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Chapter Text

Loki realizes that he’s pregnant a week after they escape from TVA.

To be fair, Loki had not been expecting any such group as “they” to form at all. He thought it’d just be Mobius and himself. And well, Sylvie. But she had her own thing going on. She disappeared the moment she realized that the fire that she had set to TVA was going to last.

“They” did mean Mobius and himself but it also meant Casey and surprise, surprise- Hunter B15.

She was still as scary as she ever was but now all her rage had been redirected towards the TVA. Which is possibly the only reason they managed to escape that timeless burning wreck. Casey had been predictably useless. Mobius did pull his weight but most of his efforts were focused on pulling Loki’s weight. Had it not been for Hunter B-15 blasting her way through the pandemonium, none of them would have ever gotten out.

Yes, initially Loki had felt rather insulted by the fact that he had been as useless as Casey when that shit went down but now it all made sense. He had been through pregnancies before. They didn’t just have a terrible ending; they had a terrible beginning and a terrible middle to match.

Had Mobius been imbecilic enough to ask the “Are you sure it's mine?” question, their party would have had one member less. Which is the reason… well one of the reasons why Loki wasn’t keen on sharing this news.

Bringing back their memories didn’t erase the ones they already had. Which was extremely fortunate because it turned out that Casey had been kidnapped by the TVA when he was just 3.

Three years old. That’s when Casey had screwed over the sacred timeline by not getting hit by a speeding car when his dad had taken him to get ice-cream. Casey didn’t like ice-cream. He was fine with milk. And apparently that had been insubordination enough for TVA to swoop in and pick him up. His story wouldn’t have affected Loki as much, had he not been in this… condition. But seeing as he was, he spent at least two whole days crying about the poor child who had never seen a fish.

Casey didn't really mind much. He always expressed the right amount of wonder when Loki showed him yet another variety of fish.

The more memories you had, the harsher the blow was. Which is why Mobius took it the hardest.

And, this is also is why he wasn’t the first one among the other three to notice the pregnancy.

“You’re pregnant,” B-15 announced bluntly over breakfast one day.

Loki had just exited the tiny bathroom of the safehouse they were squatting at, for the moment, after having poured out his guts into the toilet for 15 whole minutes. Quite justifiably, he wasn’t in the best mood to be crossed.

“Fuck off,” he said genially as he hurried to escape the smell of fried eggs.

“Your morning sickness is worsening,” B-15 continued as if she had not heard him, “I wouldn’t have said anything otherwise. You need a doctor or something.”

Loki stopped at the doorway of the kitchen. Mobius and Casey were thankfully nowhere to be seen this morning. Probably making supply runs.

He took in a deep breath. “I’ll go back to Asgard.”

“When?”

“Eventually. We don’t even know how to manage the time-travel thing without the Tempad. Once you’re all back home, I’ll head back.”

B-15’s expression didn’t change as such but an air of intrigue came upon it.

“And what about Mobius?”

Loki wasn’t surprised. Anyone would have made that guess.

“What about him?”

“You don’t think he should know?”

Loki slowly moved forward to slump down on the chair beside B-15. A strange thought crossed his mind.

“What was your name… before?”

B-15’s face betrayed shock for a quick second before she schooled it back to its neutral state.

“Why do you want to know?”

“I am the one who gave you back your memories. I know when you were born, where you were born, how many siblings you had and the name of the woman you were married to. It’s just your name that I never found out.”

Silence.

“Zora. Zora Ellis.”

The words were clearly unfamiliar in her mouth but not because they weren’t real. But because they hadn’t been uttered for thousands of years.

Loki smiled. “And your wife’s name was…”

“Ruby, yes.”

Neither of them spoke for a while. Loki didn’t want to interrupt her flow of memories.

It was Zora who broke the silence eventually.

“What does this have to do with Mobius though?”

Loki sighed. “What will you do after you return, Zora?”

“Loki…”

“You’ll go back to Ruby. Casey will go back to his parents. Mobius, well…”

“He has a family?” her voice was filled with sympathy. Loki had never thought he’d experience Hunter B-15’s kindness. But here he was.

“I don’t really know,” Loki admitted, “Even if there was, they sure didn’t occupy a lot of his memories. All I saw was flashes of the beach and his god-awful jet ski.” He let out a laugh. “Can you believe it. Our Mobius really had a jet-ski.”

Zora smiled. But then her expression changed rapidly.

“Well, if you didn’t see a partner waiting for him, why are you worried?”

Loki shrugged. “Apart from the many reasons that should be instantly obvious- he's a hero, I'm a villain, et cetera... I just told you I must go back to Asgard. Not like I have a deep love for that place but these Midgardian doctors will do absolutely nothing to save my…. the pregnancy. And I don’t think Beachboy here is going to enjoy living as a Prince’s consort. Hell, I hated living there. The rules, the stares, the… othering. Imagine the scandal it’d cause if I…”

“Shut up.”

“What?” Loki looked up, truly taken back for the first time, “I was baring out my soul to you and…”

“No, no, I don’t mean to be rude,” Zora hurried to clarify, “It’s just that you’re being an idiot.”

“Again, what?”

Zora tapped her foot impatiently against the wooden floor. “There’s something… well, you don’t quite know about it and that’s probably good but… it happened after you… you know…”

“Died?”

“Yes. The real one. Something happened after that,” Zora suddenly took his hand in hers, “But I can’t tell you this. Mobius should be the one to suggest it. You should really talk to him.”

Loki bristled. “Why sort of a friend are you? You’re not just building up my expectations, you’re intentionally setting me up for failure!”

“No!” Zora now took both of Loki’s hands in hers, “I promise you, there’s an alternative. Something you don’t yet know…”

“Like what?” Loki scoffed, “A non-malevolent version of Asgard? A non-Asgard Asgard?”

“Yes!” Zora exclaimed before she scrambled off her chair, “Look I really shouldn’t be the one telling you any of this. But if you want to keep your baby and Mobius, you’ve got to talk to the man himself!”

As she ran out of the kitchen, Loki tried throwing a spoon at her but missed.

Chapter Text

“And this, Casey, is an eel,” Loki demonstrated as he waved the creature perilously close to Casey’s face.

“And this,” he picked up another one, “This is an electric eel. It can’t kill you but it sure will try. That’s why this is one of my favourite fish.”

“And that’s why you should probably not fling it about in his face.” Mobius had just walked in through the door. “How do you keep getting those fish anyway? I can barely get us food.”

“About that,” Zora mumbled through her bite of a waffle, “I need more veggies.”

Zora didn’t need more veggies. In fact, the first habit of her old life that she got back was the one of shoving off her veggies into whosoever’s plate was next to hers.

It was a daily spectacle so obviously Mobius had noticed.

“You need more veggies?” the skepticism in his voice was clear as day.

“Was I not audible the first time?” for a brief second Zora slipped back into the role of Hunter B-15. “Don’t make me repeat myself, Mobius. I am no longer your subordinate.”

It was a good act, Loki had to admit.

Zora didn’t need veggies. She felt that Loki did. Oh, if only a healthy diet could solve all of Loki’s problems. But he wasn’t going to tell her that. It was sweet, what she was doing. Not many people had been sweet to him before. The act was so kind it almost brought tears to Loki’s eyes.

Not almost. It really did bring tears to Loki’s eyes. Fuck the pregnancy.

“Excuse me for a…” that was all he managed to get out before he rushed out of the room to hide this inexplicable bout of crying.

“Did he…” Casey began uncertainly, “Did Loki just start crying because you refused to get vegetables for Hunter… sorry. For Zora?”

Mobius was as stumped as the other man.

“What did I…”

But Zora was already picking up her plate and following Loki out of the room.

“You’re both idiots,” she glared at them before leaving, “Especially you, Mobius.”

Loki didn’t go back to the kitchen for dinner. Thankfully, Mobius was considerate enough to bring him a plate. Loki was too emotional to sit down for dinner but he was also too hungry to stoically push the plate away.

He dug into the food eagerly.

“So, you were hungry,” Mobius commented, rather unhelpfully.

Loki rolled his eyes and didn’t bother gracing that idiotic comment with a response.

Mobius took a seat on the bed beside Loki.

Sharing a room had been the most obvious choice. There weren’t many rooms to spare in this safehouse and they had been sleeping together for a significant amount of time anyway.

It’s just that… now all they did was sleep.

Loki had not initiated anything after realizing Mobius had a different life waiting for him out there in a different world. He had slept with a decent number of married men and women both during his lifetime but this felt… wrong. There was no one to fool but himself.

But giving up wasn’t easy either. Especially when Mobius pulled him into his embrace every night. Even now. It didn’t mean anything. Loki knew that. It’s just that… he was ready to play the Fool for another night. And another night. And then another.

Sleep eluded Loki this night as well. No surprises there. The only difference was- Mobius seemed to be lying awake as well. Loki knew how his breathing changed when he fell asleep. Today, his breaths remained restless as he clutched on to Loki.

“Loki?”

“Yes.”

In the absolute darkness, all they had were their voices and their bodies. It somehow made things easier.

“I’ve been thinking.”

“You miss the beach. You want to go back.”

“I do,” Mobius let out a sigh, “I really, really do. But I keep thinking…”

“About what?”

“About… beaches.”

Loki struggled to remain calm as Mobius continued.

“Every single day I wake up and feel like a terrible person. I know I’m supposed to figure out how to make the Tempads work but I feel like… I keep thinking, what if no one ever manages to go back to their homes and it’s my fault?”

Instead of answering, Loki turned around in Mobius’ embrace to face him. This was the conversation that they had been dancing around for the past month. He needed to see Mobius’ face. Even if it hurt. He had to see Mobius. After all, time was running out.

He pressed a light kiss to Mobius’ temple.

“What senseless drivel is this, Mobi?”

Mobius leaned in, hungry for more contact but then something made him sit up abruptly.

“No.” There was a sudden clarity in his eyes. “You need to hear this. And you can hate me all you want after this.”

Loki propped himself up on his elbows rather unwillingly.

“I would never hate you, Mobi. I don’t hate you. Can we just…”

“How can you not hate me when you don’t never know what I’m going to say?” a note of desperation invaded his naturally calm voice.

Loki couldn’t ignore the burst of irritation that flared up in him. He wasn’t an idiot. Why not just do this quickly if it had to be done? Why prolong the suffering?

“I know, Mobius,” Loki snapped back, “What’s not to know? You want to go back home and you feel terrible that you cannot reach there faster.”

Mobius took in a sharp breath.

“Maybe don’t interrupt me again when you don’t know shit?” he sounded like he was barely suppressing his rage, “Yes, I miss home every single day. But whenever I think of the beach I think about you on the beach.”

“About… me?” None of this was making any sense to Loki.

“Yes, idiot,” Mobius rolled his eyes, “I’m an ordinary guy who used to live on an ordinary beach and have a very ordinary life. Then TVA fucked up my life and I had to go and fall in love with a fucking God. A God! And now the thought of inviting that said God into my very ordinary life makes me want to… makes me want to puke.”

“That’s rather rude.”

“Puke out of nervousness, you insensitive ass!” Mobius shouted. “I feel terrible because I feel like I’m enjoying the delay. Because that’s all the time we’re going to have together. But I know what this means. It means I’m not letting you go back home for my own selfish reasons.”

There was a weird bubbling sensation in Loki’s tummy. Nausea? Nope. He was way more familiar with that sensation than he wanted to be. Then what?

Happiness? What this love? Was this what it felt like?

An idea was rapidly forming in his head.

“Don’t puke. Because if you puke, I’ll puke,” he instructed Mobius firmly, “That is not an exaggeration.”

Mobius frowned. “Yeah, you have been rushing off to the bathroom a lot. What is that all…”

“Later,” Loki snapped back. “First, you must make your wishes certain. You want me to live with you. On the beach? In your world?”

“Preferably on the beach,” Mobius shrugged, “But we can live on top of Mount Everest if that’s more your style.”

“So, you really do want to be with me?” Loki was in no mood for frivolities.

“Yes, obviously. Isn’t that what I just said? But I know you’re a Prince and…”

“Shut up, mortal. I need to know why?”

“Why what?” Mobius stared at him blankly.

“Why do you want to live with me?”

Mobius furrowed his brows. “Because I love you?”

Loki took Mobius’ arm in a crushing grasp. “You better not be jesting.”

“I never… jest.”

Loki finally let go of his arm. He breathed out. All tension seemed to leak out of his body.

And with the tension, the cloaking charm melted off him as well.

Mobius did not immediately realise what exactly he was looking at.

“You’re… fat. No, no, no WAIT!”

But a burst of green had already knocked him right off the bed before he could finish pleading for his life.

“I’m pregnant, you insufferable cretin!” Loki’s voice thundered across the building.

(In the next room, Zora shrugged and decided this wasn’t a discussion that warranted interference. In the room across the hallway, Casey lay on his bed. Completely frozen in fear.)

In the room where the angry God was currently pacing across the floor, Mobius seemed to have his ability to form words.

“You… what? When did… Oh. But why didn’t… Oh. The puking! I should have…”

“You’ve seen my entire life and you didn’t realize sticking your cock in me could end up impregnating me?”

“Yes, but… why didn’t you tell me? I would have done everything in my power to…” A sudden terrifying thought struck Mobius. “You’re normally as thin as a rail. Lean, sorry, I mean lean! If you look like this… how far along as you?”

“How would I tell?” Loki sneered, “Time works differently in the TVA, right?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mobius screamed in panic.

Loki looked rather bored. “Not that it matters now because you’ve just professed your undying love for me but I might have been under the impression that you wouldn’t want anything to do with me once you got back to your old life.”

“That’s so fucking dumb! Even for you, Loki!”

“Even for me?” Loki shouted back, affronted, “I was doing the smart thing. The mature thing. How would you know anything about maturity? You’re only a thousand years old at the very most.”

The next thought he was going to vocalize sobered him up instantly. “Also, uh… You’ve seen my pregnancies, Mobi. I don’t think I’m going to make it if I don’t get help from Asgard. They… aren’t the most accepting lot. I just didn’t want you to suffer the same indignities that I did.”

Mobius’ panic level had spiked the moment he had heard the words “I don’t think I’m going to make it.” Nothing after that had made any sense to him.

“You can die?” Mobius clutched at his hair as he dropped down on his knees, “What have I done?”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Don’t be dramatic. I just need to pop in and out of Asgard. Before this I had no reasons to come back but now, I can just come back after the baby’s safely delivered.”

Mobius raised his eyes towards Loki sharply. “And your father is going to let you?”

Loki faltered, “Why wouldn’t he?”

“You’re already a threat to Thor’s throne. You think Odin’s going to risk having a half Jotunn- half human threat around? Especially when Thor doesn’t have an heir already?”

Mobius was right. And it truly was a miracle that he had figured this out before Loki.

“That tape you showed me really messed with my brain, you know?” Loki replied finally. “I actually started thinking my father wasn’t evil.” A sudden thought made him look up at Mobius. “But Thor… Thor’s not like Father. He could have been, but he isn’t. Mother and Thor are going to love our child. No matter how many ignoble halves our baby is composed of.”

Mobius didn’t return Loki’s smile. Which was rather odd. He was consistently the sappier of the two. Was Loki losing his edge in this front as well? Was Mobius beating him at every game?

Mobius kept frowning at the leg of the bed as if it had personally offended him. Loki knew that look.

“Scheming and plotting are sort of my entire deal so…”

“I cannot get you back to your mother,” Mobius spoke up suddenly. “I’m sorry but that’s simply not an option. But…” Mobius’ eyes lit up, “I can get you to Asgardian medics and your brother. With absolutely no interference from your father.”

“Which version of Asgard does Odin not poke his nose into? Pray tell.”

Mobius did not seem bothered by Loki’s sarcasm at all.

“The version where he’s already dead.”

“What?”

For some reason, Loki had always assumed Asgard would end with Odin. There was no beginning nor end to his tyranny in Loki’s eyes. He was the rule.

“Long story short,” Mobius slipped back into his TVA agent mode, “After you die and half the Asgardians die, there’s almost no one left. But Thor manages to bring the survivors to the Earth and set up Little Asgard. It’s a little village in Norway called Tonsberg. I’ve visited. Your brother rules there. Well, as much as a village can be ruled. And they have a small Asgardian society in the making. We’ll get help there.”

Something warm bloomed in Loki’s heart.

“A non-Asgard Asgard?”

“Yeah!” Mobius grinned, “We’re having a baby!”

“You haven’t even figured out how to get the Tempads to work.” Despite his sharp words, Loki found himself laughing. Mobius’ happiness was infectious.

“I will. Tomorrow. But,” he took Loki’s arm and pumped it up into the air, “We’re going to have a baby!”

“And you’re insanely in love with me!” Loki added a cheer.

“You’re an idiot for not realizing that sooner.”

“Says the idiot who’s going to break the news to the God of Thunder that he impregnated his beloved little brother.”

“Now wait just a minute…”

Chapter Text

Mobius did not manage to fix the Tempad problem the next day. Or the next one. Or the next. It wasn’t Mobius who solved the time travel issue at all.

“Wow, you’re huge.”

Sylvie dropped by with her insults and a glorious working Tempad one fine day.

“Fuck right off,” Loki greeted her without looking up from his peanut butter covered watermelon slices.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Mobius swooped in out of nowhere, “Maybe don’t ask the only person with a working Tempad to fuck off?”

Loki looked up to glare at Mobius. “Wow. My defender.”

Sylvie sat down and gazed upon Loki’s concoction with open disgust.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Mobius explained, “I saw him slathering ice-cream over a pickle the other day. Now that he has stopped puking, he has focused all his time and energy into making us puke.”

Sylvie rolled her eyes and slid the Tempad over the table towards Mobius.

“I don’t want to witness any more of this than I have to. Here’s what you need.”

Mobius and Loki exchanged a look.

“Why are you giving us this?” Mobius asked hesitantly. He made no attempts to pick up the Tempad.

“What do you want from us?” Loki asked the more pertinent question.

Sylvie shrugged.

“Nothing.”

“Sure, you don’t,” Loki sneered, “Because you’re such an angel. Spit it out. What’s wrong with this Tempad?”

Sylvie’s rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“Bullshit.”

Sylvie quirked her brows. “Fine. I’ll just take it back then.”

“Do so,” Loki snapped back.

“Don’t do so,” Mobius jumped up from his chair to intervene, earning himself another withering glare from Loki. For the moment, he chose to ignore it. “Definitely don’t do so. We’ve very, very, extremely, terribly fucking stuck here.” Mobius took in a deep breath. “This just feels like… This seems like a Deus ex Machina, you know? One has to wonder… I mean, not that I’m wondering, but one justifiably might wonder… Where were you all this while? Why are you giving this to us now?”

“Well, first,” Sylvie took a sip of the orange juice Mobius had served her at some point, “I am a God. Hence this,” she waved at him, “is the hand of God.”

“Dear Lord…” Mobius muttered under his breath.

“Second,” Sylvie continued, “I’ve been keeping my eye on you. I kept waiting for you to fix your damn Tempad but you were busy being drained of all your talent and rationality through your dick,” she gestured in the general direction of Loki to better illustrate her point. “And this one,” she continued waving finger towards Loki, “looks this close to bursting. So obviously, I had to extend a Godly hand to help you idiots out.”

Loki threw a rather pointy piece of watermelon towards Sylvie, which she vanished with one flick of her finger.

“Why do you care?” Loki asked what Mobius had been wondering as well, “It’s not like we ever became the best of friends.”

Sylvie sipped her orange juice contemplating for while before answering.

“Do you know… none of us have ever had a happy child.”

Loki lurched back in shock.

“Oh… I didn’t know you’d bring that up.”

Sylvie shook her head. “It’s not just you. I mean every Loki variant.” She tilted her head towards Mobius, “You know, right?”

One glance at Mobius told Loki that he wasn’t planning to raise his eyes from the floor anytime soon.

Sylvie went on. “We’ve birthed monsters. And servants. We’ve never just birthed… babies.”

Loki shook his head. “We have all birthed babies, Sylvie. They were turned into monsters and servants. Just as we were meant to be.”

Sylvie nodded. “True. Then you must already understand why I am doing what I am doing.” She directed an odd smile at Mobius, “We’ve never had anyone like this, did we? This might be our only chance. Your only chance to have a happy life. My only chance to see that there isn’t just one set path for us. As terribly sappy as that sounds, I want the child to live. To be happy.”

She pushed the Tempad towards Mobius once again.

“Take it.”

Loki suddenly staggered up his seat to envelop Sylvie in a rather inelegant hug. There was an added trouble of abdominal adjustment that he had not taken into account during his sudden burst of love towards his other self. Sylvie was too shocked to react for a while. When she finally realised what was happening, she hesitantly patted Loki on the head.

It was Mobius who attempted to dissipate the awkwardness in the room by clearing his throat.

“I apologise for interrupting but there’s just one thing that doesn’t make sense,” Mobius said tentatively.

Loki turned back to hiss at Mobius, “Can you not keep accusing my sister of…”

“No, sorry. That’s not… It’s just that- how do you plan to travel without the Tempad, Sylvie?”

Sylvie finished her orange juice in one long gulp and stood up from her chair.

“As my brother would have realised had he not been getting his talent and rationality sucked out through his cunt,” Sylvie stared into an open space in the room and started waving her hands in an intricate pattern, “he would have realised that we don’t really need a Tempad.”

The two men in the room gasped when a random circle of light appeared out of nowhere. A meadow was vaguely visible on the other side. Once the circle was wide enough, Sylvie gave them a final wave before disappearing into it.

Mobius was the first one to recover. “She can… oh, no.”

Loki, however, seemed to have come to a wholly different conclusion.

“That bitch!” he screamed into the empty space where the circle had been, “It’s not like she knew how to do this since forever!” He spun back towards Mobius, “Remember when she was stealing Tempads? I’m talentless and irrational? That hag couldn’t do this till two days ago! Why does she always need to show me up!”

Mobius stared at Loki, who was stomping around in frustration, for a while. Then looked back at the empty space.

“Not my circus, not my monkey,” he muttered under his breath.

Chapter Text

Mobius found a crying pile of humans in the kitchen the next day.

Well, two humans and one Aesir-looking Jotunn.

(“Why don’t you change back?” Mobius had asked one night.

“To what?” Loki had looked up, confused.

“To blue, of course,” Mobius had insisted, “Your Jotunn form.”

Loki had sprung up on the bed. “Why? Is it your new kink?”

“No, it is my old kink,” Mobius had answered honestly. “But that’s not what this is about.” He looked out at the baby bump, which looked… well, way more than just a bump. “The baby is going to be half Jotunn. By Sylvie’s estimations, you’re not even halfway there. You’re going to grow a lot bigger. Wouldn’t it be a lot safer to just shift back to your Jotunn form?”

Loki stared at Mobius for a while. “Why are you like this?” he whined ultimately.

“Like what?” Mobius asked, startled. “I was just trying to be…”

“Logical, rational, responsible, yada yada yada, I know!” Loki despaired, “You’re the best man I have ever met. But why don’t you ever just say anything because of normal reasons? Like the fact that me being blue and naked gets you horny?”

“Blue and naked does get me horny,” Mobius insisted, “But this isn’t about me. This is about being responsible with…”

“I wish I could stab you and then turn back time,” Loki sighed before slumping down on the bed. Twenty whole minutes later he murmured, “I’ll think about it. After I meet the Asgardian healers.”)

The crying pile started wailing louder once Mobius came into the room. Casey extended a hand out for Mobius to join but he settled with patting him on the back with a magazine.

“Why are we crying today?” he wondered aloud. He looked around the kitchen for food. “Did you guys eat already?”

Loki raised his tear-stained face to snarl at Mobius. “Can you stop thinking about food for a second? This is… goodbye.”

“Ohhhhh, I didn’t realize,” Mobius gasped.

“Of course, you didn’t. You’re an asshole with no emotions,” Zora conceded.

Mobius let the insult slide off him. This was just their meal-time routine.

“While that is true, I still don’t understand why this is goodbye.”

All three pair of eyes in the kitchen fixed upon him.

“How could you…”

“Have you no heart?”

“Have you no brain?”

Mobius shrugged, “Until recently I myself wasn’t sure about the latter two so no offence taken. But what I still don’t understand is- why is this a goodbye?”

Loki pinned Mobius under a frosty glare.

“Zora is going back to her wife. Back to Maryland. She chose 2006. And Casey is going back to his parents. Nevada, 1991. Of course, he cannot go back to 1968 when he was really abducted by the TVA. That won’t make any sense to his parents.”

“You’re older than me?” Mobius turned towards Casey, shock evident on his face.

“THAT’S what you took away from this?” Loki screeched. (Casey just murmured an apology and moved further away from Mobius.) “We’re never going to meet again, Mobius!” Despite Loki’s best efforts, his voice cracked halfway through, “We’re going to Norway, 2026. You told us not to jump around in time once we get back home and I agreed to that. Why can’t you just let me grieve? You might think of me as a monster, Mobius, but I do have a heart and I have never loved a human more than I have loved these two! So, pardon me for…”

Mobius raised a hand to interrupt Loki’s heartrending tirade.

“I’m also a human. Father of your child too. Just saying,” Mobius pointed out. “Also. 1991. 2006. 2026. Where do you think 1991 is leading up to? And where do you think 2006 is leading up to?”

All three of his listeners blinked back at him like confused owls.

Mobius sighed. “Loki I get. But the two of you? You worked as time-keepers for ages! What happens to time when we just let it be?”

Realization struck Casey first. “It flows anyway.”

“Correct. 1991 will lead to 2006 and 2006 will lead to 2026. Sure, Casey will be… Wow. You’ll be 61. And Zora will be... what, 45?”

“Sure, honey,” Zora laughed. “But you’re right. How did I not… But then I guess we’re so used to micromanaging time, I forgot it can go on without us.”

“Fuck the TVA,” Mobius smiled back at her before continuing, “The point is, there’s nothing stopping us from meeting again. Casey and Zora just have to turn up in Norway, any time after 4th September, 2026.” He turned towards Loki, “I chose 2026 for us because the effects of the Blip reversal calmed down by then. I don’t want the baby to be born in the immediate aftermath of the resurrection. 2023 to mid-2025 was hellish, with all the insurrections and shortages. Your friend actually stopped one of the largest insurrections.”

Loki frowned, “My friend? I don’t have friends in Midgard.”

“You will. Or, I guess you did. Depending upon the timeline,” Mobius said thoughtfully, “I mean James Buchanan Barnes, of course. More popularly known as Bucky Barnes. His husband actually leads the Avengers in 2026. I guess you’ll be expected to join at some point. Your brother has retired though.” Mobius sank deeper into his thoughts, “Would you consider retiring as well? Not that I’m forcing you to...”

“What are you going on about?” Loki voice’s voice snapped Mobius back to reality. “Me? An Avenger? Also, who the Hel is Bucky?“

“You saw the tapes, Loki,” Mobius reminded, “I couldn’t go over the details during the first showing but… you’re missed out there. Even by the Midgardians.”

Loki stayed silent for a while.

When he finally spoke, his voice was barely more than a whisper.

“Even by Thor? Even after…”

Mobius decided to not say anything much for the time being. Loki had no way of knowing what his brother had gone through after his death. Years and years’ worth of pain could not be neatly summed up in a speech.

“You’ll see soon enough,” Mobius answered.

Mobius had chosen to arrive at Tonsberg in September for a reason.

Sylvie had guessed that Loki’s pregnancy would last anywhere between 9 to 12 months (the gestation period for Jotunns). The last half human-half Jotunn baby had been conceived by a human woman in 567 AD. Since the woman had not survived the pregnancy, there was no way of ascertaining how long the gestation period was supposed to be.

Mobius had just assumed it to be 9 months to be on the safe side. Since Loki was already around 4.5 months along, if they reached Tonsberg in September, the baby could be born anywhere between November to February. Since Loki had absolutely no idea about Jotunn pregnancies, Mobius had just assumed that the winter months would be better for a half-Jotunn baby.

Truthfully speaking, Mobius hated this sort of haphazard planning where he knew none of the constants. But one couldn’t really expect to fall back on a tried and tested formula after they’ve ended up impregnating an alien God. So, Mobius was ready to cozy up with an abundance of variables real soon.

Loki breathed in deep the moment he set foot on the grass.

