"Get out of here!" Steve shouted from across the street, through debris and smoke. The man — the grey haired man with a mustache in a plain brown suit — ignored him completely as he continued walking towards Loki. Oh no, Steve thought horribly. He's gonna get himself killed. That poor man's gonna get himself killed.
Except Loki did not kill the mortal. To Steve's utter surprise (and confusion, too) Loki went pale the second he saw the stranger, and suddenly all of his clones, that were attacking New York, as well as his cape, the horns, the green magic and the gold armor, disappeared in the blink of an eye. The look on Loki's face, as crazy as it sounded, was of a tamed house cat. Steve couldn't see an evidence of a deranged, dangerous and unstable God, that was Loki less than a minute ago, who demanded humankind's submission anymore. Ever since he saw the little grey haired man...
Who the fuck is he?
///
Pairing: Loki/Mobius M. Mobius, Mobius M. Mobius & Steve Rogers, Loki & Thor, Mobius M. Mobius & Thor
This was in my to-write list for way longer than I'd like to admit, and I was happy I finally got to actually write it! Basically, Loki thought he'd kill the boredom by causing mischief on Earth. The Avengers tried and failed to stop him, until Mobius showed up.
By the way, this takes place after Endgame and Loki series, and everybody lives, because I say so.
///
It was two hours before sunset, when Steve was informed about another threat towards the people of New York. And if Steve were to be honest, saving the world had slowly, unconsciously become more of a tedious daily duty than something that'd get adrenaline pumped through his veins. And he was certain the rest of the Avengers felt the same; another day, another threat, another villain to defeat.
He did a double take at the villain part though, making sure he read what was shown on the screen of his phone correctly; a text from Natasha about this villain trying to take over earth again. (Natasha did say 'again' in her message.) The huff of air that left Steve's mouth was involuntary when he realized he read that right; he just... didn't expect him to make the second attempt so soon after having his ass kicked the last time, was all.
Well, Steve supposed Thor wouldn't want to miss out this evening's mission then.
~~~
The street was already a mess by the time the Avengers arrived at the scene, with Thor being the first to jump out of their vehicle, Stormbreaker ready in his hold (although Steve doubted Thor would actually decapitate the baby brother whom he'd been searching for for ages, even if it was only — Steve looked around, and wasn't sure whether he should be concerned or annoyed by the sight of a hundred-or-so Lokis wreaking havoc the city — Loki's clones. Though Steve figured it wasn't hard to detach the real one from his clones, because there was only one Loki with long, dramatic cape and a shiny gold helmet standing on top of a random fucking car, in the midst of the chaos.)
And the little shit even had the nerve to wave at Thor — a very murderous-looking Thor — when his eyes landed on him. So no, Steve thought, it wasn't difficult at all to spot the real Loki. What was, was stop him and the army of his fucking clones.
"I'll deal with my brother," Thor said. He sounded angry, sure, but if anything he sounded more annoyed. "The rest of you take care of... my brother's clones." Then he took off into the battle with the weapon Steve knew he wasn't going to use against Loki anyway.
At least being on a mission meant he didn't have to spend the rest of the evening listening to Tony's ramble about whatever he'd created in his lab with Bruce, so Steve thought he'd count that as a blessing.
~~~
Thirty minutes into the fight with Loki's clones that seemed to only increase in numbers, Steve was starting to realize this was a waste of time. The Avengers may have defeated Loki before, but it began to look more clear now that they'd underestimated Loki; seemed like he did his homework and learned where he went wrong, so he wasn't making the same mistake this time.
(Though Steve didn't really think Loki came for blood, at least this time things did not look like the last time he'd invaded earth with the army of Chitauri. If Steve had to guess, he might even say this invasion was more to cause mischief than to conquer the planet, but after all, this was Loki, and Steve knew better than to make assumptions.)
