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They were back in the Time Theatre where it all began. Where Mobius sat him down and showed him the fruits of his labor, all of his research. Where he showed Loki the moments in his life that left the worst burns and the deepest scars. Loki was wearing those awful overalls and had the tight collar around his neck that he hated so much, and Mobius was in his usual suit, dashing as ever.
It was quiet in the room. Now that it was just the two of them, all Loki had to do was say goodbye to Mobius, and they would go their separate ways. Nothing a god can't handle. But Loki truly never thought he would get this personal with the agent.
Mobius was panting in his chair, hair spiky and a mess. "Okay. Tell me. You pulled me through time and space—which, by the way, felt awful —to bring me here. What's your plan?" He looked at him intently, his tired, cold, blue eyes piercing Loki's own.
"I, er..." The truth was, Loki had no idea where to begin with explaining his plan. His foolish plan that, really, Mobius would object to immediately. But he needed to do this. It had taken him centuries to finally find it, but he was sure that this was his glorious purpose that he'd been looking for. "I'm going down there. To the Loom. I'm the only one powerful enough to stop all of this".
As expected, Mobius quickly shook his head. "No." He said firmly, his brows furrowed in confusion. "No, I won't let you. Loki, who knows what'll happen to you? You'll get hurt, turned into spaghetti, or worse . I'm not letting you do that."
"You have to. I'm not asking for permission. I'm asking for you to just sit with me for a while." Loki smiled softly. As much as Mobius loved to act otherwise, he was always protective of him, almost acting like the voice of reason in their strange partnership.
Mobius' eyes softened, the furrow in his brow disappearing and instead being replaced by those tender puppy eyes Loki was more used to.
"What exactly are you going to do down there?"
That was the hard part. Loki's plan wasn't set in stone. But he needed to convince Mobius it was.
"I'm going to gather all the timelines and hold them down. And before you worry about the radiation, I am sure I'll be fine. After all, what do we have to lose?"
Mobius scoffed, his eyes widening. "You, Loki! We have you to lose! When you hold all those timelines together, then what? Won't you have to stay there holding them down forever?"
"Maybe." Loki sighed deeply, looking away from him. "But it's worth it if I can save all of you."
He heard Mobius let out a shaky breath, before quietly mumbling, barely above a whisper: "There has to be another way-"
Loki shook his head. "I would not be doing this uf there was another way and you know that."
He held eye contact with Mobius until the latter finally gave up. "Okay. I'll let you do this, but you have to promise me you'll be careful. And you're sure you'll survive?"
"Positive." Loki looked him in the eyes, hoping, praying , that he had convinced Mobius enough for him to stop asking him questions.
The latter nodded, leaning back in his chair. Loki did the same. They sat quietly for a minute or two, before Mobius spoke up again.
"I might finally go and visit my place on the timeline. See what it's all about."
Fond memories flooded Loki's brain. He remembered when he first saw Mobius, or rather Don, selling his Jet Skis and playing with his boys. How the man looked so happy and content, and how Loki was secretly grateful he was single, and how he wished Mobius would've made a move on him. He couldn't help but let a smile slip onto his face.
Mobius cocked his head. "What are you smiling about? What's so funny?"
Loki chuckled. "No, no, it's not that." He debated whether to tell him about his little escapade in the agent's timeline or not, and ultimately decided that there was no reason to keep it a secret any longer. This was probably the last time they would ever see each other.
"It's just that…" Loki sighed before he continued. "I visited you. On your timeline. I can tell you about it if you'd like."
Mobius shook his head and chuckled. "No, no, it's okay. I'm not even gonna ask about why or how you even did that. I'd rather see it all myself. No spoilers." He chuckled again, bringing a light giggle out of Loki.
"But, I guess I'll ask…" Mobius mumbled. "Was I happy, at least? Was I married?"
Loki smiled softly. He could feel his cheeks get warmers. "Your name was Don, you were single, and were the happiest I'd ever seen you, surprisingly."
Mobius grinned. "Wow. Lucky guy, that Don, eh?"
They both laughed again, their laughter trailing into a comfortable silence that felt like hours, but was probably less than a minute, before Mobius broke that silence by asking a question Loki was hoping he would never have to answer for as long as he lived. He was hoping that Mobius would forget all about what he'd said, that he would never bring it up again, and that this exact moment would be the last time they ever spoke to each other. But bless Mobius' heart, he held onto Loki's words so tightly.
"What were you gonna say?" Mobius asked.
"What?" Loki's smile fell.
Mobius didn't meet Loki's eyes, instead opted to fiddle with the sleeve of his jacket. "Back when we were fixing the temporal loom that first time. You were saying 'if I don't make it back'... And then you time-slipped. What were you gonna say?"
