Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

~~•~~

He wove through the crowd like it was a game—arms tucked securely into his sides, fingers clasped onto the edges of his hood—careful not to let the folds of his cloak brush against any of the passersby. This was the busiest the market had been all week. It was an event of some sort, a holiday or a festival or both. Strings of orange colored lights dipped back and forth between the stalls, draping the area in an inviting firelike glow. Music wafted down the main walkway from one of the sidestreets, and paint-faced children scurried around their parents' ankles, wondering at all the toys and treats which they were undoubtedly begging for. The vendors were certainly able to provide those things and more on top of their usual wears; sweet-coated nuts, hardened syrup on sticks, spiced wine and spiked cider, frothy custards with baked fruit, and dozens and dozens of different breads and cakes and pies, both savory and sweet, piled high on gold and silver platters— all tempting, all reminiscent of simpler times. But he knew better than to let greed or nostalgia rule his head. As if he had a choice in the matter. The only thing ruling his head nowadays was the constant nagging of a certain grey-haired paranoiac. Anytime Loki’s hedonism had a reason to come crawling back, Mobius’ voice was there to crack the whip at it again. Odin would have been impressed. 

He scurried toward an open patch in the crowd and turned to survey the tables nearby. There was a small fruit cart with an ale dispenser, a butchery that was already running low on wares, an elaborate display for some cakes and a few half-empty baskets of less exorbitant pastries. Along the opposite side of the street, a metal-worker and an artisan shared a combined booth five times bigger than the rest, but he had no use for trinkets. He would take what he needed, no more, no less. A few rolls here, a slab of meat there, a pair of pinkish fruits and a bottle of the cheapest liquor, all deftly snatched and quickly magicked away for safekeeping. It was nothing that’d be missed, not among all of this celebration and splendor. 

And yet, these items still carried with them a terrible risk: the complete erasure of this world as they knew it...

With that comforting thought, he tugged the cloak more snuggly around his torso and began his trek back toward the west-end of town. The hustle and bustle began to thin out the further he strayed from the city-centre. He allowed himself a quick breather as he turned to take in the triple sunset dipping under the horizon. There was a certain beauty to this place, a certain allure, and it wasn’t just because of the scenery. From what he’d been able to gather these past few weeks, the people here hardly wanted for anything. There was always plenty of good food and fellowship to go around. He’d discovered (quite by accident) that the houses here didn’t even have locks; he was probably the first serious thief they’d had in years! No one was exceptionally wealthy, of course, but there were no beggars on the streets either. Everyone was a friend or an acquaintance of some sort, unless they lived on opposite ends of the city, and in that case it was almost always a know-someone-who-knows-someone type of situation. It was a very particular kind of paradise, and if they’d picked up on these little details earlier, specifically the small-town feel of the place, they never would have chosen to stay this long. 

Loki sighed to himself as the last sun sank beneath the sea in the distance. He got the feeling Mobius was about to determine that they’d out-stayed their welcome here. He also got the feeling that Mobius had only decided for them to stick around this long because he knew Loki liked it here. He wasn’t sure which feeling was worse...

“Hurry up! We’re going to miss it!”

The child shot past him so quickly and so closely that the hem of his cloak swayed back and forth in the resulting breeze. He stumbled back to the edge of the street with bated breath, pinching the base of his hood together under his neck. Another child, a girl, rounded the bend and grabbed the younger boy by the arm. They both had the same blue-tinged hair and wide green eyes, but even without these obvious physical similarities, he would have been able to tell they were siblings. He knew an unruly younger brother when he saw one. 

“You have to wait on m’am, Tievel,” the girl scolded. There was more than a hint of exasperation in her tone, as if she’d said this exact phrase at least a dozen times already. 

The boy, Teivel, stamped his little foot as he wriggled out of his sister’s grasp. “She’s just there, Alcie. See?”

