Reuniting (Lokius)

Loki made his presence known in quite the ridiculous way.

Once he'd just about finished setting up Yggdrasil enough that it could withstand his being apart from it for slightly longer periods, his first thought was to go back to Midgard, away from this existence beyond time and space, and check on his old friends. Ouroboros and Casey lived together, now holding memories from the life they might've had. The former worked on a TVA comic book based on the very real events, seeing as there could be no pushback from a non-existent organisation. Casey was taking philosophy so he could learn more about ethics and human thought due to the criminal side to himself he could never have imagined, both men happily rambling to each other whenever they needed someone to bounce ideas with.

Sylvie and B-15 lived together as well. The difference was that they abandoned peace and travelled the universe together, much like Loki's brother from his first reality, Thor, did with his adopted daughter. Bee would say she took down the bad guys to help others, Sylvie certain she just wanted to get as violent as possible but truly, it was a mix of both for each of them as they worked through their trauma with extreme aggression and each other.

Mobius found himself a small cabin in the middle of the woods. Loki couldn't imagine a man so fascinating isolating himself from the world but there he was. Perhaps if he enjoyed the solitude, it might've been easy to leave but Loki noticed how rarely he smiled and how often he'd talk shit to himself in the mirror. This was not how he wanted to remember Mobius. He'd been pure light and hope when they first met... It had been two years. Was the grief truly that all-consuming or had it simply pushed him down a dark path within his own psyche, pulling out the pain he'd tried to ignore for so long?

Loki didn't know when his obsession with taking the perfect picture began. He imagined it started when he caught Mobius chuckling to himself as he watched TV, his eyes alight as he watched Tom and Jerry dunk on each other as usual. 

"I know exactly who this reminds me of... Don't I, Lok?"

Loki was startled. Mobius didn't know it but sat right beside him was the man on his mind, incorporeal because of the amount of his energy Yggdrasil needed from him. Well, that wasn't exactly true. Loki was keeping himself hidden. Why, he couldn't be sure. He just assumed it would be easier for everyone to forget him than to only get to see him as rarely as he could pull himself away.

He stretched a hand out towards Mobius, wishing he could take a mental picture of that smile which so soon fizzled out. This was likely what pulled him to find a mortal camera and hang around for as long as he could, waiting for the chance to see Mobius happy again.

These moments were few and far in-between. Every time Loki caught one that seemed enough, he'd imagine having only that as his momento of the man who'd saved his life in more ways than the literal one and set it aside. Mobius became a guilty pleasure in a sense. He only spent an hour or two with him every day, watching him eat cereal or stare at the TV but it was well-worth it. The only problem was that the pictures never felt like enough. Never quite encapsulated Mobius in a way that felt eternal.

So he tried a different medium.

He'd spend hours trying to sketch Mobius as he moved, never quite getting him right. The man shifted as he pleased, ruining many works-in-progress. He wished he could tell him to be still. He wished he could know what would make Mobius truly happy for a while. Without his job in the TVA, he seemed to think everything was meaningless. This wasn't the life Loki had sacrificed himself for. Where was the wife and two point five kids? Where was the damn jetski?

He couldn't understand. So he kept sketching instead, doing it more out of habit as time went on. He began to milk out about three hours soon enough, trying to be with Mobius as much as possible. It wasn't until the man didn't show up at home one night that Loki first attempted to stay away from Yggdrasil for five full hours. And when Mobius returned, he knew he had to do something.

The man was drunk beyond comprehension, mumbling all sorts as he stumbled into the house. He was crying, too, but that wasn't what finally pushed Loki past his breaking point. It was when Mobius began to slam his fist into his own chest, muttering that it was his fault over and over as his skin began to flush red from the impact. Loki just couldn't sit idlely by anymore. He should have told him when he first began 'hanging out', so to speak, weeks ago but...

For it to get this far?

He stopped concealing himself and stepped forward, tapping Mobius' shoulder. The fair-haired man stared at him for a long moment, then threw his arms around him, starting to weep. Loki ignored the fact that tears were rushing down his face as well, putting him to bed and teleporting back to check on Yggdrasil.

He returned a couple of hours later, stunned by the fact that Mobius was staring right at the part of the room he'd disappeared from. "So it really was you, wasn't it? I haven't gotten out of bed since I realised you'd touched me. Shocked me sober, you did."

"Oh. I'm... Terribly sorry-"

"How are you here? Why are you here? Most importantly... Why'd you leave? I thought the last sight of me this Loki figment from my imagination would have was me drunk off my ass. That isn't a pleasant feeling."

"Oh. Well. How have you been holding up, Mobius?"

"I'm sure you can tell," he replied with a careless shrug. Did it matter so little to him? When Loki used to feel like shit, he'd often engage in revelry for fun. He used to think it helped but it just kept him much too numb for a little while. It seemed getting drunk just made Mobius feel even worse, yet, he seemed so unbothered by the splotch of assaulted skin still slightly redenned on his chest. "You still look as beautiful as the day you left, though."

"...beautiful?"

"Was I not supposed to say that? What the hell. It's been a while. We're strangers who were friends. A new you, a new me. But you seem to be doing much better. I was so worried you'd feel like shit over there alone..."

"While I never expected you to be living your life that very way."