He 'killed' another Loki clone — probably the tenth clone, although Steve didn't exactly keep count — before he heard Tony's voice in his ear, via his AirPods. "Not to interrupt but, Capsicle, I thought you said you evacuated civilians?"
"I did," Steve said, still breathless from the previous fight with the previous Loki clone, whose body now disappeared into thin air. He was partly offended, clones or not, Loki should've at least given him time to catch his breath, but Loki clones were like Loki; they were all a bunch of dickheads, and so Steve only had approximately five seconds to breathe before another Loki clone jumped at him, using the opportunity Steve was distracted by Tony, sending them both to the ground with the clone straddling Steve's waist. And fuck, Steve was starting to get real pissed now. As long as Thor hadn't yet dealt with the real Loki, his clones were only going on keep coming back, like when you flushed a cockroach down the toilet and it kept crawling right back to you.
Dealing with the real Loki, Steve thought frustratingly with the stubborn clone on top of him, might not be oh-so easy, because Thor had lost the real Loki about ten minutes ago, and now Thor, too, was only fighting one of his brother's duplications, when the real Trickster was currently laughing at their misery from a safe distance.
"Steve!" Tony's voice grabbed his attention again. He was shouting this time, his voice too loud in Steve's ear that Steve would've reflexively yanked the AirPods off of him, if his hands weren't busy trying to keep Loki — the clone — out. But Steve figured he already knew what Tony was trying to tell him without Tony having to tell him, when his eyes landed on a spot from across the road; there was a man standing there, a stranger with grey hair, a mustache, and he was wearing a brown suit that looked like some sort of a uniform. The man wasn't there when Steve evacuated people to safely. Steve had made sure all the civilians were out.
The man was standing alone. No weapon (obviously) just him and that... hard-to-read expression on his face; he didn't look scared, that much was obvious, and it was strange that there was no fear in his face when he was standing in the midst of the battle that could take his life in a split second, if one of the Loki clones saw him and attacked. Because all of The Avengers were currently unfortunately not available to save his life; with each of them dealing with a Loki clone of their own. Steve couldn't rid himself off the clone attacking him to go save that man, whoever the hell he was. Steve looked at him from where he still lied gracelessly on his back on the hard concrete. He thought the man even looked annoyed, which was clearly not how Steve expected a person — a civilian — to look in such a situation.
"Hey!" Steve shouted when the man, to Steve's utter horror and surprise, began walking towards Loki, the real Loki.
"Get out of here!" He continued shouting from across the street, through debris and smoke. The man — the grey haired man with a mustache in a plain brown suit — ignored him completely as he continued walking towards Loki. Oh no, Steve thought horribly. He's gonna get himself killed. That poor man's gonna get himself killed.
Except Loki did not kill the tiny mortal. To Steve's complete surprise (and confusion, too) Loki went pale the second he saw the stranger, and suddenly all of his clones, that were attacking New York, including Steve — together with Loki's cape, the horns, the gold armor and the green magic — disappeared in the blink of an eye. The look on Loki's face, as crazy as it sounded, was of a tamed house cat. Steve couldn't see an evidence of a deranged, dangerous and unstable God, that was Loki less than a minute ago, who demanded humankind's submission anymore. Ever since he saw the little grey haired man...
Who the fuck is he?
"Mobius," Steve heard Loki say, Loki who was now in normal Midgardian clothing; a white shirt and beige slacks, which was the complete opposite of that Asgardian armor he had on earlier, before that, along with his army, vanished once this Mobius guy made his presence known to him.
Whoever the hell he was, he — Mobius — was crossing his arms over his chest. The look of disapproval he was giving Loki, was almost that of a parent who was scolding their child for misbehaving. But the most unbelievable part, Steve thought, was that Loki looked precisely like a child who knew he'd misbehaved and was afraid of being yelled at. None of this was making any sense.
(Steve knew the rest of The Avengers were just as confused, judged by the looks on their faces right now.)
