Work Text:
Mobius happily snacks on his cracker jackers as Loki pitifully picks at his own in his hands. He eyes Mobius out of the corner of his eye as the silver haired man delightfully throws a piece into his mouth with a broad grin.
"You're clearly enjoying yourself." Loki smiles teasingly as Mobius grins and turns to look at him.
"Can't blame a guy for seizing an opportunity to enjoy himself." He tosses another piece into his mouth and beams again. Loki shakes his head softly and can't believe he's in love with this silly man.
Just then, Mobius grasps his forearm and Loki immediately turns onto high alert and anxiously glances around, preparing himself for anything. But then, he sees what Mobius is actually pointing at. A small purple tent off to the side with seemingly no one around. Loki shakes off his nerves and lets himself relax again as Mobius talks beside him, still holding his arm.
"Look Loki, it's one of those fortune tellers. We should go get our fortunes told." Mobius looks like a child full of wonder and curiosity and Loki sighs fondly.
"You know that stuff is all fake, they can't actually tell your fortune."
Mobius shrugs with a lopsided grin, "So? Doesn't make it any less fun."
Loki shakes his head at the man again, and he spends a few moments looking down at him, because of their height difference, before he caves. He was always going to say yes.
"Alright fine." He rolls his eyes, pretending to be annoyed, but in reality, he loves to see Mobius happy and giddy with childlike fascination.
Mobius smiles again and pulls them towards the tent and pushes back the small curtain that works as a doorway to step inside the tent. It's dark and slightly smokey inside, with the faint smell of candles burning and old books. A kind looking old woman sits at a table. Her arms are covered in thick bracelets of all colours and metals, her neck draped in beautiful pieces of carefully crafted necklaces, her outfit colourful but mysterious, with a dark swirling pattern snaking around her form, all playing into the fortune teller stereotype.
Mobius sits down opposite and quickly starts small talk with the fortune teller as Loki warily sits down beside him. He doesn't like the idea of fortune telling. He has the irrational fear that they'll actually be able to read his thoughts and expose what's going on in his head, but that's ridiculous because fortune telling is all fake anyway.
The fortune teller starts with Mobius.
"You have a strong character, and a lot of love to go around.” She inspects Mobius, eyes flicking all over his face, her expression intense and thoughtful.
“You trust others . . . put your faith in them, nourishing them and help them become the best versions of themselves that they can be.” She glances at Loki for the briefest moment before continuing.
“You’re the kind of man who believes in what is right and always sees the good in people no matter what horrible deeds and mistakes they may have made in the past.” Loki is starting to get slightly offended at all these pointed glances.
“You are driven by your desire to help people, just as you’ve helped this man." She gestures calmly to Loki sitting beside Mobius as they both sit in stunned silence for a moment. Mobius looks stunned, staring at her incredulously, briefly looking at Loki, probably to see if he’s just as shocked as him.
Loki is actually impressed at her guesses. They're all mostly accurate, though he could argue that the descriptions are very broad and Mobius does just radiate a kind and forgiving soul.
Loki grimaces then, when he realises that it's his turn next. The fortune teller stares intensely at him for a long pause, Loki can almost physically feel her gaze on him and he feels eerily like he’s under a microscope.
"You are not as evil as you make yourself out to be.” Oh, here it goes. He has to resist blatantly rolling his eyes.
“You like to pretend you believe you are above everyone else, even though, deep down, you don’t think you deserve anything good for yourself.” Loki scoffs in disbelief.
“You put up a wall . . . a shield, if you will—to push people away because, ultimately. . .” She pauses, and Loki finds himself wanting to know what she’s going to say next.
“You are scared people will see you for who you are and not who you pretend to be.” Loki furrows his brows as he sinks in his seat uncomfortably.
“And that terrifies you more than anything, because if they don’t like what they see, what does that leave you with?” She smiles sadly. “It means you are alone. And you think you deserve that. I think you believe you deserve to be torn away from everything you love and be alone for eternity.”
“The thing is . . .”
She pauses for a moment before continuing, “you may believe you deserve nothing good, that you deserve to be alone forever, but i can promise you, darling, you don’t.” She smiles softly, almost sympathetically, at him from across the table.
“You deserve companionship and love. There are people in your life who are ready to give that to you in a heartbeat.”
She smiles and looks at Mobius, who smiles slightly and looks at his hands in his lap with a bashful blush staining his cheeks in a pink hue.
She looks back at Loki who’s practically in shock, “You just have to be willing to accept it and not be afraid to love them too.”
Loki’s mind reels as he tries to process everything that’s just been said to him. He looks at Mobius, to see what he thinks, if he agrees with her. He’s met by Mobius’ small smile. Soft and affectionate but also sympathetic, clearly noticing his distress.
He feels dizzy with the realisation that’s just been dumped on him like a bucket of ice-cold water. He breathes in deeply as he wills the tears in his eyes away, tipping his head up to look at the ceiling and banish the watery eyes.
He faintly hears Mobius placing coins down on the table in front of them and thanking the fortune teller, like she didn’t just blow Loki’s mind to smithereens and give him an identity crisis.
He feels a gentle hand under the crook of his elbow, guiding him to stand and Loki follows easily, trusting Mobius to take care of him as he composes himself.
Mobius.
He’s always taking care of him.
Companionship.
That’s what the fortune teller woman had said, he never caught her name, he needed to accept and return it.
And love. She said love.
He looks at Mobius as he guides them towards the opening of the tent.
Did Mobius love him?
Is that what she was saying?
Mobius’ warm hand tightens and an arm slips around his waist in a comforting side hug as they break through the opening to the tent.
Mobius loved him.
And Loki loved him back.
That snaps him back to reality.
Mobius had pulled them behind the tent, likely to help Loki come back to his senses and compose himself before they joined the crowds again.
Loki looks at Mobius for a moment who just stares back, eyes kind and patient.
And loving.
Loki smiles at him softly. Mobius tilts his head with a small smile in confusion as Loki's sudden change in emotion until Loki rushes forward to place his lips on Mobius’ who hums in surprise for a moment before he leans into the kiss, with a smile.
The kiss is like another ice bucket, but this one, in Loki's opinion, is a whole lot better. Like a bucket of sunshine gliding down his body, bathing him in a warm glow as it flows down his body, sending pleasant shockwaves to every muscle in his body. He feels Mobius’ gentle hands come up to caress his face and pull him into a deeper kiss. Slow and loving, deeply intimate. Loki sighs in relief, like a weight has been shifted within him, making him feel a million times lighter, like he could float away like the hot air balloons in the sky above their heads.
When their lips finally part, Mobius chuckles softly against his lips as their foreheads come to rest against each other, in a tender embrace.
“We should have our fortunes told more often.”
Loki grins and laughs gingerly, securing his arms around Mobius’ waist to keep him pressed against him. They’d have to move eventually, they had a job to do after all. And it’s also probably not the best place for two currently male presenting people to be making out in public. But right now, he wanted Mobius as close as physically possible.
They kissed again, this one more chaste than the one before it. When they pull apart, Loki puts on a frown, “You know she didn’t actually tell us our future?”
Mobius smiles cheekily and strokes his thumbs across Loki’s cheekbones fondly. “Honey, I think she got her point across.”
They laugh into their next few kisses.