“I’ve been here before, you know?” his voice was soft. “One of the only places in Midgard that felt like home.” He laughed out suddenly, “Shouldn’t the Arctics feel like home for someone like me?”

Mobius took Loki’s hand in his own. “That’s the thing. There’s no one quite like you. You are you. And home’s wherever you want it to be.”

Loki couldn’t mask his surprise.

“Would you believe it? Romance from the Grouch himself? We might make something of you yet, Mr…. you know what? Take my name.” Suddenly his expression soured. “On second thought? Don’t.”

It wasn’t a long walk. Mobius would never have punished Loki that way. But he also didn’t want to open the portal gate right in the middle of the village marketplace.

The village came into view soon enough.

“Thor really calls this Little Asgard?” Loki said incredulously, eyeing the sign by the road, “I thought you were being nauseatingly cute.”

“Nope. It’s just your brother being nauseatingly cute,” Mobius specified, “Pull your hood down lower, Loki.”

(Loki had offered to disguise himself but Mobius knew charms like that heavily exhausted him now. A literal cloak would suffice. The whole point of this exercise was to be recognized by the right person.)

Loki had to admit, there was some truth to the name ‘Little Asgard’. As soon as the people came into view, he realized that they were wearing a rather odd mixture of Asgardian and Midgardian clothing. Never before had Loki seen Asgardian doublets being paired with jeans, or baggy sweaters being paired with trailing gowns. It was hideous.

Which proved that Thor was definitely the King here.

Mobius knew where Thor lived but he had assumed that they would have to get past some level of security before they could reach the King himself.

What he found before Thor’s door were two gigantic sheep.

“Are they guards?” he asked, frowning at the grazing animals.

Loki stared at him blankly. “What?”

Mobius pointedly looked at the sheep. “You know… Are they guards who are disguised as sheep to seize unsuspecting intruders?” His eyes suddenly widened, “Or, are they humans cursed to be sheep for annoying the King?”

Loki chose not to open his mouth for a minute. He didn’t want to introduce his brother to the corpse of his husband.

He took in a deep breath.

“The last time I saw my brother, I was attempting to kill him and his friends. Now I’m standing in front of his door, looking like a whale, and this is when you decide to lose your fucking mind?”

He would have gone on but something seemed to have alerted the inhabitant of the cottage. Could have been his screaming. Could have been him hitting Mobius with a bucket that had been laying beside the door. Who could tell?

Whatever reason it was, the door swung open slowly.

The brothers stared at each other for seven whole minutes.

It wasn’t an exaggeration. Mobius had counted.

“What trick is this?”

“Why do you have one eye?”

“Who are you?”

“Did I take your eye?”

It took Thor lunging at Loki’s throat for Mobius to finally intervene.

“Hey, hey, hey! Calm down!” he placed himself between the both of them because he knew trying to push back the God of Thunder was a suicidal idea. He needed to be here, alive and well, for his baby. “You’re brothers for God’s sake!” he shouted, trying to push Loki back.

“My brother has been dead for years!” Thor boomed. “How dare you… whatever pathetic, spineless creature you are, dare take his form?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Mobius noticed that Thor’s voice was slowly attracting a crowd.

“Can we just…?”

Loki caught on and immediately and took a step forward, towards Thor.

“Ask me anything,” his voice was firm, “Ask me anything that only I would know.”

Thor faltered. “Maybe you… maybe you have his memories.”

“The only way to have his memories is to be him,” Loki took another step forward. “And, if you don’t believe that-” he stepped right in front of Thor, “You can kill me right now. No ‘pathetic, spineless creature’ can stop you.”

Mobius could almost see the silent battle of emotions that was raging inside Thor.

“Fine,” he breathed at last, “When you were a little, you had beaded necklace of Mother’s that you were obsessed with. You refused to take it off even though Father did not like your love for it one bit. You didn’t even take it off for baths.” He looked Loki straight in the eyes, “The beads represented the moons of Asgard. Twelve moons, twelve colours. Tell me the order.”

Loki remained silent for a while. A long while.

Which justifiably made Mobius’ heart drop to his stomach.

“You do know, right?” he clutched at Loki’s arm, “Loki, you know the answer, right?”

This seemed to break Loki out of whatever trance that he was in.

He looked back towards Mobius and snapped at him, “What are you going to ask me next? Whether I am really Loki after all?” He turned towards Thor again. “I actually don’t know,” he shrugged casually, “I had millions of necklaces, to be fair. You only remember that one because you ended up snapping it by accident and then sewing it back in the wrong order. You kept it a secret but I knew. I just didn’t care. It almost felt like you made something for me. You didn’t like me much those days so I had to make do with my imagination.”

He took Thor’s hand in his and coaxed him to hold out his palm.

“Is this the one you are talking about?”

Mobius was always amazed by any displays of Loki’s magic in general. But he had assumed Thor would be much more habituated to it.

The nearly seven-foot man jumping backwards and almost falling on his ass, proved Mobius wrong. But it wasn’t the magic itself that had taken away Thor’s breath. It was the particular string of glittering jewels that had appeared out of nowhere on Thor’s palm.

“It’s… it’s…”

“It’s the real one,” Loki pointed towards a cracked green stone, “See, you chipped that one when you broke the string.”

“You still…” Thor had apparently not reached the point where he could complete his sentences yet.

Loki took the necklace from Thor and turned it over in his palm. “I didn’t keep it for any sentimental reasons,” he said thoughtfully, “I just really liked jewels in general.”

“Yes, that’s totally why,” Mobius muttered under his breath.

Before Loki could turn around to trade insults, Thor clasped at his arms. The desperate hope in his eyes was difficult to witness so Mobius took a few steps back and turned away.

“He killed you, brother. I watched you die.”

“I die quite a lot though, don’t I? Why did you assume it would stick this time? Also, what happened to your eye? And your hair? And your beard? And your…”

Thor didn’t seem to have heard any of it.

“All this time,” his voice was gradually reaching the precipice of a break, “I lost you for all this time…”

He finally lost whatever self-control he was exercising all this while and pulled Loki into a fierce hug. “Promise you won’t leave this time.” He tightened his grip and grit out, “Promise me.”

Loki stroked Thor’s back gently while the other completely broke down. He wanted nothing more than relinquish control and join Thor but there was something else that needed to be addressed first.

“You… don’t have to worry about that,” he eventually spoke up, “I cannot really leave anytime soon.”

Thor jerked his face upwards from where it had been buried in Loki’s neck and looked at him with a frown.

“You’re under arrest?” Thor’s eyes flickered towards the grey-haired suit wearing man who was standing three feet away from them, “Is he from SHIELD?”

A violent tug to his hair made him yelp out in pain.

“What the Hel, Loki?”

“Two seconds ago, you were crying your eyes out for me and now you think I’m under arrest?” Loki bellowed. He pushed Thor off him and threw off his cloak. “I’m fucking pregnant, you clay-brained buffoon!”

If Thor had looked shocked before, now he looked minutes away from spontaneous combustion.

First his vision zeroed in on Loki’s stomach. And when he could no longer deny the reality of what he was looking at, his slowly turned towards Mobius.

The sky overhead darkened as sparks of blue electricity started flickering across Thor’s colossal form.

Mobius cleared his throat and turned towards Loki.

“If I had handcuffs, I’d just go with the SHIELD agent thing.”

Chapter Text

The air crackled around Mobius. But that’s not what really terrified him.

What terrified him was the naked shock that was starkly visible on Loki’s face.

In no more than a fraction of a second, Mobius found himself surrounded by an emerald glow. Even without looking, he could tell Loki was the source of the enchantment.

“Stop!” The sight of Loki wrapping his arms around himself to shield the baby made Mobius stagger back to his senses. His heart was in his throat as he took a step towards Thor. “For God’s sake, stop!” he had to yell to make himself heard over the crackle of thunder. “You’ll kill him!”

There was something inhuman about the stare that Mobius got in return, and not just because Thor’s eyes were white with lightning.

“It’s not him that I intend to kill, you filth.”

But the source of Mobius’ fears was not the one that was staring him in the face. It was the man behind him. So, he took another step forward. The green glow seemed to struggle and flicker but it followed him nonetheless.

“That’s his protection charm,” Mobius snapped at Thor, “You keep up this show and he’ll keep on using his magic. It’s literally killing him.” He gestured back towards Loki to draw Thor’s attention. “Look.”

Even though Loki was still determinedly standing his ground, it was obvious from his drawn expression that he was seconds away from fainting. The most telling, and alarming, part was that he didn’t even try to ask Mobius to shut up. His entire energy was single-mindedly focused on keeping up the shield.

It took a while for Thor to tear his gaze away from Mobius and focus on Loki. But when he did, his eyes widened. Almost as quickly as it had appeared, the lightning in his eyes vanished.

“Loki… what…”

But Loki didn’t relax the charm till the sky cleared completely. When it finally did, his knees buckled.

Mobius and Thor both reached his kneeling form at the same moment.

“Are you…”

“What on…”

Loki raised a finger to shut them up.

The very next thing he did is turn away regurgitate the entirety of his breakfast on Thor’s foot.

Holding back Loki’s hair was almost a reflex action to Mobius now. But, to his amazement, Thor didn’t immediately spring back in disgust. He seemed to ignore the grossness of the incident completely as he sat down beside Loki and attempted to hug him.

Of course, Loki was having none of it.

“Why would you do that?” he shrieked the moment he got his voice back. The shove that he gave Thor didn’t really have much of an effect but the latter backed down to respect the sentiment.

The mighty God stumbled over his words in a rush to explain himself.

“I thought… you know?” Thor tried his best to say his piece without saying anything that would piss Loki off even further. “Why would you… with him… It just didn’t seem… I was just trying to protect you because I thought…” He took a moment to rethink what exactly had transpired just now. “I mean I guess not,” he conceded after some contemplation. Glancing up at Mobius, he spoke with awe clearly evident in his voice, “You actually stepped up to me. I could have killed you in a heartbeat.”

Now that Mobius’ adrenaline was struggling to settle back to its original state, Mobius realised something.

“I didn’t really care,” he shrugged, “You’d have killed him. Them. Couldn’t have that.” The crushing guilt on Thor’s face made him retract his statement a bit. “I mean… you’d have impelled him to kill himself.”

He too took a seat beside Loki on the ground, with much less ease than Thor, and turned Loki’s face to look him in the eyes.

“Be honest. Are you okay? Do you need a medic? Do you want to lie down for a bit?”

The last question was pointless. Of course Loki needed to rest. But Mobius knew better than to make decisions for Loki even in the worst of circumstances.

Loki made a show of counting off the answers on his fingers.

“Yes. No, but eventually. And… maybe.” His mood seemed to have lifted a bit due to Mobius’ presence but the moment Thor tried to scoop him up from the ground Loki slapped his hand away.

“How dare you?” his face darkened. Mobius had to admit, for a prone man clutching at his belly, Loki did manage to look impressively intimidating. “Whatever it is that you did just now… how dare you make such vile assumptions about the father of my child… the…” his voice cracked despite his best efforts to hold it together, “the only man who has been kind enough to love me back. How dare you threaten him?”

Before Thor could answer, he turned back towards Mobius.

“Maybe… maybe this was a mistake.” Loki failed to hide the immensity of hurt and disappointment that he was experiencing as he looked down at the bulge in his stomach, “I have never been welcome here. Silly of me to hope that my child would…”

Thor cut off whatever he was going to say by taking a firm hold of his shoulders and turning him around.

“You just said ‘whatever it is that you did.’ About me channeling thunder through my body. And before, you asked me what happened to my eye.”

Loki frowned. “Also your hair…”

“And my beard, yes,” Thor nodded, “So you are Loki but you’re not from now. You aren’t the one who fought beside me on Ragnarok.”

Loki and Mobius exchanged glances. They had expected this to be a much more detailed and difficult conversation.

Thor ignored their lack of replies. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I had the fortune… or rather the misfortune… of knowing a little bit about hopping about in time from my own adventures. It’s just that I was told I couldn’t change anything. Couldn’t do anything differently.”

Thor sunk into his own well of thoughts as neither of the other two men answered.

A sharp jab of Loki’s finger was the signal for Mobius to start speaking. “You…uhm, can’t. That’s the rule. The reason why your brother and I met is because he broke that rule. Right after…”

“And, I’m glad that you did,” Thor cut him off enthusiastically while simultaneously taking Mobius’ hand in a warm grasp. “But that’s a tale that I’d love to preserve for later.” He focused his attention back on Loki. “I know you do not trust me, brother, but please just trust me this one time.” He took in a deep breath. “You do not know what you yourself have suffered. You do not know what I have had to see. How I have been forced to see you hurting. You do not know why I cannot let anything… anything at all, happen to you.”

Loki looked at Thor with open bewilderment.

“Thor, I…”

“You are welcome here,” Thor gave him a mild but firm shake by his shoulders, “Always were, always are, always will be. This is your home.” His eyes flitted downwards towards Loki’s belly and then towards Mobius. “You and your family. You’re my family too.” He raised himself on his knees and extended his arms towards Loki, “Now, will you let me carry you inside? Or shall you be more comfortable with your husband carrying you?”

Now, this proposition came straight out of left field. This was not a challenge that Mobius was geared up for.

Stepping up to the God of Thunder and risking certain death? Sure. Easy.

This? Nope.

The trouble was, he had no idea how to convince Loki to politely refuse the offer so as to not diminish Mobius’ extremely hard-earned honour in front of Thor. If only Loki would just look up at him once…

“Him?” Loki cackled suddenly, “Half the days he pulls me on top because," he put on a terrible Cockney accent, "‘Lifting those soup can cartons really took a toll on my back. Just for tonight, honey? What say?’” He lifted himself off the ground with some difficulty and started waddling off towards Thor’s hut with newfound confidence, leaving the two other men to stew in what he had just revealed to the world.

Chapter Text

The rest of the day was a blur.

There were many visits. Many gasps. Many tears. Many congratulations. Many advices. Many offerings of fruits and meats.

Loki didn’t pay attention to anything besides the last.

Whatever the Other Loki (that is, Dead Loki) had done, had elevated him in the eyes of the remaining Asgardians. And Loki wasn’t idiotic enough, or enthusiastic enough, to scoff and kick away Other Loki’s throne, which was miraculously placed beside Thor’s.

“This is how it should always have been,” Thor said gently, as he gestured towards the twin thrones. “You beside me. Always.”

A varied concoction of emotions assaulted Loki’s senses. Somehow, he managed to croak out, “You do realise that declarations such as those sound bizarre, right? By human standards?”

“Since when did you start caring about human standards?” Thor laughed.

Loki stared blankly at Thor for a while. “Since I gave myself to a human? Since I started bearing his child?”

“Oh,” Thor looked sufficiently horrified at realising Mobius was still in the same room, “My apologies. I didn’t mean to…”

Mobius spun around with a frown on his face.

“I just don’t get one thing.”

Thor looked on expectantly as Mobius kept frowning at the dual thrones.

“Are you like the elected mayor of this place?” Mobius asked finally. “Do you have to campaign before the elections? Because how else can you “rule” this place?”

Loki and Thor exchanged glances.

“Mobius, you’re talking to the King of Asgard. He doesn’t need…”

“I do campaign actually! And I’ve won! Undefeated for the past 6 years!”

Loki stepped back in confusion. “Wait, what? He’s right? You’re an earth… mayor?”

“County mayor actually!” Thor corrected with a grin. “Astrid Kristiansen,” his face darkened as he uttered the two words. But he cheered up soon enough. “She’s my archnemesis, you see? She keeps trying to tell people that they shouldn’t just vote for me because I’m their mythical God.”

“But you…are, right?” Mobius said thoughtfully, “You are a God, and people do vote for you because of that. Doesn’t that cause a huge power imbalance?”

Thor’s brows narrowed in a frown. “Power imbalance? Name one thing that I can do that Astrid can’t!”

“Be immortal!” Mobius exclaimed, “Astrid will die and be reborn and die again before you even get to middle age! Don’t tell me you cannot see the power imbalance!”

“You speak to me about power imbalance?” Thor slammed his pepsi-filled chalice on the rickety table, “Based on what you yourself have said, the TVA used to control everyone’s lives. Even ours- Gods’. How’s that for power imbalance? Yes, I’m a few thousand years old but you exist beyond Time itself!”

“Existed beyond Time,” Mobius corrected, “You can only be timeless inside TVA. The TVA no longer exists. But that’s not what I was saying,” he slammed his own can of pepsi on the table in a symbolic “return fire” gesture. “Your immortality is not the only issue, you’re a God! There’s literally no division between the State and the Church… sorry, State and Mythology anymore!”

“But how else can…”

“Pardon me,” Loki interrupted suddenly. Before either of the other men could understand what was going on he reached the cottage door in three strides, “Feel free to tear each others’ heads off but I’m tired.”

Mobius came into the hut that was assigned to them a few minutes later.

“I’m sorry.” Mobius had been told at some point in his life that it was always better to begin with a blanket apology when you didn’t really know what you had done wrong.

The room was so dark that he could barely make out Loki’s form lying on the bed, his back facing Mobius. “It was just a discussion. People discuss politics, don’t they? I wasn’t really undermining his divine birthright or anything.”

The Loki shaped lump on the bed did not stir.

“Can you at least tell me if you’re feeling alright?” Mobius pleaded again, “I really didn’t mean to start a screaming match with your brother on the first…”

“I’m fine,” a voice floated across the room, “It’s late. And it has been a really long day. Come to bed.”

“Come to bed” wasn’t too bad, right? Mobius thought as he started taking off his jacket. “I really am sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. Or your brother. It was just a discussion.”

Loki did turn around this time. “Mobius, are scared I’m still angry with you?”

Mobius nodded hesitantly. “Well yeah. I mean, isn’t that what I’m always afraid of?” he added a faint laugh at the end to lighten the mood. He had a bizarre feeling that he was extremely out of his depth here for whatever reason. Mobius was new to that uncomfortable feeling.

Loki stayed silent for a while and then extended a hand out of his blanket.

“Come to bed, my love.”

Mobius was vaguely certain that the “my love” part guaranteed that he was out of the woods. But the vague feeling of discomfort remained as he climbed into the bed and took Loki in his arms.

Mortality. Power Imbalance. Fear. Mythical Gods.

The words swarmed inside Loki’s head despite all his efforts to dislodge them from his brain.

Loki wasn’t one for introspection. Because he only ever found horrors when he looked inside.

Mobius had forced him to look within himself. It was torture. It was intended to be so.

There had been a power imbalance between them then. But not one that Loki particularly cared about. He had been disempowered all his life.

He was a god, sure. But being a god didn’t really mean anything when you lived among gods and demons anyway. When one mad Titan could stop your breaths forever, you weren’t much of a god.

And to his immense surprise, Loki realised- he preferred it that way.

Life was so much more livable when mortals like that good Captain could challenge the likes of Loki.

But that life was gone, wasn’t it? The Captain wasn’t wholly human either.

In this life, Astrid Kristiansen would never win against Thor.

In this life, Mobius and himself would never be equals.

And wasn't that the greatest joke ever? All his life, there has been nothing that he had wanted more than power. A powerful father, a powerful brother, a powerful murderer would give you those twisted priorities.

But there was nothing that he despised more now than the awareness of being more powerful than Mobius.

“Astrid will die and be reborn and die again before you even get to middle age!”

How utterly cruel had it been for the two men to remind Loki of the ugly truth that he had firmly shut his eyes to.

Mobius was human. Mobius was mortal. Mobius would die.

From the moment Loki had stepped into the TVA, he had wanted to burn it down.

“You can start with my desk,” Mobius had smilingly agreed.

And then Mobius had actually agreed. He had led the charge. He had thrown himself into the line of fire on Loki’s whim.

And so, now the TVA was gone. The Time-Man was mortal again. Just what Loki wanted, right?

And the mortal man was now stuck with Loki, far way from his beaches, far away from the cerulean life he was meant to live- in this frozen hell-hole of the earth.

Is this how life would be for them? Loki, the God of Nothing and Mobius, the Man who Sacrificed Everything. Talk about power imbalance.

And there was that other thing that kept niggling at Loki’s brain.

Fear.

Mobius had meant it as a joke but wasn’t it true? Didn’t Mobius have just cause to be afraid of Loki?

The thoughts of New York had eluded him inside TVA, but now… Back on earth, the memories of the massacre came crowding in.

He had done that, hadn’t he? Killed millions like Mobius?

Exactly like Mobius.

It was pitch black when Mobius woke him up.

No, Mobius had not called Loki’s name or shook him to wakefulness.

It’s just that his breathing sounded odd. Too fast, too gasping.

Loki had no idea where the light sources in the room were so he didn’t waste his time with that. Instead, he patted at Mobius to wake him up.

“Mobi. Mobi? You alright?”

As soon as his hands reached Mobius’ chest, he felt it.

The wetness. And the hilt of the dagger protruding out of the wetness.

Loki’s entire brain screeched to a stop.

This couldn’t be. No. He was just thinking about this. Did he…

No.

Loki was keenly aware of how Mobius breathed. How he forgot to breath when he was laughing too hard. How he breathed in the throws of passion. How he breathed when he had settled into a deep sleep.

Loki had never wanted to be aware of how Mobius’ breaths sounded like when he was struggling not to give up. How he sounded when there was a dagger firmly wedged into his lungs.

But Time had never been particularly been kind of Loki.

As the clock remained frozen on his petrified form, it kept rushing on for Mobius. Mobius had put up a valiant fight. But after all, he was a mortal. Time would always win against mortals.

It was Time itself that stilled his breaths.

Timelessness.

That’s what Loki assumed he was feeling right now. Mobius’ clock had staggered to a stop.

And then he stepped out of the shadows.

Loki.

“You did this?” Loki whispered.

His own face smiled back at him. He looked the same. Not any more disfigured, not any more devilish, not any more… wrong. Just him.

“Why would I look any different?” he sounded amused. “I’m you. Just you.”

“I loved him!” Loki choked out.

“So did I,” he smiled, “What else do we do with those that we love?”

Loki caressed Mobius’ cheek. It felt unnervingly cold. Mobius was never cold. He despised being cold. He had still agreed to come here with Loki. No. It has been Mobius’ idea in the first place. That’s how much he cared.

“I loved him,” Loki repeated to himself.

“This is how we love.”

Loki jerked his head upwards.

“No!” he screamed suddenly, “Whoever you are… you’re not me. I would never…”

He was upon Loki in an instant, pinning him to the edge of the bed.

“Look at me,” he smirked. “Who could I be but you? Who could do this but you?

His face was barely a few inches for Loki’s. It was impossible to look away. To not acknowledge the truth that was staring him in the face.

“I didn’t kill him,” Loki squeezed his eyes shut as he turned his face away, “I loved him. I loved him! I still…”

A claw-like grip closed in around Loki’s jaw and turned his face upwards again.

“This is what we do to the people we love.”

“We don’t. I don’t. I…”

Loki struggled to free himself from his grip by pushing himself backwards. By pushing himself off the edge of the bed.

The very last thing he felt were two arms reaching around him to clasp around his chest.

Chapter Text

Thor jerked awake to a thunderous knocking at his door.

He stalled for a moment. He couldn’t think of a single reason why anyone would need him at this hour. So for a second, he tried to cocoon himself into the inadequately sized comforter again.

But the knocking continued. As furious as ever. At one point it sounded like someone was kicking the door with all their might.

Thor didn’t have a choice. He could execute whoever was calling him at his hour tomorrow. But now he had to wake up and open the goddamn door.

“What?” he snapped the moment he threw the door open. He realised his mistake a second later.

Mobius was almost bent down in half, barely holding himself up by the door frame. The fact that he had chosen the right side of the door frame was the only reason why he hadn’t been thrown clean off his feet.

Thor rushed to help him up but Mobius didn’t budge. It didn’t even seem like he was capable of speech at this point. But the few disjoined words he gasped out made Thor’s blood freeze in his veins.

“Loki… fell down… the baby… medic. Blood.”

“Were you attacked?” Thor asked furiously.

Mobius’ eyes widened in surprise. “What? No! Just go.”

He would come back for Mobius later, Thor decided as he raced to Loki’s cabin.

Even though Mobius had already warned him of what he would find, Loki’s prone form on the ground made all rational thoughts in his brain screech to stop.

And yes. There was blood. Too much blood.

What am I… I’ve never learnt… I don’t know how to… Loki.

As Thor knelt down beside Loki’s body and tried to decide if picking him up would hurt him further, he realised that he had never felt more helpless. More incompetent.

A bumbling buffoon, Loki would have called him.

No. Loki can still call him that. After he wakes up.

Apparently, the sole thought of ensuring that Loki would still be able to curse him to Hel and back was the spark that his brain needed to start functioning again.

He stopped trying to move Loki. Instead, he started bellowing the names of his healers at the top of his lungs.

Loki woke up to something extremely rancid being pushed under his nose.

“Whaa..”

“Transform,” a firm female voice instructed him.

Loki had absolutely no idea what that meant. He had absolutely no idea where…

“Transform into your real self,” the voice snapped back, “Or you’re going to lose the baby.”

“But the magic will…” Loki slurred out. Didn’t Mobius tell him not to use magic during the pregnancy?

Where was Mobius? Where was he? Who was…

“It cannot get any worse, my Prince,” another kinder voice reasoned, “You’ve lost too much blood. The womb has been breached. If you transform, there’s a chance the womb will repair itself.”

Loki was still trying to make sense of his surroundings when a rough hand grasped his arm.

“Loki, listen to them. Please,” a very familiar male voice pleaded.

Loki knew the voice. He had just never heard it sound like that. Or had he…

“Brother?” he managed to croak out.

“Yes, Loki. It’s me,” Thor’s laugh was broken off by a choked-up sob, “You need to listen to the Healers. You need to transform back to your Jotunn form.”

“Transform back”? Odd choice of words, Loki thought. How can you turn back into something you never were?

Another set of words floated back into his brain.

“You’re going to lose the baby.”

Would this hurt the baby? Well, not if Thor was telling him to do it. Thor would never hurt the baby.

Where was Mobius? he wondered once again as he relaxed into the bed and let the charm fall away bit by bit. It didn’t feel like much. Just like easing his body into cool spring water.

Mobius likes me blue. A sudden giggle erupted from his throat.

“Mobius loves you anyway,” Thor corrected.

Since when can Thor read my mind? Loki wondered, frowning.

“I can’t,” Thor answered with a sigh. “Is it working?” he addressed someone else in the room.

Loki felt a gentle hand parting his thighs further. (He only just realised that he was lying with his knees propped up, legs spread wide open.)

“Yes,” the kinder voice answered back. “His bleeding has slowed down. Can you check, Eir?”

A looming figure moved into his line of vision but he couldn’t see much past the curtain that was blocking his view of his stomach.

Loki felt a slight warmth on his belly. Almost like someone was shining a bright light over it, but the room did not seem to get any brighter.

“Ah yes,” Eir hummed in approval, “The womb repaired itself during the transformation.”

Thor heaved a great sigh of relief. (Oh, Loki realised belatedly as he followed the sound and turned his head sideways, he was right beside me all along? He felt a bit relieved that his brother didn’t have front row seats to his genitalia.)

“He’s going to recover?” Thor asked hopefully.

“Yes, my King.”

“And the child?”

“The child’s no longer in harm’s way, my King.”

Loki saw Thor slump forward and lift Loki’s hand to his lips to press a kiss to his knuckles. His knuckles were blue.

“You scared me half to death,” Thor whispered.

“Am I not scaring you now?” Loki wondered aloud, marveling at the contrast of his skin to Thor’s.

Thor looked genuinely hurt at that, so Loki began stroking at his cheek to comfort him. This felt nice. He was with his brother. The baby was okay. And Mobius…

Mobius?

Mobius.

Cold, dead Mobius.

The healers sprung into action the moment Loki tried to heave himself up.

“What are you…”

“Mobius!” Loki looked around the darkened room in desperation. There wasn’t much he could see on this side of the curtain. The moment he tried to rip the curtains away, Thor clutched at both of his arms.

“Mobius is fine,” Thor rushed to assure him, “He wasn’t great at first but Gudrun is with him. He’s fine. He’s absolutely fine!”

The motion of Loki’s arms stilled. He slowly turned towards Thor.

“What are you talking about?” Loki’s voice trembled, “Is this a joke to you?”