"Anything you wanna say?" Mobius said, still with his arms over his chest. Loki was walking towards him, his head held down in a submissive manner, his hands held together in front of him. He was pouting a little, too, like a child. Steve didn't think he'd ever witness Loki pout, but there were a lot of things that were more surprising going on at the moment than Loki pouting. He stopped once he was right in front of Mobius. The height difference was hard to miss, but despite that, it was Mobius who was the intimidating one.
"I just —" Loki stuttered. "I got bored and, and... and you wouldn't pay attention to me. You were busy with those files and I thought I could... I thought I could maybe entertain myself. So I wasn't bothering you when you were working,"
"Oh," Mobius raises his brows. "So this is you not wanting to bother me? So you decided to terrorize these poor innocent people instead?"
"I didn't hurt them. I swear!" Loki pointed out, there was a hint of panic in his voice, a bit of defensiveness there. "It was a harmless little mischief!"
(Steve, who was listening to the whole thing from afar, thought it wasn't a lie, either, because no one was actually hurt. But he wouldn't call the trouble Loki put him and The Avengers through a 'harmless little mischief')
"Loki!" Mobius rolled his eyes. "I looked away from you for five minutes. Five minutes. And you snatched my TemPad and sneaked away and —"
"Well, you wouldn't take me out on a mission anymore. We've been stuck in the archives for almost a week now. You know how easily I got bored."
"I told you those paperworks were as important as any mission, you mischievous little scamp. We'll go out, once we're ready. We don't go out because we're bored."
Loki pouted even further, but he did softly say, "I know. I'm sorry. Don't be mad at me,"
Mobius sighed, though his expression clearly softened. "I'm not mad at you, I'm just —"
"Is anybody going to tell me what is going on here?" It was Thor who chimed in rudely, walking towards them, finally having enough of listening to what only confused him more and more.
"Loki," he looked at his brother. For someone who hadn't seen their sibling for so long, and for someone who had been in absolute obvious about whether or not said sibling was alive, Thor sure looked murderous.
(Loki supposed his brother wasn't going in for a bear hug, then.)
"Thor," he said, a bit bitterly, when their eyes met.
"Where — where the hell were you? What happened? Who's this?" Thor looked at Mobius with a not-so-friendly expression.
The look on Loki's face, was like he was fighting the urge to visibly roll his eyes. "Thor, this is Mobius. Mobius, this is —"
"I know who you are," Mobius cut Loki off, now looking at Thor. For some reason, Loki looked like he was this close to physically cover his hand over Mobius's mouth, so that he shut the fuck up. Whatever. It was too late the second Mobius started talking, reaching out his hand for Thor to shake.
"Big fan of yours, actually. I'm Mobius, Loki's boyfriend."
Loki, as well as the rest of The Avengers, was certain the lightning striking a tree a few yards away, suddenly setting it on fire, had nothing to do with the actual no-chance-of-rain weather. The fact Thor's eyes were glowing, with sparkles dancing between his fingers, might explain a thing or two about the situation, too.
~~~
Thor did not shake Mobius's hand. Steve did, and the rest of the team, too. Except Thor.
Loki and Mobius hadn't yet returned to The TVA: The Time Variance Authority organization that no one had heard of until now. (Mobius supposed, since he and Loki were already here, now at The Avengers compound, it would be very rude not to stay for a little, so that Loki could catch up with his brother, and The Avengers — except Loki's brother — seemed to have a lot of things they wanted to ask Mobius... Thor indeed had a lot of things to speak to Mobius, as well, though his reasons for it seemed to be entirely different from the rest of the superheroes'.) And apparently that was where Loki was, The TVA, as some sort of a Time Cop working side by side his boyfriend, all these time. Tony was intrigued by it, the organization itself, just like everyone else was... everyone else save for Thor. Because Thor didn't seem to care that there was an entire powerful organization — most powerful one in the universe — silently controlling the flow of time, including the lives of all living things. What Thor seemed to care very profoundly, was that Loki got himself a boyfriend.