Loki followed the tip of his pointer finger back up the street. A man with the same bluish tint to his hair and beard strode into view of the last remaining sunlight. There was a young woman hanging onto his arm for support as they descended the small incline toward the children. One of her hands rested on her stomach, which was swollen almost past her toes. Unlike the rest of her family, the long ringlets of hair cascading over her shoulders were silvery white in color. Her eyes, too, were different—gold in color and upturned at the edges. She was beautiful, but Loki couldn’t pinpoint a single feature she shared with her offspring. 

“M’amo, we need to hurry!” the boy urged. “Can’t you go any faster?” 

Teivel’s father shook his head tiredly. “They’re not going to run out of casu, Teevee. The suns have only just set.” 

Their mother smiled knowingly. “Alcie and I can walk down together, Jista. You should take him.”

Alcie’s face lit up, eager to take on what was clearly an important responsibility, but her father cut her enthusiasm short with his words. “That’s not part of the deal, Vyi. If we’re going, I’m staying with you.”

Vyi’s golden eyes sparkled with a strange mix of devilry and innocence. “Did you worry for Methel this much when she carried Alcie and Teivel?”

“Yes,” Jista replied without missing a beat. “Ask her. She’ll tell you so, especially with Alcie. The first one is always the worst.”

Eye rolling must have been a universal concept on this planet too. “I’m not as fragile as I look,” Vyi said. She patted his cheek before extending the same hand out toward their daughter. “Come help your M’amo, Alcie-bee.”

Jista reluctantly let Alcie take his place. There was no arguing to be had at this point. Vyi would bend over backwards to please these kids, and while he loved her to the suns and back for it, this wasn’t the first nor the last time he’d be ousted for something as silly as dessert. 

“B’abo, hurry! Please!” Teivel begged.

“Mhm,” Jista said. “What do you tell your M’am, Teivel?”

“Thank you,” the boy said obediently.

Vyi blew him a kiss and roped her arm through Alcie’s. “We’ll be along.”

“Let’s goooo, now.” Teivel tugged against his father’s arm impatiently. “They’re probably selling the last of it at this very minute!”

“All right, you!”

Teivel squealed as his father swept him up and tossed him over his shoulder like a barrel of fish. Loki’s eyes followed them down the hill as Teivel’s laughter fluttered behind them like a brightly colored ribbon. Something in Loki’s chest twinged ardently as he turned his attention back to Vyi and Alcie, but there was nothing left to see. There never was, really. Just a normal family going through their predetermined lives together, and he detested how captivated he had been by it, by them . He’d pilfered away enough time here already. 

.

.

.

Vyi’s golden eyes hovered on the spot where they had been, the cloaked figure. For a moment, she wasn’t even sure if they were real. Once she’d seen them, she couldn’t exactly un see them, but she sensed from them a desire to remain unseen regardless. It was...strange.

“M’amo? Are you coming?”

Vyi tore her eyes away from the stranger as they faded out of sight again and offered her daughter a small smile. “Slowly but surely, Bee. Slowly but surely.”

She threw one last look over her shoulder, but the cryptic individual had truly disappeared this time. Whoever they were, she hoped they’d recover whatever it was they were looking for. No one wandered alone on this day unless they had lost something...or had been lost by someone else. Maybe their situation was the latter. 

In that case...she hoped they would be found . 

~~•~~

Loki called the familiar green glow of magic to his fingertips as he left the last of the townlights behind. The pavement under his feet cracked away and melded with the dust as he trekked through the barren landscape. He walked on naught but dry earth until he reached the fields, and only once he’d slipped into the covering of the chest-high grass did he finally drop the glamour concealing his form. He parted the tall foliage with one hand and thrust his makeshift lamp forward with the other, searching for the hastily-cut path he’d forged in the endless sea of amber. It was hardly an easy task during the day and nigh impossible in the dark. He was still cursing himself for wasting precious sunlight on sentiment when he happened upon it. Perhaps luck hadn’t completely abandoned him after all. Well— the good side of her anyway. The bad side still toyed with him constantly . But she had to throw him a small win every once in a while to keep him going. It wouldn’t be any fun to drag him back down again without first letting him come up for air; never enough to thrive on, but just the right amount to satisfy her sadism. 