Thor flinched. “Of course not! Why would I ever joke about something like this?”

“I saw him die,” Loki shrieked, slamming his fists down on the bed, “I saw his corpse, Thor. Are you’re telling me he’s absolutely fine?”

Thor’s face morphed into a look on horrified confusion.

“Your husband. Mobius,” Thor insisted, “We’re talking about him, right?”

Loki frantically fisted at his own hair in frustration.

“Who else, Thor?” he wailed, “Who else could I possibly be talking about?”

Thor struggled to disentangle Loki’s fingers from his hair and then raised himself to face Loki directly.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about but your husband is in my cottage,” Thor spoke slowly as carefully like he was explaining things to a child, “He collapsed in front of my cottage so that’s where I asked Gudrun to tend to him.”

Loki’s face scrunched up in confusion. “That… that makes no… how could he collapse in front of your door? He was…”

Thor frowned a bit. “I don’t know how much of it you remember but…”

Mobius startled awake when a great but gentle weight suddenly descended upon him.

“Loki, his ribs,” he heard Thor’s voice somewhere nearby, “Be careful of his ribs. Mobius, he insisted on coming here right now. But don’t worry. The baby is unharmed.”

Mobius breathed a stuttered sigh of relief. He couldn’t really see anything because his vision was completely obstructed by serpentine strands of soft, black hair.

And blue. And flashes of crimson.

“Your eyes are beautiful.”

Mobius’ breaths had not quite stabilized yet but it felt imperative that he should express this thought out loud.

Loki jerked his head upwards to look Mobius in the eyes.

“You broke your ribs trying to save me?”

After some thought, Mobius gave a curt nod. There was no use denying these allegations now. It’s not like he could have an argument at this moment.

Loki’s red eyes glinted in the dark. Mobius had no way of understanding whether Loki was furious or glad. He didn’t really have much experience with Loki in this form beyond nighttime activities.

“You cushioned my fall?”

Mobius nodded again. “There was no time…” he gasped out, “You were… nightmare. Couldn’t pull you up, so…”

“So, he caught you, slid in between you and the floor, broke your fall and broke two of his ribs,” Thor, being the generous God that he was, completed Mobius’ story. Then, despite Mobius continually making eyes at him to shut the fuck up, he added, “Oh and those ribs then punctured his lungs and he almost choked on his own blood.”

Loki ignored the death glare Mobius was directing towards Thor and took Mobius’ face in his hands.

“You feel nice,” Mobius muttered, leaning into Loki’s cool touch.

“You stupid, utterly stupid, beautiful man,” Loki leaned down to whisper against Mobius’ lips. "What shall I do with you?" To Mobius’ surprise, he felt a few cold drops on water land on his cheek.

“Why are you crying?” Mobius managed to choke the words out despite the pain in his chest. “I’m fine. See?” He gently wiped away Loki’s tears with his thumbs, “Can’t really speak. Or breath.” He struggled to inhale so he could go on. “But I’m gonna live, see?” He gave Loki a tired smile and pressed his lips to Loki’s.

Loki kissed him back. But as he rose back up on Thor’s insistence that they should let Mobius rest, Loki’s red eyes failed to fool Mobius.

It was the same lost look that Loki had on his face went they had gone to bed that night.

Chapter Text

“I feel… fine,” Mobius exclaimed incredulously as Gudrun helped him sit up.

Gudrun gave him a nonchalant shrug. “Why wouldn’t you? I healed you.”

Mobius wasn’t too fazed. Earth doctors weren’t known to be particularly modest either.

“Well, yeah, I mean, I couldn’t even breath yesterday. It feels weird to be completely fine today. Almost like yesterday night didn’t happen at all.”

Gudrun had already started gathering her vials and the other paraphernalia. “Yes, my Prince,” she said, not sharing even one percent of Mobius’ excitement, “That’s how healing potions work. If you were still in pain I would not have my head.”

Mobius gasped. “That’s a joke, right?”

Gudrun moved around the room silently, completely ignoring Mobius’ shock.

“Right?” Mobius insisted nevertheless.

Gudrun finally turned around with a smirk on her face.

“Oh,” Mobius breathed a sigh of relief. “You were joking. Thank God.” Something else that she had just said struck him. “Um… about that other thing. I think you’re mistaken. I’m not a Prince by a long-shot.” When Gudrun remained quiet, he went on explaining, “No, seriously. I don’t have an ounce of royal blood in me. I mean I’m an American. I think?” He frowned. “My memories are sort of all over the place. But I definitely lived there at one point of time.”

Gudrun listened to Mobius drone on, all the while looking excruciatingly bored.

“You do realise you’re Prince Loki’s consort, right?” she drawled when he was done ranting. “What do you think that makes you? An American?”

She rolled her eyes and walked out of the door.

By the time Mobius returned to their own cabin, he realised a heated discussion was going on inside the room already.

“I can’t believe you’re saying this! Wouldn’t you have done this for Jane? Don’t lie to me.”

“I would have, a thousand times over. Why would I lie about that, Loki? And I’m not the one saying ‘No’ here. I’m just trying to explain that what you’re looking for doesn’t even exist anymore.”

Mobius would have walked away. He should have walked away. But he really didn’t want Loki to start plotting some harebrained scheme at the moment so he stayed. Very soon, he found another reason to be invested in this argument between the two brothers.

“’Doesn’t exist?’” Loki scoffed, “We didn’t even start looking for it, Thor!” There was brief pause, “Is this about you hating Mobius?”

Silence.

“From all our interactions that you witnessed, what you inferred was- I hate Mobius? In which world, Loki?”

“In this one!” Loki snapped back, “Don’t you see how important this is for me? How much he means to me?”

“I see it!” Thor shouted back, “I see it more than you do perhaps but I don’t understand which part of “Ragnarok” you don’t understand. You think we would be living here if Asgard was still standing?”

“But how do you know for sure that Iðunn’s garden is gone? She’s a Goddess. It cannot be that easy to kill…”

Mobius had heard enough. Researching about Loki variants for a major part of his life also meant researching about Norse mythology in general. There could only be one reason why Loki was looking for Iðunn’s garden.

He issued some sharp knocks on the door.

A few moments passed before the door swung open hesitantly.

“Are you feeling well, my love?” Loki said with an enormous fake grin. “We were just…”

“Planning how to make me immortal,” Mobius cut to the chase straightaway. “Or, to be more accurate- you were. And Thor was informing you that Iðunn’s garden is gone with the Ragnarok.”

Loki was clearly a bit unnerved at Mobius’ tone, but he tried not to show it.

“Well, yes,” he nodded, “That is what we were talking about but I’m just saying- if we don’t look, how can we…”

“Thor?” Mobius interrupted, “Can I please speak to Loki alone?”

Thor didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that a human was ordering him around. In fact, he leaped at the opportunity to be spared whatever was about to go down. He paused briefly at the door, patted Loki on the back and said, “Try not to kill each other?”

As the door slammed shut behind him, the tension in the room became palpable.

“Why are you looking at me like I did something terrible?” Loki jumped to the defensive before Mobius could say anything. “Isn’t it natural for me to want this?”

“And when would you have taken my opinion into account?” Mobius asked quietly.

Loki frowned. “Why… It’s not that complicated. Thor and I would have handled everything…”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Loki stared at Mobius’ tired expression for a minute and then bristled. “I guess I didn’t assume you’d have such a huge problem with such a simple solution.”

“A solution to what?”

“Your mortality!” Loki screamed.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room.

“I never knew my mortality was a problem that needed solving,” Mobius laughed dryly.

Loki stepped forward to take both of Mobius’ hands in his. “You know that’s not how I meant it. Mobi.” The sheer earnestness in his voice made Mobius look up into his eyes. “I cannot go on without you.” His left hand came up to rest at Mobius’ cheek. “That discussion… last night… I have never been more aware of how quickly I can lose you. Lose all this.” He brought Mobius’ hand up to his lips to press a gentle kiss upon the palm. “And then what would I be?” The determination that Mobius had seen in his eyes earlier returned, “How can I not want that for you? Safety? Forever.”

Mobius sighed. “What about what I want?”

Loki kept staring at him blankly.

“You don’t want… forever? With me?”

Mobius shook his head and dislodged himself from Loki’s embrace. Loki’s face started clouding over with the hurt that he failed to conceal anymore.

“I want everything with you,” Mobius stressed, “I just don’t want forever.”

“What does that even mean?”

Mobius spun around to face Loki.

“What do you think TVA was, Loki? Forever. TVA was forever. ‘For all time. Always.’”

Loki could see Mobius’ nails digging into his skin and he struggled to remain calm. Just as he extended a hand to stop him, Mobius stepped back.

“You think mortality is a problem? Mortality is what the TVA took away from me! It took away my entire life!”

“Mobius, that’s not why I’m trying to…”

“But that is the end result, Loki. That’s what happens when you keep a man alive for centuries and centuries on end. When you force him to exist beyond his time,” Mobius grasped at his hair in despair, “He must either go mad or forget. Because if he cannot forget, he will go mad.”

Loki jerked back at the force of his words. “You think that’s how life would be with me? With our child?” Hurt and desperation loosened his tongue, “Don’t you think we deserve your company? What about your responsibility to…”

Mobius let out a horrified gasp. “That’s what you are going to accuse me of? Irresponsibility?”

Loki knew he ought to back down but he couldn’t stop. “I’m not making up these accusations out of thin air, Mobius. Don’t you think this child deserves to have a father who actually wants to spend his life with them? Someone who doesn’t just stick around for the few good years before he fucks off?”

“’Fucks off?’” Mobius’ voice broke.

Loki had never, ever seen Mobius cry. And before this moment he had no idea that this was something that he’d rather die than witness again.

“You think…” Mobius struggled to take control of his voice, “You actually think that, don’t you?” Before Loki eat his own words, Mobius stormed back to pin him under his glare. “There’s nothing and no one that I love more than this child and you, Loki. Not even you can say the same. It’s not a criticism. I love the fact that you have people who love you. People whom you can love back. Tell me who I have besides the both of you. Tell me what exactly I am ‘fucking off’ to?”

“Mobius, I…”

“And I will love you both till the day that I die,” Mobius went on furiously, “But I will not push back that day for either of you. You think it’s just our child who deserves a father? I can assure you there are millions who can make the same claim. A million fathers are gone too soon. A million mothers. A million husbands and wives and brothers and sons and daughters. Would you offer them the apples of Iðunn? Don’t they all deserve the extra time?”

Loki gaped at him silently.

Mobius ground his knuckles into his eyes to stop the flow of tears before continuing. “I’ve told you this before, Loki. I’m an ordinary man who had an ordinary life. And I deserve to die an ordinary death at an ordinary time. And this is the man that you fell in love with.” He suddenly looked up at Loki with a hint of doubt in his eyes. “Or did you… did you always expect me to be extraordinary? Timeless?”

Loki’s brain seemed to finally catch up with what Mobius was saying.

If you don’t fix this now, there will be no fixing, a voice that sounded an awful lot like his mother’s reminded him.

Loki pried Mobius’ fists open to entangle their fingers together.

“Can you love me like this?” Mobius asked brokenly as he stared downwards at their joint hands. “Will you ever believe that I can love you just as I am? That you mean the world to me even though I have to leave one day? Will I be enough?”

Loki didn’t try apologizing through words. He couldn’t think of forming any at this moment.

He slowly engulfed the shorter man in his embrace till there wasn’t a sliver of space separating them.

That’s all he could do for now to prevent Mobius from shaking apart.

Chapter Text

As Loki sat with Mobius’ head cradled in his lap, he thought.

Mobius had exhausted himself enough to fall into a deep slumber the moment Loki had started carding his fingers through his hair. Soon enough, everything in the room had fallen silent other than the thousand unquiet thoughts rushing in and out of Loki’s mind.

When he was certain that no slight movement could wake Mobius up from his sleep, he carefully propped a pillow under his head and slipped out of the bed.

“You look like you need a drink,” Thor commented the instant Loki entered his cabin.

“I do,” Loki sighed wearily as he took a seat, “But I heard that’s frowned upon in Midgard when ‘you’re in the family way.’”

Thor shrugged. “Not like Midgardian ale does anything for us.” He pointed at a bottle of dark liquid and raised his eyebrows in question.

Loki opened and shut his mouth twice in rapid succession, then slowly shook his head to refuse the offer.

“Look at that,” Thor chuckled admiringly, pouring himself a drink, “Who would have thought this day would ever come?”

Loki rolled his eyes. “You speak as if I was a drunkard.”

“You were well on your way to becoming one.”

“Never,” Loki denied the allegation immediately, “I cared too much about myself to let go like that.”

Thor stared at him for a while and then nodded.

“Right. You never lived through your imprisonment. You are rather fortunate to have skipped that part. I wasn’t.”

All of a sudden, despair clouded over Loki’s face.

“Would you believe me if I said I never wanted Midgard? That what I did in New York wasn’t me? Well, wasn’t all me at least?”

Thor looked away and took another gulp of ale.

“Why bring that up now, Loki? I told you that I had forgiven you long ago…”

“But it wasn’t me that you forgave at all,” Loki tried desperately to draw Thor’s attention back towards him again. “I’m not the one you lost. I’m not the one who gave up his life for you.” He let out a humourless laugh. “Everyone here thinks of me as their saviour. The one who died for the King. And honestly, I don’t mind playing that part. It is a glorious part. But I cannot let you be misled that way.”

Weariness and unease became evident on Thor’s face. “What more do you want from me, Loki? I told you I loved you no matter what.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t.”

As Thor looked up at him sharply, Loki stood up and made his way towards Thor. The moment he tried to lower himself to the ground, however, Thor jumped up to catch hold of his shoulders.

“What are you doing? You’re with child!”

For a second Loki seemed to come back to his usual self and swatted away Thor’s hands in irritation.

“I’m pregnant. Not dying. Let me sit down.”

Though this was probably meant to be an act of symbolic submission, Thor ended up helping Loki to the ground and sitting down across him, cross-legged. Loki seemed more than a bit miffed about the situation not having gone as he intended it to go, but he grudgingly accepted the help.

He took a minute to clear his mind and then began again.

“Thor, I am going to ask you for a favour. An enormous favour. And you must grant it to me. Whatever I say now is definitely an attempt to manipulate you into granting me that favour. But that’s not all that it is. It is also the truth. You might be wondering- why would someone like me bother with the truth? Because you need to stop despising me for real if you decide to grant me this favour. I cannot let you keep basing your opinion of me on falsehoods.”

“I don’t understand what you are saying,” Thor confessed. “At all.”

Loki took in a deep breath.

“I wanted to hurt you. I despised you. I blamed you for what Father had done. But I never wanted to do what I did in New York.”

The fact that Thor did not say anything to either agree or disagree with him did not seem to bother Loki.

“There is no reason why I should confess to everything else but not to this. Mobius asked me this the first time we met. ‘Why would the God of Mischief want to rule the world?’ Why not just remain satisfied with chaos?”

Thor frowned. “Now that you say it… You… Well, not you. My… Other Loki… He ruled over Asgard for a while. He never bothered with wars or destruction. He didn’t even particularly want chaos. He just… engaged in meaningless merrymaking. Created a huge statue of himself. Staged plays about himself.”

Loki smiled. “Seems like something I would do.”

What he was going to say next made the smile slip off his face.

“Thor, are you familiar with the Mind Stone?”

Thor seemed a bit taken aback by the sudden change in topic.

“Yes?”

“And what does it do?”

“Control people’s minds, obviously. That’s how you controlled Archer Clint. Through the scepter.”

“And who gave me the scepter?”

Thor frowned. “Thanos did. What does…”

“And why would Thanos give me the scepter with the mind stone?”

“Because you asked for it,” Thor seemed to get more and more uncomfortable by the second. “Loki, let’s not talk about…”

“I killed people, Thor. We need to talk about it,” Loki went on in a steely voice. “Yes, I asked for Thanos’ help but ask yourself this- Why would he give me two of the Infinity Stones? Why trust me with them? I was infinitely weaker than him, I was known for my treachery. Why would he trust me?”

Thor stared at him uncomprehendingly for a while until the bone-chilling realization dawned on him.

“He didn’t trust you,” he gasped. “He never needed to. The gift of the scepter was enough. That’s how he was controlling you.” A look of utter horror passed over his face. “He made you… And I punished you for…”

Loki grasped at Thor’s arm to cut off his line of thought.

“That’s not the point. He made me worse than I am. Didn’t mean I wasn’t already bad enough to begin with. I didn’t tell you all this to seek sympathy or forgiveness. In fact, it’s not something that I ever fully accepted myself. That’s why I couldn’t answer Mobius’ question. But it’s not just about me anymore.” A new-founded determination laced his voice. “I can wallow in misery and self-pity all I want. But how can I let my child believe that? It’s not a truth that I ever wanted to acknowledge. Especially because I never thought anyone would believe me. But it is the truth. And even if no one else knows it, my child should. I am not the saviour of Asgard. But I never meant to be the butcher of Midgard either.”

Loki paused to take a breath. “And now that my attempt to manipulate you into believing my fragmentary innocence is over, this is where I ask you for the favour.”

Thor slipped back into his heroic self. The perfect King, the perfect brother.

“I shall do everything in my power to…”

“You must raise the child after I am gone.”

Thor jerked back as if he had been slapped. “What?” He thought back to the conversation they were having earlier in Loki’s cabin. “You’re giving away your Godhood? Did Mobius…”

Loki swiftly caught hold of the front of Thor’s tunic and pulled him in. “Mobius must not have a clue about what we are discussing here,” he warned, “And no. Mobius did not ask me to do anything like that. Neither am I doing anything like that.”

“You’re not giving up your Godhood?” Thor sounded confused but relieved.

“Oh please,” Loki scoffed, “’Giving up your Godhood’ sounds so very dramatic. Especially when a spear through the gut can kill me just as easily. Or, asphyxiation followed by the snapping of the neck.”

“But you come back every time,” Thor said desperately.

Loki gave Thor a tired smile. “That’s what I am saying. Next time, I might not want to.”

Thor didn’t quite know what to say anymore. He made one last-ditch effort nevertheless.

“Shall I talk to Mobius? Maybe I can… Well, Iðunn’s garden is definitely gone but maybe with the Time Stone…” Thor knew how absurd it sounded but he could not give up just yet.

“You shall not talk to Mobius about this. Ever,” Loki reminded him firmly, “That man has given up enough… too much for me already.”

Thor shoved away the glass of ale in frustration but looked sufficiently chagrined when Loki flinched.

“I cannot lose you again.”

Loki placed a comforting hand over Thor’s own.

“You are not,” he insisted, “I don’t have a death wish. Neither am I going to kill myself anytime soon. I’ve just accepted… when it happens, years and years and years from now, I’ll let it be.”

“Because you don’t feel like you have people worth coming back to anymore?” Thor challenged.

Loki shook his head and smiled. “No. Because I know there are people on the other side worth crossing over for.”

Thor had truly run out of words this time. He resorted to burying his face into his palms, trying to breath properly again.

“Why must you make me think of your demise months before you welcome a new life into this world? Isn’t that too cruel even for you?”

“It is because of the new life that we must have this discussion,” Loki reasoned.

“Why?”

“Because I need you to take care of my….”

“Wouldn’t I have done that anyway?” Thor snapped back, “Did you really think you had to ask? We’re family. What do you think family does?”

Loki’s face broke into a wry smile at that.

“Family lies about your birthright and makes you believe you’re family when you’re really not. No, don’t look so distraught. I do not think you are like Father at all but I know where I stand in the ranks of the Asgardian royals.”

“Loki, you are the Prince…”

“No, I am not,” Loki stated plainly, “You believe that because you’re a good brother but I don’t like living under misconceptions. My child will grow up with the truth. The truth of what I am. It’s not so ignoble that it must remain buried forever. The child will know of their heritage even if it is not a royal one. And…” Loki looked away from Thor before continuing. He had to get through this speech. This is what he had been practicing for hours.

“And, I vow that the child shall have no aspirations towards your throne. Your child, whenever they’re born, shall be the sole and uncontested heir. Your next child shall be the next in line for the throne, so on and so forth. With this assurance, do you agree to sire my child?”

Thor had listened to the entirety of Loki’s speech in complete silence. Now, he wordlessly picked himself off the floor to pour himself another glass. This time however, he chose one of the rare bottles of Asgardian ale that had somehow survived Ragnarok.

He chose to speak only after he had gulped down the entirety of the glass’ content.

“I will not punish you for hurting me the way that you just did, Loki. I have grown enough to understand that this stems from your own hurt. But one day you will eat your words, brother. I can promise you that.”

Chapter Text

Dinner that night was… uncomfortable. Really, really uncomfortable.

Thor seemed determined not to speak to Loki even though he had extended the ceremonial welcome to the couple to have dinner at his cabin. Mobius seemed determined to draw into himself till he became an actual black hole.

Loki kept trying desperately to start a new conversation every five minutes. But since most topics would have touched a nerve with either of the two, he had to stick to inane questions like:

“Do you think cantaloupes could be grown in Asgard if we really tried?”

Loki was preparing himself to fester away in this extremely discomfiting silence forever when the sound of a squabble outside interrupted his thoughts of unending misery.

Thor was the first one to leave the cabin to take control of the situation.

By the time Loki stepped out, the intruding faction seemed to be ready to throw hands.

“Zora?” Loki gasped in disbelief as Mobius hurried to insert himself between the Asgardian guard and their new guests.

“We showed you our IDs!” Zora screamed at the guard who stubbornly replied, “And I said that the Kind does not take visitors at this hour.”

“He’s the mayor of the county for fuck’s sake,” Zora shouted back, “Also, I told you we got lost! Not like we were going to roam around in the middle of these godforsaken hills in the dead of the night!”

“I truly apologize for the delay,” the older man who was standing behind Zora answered. “I just wanted us to get some flowers for him.”

Zora redirected her ire towards the man this time, “You buy flowers from a florist, Casey! Or a nursery or I don’t know… You don’t trek the hills of Norway to look for flowers!”

The guard had already backed down at Thor’s command. Thor stepped up to apologize.

“I assume you are the esteemed guests that my brother had been expecting. I heartily apologize for the treatment meted out to you. It was not Skarði’s fault. He was merely following orders. It’s just that you really were not expected at this hour.”

Zora took some time to consider that apology and then when she decided it was good enough, she decided to add one of her own.

“I’m sorry for popping in at this ridiculous hour as well, to be honest. But this esteemed botanist friend of mine, who is presently a senior citizen, decided that your brother would only accept flowers picked from the remotest gorges and peaks of your country. So, if you truly want to smite someone, smite him.”

An amused smile broke over Thor’s face. “Not really in the smiting business anymore. As you very well seem to know, I am after all the mayor of this county. Big responsibilities, you know?”

Mobius seemed to have been waiting to see whether the confrontation would go south. As soon as he realised nothing of that sort was going to happen, he leaped forward to give Zora a hug.

“You look beautiful.”

“I know,” Zora smiled warmly and patted him on the back. “And where might the other more royal beauty be?”

As Loki watched Mobius hugging Casey next, a sudden doubt overwhelmed him.

Zora and Casey had never seen him like this. In his Jotunn form. They had seen one of his frost giant variants before but Loki was pretty sure that entity had been a Jotunn King. Bloated at the middle and only shielded by a flimsy robe (he could not bear wearing anything else after the transformation), Loki was pretty sure he was the farthest thing from a King. Would they think of him as…

“Wow, you’re literally… shining.”

The sudden realization that Zora had addressing him broke Loki out of his thoughts. Having a minor breakdown over blue skin was probably not advisable while standing right in front of a lighted hut. In open view.

“I mean, you’re also glowing. But I meant the gold,” Zora specified, “Mobius, were you always secretly loaded? You’re decked in it, Loki. I thought only Indian princesses owned this much gold.”

“Also, Asgardian Princes,” Loki rolled his eyes to hide his embarrassment. “Why would you think these were gifts from Mobius? They belonged to my mother.”

Loki had not really spent much thought while adorning himself up with his mother’s jewelry. Since neither Mobius nor Thor had wanted to do much talking since the evening, he didn’t really have much else to do other than… this. Also, it was like carrying a bit of his mother’s memory along with him. Not like he was going to explain that to anyone.

“See, Zora?” Casey suddenly produced the most sublime but asymmetrical arrangement of flowers that Loki had ever seen, “You wanted me to gift him a gas station bouquet?” He handed the flowers to Loki with a quick bow.

“For the sake of… stop!” Loki groaned. “I know I’m supposed to be evil and all that but I am making this clear once and for all- None of my geriatric friends should ever climb down a gorge for me. Write it down as a commandment or something. But these truly are the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. Can we all just get back to dinner now?”

Mobius immediately began guiding the two guests towards the hut with a look of immense wonder on his face.

“Casey, you really are older than me?”

The gloom that had settled in before was nowhere to be found as their somber dinner spiraled into a round of boisterous festivities in the dead of the night.

“I genuinely thought I would be scared of you, you know?” Zora laughed as Thor poured her her fourth glass of ale. “I mean, I was used to meeting Kings and Gods and whatnot in the TVA but I’ve spent the last 20 years as an architect. Casey here kept on saying we should bow.”

“I did bow,” Casey reminded her.

“Ironically,” Loki scoffed. “Don’t tell me either of you expected me to turn back into a snooty royal in less than forty-eight hours of having spoken to you. I’m not saying I don’t enjoy this. I’m just saying this is how I always deserved to be treated.”

He was the only one who had been excluded from the drinking, so he was justifiably upset. The rest of them had even convinced Mobius to drown his third glass.

“Come on, Loki doesn’t mind, does he?” Thor had boomed. “You can be the perfect husband on some other day. It’s just Midgardian ale, Mobius, it can do nothing to us. Drink up.”

“I do mind,” Loki had grumbled just as Mobius had stated, “I am a Midgardian.”

Regardless, Mobius had forgotten all of his inhibitions after the second glass.

“Casey, how are you older than me?” Mobius repeated woefully.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Casey shrugged, “Just kept living, I guess. I have a granddaughter, you know? She was just born this May. Wanna see her?” He slid out his wallet and flipped it open before passing it to Mobius.

“Wow.” Mobius’ eyes widened like it was the most incredible thing he has ever seen in his centuries worth of existence. “So tiny.” After some serious thought he added, “Do you have to tie a balloon to her so that she does not go missing?”

Loki attempted to take the wallet from Mobius’ hand. “Love, you’re more than full. You should go to bed.”

Mobius swatted away at Loki’s hands. “No, I swear that’s how you keep track of babies.”

“No, pretty sure that’s how you lose babies in the stratosphere,” Zora laughed. “Man, I love drunk Mobius. He used to be the top-brass in TVA so he never drank with us plebs. Hey, Mobius,” she addressed him directly, “This is the only time you’ll answer this so… Did you ever have a crush on Ravonna? For a while it sure seemed like you did.”

“Zora, maybe Ravonna’s not a great topic to…” Casey made a genuine attempt to derail the conversation but Mobius immediately cut in.

“Oh, yeah,” he spun his unfocused eyes towards Zora, “Ravonna, right? Yeah, we fucked.”

Pin drop silence descended over the room all of a sudden.

“You fucked Ravonna?”

“You fucked inside the TVA?”

“You fucked someone that obviously evil?”

Zora, Casey and Loki screamed simultaneously while Thor just nodded as a show of vague appreciation.

Mobius shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I fuck in the TVA? I fucked Loki, didn’t I? Centuries apart from Ravonna of course.”

“So Ravonna and me?” Loki shouted incredulously, “What a highly esteemed bracket to be included in!”

“Well, you’re not the only Loki that I fucked,” Mobius answered noncommittally.

Silence fell again.

Zora and Casey looked like disappointed parents who had been informed that their son was caught going to second-base with someone under the bleachers.

“You were really bad at your job.”

“There should have been an official inquiry about you, to be honest.”

“No wonder you rebelled; you were breaking more TVA rules on a daily basis than a horny rabbit on Viagra.”

“For shame, Mobius.”

Mobius seemed as unaffected by their criticisms as a horny rabbit on Viagra would be.

Loki, who had remained silent all this while, seemed to be vibrating out of his own skin.

“Which one?” he grit out.

“Which one what?” Mobius looked up at him blankly.