"I do not trust him," Thor said. He did not bother keeping his voice quiet, in case Mobius, who was sitting on the couch in the living room, chatting with Tony about the technology used behind a TemPad, could hear him.
(With Loki seated next to his boyfriend — the word still sounded too strange in Thor's head — so Mobius was between him and Tony.)
"I don't know, pal. He seems like a good guy," Steve said, from where he and Thor had been standing in the kitchen with their backs against the marble island, observing Loki's boyfriend's every move in silence. A lot nicer than your brother, for obvious reason, Steve did not voice the latter opinion of his aloud.
(It was all Thor's idea: spying on Mobius. Because Steve actually liked Mobius a lot, even if they had only just met. Mobius was sweet and cute and was basically a ray of sunshine. If anything, Steve thought Loki — the little shit — was so fucking lucky it was like he hit the jackpot: to have someone like Mobius.)
"He's definitely mind-controlled. The poor man," Clint casually joined their little conversions, his favorite mug of coffee in his hand; no sugar, just how he liked it.
"That man mind controlled my brother?!" Thor nearly shouted. Correction; he did shout, loud enough that it shook the cutleries and the dishes in Tony's fancy dishwasher. Loki, Mobius and Tony turned to look at him, then. It was Steve who had to give them an apologetic look and reassured the three that everything was fine, before Loki, Mobius and Tony returned to their own conversation.
"He mind controlled Loki. I will shove his arm up his —"
"What? No! God, just stop," Clint placed a hand on Thor's chest, shoving him backward. Although his strength was clearly no match for Thor's own, Thor thankfully held himself back from stomping towards to where Mobius sat and doing to him what neither Steve nor Clint wanted to imagine. "I meant Loki, Thor. Jesus. I meant Loki mind controlled Mobius."
Thor let out a soft, unconvinced, "Oh," then, "Why would my brother do such a thing?"
"I can think of more than several reasons," Clint muttered under his breath. To which Steve silently, quickly shook his head at him when Thor's eyes weren't on him; a hint Clint thankfully took.
"No one's mind controlling anyone," Loki said. He was now standing next to them. How he got up from the couch and walked over here so fast, Steve figured it wasn't nearly as... concerning as the way he was looking at his brother. "We need to talk," he added.
"What?"
"We need to talk, Thor. Now."
And Thor had the nerve — he had the nerve to still glance beyond Loki's shoulder, at Mobius who, for some reason, looked like he was trying to make himself small without really meeting Thor's eyes. Steve was sure he heard Loki physically growl, before he grabbed Thor's elbow and roughly manhandled him away. Thor protested, sure, but at least the brothers didn't cause much a scene.
"You need to stop it." Loki said, once they were out of earshot.
"Stop what?"
"This!" He hissed. "This whole spying on Mobius thing. Stop it. And stop scaring him."
"I do not trust him." Thor roared back with the same amount of feistiness.
"Why? Because he's my boyfriend?"
"Because you're too naive. You've... you've gone soft!"
Loki snorted at that. This was ridiculous. Thor was being ridiculous it was so painfully predictable. "You're not protecting me," he said. "Not by trying to scare off the man I love,"
"You're still youn—"
"I'm not a child," he cut his brother off. "That's... that's the problem, you always see me as a child. I am not. I'm not a child anymore, Thor."
"That's nonsense."
Loki rolled his eyes. He supposed he... appreciated Thor's wanting to protect his brother. After all, this wasn't the first time Thor resorted to this... kind of behavior. Loki remembered the first time he had a crush on someone, he was sixteen in human year, and Thor had basically scared him away, his crush, because he thought he was going to break his heart. Or the first time Loki had a girlfriend, Thor had been uncharacteristically hostile, and Thor had never been hostile towards a woman.
Though Mobius was different. Mobius wasn't going to take advantage of him, and Loki knew Mobius would never hurt him. The problem was, Thor did not. He supposed it was... understandable, Mobius was, after all, a stranger to Thor. And all Thor knew, was that his brother had been MIA for years, when he showed up, Thor learned he apparently had been working with an organization Thor had never heard of, with a boyfriend Thor had no idea he had.