Loki felt a knot in his throat. "Mobius..." he managed to croak out before burying his face in his hands. His emotions were catching up to him. It had finally dawned on him that this would be the very last time they would sit like this opposite each other, chatting away about everything and nothing at the same time.
Mobius had not only been his closest friend throughout this whole ordeal, but also one of the few people he'd genuinely befriended across his entire existence. Now, being faced with the opportunity to finally confess his feelings to the man he cares about so much, he was at a loss for words. After all, what words could possibly be enough to describe his feelings towards this man?
Mobius smiled softly and dropped his sleeve from where he was pinching it between his fingers. "You don't have to tell me. But I have something I'd like to say to you." He shifted in his seat, leaning closer towards Loki. "Loki... You're all I've ever known for as long as I've existed. Jet skis, pie, B-15, Renslayer, O.B., Casey, even Brad, those are things and people that I know, sure, but you, Loki... You're my earliest memory and my most important one. I mean, I guess you brought us here for exactly that reason—memories, nostalgia, the works."
Loki's head hung low. Mobius had rendered him completely speechless. Important? How could he possibly be important to someone? Wherever he goes, chaos, pain, and sorrow follows. He was the god of mischief, after all. But apparently, Mobius thought Yggdrasil of him. He could feel his eyes well up with tears threatening to spill over.
"And, Loki, this might be hard for you to hear, and you might think you don't deserve this, but I love you."
Loki's head shot up, hot tears prickling his eyes and leaving burning tracks down his cheeks. He couldn't stop his lower lip from quivering. His heart picked up speed, feeling as though it was going to leap out of his chest.
Mobius himself was close to tears, his eyes glossy.
"I love you,” he whispered, for only Loki to hear. "I love you so much I wish I could spend the rest of my days doing paperwork and eating key lime pie with you. I love you so much it kills me every day to see you sacrifice yourself, hurt yourself the way you do, and think that you're not worth loving. Because you are." Mobius was crying now, and Loki was crying too.
"That day," he continued, "when you appeared out of nowhere and came running to me, begging for my help? I'd never seen you so hurt and helpless. You have no idea what that did to me. How much it pained me to see you like that. And it made me realize that I never want to be apart from you ever again. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you're going down to that Loom to save all of us…” Mobius shook his head, taking a deep breath. “You better come back.”
They were both quiet, the only sound in the room being their sniffling. Loki was stunned. After his mother and maybe his brother, he never thought he'd have another person in this world who loved him for who he was, or rather who he became. This was the most vulnerable he'd ever been. Sylvie really did a number on him back at the bar.
“I want to say it,” he managed to say hoarsely, through sniffles and sobs.
“Loki…” Mobius started but trailed off, which allowed Loki to cut back in.
“No. I want to say it.” He finally looked up from where he was staring at his hands, shaking in his lap, and looked into Mobius’ eyes, red with tears.
“I love you too.” He managed to crack a smile, which Mobius mirrored almost instantly, his lips quirking up and his face beaming. Loki wanted to kiss him.
Possessed by an immeasurable amount of courage that would have granted him VIP access to Valhalla if he were a warrior, Loki got out of his chair. Mobius (ever the imitator these days) did the same, a look of confusion evident on his face.
“Loki, I—” Mobius started, but was cut off when Loki grabbed his face with both of his hands and pressed his lips against his own. It was quick, barely a ghost of a kiss, just to test the waters, before Loki pulled away, scared he might've frightened the man he was so madly in love with.
And for a moment, he thought he was done for. Mobius shook his head so frantically Loki was scared it was about to pop off. “I-I've never kissed anyone—”
Loki quickly pulled away, his worst fears confirmed. Trying his best to remedy the situation, he put his hands up in defense. “I don't know what came over me, Mobius. I…”
He trailed off and sighed deeply. Life at the TVA meant that Mobius had never been physically intimate with anyone, and Loki just thrust him into a kiss when the poor man probably had no idea what to do!
Loki sighed and started backing away slowly from the man, when suddenly, Mobius grabbed one of his hands, guiding him to turn back around and to rest it on his cheek once again.
“No. I want you to… I just don't know how,” Mobius whispered, his gaze flickering from Loki's lips to his eyes. A deep blush formed on his pretty nose and his pretty cheeks and his pretty ears and Norns this man was gorgeous up-close.
Loki quirked an eyebrow. "You're telling me that, in all of your time at the TVA, you have never, ever, kissed anyone?"
Mobius shrugged and gestured around the room. "I mean, look around, princess. The TVA's room decor doesn't really spark romance. So forgive me for not having urges."
