January
It was a chilly January afternoon, the first day back from winter break according to Mobius. Slushy puddles of snow littered the school parking lot full of parents trying to pick up their kids.
Loki and Mobius were among those parents. They sat in Mobius’s car facing the front door of the school, eagerly waiting for Kevin and Sean to walk through them.
Or at least, Mobius was eager.
The emotion Loki felt was more like dread.
After nearly five centuries of (involuntary) service, Mobius had announced he was stepping away from the TVA, at least for a little bit. His original timeline had been brought back to life by Loki’s magic when weaving the Yggdrasil and he was going back to his sons. He asked Loki to come with him.
Loki had been hesitant, but Mobius managed to talk him into it. You won’t even be around them that much while you get to know each other, he’d said, It’s not like you’ll be immediately jumping into parenting them.
And wasn’t that a scary thought?
Loki? A parent?
His own upbringing hadn’t been great, how was he supposed to help raise two children without damaging them in some way?
And now that he was so close to actually officially meeting the children more doubt had arisen in his mind.
What if the boys didn’t like him? What if they weren’t okay with him dating their father? Mobius was only just getting his children back, Loki didn’t want to upset their relationship.
Which was why he’d agreed to visiting Mobius’s timeline first before fully living on it for now. He’d see Mobius after he finished his days at the jet ski store and picked the boys up from school and return to his quarters in the TVA in the evenings.
“I can hear you overthinking from here.”
Loki blinked and tore his gaze from staring blankly out the windshield to look over at Mobius.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re going to get along great with them. Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m not worried….” Loki lied, a slight frown marring his features, “What makes you so sure?”
“Because I know my boys and I know you. Trust me, they’re going to love you.“ Mobius squeezed his hand reassuringly. His attention was drawn to movement by the school.
“Look, here they come!”
Loki followed his line of sight and spotted the two boys laughing and jokingly shoving each other as they raced to the car.
Cold air seeped inside as both back doors opened and two backpacks were carelessly tossed into the seat before their owners followed suit, slamming the doors.
“Hi dad!”
“Hi dad!”
Mobius twisted around in his seat.
“Hi boys! How was school?” He asked eagerly. He received noncommittal shrugs in return.
Loki turned to see two pairs of ocean blue eyes peering at him in curiosity, so much like their father’s that it was eerie.
“Boys, this is Loki. He’s a friend from work.”
Loki and Mobius had discussed at length how much they would tell the boys about their relationship. They’d decided in the end to introduce Loki as a friend-slash-coworker and once the boys had gotten to know him they would reveal the true nature of their relationship.
Loki smiled softly at the two children, taking in their features. Kevin had a rounder face than Sean, who was a smidge taller, but they had twin mops of blonde hair.
“Hello, it’s very nice to meet you.” He said politely.
“Wow. You’re really tall.” Kevin replied, then squawked as his brother elbowed him in the ribs.
“You’re supposed to say it’s nice to meet him too, dingus.” Sean rolled his eyes.
“Don’t call me a dingus! You’re a dingus!”
“No, you’re-“
“Alright that’s enough,” Mobius cut in, eleven years of parenting coming back to him in a flash. He turned back around in his seat, shooting Loki a warm smile before starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot.
When they arrived home Mobius told the boys to get started on their homework. As they ran inside, Mobius took a moment to admire the front yard, taking in the bikes propped up against the side of the house and the toys scattered carelessly in the grass.
“The yard could use a bit of work.” Loki teased, coming up behind him.
“Nah, it’s perfect. Best house on the block.”
He nudged Loki and started towards the door, “Here, let me give you a tour.”
As they entered the house, Mobius tripped on one of the boys’ shoes that were haphazardly kicked off right in front of the door. A lifetime ago he would have gotten annoyed about it, but right now it just felt made him feel at home. He kicked it to the side with a fond sigh and continued his way into the living room, Loki trailing behind him.
They made their way into the kitchen where Kevin and Sean were rummaging through the pantry for an afternoon snack. Loki leaned in the doorway and watched as Mobius made his way over to them and pulled Sean into a tight embrace from behind.
“Dad, what are you doing?” Sean tilted his head to peer back at him in bemusement.
“What, your old man can’t give you a hug? I haven’t seen you in five hundred years!” Mobius replied, before tugging Kevin over and hugging him too.
“You just saw us this morning.” Kevin countered in a giggle.
Mobius squeezed them tighter before releasing them to continue their scavenging and start Loki’s tour.
They slowly made their way through the house, taking in each room and learning (or relearning in Mobius’s case) the layout until they reached the garage. Mobius’s eye lit up when he saw the two jet skis parked inside.