"Listen," Loki said, trying to sound not as pissed and annoyed as he was. "Mobius is a good man. I know you don't trust him, or my judgment in characters or whatever, but he's a good man who's saved me many times, and he makes me happy. So... please, do not break his neck."
Thor made a noise that sounded dangerously close to a growl, almost like he was frustrated Loki read his mind; what he precisely planned to do to his brother's boyfriend.
"He's different than any other lovers I had."
"You're only saying that because you're in love with him."
"I'm saying it because he's made me a better person, Thor."
Thor had gone quiet at that. "I'm not asking you to trust him right now. I'm asking you to give him a chance. I'm happy. He made me happy, so please do not ruin this." Loki added, before he was walking back to where Mobius and Tony were.
(He heard Thor huff from behind, but he thankfully did not try to prolong the conversation.)
~~~
Loki was currently being 'borrowed' by Wanda and Stephen — so they were out practicing and discussing magic, which resulted in him and Mobius being for-the-moment physically separated — when Steve entered the room to Mobius trying to make himself disappear into the couch, and Thor — looking as big as ever — hovering over the tiny poor man.
Steve was no stranger to bully. He did not want to label Thor as one, because he knew, Thor only wanted to protect Loki. Though Steve wasn't going to walk away and leave Mobius like that. He sighed, fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Thor," Steve said, voice low with a hint of warning. "Is everything okay?" (It translated into 'is the big oaf bothering you, Mobius?' and it was obvious enough.)
"We are just talking," Thor said, a little bit harshly. It translated into 'I just told him I'd break his neck in the slowest and most painful way, if he hurt my brother,'
"Mobius?" Steve glanced at the tiny man, who somehow managed to look tinier, with both Steve and Thor hovering over him now.
"Oh, yeah, everything's fine." Mobius said with a nervous smile and a wry chuckle. His words came out a little too quickly, Steve noticed. He also noticed the small shudder that went through Mobius's shoulders.
Steve sighed, and when he glanced back at Thor he mouthed, "Really?"
"What?" Thor mouthed back, getting a little defensive here. "I didn't do anything."
Steve was rolling his eyes now. He reached for Mobius, and forced himself not to grimace or snap at Thor when Mobius reflexively flinched the moment Steve touched his shoulder; it was gentle, the touch, and Steve knew Thor didn't do anything physical, but he'd understand; how... intimidating it must've been for Mobius, when someone twice his size was hovering over him, promising things Steve probably didn't want to know.
"Come on," Steve's voice, unlike Thor's, was soft. "Let's go for a walk," he said, before realizing how that could be interpreted. He was quick to correct himself. "I mean just a walk. You don't have to, if you don't feel like it. But —"
"That'd be great," Mobius said, the response probably came out too fast, cutting Steve off.
"Okay," Steve said after a few blinks, guiding Mobius on his feet. (He could've sworn Thor was rolling his eyes behind him.)
Steve knew Thor wasn't really going to do anything to his brother's poor boyfriend, at least not anything physical... as long as Mobius didn't hurt Loki, and Steve believed he never would. Though the least Steve could do for Mobius, was get him out of the line of Thor's murderous gaze.
"Sorry about that," Steve said, somewhat apologetically, when they were walking down the long corridor of the Avengers Compound, away from Thor's earshot. "It wasn't personal. Thor is just..."
"He's protective," Mobius said, there was a small smile on his face. "I know. I admire that about him, actually. He's... doing what a big brother is supposed to do."