They giggled tearily.
Loki smiled softly. “I'll teach you,” he whispered.
Mobius closed his eyes, bracing for impact. All Loki could do was stand there, inches away from him, and look. This was the man he'd fallen for, right there in front of him, and he was about to kiss him properly for the very first and last time. So Loki looked at the man for a brief moment and took in these fleeting seconds, admiring his face from this close and committing it all to memory: every ridge, every wrinkle, every freckle, every eyelash. He took it all in, before leaning in and locking his lips with Mobius’. It felt incredible. Loki had forgotten the last time he kissed anyone, but he was sure nothing could compare to how amazing this kiss with Mobius felt.
Mobius was shy, but quickly seemed to understand that a kiss would be more enjoyable if the recipient did a bit more with their hands and lips. Mobius snaked his arms around Loki's waist and tilted his head up and to the side, deepening the kiss and allowing Loki to slip his tongue into his mouth. And there it was again, the feeling that Loki was the luckiest person in all the worlds. Mobius tasted like tears, hot chocolate, and most of all, key lime pie, which in hindsight was probably a placebo effect that Loki will continue to deny. Because key lime pie tasted like Mobius. And it tasted like getting lost with a friend but finding your way home and having a slice of pie. Loki could drown in it for hours. The way Mobius felt, the way he smelled, the way he tasted, the way his body pressed against Loki's so perfectly: it all made Loki want to burst into tears all over again.
They kissed and kissed, their breaths mingling together and their hands wandering all over the place. Loki moved one of his hands to gently play with Mobius’ hair, and the latter's hands slowly traveled all across Loki's back, only to settle back down on his slim waist where they were initially most comfortable.
The kiss went on for what felt like ages, just the warmth of their bodies in that cold room, and the warmth of their lips locked together in the most profound declaration of love Loki will probably ever experience.
They pulled away to breathe, and Mobius was crying again, the sight tugging at Loki's heartstrings.
“You're not coming back, are you? You're not…”
Mobius trailed off, and Loki shook his head, tears falling from his eyes for the second time this past hour.
“I don't think so.” His voice shook with grief.
Mobius leaned in and pressed his forehead against the taller man's shoulder, his arms tightening around his waist. This was a hug. And Loki hugged Mobius back, burying his face in the crook of his neck, breathing in his familiar scent. This was a different kind of warmth. While their kiss was hot, passionate, and fiery, this felt more like a hearth. An embrace shielding them both from the cold and empty space of what's to come. They broke away, but their arms never left each other's bodies, instead wrapped around each other, fingers rubbing comforting circles on backs, hands cupping cheeks, and eyes saying more than what words could ever be able to adequately express.
“Can I come with?” Mobius whispered into what little space they had left between them. He smiled softly up at Loki, his eyes ever so bright and gorgeous. Loki breathed out a laugh and shook his head, finding it extremely difficult to articulate. Mobius nodded, his eyes trailing to the floor.
Loki cupped the man's chin and tilted his head up to meet his eyes. “I love you,” he declared again, hoping that the message got across. I love you. I wish I could take you with me and live the rest of my eternal life with you. I wish we could both run away, forget about all of this and start over. I wish I could build us a universe where none of this happens, where worlds aren't falling apart, where you work at a dealership selling jet skis and where I stay home and keep our boys out of trouble. I wish we had time. I wish I could stay. I love you.
“I love you too.” Mobius pressed a quick kiss, bittersweet, to Loki's lips. “I know how to do that now.”
They shared one last laugh before making their way back to the others, back to their horrible reality.
And as Loki pulled the strings of the endless and ever-growing timelines together, he thought of Mobius. As he felt his body resist the deadly levels of radiation, and as his power grew tremendously, he thought of Mobius. As his form changed and his horns grew, as he pulled and yanked and gave life to timelines long dead, he thought of Mobius. As he made his way up and sat on his throne, surrounded by vines and ropes of time and space, all finally held down and controlled, he thought of his friends. But he also thought of Mobius and his glorious purpose.
___________
“Never look, never know.”
It was a while after the love of his life turned into a tree.
Mobius had made up his mind about leaving the TVA and finding purpose for himself. Not a glorious one, just a regular one. And just like he told Loki, he was visiting Don. It was just like Loki described it: Don was happy and single. He had two children, Kevin and Sean, who he loved dearly and had trouble controlling. He worked at a dealership selling Jet Skis and even owned two of them.
It was weird having Sylvie by his side though, watching all of this with him. He was never that close with her, but he did say she was his favorite out of the two Lokis. But that was all before he realized he was madly in love with Loki. Nonetheless, she was a Loki variant, after all. She couldn't be that different from the god he loved. Except she was, and it left much to be desired.
