobius, wrapping his arm tightly around the agent's waist.
"Thank you, my friend," a small voice murmured, almost lost in the fabric of his work shirt. Mobius wrapped his own arms around Loki one more time, squeezing fiercely as he planted a gentle kiss on the top of his head.
And then, in their own quiet corner of the bustling TVA, an analyst and his Variant drifted off to sleep together.