“It’s a damn shame it’s winter and Lake Eerie is frozen.” He sighed wistfully, running his hand along the side of one of them.
“You know, when I came here the first time you- or well, Don- kept trying to sell me one of these.”
“Really?”
“He also kept mentioning how single he was.”
Mobius laughed at that. “Can you blame him? A tall, dark and handsome stranger showed up on his doorstep, looking at him like a lost puppy, who could pass that up?”
“I didn’t look like a lost puppy.”
“Yeah you did.”
Mobius walked over to the other jet ski, peering at Loki critically.
“What would it take to get you on one of these in the summer?”
“Absolutely not.”
“See, you’ve said that before and as I recall, it didn’t take much to change your mind.”
“We were on a time sensitive mission, as much as I didn’t want to ride that bike it was tactical to do so.” Loki sniffed dismissively, “Seeing as we’re not on a mission anymore, I won’t be getting on a jet ski.”
“Not even for me?” Mobius pointedly tilted his head to the side, his eyes becoming wide and pleading.
Loki felt his resolve crumble.
With a put upon sigh, he slumped his shoulders and rolled his head back.
Cheater.
“We’ll see.”
The door to the house opened and Sean poked his head out.
“Dad, what’s for dinner? We’re hungry.”
“Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe we can go out.”
“Can we do pizza?” Kevin appeared in the doorway behind his brother.
“Sure, why not?” Mobius turned to Loki, “You like pizza right?”
“I’ve never had it.”
Kevin and Sean stared at him in shock.
“You’ve never had pizza?” Kevin asked incredulously,” Are you an alien?”
Loki’s face took on an amused look.
“Maybe I am. Would that be a problem?”
“No, it would be pretty cool. You could be like Thor, and he’s my favorite Avenger.”
Mobius disguised his laugh at Loki’s surprised expression with a cough. Loki shot a glare at him then smiled tightly at Kevin. “Is he now?”
Sean rolled his eyes, “Kevin is obsessed with Thor. But everyone knows that Spider-man is cooler.”
The boys started arguing with each other about which hero would win in a fight and Loki used their distraction to move closer to Mobius to ask, “What is a spider man? It sounds horrifying.”
Mobius chuckled. “He’s a teenager that was bitten by a spider and got powers. He looks like a normal kid though, nothing like what you’re probably imagining.”
Loki had in fact been imaging a disturbing amalgamation of a half-man-half-arachnid with long spindly legs and a dozen eyes so he was relieved to hear the truth.
The boys’ argument escalated into a shoving match and Mobius decided to step in.
“Alright hey, break it up.” He pulled the two boys apart and propelled them back to the kitchen, “Go work on your homework cause the sooner you finish the sooner we’ll leave.”
Loki swirled the straw in his drink around, eyeing the two children across the table warily. The pizza parlor they had gone to for dinner was busy and buzzing with conversations around them.
Mobius had ducked outside the restaurant to take a call from B-15 a few minutes ago and, despite the panicked look Loki had given him, left him to supervise the boys alone.
They were keeping themselves busy with the coloring pages the waitress had left for them and Loki prayed it held their attention long enough for Mobius to return. Evidently his prayers went unheard.
“Loki, where are you from? I like your accent.”
Sean hadn’t bothered to look up from his coloring as he asked the question.
Loki scrambled to come up with a suitable answer. What country had those mortals he and Thor first interacted with a few centuries ago been in?
“Norway.” He answered carefully.
“Why are you in Ohio? We’re pretty far from Norway.”
I met the love of my life. “I got a new job.”
It was Kevin’s turn to ask,
“How old are you?”
Loki wasn’t sure what his Asgardian age would translate to in Midgard years so he answered with a dry, “A thousand.”
“Oh so you’re younger than dad. He’s like fifty thousand.”
Loki snorted, sure Mobius would love to hear his son say that then proceeded to ask, “And old are you?”
“We’re both eleven. But I’m older because I was born first.” Sean told him proudly, puffing out his chest.
“By five minutes.” Kevin protested, “That barely counts.”
Sean stuck his tongue out in reply before turning back and asking another question.
“Do you have any siblings?”
“I do, actually. I have an older brother and a twin sister.”
The boys perked up at that. “You’re a twin too?”
“I am. And I’m the older one.” He shot a wink to Sean. Before either of the boys could fire off another question, Mobius slipped back into the booth next to Loki.
“Sorry about that.” At Loki’s worried expression he explained, “Everything is fine, B just needs me to come in tomorrow to clear up some paperwork.”
Soon after Mobius returned, their food arrived and they dug in.