“It’s weird that Loki's not here, isn't it?” she said, voicing his thoughts, squinting under the sun. It was almost sunset, with a clear blue and sky and a wind that was slowly picking up. The weather was much too beautiful for Loki to not be there. It should be raining, storming even. It should be dark and gloomy. But it wasn't.
Mobius avoided making eye contact, his eyes shifting from Sylvie’s to the green grass they were standing on.
“Yeah,” he said half-heartedly.
He looked back up at her. She was smiling softly, as if completely unaffected by the fact that her literal alternate self was stuck in a damn tree forever, for someone's sake. She should be grief-stricken, traumatized. Why is no one else bothered by this?
“Well, see you around, I guess,” she said, as if Mobius was just some old friend she bumped into while running errands at the supermarket.
“Where are you gonna go?” He asked.
Sylvie shrugged. Mobius was so shocked he was almost impressed, although he made sure not to show it. Sylvie really had absolutely no plans and no idea what to do next, while Loki was stuck protecting the fabric of reality itself. How can two variants of the same person be this many worlds apart?
“You?” she asked in return.
Mobius thought about Loki, about how much he'd like it here, and about their conversation at the Time Theatre.
“I might just wait here for a little bit.”
He turned back towards the house. He stared at that house: the house bathed in golden sunlight, a happy Mobius—Don—running around playfully chasing his kids, and a Jet Ski parked in the driveway. He thought of Loki.
“Let time pass.” He continued, his eyes transfixed on the scene before him. He felt Sylvie's hand press gently against his shoulder in a comforting manner, but he did not turn to look. He then heard a time door open and close, and felt that her presence was long gone, but he did not turn to check. All he could do was stand there and stare at that house.
Don looked happy and content. But he had no idea what he was missing out on. There was a world out there where Don worked for the TVA, where he dedicated his time studying a Norse god named Loki, who taught him about care, friendship, and eventually love, but who had to sacrifice himself in order to fulfill his glorious purpose. Where his, quite literally, beige world was beginning to gain color, it quickly became beige and monotonous yet again. Mobius was left absolutely devastated—
Something shifted in the air and brought Mobius out of his train of thought. An all too familiar voice then called out his name.
“Mobius.” It was as sweet and as smooth as honey with the way it spilled out of the man's mouth.
Mobius couldn't help the grin that plastered itself on his face, nor could he stop the happy tears from staining his cheeks.
“You fucking bastard.” He breathed out a laugh, turning around to face the Norse god.
Loki looked tired, but he was trapped in that tree for so long it was only natural. Golden horns adorned his head and he wore all-green attire, fit for a god of his status. He even wore a cape. And with the bright sun bathing Loki in a warm glow, he looked godly.
Mobius shook his head in disbelief. “How…?” Unable to finish his sentence, he just stood there, mouth ajar.
“I'm full of surprises.” Loki smiled softly, his eyes twinkling. “Also, shadow puppets. Kind of. It's complicated. The tree will be fine, I think.”
Mobius scoffed. “What about your glorious purpose?”
Loki quirked up an eyebrow. “Come on, Mobius, you don't seriously think my glorious purpose doesn't include you. We've been over this.” He took a couple of steps towards Mobius, stopping a few feet away.
“You showed me kindness when I first came to the TVA. You saved my life on multiple occasions and in so many different ways, I owe you more than the average person could ever afford. You empathized with me and became my friend. You did not judge me for my past mistakes, and instead helped me discover that I can be good even though, all my life, I was treated like shit.
“The son that Odin never wanted. The Jotun that would never have the throne. Well, I didn't want this throne either. Inside that tree, it was dark. And lonely. And I've spent my entire life alone. Call me selfish, but I'd rather spend it alone with you, somewhere warm and sunny, in a nice house with a garage, a couple of Jet Skis, and some troublesome children you won't be able to handle on your own.”
Mobius missed the sound of his voice and his gorgeous face. He missed the way his body felt under his fingertips and how warm he made him feel. He missed their playful banter, their heart-to-hearts, their petty fights. He missed the way his mouth felt against his own, and the way he tasted on his tongue. And he'd been craving that flavor for a very long time.
Mobius closed the space between him and Loki, sweeping him up into a kiss that rivaled that of the greatest romance movies of all time. He kissed him so passionately and so deeply he was sure his knees were going to buckle at any moment. Loki kissed him back with just as much passion, sloppy and full of tongue, and Mobius understood perfectly what Loki was trying to articulate. After all, it was what he wanted to tell him too.
I missed you. I love you. Let's go get pie later.