“Which variant of mine did you fuck?” Loki spat out venomously, “Or was it all of them?”

The situation would have escalated to a whole other level had Mobius been even one percent aware of the seriousness of Loki’s voice. But he wasn’t in touch with much of anything around him at the moment.

“What? No,” he waved his hand to dispel all such ugly notions, “It was just the one. The President. You know, the guy with the… rosette? Tuft? I have no idea what it’s called. The one with the flowery puff on his suit.” When no one said anything, he turned towards Thor, who had the least hostile-looking expression in the room, to explain, “You know the really strange part? That guy never took off his suit. Ever. Not even while fucking me. Can you believe that?”

Whether or not Thor could believe it Mobius never found out because Thor pulled Mobius up with an arm around his waist while trying his hardest to suppress a laugh.

“You have dug a deep enough grave for yourself, little Time man. Time to go to bed. I’ll send my apologies for getting you drunk later. Whenever you are able to understand the apology.”

As Thor and Mobius left for the other cabin, Casey sympathetically patted Loki on the back.

“I want to curse him for his terrible taste,” Loki reasoned, “But talk about a low bar to clear! I mean, the only reason I don’t worry about him leaving me is because, going by his choice, he would probably get murdered while trying his hand as adultery.”

Chapter Text

Mobius woke up thrice before he actually woke up.

Every time he raised his head, his brain screamed “Not today!” and he diligently obeyed its order.

The fourth time he woke up was no different. With the slight exception that Loki slammed the door open, started pacing across the room at breakneck speed and began hyperventilating.

“Wuh? You… sit,” Mobius advised helpfully.

“Sit?” Loki came to an abrupt halt, almost tumbling over because of his momentum. “Keep dreaming about being on your knees for your President, you drunk oaf! I’m dying in a few hours anyway. You might as well move on.”

Words such as these from an expecting lover would have made any sane man spring into action. Mobius tried to do the same but the weight in his head simply made him topple over to the other side of the bed.

“Why? Uh… Die?”

It was a testament to the months and probably years that Loki had spent with this man that he understood Mobius’ incoherent mumbling.

“Because,” Loki spat out, “The other imbecilic oaf in my life, my darling brother, let me walk in on him talking to the Hulk. His image was conjured up. He saw me! Did you even know Thor had a… one of those… an electronic screen?”

“The Hulk?” Mobius asked uncertainly.

“Did the President actually suck out your brains through your dick?” Loki yelled in frustration, “How do you not know the Hulk? The green beast that almost killed me!”

“Oh,” Mobius finally realised, “Bruce Banner?”

“What kind of a husb… lover are you? Why are you not worried? He knows where I am. And if he knows then SHIELD knows and if SHIELD knows then…”

“I know this request will be misconstrued as insensitive,” Mobius said, rubbing as his temples, “But can you please stop shouting and sit down?”

“Stop shouting?” Loki shouted.

“Stop shouting!” Mobius shouted back, palms covering his ears, “Banner is your friend.”

Loki looked at him incredulously. “He tried to kill me.”

“And you tried to kill him,” Mobius sighed, “If you started cutting away the people who tried to kill you and whom you tried to kill from your friends’ list, you’re not going to have many left. Will you please stop looming over me, I cannot lift my head up to look at you.”

Loki, still frowning, reluctantly placed himself beside Mobius on the bed. Mobius promptly picked up one of his hands and started pressing Loki’s palm to his face.

Loki seemed justifiably confused. “This is not the time to be romanti…”

“I’m using you as an ice-pack,” Mobius answered promptly. “No, no, no, wait. I do have stuff to say as well. Banner is your friend. Well, not yours. Ragnarok Loki’s. Do you mind if we call him that? Or we can call you New York Lok…”

Loki waved his hand impatiently, “Ragnarok Loki it is. So Banner doesn’t hate me? You sure?”

“I’m sure. You guys fought together. You’re comrades-in-arms.”

“But he will hate me when he knows it’s me, won’t he?” Loki asked hesitantly.

Mobius shook his head. “I don’t think emotions work like that. You cannot lose your friend, mourn him, get him back and then start hating him for something he did 10 years ago. Should he hate you? I don’t know. Will he though? No.”

Loki pondered upon that for a while and then let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Mobi.”

The light kiss that he pressed to Mobius’ lips before leaving to talk to Thor, wasn’t of any special significance for Loki.

But to Mobius it signified something incredibly important. He sent a quiet prayer up to the heavens.

“Thank you, Lord. And also Bruce Banner, for getting me out of the doghouse so soon.”

“Who wants to what with me?”

“Loki, don’t behave like a brat! They can see you!”

“We can.” “You look so pretty!” Two voices answered back immediately from the screen that Thor was holding in his hand.

“Bruce and Bucky want to talk to you,” Thor grit out, in a typical elder brotherly ‘Don’t embarrass me’ voice. “Now stop acting out and talk.”

“Why would I want to talk to your friends?”

“We’re your friends too!” Bucky answered cheerfully.

“I don’t even know you!” Loki screamed.

Bucky shrugged. “That’s fine. I didn’t know myself for a long time either.” He suddenly smiled with all his teeth. “Thor said that we could come over!”

“You said what?” Loki looked at Thor, shocked.

“All your other friends are over,” Thor shrugged, “Why can’t they come as well? You walked in on me talking to Bruce. That was your fault. And then Bruce, being Bruce, obviously told Bucky.”

“To be fair,” Bruce supplied nervously, “he sent me 73 texts which just read ‘Whatcha hiding?’”

“I did,” Bucky gave a few solemn nods. “I really did.”

“And,” Thor continued with a serious look on his face, “Not that I planned this, but this might be a good opportunity to have Bruce check you out. If my years on Midgard have taught me anything, it’s that these guys are good at technology. And I know the healers here tended to you but… the baby is half human as well. There might be aspects that we are not considering.”

“Like male pattern baldness,” Bucky replied helpfully. “Or unibrows. Never seen a single Asgardian with either of those.”

“And why is he coming?” Loki gestured towards Bucky. “To irritate me to Hel and back?”

“Rude,” Bucky immediately answered. “You might be having a baby but I have a husband to show off as well. He’s Captain…”

“We know!” Bruce and Thor collectively groaned.

“No offence meant to Sam but,” Bruce began (somewhere off-screen a male voice answered “None taken”) “But, Bucky! It has been 2 years! Will your honeymoon period never end?”

“Yes,” Thor agreed tiredly, “I was overjoyed about the blossoming of young love in the beginning, but many winters have passed since then.”

“It has been two years,” Bucky snapped back, “And I only say it with such incredulity because at times I myself cannot believe that I’m with this idiot. (The male voice off-screen added an affronted, “Hey!”) Anyway, heard you have someone in your life as well,” he added with a smirk.

Loki sighed. “Isn’t that how a baby is usually made? Two people start imagining each other without clothes, get really drunk, forget all rational thought in the face of impending doom and…”

“That’s how it happened?” Bruce asked sympathetically.

“Nope,” Loki promptly answered, “We had an office romance. Got carried away while filing papers one evening and fucked against a library shelf.”

“Wow,” both Bruce and Bucky sounded flabbergasted.

“Who would have thought?” Bucky looked like he had never heard anything more bizarre.

The sharp sound of ceramic crashing against the floor somewhere behind him broke him out of his thoughts.

“Is Alpine in the china cabinet again?” he cursed, “Sam, why aren’t you… Look guys, I need to go. And I need to find a cat-sitter. Because I’m definitely coming over in… about a week? Bruce, when are you going?”

Bruce hesitated for a while. “Umm… I need to wrap up a few things here.” He suddenly seemed to make up his mind and looked straight at Loki. “If you don’t want us to come, we won’t. It’s not up to Thor to decide if you want our company. You’re pregnant and we’re not going to add to the stress. Just say the word. I know you didn’t want me to find out about you. And I swear I told no one else. Just Bucky. But that’s because he tortured me with texts.”

“I did,” Bucky looked a bit put out by Bruce’s speech but he nodded nevertheless. “I’m sorry if I came off a bit too strong. We used to be friends, you know? Really good friends. And I thought you died.” He smiled sadly. “But I know how tough it is to have friendship thrust on you when you cannot remember it. So, it’s fine if you don’t want to meet us. Or have anything to do with us.”

As Loki looked at these two men, enemy and stranger, who were willing to apologise to him, someone who had probably tried to kill both of them at some point, for just extending a hand of friendship towards him, he came to a realization.

“I am not the man you think I am,” he answered carefully, “But the man you miss so ardently, clearly did something right. And I’m not selfless enough to not enjoy the fruits of his actions.” He took in a deep breath and smiled. “So, I warmly extend my brother’s invitation on towards you once more. You’re welcome to visit, anytime.”

“Awesome!” Bucky cheered up immediately. “Can’t wait to meet your brown-suited man! Did you use the old fix-his-tie technique to seduce him?”

Loki gasped in surprise, “How… did you see us?”

“What?” Bucky frowned, “No that’s… that’s gross. How do I know about it? Man, you taught me that.”

“What?” everyone in the room exclaimed at once.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “You think this is the first tie-wearing old man he has had the hots for?”

“He’s not old!” Loki sputtered inelegantly.

Bucky smirked. “And let me guess? He isn’t wiser than you and grey haired either?”

Chapter Text

Casey eventually won the lengthy and seemingly unconquerable three-day-long battle against his own nerves to finally ask Thor:

“Your Highness, may I be permitted to survey the surroundings under the life-oath that I shall in no way cause any harm to any life, flora and fauna included, or property?”

Thor stared at him for a solid minute before leaning towards Mobius and whispering, “What is wrong with him?”

Mobius dutifully informed Thor that he was none the wiser after having spent several millennia with Casey in the TVA.

“What was that? You were drinking with him on Saturday!” Zora exclaimed once they had stepped out of the King’s hut. “We made fun of Mobius when he admitted to sleeping around with everything with a pulse in…”

“Yes, that’s definitely not slut-shaming,” Mobius muttered under his breath.

“Oh, cry me a river, Mobius.” Zora said dismissively while continuing to address Casey, “You didn’t seem this nervous that day?”

Casey nodded ruefully. “I tend to be a lot of more fearless and outgoing when I’m dying of back pain.”

“Odd reaction,” Mobius remarked, “But you do you, I guess.” He suddenly spotted Loki making his way over to Thor’s cabin and waved.

“Why are you lot gathered here?” Loki narrowed his eyes as he approached them. “Anything nefarious I can participate in?”

“Are you just going to Thor’s hut to annoy him for the seventeenth time this day?” Mobius chuckled.

Loki considered the suggestion for a bit and then nodded. “Well yes, but Bucky and Bruce are also arriving tonight. I wanted to know exactly what draconian rules my brother has planned to impose on me for the meeting. Maybe I won’t be allowed to blink or stop smiling for a second.” He eyed the group again. “Where are you all heading?”

“I’m planning to explore the mountains actually,” Casey explained.

“Didn’t you almost break your back doing it the last time?” Loki wondered aloud with a frown. “Did I not command you to never do it again?”

“Don’t worry,” Mobius cut in, “We’re going with him.”

“What can I say?” Zora shrugged, “Witnessing an old man almost shatter his spine is a spectacle that ought to be enjoyed more than once.”

“But… don’t you want to meet my friends?” Loki asked, somewhat wistfully.

Mobius knew Loki was nervous about the encounter. No matter what he said, he still wasn’t sure how to be a friend in general. Let alone play the role of a best friend to two complete strangers. Loki wanted a cushion.

“I think I’ll stay back actually,” Mobius announced as he took Loki’s hand. “Unlike Casey, I am well aware of my age.”

“Why? Don’t you want to see Casey fall of a cliff too?” a faint hope bloomed in Loki’s eyes.

“Eh,” Mobius shrugged. “Knowing Casey, our child will be able to witness that spectacle well into their adulthood. Casey, do live to die another day when I can see it,” Mobius said as he patted Casey on the back. “Be sure to come back before sunset, Zora.”

“I can’t even tell you how absurd it is that you’re trying to be my dad,” Zora rolled her eyes. “Best of luck with your guests, Loki.”

As the both of them strode off, Loki stared at Mobius for a long while.

“I know why you stayed.”

“It’s going to go fine.”

“What if it doesn’t?” the fear that Loki had been trying to hide all this while shone through. “What if they meet me and realise I’m my old terrible self? What if they hate me but cannot tell me that outright because of my brother? He’s still their friend after all. What if they just pretend to tolerate me for him?”

Mobius stayed silent for a while.

“All of that can happen. Realistically speaking.”

Loki tried to yank his hand away in shock but Mobius held on.

“As an analyst, you have to think of every single possibility that can happen. And all of those things can indeed happen. However, you are missing out on an essential piece of the puzzle.”

“And what is that?” Loki snapped, clearly irritated.

“You seem to be under the delusion that you have not evolved since New York while your other self did.”

“He sacrificed himself, of course he…”

“And so did you,” Mobius insisted. “What do you think you did when Kang’s variant gave you those two choices?”

“I chose the throne,” Loki looked away, determined to not look Mobius in the eyes.

Mobius gently turned Loki’s face towards himself by his chin.

“What throne?”

“The Time throne,” Loki frowned, “Whatever it is called. The throne of the Time Palace.”

“Exactly,” Mobius nodded. “A throne of immense responsibility, yes. But a throne that no one even knows the existence of.”

“It’s the most powerful throne in the world! In the… whole multi-universal… space.”

“It’s an invisible throne. In an invisible palace,” Mobius’ voice was firm.

“A throne that lets you rule forever.” Even as Loki spoke his voice slowly grew more uncertain.

Mobius shook his head. “A throne that doesn’t let you die,” he corrected, “A throne that traps you forever. Alone. Unknown. Invisible. Is that what you wanted when you made that choice?”

Loki tried to swallow the sob that was threatening to choke him.

“No.”

The darkness lifted from Mobius’ face.

“Then that’s your answer. That’s your sacrifice. You were ready to make yourself the monster that you had set out to defeat, to save millions… no, an infinite number of lives.”

Loki lifted the hand that was not holding Mobius’ to hurriedly wipe away his traitorous tears.

“But I didn’t even succeed in doing that, did I?” he spat out bitterly, “Some God. Even screwed that bit up.”

Mobius coaxed Loki to look at him by cradling his face in both his hands.

“Intentions matter,” he said forcefully. “Do you really not understand how much intentions count? And what failure are you talking about? We both targeted the wrong monster. Do you see me dying of regret? No. I functioned with the existing knowledge that I had. So did you. You might be a God but you’re not omniscient. And need I remind you? You found me. You saved me. Even if you forget the infinite number of lives that you tried to save, remember the ones that you did. How’s that for evolution?”

Loki gazed into Mobius’ eyes for a minute before surging forward to kiss him. Mobius stumbled back because of the force but quickly gained foothold to kiss Loki back with even more vigour.

“Isn't this odd?” Mobius mumbled into the kiss a while later.

“What part of this feels odd to you?” Loki let out a breathy gasp as he pressed himself firmly against Mobius.

“The fact that you get turned on by me telling you how good you are,” Mobius managed to sound impressively contemplative for someone who was currently getting his neck sucked and nibbled at by a God.

“Yes, tell me, Mobius,” Loki urged as he started to loosen the knot of Mobius’s tie.

Mobius, somehow completely out of the loop of whatever was going on, chuckled.

“Don’t pretend like it’s a kinky thing. I mean it is. But not the usual garden variety kink. If I told you “You’re a good boy” or something as trite as that in bed, you’d actually laugh in my face.”

Loki finally disentangled himself from Mobius and looked down at him with a disgruntled frown.

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Yes, you would!” Mobius insisted as he laughed, “You don’t really care about superficial praises as such. You get turned on when someone does a deep dive into your character and forces you to introspect. You need validation, sure. But it’s not about someone else telling you you’re good. It’s about you yourself coming to that conclusion. That you’re good. And not good in the sense of “good boy” or whatever that means. I mean in the terms of actual moral worth. Now that I think of it, that’s a way weirder kink.”

Loki’s cheeks flushed into a deep shade of purple and he seemed incapable of any replies for a minute.

Then suddenly, a thought popped into his head.

He directed a diabolic crooked smile towards Mobius.

“And what about your kink, my love?”

Mobius suddenly felt like he was on very uncertain grounds.

“What kink?” he asked with an air of defiance. “I have never been anything but perfectly gentlemanly towards…”

Loki’s smirk grew sharper. “You think I don’t notice you looking at my breasts? These new ones?”

Mobius choked on nothing.

“Wha… no! I have never…”

“Oh, shut up, Mobius,” Loki laughed. “While I definitely do not think it is an uncommon kink at all, how do you think our friends will react when they get to know about what this paragon of gentlemanly traditions has been up to?”

“I have never been up to anything with those… I mean, I have never even…”

Loki took a firm grasp of Mobius’ tie and started pulling him towards their cabin.

“Well, you are going to.”

“What? Now? It’s noon!,” Mobius sputtered, “Wait, are you letting me do this so that you can tell everyone about my…”

Loki clicked his tongue. “Absolutely not, darling. I’m letting you do this because it’ll be mind-blowing for both of us. And,” he drawled, “So that I have ammunition against you in case you ever get drunk and spill the beans on my kink.”

“So, all this is so that you can get blackmail material on me?” Mobius asked miserably. His feet however did not seem to echo any of the doubts that his brain had.

“Congratulations, genius. Now come claim your prize.”

They had already reached their hut. Loki pushed open the doors and discarded his robe the moment he stepped in without waiting for the door to be closed.

Mobius hurried to slam the door shut.

“What if I refuse?”

Loki lifted one eyebrow to give Mobius an amused smile. “You can. But are you going to?”

Mobius hung his head in defeat and locked the door.

“I still stand by the fact that I have only ever had honourable intentions towards you.”

“Yes, my chivalrous knight, let’s pray we can collectively endure this one afternoon of debasement and debauchery.”

Chapter Text

Mobius was so blissed out by the time Loki dragged him to dinner that he barely noticed the men who were already seated around Thor. A sharp elbow to his ribs and a whispered threat of “Introduce us!” brought him to his senses.

“Uh… I’m Mobius?” he announced loudly.

Loki gave him a look that was equal parts of rage and disappointment.

Thankfully the guests were not the kind to be put off by Mobius’ sudden bout of awkwardness.

“A pleasure to meet you, man.” The first man to stride forth and shake his hand briskly was Sam Wilson. Mobius tried to peep behind him to see if he had brought the shield.

Bruce Banner, thankfully not in his overlarge green form, was settled right beside Thor. For some reason his face was coloured an aggressive shade of red. He seemed like he was trying to politely wave hi while also trying his best to not look Mobius in the eye. Thor, on the other hand, seemed to be in a dilemma about whether to glare at him or pretend like Mobius didn’t exist at all.

Bucky Barnes solved the mystery before Mobius could ask for any explanations.

“The man himself!” Bucky exclaimed as he stepped forward with a smirk. “It truly is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mobius. Until now we had just heard you.”

The last sentence struck Mobius as odd.

“You mean… ‘heard about me’, right?”

As Bucky’s face split into a shit-eating grin, Sam hurriedly tried to intervene, “It’s nothing, honestly. He just…”

“Nope,” Bucky cut right in, “I do mean ‘heard you.’ We all did. You see, the cabin Sam and I were assigned happens to be right beside yours. Thor and Bruce came over to help us get settled. What can I say? Thin walls make great neighbours.”

A memory which Mobius wasn’t even sure was his own suddenly overwhelmed his brain. A little boy on a stage. Three lines of forgotten dialogue. A hundred pairs of eyes on him.

“No,” he croaked out.

“Yes,” Bucky answered.

“No.” This time Mobius looked up at Sam with desperation evident in his eyes.

Sam almost looked as miserable as him. “Sorry, man but yes.”

“There wasn’t anything sad about it to be honest,” Loki decided to introduce himself into the conversation to make up for the piss-poor job that Mobius had done. “In my opinion, which should technically be the only opinion worth considering, it was a class act.”

“I apologise for my husband,” Sam jumped in to do damage control, “He’s from the 40s. They had a rather liberal definition of the term ‘harassment.’”

“What? It wasn’t me who mistook wooden planks for Asgardian palace walls!” Bucky protested. When Sam continued glaring at him, Bucky reluctantly turned towards Mobius to apologize. “Sorry, pal. But frankly speaking, I was rather taken aback. I knew you were good. I didn’t know you were good,” he added a wink at the end to remove any doubts as to what he was referring to.

Mobius, who was currently drowning in a deep pool of embarrassment, had a distant realization that the words were meant to be a compliment. And even in this state, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pride. Good, huh?

Loki scrutinized Bucky for a long while. And then suddenly, like rainclouds dissipating, his face brightened into a genuine smile.

“I can see why we got along.”

“Because you’re both criminally offensive?” Sam offered.

Mobius glanced at the maniacal twin grins on Bucky and Loki’s faces and came to a decision.

His privates would remain very much off limits till these two stopped telepathically scheming with each other.

The group had split into two. Apparently, the others had unanimously decided to give Bucky and Loki their own space.

“You seem happy,” Bucky said after a while.

The words, however true, seemed unsettling.

“I uh… I guess I am,” Loki answered haltingly. “I truly am,” he insisted after a moment, “I should be and I am. Why does that seem so odd when I say it out loud? ‘I am happy.’ See? It sounds all wrong.”

Bucky gave him a sad smile.

“Because you still don’t believe you deserve it,” he answered, “I didn’t either. For a very long time.”

Loki shook his head. “But it’s different with you. Mobius told me all about you. You did nothing wrong. I did. What I did in New York… I attacked… I attacked the Captain as well. Your friend. Do you not despise me for that?”

“I attacked Steve as well, you know?”

“It’s not the same. You weren’t… you.”

“Well, you weren’t you either,” Bucky shrugged.

“It’s not the same,” Loki bit out before something occurred to him. “Wait. How… how did you know about the…?”

“About the mind stone controlling you?” Bucky completed the sentence when Loki trailed off. “You told me one evening. We were drunk out of our minds. Especially you.”

Loki’s eyes widened in shock. “But… how? I didn’t know about it till…”

“You knew,” Bucky stressed, “You just didn’t want to believe it. That’s what you did that entire evening. Kept trying to convince yourself that you were the monster that people thought you were.”

Loki tried to picture the events of that evening even though he had never lived through it.

“Why weren't you convinced, then?” he asked eventually.

Bucky took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall.

“Because I felt like I was looking into a mirror. I met you when I was on the run. Not just from Hydra. From Steve. From Sam. From everyone who would possibly rid me of the idea that I was the monster. That I was to be blamed. That I was to be punished.”

“I didn’t want to be punished…”

“You did. I met you after your imprisonment. After your mother… When you were playing Odin in Asgard. That’s when you decided to frequent earth for your joyrides. If you thought you had been punished enough, you wouldn’t have been stewing in guilt and regret. You told me the worst part of that imprisonment was the abandonment. But Thor still wouldn’t give up on you. So, you had to push him away even further.”

“I pushed away my brother because I despised him,” Loki insisted weakly.

Bucky nodded. “Oh, you did despise him. Just like I despised Steve. Not because we had no love for them. But because we didn’t believe that they should have any love for us.”

Loki remained silent for a while.

“Why did you give me a chance?”

“When we met?”

Loki nodded.

Bucky laughed. “For your booze, pal!”

“What?” Loki blurted out.

“I know it sounds shallow but what can I say? I had no idea exactly where Asgard was supposed to be located on earth but I knew you were the guy with the only kind of exotic alcohol that could get me drunk. I had somewhat settled in in Bucharest when I came across you in the pub beneath my flat. I still remember the first time I saw you. Honestly speaking I had a rather rude thought. “Why is this twink flaunting around his queerness all over town?” We didn’t quite get to be that… free in the 40s. I still don’t think anyone is quite that free. I was a bit jealous to be honest. Somehow you managed to get laid every other night when I was just sitting there drowning in my own misery.”

“Did I not take pity on you?” Loki laughed.

“You did. No! Not in that way. We didn’t fuck. You just kept trying to teach me how to get people that I could fuck.”

“Did I succeed?”

Bucky laughed at looked at Sam, who was busy in conversation with Mobius, on the other side of the room.

“Partially,” he agreed. “Not right then. But eventually. When I found the right man.”

Loki wrinkled his nose in irritation. “But Mr. Wilson would have fallen in love with you anyway. You didn’t need my trickery for that.”

“I didn’t. True,” Bucky admitted, “But tell me, how many months did it take you to believe that Mobius actually wanted to be with you. That you weren’t tricking him into it?”

Loki remained silent for a while.

“You’re still wrong about me.”

“How?”

“I’m not like you. I’m not a hero.”

Bucky let out a tired sigh of defeat. Then he smiled and bumped Loki in the shoulder to draw his attention towards Mobius.

“Well, good thing you managed to bag a bureaucrat, right? I’ve never seen a group of people quite so unimpressed with us.”

“Not going to lie, I was sort of looking forward to meeting you both,” Mobius admitted to Bruce and Sam. Thor was still steadfastly ignoring Mobius.

Sam and Bruce exchanged a confused glance.

“Um… We definitely were looking forward to meet you,” Sam confessed, “But why would you…”

“Because I had a question that neither Casey or Zora… wait a minute,” his face clouded over in worry, “Why aren’t they back yet? I asked Zora to come back before sunset.”

“They did,” Thor replied in a gruff voice. “Had you and my brother not been fornicating like two…”

“Thor,” Bruce warned in a low voice as Thor’s temper started to flare up.

“Anyway,” Thor looked away, “They’re back. They wanted to rest for a while before they could join us.”

“Oh. Thanks for telling me. I was worried.” Mobius looked relieved but a little put out by Thor’s attitude. “Thor, I don’t know how I should apologise for…”

“Let’s not get into that right now,” Bruce’s tone was clearly meant to pacify the situation. “He’ll calm down eventually.” He looked at Thor with a frown. “I mean, Mobius and your brother are having a child together.”

“Doesn’t mean I wanted a front row seat to the process of them making it,” Thor growled.

Bruce rolled his eyes and focused his attention on Mobius.

“If you ask me, I think you’re going to be a fantastic father.”

“That is what I wanted to talk to you both about,” Mobius’ voice grew excited. “See, Casey and Zora, our friends from TVA, they had a few solid decades to get back to their lives. To learn their trades again. So I can’t ask them how to do this.”

“Don’t worry, man. Once the baby is born, you’ll be able to get back to your old life too,” Sam assured.

Mobius shook his head. “I’m not talking about my old life. I’m talking about career prospects.”

Bruce and Sam looked at each other blankly.

Mobius laboured on with his explanation. “If my memory isn’t scrambled up completely, I used to be an FBI agent.”

“Whoa,” Sam exclaimed. “Pegged you more as a… school counselor or something.”

Bruce nodded. “My bets were on school principal.”

Thor frowned. “Loki told me you were obsessed with jet-skis. I have not been on Midgard for long but none of the FBI agents I have met used jet-skis as their preferred mode of conveyance.”

Mobius rolled his eyes. “If I had told Loki about my obsession with Queen, would you have started wondering whether all FBI agents listened to “Don’t Stop Me Now”? Jet-skis were a personal passion of mine.”

“A really personal passion,” Thor muttered under his breath.

“Anyway,” Mobius moved on, “That’s the problem. I didn’t return to my own time. The time when I was abducted. So, I cannot just walk into my old office like it’s nothing. It’s 2026. I have officially been missing for more than 20 years.”

Sam nodded in understanding.

“So, why not choose a different career?”

“Like I said,” Mobius explained, “Unlike Casey and Zora, I don’t have decades to learn a new trade. I need something related and I need it now.”

This time all three of them exchanged glances.

“May I ask why?” Bruce asked eventually, “You can take your time in deciding what you want to do with…”

“Because I’m about to be a father!” Mobius cried out.

The other three still looked at him with absolutely blank faces.

Mobius felt his frustration threatening to brim over.

“I don’t get what you don’t get! I’m about to have a child in a few months’ time! And I have no IDs, not a penny to my name, no usable skill set, no proof of experience and no job!”

Sam was the first one to break the silence. “Well, I can talk to Rhodey about it. With your experience in the FBI, SHIELD should be happy to take you in. But they are a stickler for background checks. So, unless you plan to tell them about the TVA, I don’t know how you can… Bruce, can you help?”