...

Wow … He really could be dramatic when it suited him. Maybe Mobius was right.

Mobius— Loki grimaced. He was probably preparing to hop onto his soap-box the minute Loki stepped through the door. Any other time, he wouldn’t have minded quarreling with the agent, if only to vent his frustrations, but he wasn’t in the mood for senseless bickering tonight. He was hungry and weary; he just wanted to shove a couple rolls in his mouth and call it a day. Maybe if he acted pathetic enough, Mobius would let him off lightly. It was the only manipulation tactic left in Loki's bag of tricks that still worked on him, and even then, it wasn’t always foolproof. Regardless, the agent’s compassion remained his greatest weakness, and Loki wasn’t going to feel bad about exploiting it when Mobius had disarmed (masterfully, he had to admit) every other option.

He let his free hand brush against the grass as he practiced his best kicked-puppy look. It wasn’t too difficult to manage, all things considered… He really wished he’d gone ahead and risked taking a few extra sweets, maybe a stronger bottle of rum. They were going to leave anyway, if not now then in a few days time at most. Why shouldn’t he have splurged a little? He was the bloody God of Mischief for crying out loud, not some obedient lap dog on a leash! The T.V.A. had controlled his choices long enough; wasn’t he entitled to a little fun? A little risk? He had little else these days. In fact, it seemed like the organization somehow held even more authority over his life than before. The reality of it irked him and spurred his heart even further toward a place of defiance. 

And what was more, he couldn’t seem to get that damn kid and family out of his head. They were all so happy together, so content in their meaningless existence, oblivious to the fact that stepping a single toe out of line could result in the erasure of their entire world. They thought they were happy together, but their connection was nothing more than a single thread woven together on the timekeepers’ tapestry, in which the tiniest snag threatened their idyllic version of reality. Their sacred version. Whatever love there was between Vyi and her husband, whatever fondness between her and the children— all of it was an elaborate lie crafted by the ones in power. Worthless. 

Then am I not your mother?

You’re not. 

He stopped short just before the clearing, where a little farmhouse creaked an ominous greeting in the silence of the night. The memories haunting him weren't even his own—weren’t even memories so much as a collection of words on paper—and yet, they were as much a part of him as they were the other Loki. 

You might want to take the stairs to the left...

He’d been loath to believe it at first, and he wouldn’t, he’d said, not unless Mobius showed it to him. The agent had refused. In hindsight, Loki understood that Mobius had been trying to protect him, but back then, he’d seen it only as needless bureaucracy. He’d even threatened the agent’s life over it; thankfully, he had pretty quick reflexes, for an older fellow.

Mobius had been a lot more careful about what files he let Loki peruse through after that. Damn that idiotic man and his bleeding heart...

He locked his mind onto that thought—onto Mobius—as he pressed forward toward the cabin. (Anything to keep the memories of his mother at bay...) He began cycling through the past few months in his mind. At first, they hadn’t been able to stay anywhere longer than a day or two. It took them a while to realize that camping out on barren planets, where the threat of creating nexus events was less severe, was hurting rather than helping them. Even trying to hide out in apocalypses hadn’t worked nearly as well as they’d hoped. Mobius was under the impression that the T.V.A. was somehow tracking them through their temporal auras. Oddly enough, it wasn’t a process he was familiar with. Loki would have thought that an analyst tasked with pinning down dangerous variants would have access to that kind of technology, but Mobius said that it was an iffy science at best, especially if they didn’t already have a variant’s aura on file. Besides that, most organic creatures had similarly constructed auras, meaning the more people around, the harder it was to isolate any one out of the masses. And to make matters even more complicated— apparently, bouncing around on the timeline tended to alter one’s aura significantly if the jumps were frequent enough. Even if the changes were microscopic, distinguishing two separate auras on an almost infinite timeline was no easy task. The T.V.A. must have been desperate.

