Chapter Text
Chapter 1
“Chrishell? What the hell kind of name is that?”
“Ugh! How dare you? I’m talking to your manager!”
“See if I care, ‘Karen’.”
“Loki! Come back here, NOW.”
Loki Laufeyson sat on the grime - covered plastic counter in the small coffee shop kitchen as their boss rambled on again about how ‘the customer is always right’ and ‘you can’t make fun of people's names’ because it’s not ‘nice.’
“Loki, look. I like you. I don’t want to fire you. I’ll give you one last chance to do this job right. Now get out there and take someone’s order.” he said, softening his voice a considerable amount.
Loki hated sympathy. They crossed their arms and made a display of dramatically falling out of the kitchen. “Whatever.” Dra til helvete. Loki silently swore. Paying rent in Los Angeles absolutely sucked. Especially when you worked at a themed coffee shop 14 blocks from your house. Loki’s boss, Michael, was prone to mood swings, often talking to Loki as if they were his therapist. Loki shuddered at the thought.
The rest of the day went by slowly, with not many customers coming in. I don’t blame them. This place sucks. Loki thought, stretching their arms above their head. Their phone alarm rang, signaling the end of their shift. Loki hung up their apron, and left the shop without wishing Michael goodbye. They hopped on the subway, and began the 10,000 hour- long journey home. When Loki finally got off the bus, the sky at six pm, the sky was black. Huh. I forgot about the time change. they thought. It’s November already? They located their apartment building and got in the elevator. They pressed the button for the fourth floor, and prayed that no one would get in the elevator with them. The elevator slowed to a halt on the second floor. Shit. Loki thought as a complete stranger walked into the elevator next to them. Loki was good at remembering people's names and faces. They pretended they were not, because it’s weird to remember people that don’t matter. Loki had never seen this man before. He had greying blonde hair that almost reached his shoulders, a moustache of the same color, and an ugly brown suit. A new neighbor, probably. Please don’t talk to me. Please don’t talk to me. Loki repeated, crossing their fingers in their coat pockets.
“Um, excuse me?” the man asked. Damn it. “Hi, I’m new to this building. Do you know where the laundry room is? I’ve been trying to find it for like, 20 minutes. It didn’t have it written on the rent papers,” he said. Loki silently groaned, and hesitantly turned to face him.
“The laundry room is in the basement. You have to have a key.” Loki replied. Where is this guy from? they thought. Wait, that's none of my business.
“...how am I supposed to do my laundry?” the man asked, mumbling to himself.
Loki didn’t want to intervene, but they did anyway.
“Go to a laundromat,” Dumbass. “You’re not from here, are you?”
“No actually, I just moved here from New York. It’s a lot different from here in the winter, I can tell you that.” he chuckled. “How could you tell?”
“People in Los Angeles have the common sense to use laundromats instead of apartment laundry rooms,” Loki lied. “But I suppose you rich folks on the East side have people to do your laundry for you.” The elevator beeped to Loki’s floor, and they got out without saying goodbye, leaving the man confused. Thank gods. I hope I never see that guy again. Loki stepped out of the elevator and quickly walked down the hall to their apartment. They fumbled through their bag for their keys, and unlocked their unit. They threw their bag on the couch and flopped down into bed, not even changing into pajamas.
Loki woke up cold and uncomfortable, given that they fell asleep in jeans. They checked their clock, and the time read 9.07am. Shit. I forgot to plug in my phone last night. Loki thought, while getting out of bed. They were halfway through taking a shower when they remembered the time change. “Fuck!” They turned off the shower immediately and started brushing their teeth. Loki stumbled out of the house five minutes later, forgetting their phone, and ran to the bus station, narrowly missing being hit by a car. They ran into the shop half an hour later, only to be greeted by a furious Michael Waldron. “Loki...what the actual fuck is wrong with you?” he said softly. Loki could feel the tension in his voice. The kind where the person was holding in their shout.
“Michael! I’m so sorry, I forgot to plug in my phone last night and I forgot about the time change and-” Wait. Am I groveling to someone? This is very out of character.
“I don’t want any excuses, Loki. I gave you a FUCKING SECOND CHANCE HERE! AND YOU TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO DISAPPOINT ME AGAIN??” Loki cringed at the word ‘disappoint.’
“My phone died, I forgot to plug it in, and my alarm didn’t go off,” they explained quickly, knowing it wouldn't make a difference.
"I don't care! You should've thought of plugging it in! Get back to work everyone.” he stormed off. Loki noticed that all the employees had stopped to watch Michael’s outburst. And the shop customers.
“The fuck is Michael’s problem?” Loki’s cousin, Sylvie, who worked at the same coffee shop as Loki, said spawning at their shoulder.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Sylvie. Why do you always do that?” Loki responded, startled.
“Well, hello to you too. It’s funny how you always fall for it. You’re very slow,” Sylvie drawled. “I called you like, five times this morning. I thought that you might have deleted my number.”
Loki scowled at Sylvie’s “slow” insult. They smiled back innocently. “My phone was dead. You didn’t hear?” they said.
