Reuniting (Lokius)

Loki and Mobius didn't exactly talk about things when he returned from beyond time and space after what turned out to be a full year of absence.

He'd tried to get back to Mobius as soon as possible. He knew he needed to make his work self-sustainable first, so he did so, unaware of how much time had passed. Mobius was forced to attempt grieving a 'friend' who wasn't dead at all. Sylvie managed to distract herself from it when she became an intergalactic bounty hunter or assassin or something else that involved stabbing. Meanwhile, Mobius got himself a beach house and got the certification to be a jetski instructor. He started trying to date as well, thanks to a worried B-15 clocking how close he was to the edge and teaching him how to use a dating app.

She muttered about it being time to let go of the heartbreak and move on, only for him to glare at her. Mobius wasn't the kind to do that, ever so she got the message and didn't bring it up again. It's not like he was some widow. It's not like he and Loki had ever been anything at all more than colleagues. Friends by chance too, since for some reason, Loki felt some fondness for his boring self. He still felt himself cringe at times when he remembered telling a well-travelled god that his dream was to ride a jetski. But what can you do?

Loki was meant to be in the past.

Perhaps the first date could be his future?

Loki walked into the beach house with nothing but a small, alien potted plant in his hand. Mobius was certain he'd imagined him stepping past the door until he felt Loki's gaze burn through his unclothed skin and realised that if this was another silly daydream of his, they'd be well on top of each other by then.

Instead, Loki bit his lip and turned away meekly, making a gesture for him to go get dressed. Mobius stumbled into his clothes, still in a daze and heard what must have been a joke from Loki, something about "liking what he saw" before he dragged him into a tight hug. Loki didn't protest or tease him for it, only squeezing him harder. Mobius didn't let go for a full minute, wanting to make sure he could truly feel the man, before he finally let himself pull away.

He'd grunted, chiding himself for his weirdness and brought out the Asgardian alcohol (a gift from Sylvie) he'd never been able to let himself drink. They'd sat side by side, talking rather vaguely about how things had been. Their shoulders would brush once in a while and both would feel a jolt like an electric current run through them that they much too forcefully suppressed. Of course, they'd missed each other but how could they have known that the amount of longing that feeling came with was fully reciprocated?

No, they did the manly thing instead and danced around it, avoiding their vulnerable feelings as long as they could.

Mobius deleted the dating app the very same day.

Loki, of course, moved in immediately and went on a bit of a shopping spree with Mobius, paying for both himself and his new housemate despite much protest from the latter.

They got matching rings at some point, courtesy of Loki who insisted they were tracking devices that could always lead them to each other.

They spent as much time together as they physically could, cooking meals and chatting about nothing and everything to while away the time.

Loki would even shapeshift small once in a while so he could tag along to work with Mobius. At times, he was a dark-haired, young woman, partly because he liked being her quite a lot and to casually flirt with his red-faced roommate in front of his younger co-workers who couldn't understand how he possessed that much rizz.

It was an eventful three months, yet the most peace either had felt since before they lost each other. A serenity and connection too precious to shatter. Too precious to ask for more than what was already there.

They had feelings building up that they couldn't share. They were just happy to have each other back. One day, Loki came back home from a quick trip to check on Yggdrasil, only to find the plant pot he'd left on their coffee table all this time shattered. Its occupant was nowhere to be found and he couldn't help but whistle lowly, scratching his chin as he walked deeper into their home.

"My, my, Mobius Mobius Mobius. I leave the house for an hour and you've already-"

He stopped speaking, swiftly getting on his knees when he saw Mobius seated on the ground, back pressed to the wall, clutching what looked like a giant fish bowl filled with water, the once-vibrant, dying plant within. The man was crying softly to himself, sniffling when he saw the god in his peripheral vision. With a fake, crooked smile, he waved, then turned away forcefully when Loki arched a brow at him.

"You weren't meant to see me like this. See... I haven't even cleaned up the mess yet. I thought it'd take you more time, seeing as you were gone a year the first time you went over there."

"Tell me what happened. And tell me what could possibly have gone so wrong to make you this unhappy, my dear."

"I... Your plant, Loki... Your weird, important plant. I ruined it."

"I can see that."

"And the stupid thing is part of me has wanted it to break for a long time. Wanted to see the project that drew you away for so long turned to nothing. But I- it was a mistake, I swear... You worked so hard on it. I'm such an asshole. I know this might be the end of the world and all life as we know it in every alternate universe, I get that but... Surely, you're upset. This took you so long to craft and I... If there's anything I can do to bring your plant back, you let me know. I'm yours."

