Mobius can practically feel his will to live slowly deteriorating.
It must be at least two hundred degrees outside, and the large fan he has sitting on his desk does nothing to protect him from the heaviness of the hot air outside seeping in through the open garage doors.
Business at The Jet Ski Lodge had been amazing recently which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good thing because it meant he got a shit ton of money. Bad thing because it meant he had to do a shit ton of work in the prime of summer.
A person with long curly hair walks into the shop, a wide smile present on his face, showing off his dimples. Mobius huffs and quickly pretends to busy himself with shining the same jet ski he had been shining an hour ago.
On one hand, the guy was probably the most stuck-up, arrogant, annoying person Mobius had ever met. On the other hand, he was also probably the smartest, funniest, most attractive person Mobius had ever met and he brought unwanted feelings to the forefront of the former's mind.
Mobius was too fucking tired to deal with feelings.
“Hello, Mobius,” the person says cheerfully, spotting him immediately.
“Hi, Loki,” Mobius responds with a sigh, turning around to face the brunette. Loki gives him a charming smile and Mobius doesn’t want to admit how it makes his heart flip.
As soon as he shoves his heart back into place, Mobius begins taking long strides out the door, going over to the jet ski Loki always seems to rent. Mobius doesn’t know why he doesn’t rent a better one, after all, he comes into The Lodge every day to rent so he must be loaded. Loki insists that he just enjoys the pretty green color, and Mobius honestly can’t say that it’s anything more than that. Loki’s an odd person, to say the least.
“Same as usual?” Mobius asks, and Loki nods.
“Two hours.” Mobius rolls his eyes but begins getting the jet ski set up for Loki. Once he’s is done with he pauses and turns to the brunette.
“Why don’t you just buy this thing?” he asks. “You’re here every day- it’d be cheaper in the long run.” A smirk overtakes the taller one’s face, stepping closer to Mobius who is immediately aware of their almost intimate proximity.
“If I buy it, what would be my excuse to come see you every day?” Mobius makes his face as stoic as possible not wanting Loki to see the blush that's bound to appear on his cheeks if he loses focus for even a moment. He rolls his eyes.
“You’re impossible.” Loki pats his arm a little too harshly, and Mobius grabs it in pain.
“You love it though,” the brunette replies, hopping onto the jet ski and driving off.
“No, I don’t!” Mobius yells after him.
---
Mobius doesn’t know what he had been thinking. He hadn’t been thinking straight, that’s for sure.
Of course he hadn’t been thinking straight- Loki was involved.
“Wow, you’re really good at this!” Loki yells over the roar of the water they glide over, and Mobius can tell they’re smiling.
“I’ve been riding a long time, I should hope I’m good at it by now.” Loki laughs loudly, causing butterflies to erupt in Mobius’s stomach.
“I suppose that’s true.”
For some reason, Mobius had thought it would be a good idea to have Loki go ahead and buy the jet ski, then just give them lessons so they had an excuse to come back to the little shop. He voiced this idea to Loki who let their face light up for a mere second before quickly masking their delight and they agreed to the idea.
Loki tightens their grip around Mobius’s waist, and Mobius slows to a stop until they’re just bobbing on the water.
“Are you alright?” he asks with concern lacing his voice. Loki nods.
“I don’t feel especially well, but I’m sure I’ll be fine. If you could just steer us back to shore, that’d be nice though,” they request. Mobius hardens his face and focuses on getting them out of the open water- he doesn’t want to make Loki any sicker than they already might be.
When they get to shore, Loki thanks Mobius for the lesson and begins walking off, head held high, as always.
“Wait!” Mobius calls, surprising himself. He doesn’t think he told his mouth to speak. Loki turns around, eyebrow arched.
“Yes?”
Mobius clears his throat, not wanting to seem like he’s caught off-guard. He was the one who spoke first, after all.
“I just want to make sure you’ll be alright getting home.” Loki chuckles.
“I’ll be fine, your concern is adorable, though.” Mobius fails to conceal the red that springs to the forefront of his skin. Loki’s grin widens. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” they say softly.
Mobius most definitely doesn’t stare after them.
---
Mobius decides that maybe he’s not too tired to deal with feelings anymore.
He didn’t end up seeing Loki tomorrow. He didn’t see him the next day either.
Mobius hadn’t seen Loki in a week and he was no longer trying to hide his worry.
That day Mobius asked every customer that stopped by if they had seen the brunette and all of them replied negatively. With every answer, Mobius felt his stomach twist itself into another knot. It didn’t untie itself until the last customer of the day came up to him.
“Hello, what can I help you with?” he asked, without looking up.
