Chapter Text
Pompeii, Italy; 79 AD.
“Here we go !”
Whispered Loki.
The god and the TVA agent were hiding in an alley of the antique city, trying to not attract attention, which was not an easy task given that Loki was there.
“Shh, any minute now.”
A worried Mobius whispered back.
“Until this entire town is wiped off the face of this planet. Imagine. All that volcanic ash...”
Mobius cut Loki’s sentence short.
“I know. We don’t want to get too giddy.”
He looks around, seeming to search for something.
“Oh, come on ! It’s cool.”
“No, it is cool, but it’s just not in good taste because...”
“Oh ! They’re all gonna die anyway !”
“I know. Now listen, I’m gonna watch the tempad for any variance energy.”
Mobius says as he takes out the small pad out of his jacket’s pocket.
“Okay !”
Replied Loki.
“Okay, because we gotta be careful. If you are wrong and there’s a good chance you are, anything we do can create a huge branch.”
Loki let out a small but exasperated sigh.
“Oh, Mobius ! You make even the end of the world seem boring.”
“Listen ! We’re not meant to be here. Okay ?”
Mobius was starting to get exasperated by Loki’s behavior. He could be so charming one second and the next be the most annoying person in the whole sacred timeline.
“Okay.”
“Anything we do could impact the course of history. Do you get that ?”
Mobius was starting to regret his decision to conduct Loki’s little experiment. What if Loki was wrong ?
“Yes, Yes.”
Loki sighed. They were sure that their theory was correct. Mobius was way too worried about all this. He really needed to relax.
“So we’re gonna start with very small disturbances.”
“Very small.”
Repeated Loki.
“Can you make bird noises ?”
“Bird noises ?”
Loki frowned.
“Yeah. Bird noises. Like some, like, whooshing noises.”
Mobius started to mimic cooing.
Loki rolled his eyes to the sky and groaned. They rushed into nearby busy street. They decided that bird noises were too boring for the end of Pompeii.
“Loki ! Loki !”
Mobius tried to stop them by whisper yelling but it was too late. Loki had already reached a cart full of livestock and was opening its door.
“GO !”
Yelled Loki at the goats, encouraging them to run out of the cart.
“Be free, my horned friends, be free !”
The goats fled the scene bleating. While some people tried to recapture the animals, Loki rushed back to Mobius and grabbed his wrist. They made the agent twirl on himself before Mobius was able to get free from Loki’s grasp. He sighed heavily and nodded in disagreement.
“You are all going to die today ! Because the volcano is going to erupt ! And I know that because we are from the future !”
Shouted Loki in Latin to the crowd. People started to glare at Loki angrily for disturbing their peace.
“We are from the future, right ? What is the TVA ? I mean, It’s from the future. It sounds from the future. It pretty future-Y.”
As Mobius was about to reply, the volcano started rumbling and the crowd panicked in response.
“Right on cue !”
Loki chuckled. Mobius checked his tempad.
“Nothing matters ! Dance while you still can !”
Loki shouted before rushing back to Mobius.
“How’d we do ?”
Asked a giddy Loki, planting themselves just in front of Mobius.
“I don’t believe it. Zero variance energy. No branching in the timeline.”
“The TVA would never even know we were here. If it were me, this is where I would hide.”
Loki smiled triumphally. Mobius shook his head in disbelief but smiled back. The bastard was right. Loki, the god of mischief, didn’t lie.
Loki watched a smile appear on Mobius face as the burning ash was getting closer to them.
Nothing matters. These two words resonated in Loki’s head.
And since nothing matters, Loki leaned in and laid their lips on Mobius’. The kiss was brief. It lasted only a second before Loki stepped back.
Mobius had barely realized what happened when the portal opened behind them. There was no time to think about what just happened here. They needed to go back to the TVA right now. There would be plenty of time to analyze the situation back at the office. He grabbed Loki’s wrist and crossed the portal, Loki following right after.
The portal led them back to a TVA hallway. Once the door to Pompeii closed, Mobius let go of Loki’s wrist immediately. The hallway was empty. Mobius quietly thanked the time keepers.
Loki cleared their throat.
“So, uh, about what just happened...”
Mobius turned on his heels and started to walk towards the nearest elevator, to avoid looking at Loki in the eyes.
“It’s okay. You were caught in the moment. You were pumped to be right and you... Did what you did. It happens. No big deal. Just... Don’t do it again, okay ?”