Bruce shook his head miserably. “Completely different fields. The labs I work in, they aren’t really suited to your…”

“Have I caused you some great offence?”

The sheer pain in Thor’s voice jarred them out of the conversation.

Mobius glanced at both of his companies who looked equally clueless before asking, “What? Why would you…”

“I know I was not on my best behaviour today,” Thor acknowledged miserably, “But you are family. Men are not meant to be distant and outwardly polite with family, are they? That is the only reason I was so liberal with my expression of… displeasure.”

Mobius looked more confused than ever. He wanted to ask the other two whether he had accidentally skipped through time and missed a considerable bit of the conversation but he figured they wouldn’t have noticed it.

“Thor, I have no idea why you think I would be seriously offended by that,” he confessed, “I am the one who…”

“Then why did you say those things?”

Mobius could understand that he had inflicted a deep wound in Thor but for the life of him he could not recollect his exact offence.

“What things? I was just trying to figure out my career…”

“You are my brother’s lover!” Thor burst out, “Why did you ever think you would need to work? You are a Prince’s consort! The child is going to be…”

“Wait a second,” Mobius interrupted. “What does that even mean?”

“It means that you don’t have to work. You are an honorary royal.”

Mobius shook his head. “Be that as it may, I still have to support my own family. You understand that, right?”

Thor shook his head with even more vigour. “Absolutely not. You and the child are my responsibility as well.”

“Absolute not?” Mobius gasped out in horror. “The child? Sure. But I am literally in my 50s! I have to find something useful to do around here.”

Thor pondered upon Mobius’ words for a while and then carefully made a proposition.

“What if you helped me rule?”

Mobius gaped at Thor like a fish.

“Help you with what now?”

“Helped me rule this place,” Thor repeated with the same serious expression, “See, you were sort of right about my opponent, Astrid. She’s not a terribly great person but she does have some valid criticisms about me. And I do partially win because of the whole mythical God thing.”

“Partially?” Mobius asked critically.

“Yes, partially,” Thor didn’t back down. “I do rule well but there are some things about Midgard that I don’t quite understand. The whole obsession behind doing things by the rulebook and then noting down all the new rules in the rule book and then following procedures and then sitting in a room for hours with government officials…”

“You want a bureaucrat.” Realisation dawned on Mobius. “You want someone to take care of all the boring bits of ruling.”

Thor nodded sheepishly. “So, will you do it?”

“It’s nepotism for sure,” Mobius stated bluntly. “But it’s still marginally better than having my brother-in-law as a sugar daddy.”

Chapter Text

“I see my brother has been exceedingly kind towards you,” Loki announced the moment Bruce opened the door for him and Mobius the next day.

“Erm… yes, I guess, but why?” Bruce was clearly startled at the odd greeting. He opened the door further and gestured at them to come inside.

“None of the other guests have a King-sized cabin,” Loki answered, a hidden strain of humour evident in his voice. “And you’re living here alone, aren’t you? Mobius, darling? Is our shared cabin quite this large?”

Mobius sighed and pulled up a chair to sit down.

“I don’t know what you’re getting at and I am too anxious to care.”

Loki directed a bland-eye roll towards Mobius. “Do I have to do that whole speech again? You have lived and breathed bureaucracy for thousands of years. How on earth are you nervous about this job? And even if you are, it doesn’t particularly matter. My brother is too much of a buffoon to figure out what you are doing wrong and… oh,” he abandoned every pretense of paying attention to Mobius and spun around to face Bruce, “Did that happen to nettle you by any chance, doctor?”

“What?” Bruce looked up from his chemicals, distracted.

“I happened to call my beloved brother a buffoon. A dimwit. A dunce. An ignoramus, if I may. I was wondering if that stung?” Loki asked courteously, “Do you, by any chance, feel the inklings of hot, molten, bright green rage?”

Bruce looked at Mobius for answers who slumped further down into his chair to pull himself out of this bizarre conversation.

“It’s insulting, I guess,” Bruce answered uncertainly.

Loki smile grew smug as he prodded Mobius’ shoulder. “See? See?”

Mobius let out another sigh as he heaved himself out of the chair. “I came here expecting to see my child to be honest.”

Though the jab was meant for Loki, it seemed to spur Bruce into action.

“Yes, of course, I’m almost finished!” Bruce chimed up as he hurriedly checked his medical equipment. “Loki, could you lie on that bed? The single one.”

“Oh, I see you yourself have a double,” Loki smirked knowingly. “I wonder why…”

“For God’s sake, Loki!” Mobius finally burst out, “Take your clothes off and lie down on that goddamn bed.”

Two things happened instantly. Bruce turned bright red and Loki turned a deep shade of purple.

“I’ll uhh… give you both some time to… you know what to do,” Bruce stammered rather inelegantly before disappearing out of the room in a rush.

Loki did not say a single word as he dropped his robe to the ground.

“I’m sorry,” Mobius rubbed at his temples, “I shouldn’t have screamed but can you try not bothering the doctor?” He handed Loki the hideous hospital issue gown that Bruce had left on the bed.

Loki obediently put on the gown and hitched himself up on the bed.

“Well played,” Loki tried to keep his voice polite and breezy, “I’ll get my revenge but well played.”

Mobius rolled his eyed and sat down beside him. “I wouldn’t have had to do this if you weren’t being a brat.”

“You guys all set?” Bruce’s asked as he knocked on the door.

“Yes, doctor,” Loki called out before turning to murmur to Mobius, “You realise that you’re making the situation worse, right? Down there? You’ll get your due.”

Bruce started rattling off instructions right away.

“Let’s look at the baby first, shall we? Then we can get to the other nitty-gritties. I wanted to do a pap smear. Uh… to check the cervix. Is that okay with you, Loki?”

To no real surprise of his, the extraterrestrial God put up an immediate objection.

“You want to look at my cunt? Absolutely not!” Loki made a loud protest as he crossed his legs firmly, “I am a Prince! Only the royal healers can look at… And they have. Mobius tell him!”

Mobius was conflicted. While he did trust Bruce and earthly medical technology more than Asgardian healing, he was not going to force his beliefs on to Loki. The fact that Loki was allowing Midgardian machinery anywhere near his baby was miraculous enough. How could he make Loki do something he was clearly extremely uncomfortable with? But he did want all the tests to turn up right as well. How could he tell Bruce that he didn’t want…

Bruce’s voice interrupted his thoughts. It was a scientist’s voice, not just a friend’s.

“I know the healers checked you, Loki. But Thor wants me to assist them during the birthing process in case something goes wrong. Not that it will,” he added quickly, “But I cannot really assist if I have no idea how your birth canal is situated or how your reproductive system even works. I spoke to Eir. I didn’t want to bring this up but… Each of your pregnancies have been vastly different from one another. And they haven’t been easy, have they? Despite Asgardian healing. We are already basing a lot of our assumptions on guesswork. I don’t want to leave yet more details of the delivery to chance. I will not do anything against your will. But I do think this will help me determine the safest way to deliver the baby when it’s time. Do you understand?”

All trace of former awkwardness and humour vanished from the room. The crushing seriousness of the matter finally dawned on Loki. When he looked up at Mobius to apologise for making light of the situation, he realised the man looked absolutely mortified.

“You mean there’s a large chance that things can go south?” Mobius whispered. He was definitely not ready to hear the answer but he needed to.

Bruce shook his head. “I want to say ‘no’, Mobius but honestly speaking, none of us really know. Which is why I wanted to do the…”

“Do it.”

Both Bruce and Mobius looked down at Loki, clearly taken aback.

“You sure?” Mobius asked gently, “I don’t want to force you into…”

“I don’t…” Loki took in a deep breath before he could continue. “I’ve experienced ‘things going south’ too many times to risk it again.” He turned towards Bruce. “Do what you have to, doc.”

Bruce looked significantly relieved as he gave them a brisk nod and turned to fetch a tube from the table.

“The pap smear part comes later. Let’s first see how the baby is doing.” He raised the tube to show Loki, “I’m going to apply this on your stomach, alright?”

Loki nodded absentmindedly and exclaimed a quiet “Oh, it’s warm” when it touched his belly.

Bruce held up the probe. “Not going to poke you, don’t worry. Have you experienced any movement yet?”

Loki shook his head.

“Then the delivery date is probably a while away. I’ll be able to give you an estimate based on the developmental… Ah, there you go.”

Both Mobius and Loki looked up at the USG screen, startled.

“We’re having a daughter!” Mobius gasped at the exact same moment that Loki cheered, “No horns!”

Mobius turned towards Loki with a frown. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Loki looked at him like he was an idiot. “Horns” he pointed at his own, “She doesn’t have these.”

“I’m not blind,” Mobius snapped, “I mean, why are you so happy about it?”

Loki looked even more confused. “Would you want your child to have horns?”

“You have horns!”

“Exactly!” Loki burst out, “That’s why I’m so glad that she won’t have them. It means she’ll look human. She’ll look like you.”

The sharp feeling of pity lanced through Mobius’ anger.

“Why can’t she look like you?” he asked gently, “Why would that be bad?”

Loki growled in frustration. “Stop doing that. Pitying me. I have no delusions about the fact that you like the way I look. But how are you under the delusion that people, Midgardians especially, will accept a person who looks like me with open arms?”

Mobius had no ready replies for that. Had he been a more optimistic man, he would have insisted that Loki was wrong. That the world was going to accept their daughter no matter what. But he had seen a million different versions of the Earth during his stint in the TVA. Being accepting of others with differences was not one of his fellow humans’ strong suit. He hated the fact that Loki was right. But he was right.

Mobius looked up at the screen again.

“Well, she has your beak nose. So, she’ll be cursed with your looks no matter what.”

Loki couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“Darling, she currently looked like a loaf of bread. So, it’s safe to say she’ll be a spitting image of you.”

Bruce had been busy setting up his next few tests. He turned around holding a rather formidable looking metallic device.

Loki raised an eyebrow as he considered the torture device. “Is this revenge for New York?”

“Oh, this? This is a speculum,” Bruce hurried to explain. “It’s going to feel weird but it’s not going to hurt. Umm… Mobius is already in the room but do you want someone else to…”

“No, doctor,” Loki stopped him immediately, “Thank you for the offer but I don’t particularly want a packed gallery for the viewing of my vagina. Just get on with it. Oh, and just a rather innocent question that just popped into my mind,” Loki sat up on his elbows to look directly at Bruce, “Is this the first royal Asgardian genitalia you’re witnessing or…”

Mobius clamped a hand over Loki’s mouth and pushed him down on the bed again.

***

“Mobius? Wake up. Mobius! Mobius!”

Mobius jolted up from his sleep and tried to find Loki in the dim light. “You alright? What’s wrong? What time is it?”

The pained whimper that Loki let out froze the blood in his veins.

“I’ll get Eir,” he said as he immediately jumped down on the ground and started hunting around for his scattered clothes. “Did I hurt you? I told you we shouldn’t do it right after the tests…”

“Don’t wake Eir,” Loki instructed weakly, an arm covering his eyes, “Just get Bruce.”

“Bruce?” Mobius frowned, “Isn’t his cabin all the way across…”

“Just get Bruce!”

“Alright, alright! Just hang on, okay? I’ll be back in a minute. Well, it’s gonna take more than a minute. Oh… it’s almost half past five. Maybe he’s up already?”

The sky was still completely dark when Mobius started making his way across the village. He had no idea why Bruce’s cabin was so far away from theirs. Or from any other cabin at all. Was Thor still scared of Bruce losing control…

Anyway, this was clearly not the right time to speculate about Thor’s feelings towards Bruce.

When he finally reached the hut, he wasted no time in slamming his fists against the door. The situation was too urgent for polite knocking.

“Bruce? Bruce! You need to come out now. There’s something wrong with Loki and I don’t know…”

There was a sudden commotion inside. Mobius heard a loud thud and then the sound of furniture being toppled over. What on…

“What’s wrong with my brother?”

Mobius’ jaw dropped.

A very tensed but very naked Thor stood right in front of him. The only saving grace was the very tiny tea cosy that was hiding away the very thing that would have given Mobius nightmares till the very end of his life.

“He… uh…”

“Thor, cover yourself for God’s sake.” Mobius heard Bruce swear from somewhere inside the room as a tunic flew towards Thor and landed on his head. “Don’t traumatize the poor man.”

“My brother is in pain!” Thor bellowed as he snatched the offending piece of cloth off his face.

Mobius hurried to agree. “Yes, Loki is in…”

“AHA! I won! Pay up!”

Mobius almost fell down in shock at the sound of Loki’s voice behind him.

“We both had the same bet, dumbass,” Bucky’s voice followed, “If anyone should pay up, it should be Sam.”

“You idiots!” Sam was the only one who sounded out of breath. “When the fuck did you sneak out? And, shame on you for using your super-speed but not super hearing,” he shouted at Bucky, “I knew you could hear me. I told you not to go through with this idiotic plan.”

“I didn’t,” Bucky shrugged, “Loki did. You would never have believed that I had a tummy ache. Mobius is a kinder man.”

Mobius slowly turned towards Loki.

“You pretended to be in pain so that I would burst in on Thor and Bruce?”

Loki shrugged. “It was a really evil plan and hence it made complete sense for me to do it. Also, I tried finding out every other way. Didn’t work. So, I had to sacrifice you. If you want, I can try erasing the image of my brother’s cock from your brain.”

“I would have been a gentleman about this too,” Bucky insisted, “But both of these lying shitheads kept acting all high and mighty and kept giving me crap about me being too lovey-dovey with Sam. When I knew these guys were bumping uglies too!”

“’Bumping uglies?’” Sam muttered under his breath, “Are you twelve?”

Thor finally cleared his throat and begun in a resolute voice.

“It is true that Doctor Banner… Bruce, and I have been engaged in a relationship not just founded on lust but also mutual respect and love. Though lust did lay the foundation for…”

“Oh my God, Thor,” Bruce screamed from behind him, “Will putting on some damn clothes ruin your grand speech?”

Soon enough Thor was yanked into the room and the door slammed shut.

Mobius turned towards Loki.

“If you do not figure out how to erase your brother’s very naked butt from my memory, I am going to ask for a divorce.”

“Oh, you guys are married?” Bucky gasped, “I thought…”

“No,” Mobius calmly continued, his ice-cold stare fixed on Loki, “But I will marry you to then divorce you within the next two days if your brother’s butt keeps looming large in my mind.”

Chapter Text

It was eventually decided that keeping Thor’s butt seared into Mobius’ head was the best course of action for everybody involved.

After all, there was a ban on Loki’s seidr till the baby was born, which Bruce informed them would be sooner than expected.
(“By my estimate, we’re roughly two months away. So, approximately the first week of December. We’re almost in the zone, huh? Oh god, we’re in the zone… Scared? I’m not scared. Who’s scared? You’re scared.”)

Also, Loki did not really know how the memory erasure thing worked.
(“It’s not like Sylvie knows it either! Stop implying that I am specifically incompetent! We’re all like this.”)

Moreover, the moment Loki realised he could accidentally wipe away more than just Thor’s butt from Mobius’ mind, he shot down the proposal in no time.
(“I don’t care if you divorce me. I’m having your baby anyway. What are you going to do? Run away? Ha!”)

So, Mobius did what every self-respecting man in his situation would do.

He stopped looking Thor in the face. Which was exceptionally difficult now because Thor was sort of his boss.

“Mobius, I need to talk to you.”

“Hmm?” Mobius made no attempts to look up from the paperwork spread out before him.

“Mobius, this is important.”

“Hm.”

“Mobius?”

“…”

“Look at me!”

“No, I’m doing just fine, thank you.”

“Okay, well… Then I guess you don’t want to hear about the fact that Loki was betrothed to the Prince of Vanaheim as a child and now he’s back to ask for his…”

The table almost toppled over when Mobius sprung to his feet, an accusatory finger pointed right at Thor.

“That’s impossible! I’ve watched his entire life and he never had anything with the Prince of Vanaheim!”

Thor started for a moment before nodding.

“It is impossible because I was lying through my teeth but at least now I’ve got your attention.”

Mobius looked shocked for a brief second before colouring at his outburst and pulling back his chair again to sit down.

“That was a mean lie.”

“Yes, but since you’re with my brother I guessed, correctly, that it was the only way to get you to do anything,” Thor smiled. “Now. I really do have something to discuss with you. Some visitors from the Nine Realms are arriving this afternoon…”

“To marry Loki?” Mobius cried, aghast.

Thor pressed a palm to his face. “Mobius! Can you stop being intolerably in love with my brother for a second?”

“You’re the one who planted that thought in my brain,” Mobius grumbled, “Anyway, if this isn’t about Loki’s marriage, what is it about?”

“We’ll get to the topic of Loki’s marriage later,” Thor answered seriously, “But… the guests who are arriving are my friends from Sakaar.”

“Oh!” Mobius exclaimed, “The Last Valkyrie and Korg?”

“Yes,” Thor nodded, “Her name is Brunnhilde. Korg is visiting his family. He’ll be back soon.”

“What about Miek?”

“You know Miek?” Thor asked, surprised.

“Everyone knows Miek,” Mobius shrugged, “He kept turning up at the TVA because he kept dying when he shouldn’t have. So, we kept putting him back out into the world. Good to know he’s alive now.”

Thor seemed a bit confused for a second. “I actually can’t remember if he is.”

“That’s kind of sad,” Mobius said in a somber voice.

“It is indeed.”

Mobius tried to keep his face appropriately morose for at least a minute but Thor could see right through it.

“You’re excited to meet Brunnhilde…”

“Excited?” Mobius roared, “I’ve never ever ever met a Valkyrie in my life. I’ve seen her in Loki’s files but I’ve never met any of them. They are legends! Still can’t believe you’re on a first name basis with her.”

Thor frowned a bit at the implication. “Well, I am the current King of Asgard…”

Mobius rolled his eyes, “I’ve met more kings than I can count. You know who kept turning up? Ivan the Fourth.”

“Ugh, that’s terrible,” Thor groaned, “Don’t compare me to him.”

“Yes, I can’t say pruning him was a hardship,” Mobius agreed. Then his eyes lighted up again, “Think she’ll take our daughter under her wing?”

Thor smiled. “Why wouldn’t she? There are certain duties associated with high birth. Your child… she’ll need to be a formidable warrior. Who better to train her than a Valkyrie?”

Mobius nodded absent-mindedly. “Hey, you don’t think I’m being one of those annoying parents who decides that their child is going to be a doctor before they’re born, right? She can be a pastry-chef if she wants to.”

“A formidable pastry-chef,” Thor agreed. “But do you understand why I’m telling you all this? These are Loki’s friends. But this Loki doesn’t know them.”

“So, you want me to give him another speech?”

Thor pinned Mobius under a steely glare.

“Just the speech this time, thank you.”

Mobius rolled his eyes. “This doesn’t work now that I’ve seen… all of you, you realise that, right?”

“I’m friends with a Valkyrie?” Loki squealed, “Tell me you’re lying! You’re lying! If only Sylvie knew!”

“I’m not lying and… For the love of… Don’t prance around the room, you’re pregnant!”

Mobius knew his façade of annoyance was not fooling anyone, both of them were too giddy to be annoyed.

“I had Valkyrie dolls as a child! With the Pegasi and everything! They were the only ones who made Thor and his stupid friends seem like the actual children that they were.”

“So, I assume you won’t be needing a speech this time?”

Loki suddenly froze mid-spin.

“Wait. What did I do to her?” he asked, fear evident in his eyes.

Mobius pondered upon that for a while. Should he tell him? But what would be the use of that revelation? His Loki clearly had nothing but starry-eyed admiration for her.

“Nothing that she remembers… I think,” Mobius replied. This was a difficult inference to make but the Last Valkyrie… Brunnhilde, didn’t seem like the kind who held grudges. Against Loki at least.

“You must tell me,” Loki insisted, sitting down beside Mobius, “What if she despises me?”

“She won’t,” Mobius squeezed Loki’s hand reassuringly. “She also fought beside you, remember?”

“You mean, I fought beside her,” Loki huffed, “You cannot possibly think a Valkyrie would require my help.”

“No, honestly she…”

Loki sighed.

“Mobius. I am called the God of Lies for a reason. The skill extends both ways. Now tell me. What did I do to her?”

The thing is, Brunnhilde truly didn’t remember. Or care. And that much became evident to Mobius the moment she took one look at Loki, whistled and exclaimed, “Who’s this beauty?”

What Loki would have said had he not being dying of shame and mortification was anybody’s guess. But since he was frozen with his eyes pinned to the ground, all he did was let out an aborted sound between a half whimper and half greeting.

“A Jotunn,” Brunnhilde remarked as she looked Loki up and down admiringly. Suddenly her brows furrowed and she jerked her head towards Thor.

“A pregnant Jotunn,” she glared at him, “Are they a war slave?”

“What?” Thor squawked, “What war? When…”

“I don’t know,” Brunnhilde waved her hand dismissively, “You’re the one who wanted me to explore the Nine Realms for a new home. You think time works similarly everywhere? I don’t even know if I’ve aged a millennium. Maybe you fought a war, who knows? You always seem to be fighting someone.”

“First, blatantly untrue. I am a County Mayor. I have a reputation to uphold. Second, you were the one who decided to do that,” Thor reminded her, “You were the one who said not all Asgardians want to live here and then set out to find new abandoned planets. I never intend to move anywhere. Let alone a separate planet.”

“Oh,” Brunnhilde seemed to ponder upon that explanation for a while and then accept it as true enough. “Well, that still doesn’t answer the question of who this ethereal beauty is and why they are your war prize.” She strutted towards Loki and swept her long, dark hair back with a flourish. “I have been a warrior since before this young princeling was even conceived. And I have never treated any creature as radiant as you in this brutish…”

“Can you stop before we all regurgitate our breakfasts?” Thor asked tiredly. “That radiant creature is my brother. And the father of that radiant creature’s child is standing right beside him. I have no idea how you missed him. They’re literally holding hands.”

Mobius waved hesitantly, torn between excitement and fear.

“Loki?” Brunnhilde gasped, “I didn’t know you were…”

“Alive? A Jotunn? With child?” Thor offered.

“Aye, yes all of those,” she muttered in amazement. “But if he’s your brother, why is he behaving like that? He was a real bitch. I mean, at first- yes. But even more so when we were travelling together later. Why is he…”

“I don’t know actually,” Thor realised with a frown, “Long story short, this isn’t really the Loki you knew. This is him from the past. Does that make any sense?”

Brunnhilde shrugged, “Everything makes sense. Did I ever think an insect with a noodle tail would be my favourite delicacy? No. But life happens. And so does time travel. It’s no big deal. I believe this is Loki. I just don’t believe he was a shrinking violet just years before turning into a bitch.”

“Yeah, about that shrinking violet part… Mobius, did the speech not work?” Thor’s eyes narrowed, “You did give a speech, right?”

“I uh…. Tried,” Mobius admitted, “He made me tell him what… you know, what he did. Well, not him, but you get the gist. What the Other Loki did… to her.”

Brunnhilde frowned. “Why? What did he do to me?”

Loki began tremulously, “I cannot believe I insulted to Valkyries of all… Their sacrifice and…”

“What? Ohhh. You didn’t. He did. When we met. But I won that fight. And then I chained you… him in my room. Now that I think about it, had you been there, I would have done things much differently. I mean, the chains could stay but…”

“His husband is right there,” Thor interrupted. “Also, aren’t you like a few thousand years older than us? It’s highly unsettling.”

“Well…,” Mobius finally stepped up and extended a hand towards Brunnhilde, “Thor did unknowingly foreshadow that my partner would get stolen this afternoon, so this is a bit less bewildering than it should have been but… I guess this is better than losing to the Prince of Vanaheim.”

Brunnhilde scanned Mobius from top to bottom and then nodded approvingly before taking his hand in a firm grasp.

“I have no idea why he is with you and that makes me want to know you better,” Brunnhilde remarked as she peered at Mobius skeptically. “You’re a Midgardian, right?”

Mobius nodded. “I was stuck somewhere for a long time but I do belong here, yes. Also, since Loki is doing… whatever it is that he is doing now, I guess it’s up to me to ask. I don’t want to sound too forthright but… We’re having a daughter. Would you consider taking her under your wing?”

Loki suddenly gasped in horror. “Mobius! The Valkyrie are elite Asgardian warriors! Our child is not of real Asgardian descent!”

“You’re not?” Brunnhilde asked, clearly confused, “Ohhh. You’re from the past. So, you’re probably from a different timeline, right? Bruce tried explaining that to me once when I was drunk. So, you’re the Prince of Jotunnheim instead of Asgard in your timeline?”

“What? No!” Loki answered, equally confused, “I’m not the Prince of Jotunnheim. I’m Loki!”

“Then you’re the Prince of Asgard!” Brunnhilde said exasperatedly. “Just because I don’t look drunk doesn’t mean that I’m not drunk! Can you stop speaking in riddles? To answer your question- yes, I’ll teach your daughter everything I know.”

“Except the drinking,” Thor reminded her.

Brunnhilde spun around with a ready comeback: “People who force their much-aged friends to resuscitate them when they are choking on their own vomit, should not throw stones at others.”

“If you’re much-aged stop flirting with my little brother,” Thor persisted.

“I stopped flirting with your brother the moment I decided to train his child.”

The banter came to an abrupt stop with a sharp gasp from Loki.

Mobius immediately extended an arm to support his waist. “Are you…”

“She moved.”

“What?”

All three pairs of eyes grew impossibly wider.

Loki pulled Mobius’ hand to rest on the left side of lower belly.

Mobius gasped as well. “She’s ready to be a Valkyrie!” Then he immediately teared up. “Or, a pastry-chef. Whichever you want, darling. But the timing… do you think she heard Brunnhilde?”

Loki smiled gently. “Maybe she did, love. Do you think she’ll start kicking soon?”

“She must. Did she just… did you feel that?”

As the pair disappeared into their own warm cocoon of peace and calm, Brunnhilde turned towards Thor.

“You’re crying.”

“I know.”

“You should be thanking me for stepping in with that ‘I’ll train your child’ line, right? Imagine getting stuck with that story of you choking on stale ale.”

Chapter Text

A strange song drew Bruce to Loki’s hut. He could not tell the words apart… in fact, the song didn’t seem to have distinct words as earthly songs did. It was this continuous lilting tone that rose and fell with the wind.

The world was quiet out here. The usual humdrum chaos of the village at daytime had been silenced.

Bruce had no idea how long he stood there. The sudden cessation of the song was what jarred him out of his trance.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude…”

“It’s not an issue,” Loki smiled gently, gesturing at Bruce to come in. Bruce noticed that his other hand kept caressing the bulge of his stomach. “She moved,” Loki explained, “I assumed she can hear us. That’s why I’ve been singing to her.”

“Was that an Asgardian song?” Bruce wondered aloud, “It was… ethereal. Thor sings Asgardian drinking songs occasionally. They don’t sound like that.”

Loki shook his head. “I don’t think it’s Asgardian. Mother used to sing this to me… as a lullaby.”

“Is it Jotunn?”

“Maybe. All I know is… it’s a mother’s song.”

Bruce nodded. They sat together in a companionable silence for some time before Loki’s eyes widened.

“Oh, there she is again! Do you want to feel her?”

He didn’t wait for Bruce to reply before dragging his hand to place it on a spot on his belly.

“Wow…” Bruce gasped, “She ain’t really a kicker though, is she?”

Loki laughed, “Maybe she’ll turn into one but no, not yet. She’s gentle with me. I think she’ll take after Mobius.” He smiled at the image that that sentence conjured up in his head. “I hope she takes after Mobius.”

Bruce had to chuckle at the image that popped up in his head too. “A little boss baby with her hands on her hips? I can’t wait to see that. Though… I didn’t say anything that day but I do think this little lady is going to resemble you. Not the Jotunn part… the facial features. Maybe you’ll hit the mini-Mobius jackpot with the second one. I’ll gift that kid a miniature three-piece suit and everything. Maybe a monocle.”

The joke was pretty funny in Bruce’s opinion but Loki’s smile dropped.

“Sorry if I… I know that’s a huge decision and I shouldn’t have joked…”

Loki didn’t seem to be processing any of the words Bruce was saying.

“Bruce, you can’t give birth, right?”