“I just want to make sure my lesson for tomorrow hasn’t been canceled,” a raspy voice replies. Mobius lets his eyes trail upwards, and a fire alights in his stomach. Whether it’s from anger or from pure infatuation, he has no idea, nor does he know whether he wants to punch the person in front of him or kiss her. Maybe both.
“Loki, what the hell? Where have you been?” Mobius demands.
“Aw, did you miss me?” Loki teases. Mobius narrows his eyes.
“Yeah, actually,” Mobius spits. “I hate your guts but you somehow also got me to consider you a friend, and a pretty good one at that. Then you disappeared for a week and I had no fucking clue where you were! You didn’t even call me to tell me that you weren’t dead, because you could have been for all I knew!” Loki looks down, lip between her teeth.
“Um, I don’t have your number.” Mobius flushes realizing Loki is right.
“Oh,” he replies dumbly. He grabs a sticky note and quickly jots down his digits, thrusting it into Loki’s hand.
“Thanks,” Loki says awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. “Anyway, I came down with a pretty bad cold and I didn’t want to come here and get you sick.” Mobius looks up at Loki and tries to will away the thought of feeding her soup as she lays on her head on Mobius’s lap.
“Are you feeling better now?” Mobius asks quietly. Loki nods.
“Yep, it cleared up fine and I’ll be back to bothering you incessantly every day from now on.” Mobius shrugs.
“You don’t bother me so much anymore.” He looks up just in time to see pink dusting the brunette’s cheeks. Loki purses her lips.
“I’ll just have to amp up how annoying I am, I guess,” she replies, walking out the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mobius.”
---
This time, Loki is good on his word. At some point, Mobius insists he stops paying for his lessons and it becomes more of them just messing around on the water together. Every day, Loki gets better and better, and every day Mobius becomes more and more enamored with him.
“You’re getting really good!” Mobius calls.
You look amazing right now, is what he means.
“Here, hop on with me and I’ll show you how to do that trick.”
I want to hold you in my arms forever, but this is the only way I can be close to you without actually making a move.
“Another lesson tomorrow?”
Please tell me you’ll come again tomorrow because I miss you every second you’re not with me.
One day after one of these "lessons", Loki sits on the dock with Mobius. The sunset lights up the former's face in the most amazing way, giving Mobius no choice but to stare at him. Loki turns to meet his eyes, and the shorter quickly looks away. Loki chuckles.
“I know I’m hot, it’s okay to stare.” Mobius rolls his eyes.
“Whatever lets you sleep at night.” Loki nudges his shoulder, forcing him to look over.
“This summer has been fun, don’t you agree?” he asks. Mobius nods.
“It has.”
The two sit on the dock for a while longer, until Loki moves his hand over to interlace his fingers with Mobius’s. Mobius’s breath hitches.
“It’s beautiful,” Loki breathes, eyes trained on the sky.
“You’re beautiful,” Mobius blurts before he can think too hard about it- not that his brain is working properly right now anyway. Loki turns to look at the shorter man, lips slightly parted and shock written all over his face. He swallows harshly.
“You’re not too bad yourself,” he replies with confidence that doesn’t match his facial expression at all. Now it’s Mobius’s turn to swallow in gay panic. He rubs his thumb over Loki’s knuckles.
“Would you, perhaps, maybe, want to go out with me sometime?” he asks, not daring to look into the dark eyes of the brunette.
“Yes,” Loki answers quickly. “Jesus, that took you forever.” Mobius looks up in surprise.
“Huh?”
“I’ve been dropping hints all summer that I’m into you! I was starting to think you were never going to ask me out, fucking hell. Do you think I’d show up here every day if I didn’t like you?” Loki asks incredulously causing Mobius to gape at him.
“Well, why didn’t you just ask me out yourself, dumbass?” he counters.
“Because I’m a coward?” Loki says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, and Mobius laughs starkly at that.
“I guess I’m not much better.”
“No,” Loki chuckles, glancing over at him. “You’re not.”
They sit in thick silence for a minute, not knowing what to say.
“So, what now?” Mobius whispers into the evening air.
“I believe,” Loki starts, turning his body towards the shorter man. “We kiss now.” Mobius chokes.
“I, um, uh, you-”
“Or we don’t have to,” Loki laughs. “Wow maybe you’re the cow-” But the task of talking becomes impossible as Mobius pulls Loki towards him, crashing their lips together. Mobius melts into the kiss, his heart freely fluttering wildly inside his chest. He reaches up to cup Loki’s cheek and when they pull apart he runs his thumb over it gently.
“You were saying?” Loki huffs and crosses his arms, pulling away from Mobius.
“You’re going to hold that over me forever, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” Mobius replies with a smirk, pulling Loki into another kiss under the fiery sky.