He spoke fast, wanting to put whatever that was behind them as quickly as possible. He planted himself in front of the elevator and pressed a button.
Loki, of course, was following close. It’s not like they had a choice here anyway.
“Okay. Sorry. And I won’t do it again. It would get old quick anyway.”
Loki let out a dry laugh to mask their awkwardness.
The elevator dinged and its doors opened. They stepped in and Mobius pressed a couple of buttons. The doors closed.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Loki spoke again.
“So, doomsdays ?”
Mobius took a deep breath. The doors of the elevator reopened on his office floor. Time to be professional again.
“Doomsdays. The Variant’s been ambushing our soldiers and hiding out in doomsdays to cover their tracks.”
Said Mobius in a determined tone, while crossing the office space.
“You’re welcome.”
Replied Loki, with pride in his voice and a little grin on his face.
“Yeah. But for this theory to hold, the disasters have to be naturally-occurring, sudden, no warning, no survivors.”
Mobius grabbed a few files of his desk and left. Loki followed, right at his side.
“How many could there be ?”
“I don’t know. We’re gonna find out.”
Mobius led them to the library. He chose a free table in a quiet corner.
“Take a chair. I’ll get more files. In the meantime, you can start reading these.”
Mobius put down the files he had retrieved from his desk and left Loki alone at the table.
They looked at the agent heading for the librarian desk. Loki flopped into the nearest chair. They sighed loudly. Why, by Odin’s beard, did they kiss him ? Loki rubbed their face. Why did they do something so stupid. Did they just got caught in the moment, like Mobius said ? It wasn't like it was the first time they kissed a man but this was... stranger than usual. Loki shook his head and opened the file that was on top of the pile that Mobius brought and started to read it.
The documents were talking about a star-system wide apocalyptic event. Apparently one day, without warning, Akar, the star of the Akarrian system imploded, formed a blackhole and consequently destroyed the 4 inhabited planets of the system, leaving no survivors.
As Loki closed this first file, Mobius was coming back with a trolley full of files.
“Is that all ?”
Loki scoffed.
“Do we want to find this variant or not ? Yeah ? So let’s get to work.”
Mobius put down piles of folders on the table and soon enough the wooden surface was covered by papers.
Mobius sat down across Loki and opened a folder.
Loki put the Akar file aside and took another one from the pile.
The pair started to go through the piles of folders, reading the files, hoping to find a lead or a clue.
After a few hours of intense reading, Loki closed a file and stretched. He was feeling uncomfortable. They removed their jacket and rolled up their sleeves.
On the other side of the table, Mobius was reading a file distractingly. After reading through so many stories of apocalypses, they had all started to blend together. He raised his eyes from the documents he was reading, searching for a temporary distraction from the tedious task.
Mobius looked at Loki remove their jacket and roll up their sleeves. He spent so many hours going through Loki’s files and yet, he was still discovering things about the god. Like how their fair skin was reflecting the soft lighting of the library; How fast their blue icy eyes were capable of reading; How agile were their fingers when they were turning the pages.
And then, the events of earlier came back at the forefront. Loki, the god of mischief, a variant, kissed him. A TVA agent. Was Loki using him to get to the timekeepers or to escape ? Did they know they had a soft spot for broken things, like Ravenna said ? Was the kiss just an emotional reaction from Loki to everything that happened to them in the last few days?
Feeling observed, Loki raised his eyes. Was the agent observing them ? After what appended earlier, it wouldn’t be surprising. Loki themselves was asking why did they did what they did. They guessed that Mobius was confused too.
“Did you find something ?”
Asked Loki. They frowned their eyebrows.
“Oh, uh, no. Not really. I was about to pick up another folder actually.”
Mobius, feeling caught short by Loki’s question, closed his current file and picked up another to alleviate Loki’s suspicion.
“Oh. Okay.”
They both continued to read for a few more hours, Mobius focusing harder to avoid thinking about the Loki that was in front of him right now.
Loki, on the other hand, was starting to pay less and less attention to the documents in front of them. They were tired. After what happened the last few days, it wasn't surprising to them. They yawned. They hadn't been able to rest for so long. Now that they thought about it, it had been years since they had been able to have a good night of sleep. They yawned again. They were so tired. Maybe they could close their eyes. Just for a few minutes.