"What did you do this time?"
“What did you do this time?”
Loki looked up in surprise at the sound of his voice and smiled when he saw him. That reaction still made something in Mobius melt, but he brushed the feeling away. There were more important things to address at the moment.
“I am so glad you asked! You all were doing your investigating, and I was quite bored, so I decided to try-”
“Loki,” Mobius cut him off, trying to spare himself from listening to whatever chaotic story the god was about to tell. They didn’t have much time left before they had to go. “What is that?” Loki frowned.
“Well, if you’d let me finish, I-”
“Loki.”
“Alright! Alright.” He picked up the flailing bag on the ground, grumbling all the while, and opened the top. There was a quick flash of movement, and Mobius jolted back in shock as something latched onto his leg.
“Loki, what the hell-” He stopped when he saw what was frantically clawing its way up his leg. He raised an eyebrow at the god. “...Really?” Loki shrugged.
“I thought it’d be fun to smuggle it into the TVA.”
“Why would- never mind.” Shaking his head in exasperation, he plucked the kitten from his leg and lifted it to get a better look at the poor thing. The disheveled kitten mewled pathetically, and Mobius instinctively pulled it close to his chest. It immediately scrambled up onto his shoulder and turned to hiss in Loki’s direction. The god’s face was blank, but Mobius knew him well enough to see the gleam of mischief in his eyes. “So you’re tormenting kittens now? That’s your new brand?” Loki shrugged his shoulders.
“What can I say? I’m a mischievous scamp.” Mobius pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off a headache.
“You know what? I don’t care. Put it back.” Loki jutted his bottom lip out in a pout, and Mobius gave him the most unimpressed look he could manage while fighting back a laugh at ridiculous it all was. Loki heaved a great sigh but made no argument as he walked up to Mobius. The closer he got, the angrier the kitten became- growling and spitting and making Mobius wince as its claws dug deeper into his shoulder. The poor thing swatted furiously at the god, and Mobius tried to figure out what the man could have possibly done to the little creature. Loki completely ignored the reaction and grabbed the kitten by the scruff, using his free hand to unhook its claws from Mobius. Despite the kitten’s angry cries and attempts at attacking him, he was surprisingly gentle with it. He brought it back to the bag and was about to shove it in there when Mobius called out to him and gave him a pointed look. Loki sighed and transformed the bag into a carrier that he gingerly placed the kitten in, quickly latching the door before it could bolt again.
“I’ll just go deal with this,” he proclaimed cheerfully and spun on his heel, the sound of growls becoming fainter as he walked away. Mobius frowned after him before returning to the rest of the group.
When he got there, he noticed the Minutemen were scrambling around. He quickened his pace, concerned, and found Hunter B-15 in the midst of it all.
“What’s going on?” B-15 let out a tired sigh.
“One of the department’s clerks managed to come through the portal with us, and now they’re missing.” Mobius was astonished.
“A clerk? How did that happen?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Mobius began to turn, prepared to help search when a thought popped into his head. His head fell back, and he looked up at the sky, wondering what he could have possibly done to deserve the nonsense that plagued his existence. He scrubbed his hands over his face roughly before turning back to B-15.
“You wouldn’t happen to know their name, would you,” he asked calmly, hoping he was wrong. B-15 looked at him suspiciously.
“Casey.”
“I’m going to kill him,” he thought as he began to walk quickly back in the direction his pain in the ass “partner” had gone.
He didn’t have to search for long when Loki came trotting up to him, all smiles. His happy demeanor quickly fell away when he saw Mobius’s face.
“What is it,” he asked worriedly. Mobius wanted to slap him but instead took one deep, steadying breath.
“I’m going to ask you one time, and you better tell me the truth, or I swear I will prune you myself,” he said slowly, glaring at the god. Loki nodded, straightening up. “Did you or did you not sneak Casey through the timedoor so you could turn him into a cat?” Loki looked away and bit his lip, shuffling on his feet.
“Well…”
“For fuck’s sake, Loki! Where is he?” Loki cleared his throat.
“He’s just uh… he’s just over-”
“Bring him back. Now.”
“Right,” Loki nodded and scrambled off.
After spending a few moments calming himself down, Mobius returned and informed the unit that they could stop searching. Shortly after, Loki walked smugly up to their group with his hands in his pockets. Casey followed slightly behind, looking like he was trying to set Loki on fire with his eyes. He was also inexplicably soaking wet.
The following hour consisted of plenty of yelling and cursing. During that time, Minutemen had to restrain multiple people so they could stop a physical fight from breaking out. Mobius was, unfortunately, in the middle of it all as he was the one who had to apologize for Loki’s actions and try to convince everyone not to hunt him down and kill him. It was a difficult task, but he did eventually succeed. It took a significant amount of groveling and abusing his friendship with Renslayer to do. He’d also have to undertake triple the amount of paperwork he was usually assigned, but he did it.
He and Loki walked in stony silence through the corridors afterward. Loki tried to start up a conversation several times, but one look from Mobius had him snapping his mouth shut. When they got into the elevator, Mobius leaned back against the wall and rubbed his fingers over his temples, trying to ease the pain in his skull.
He jerked in surprise as two cold hands brushed his away and began to massage his scalp. He sighed and leaned into the touch.
“You test me every day,” he grumbled. Loki hummed.
“You always stay, though,” he said, voice uncharacteristically soft. Mobius didn’t answer. One of Loki’s hands slid down to his shoulder, and he nuzzled into Mobius’s hair. “Thank you for defending me,” he murmured. Mobius half-heartedly slapped his arm.
“Stop needing to be defended,” he answered tiredly. Loki hummed again and pressed a tender kiss to his temple, and was silent for a long moment.
“It was pretty funny, though.”
Mobius shoved Loki away with a growl and stormed out of the elevator, trying to ignore the quiet laughter behind him.