"I... suppose," Steve smiled softly to himself when they came to a stop at the balcony. Mobius's words brought him back to his old life, when he was a Brooklyn boy, too small for boys his age. Having someone who had his back, was a privilege. "He knows," Steve added, after a little pause of comforting silence. "I mean I believe he knows. Deep down,"
"Know what?" Mobius glanced at him sideway. The view was breathtaking here, that he had to admit; tree line carrying beyond the horizon, blue sky as clear as crystalline ocean. He hadn't the chances to see actual sky much, let alone such cloudless one, when he spent most of his time in the TVA building, and when he was out, it was almost always for a mission dangerous enough he barely had the time to look up and simply just breathe.
"That you'd never hurt his brother. You're a good man," Steve said. The smile hadn't yet left the Captain's face.
It was Mobius's turn to chuckle now. "I don't know if I live up to your compliment, Captain."
"Steve. Steve is fine,"
"Well, I don't know if I'm worthy to call myself a good man, Steve. A good man like yourself." Mobius's thoughts went back to the time he learned the truth about the TVA, before he and Loki helped reform it together, years — decades — of hunting down the innocent simply because the now-former Time-Keepers disagreed with their paths. Mobius had thought he was doing the right thing, that he was a good man, he wasn't so sure about that anymore. "But you're right about the I'd never hurt Loki part," he added with a fond smile.
"He's lucky to have you." Steve said.
"Yeah... I'm not so sure about that either. I'm just a man, Steve. I mean what — what if Thor's right? What if I'm not worthy? Loki's a god, a prince and I am... me. An old Time Agent,"
"You are anything but that. And Thor wasn't so hard on you because he thought you were what you said about yourself. Come on," Steve patted Mobius's shoulder.
"I mean I still don't know what Loki sees in me,"
"Well, maybe I think I do."
Mobius raised his brows curiously. Steve only smiled at him, before pointing at his chest. "That. And maybe the mustache plays a part, too." He winked.
"It's probably the mustache, mostly." Mobius commented, half whispering.
"Never underestimate the power of the mustache," Steve held his hands up in mock surrender. He was chuckling, and so was Mobius.
He liked Mobius, Steve thought to himself. Mobius was kind, funny, caring, and Thor would be more dumb than he thought, if he were to scare Mobius away for Loki's sake when, really, Loki might just be the luckiest man alive; to find a love like this.
~~~
The sparring — the practice — with Stephen and Wanda went rather well, though it was still a rough session, with Loki assuring the sorcerer and the witch not to hold back on him. So it wasn't really that shocking that the three returned to the compound with scratches and bruises here and there, which wasn't a big deal. They had a good time, after all, and it was nice to get sweaty every once in a while.
Loki earned himself a little burn mark from Wanda's magic. Again, not a big deal; only a little red spot on his arm. He could heal, using his own healing spell, but healing spell took a lot of energy, even with a wound so small, that and it took quite a while for the spell to fully recharge and for it to be ready to be summoned again. So Loki was trying to be mindful about when he should cast one. He wouldn't want to carelessly waste the ancient magic on a small wound, and risk it not being accessible in case of an emergency.
He was trying to convince Mobius not to let something so small interrupt his movie, The Fault in Our Stars, which Mobius was watching for the first time with Scott Lang, who'd seen the film at least 80 times. He'd managed to tell Thor he didn't need any 'medical attention' but Mobius was stubborn. As surprising as it was, Mobius could be even more stubborn than Thor's and Loki's stubbornness combined.
So Mobius had excused himself from his little movie club, that had him shad some tears twice during some specific scenes, and was now sitting next to Loki with a bottle of salve in his hand.
"Here," Mobius said. "Let me,"
And Loki let him apply the ointment on his irritated skin. Mobius was being gentle. So very gentle. He softly blew on it afterward, too. It made Loki blush.
No one made Loki blush before.
"Listen, I don't know about you, man, but if he isn't being brainwashed by your brother, then that's love. There's no other way to describe it." Clint said. He and Thor had been secretly spying — observing — from afar. Or, Thor made Clint help him in... in whatever this was he was doing, despite Clint wanting to spend his day doing something else that didn't involve spying on whatever Loki and his nice boyfriend were up to, since Steve had made it clear to Thor that he wasn't going to have anything to do with Thor's — quote Steve's own words — harassing poor, harmless Mobius anymore.