Bruce suddenly choked on his own spit. “Wha… What? Why would you…”

Loki clutched at one of his hands and looked earnestly into his eyes.

“Believe me when I say this, I think you are the most ideal partner my brother could ever have but… you can’t give birth.”

Bruce was having a hard time believing what he was hearing.

“You are homophobic? You who is intersex and queer as hell. You? Out of all the ways that you could be evil…”

Loki tightened his grasp over Bruce’s arm before he could back away further.

“I don’t even understand what that is supposed to mean. But I think you’re making sure very wrong inferences.”

Bruce was having none of that. “You’re the one telling me that I cannot be with your brother because we’re both men!”

“What? No!” Loki screamed, “It’s because you cannot give him a child.”

“Why on earth does that matter?” Bruce screamed back.

“Because he needs an heir!”

Bruce gaped at him.

“That’s what this is about? Am I supposed to get a complex about that and leave your brother?”

“Of course not,” Loki pleaded, “I do think you are perfect for him! That’s why I wanted to ask you if you had any plans…”

“Plans of what sort?” Bruce burst out.

“I don’t know… Alternatives. Maybe borrowing a womb…”

Bruce froze in his tracks.

“You want to bear your brother’s child?”

Loki’s face distorted with shock and disgust. “What? You sick man…”

“You sick man!”

“Why would you ever imply that?”

“You’re the only one with a womb here!”

Loki scoffed in disbelief, “And what about all of these women here? Did you mistake them for sows?”

Bruce gasped, “I knew you were against this relationship! Why put up such an elaborate act when you’re ready to push your brother into the arms of any random woman who…”

“Asgardian women!” Loki screamed, “It’s just about getting an heir, Bruce! I never said you couldn’t be the royal consort! But Thor needs an heir. Brunnhilde is looking for a new home for the Asgardians already and even if Thor does not go with her, someone has to… But much has changed,” he conceded, “We are not on Asgard anymore. I presume the ancient customs can be done away with. But knowing my brother, he is unlikely to accept an adopted heir…”

Bruce remained silent for a whole minute. He needed to gather his thoughts before he could say anything.

“First,” he began carefully, “Thor handed over the reins of the other… extraterrestrial New Asgard to Brunnhilde.”

Loki’s eyes widened in disbelief but after pondering upon what Bruce said for a moment the decision didn’t seem as impossible.

“But what about her heir? Valkyries don’t…”

“She will simply choose an heir,” Bruce shrugged.

Loki’s jaw dropped. “You cannot choose an heir!”

“You can,” Bruce laughed, “Thor did. When he chose Brunnhilde. I guess you really did miss out on that part of his character growth, didn’t you? The one where he stopped giving a fuck about Odin and his rules.”

“How can my brother not give a fuck about Odin’s rules?” Loki sneered. “Odin made Thor who he is. The true-born heir.”

Bruce shook his head tiredly. “Thor is the Mayor of this county. A great responsibility but that’s what he is. And no, I didn’t sap away his powers. He chose to retire. Like the rest of us.”

Loki kept staring blankly at Bruce’s face. “A King cannot retire. The true-born heir can’t…”

Bruce patted Loki on the back in a calming gesture. “Yeah. I genuinely thought Mobius had covered this bit. Also, you know who the closest thing to a true-born heir is, don’t you?” He stared meaningfully at Loki’s belly.

Loki detangled himself from Bruce immediately.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I do,” Bruce sighed. “I didn’t want to be the one to tell you this… Especially because now I’ll forever be tagged as the bitchy boyfriend of your brother but… you don’t really know your brother as well as I do.”

Loki spun around, his ruby eyes glinting with fire underneath.

“I just want an ordinary Midgardian life with the extraordinary Midgardian man I have. I do not have the ambitions you accuse me of. Neither will my child.”

Bruce gave him a rather sad smile in return. “But your brother does.”

******

“You know you can take the day off, right?” Thor suggested as he watched Mobius trying to drill a hole through the table with his pen.

“Oh, no it’s fine. It’s absolutely fine. It’s more than fine. It’s fucking amazing, Thor!” Mobius threw the pen away in excitement. “I felt her move! She’s there! She’s actually there. And she’s going to be here in no time!”

Thor couldn’t help but smile. Mobius’ giddiness was infectious.

“You’re the first father I have seen who is not plagued by fears.”

“Are you kidding me? I have been plagued by fears that I didn’t even understand throughout my life. I was afraid to be alive because sometimes I just couldn’t figure out why I was alive in the first place. This is the first real thing that’s happening to me! This is the only thing that counts! My heart feels like it’s going to explode! ... No, wait. That was literal. Feel this…” Mobius pulled Thor’s hand and pressed it to his chest.

Thor’s eyes widened in fear as Mobius’ breaths became irregular. “Norns, your heart… You’re old! Are you dying? Please don't be dying. Loki will gut me like a fish… Will it to beat slower, Mobius.”

Mobius somehow managed to throw Thor the dirtiest look he possibly could while heaving for breath.

“Oh, I know,” Thor shouted, “You should breath! Breath!”

“You… are a real… pain in the…”

“No, I mean, follow my breathing,” Thor pressed Mobius’ hand to his own chest and took a slow, deliberate breath. “Do it.”

Mobius gasped in a breath somehow still looking royally pissed off.

“Now let it out. Slowly… yes.”

Thor continued the routine till Mobius’ lungs finally stopped panicking.

“Better?”

“You suck. I appreciated that. But you suck.”

“And I really don’t care,” Thor shrugged, “As long as you’re alive, my brother is not going to feed me to fish.”

“Are fish threats woven into the Asgardian cultural fabric or did Loki ever…”

“When do you intend to marry my brother?”

Mobius almost stopped breathing again but this time Thor did not show any trace of sympathy.

“Come on, Mobius. This discussion was inevitable.”

“Not right after I mentioned Loki torturing fish!”

Thor considered that for a moment. “No. That sin he has never engaged in. So now do you agree to marry him?”

Mobius didn’t quite know how to answer that.

“I… obviously yes. I mean, it’s really not a question I thought I would ever get asked. By you. I thought I would be the one… on one knee. In front of Loki, not you.”

Thor rolled his eyes exasperatedly. “You know everything about Loki and nothing about the ancient Asgardian customs? You don’t propose to the groom. You propose to the groom’s family. Me.”

“Umm… fine, I guess,” Mobius said somewhat skeptically as he started to climb down from the chair.

“Not like that, you oaf!” Thor picked Mobius up and placed him on his chair again. “I am bringing the proposal to you. Since you have no family that I know of. I apologize for that. If your parents are…”

“All dead,” Mobius waved his hand dismissively, “No need to be so sorry about it. Never knew them in the first place. Anyway, go on. This feels nice. Not that this is ideal but still… Go on.”

Thor cleared his throat and began in a grave house.

“Mobius, Son of…”

“Mobius.”

Thor threw Mobius a disappointed glare but continued anyway.

“Mobius M. Mobius, Son of Mobius. I never believed that someone like you could exist in the Nine Realms. Someone who not only loves my brother as much as I do, but actually makes him kinder… better. I have always loved him regardless. But I never realised that he never quite wanted to be loved like that. Till you came along, and showed not only him, but me, how love can truly heal. You somehow accepted him just as he is and yet knew exactly which parts he despised in himself. The parts that he could not love. You not only loved him, you ensured that he could love himself. You… are you crying?”

Mobius blew his nose. “Of course I’m crying. This is the oddest yet sweetest thing that has ever happened to me. I don’t think Loki’s vow will top this.”

Thor couldn’t help but preen at the praise. “Well, I have been told on multiple occasions that I am an excellent lov…”

“Don’t ruin this,” Mobius cut in immediately, “Go on. Ask me to marry your brother.”

“Mobius M. Mobius, Son of…”

“Oh God, not that again. Yes, of course, yes! I’ll marry your… wait. Loki does know you’re doing this, right”

Thor frowned. “How can he not? He turned up to my doorstep, heavy with child and the man responsible for making that child and then expected me not to legitimize this union?”

Mobius’ eyes widened with bewilderment.

“You didn’t ask him?”

Thor blinked at him. “What’s there to ask? Everyone knew…”

Mobius buried his face in his palms. “You absolute… Anyway, this is probably a good thing, right?” he raised his head with a steady look of determination on his face, “This just means I can actually propose to him. Get on one knee and everything. Now all I need is a ring. Do you have a car? Can I borrow it for a day? I promise I drive like a pro.”

Thor sat up with an ardent look of determination as well.

“You won’t need to. I’ll drive you.”

Mobius looked a bit confused. “Uh… that’s really nice of you but you’re an Asgardian and I don’t really trust you to drive…”

Thor sat up even straighter. “And I will help you plan for the proposal.”

Mobius jerked back in shock. “Definitely not!”

“Definitely yes. Also, the marriage”

“No!”

“Technically I’m a King so nothing you say really counts. Now, do you think we should go with blue flowers to complement Loki’s skin or do you think we’ll lose him in the foliage?”

Chapter Text

Thor was eight when he stumbled in on Mother braiding a string of rubies into Loki’s hair. Even as a four-year-old, Loki had almost waist length hair that apparently needed extensive care. Thor had a feeling that his mother rather liked having someone to fuss over now that Thor refused to let her anywhere near his hair. The royal braids were fine. They were a custom that had to be followed. Going the extra length with the jewels and the other pomp and show made no sense to Thor. Which is exactly what he told Loki now.

“This looks ridiculous.”

Loki’s eyes immediately welled up. He didn’t do much other than cry at that age.

“I like it,” he cried out shrilly.

“Well, it looks stupid. Fandral said so as well.”

That made Loki cry even harder. Everyone in the Nine Realms knew he was obsessed with Fandral.

Frigga immediately pulled Loki into her arms.

“Thor, apologize. Now.”

“He does look… odd,” Thor insisted stubbornly. He had no idea why Mother always had to defend Loki.

“Now.”

Thor shuffled his feet on the ground for a minute before finally giving in. Contrary to the popular belief, it wasn’t really fun to make Loki cry. It was fun to rile him up, sure. Especially because it was extremely easy. But Thor did not enjoy watching Loki cry.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered under his breath with his eyes fixed on the ground.

“Louder.”

“I am sorry,” Thor gritted out.

“Good, now look at him,” Frigga ordered, “Actually look at him. How do you really think he looks? Not what Fandral thinks. What do you think?”

It took a lot of internal effort for Thor to raise his head. He wasn’t used to getting a scolding. Father never did it. Mother didn’t either. Till Loki came into the picture.

Loki stubbornly refused to look at Thor and buried himself further into their mother’s embrace. Which only left his long black hair exposed to Thor’s sight. On closer inspection, he understood that the rubies were meant to bind in some tiny blue flowers. Thor knew these flowers. Everyone did. Mother called these “Loki’s flowers” because Loki was obsessed with them. He picked up a bunch and left a trail of them all around the castle because his tiny arms naturally failed to hold them all in. The normally unassuming wildflowers somehow seemed iridescent under the glow of the rubies.

“He… uh…” Thor cleared his throat, “Emeralds would suit him better. With his eyes”

It took Loki a while to process what Thor had said. When he finally understood it was not an insult, he turned his head around in disbelief.

“You like it?”

Thor cleared his throat again and focused on a random spot on the wall. “You look beautiful.”

Loki’s face almost split into a smile before stuttering to a stop. He schooled his expressions in a second and nodded gravely at Thor.

“I like it.”

Frigga smiled as she returned to braiding his hair again.

“Emeralds would go better with these eyes, yes. But Loki wanted me to show him how I looked on my wedding day. You wear red for your wedding day.”

Thor nodded contemplatively before a question popped up in his head. “Then why aren’t the flowers red as well?”

“Because Loki likes these flowers,” his mother answered simply.

“But if it’s a custom to wear red then…”

“Not everything needs to be bound by customs,” Frigga said as she gestured towards the flowers, “These are Loki’s flowers. How can he not have them for his wedding?”

Loki nodded solemnly as he picked up a flower and tucked it into a random lock of his hair.

“What if Father doesn’t allow them?” Thor asked. It was an obvious question. There was no question of Odin allowing any such frivolities at a formal event.

Frigga gave Thor an enigmatic smile.

“Why, then it will be up to you to find the flowers.”

The air of Asgard was astir with the news of a possible war.

No one spoke about it directly but everyone could tell where things were headed.

Álfheimr had been breaching peace-time treaties for quite some time now. The bloodshed that had been ignored for so long could no longer be swept under the rug as random exceptions. The massacre of an Asgardian troop at the borders had been the last straw.

Or, what the Asgardians assumed would be the last straw. The King had not yet announced the war but it was predicted to start any day now.

Thor, seventeen now, was not deaf to these rumours. He couldn’t be. He was still in training so it was unlikely that he would be sent to lead the war but his heart still thundered every time he heard about a new development. The Light Elves made worthy allies and absolutely vicious opponents. He knew this was probably a far-flung expectation but every night he dreamt of charging at the Ljósálfar, brandishing his sword.

When Father finally called Thor to his chambers, he was ready. He was born for this. Born to protect…

“Loki is to be betrothed to the Crown Prince of Álfheimr by the next full moon.”

The thoughts in Thor’s mind screeched to a halt.

Odin went on rattling instructions to him about the visiting royal family from Álfheimr but Thor’s entire brain remained frozen at that particular point in time when Odin had uttered those words.

Those words that meant nothing.

Could mean nothing.

Odin was supposed to inform Thor about his role in the war. Loki was not supposed to be…

“Father, forgive me if I have misheard you but… did you just say Loki is supposed to be betrothed? To the enemy prince?”

Odin let out an irritated breath. “Yes, yes. We have moved past that long ago. Also, try not calling Freyr the ‘enemy’? The whole point of this union is to develop a peaceful bond between the two realms.”

“Peace?” Thor was taken aback, “Why are we vying for peace? The Ljósálfar have been killing off our people for decades now. Why are we not fighting back? Why not just…”

Thor jerked back in shock as Odin slammed his fist down on the table.

“Why not just lose a thousand men for no reason? Is that what you were going to say?”

Thor could not believe what he was hearing. Asgard had never before yielded before an enemy. Every child started training to be a soldier the moment they reached the age of fifteen. He tried to reason with Odin once more.

“The army is ready for…”

“This is not a matter of martial importance,” Odin cut him off in a stern voice.

“It is our army that is getting butchered! Every single day!” Thor cried out. “You’re worried about a thousand men? We will lose millions if we don’t go into war!”

Odin shook his head. “It’s not yet time for you to start planning battles, my son. Besides, your brother can save the millions that you are talking about. Prince Freyr has agreed to take your brother’s hand in marriage. I shall not waste my men when I don’t have to.”

Thor stared blankly at Odin’s face. He was looking for something… anything that would help him make sense of what his father was apparently implying.

He spoke after a whole minute of silence.

“Loki is a child.”

Odin scoffed. “A child? He is thirteen.”

“Loki is a child,” Thor repeated.

“Well, ask the child how he feels about the marriage then,” Odin laughed, “Tell you what? If you can convince him to tell me that he does not consent to this marriage, then I will break it off. Go on. Child indeed.”

Loki’s room was a mess of satins and silks when Thor stepped in. At least a dozen maid-servants and seamstresses were bustling about the room, laying down fabrics and taking measurements.

“Everyone, get out,” Thor ordered in a thunderous voice, “Loki! What the Hel is all this?”

Loki paid him no attention as the room started clearing out rapidly. He continued picking and discarding robes at random.

“I don’t care what you think,” he informed Thor, “I have to look good. Just because you have the aesthetic sense of a blind bull, I can’t…”

“Look good for what?” Thor snapped.

“For the Prince of course,” Loki snapped back. “Go away. You’re only here to mock me.”

Thor stared at Loki for a moment before striding up to take him by the shoulders to look him directly in the eyes.

“You cannot possibly be stupid enough to think this is a good idea. You are a child. Freyr is a man. He is older than me.”

“So?” Loki tried to wriggle out of Thor’s grip but failed, “He is the Prince of Álfheimr, is he not?” a slight blush developed on his cheeks, “He is the brightest of the Light Elves. And he wished to marry me. Father said this will be the most lavish marriage in a millennium. I can have whichever jewels I wish for.”

Thor looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. “And what did Mother say?”

Loki frowned. “She… She doesn’t see that I want this yet but she will. She has to agree eventually. Who can override Father’s will?”

Thor almost wanted to laugh at the sheer irony behind those words. He tried to calm the anger that was threatening to burst out of him.

“Why do you want this marriage, Loki?”

Loki stared at him incredulously.

“What’s not to want, Thor? He is a Prince!”

“And so are you.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Princes marry princes, everyone knows that, Thor. But Freyr is…”

“Known for his wanton desires and debauchery throughout the Nine Realms,” Thor replied, “It’s not a secret. Everyone knows this, Loki.”

“You mean you and your friends know this?” Loki smiled contemptuously, “Of course. What else do you know about my fiancé? Is he a murderer too?”

“He is not your fiancé!” Thor roared, “And yes, he is a murderer. He is known for his cruelty. He is deceitful and cunning and dim-witted, somehow all at the same time, and so very full of himself!”

“Good,” Loki said as he went back to inspecting a crimson robe, “Then we should get along perfectly. Since those are the exact opinions you hold about me. Now, leave before you somehow manage to ruin this for me as well. You’re just sad that he’ll take me away to Álfheimr and you won’t have anyone to torment after this,”

Thor fought hard to keep the tears at bay. He was not going to cry in front of his little brother.

“Do you truly think so little of me?”

Loki chose to answer that by turning away from him to scrutinise his own reflection in the looking glasses.

“Do you think I should wear green for the first meeting? Would go well with my eyes, wouldn’t it?”

The royal Ljósálfar family arrived by the noon the next day.

Odin instructed Thor to lead the Prince to Loki’s chambers. Volstagg and Fandral were ready. The moment they existed the throne room, Freyr was led away to a completely separate wing of the castle. Far, far away from Loki.

Three hours in, Thor found a moaning kitchen maid pinned to the wall by Freyr’s body. Her black hair fisted in his unyielding grip.

That’s exactly how long it took for him to come to a decision. He stormed into the throne room which now contained only Odin.

“Father, I…”

“Did Freyr take a liking towards Loki? Not that it is necessary but it is bound make things a little less unpleasant…”

“Father, I am here to inform you that I am going to kill Freyr this evening.”

Odin’s jaw did not fall open. But a slight tremor became evident in his features. That’s all the confirmation that Thor needed.

Odin was shocked. Unsettled.

Thor took one step forward.

“Not just me. The army in general. They are not too happy about the fact that the ones responsible for the murder of hundreds of our men are sitting and dining with us.”

“Then stop them!” Odin ordered, “Bring the rebels to…”

“There are no rebels,” Thor answered calmly. “There isn’t a single man who does not hold the same opinion. And you know I cannot go against the army, Father. I am their future commander, after all. They need to know I stand with them.”

“So, you want to kill our royal guests?” Odin still sounded like he couldn’t believe his own words.

“Exactly so,” Thor nodded. “Unless,” he looked up right into Odin’s eyes, “Unless you send them away right now. With no diplomatic ties bound.”

Odin’s eyes widened. “You want a war.”

“The warriors want a war,” Thor answered in a steely voice, “Asgard has never shied away from a war. Now is not the time to start.”

Odin tried to look for some sign of fear, of a crack in the determination. There were none.

He sat down, exhausted.

“All this for him?” he asked “For Loki?”

When Thor did not bother gracing that with an answer, Odin laughed out.

“It’s astounding that you think you’ll buy his gratitude with this. You truly are a fool, son.”

This time when Thor walked into Loki’s room, he found it in a whole other level of disarray.

Shreds of flowers and curtains carpeted the floor. More dangerously, the shards of the flower vases littered the ground.

Loki sat with his back to the wall on the far corner of the room. His emerald robes also in shreds. The lower fringes stained with the blood that steadily dripped out of the gigantic gash on the sole of his foot.

Thor hurried to sit down beside him and lifted Loki’s foot to inspect it. Surprisingly enough, Loki let him. A brief glance at Loki told Thor everything that he wanted to know. He wasn’t being forgiving. He was just drained out of the last bit of his energy. Thor could see the overturned remains of his supper on the other corner of the room.

“Did you take out the glass already?” Thor asked as he winced at the depth of the wound.

Loki tiredly lifted his right hand to show Thor a gigantic shard of bloody glass.

“Good,” Thor said, suppressing a sudden wave of nausea, “Now we need to clean it.”

As he returned with the boiling water from the kitchen, he saw that Loki had migrated to the window.

“There will be a war,” he remarked, eyes fixated on a faraway mountain. It was not a question but Thor felt like he was the one who ought to answer it.

“Yes. Soon.”

“And you’re going to be the hero again,” Loki sighed.

Thor remained silent.

“Couldn’t even let me have this, could you?” Loki finally turned towards Thor. His eyes held no accusation. Just defeat. “Why do you always have to be a hero at my expense? All I wanted was love. A wedding. I wanted one day for myself. That’s all. One day when everyone would be forced to look at me. To love me. To think I’m beautiful.”

Thor avoided answering in favour of making Loki sit down on the bed.

“Give me your foot,” he instructed. There was something unnerving about the way in which Loki did not snap back. He simply offered up his foot obediently. Not obediently, Thor corrected himself. Helplessly.

“Not all marriages guarantee you love, Loki,” Thor addressed to Loki’s bleeding foot as he washed it, “I don’t know much about love but I can tell you this. Not all men are capable of it. But I can promise you that you will find that man one day.”

Loki let out a distorted laugh. Something between a laugh and a sob.

“No, you will,” Thor insisted, as he looked up into his eyes, “And if you don’t, I’ll find him for you. Not just a day, Loki. A lifetime’s worth of love. Someone who wakes up every single day thanking their stars that they got to wake up next to you.”

Loki raised an eyebrow. “And what else? This Prince will find me all by himself?”

“He better,” Thor replied sternly, “Or I’ll rope him in and deposit him at your feet. I promise you your dream wedding Loki. No matter what happens. You shall have your rubies and your Loki flowers.”

****

“Thor? Thor! Are you listening? Thor!”

Thor jerked up in his seat.

“Mobius?”

The man frowned. “Who else? I am the only man you know who is trying to propose to your brother, right? If there’s competition, you’ve got to tell me.”

“Yes, of course,” Thor rubbed his eyes as he sat up. “Did I fall asleep?”

“No. You sort of just… wandered off in your head,” Mobius replied. “Anyway, while you totally did not help me out after insisting that you would, I bought the ring!”

“Show me!” Thor let out a high-pitched squeal and immediately tried to lower his bass. “I mean. I would be much obliged if you would show me the ring.”

Mobius hesitated. “I know you guys are royalty, and this isn’t much… mostly because I have no money. This is from the salary you yourself are going to give me so… technically you bought it. Though I borrowed the money from Sam for now so...”

“Oh for the love of… shut up, Mobius,” Thor said as he snatched away the black bag from his hands. He almost dropped the ring in his hurry to get his hands on it.

One glimpse at the stone made his mind go blank.

“How…” Thor’s throat closed up, “How… how… did you know?”

“Know what?” Mobius asked, clueless.

“The ruby…” Thor looked up at Mobius, “Did Loki tell you?”

“Tell me what? The entire marriage discussion I had, I had with you. Loki knows nothing about this.”

“No… the stone,” Thor showed him.

“Oh… I couldn’t really afford a solitaire, you know?” Mobius replied sheepishly. “But also… this reminded me of his eyes.”

Thor looked at Mobius for a whole minute before plunging in for a hug.

“This… the ruby. It’s essential for an Asgardian wedding. This and the flowers.”

Mobius pulled back to look Thor in the eyes.

“Wait. I thought you meant we needed flowers for the wedding. Do we need flowers for the proposal? Why didn’t you specify?” His voice slowly grew more and more agitated, “Fuck! We didn’t get any. Let’s find a florist who…”

A sudden image flashed past Thor’s inner eye.

He took Mobius’ hands in a tight grasp.

“Stop panicking. Again,” his face broke into a blinding smile, “See, I told you you would need me. We’ll need to drive for… quite a while. Think you can do that?”

“Drive? Yeah, of course,” Mobius said as he started dragging Thor to the car. “We are going to get the flowers, right?”

Thor smiled a bit at the foggy remnants of a beloved childhood memory.

“Yes. Something like that.”

Chapter Text

“I’m starting to have second thoughts about this,” Mobius muttered under his breath. Despite the October chill that had already set in, he could feel sweat pouring down his back.

“Oh really?” Loki drawled, the obvious strain of exertion undercutting the sarcasm, “You’re telling me dragging your extremely pregnant lover, who was very upset by the way- not that you bothered asking why, to the middle of nowhere, blindfolding him and forcing him to walk a mile- is not the best idea you ever had? How absolutely shocking.”

“First, you were upset because of some tiff you had with Bruce. If Bruce of all people can upset you, I really have nothing to say about that,” Mobius panted, “Also, we have barely walked a hundred metres. Plus, I don’t know if you have noticed but I’m the one carrying most of your weight.”

“That’s because it was your idea to make me walk on this wet, uneven ground while being visually impaired.”

“Shut up.” There wasn’t much bite to it. By this point, Mobius himself was blinded by the drops of sweat that were steadily invading his eyes. “You know what?” he stopped, “This is good enough. I don’t particularly want you to trip and I also don’t want myself to faint. So, this will have to do.”

Loki felt Mobius’ hands working on the knot of the blindfold.

“How do you always make taking off blindfolds feel so sexy?” he grumbled as gave a few very non-gentle tugs.

“Because you let me do it to you almost every night,” Loki answered as he slapped away Mobius’ hands to disentangle the knot himself. “The difference is, I don’t try to blind you in the process. Not that I have ever stopped you from trying your hand at…”

The words died down in his throat as the world around him became visible.

“This… These are… it can’t be…”

Mobius said nothing. He took a step back to let Loki look his fill.

Loki stared at the valley surrounding him. With the exception of the car that Mobius had driven… the valley was blue. Miles and miles of azure. The horizon almost blended into the sky above. An uninterrupted gradient.

Even though the individual elements were not visible at first glance, Loki could not mistake this shade of blue for anything else.

“My flowers…”

Mobius sat down with him to help him get down on his knees.

The feel of the petals, swirl of the florets up close almost made the world around him vanish.

A trail of soft blue on the unyielding stone floors.

Gentle fingers working through his hair.

An adamant declaration. “I like them.”

But the world didn’t fade away only to be replaced by the Asgardian palace walls. Loki stayed here.

What he felt beneath him were not the unforgiving stones of Asgard.

The truth was the soft grass beneath his feet. The soft petals at his fingertips. The soft eyes of the man who looked on but did not speak. Too afraid to break Loki’s trance. To reverent to steal his moment.

This man who would let him vanish to Asgard if he wanted, Loki realised with a pang. This man who never demanded that he should stay behind for him.

This man who brought his flowers back to him, so very far from home.

But that wasn’t the truth either.

The truth lay here. Now.

This was home.

Loki slowly laid back on the ground. Mobius followed soon after.

“Did you ever make snow angels?” Mobius whispered.

Loki shook his head.

Mobius started to explain, “Snow angels are when…”

“I know what it is,” Loki answered, “I’ve been here before. No, I’ve just never made snow angels.”

“Why? Did you not have snow?”

Loki turned his head to look at Mobius, smiled and shook his head. “No. Princes aren’t supposed to lie spreadeagled on the ground.”

Mobius stared at him for a while before nodding contemplatively.

“Will you let her make snow angels?” he asked after a minute.

Loki closed his eyes and leaned back further into the cool embrace of the earth.

“That depends. As long as she doesn’t catch a cold.”

Mobius chuckled. “Loki, she’s Jotunn.”

“Mobius, she’s Midgar… human,” Loki insisted with a sudden force, “She’s human.” He turned to look at Mobius with troubled eyes. “Why do you always do that?”

“Do what?” Mobius looked a bit scared.

Loki sat up with some effort. “This,” stressed, “You keep doing this. You keep erasing yourself from the picture.”

“Wha…”

“No, wait. I have to get this out,” Loki sat up straighter, “You… you had a life here. Before the TVA. You had your beaches… your stupid jet-skis. And you never once talk about them.”

Mobius tried to think about instances of him talking about beaches and jet-skis in the recent past and he could find none.