"Irony sure hits hard, doesn't it? Tell me, Loki. How have you been? Really?" Mobius thought to reach out to him  but stopped himself, scared the illusion would disappear if he tried. There was no way he was going to ruin hus night even more than it had been, seeing Loki for the first time in two years while in such an embarrassing state.

"It took me much too long but I got Yggdrasil to a point where I can leave it more, now. It's the greatest thing I've ever done. My magnum opus so to speak but I... Have missed... Certain things that I just can't get there."

"You mean Sylvie? You won't find her anywhere near here. Last I heard, she was on the Sabthica quadrant somewhere in space. But you're the protector of the universe. In sure you could find her if you tried."

"I meant y-"

"I don't believe that. I won't." Loki's expression was pained as he stared at Mobius. All his confidence and self-assurance had been washed away. He was stripped down to such a level of vulnerability before Loki's eyes that the god wasn't certain he was meant to see this. Wasn't sure that this man who was likely hungover and out of it truly wanted to see him. If he could stand not speaking to Mobius again, he'd leave right that moment and hope he assumed it was an awful dream. To imagine turning his back on Mobius again, though? Loki couldn't see a world where he could ever repeat such a thing. The life would have to be snuffed from his body first but all attempts by existence to do so had failed, so far.

"Did you ever ride the jetski?"

"Didn't see the point. I've got enough money from my TVA years to own a goddamn mansion of I chose to but I didn't... I shared my desire for that dream with you. I'd hoped I could accomplish it by your side, too. Loki..." tears shone in his eyes as he cleared his throat, unable to keep the shakiness from his voice. "Tell me. Is this... Any of this... Are you really here with me right now?"

Loki could tell by the wild, desperate look in Mobius' eyes that he could hardly trust himself. That he wasn't sure what was real anymore. He inched closer and brushed his thumb over his cheek, startled when Mobius gripped his hand before he could pull away and held his face between his warm palms, a relieved smile on his face.

"Thank you. I just... Thank you." His eyes drifted from Loki's eyes, taking in his entire face, his nose and lashes and his lips... Loki noticed where his attention had landed and practically choked on his own desire, trying to steel himself and pull away.

"I can't be here all the time, Mobius, I... Ygg is still very fragile and I take a risk every time I'm apart from it-"

"I know, Loki."

"You should also know this is not the first time I've been by. I've been cowering away in hiding because I was terrified that if you saw me, you'd want me to stay. That I'd... That I'd want to stay, too when I know it can't happen, I know it-"

"Loki? If I don't do this, I'm not sure how else I'll be able to live with myself. This still feels like a dream but this was something I had hoped to do back then and I can't miss the chance now. You can say no, of course but I just need you to feel how much I've missed you and I can't think of any better way than-"

"Mobius?"

"...yes, Loki?"

"Kiss me."

They didn't talk about the blindingly intense kiss afterwards, or that Loki held him afterwards as they cried together until he had to return to Yggdrasil. They were too awkward to. They simply adjusted to a new era. One in which Loki began to stay at the cabin more and more as he weaned Ygg off of his presence. One where Loki brought home a stray wolf cub he'd named Fenrir to keep Mobius company, the man afraid and relenting until he'd gotten licked by it enough times that he gave into his fondness. Next, he got himself a snake named Jormumgandr that he'd let wrap around him as much as it pleased, amused at how much anxiety it gave Mobius when he'd first showed up with the thing on his neck with the casual explanation that it was giving him a hug.

It was definitely a calmer creature than the overly energetic Fenrir, Jor getting longer by the day as Fen got larger.

Months later, they were discussing a trip to the beach. Loki was adamant that he finally ride the damned jetski, truly meaning it when he said they could go live on an island surrounded by quiet and ocean for miles where Mobius could jetski forever. At that moment, Mobius was watching him attempt to threaten him with a good time as Loki got snuggled by Fenrir, Jormumgandr draped precariously over his shoulders. He still looked every bit the elegant prince he was, yet, Mobius also knew that Loki didn't belong to Asgard anymore. They both had no family to return to, as well. The god was his; his alone.

The men stared at each other for a long moment when Loki fell silent at the intensity of the gaze on him, then the god tied his hair up and shyly asked for Mobius to grab his sketchbook. Mobius had seen it around since Loki first showed himself but he'd resisted the temptation to look inside because the trickster made it quite clear it was private the first time he caught him eyeing it. For Loki to give him access like this? There was a trick being played somewhere that he'd have to look out for.

The book was magically enchanted, making it much longer than it externally seemed as you turned its pages. Mobius sat there, stunned as he went through photograph after photograph and drawing after drawing of himself, sometimes in the most ridiculous positions like halfway through a piece of key lime pie or drooling after falling asleep on the couch. His heart leapt in his throat as he finally reached the last page, the words 'MARRY ME?' scribbled across it in the most beautiful lettering possible.

"You really did miss me... Didn't you?"

"To a depth I've never known. So... I'll stay if you will, too. I do not ask this because I hope to force a claim on you, even as part of me would very much like to possess you; mind body and soul. I only want us to... Claim each other for as long as we last. We can read and squabble and watch old jetski commercials and take care of our pets and eat pie and get stupidly drunk together until the end, whatever it may be, if you so wish it."

As you can easily expect, he did. In fact, he leapt onto Loki with such eagerness that their two animals gave very upset sounds, kissing him with no fear or remorse.