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For a long time, Loki never let things get the better of him. Even when Hunter X-05 mentioned his mother, even when he called him a loser, Loki met him with a practiced smile and calm tone. This indifference, however, could not be replicated when it came to Mobius.
To the untrained eye, he appeared undisturbed by X-05’s words. But Loki had the slightest suspicion that it wasn’t that simple.
“She,” said X-05, gesturing to B-15, “is nothing.” He nodded towards Loki. “I don’t know where to start with that, but you’re nothing here.” Then he turned back to Mobius. “And until you wake up, you’re just a nowhere man. You’re nothing –”
Mobius’s face finally erupted into utter rage, and he slapped Hunter X-05. He slapped him. “You’re a silly little man! You’re nothing!” he exclaimed.
Loki was so shocked for a moment that he just watched in astonishment. All his time with Mobius had proven him a man of words, not action. It wasn’t that Loki thought Mobius as weak or powerless, quite the opposite, in fact. He was a master at manipulation and had even gotten on Loki’s last nerve a few times in the past. But Mobius was not a violent man. He had never seen Mobius so angry as to resort to something so physical. But the fact that it was possible – that there was an invisible line that he had never seen crossed before – it was oddly exhilarating to witness. It was a side of Mobius that Loki had never known.
So then, Loki remained frozen and let all these thoughts run through his head, doing nothing to alleviate the situation, instead observing Mobius nearly wrestle X-05 to the ground until B-15 quickly separated the two men. “Whoa!” X-05 said, some sort of delight and satisfaction playing on his features. “Mobius! Yes!”
Hunter B-15 helped lift Mobius to his feet, where he remained silent and didn’t respond. B-15 nodded to Loki, as if to say, “He’s your problem now,” and Mobius, mildly dazed, walked towards Loki.
Loki took one last glance at X-05, then followed Mobius out the door.
“What was that?” Loki asked as soon as they started descending the stairs outside X-05’s cell.
“Nothing.”
“You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“What happened back there?” Loki tried again.
“Nothing,” Mobius repeated.
“Didn’t seem like nothing.”
“It was…” Mobius paused his words, and stopped walking. He turned to Loki who had been following behind him. “It was... tactical,” he stated deliberately.
“Seems like he got under your skin.”
“Nope. He didn’t get under my skin. He got under your skin,” Mobius insisted.
“I don’t think I got the raging thought to slap Hunter X-05 on the face,” Loki pointed out.
“Like I said,” Mobius continued, “it was tactical. I planned for that to happen.”
“Sure,” Loki shrugged. “Just – I’ve never seen you like this before… Are you truly all right?”
“Yes,” Mobius said. “My real question is – are you all right?”
They continued to walk again, with some more confidence in Mobius’s step.
“Me? I’m fine,” Loki said. It did seem honest. “Except… There is one thing he said that… vexed me.”
“Let me guess, was it the thing about your mom?”
“No… he said to you, ‘Control your little pet, Mobius.’ That was – well, I’ve never been insulted like that before,” Loki explained.
Mobius turned to Loki, his brow knit. Then he chuckled awkwardly. “I thought it was kind of funny.”
“Where did he even get such an idea in the first place?” Loki questioned aloud.
“Oh,” Mobius replied. “I think I know. Hunter X-05 and I, we’ve talked a few times… when you were still a prisoner. So I think he might have paid extra attention to the special care I gave you. He – Let’s just say that wasn’t the first time I’ve heard that joke.”
Most of the time, Loki thought conversations about him would be about his potential danger, or power, or something of the sort. Not – not whether Mobius had tamed him during their time at the TVA. “Am I – supposed to be flattered by that?” There was a confusion in his tone that Loki disliked.
Conveniently, Mobius didn’t answer, and instead said, “Where are we?” as the two entered a brightly lit room.
“I was following you,” Loki responded, slightly offended by Mobius’s lack of response to his earlier question.
“No, I was following you.”
“Mobius. You were clearly ahead of me.”
Mobius sighed and didn't reply, evidently defeated.
“How about a slice of pie?” Loki offered.
“Key lime.”
Loki smiled. “Okay, great. Come on.” He placed his left hand on Mobius’s shoulder in an attempt to escort him out the room.
A few minutes later, Loki and Mobius sat across from each other eating pie. Loki watched Mobius carefully, trying to compare his expression from now to his from before. He still couldn’t stop thinking about the anger on Mobius’s face, the gritted teeth, the tense arm, all leading up to him slapping Hunter X-05. Loki had taunted Mobius before, offhanded witty remarks that he had come up with, but they had never irked Mobius so much as X-05’s saying he needed to “wake up.”