“Loki! Sylvie! Get to work!” Michael called from the back.
Loki grumbled and put on their apron and walked to the cashier. I hate my life. They thought.
The morning rush ended by 10 am as it usually did, and it would only be an hour of downtime before people came in for lunch. The bell at the door jingled, and a figure wearing an ugly brown suit and moustache came through the door.
“Oh, shit.” Loki swore as the person walked up to the cashier.
“What? What’s going on?” Sylvie asked, appearing almost magically at Loki’s shoulder again.
“Fuck- I’ll tell you later,” Loki hissed through clenched teeth, and tried to escape behind Sylvie.
“Oh my gosh, it's you! From the elevator!” the man exclaimed, greeting Loki.
“Yeah, it's me!” Loki uttered uncomfortably, turning around and trying to keep up a fake smile.
“The elevator?” Sylvie asked, confused.
“Yeah, we live in the same apartment building and we met each other in the elevator last night!” he explained cheerfully.
“Huh, Loki never told me that…” Sylvie said with a smirk. Damn you, Sylvie! Now he knows my name! So much for being strangers now.
“Loki? That’s a super cool name.” he said. Does he not remember me insulting him? Loki glared, wondering what kind of game the man was playing.
“Thanks. Can I get your order?” Loki said, trying to put an end to the conversation.
“Oh, jeez. What would you recommend? I’ve never lived in Los Angeles before. I heard you guys have lots of cafes! One of my coworkers said they really liked this place." he said conversationally.
“Well, we-” Loki started, but was interrupted by Sylvie.
“We’re glad your friend spoke so highly of us! You're looking for a coffee rec, aren’t you?” they butted in.
“Yeah…” the two chatted about coffee while Loki sat in confusion. Why is he not upset at me? I was super rude. They thought.
Loki came back to earth just as Sylvie said, “That's awesome! I've always wanted to visit New York!"
"It's not as cool as you might think!" the guy said. "Thanks so much!"
"You got it, Mobius!" Sylvie said nicely.
Mobius? What a weird name. I guess the name fits the guy. Loki thought.
"See you around, Sylvie. And you too, Loki!” Mobius called, walking out of the shop with a coffee.
“Fuck you.” Loki said to Sylvie after they made sure Mobius was outside.
“What?” Sylvie responded, as if they hadn’t just ruined Loki’s life.
“Now he’ll never leave me alone! You ruined my life, Sylvie!”
“Don’t be so close- minded, Loki! Maybe a friend will do you some good in life,” Sylvie responded calmly.
"What the hell does that mean? You're not my goddamn mom, Sylvie," They only smiled in response. Loki couldn't tell if the smile was genuine or mischievous. Knowing Sylvie, it probably wasn't the first option.
6 pm rolled around, and Loki’s small social battery was long worn out, if they even had one. They had fifteen minutes until they were done for the day, and if they were being honest, they didn’t want to go home. Only so they didn’t have to risk facing Mobius. He confused Loki. Why would someone blatantly ignore a stranger’s insult? The only explanation Loki could think of was that Mobius hadn’t properly heard what they had said. Or at least, that’s what they hoped. Loki looked around for Sylvie, but then remembered that they were already gone. Sylvie’s hours were shorter, since they took this job on the side. They still hadn’t told Loki what their full time was. Sylvie was a very secretive person. Loki supposed they didn’t really want to know. Loki and Sylvie’s relationship wasn’t built around sentimental moments, like sharing things about each other’s life. They had told Loki to ‘get to know’ Mobius, which was very odd for someone like them. Loki’s phone timer rang and, not wanting to upset their boss further, asked him if they could leave. When they got the ok, Loki nearly ran outside to catch the bus. They made sure to take off their pronoun pins before going on. You never know what kind of homophobic drunk people could come for you after dark. Loki got of the bus half an hour later, and swore when they realized it was raining. They covered their head with their hands and started running through the streets to get to their apartment building. Loki crossed their fingers when they walked into the elevator and prayed that Mobius wouldn’t join them when they passed the fourth floor. They were about to exhale when they heard a voice calling from the front door.
“Loki! It’s Loki, right? Would you mind holding the door open for one second?” he asked. Loki sighed and turned to face him. He was having a hard time getting through the door, because he was holding a lot of grocery bags. Loki set their face to stone and put their arm in front of the elevator doors. Mobius stumbled into the elevator a minute later, soaked from the rain and a bit out of breath from his wrestling match with the front door. “Thank you so much,” he said, straightening up and looking Loki directly in the eyes. “That was nice of you.”
Loki, who wasn’t used to getting compliments, felt their ears heat up and looked away.
“Don’t mention it.” Loki said. After two uncomfortably silent minutes, the elevator doors finally creaked open, revealing the second floor of the apartment building.
“Bye, Loki,” Mobius said, stepping out onto his floor. “See you around I g-” his words were cut off as the elevator doors closed. Loki exhaled. They didn’t realize they were holding their breath.