"They're happy," Clint added. "Look at them. They're in love."
Thor made a sound from his throat. When he moved, Clint thought, for a moment, horrifyingly, Thor was going to walk over to them and do something stupid. But Thor was walking away on silent footsteps, which was... interesting, to say the least.
~~~
The next time Mobius was alone, he really believed nothing could go wrong. Because it was three in the morning. Everybody was asleep when he treated himself to the kitchen for some (super) late night snack. Tony said Mobius was always welcomed, when it came to the Avengers Compound's glorious kitchen. Anytime. No permission ever needed. So Mobius was doing just that; making use of his rights.
He nearly jumped out of his skin — correction, he did physically jump — when Thor interrupted his time with Tony's chocolate pudding by simply making his presence known, stepping out of the shadow and calling Mobius's name from behind.
"Mobius," Thor said, his voice was hard to read.
How long have you been here? Mobius wanted to ask, but figured it might not be the wisest thing to do right now. He wiped the chocolate off of the corner of his mouth with the sleeve of his baby blue pajamas, so he got some of them there, too.
"Thor," Mobius said, smiled, trying to play it cool, trying to appear somewhat collected.
Would Loki be mad, if he woke up and found out his brother murdered his boyfriend?
"Apologize for... startling you." Thor was approaching him, and Mobius considered bolting. He stood his ground, looking Thor in the eyes. "I suppose you don't mind some company, do you?"
"No," Mobius said. "Of course not,"
Thor nodded slowly then. "That's good." He leaned his back against the marble island, so he was standing next to Mobius now.
There was a moment, about ten seconds, where awkward silence took over. It felt like hours for Mobius, and he was mentally debating with himself if he should offer Thor the rest of the pudding, even though he remembered Loki telling him Thor was a Pop-Tarts type of man.
He was about to cave in and open his mouth when Thor broke the silence first. Thanks the Lord, Mobius thought, he was on the verge of suffocating in the quietness in the air. He, however, took his appreciation back when he heard what Thor had to say.
"Have Loki told you I once broke someone's arm because he broke Loki's heart?"
Of course, Mobius didn't know what else he expected them to talk about, if not Loki. Surely, Thor wasn't going to talk to him about the weather, or about Netflix's latest series. "I must've missed that part, I think."
Thor made a sound from his throat, as Mobius eyed his escape route while being subtle.
"Do you know what you and that guy have in common?" Thor asked.
Mobius reflexively gulped.
"My brother's love. He was in love with that... that son of a bitch," There was disgust, hatred in Thor's voice, and Mobius supposed he might even have an idea who Thor was talking about, having seen, studied Loki's life prior to his getting romantically involved with Loki himself. Loki had had lovers before Mobius, some of them were decent, some were not.
"Now he is in love with you," Thor added, glancing sideway at Mobius.
In love, these were strong words, and even now, Mobius still couldn't quite believe he really was that lucky. "We care about each other," Mobius said. He was trying to politely, smoothly remove himself from this situation where he still couldn't be a hundred percent certain Thor wasn't going to break his neck. He figured he mustn't be that smooth when Thor, in a flash, shot out an arm and wrapped his hand around Mobius's wrist. The grip wasn't too tight that it was leaving a bruise (or breaking Mobius's hand, for that matter) but the suddenness of it all was enough to make Mobius flinch. He knew better than to try yanking his wrist out of Thor's hold though.
"Do you love him?" Thor's voice had gone low, dark. His gaze felt like it was burning a hole through Mobius's soul.
"What?"
"Do you love my brother?"
"I do." Mobius said, and was surprised by how confident, how loud and clear his voice was, how true it felt on his tongue. I do. More than anything, actually.
He had no idea how Thor might react to that, if he was going to punch him in the face right now.