“How do you like your first pizza?” Mobius asked. Loki nodded appreciatively.
“It’s quite good. Better than anything the TVA had.”
“Try it with parmesan,” Sean suggested, scooting the shaker across the table with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
Mobius spotted the look and before he could warn him, Loki tipped the shaker and the lid fell off. The shaker’s entire contents spilled out and covered his pizza, burying it under a small mound of white powder. Loki blinked in surprise and the twins burst into laughter.
“Really boys? How many times-“ Mobius started with a sigh but Loki cut him off with a soft hand on his shoulder.
“No, it’s fine. You know how I like a good bit of mischief.”
He dusted off a bit of cheese that had fallen into his lap before looking at the boys. Kevin had slumped down into his seat from giggling so hard and Sean was hiding his mouth behind his hands, his shaking shoulders being the only indication that he was laughing.
“I hope you two can take what you dish out.” Loki warned, “I’m a bit of a mischief maker myself.”
He flourished his hand in the air and Kevin and Sean watched in amazement as the pile of cheese on Loki’s pizza disappeared in a green flash and reappeared inside the shaker.
“Loki.” Mobius elbowed his partner with a meaningful look and Loki shot back a apologetic one.
“Sorry, force of habit.”
“How did you do that?” Kevin asked in wonder. “Are you a wizard?”
“Of sorts.”
“What else can you do?” Sean asked.
The two adults glanced at each other, having a silent conversation. Mobius had an uncertain expression but when Loki tilted his head to mock him from earlier he sighed.
“Go ahead. Something small though, we don’t want to attract attention.”
Loki grinned triumphantly before holding his hand out and making two small daggers appear in his palm. He shot another wink across the table and flipped them around, holding one out to each of the boys.
“Here.”
“Loki!” Mobius yelped in alarm, reaching to take them but Kevin and Sean quickly snatched them up. Kevin rotated his dagger back and forth in his hand, watching the light bounce off of it and Sean gently poked the end of his with his finger to see how sharp it was.
“Boys, put those down right now!” Mobius demanded before turning and smacking Loki on the arm. “I can’t believe you gave my kids knives!”
Loki put on a mock affronted look, placing a hand over his heart.
“Mobius, I would never do that.” He simpered with a mischievous grin, “That would be irresponsible. They’re illusions, they can’t hurt themselves or each other with them.”
He waved a hand before the boys could test that theory and the daggers disappeared from their hands in the same green flash as before.
Kevin and Sean giggled at their father’s expression; a mix of exasperation and fondness.
“It’s a good thing I’ve already gone grey, because I’m pretty sure adding you to their antics would change that pretty quick if I hadn’t.” He groaned.
“You love it.” Loki teased, taking another bite of his pizza.
“I do.” Mobius nodded.
When they returned home, Mobius sent the boys off to get ready for bed since it was a school night. As they disappeared upstairs he closed the door and turned to Loki with a sigh.
“I guess you’ll be heading back now?”
“Don’t look so sad, you’ll see me in the TVA tomorrow.”
“I’d rather see you in my bed.”
Loki gave a lecherous grin. “With your children here? How indecent! Shame on you.”
“You know what I meant.” Mobius rolled his eyes.
Loki pulled him into a kiss. “Give me time.”
“Okay.”
They kissed again before Loki opened a portal back to the TVA and stepped through. Mobius gave a heavy sigh before going back into the house. The boys were waiting for him at the top of the stairs.
“Can you come tuck us in?”
Mobius smiled softly.
“Always.”
A few hours later Mobius lay flat on his back in the dark, struggling to fall asleep. He had his first day back at the store in the morning and had to get up early to get the boys to school but for some reason he just couldn’t sleep.
He knew the reason actually, and it was kind of pathetic. Four hundred years he’d spent in the TVA falling alseep alone with no problem, but now that he’d gotten used to the warmth of having Loki in the bed next to him it felt impossible to fall asleep without it.
He rolled over with a groan to check the time on his phone but froze when he heard a familiar hum and his room was filled with a dull orange glow. He bolted to sit upright.
“Absolutely ridiculous. One thousand and fifty years,“ Loki muttered to himself, storming through the door and marching to the stand by Mobius’s bed.
“Loki? What are you doing here?”
“I guess I’ve gotten so used to your snoring that I can’t sleep in the silence.“
“Aw did you miss me?” Mobius teased. Loki threw a pillow at him.
“You’re still awake too.”
“Because I missed you.” He replied honestly. He lifted the blanket and Loki crawled into bed and settled next to him.
Just as he started to drift off Mobius muttered, “I don’t snore.”
“You don’t,” Loki hummed, “I just missed you.”