“Listen. That wasn’t tactical.” Mobius started. “I lost it.”
“I know,” Loki said.
“He just… he insulted you, and he insulted me, and I couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Look, it’s all right. It happens. It’s happened to me.”
Mobius laughed. “Oh, I know all about that.”
“Although, I have to admit, I liked seeing you like that.”
Mobius’s initial smile faded slightly. “Like what?”
“You know…” Loki trailed off. “All… all riled up.”
Mobius swallowed another bite of pie, but it did nothing to hide the visible flush on his cheeks. He glanced up at Loki with a mixture of emotions in his gaze. “Is – Do you think so? I certainly didn’t like feeling that way.”
“It’s – In all the time I’ve known you, I never knew you to lose your composure. You’ve been frustrated and all that… but the unbridled anger…” Loki trailed off.
“You are all about chaos,” Mobius muttered, like he was realizing something. “I guess it makes sense.”
Loki hummed. “And I’m not very tactical. Let me tell you about something I did that wasn’t very tactical.”
“That time you threw Tony Stark off a building?” Mobius guessed, a small smile returning.
“That – Oh. Yes, but – not what I was thinking,” Loki said. “No, the other thing that wasn’t very tactical was you.”
Mobius coughed on his pie, and cleared his throat several times before glancing up. “What?”
Loki leaned forward. “At first, I only stayed on your side because it was better than being pruned. But… as time continued, that changed. Even though I am now, it wasn’t really tactical for me to be your friend. To care for you, to want you by my side, to want to hold you – Oh.” He paused for a long moment, looking down at his half-eaten pie. “I’ve said too much.”
Mobius stared at him in bewilderment, and it was at that moment Loki wished he could timeslip into the past and forget this ever happened, but it wasn’t exactly a thing he could do on command. This wasn’t something he could dismiss as a lie either. He and Mobius both knew this was the truth.
“That… was not very tactical of me either,” Loki said slowly, trying to break the awkward silence between them.
“Loki,” Mobius finally said. “I thought you knew I felt the same.”
His eyes brightened. “Really?”
“Well. You don’t just analyze every moment of someone’s life and not fall in love a little along the way,” Mobius said.
“But still – I know he touched a nerve, but seriously… You’ve never wondered about your other life? If you had a partner, a family?” Loki cut in, both endeared but surprised at Mobius’s words. "You'd really want me over that?"
“Look, that’s the last thing I should be thinking about,” Mobius responded. “It’s not my life.”
“But it could have been.”
“It isn’t. This is. In fact, I’d like to thank the guy who kidnapped me and brought me here. The TVA is the only life I’ve ever known, and I like it. How else would I have gotten to meet you?” Loki didn’t reply, and Mobius continued. “I used to think it might have been odd, having such a soft spot for a Variant. But if it’s as you say – that we’re both Variants, then it isn’t so bad.”
“That’s – That is right,” Loki said simply, at a loss to say anything more. He reached his hand across the table and placed it on Mobius’s. “We’ll… fix all this. I’ll find a way for X-05 to talk. And then we can…”
Mobius caressed the back of Loki’s hand with his thumb, which almost caused the God of Mischief to swallow his pie down the wrong way. “We’ll have all the time in the world after that. Literally.”
Loki smiled, and the two finished the rest of their pie in a much less awkward silence.
As Loki stood up to throw his plate away, he let his hand off Mobius, but the shorter man stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Wait, Loki. Let’s…”
Loki turned around, and stared at Mobius. “Yes?”
Mobius, who was also out of his chair, looked back. With the hand still on his arm, he pulled Loki closer until they were inches apart. Loki’s breath hitched as Mobius’s lips met his, a shiver running down his spine from the feeling. He dropped his empty plate to the ground, instead opting to bring both his hands on the other's shoulders. Mobius brought his hands to Loki’s waist. There was a certain fervor Mobius exhibited with the way he pressed his lips on Loki’s. It reminded Loki again of Mobius’s unrestrained indignation from earlier.
When they eventually pulled apart, Mobius breathed heavily. “I don’t know where I learned that.”
“What, how to kiss?”
“It’s not exactly in the TVA handbook,” Mobius said with a small laugh. “Although I don’t suppose you would know much more than I do.”
“Whoever wrote it should add that, I think,” Loki quipped as he picked up his plate that he had dropped. Mobius followed him to the trash can.
“O.B. wrote the handbook, you know. I could put in a word or two.”
“Did he?” Loki asked. “Well, it doesn't matter – it isn’t like I’m one for rules anyway."
“Oh, I know.” Mobius laughed. “I know.”