“See?” Loki exclaimed, “You decided to come here with me… for me. And you’ve never once looked back. Never once spoken about what you were missing out on.”

“I’m not missing out on anything!” Mobius hurried to say, “I have you!”

He belatedly realised today was not at all going according to the plan.

Loki shook his head. “You don’t need to vanish into Asgard to have me Mobius. You can have me with your beaches and your blinding sun and stupid jet-skis. You’ll still have me with your past, Mobius. That’s why we escaped, didn’t we?” His vision was already blurry with tears but he continued, “We’re having a baby, Mobius. And she cannot just be me. She’ll be you. She can’t just learn how to be a Valkyrie. She has to know how to make snow angels. You can’t keep vanishing into my world, Mobius. You’re allowed to be human. I won’t stop loving you if you are human because that’s the man I fell in love with.”

Mobius didn’t say anything for a long while. Then he too sat up and turned away to discreetly wipe his eyes.

He cleared his throat twice before speaking.

“I thought you would like the flowers.”

“I do,” Loki insisted, “I loved them as a child. But now that I… now I looked at them and realised… They made me realise that they pale in comparison to you.”

Mobius took mere seconds to turn into an alarming shade of red.

Loki went on, unperturbed, “I love these more than I can express in words, Mobius. They represent… home. But seeing these made me realise how much I… how I don’t miss home when you’re around.”

Mobius fidgeted with his coat sleeve for a whole minute before finally choosing to speak.

“They were Thor’s idea.”

Loki’s eyes widened in surprise. He couldn’t help the smile that broke out on his face.

“That brute!” he exclaimed fondly, “He remembers my flowers?”

Mobius nodded sheepishly. “Well, my plan sort of depended heavily on you being ecstatic about the flowers so now this is awkward but…”

“What plan?” Loki’s eyes narrowed.

“Well, I must have dragged you out into the middle of nowhere for something, right?” Mobius gave him a meaningful look, “You must have suspected something.”

Loki nodded. “Yes, I thought you were scared to fuck me around my brother after that last time.”

Mobius scrunched up his face in disbelief. “You thought I had driven you nearly two hundred miles away from Little Asgard for sex?”

Loki shrugged. “I’m irresistible and I have a terrifying big brother. What’s not to be expected?”

Mobius slapped a palm to his face.

“No, you sex-crazed lunatic! This is a proposal.”

Loki’s eyes went comically wide.

“A proposal?”

Mobius huffed out in frustration. “Yeah, I wanted to… fuck it. I’ll do it now anyway.”

Hardly had he started positioning himself on one knee when Loki yanked him back to the ground by his coat.

“No. Stand up,” he ordered in a firm voice.

Mobius’ face paled. Was this a rejection? But Loki had just told Mobius how much he loved him. Was this not the right time? Maybe…

“Mobius!” Loki shoved at him hurriedly, “Get up!”

There was nothing Mobius wanted more than to bury himself under the soft earth. But he painstakingly raised himself from the ground. Life had to go on no matter what. Even when his heart felt like it had been stomped on with…

“Good, now help me get up on my knees.”

This instruction shocked Mobius out of his abject misery.

“Loki, I don’t want to… not right now at least…”

“No, you pervert,” Loki cried in exasperation, “I have to be on both knees because the one-knee position doesn’t worth too well with a huge pregnant belly.”

“Oh,” Mobius gasped.

“How eloquent,” Loki rolled his eyes as he adjusted into his new position in front of Mobius, “Give me the ring.”

“Why?”

Loki blinked at him. “Do you still not get what I am doing here? To propose!”

“But I got that ring for you!” Mobius protested. “I’m not going to give you that… to give to… me,” as he uttered the words haltingly, he realised how ridiculous the situation was. But he still refused to give Loki the ring. It was his. To give… to Loki.

Loki let out a sigh of defeat. His life had given him many firm lessons on abandoning wars that he would never be able to win.

“Fine,” he huffed. “But I’m going to need a bit of my seidr for this one then.”

Before Mobius could say anything, a green glow appeared on Loki’s palm- leaving behind a simple ring of twined silver with a single emerald balanced on top.

“One of my mother’s jewels,” Loki smiled at a distant memory. “Not one of the jewels she wore though. This was a secret, you see?” He looked up into Mobius’ eyes. “She did not always love Fa… Odin. In fact, I don’t think she ever did. But she did love a woman. A witch actually. A companion of her girlhood days.” He turned over the ring in her palm. “She sculpted this herself. Pity it never reached the hands it was designed for. Thor said something to me once. Not all marriages guarantee love. A rather indelicate way to put it, I think. But it was the truth. That’s all we ever saw as children.”

He took a deep breath and looked up at Mobius again.

“That’s not what I see ahead of me though. I see you. I don’t have promises to make, Mobius. Since I am a Prince, I think I deserve to have a series of demands.”

Mobius titled his head in confusion but nodded anyway.

“Good,” Loki smiled. “I demand that you show me what it means to be human. I demand that you take me to the beach. I demand that you show me all the places that you used to frequent as a child. I demand that you take me drinking where you used to carouse as a lawless youth.”

He took Mobius’ hand and gave it a squeeze.

“And finally, I demand that you wait till I have safely delivered your baby to try and kill me in that death contraption that you call a jet-ski. Deliberate upon it carefully, Mobius. Can you give me all that I ask for?”

Mobius attempted to pull his hand up to hide his eyes but Loki tugged it back. Mobius had to resort to using his other hand to wipe away the constant stream of tears that was gushing part his eyes. It didn’t seem to make any difference.

“It’s like someone turned on a faucet,” Mobius choked out as he jerked his head up and down rapidly. “Yes, of course, yes.”

Loki chuckled as he slid the ring on to Mobius’ finger.

“Didn’t you have a speech too?”

“Fuck the speech,” Mobius sank down to crash his lips against Loki’s.

“A ring… but no speech?” Loki murmured between kisses. “What a shame.”

“I’ll make it up in the vows,” Mobius hurriedly assured him before diving into the kiss again.

Loki giggled as he pulled away. “I hate to remind you, my betrothed, but my finger’s still very empty.”

“Oh!” Mobius hurried to fish out the box from his coat pocket.

As he flipped open the box, Mobius had a strange realisation that the two Odinsons were more alike that they realised. At this moment, Loki’s face betrayed the exact same shock that he had first seen on Thor’s face.

“It’s… The ruby… Did Thor tell you about this too?”

Mobius shook his head. “I guess he would have eventually but I bought this before he could. It um… reminded me of your eyes.”

He slid the ring on to Loki’s finger. Loki slowly raised his hand to the open skies to see the sun beams fall apart into rainbow splinters in the crimson core.

Neither said a word as they sank gently into the azure earth again. Fingers entwined. Emerald gleamed into vermillion.

Chapter Text

New Asgard was abuzz was the news of the upcoming royal wedding.

Everywhere Mobius looked a new group of Asgardians were bustling about, accomplishing tasks that Mobius didn’t even know were supposed to be accomplished.

He had belatedly realised how fortunate he was that Thor had stepped in on his behalf. Had he not witnessed the formidable seven-foot man charging up to a group of men and rapidly mouthing off detailed instructions at them to reach locations that Mobius had no idea even existed, he would have never believed that Thor was actually great at this.

“Have you done this before?” he nervously asked Thor one morning while the latter was busy rejecting the seventh variety of pecan pie.

“Tasted the perfect pecan pie?” Thor asked in a deadpan voice. “Yes, I have and this is not it. Knud, what is this travesty?”

The poor cook hurried to remove the plate from the King’s vicinity to prevent enraging him further.

Mobius managed to scoop off a bit before the plate was flung away.

“I don’t know… tastes fine to me,” he shrugged.

Thor let out a disappointed sigh. “I will withhold my judgement because you are my brother’s betrothed but a man who can’t tell when his favourite delicacy is flavourless at best and a ghastly abomination at worst, is highly frowned upon in our culture,” he said sternly before adding, “Not that you’ll hear me saying anything about it.”

Mobius rolled his eyes. “As you if your palate is super refined.”

“It is, yes.” There was absolutely no trace of humour in Thor’s voice. “Loki demanded that every single one of your favourite dishes must be present at the feast. And what did you give me ‘I don’t know, Thor… just have a salad bar or something. Maybe like a pie?’ I got the word ‘pecan’ out of you after three days of constant interrogation. And now I realise you don’t have any idea what a good pecan pie tastes like.”

“Well, not like the TVA had a five-star buffet,” Mobius answered in his defence. “Also, how are you managing all of this… the food, the flowers, the decorations... I don’t even know how many things are left on that list. There are at least five hundred men out there doing seventeen hundred different things.” A bizarre thought popped into his head suddenly. “Hey, Thor, be honest. Have you actually done this whole thing before?”

Thor wiped his mouth and shook his head.

“Planning for nuptials? No. Never. But planning for battles? Plenty of times. There isn’t much difference. I can wager any amount of gold that forcing an enemy commander-in-chief to yield to our demands would seem like child’s play compared to convincing Loki to wear something appropriate for the wedding.”

Mobius nodded solemnly.

“As little as I care about Loki’s propriety, I understand that safeguarding your brother's modesty in the wedding is a task of foremost importance for you. So, just letting you know that you don’t have to worry about me. Ruby… Zora’s wife, she’s a consultant at some really fancy boutique in New York. She’s coming over tomorrow. I’m sure you will trust Zora and Ruby to not allow me to walk up to the altar in something too… risqué.”

****

“Are you sure you’re not supposed to wear Asgardian robes?” Zora asked as she gestured at Mobius to enter the cabin that she was now sharing with Ruby.

Mobius was too taken aback by the scores of suit racks that were stuffed inside the hut to provide her with an answer.

“Is this why you guys got such a huge cabin?” he marvelled at the collection inside, “And oh… no. Loki told me that I should wear whatever I planned to wear for my wedding ever since I was a child. Which brings it down to… nothing.”

“I’m sure he has already seen you in that already.” A playful voice spoke up from somewhere behind the jungle of suit jackets. Soon enough an equally lively face peaked out through the suits. “Though I’m sure “nothing” is a guaranteed winner right there, I don’t want to lose my head hours after meeting the King. We’re going to settle for something a bit more traditional. Capiche?” Soon a hand was extended towards Mobius. “You’re Mobius. And I’m Ruby.”

“Hi Ruby,” Mobius shook her hand gladly, marvelling at the sheer difference but also uncanny similarity between the couple. While Zora was cynical and sarcastic, Ruby was blindingly cheerful and just as sarcastic. “So, umm… traditional?”

Ruby nodded as she carefully selected a coat jacket and presented it to Mobius.

“From what I have heard… and briefly seen of you, you live, eat and breathe in this brown three-piece suit.”

Zora frowned as she nodded. “Yeah, now that you mention it… Mobius, you’ve escaped from the TVA months ago. Why do you keep wearing these?”

“It’s not the same suit!” Mobius said defensively, “I just… can’t get rid of the routine. And now that I think of it, I didn’t wear much else before TVA either. It was either being shirtless at the beach or wearing a stuffy suit at the FBI.”

It was Ruby’s turn to frown. “I feel like we’re going back to the partial or complete nudity thing a lot here. Are you considering… I don’t know, one of those no-shirt-only-jacket combinations? Chest proudly out on display?”

****

“How is this promiscuous?”

“I can see your… your chest, Loki!”

“Really, Thor? You can see my teats?”

“Argh! Why would you say that word?”

“Teats, teats, teats! Can you see them or not?”

“I don’t want to see them! But I can see… everything else.”

“That’s because I want it to show!”

“You will change out of it right this instant!”

“Don’t be insane, Thor. Fine. You know what? Let’s have our friends decide.”

As Loki strutted out to the main room, every pair of eyes turned to look at him. Thor hurried out with a heavy cloak to throw upon him.

Loki stepped up to the floor-length mirror fixed at the front of the room to admire himself first.

He had no idea what Thor was talking about. This robe was as long and flowy as any Asgardian wedding robe. Yes, the neckline was a bit adventurous but…

“Damn.”

Bucky was the first one to pass his verdict.

Sam nodded. “Yes, damn. I agree. I mean, I am respectfully not looking up,” he added with a glance at a very fuming Thor, “But the red. Never thought red could look quite that stunning.”

“Am I late?” Valkyrie asked as she stumbled in and then stopped in her tracks. “Now that’s how wedding robes should have looked like in my time.”

Thor cut in, “Wedding robes were never meant to entice. They are meant to be graceful and sublime. They are meant to be the bearers of tradition and… Loki, stop widening that damnable laceration in your robe and go change. Right this instant!”

“How is this not traditional?” Loki challenged, “It has the length, the flow, everything. Look at the trail!”

Bruce intervened before things could get out of hand. “Loki, this is just the first one that you tried out. Don’t you want to see the others robes that the seamstresses made? We sure do. Right, guys?” He poked Bucky in the arm. “Right?”

“Why would you suddenly jab a former assassin, Bruce?” Bucky made his annoyance obvious as he moved closer to Sam. “But yeah. I did not clear my whole day’s schedule to see one dress.”

“You were lying on your ass and whining about Johanna being better for Katniss,” Sam reminded him before nodding, “But yeah. My sister tried out seventeen dresses before getting one.”

“Alright, I yield,” Loki sighed, “Mostly because this little one is throwing a tantrum right now.”

Thor immediately jumped forward to support Loki’s weight. “Do you want to lie down for a bit or…”

“No, of course not. You’re lucky she’s here though,” Loki said as he guided one of Thor’s hands to his stomach. “She seems to agree with you on this one.”

Thor’s grin was blinding.

****

Casey was extremely puzzled when he poked his head into Zora and Ruby’s cabin.

“Sorry, I’m late. Just finished telling the King’s men that they didn’t really need to use cut flowers at the altar. You can just replant them. Er… Why is Mobius dressed like a Victorian serial killer?”

Zora howled with laughter. “Exactly! That’s what I wanted to say! Ruby kept saying he would look sexy in all black.”

“And was I wrong?” Ruby asked as she busied herself in searching for something else on the rack. “It’s not my fault the grey hair and moustache thing mix in to give a rather sinister vibe. Sure you won’t shave off that stache before the wedding?”

Before Mobius could answer Zora cut in. “Unless you want the other groom to call off the wedding, that’s not happening.”

Mobius spun around to look at Zora, clearly affronted. “Loki isn’t with me for my stache!”

Zora rolled her eyes. “Sure he isn’t. He has also never called you ‘Daddy’, right?”

Mobius gave her a deadpan glare. “First, I refuse to answer that question…”

“You sort of already did,” Casey cringed as he pointed out, “And I’m not sure I wanted to know that in the first place.”

“Tell you what?” Zora leaned forward with a devilish gleam in her eyes, “If you’re that brave- go honey blonde before the wedding. Get really heavy bangs and then shave off that stache.”

Mobius started at her, long and hard. Then he dropped his valiant stance in defeat.

“Ruby,” he addressed the woman behind him, “Black’s clearly not working for me so… white?”

Casey nodded contentedly. “At least someone’s wearing white to the wedding.”

“Sometimes I forget you are a grandfather,” Mobius remarked, “And then you say stuff like that.”

****

“Ethereal.”

This time Bruce was the one who passed judgement first, visibly wonderstruck.

Loki had to admit. This one wasn’t terrible.

The gossamer sleeves trailed the ground and the material itself was much more breathable. Breathable was good when he felt seven stones heavier.

“You look like Titania from Midsummer Night’s Dream!” Sam exclaimed excitedly. “The queen of the fairies.” When Bucky turned to look at him with a dreamy expression of his own, he quickly added, “I just know that because I was Lysander. Don’t expect me to be a Shakespeare nerd.”

“Sure you aren’t,” Bucky smirked as he turned to give Loki an appraising look, “I honestly didn’t think you could top that first one but this looks stunning on you. The colour itself…”

“Is not red,” Thor interrupted. “This isn’t red. You need to wear red. If it’s not red, then it’s not tradition.”

Every pair of eyes in the room swivelled towards him in unison.

“Are you colour-blind?” Bruce asked faintly, “Were you colour-blind all along?”

“What? No!” Thor snapped back as he rushed inside the smaller room that had been modified to be a dressing room. He rushed back with a bunch of swatches in his hand. He raised one for all to see and cried, “This is red.” He then pinched a bit of Loki’s trailing sleeves to subject it to public scrutiny, “This is cherry.”

Everyone blinked at him owlishly.

“Thor,” Bruce tried again with his endless sea of patience, “Cherries are red.”

“So, you’re telling me you see no difference between merlot,” he lifted a swatch, “sangria,” he lifted another, “and wine?” he threw down the last down in his fury.

Most people in the room had never seen Bruce snap. At least, in any sense that didn’t involve turning very green and ripping out of his clothes.

This Bruce however just chose to storm into the dressing room and drag out the first robe that Loki had tried on.

“What is this colour?”

“This hideous robe again?” Thor groaned.

“Answer me. What colour is this?”

It seemed to cause Thor immense pain to utter the one-word answer.

“Red,” he muttered under his breath.

“Louder.”

“Red!”

“Then let him wear this!”

Loki, who had been sure Bruce would be siding with Thor in all their conflicts, felt his heart soar. Finally. A worthy ally.

“Yes, Thor,” Loki stepped up but stayed behind Bruce, “If it’s not red, then it’s not traditional. So, according to none but you- If it is red, then it must be. Tradition.”

“Your child agreed with me!” Thor raged.

“Well, her opinions will be taken duly into account when she starts breathing on her own,” Loki countered.

It was Sam who valiantly stepped in this time.

“There’s a third option, guys!” he yelled, “There’s always a magical third option.”

****

“You know what? This isn’t working.”

It was Mobius who finally threw in the towel.

“I mean… I don’t mean to offend you at all, Ruby. You are a straight up genius. You made me look good in form-fitting suits. But… Loki was right.”

“About you wearing whatever you had wanted to wear for your marriage as a kid?” Ruby prompted. Mobius was relieved to see that she didn’t look a bit miffed. Instead, all three of them were eagerly waiting for him to answer.

“What I said earlier, it was true. Marriage, for me, was just… a thing that you did. Everyone did. I didn’t have any plans about it whatsoever. I just assumed old age would eventually scare me into tying the knot to escape the fear of dying alone.” He took in a deep breath and raised his head to meet their eyes. “Loki changed that. My dreams of marriage began with him. Way before he told me that he was pregnant, I had these… fantasies. I don’t know what else to call them. I had watched so much of Asgard and I subconsciously found myself trying to fit into that picture. Those huge stone hallways. Because I hoped… not expected, but sincerely hoped that whatever Loki’s final destination might be, would be my final destination as well.”

The audience in this room was not made of criers but Mobius heard a distinct sniffle. He would try to deduce who it was at a later time.

“So, this isn’t me vanishing into Asgard,” he said more to himself than anyone else, “This is just me owning up to where my dreams began.”

He scrutinised the cuff of the current cream coloured suit that he was wearing.

“Ruby, I don’t mean to burden you with my impossible visions but could you… customise something for me?”

Ruby gave him a knowing smirk, “You’ll have to introduce me to the Asgardian seamstresses.”

****

It was Sam who entered the dressing room this time to help Loki find the magical third robe.

“I don’t get Thor,” Loki spoke up suddenly.

Sam raised his head. “How so?”

“I know he is not like Odin but sometimes he acts exactly like him!”

Sam chuckled. “Your Dad was obsessed with colour swatches too? Strong genes there.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “If only colour swatches had been my father’s area of fixation. But no… this whole ‘I’ll hammer you in with traditions’ thing. What traditions? I am not Asgardian at all! Why should I dress according to their standards of prudery?”

Sam gave him a rather enigmatic look before going back to searching for the perfect robe. “If you’re talking about the first one, I don’t think it has anything to do with Asgardian prudery. I have a younger sister. Sarah. She has two young boys now but… when she was in high-school, I remember throwing a huge tantrum about the fact that I didn’t want her to wear ripped jeans to school because one of my friends commented on it once. Mind you, she didn’t really care about ripped jeans either. She just wanted to piss me off. So, she wore them all the time! As she should rightly have. And I should have asked my friend to fuck off.”

Loki considered the story for a moment. “So, you’re telling me I should wear the first one.”

Sam smiled. “I’m telling you the King of Asgard isn’t just the King of Asgard. He’s one of us. A stupid elder brother.”

Loki stayed quiet for a bit. “But he didn’t like the second one either. I looked like the queen of fairies in it. You said so yourself.”

Sam frowned and then burst out laughing. “Oh. That weird obsession with colours? Man, I don’t think he gets it from your father. That’s just a Karen thing.”

“A Karen thing?” Loki asked cluelessly.

“I’ll let Bucky explain that one to you. He has a whole routine where he pretends to be a Karen… anyway. My point is, I just think he’s trying to give you the best wedding possible. All by himself. But your frustration is understandable. If you want me to have a talk with him, I will. I’m not trying to take his side here but… you’re the only one he has left. Can you blame him for going a bit overboard?”

Loki did not say anything for a long while. It was Sam who finally broke the silence again.

“Hey, this one looks different, doesn’t it?”

Loki gasped as he took in the design of the rob Sam was holding in his hands.

“That is not Asgardian.”

Sam frowned at the piece of clothing. “No. I found it here. It was shoved into the corner but…”

Loki shook his head slowly. “I’m sure one of the Asgardian seamstresses made it. But it’s not Asgardian.”

“What is it then?”

Loki swallowed. “I… I haven’t seen these in… forever but… I saw something like this in a book once. When I was a mere child. I did not know the Ice Maidens belonged to Jotunnheim at that time. I would not have looked so closely otherwise.”

Sam understood the significance of what he was holding all of a sudden. “This is from Jotunnheim?”

Loki ran his fingers across the heavy embossed fabric and nodded slowly. “It’s an exact likeness, yes. But it has been sewn by one of our own. I’ve never seen one of these in red. This was meant for me.”

“Do you think it’s supposed to be some sort of a cruel joke?” Sam frowned.

Loki looked down at the piece of clothing for a long amount of time and then shook his head. “Or a sign of acceptance. That’s how I choose to see it anyway.” He suddenly stood up with a newfound confidence and held the robe in front of him. “How do I look, Captain?”

Sam beamed. “Magical.”

This felt different from anything Loki has ever worn. Despite the material being heavily embellished with quietly glittering swirls, it somehow moulded to Loki’s form. After looking at them for quite a long time, Loki realised that the swirls corresponded to the patterns he had on his skin. Yes. This was made for none but him. The most wonderous part was that unlike all the other robes that he had tried out, this one did not need to fluff up to hide his pregnancy. It somehow managed to hug his baby bump lightly before trailing the ground in neat folds.

Loki was not paying attention to the usual adulation that he knew he would receive from the others. His eyes were fixed on Thor who seemed to be going through an immense internal battle.

If Loki knew then Thor knew as well. Whatever fascinating image Loki found in a book as a child, he showed to Thor.

It was obvious that the question Sam had asked him earlier about the robe being a gift of cruelty had occurred to Thor in a fraction of a second.

“Brother, it’s…”

“I made a special request for this,” Loki declared immediately. “You keep on talking about traditions, brother. Is this not a perfect melange of both my heritages?”

The storm that was brewing inside Thor immediately calmed.

“Of course,” he gasped. “I feel like a fool for nothing having thought of this myself.” He looked up at Loki with genuinely apologetic eyes. “You look…”

“Ridiculous and odd?” Loki smiled.

“No. You look beautiful,” Thor’s voice was firm with determination.

Loki titled his head to draw Thor’s attention to his shoulders that the dress had left bare. “I’m not covering them up.”

“You don’t have to.”

Loki could not help by instigate him a bit more. “Is this even red?”

“I don’t care,” Thor answered valiantly. But then as if he couldn’t help it, he added under his breath, “But this is also the reddest dress of the day. Not the only reason why I think this is perfect. But it is. Red.” He gave Bruce a crude sideways glare before stubbornly muttering, “Not merlot, not sangria, not wine. Red.”

As Bruce threw his hands up irritatedly and made to leave the cabin, Bucky redirected him into the cabin again with an arm around his shoulders and whispered. “It’s just a Karen thing.”

Chapter Text

“Do you feel like running away?”

Bucky’s words startled Loki out of the formerly familiar, now unfamiliar, routine of braiding his hair.

“What?”

Bucky pointed towards the open window behind him. “Lots of brides run away.”

“I’m not a bride.”

“Lots of grooms run away too,” Bucky reasoned. “Or want to, anyway. It’s called pre-wedding jitters.”

“Did you have them before marrying the Captain?” Loki asked as he returned to his elaborate braid.

Bucky threw his head back to laugh. “Are you kidding me? That man? I tried convincing Sarah… my sister-in-law, to lock him in his room till it was time to walk up to the altar. Once you get a man like that, you do what you must to keep him from understanding how much better he can do.”

Loki smirked at Bucky’s reflection in the looking glass. “I asked my brother to strategically position his guards around the perimeter of the village.”

Bucky’s gave him an admiring nod. “A fella’s gotta do what he’s gotta do. That’s fair. Did Thor agree?”

Loki huffed in frustration as he stabbed his hair with the elongated stems of one of his blue flowers. (Thor had ensured that he would have a plenteous supply of those, and rubies to adorn his hair on this day).

“Of course not,” a familiar booming voice informed them the doorway. Thor strode in with a tray of what looked like miniature pies. “The Einherjars are our esteemed guests for this glorious occasion. Also, your husband is as likely to run away as I am to dropping the Mjolnir on my foot.”

“That means it’s very likely!” Loki gasped as Bucky sniggered silently behind him.

Thor gave them a severely unimpressed glare that seemed to say “Can’t believe I have to deal with children here.” He raised the tray that he was carrying, “Are these pecan pies to your husband’s taste?”

Loki looked down blankly at the mini-pies and then looked up equally blankly at Thor. “How should I know? Just because his tongue is in my mouth more often than not, doesn’t mean I actually possess his taste buds. Ask Mobius.”

Thor stomped on the ground in frustration. “I did! He ate three and said, “As great as it always was.” The last pecan pie Mobius had tasted was atrociously terrible. Mobius has no sense of taste!”

A Cheshire Cat grin slowly bloomed on Loki’s face, “Believe me- I know.”

***

“Do I look alright?”

Loki had asked this question to Bucky thirty-four times. Bruce, twenty-seven times. Thor, thirteen times (he could proceed no further because Thor threatened to tug open his highly intricate hairdo. Loki knew from experience that this was not an empty threat). He didn’t pester Sam, however, because the crinkle of his eyes as he said, “Reminds me of Sarah’s wedding day” was too genuine and heartfelt to be insulted with requestioning.

Everyone kept telling him that he looked beautiful but honestly, it made no difference.

For starters, the Jotunn robe didn’t help. Loki had no idea that stepping out and taking the centre stage in that robe would be such a hardship. After all, Loki had walked about everywhere in his indigo skin all this while. But the robe was different. The blue skin, was a part of him. It had been horrifying but still easier to accept. The robe was external. No matter what Loki did, he could not remove the aura of foreignness about it.

Yes, Loki had chosen it consciously as a sign of wilful rebellion. As a sign of accepting himself. But accepting himself is not something that he had done successfully before Mobius. And due to the nature of the occasion, of course he had not been permitted to talk about the wedding robe with Mobius. He had wanted to, of course. Desperately. But Mobius had maintained absolute secrecy about his wedding robes as well.

Well, Mobius wasn’t really wearing a robe. Though Loki had no idea exactly which suit he had chosen, he knew it was going to be a three-piece suit. Very familiar, very safe. Very Mobius.

As Loki stood there at the alter in front of hundreds, if not thousands (yes, this was Thor’s idea of a small wedding), thoughts of Mobius spread their gentle tendrils all over his fevered brain. He felt a bit calmer with the knowledge that Mobius would be here soon.

According to the Asgardian traditions Thor should have been standing there beside him at the altar already. But Asgardian traditions could not have possibly foreseen that the King would need to roleplay as the greatest wedding planner of the Nine Realms.

As Loki saw Thor chasing after three Asgardians who were carrying Asgardian ale to the Midgardian tables for the third time, he turned to Bruce who was planted firmly at his side. “When is he going to be up here?”

“I know, we’re running late.” Bruce too seemed extremely tensed. “He said he’d be here the moment he spotted Mobius anywhere near the entrance but apparently Mobius isn’t ready yet.”

