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Loki was making Mobius and their son's favorite breakfast, pancakes.
He was mixing the dough when their son slipped into the kitchen and sat at the kitchen counter.
"Morning."
Loki turned around and had a hard time holding back a laugh.
His son's hair was sticking up in every direction, his eyes were barely open, and his pajama top was crookedly buttoned.
With a smile on his face, Loki continued to mix the dough and said, "Hello son, do you even know what time it is?"
The teenager shook his head and dropped it in his hands, muttering, "Super early because I'm exhausted."
"It's seven o'clock."
Hearing the time, the teenager looked up, "Seven o'clock?! That's why I feel like I haven't slept."
Loki was actually suspecting why his son was tired like that. He had probably spent the evening or part of the night talking to his girlfriend.
"Were you on the phone with Leah again?" asked Loki with a knowing smile. The teenager nodded and could not help but blush. Loki couldn't help but pinch his son's cheeks as he said, "You're so cute."
"She's so great, Dad. I never thought that after losing Leah I would find her again by following you on your time travels."
Loki looked at his happy face with fondness. Not for one day had he and Mobius regretted taking him into their home when the Void had been emptied. His heart swelled with pride as he saw how the cold, self-effacing boy had become a cheerful teenager with projects and who had finally found his glorious purpose.
"So uh..."
It was rare for their son to be hesitant so Loki stopped what he was doing to listen to him.
"Since we've been together for a while, I'd love to bring her home and introduce her to you, as uh... my official girlfriend."
Loki couldn't help but hug him.
It had taken so long for him to feel confident enough to ask for things for himself.
He stepped back and asked him, "When do you want her to come?"
Without waiting for an answer he turned to the hot plate and turned it on, melting a knob of butter on the pan.
"How about this weekend? We could do it tonight or maybe tomorrow?"
His voice was hopeful, and Loki already knew he wouldn't refuse. He and Mobius were far too happy to see their son happy after all he had been through.
"Of course! I'm sure Mobius will agree too."
He poured some batter into the pan and waited for the pancake to take shape when he heard a "Thank you daddy" behind his back as two long arms wrapped around his shoulders and hugged him.
The boy had grown a lot in the last few years and now that he was sixteen, sometimes Loki felt like he was looking in a mirror, even though the boy had his own style.
Loki flipped the first pancake as the young Loki asked, "Daddy, how did you know you loved papa? That he was your soul mate?"
Lok chuckled, "An existential question at seven in the morning? Wow! Well, at least we have time."
He placed the first pancake on a plate, put a ladle of batter back in the pan, turned to his son and asked, "You know how we met, don't you? "
The teenager nodded, "Yes, and I remember that I had never seen anyone smile like you before on the Void."
Loki looked at him with a confused expression.
"Yeah, when we found Sylvie and Mobius, afterwards you kept looking at him and grinning like a fool."
"Hey! Show some respect for your eldest!" admonished Loki, threatening him with the ladle in his hand.
The boy chuckled and then added with a more serious voice, "Now that I'm with Leah, I understand."
Loki coughed a little embarrassed, happy to have the pretext to flip the pancake to blush without being seen.
Then he regained his composure and began to explain, "Well, I knew I loved him like I'd never loved anyone before when he locked me in a timecell."
"What?!" interrupted the boy.
"Let me continue, okay?" resumed Loki, putting the cooked pancake on top of the first one and pouring a new ladle of batter into the pan.
"The circumstances don't matter. You just need to know that we weren't on the best of terms not long before, I had betrayed him, he had a jealousy fit, he had just learned that the TVA and his life was a lie, but, in the midst of all that chaos, he said the most beautiful thing that has ever been said to me."
He flipped the pancake over and young Loki asked him, "What did he say?"
"You could be whoever, whatever you wanna be, even someone good."
It was Mobius' voice that had just entered the kitchen.
He ruffled his son's hair and kissed him on the temple before walking over to Loki and kissing him tenderly, whispering back, "I see we're revealing our little secrets first thing in the morning?"
Loki did not answer and returned his kiss. They smiled at each other and then Loki turned the pancake over before it burned.
Their son chuckled, "I'm still here you know."
Mobius in turn helped himself to a glass of orange juice and replied, "Anyway, it's not like you've never seen us kiss in all this time."
"Not wrong," their son replied, rolling his eyes.
Loki and Mobius kissed all the time at home and were never stingy with displays of affection. They could never keep their hands to themselves. They had to touch each other all the time. But the boy didn't complain because they never failed to let him know how much they cared about him too. He had never felt left out.
"And you papa," the boy asked, turning to Mobius, "When did you know you loved dad?"
Loki turned off the hot plate, put the dish of pancakes on the counter and said, a mischievous gleam in his eye, "Yes Dad...tell me when you knew you really loved me."
Mobius couldn't help but smile as he looked at the two faces with such similar expressions of his son and his husband.
He settled into a high chair and began, "Me and your dad had our first date in the TVA cafeteria. Well, the second one, actually. The first one was kind of ruined because he wouldn't let me eat my salad and you know that for me..."
"Salad is sacred!" both Lokis answered in chorus before bursting into laughter.
Mobius continued with a smile, "It wasn't a real date, but it sure looked like one. Your father had found one of my Jet Ski magazines on my desk. And the first question he asked me when we sat down in the cafeteria was what it meant to me. Not only was he really interested, but he listened intently. And he asked me if I had ever done any. It was like he read the deep desire I had inside me."
"To ride a jet ski?" asked their son.
"Yes...no, the longing I had in me to get out of the straitjacket that was my life at the TVA. That's when I knew. He was the first to understand who I really was."
Loki leaned over, kissed Mobius' temple as Mobius put an arm around his waist.
The young Loki couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at this scene, for these two had truly changed his life in such a different and significant way. He wasn't sure how he got so lucky, but he sure loved them both so much, for they had given him the family life and love that he had never really had.
Both of his fathers turned to him and Loki, with a cheeky smile on his lips asked, "What about you? When did you know you loved Leah?"
He began to blush and just as he was about to open his mouth he was interrupted by a growl.
Saved by the bell, or rather the alligator.
Mobius exclaimed, "Croki, you also want to know do you?"
"Fnnnrrrl" was the only response from the alligator, as he clearly headed to the side of the counter where the plate of pancakes was.
They began to laugh and that morning the kitchen echoed with their happy laughter for a long time.