But Thor did not punch Mobius in the face. Thor loosened and released his hold on Mobius's wrist. His hand then landed on Mobius's shoulder instead. Not a slap but a mere friendly pat on the shoulder. He tightened the hold, but only a little, nowhere near it being hurt or discomforting.
"Thank you," Thor said. "For everything you've done for Loki. That's what makes you different from the rest of my brother's exes. Your love, Mobius, is real."
Mobius opened his mouth. He didn't get to say what he was going to say when another voice cut him off.
"Thor," Loki said. He sounded... surprised and pissed, annoyed, too. Then his eyes landed on Mobius. "I woke up and you were gone," he added. "Figured you might be here. Is my brother threatening you?"
"What? No, no, we were just... talking." Mobius said. It was... true, he supposed. At least for the latter part of their conversation.
That's what makes you different from the rest of my brother's exes. Your love, Mobius, is real.
"I will leave you two to it then," Thor said, patting Mobius on the shoulder a few times. When he next spoke it was only loud enough for just Mobius to hear, "I mean it, I ought to tell you this sooner, but thank you, for looking after him."
Mobius smiled softly at Thor, as Thor excused himself, so it was just Mobius and Loki in the kitchen.
"What was that?" Loki asked, once Thor was gone. He took his brother's spot next to his lover, grabbing the cup of chocolate pudding from the marble island behind Mobius and putting a spoonful of it in his mouth.
"I think your brother likes me," Mobius chuckled.
"Who wouldn't," Loki shrugged, bringing another load of spoonful in his mouth. "He didn't threaten you, did he?"
"Nah. I mean at first... maybe? But we're good now,"
Loki made a humming noise from his throat. "Listen... I wasn't gonna tell you this, but I guess you're safe now,"
"I am safe?"
"From Thor, I mean. My brother hospitalized three of my exes, they kind of deserved it though. Obviously you didn't know that from studying my life, since those parts actually belonged to Thor's,"
"I think your brother just told me that when we talked minutes ago,"
Loki huffed. "Thor told you? Of course, he told you. I told him not to hurt you, or to scare you. Though I think the fact you're still standing here completely intact after days with him speaks volumes. And I don't think it has anything to do with my telling Thor not to break your bone, since he didn't listen the last time, but it might have something... a lot of things to do with his actually liking you."
"You think so?" Mobius was chuckling slightly.
"You told me yourself. Plus, if he didn't like you, you'd probably be dead by now."
Mobius nodded. He eased the pudding cup from Loki's hand and into his own, putting the spoon in his mouth. "I suppose you're right." He said. "Out of all the lovers of yours, how many got your brother's approval?"
"Out of all the lovers of mine? You made it sound like I'm seeing more than one person at the same time, mister." Loki pretended to be offended.
"Well, you're pretty attractive, mister." Mobius joked back.
"Well, I'd say I only have eyes for my tiny little mustache man," Loki winked. "And to answer your question about how many Thor approved of... I'd say... just one."
"Really? And who's that?"
"I'm looking at him right now," Loki smiled. He wiped the chocolate from the corner of Mobius's lips with his finger, before putting it in his own mouth.
Mobius couldn't help purring at the sight. He couldn't help purring again when Loki knocked the damn pudding cup off of his hand and pulling his body close to his, his hands around Mobius's waist. Their lips so close to each other's there was hardly any spaces between them.
"We should probably take this back to our room," Mobius said, though his hands already found its way secured around Loki's back.
"Or we could just spice things up a little bit. I heard a kitchen island is a pretty exciting place for some... fun activity,"
"There's a security camera," Mobius said, leaning closer, his lips lightly brushed against Loki's as he spoke.
"Everyone's sleeping," Loki leaned in, as well, closing the gap till he was pressing his lips against Mobius's own.
Thor is so killing me for this, Mobius thought, slipping his tongue past Loki's teeth.
Or maybe he wasn't. After all, Thor did approve of their relationship now.