Loki’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Mobius isn’t ready yet? My Mobius? The man who was basically born in a brown suit? Who just has to wear another suit for his wedding? I had to fit myself in this godforsaken robe which somehow shrank in a week…”

“Well, you grew larger,” Bruce corrected.

Loki gave him a murderous glare. “And I did my own hair. The rubies, the flowers and all without a bit of help from anyone else…”

“Well, you threatened the maids that you would render them bald if they came anywhere near your hair,” Bruce reminded him.

“The point is,” Loki snapped, “I did all that and I’m still here on time. Getting stood up by my own future husband who just had to put on another suit.” Suddenly his eyes narrowed, “Bruce?”

“Yes?”

“Are you sure he isn’t planning an escape?”

Bruce would have faltered and looked flabbergasted had a familiar figure not walked in through the flowery entrance at that very moment.

“Well, if he is, he chose the wrong direction to run,” Bruce smiled as he nodded at the new entrant.

A hush fell over the spectators as a gentle music swelled seemingly out of nowhere.

Loki did not see anything at first owing to the fact that his vision was mostly obscured by Thor running up the aisle while desperately trying to fix his hair. When Loki had finally batted him to the side, he saw him.

For the first three seconds, Loki genuinely thought he had been tricked. That this has been an elaborate trap set up by Thor to marry him off to some prince from another realm. A stranger. For a very brief second, Loki’s eyes even stung with the discovery of this grand betrayal. Thor, how could you? You never accepted him in the first place. Was it just because he was a common…

That was until his brain finally caught up with his eyes.

It took a while to convince himself what he was looking at but the reality wouldn’t budge no matter how many times he tried to blink away the film of illusion.

“Mobius?” he gasped.

In many ways, the man who finally stepped up to face him could not be mistaken for anyone else but Mobius. The silver hair. The adorably crooked nose. The smile that lived more in the eyes than the mouth. It was all here.

But the man who stood in front of him did not look like he had ever worn a brown suit in his entire life.

“Fine Asgardian leather.”

That’s exactly what Mobius was wrapped in. He had foregone a robe for one of the more combat-friendly outfits that Loki himself used to wear when he was out there on the battlefield. Except the attire was purely white with a luxurious emerald green cape that Loki could not take his eyes off. The cape itself was fastened to the shoulder pads by a vine of gold detailing that trailed down Mobius’ chest. The material moulded itself so well to Mobius’ shape that this was the first time that everyone got to see (at least partially) what only Loki had the privilege to see until now.

Loki blinked again.

“Is this when you tell me you were secretly the prince of Vanaheim all along?”

Mobius chuckled. The laugh made Mobius sound blessedly human.

“Unfortunately not. Still the frog,” he said with a giddy smile, “But as stunning as you look, Princess, you’ll have to kiss this frog anyway.”

Loki’s body moved before his brain did. He would have been plastered on to Mobius’ front had Thor’s hand not shot out and caught Loki by the shoulder.

“See, Bruce, this is why you need lightning-fast reflexes,” he said before turning to Loki, “Can we please get through the rituals before you both start engaging in debauchery in public view?”

Loki staggered back in frustration. “Fine! Get on with it then.”

Mobius would not have been offended at all had Christian wedding rituals been scrapped altogether. But since both the Odinsons went on insisting that he should have some say in his own wedding, he requested Thor to skip the sacrifice of the goat. Thor had simply shrugged and said, “Yes, I myself have always found that bit needlessly messy.” Besides that, Mobius had no specific wishes. They had after all already exchanged rings in the best possible way. Mobius had no wishes to take off that ring or to wear a new one. It was perfect as it was.

So, the rituals that followed were mostly foreign to him. At one point Loki smeared a bright indigo pigment over his forehead and then after a few seconds worth of hesitation, plucked one of the blue flowers from his own hair to tuck it into Mobius’ silver mane.

“This,” Loki stroked Mobius’s forehead as he explained, “is supposed to make you mine according to the Asgardian law.” He gently touched the flower next. “This is to ensure that you still remain mine when Asgardian law falters or fails.”

At one point the ritual came to an abrupt stop. Mobius noticed Thor staring at him expectantly.

“Umm… I have already given him the ring,” Mobius answered nervously.

Thor’s eyes widened meaningfully. “No, the sword.”

Mobius felt like he was missing out on something very important but he had no idea what. “What sword?”

Thor threw Loki a panicked glance and then looked back at Mobius. “Didn’t Loki tell you that you were supposed to exchange swords?”

Mobius was seconds away from screeching, “How on earth am I expected to have a sword lying around?” when Loki stepped in.

“He has already given me his sword long ago.”

“Ew, dude,” Bucky called out from the front row of the audience, “We’re at a wedding. Have some class.”

Loki ignored him completely. His eyes were fixed on Mobius, “Remember the day we first started working together? The day you handed me my daggers even though you had no reason to trust me? Even though you knew better than anyone how many people I had stabbed in the back?”

Mobius’s eyes crinkled. “That was the day you fell in love with me?”

“No,” Loki said sternly, “That was the day I realised that you lacked even an ounce of self-preservation skills and that I needed to guard you at all moments.”

Mobius’s jaw dropped before he came to his senses and pointed an accusatory finger at Loki. “Was it me who died a million times? Oh. No. That was you.”

Thor thankfully interrupted before Loki could endanger the still unfinished marriage any further. “That’s absolutely fine, Mobius. You don’t have to give Loki a sword then. Loki…”

“Yes, I know,” Loki sighed as he extended his palm and curled his fingers around the hilt of the conjured dagger.

He knew why Thor flinched at the motion. He was after all one of the rare few who had the good fortune of having front row seats to his own death. That was a discussion that he had pushed off for long but it needed to happen soon, he knew.

As he held up the dagger to Mobius, a distant thought occurred to him. “Mobius, do you remember that one time I got really drunk with Sylvie while you were busy with work?”

Mobius rolled his eyes fondly. “How wouldn’t I? You kept trying to sing while also simultaneously convincing me to fuck you.”

Bucky’s voice reached them once more. “Again. Ew, dude. What’s wrong with your lot?”

“Who’s Sylvie?” Thor asked.

Right, Loki thought. One more topic that needs to be discussed sometime soon.

“Someone you’d like to meet,” Loki answered before turning back to Mobius. “I don’t remember much from that night but I do remember her asking me what love was. Was it mischief?” He looked down at the object in his palm. “I remember saying “Love is a dagger.” Honestly speaking, I forgot the bullshit explanation I tacked on to justify that but I know why I said it. It wasn’t some great philosophical insight,” he smiled absentmindedly, “You see, that was a week after you handed me the daggers. That’s all I could think for the whole week.” He looked up to meet Mobius’ eyes, “I kept thinking, this idiotic man… just mere flesh and blood just handed me something that he has seen me use to hurt people. People much stronger than him. And that’s when it occurred to me. I could hurt Mobius far less than he could hurt me. Because hurting him, would hurt me twofold. And with every smile, every long-winded discussion about Free Will and jet skis, I was digging myself into a deeper well. But somehow, that’s exactly what I wanted.”

Absolute silence reigned over the audience as Mobius gaped at Loki.

“I… uh…”

Loki gave him a glare of mock frustration. “Didn’t you say you were going to blow me away with your vows? Don’t tell me you have no speech?”

“No… uh…” Mobius floundered for a minute before coming back to his senses, “It’s just that… You said that I could hurt you far more than you could hurt me. That itself was some dumb shit.”

Loki glared at him for real this time. “Why?”

“Because people don’t just hand over daggers to stabby Gods for no reason,” Mobius reasoned, “My absolute lack of self-preservation skills and idiocy were not born in a vacuum. They originated in the deep well that I had dug myself into when my brain decided to fall in love with a person I hadn’t even met yet.”

It was Loki’s turn to remain tongue-tied.

Finally, it was Zora who spoke up from the audience as Thor wiped away a tear silently, “I think the real dumb shit is you two idiots being blind to the very obvious heart eyes you made at each other when all the rest of us had to see it and suffer in silence. Can we get on with the wedding now? Usually there’s dancing involved once this part gets over.”

The rituals ended seconds later when Loki handed over the dagger to Mobius before dragging him forward to crash his lips into Mobius’.

“They didn’t even wait for the whole “I now announce you husband and husband bit”,” Bucky tutted, “I wish we could borrow this from the Norse.”

***

The after party was as American as the feast was Asgardian. Mobius’ pecan pies sat daintily on the table, dwarfed by the enormous roasted hog that graced the spot beside it. Thor had shooed off the Asgardian musicians immediately after the completion of the ceremony and the disembodied voice of a blonde American diva that Mobius vaguely remembered from his youth that taken their place.  

As he sat on a corner table with Brunnhilde, Bruce, Zora, Casey and a very embarrassed Sam, listening to Bucky regale them with a Shakesperean Karen rant, Loki begged to be excused for a second.

“Thou darest deceive me with false assurances that Birnam Wood wouldst not climb up to Dunsinane Hill? I at each moment kneweth trees couldst walk just fine. Taketh me to thy infernal liege lord immediately, I demand… Wait what?” Bucky stopped abruptly, “You don’t want to miss the ending, Loki. Satan ends up giving Macbeth a refund for those false prophecies.”

Loki gave Bucky a curt bow, “Thou art truly a master of this art, James Buchanan. But I presently need to converse with my brother. Pardon my sudden departure. I’ll make Mobius repeat the whole thing tonight when we retire.”

Bucky waved his hand dismissively, “Yes, yes, I am well aware of the outcome of the promises of the devil. Whatever is repeated tonight at your chamber will most definitely not be my fair words. But, fly you lily-livered coward for the tale goes on like this…”

Loki found Thor without much difficulty. He had seen Thor leave halfway through the feast after he had made sure that everyone had consumed their weight in meat and alcohol.

“There you are,” Loki exclaimed as he climbed up a small hillock that rose behind the village of Little Asgard. Thor, who had been staring blankly at the deep blue sky of the approaching night, turned around at his voice and hurried to climb down.

“No, no,” Loki immediately stopped him with a hand on his arm. “I want to look at what you’re looking at.”

“It’s nothing,” Thor answered immediately. “I just come up here at times to… get away.”

Loki knew it was a lie but he said nothing. Thor was not the kind to ‘get away.’ This revelry was tailor-made for Thor. Thor wouldn’t have left had someone more important not been waiting for him at the top of this hill.

Loki simply sat down on the grass and patted the spot beside him. Thor reluctantly took a seat. “Are you sure you will be able to climb down or…”

“You come here because you miss him.”

Thor jerked his head around so quickly, Loki thought he heard the tendon of his neck snap.

“What?”

“You miss him,” Loki repeated, “You miss your Loki.” He nodded towards a particular spot in the sky between two bright stars, “That’s where he died, right?”

It was too dark to see Thor’s face properly and Loki was infinitely thankful for that. Irrespective of all his actions in the past, like every other younger sibling to have ever existed, never once had he wanted to see his elder brother cry. One of the reasons why he had gone as far as he had was because he genuinely did not think anything he did had the capacity to truly break Thor down.

“I came here after months,” Thor said in a defensive tone.

Loki understood. “You haven’t been here since I arrived.”

“You must be wondering ‘Why today?’”

Loki shook his head. “I’m wondering why you stopped coming here at all.”

Thor looked at him, confused. “Because you came back.”

Loki gave Thor a sad smile. “It was not me whom you lost, Thor. You have no reason to be ashamed of mourning him just because I’m here. I’m not him.”

“You are,” Thor insisted.

“I am not.”

“You are!”

“Thor…”

“You are!” Thor burst out, his voice echoing across the empty valley. “Because if you aren’t then that means he’s truly gone!”

Loki let Thor regain a semblance of control before he spoke.

“He is gone, brother.”

Thor let out an audible sob this time, making no attempts to get back the steadiness of his voice.

“I let him down.”

“Yes, you probably did,” Loki nodded, “But not in the way that you think. It’s… It’s easy to believe you are infallible. That the armour is completely impenetrable. And when I say that it’s easy, I mean it. It’s so much easier to hurt someone when you think they cannot feel pain.” He looked up at Thor. “I am sure you did let him down by making him realise that you do… feel pain. But the disappointment was not angled towards you, I believe. It was disappointment towards himself for not having realised it sooner.”

Thor remained silent for a moment before staring up at the night sky again. “Do you know what my last words to him were?”

“I do.”

“How?” Thor asked, genuinely shocked.

Loki shrugged, “Remember I told you about the Time Theatre?”

“I don’t care what you think but Mobius shouldn’t have done that,” Thor bit out.

“He didn’t,” Loki answered. “He didn’t want me to see myself dying, at least. The other stuff? Yes. He did intend to show those to me but then he had a good reason to do so. I don’t think either of us would have liked the version of me who did not receive that rude shock.”

Thor considered his words for a bit and nodded. He took in a deep breath before continuing.

“I told him he was the worst. Right before he sacrificed himself for me.”

“I don’t think last words really matter all that much,” Loki answered, “I mean, why should those particular words matter above all the rest? Above everything else you have ever said ever since we were children? I may not be him but I know this much, Thor. We Lokis can try our best to make ourselves believe that we aren’t loved to justify our actions. But the Thors of this world do make it excruciatingly difficult.”

Silence descended over the valley again.

“I love you. But I miss him,” Thor whispered his confession. This time he didn’t sound guilty. Just broken.

Loki did not say anything. He sidled up to Thor till he could lay his head on his brother’s shoulder and stared up at the same spot in the sky.

The spot between the two bright stars where a fragment of Thor’s heart still remained.

Chapter Text

Sylvie was never late. Nor was she early. Sylvie arrived precisely when she meant to.

By some ineffable magical knowledge of the correct time and the correct place, that Loki definitely was not privy to, she arrived precisely a day before Loki’s contractions would begin.

Not that Loki or Mobius or Eir or Bruce or Thor or anyone else had the remotest inklings of this. Which is precisely why Sylvie did not mention it when Loki swept her into a hug after gasping at her sudden appearance at his doorstep.

He would just panic, she reasoned. Lokis were notoriously bad at handling pregnancies. Also, what she had was a hunch based on her knowledge of Jotunn gestation periods. Not a confirmed knowledge of the future.

She had been tempted to visit the future of this particular timeline but she had resisted. Future after all was no longer set in stone. Anything could happen. The child could even decide to be one of those Midgardian prima donnas who sang very loudly and very off tune.

No. She had to let future take its course on its own. Which is exactly why she did not tell Loki that twenty-four hours later he would probably be writhing in pain.

“You’re here!” Loki whispered, wonderstruck, when he finally peeled himself away from her. “You’re really here!”

“Felt like the right time to visit,” Sylvie shrugged, not being able to resist the smile that overtook her face as she looked at Loki. As she truly looked at him. “You look… happy,” she said as Loki pulled her inside the cabin. “Where’s Mobius?”

“Being a loyal minister to the King, what else?” Loki let out a huff that somehow signified irritation and fondness both in equal proportions, “Married me a week ago and we’re already in the ‘old married couple’ phase. Isn’t that all our lovers tend to do eventually? End up spending more time with our brothers than us?”

Sylvie wanted to laugh and agree as Loki no doubt expected her to. But the truth was that she did not know.

She did not know what relationships any of her lovers would have developed with her brother. She did not know whether her brother would have been happy for her or whether he would have sprung into the stereotypical over-protective Elder Brother role.

The truth stung. So, all she could reply with was a wan smile and silence.

She had no doubt that Loki saw right through it but she was grateful that he chose not to prod into the sore spot.

Loki cleared his throat and broached another topic. “I was so sure you were going to say ‘You look blue.’”

“I was,” Sylvie confessed.

A slight frown came over Loki’s face. “You said you knew we were adopted. You did know you are a…”

“Yes, Loki,” Sylvie sighed, “Of course, I know. It’s just that I have never been… you know. I have never dropped the glamour that Odin put on me. Not because of any internalised prejudice. Quite the opposite really. I just never particularly thought about it. Asgard was never the enemy. TVA was. Asgard was just… home. Odin was my father, Frigga was my mother and Thor was…” She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thor was my brother.”

Loki remained silent for a while. Whatever he was going to say next had to be said carefully. One misstep and Sylvie would vanish off the face of the earth once more.

“Where have you been all this time?” he asked finally.

Sylvie seemed a bit startled at the change of topic. “Here and there…” she shrugged. “Not like I had any particular destination in mind.”

“Why not go back to Asgard? Your Asgard?” Loki wondered. “The destroyed timelines were reset, remember? That’s why Zora could go back to Ruby and Casey could go back to his parents and…”

“Because there’s nothing to go back to,” Sylvie hurled out of all a sudden. “The Dark Elves didn’t just kill Mother.” Her breath heaved as she forced herself to continue. “I wasn’t there, see? So, they killed Thor. They killed everyone.”

Though Loki had already guessed as much, he couldn’t help but flinch.

Yes, he had known. No one, at least no Loki, willingly remained a vagabond. The aged counterpart that he had met in the void had taken the decision to remain alone but only out of sheer desperation. To save the Nine Realms from what he feared the most. Himself. And every second of his exile had been a torment. What had brought about his ultimate doom? His love for his brother.

This was the unavoidable truth: No Loki would ever choose to remain alone if they had a Thor to go back to. He had realised why Sylvie could never rest despite the fall of the TVA a long time ago.

She did not have a Thor to go back to.

In usual circumstances, he would have wrapped her in his arms and helplessly tried to soak away her pain. But he wasn’t quite helpless this time, was he? In fact, he had had ample time to carefully plan out the next course of action if Sylvie decided to show up. All he had needed was confirmation about her feelings about Thor. And here it was.

But he was also well-aware of the fact that this was not the time for mischief or devious planning. Sylvie had bared her soul to him. He had to be honest to her about his intentions as well.

“You know what this place is. New Asgard, that is,” he said. It was not a question. Of course, she knew. She was the one who had made sure that they would reach here. She had known…

“I know where you are going with this,” Sylvie looked up sharply.

Loki was undeterred. “It’s up to you, Sylvie. I won’t force you to do anything. Say no and I’ll introduce you as a colleague from TVA. But he’s missing his Loki and…”

“You are his Loki.”

“In a way, I am,” he agreed, “In a way, I am not. He has a hole in his heart just as you do.”

“As I do?” Sylvie bristled immediately. “I lost everything!”

“Are we comparing tragedies now?” Loki raised a brow tiredly. “We can. And you would win. But what would that get you, Sylvie? Yes, you have the biggest heartbreak. I concede. But what happens after you’ve convinced everyone of that?” He took Sylvie’s hand in his. “What happens at the end of the story?”

Sylvie tried weakly to snatch her hand back but Loki tightened his grip.

“Tell me why you don’t want to meet him and I won’t say another word. But the way I see it, he needs you…” Sylvie cut him off with a glare. “Fine, he doesn’t need anyone. But you need him.”

“Wow,” Sylvie laughed. “You really made it sound as pathetic as possible.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “When have we ever not been pathetic? We are pathetic fools who lose and lose again. And we become all the more pathetic because we are denied that sweet, sweet tragic hero-like ending. Our lives don’t end gracefully with a grand speech. We just keep on living. And you have to keep on living as well as long as you don’t have a plan to magically drop down dead. So, tell me. What’s the ending that you are aiming for?” When Sylvie kept staring blankly at their entwined hands, he decided to push a bit further again. It was risky but it could be worth it. “Just tell me this. Why you don’t want to meet Thor?”

He had expected her to successfully snatch her hand away and storm off this time. Instead, she screwed her eyes shut and raised her head to the ceiling. It was a familiar motion. But it was futile. The tears escaped from the corners of her eyes anyway.

When she finally spoke, it was barely audible but Loki was close enough to catch it.

“I’m scared.”

“Why?” Loki asked, despite knowing the answer already.

She had to say it out loud.

“Because,” her breath hitched, “Because I would have gladly died a million times to meet my Thor one more time. He loved me. And this… your Thor… might not. Will not.” When she looked at Loki, he found it hard to meet the desperation in her gaze. “And the thing is- I want him to love me. I really, really do. And I know it’s selfish and undeserved. But I do. And he won’t. And…” she let out a final broken sigh, “And if he does, then I will love him too and I will end up forgetting my own Thor.”

Loki didn’t say anything for a while. It wasn’t the time to rush into explanations. Thankfully, he had had someone to teach him that.

“You know what Mobius would say to that?” he asked after a minute.

Sylvie let out a laugh while trying to discretely wipe away her tears. “Something jaded like ‘That’s life for you!’”

Loki rolled his eyes, “My husband is not actually senile, you know? No. He would say, ‘Yes. You’re probably right, Sylvie. Thor has absolutely no reason to love you.’”

“Thanks, Mobius. I’ll shred a few of his stupid suits on my way out.”

“That’s not the end of the speech though.”

“Your husband sure does blabber a lot.”

“Be that as it may,” Loki raised his palm in a very Mobius-like fashion to shut her up, “this is how he would continue. ‘Thor has absolutely no reason to love you. But the thing is, he does.’” Loki stopped channelling Mobius and focused all his attention on Sylvie, “Your Thor loved a lovely little girl. A little sister who had never done anything wrong. I’m not undermining his capacity of love but that’s the extent to which you knew him. Maybe he would have loved you despite your flaws later, but you never reached that point with him, did you? I, on the other hand,” he gestured dramatically at himself, “Am a scoundrel of the highest order. I have personally tried to kill my Thor at least three thousand times and have almost succeeded twice. And as I’m told, the future version of me… the one who died, valiantly kept up my homicidal tradition as well.”

Sylvie interrupted with a frown, “The one who died… didn’t he die for Thor? To save him?”

Loki gave a shrug to feign absolute nonchalance, “It’s a mixed bag. As Bruce says, to my face, mind you, ‘Your brain is a bag full of cats.’ He has become a dear friend of mine and hence obviously is terribly insolent almost all of the time. Anyway. Thor saw this mess,” he gestured wildly at himself again, “And accepted it. Not once but multiple times. Tell me what that says about him?”

By not a very faint glimmer of hope had emerged on Sylvie’s face.

“That he has a big heart?” she smiled.

“And a very small brain,” Loki nodded, “So the point is, it’s easy to trick him into loving you. Hel, I have been doing it for several millennia. You think I deserve his love? You think I’m not selfish? As Mobius would say ‘That’s some dumb shit.’”

Sylvie finally let out a full-throated laugh. “You do know that you’re practically fusing with Mobius and becoming one freakish monstrosity, right?”

“You’re just jealous” Loki snapped back before his eyes grew soft again. “Also… about that last thing you said. About you replacing your Thor with mine. I don’t know what Mobius would say to that but I don’t think love works like that. Love isn’t finite, is it? This might not be quite comparable but I couldn’t help but love more people in the last few months than I have loved in my entire lifetime. Love doesn’t run out. It just grows. You can let your heart grow, Sylvie. It’s not betrayal.”

Sylvie said nothing for a whole minute. A fond smile blossomed on her face gradually.

“Just in case no one has told you this yet- trickery is not the reason why people choose to love you. In fact, add trickery to the long list things you absolutely suck at.”

***

“Sylvie!” Mobius’s voice echoed across the village as he ran towards her after spotting her and Loki walking towards Thor’s cabin, though the open window. Thor followed him out of sheer curiosity.

“So, this is Sylvie?” he asked aloud as Mobius stopped himself midway into throwing his arms around Sylvie.

“Is this inappropriate?” Mobius asked, still stuck at an awkwardly-close-but-not-close-enough distance from Sylvie. “I mean… I am not quite sure how I am supposed to behave with my sister-in-law.”

Well.

So much for Loki’s subtle planning.

Since Mobius was currently trying to decide whether or not he should move away and extend a hand for a civil handshake, he failed to notice the tension that had stiffened the posture of his companions.

“I guess a hug’s not that bad,” Mobius concluded after winning an enormous mental battle against himself and then promptly forgot that very same conclusion while proceeding to gingerly pat Sylvie on the head like she was an overgrown dog. “Where have you been all this time!”  

“Sister-in-law?”

Thor’s voice was unnervingly blank. Loki had no idea what his next reaction was going to be. He had almost made up his mind to say “Yes, she’s just a really close friend from work” when Sylvie spoke up.

“I’m not really a sister, per se,” she acknowledged, oddly calm. Oddly brave. Surprising not only Loki but also herself.

In for a penny, in for a pound, right?

She took a step towards Thor, desperately trying to avoid imagining if this is what her brother would have looked like as a grown up.

Loki knew she was feigning confidence. But he also knew if you feigned confidence for long enough, you actually learnt how to fool yourself as well.

“Who are you?” Thor asked, taking Mobius by the hand and shoving him behind himself.

Oh, Loki realised suddenly. Thor was behaving like this for a very good reason.

Apparently, Mobius had taken the exact same amount of time to react that exact same conclusion.

“Thor!” Mobius tried to sidestep Thor’s body to reach Sylvie again, “She isn’t anything like Hela. I mean… she did kill a bunch of people. But then so did Loki, to be honest. And so did I… But she’s the one who freed me from TVA’s control. She’s the one who got us here! I promise you, Thor, she’s nothing like Hela. She is…”

“Loki,” Sylvie answered. “Not like Loki. I am Loki. Except, it’s a stupid name so I go by Sylvie.”

When Thor didn’t move, or speak… or blink, Loki decided it was time for some quick explanations.

“Remember I told you about the various timelines? And everyone who did anything to stray from the ‘Sacred Timeline’ was arrested and pruned? I myself was unfortunate enough to be taken. But at least I was an adult. Sylvie… well, Sylvie wasn’t quite as lucky. She got taken when she was six and…”

“Six.” Thor mouthed the word unconsciously as his eyes remained fixed on Sylvie. “Six?” he spoke the word aloud with some effort after a solid minute of trying. “Loki could not sleep alone in his room when he was six.”

Sylvie’s gaze was fixed on Thor as well.

“Neither could I.”

“Loki climbed into my bed,” Thor continued softly, seemingly lost in her eyes. Green eyes. They were familiar. So very familiar. “Every single night. But he was too proud to seek help. Didn’t want to look weak. So he just laid quietly on the other end of the bed. On top of the covers. I pretended not to notice for the sake of his dignity. Six years old,” he repeated again, “And he had set such high standards for himself.”

“But I found myself under the covers every morning anyway,” Sylvie smiled at the memory.

“Till they took you,” Thor spoke at the words as if he was in a trance, “Six years old and they took you. And I did nothing.”

“You didn’t… he didn’t know,” Sylvie insisted, “It wasn’t his fault.”

“I… He wasn’t there.”

“I was glad he wasn’t,” Sylvie replied furiously. “I have thanked the Stars a million times that he didn’t get dragged into this nightmare with me.”

Thor’s fingers moved, seemingly of their own accord, to graze against the choppy tips of her hair lightly. Loki had not noticed the change in her hair until now. The oversight could of course be excused by the fact that he had been too ecstatic by her sheer presence to notice the slight details of her appearance.

Her hair was jet black again. Like his. It made sense. She had no need to disguise herself after the fall of the TVA.

Thor, of course, snatched his hand back and moved away when he realised what he was doing. He partially understood where Mobius was coming from when he tried to hug Sylvie.

She felt too familiar to not reach out to. But also unfamiliar enough to instil an unavoidable sense of guilt when one got too close to her. She was a Loki, yes. But not his.

Yet moving away from her felt unbearable as well.

Despite all of Loki’s faults, he was not stupid enough to really believe that Thor was an imbecile. Which is why he was not at all shocked when he saw a very important realisation dawn upon Thor. He took exactly a minute to understand why Sylvie was not back home. In her Asgard.

There wasn’t much to say after that. Just one solemn promise needed to be made.

“Stay. I shall never try to replace him. Just… stay.”

Sylvie suddenly experienced something completely foreign.

An utter lightness of being.

The weight that she had been carrying around all this time had become too familiar to be noticeable anymore. But a forgotten burden was not a non-existent burden. It was simply an invisible one.

For the first time in a long, long time, she felt like she could truly breathe. Her lungs could finally extend and take in air without any constrictions. The fact that she had turned a blind eye to these contractions seemed so bizarre to her now.

Is this how everyone else felt all the time?

“You won’t really have to try,” she answered finally, “But can I pretend you’re him anyway?”