Loki swallowed at the last bit of the whirlwind of words, trying to wrap his mind around how deeply vulnerable Mobius was being in this moment. As skilled as the man was at making Loki reveal his deepest thoughts and feelings, of reading him like a one letter word, he hated showing his own harder feelings too often. So to have him crying over something so small, and yet, do so out of worry for him rather than the fate of everybody else...

Loki couldn't help but smile as he put the bowl away, then took Mobius' hands, drawing him to his feet.

"Yggdrasil is all that stands between the many realities and their collapse. It is the root from which every branch may grow. We all live because it lives. And yet Mobius... What you worry about in this moment is how I feel?"

"I'll be honest? In this really selfish moment, I don't care how many infinite beings there are out there right now. I care about the person in front of me who spent a year tending to a creation I just utterly ruined by clowning around and-"

"Mobius."

"Yes?"

"That was perhaps the most devious and apathetic thing I've ever heard you say. Do you truly think that way? Placing my feelings above all the beings in the universe?"

"I meant it."

"I... I see. I... Fuck. I can't do it anymore. I haven't told you everything, Mobius. So you must listen. Alright? Please listen."

Mobius felt a cavern open up in his gut. Loki was standing much too close to him, enough so that the god gently grabbed his hands, clearly blind to how bothersome it was to be held so intimately and suddenly by a person meant to just be your friend and roommate. His greatest fear in that moment wasn't that Loki was about to explain the branches were falling apart and the end was near, but that he would apologise and leave him for Sylvie, realising he needed to be with her at such a difficult time. It would break him. Utterly. Anything, anything but that. The world being over might be a welcome surprise to push away the heartache he'd been waiting for since Loki reappeared.

"Firstly... That tree is not my Yggdrasil. It would have been much better protected otherwise. My masterpiece remains where I left it. This is only a weak rendering to alert me if some problem arises with the branching that requires my presence and powers to fix. Second? You went on a first date with a woman before I got here. B-15 told me, then realised what she had said, then apologised for telling me. In that moment, I wanted to find that woman and perhaps burn her house down with she and B trapped within. A flash of murderous intent and for no more than a second but simply the start of a very long confession. That I have loved you, not since the moment I met you, but since I realised I want to care for you the way you so selflessly care for me, but by a hundredfold, forever."

"I... So... Oh. Sorry. I need a moment." Mobius blinked twice, taking a step back as he found himself against the wall once more, his mind grappling with everything at once. "Is there anything else? I suggest you get it all out so I can explode with emotion in one go."

"I... Well. One last little thing. The rings. They are trackers, as I said. They are also... Engagement rings. By Asgardian tradition, we are soon to be newlyweds. I should have told you but... Erm... They seemed so beautiful at the time. I only wanted to see you in something that would remind me each time that you are mine, even if you... You weren't. And aren't. It was wrong of me. I apologise."

"Okay. Okay. That's... That was more than... Okay. I mean... I should have known, really. Most of all that made sense but it was so much so fast. All I can think of right now- world isn't ending, right?"

"Not at the moment, no. And not for a while, I'd hope."

"Good. Great. Get undressed."

"...Mobius-"

"It's not a command. It's only a request you can agree to or refuse. This was a lot. And I don't want to think or scold right now. I just want to be as close to you as physically possible but clothes would get in the way of that, not that I'm not extremely fond of how good you look in green, black and gold."

Loki, perhaps for the first time since Mobius had met him, went red. He stepped forward, brushing the salt water residue from his confusing friend's cheeks, having expected anything but that reaction. Anger, disappointment, disgust, betrayal. Perhaps a request for some time apart which he would have forced himself to respect. The longing and lust in Mobius' eyes just didn't feel earned. He had to be imagining it.

"Darling... Will you not take any time to process this?"

"There's no need for us to have sex, necessarily, if you don't feel up for it. I have no idea what I'm doing. That wasn't my plan, despite my interest. What I'm saying is I want to crawl into your skin now that I know you don't want to lose me as much as I don't want to lose you. I want to kiss you and touch you and hold you like I haven't let myself. I've waited what feels like lifetimes for you to return to me, Loki so believe me... There is nothing more important for me, in this moment, than having you strip."

"I can't decipher if you're going to cuddle me or make love to me in this moment. As a deeply chaotic being, I'm rather fond of the uncertainty."

"Why can't it be both?"