Ravonna, for her part, was committing an uncharacteristically large chunk of her resources toward finding them. Before, whenever Loki had had the displeasure of being in her presence, she had always given off an undeniably dogmatic vibe. She was the type that would step off a bridge if the timekeepers told her to. She was a domineering rule-follower if there ever was one, and she expected everyone else to be just as dedicated to the T.V.A.’s cause as she was. Suffice it to say, he was more than a little shocked that she’d abandoned her duties as a Judge in favor of personally hunting them down. This wasn’t some random mission she was willing to peddle off to one of her analysts. She was fully committed, as if Mobius’ attempt to save Loki’s life had been some sort of intimate slight against her. 

He was almost embarrassed for her, honestly. The situation clearly had nothing to do with her. She’d just so happened to be in their way at the time of their escape. He considered telling her that the next time they crossed paths. It might work to get her off their backs for a little while at least.

He extinguished the magic hovering around his fist as he ascended the steps and twisted the handle on the front door. It squeaked open on rusted hinges, revealing the emptiness within. Loki eyed the room suspiciously as he turned to—

WIIIIRRRRR

“Don’t move!”

Loki shrank back as the barrel of a glowing purple gun was thrust into his face.

“Gods— Mobius, it’s me!” he gasped, tossing his hood back as he raised his hands behind his head. 

The bureaucrat lowered his space-rifle with a huff. “Well how am I supposed to know that if you don’t use the signal?”

“You could have blown my face off,” Loki snapped. 

“If you would use the signal we talked about, that wouldn’t be an issue,” Mobius responded, uncocking his gun for emphasis. 

Loki rolled his eyes. “What is it with you and bird calls?” He conjured the items from his most recent hoard and deposited them onto the table in the middle of the room. It looked like a lot more than he remembered taking… He started sorting the supplies into less exorbitant-looking piles. 

Mobius sidled up behind him with his hands on his hips. “If you’re going to sneak off all the time, the least you could do is use the signal...especially if you’re going to pillage this place for all its worth,” he said.  Loki could sense the look of disapproval emanating from him over his shoulder. “This is a little excessive, don’t you think?”

“There’s some big celebration going on in town,” Loki said. “What you’re looking at isn’t even a fraction of what they have down there. I haven’t seen that much food in one place since—” he paused. “...well, at any rate, I think I was fairly conservative.”

Mobius eyed the green bottle of liquor dubiously. “Yeah, only the necessities here.”

“If you don’t like it, you can go down there and pilfer through the garbage for yourself.” 

Mobius grunted, but he didn’t say anything more on that front. He leaned back against one of the wooden support beams and crossed his arms over his chest. “Were you careful at least?”

The muscles in Loki’s cheek twitched involuntarily. “Yes.”

“Are you sure? Because if anyone saw you—”

“Mobius, we’ve been over this,” Loki said evenly as he turned to face the analyst. “My magic renders me practically invisible. Hence why I’m the one who keeps going out to get the food.”

“Yeah, I know,” Mobius said. “But you told me it isn’t foolproof if someone’s looking for you. And the T.V.A. is— constantly . Plus, we haven't been here long enough to figure out how this place works. For all you know, they could have magicians of their own looking for people like you.”

The ‘magician’ (who was, quite frankly, insulted) shook his head. “I’d know if there were other magic-users here.”

“How?” 

Loki groaned. “Mobius, I wasn’t seen! Okay? Trust me. I’ve been careful, almost to the point of absurdity at this point.”

The bureaucrat pointed at the table. “You call that careful?”

Loki tossed a careless glance over his shoulder and reached for the closest snack. “If no one saw me, what does it matter?”

“It matters!” Mobius shouted. He snatched the fruit Loki had been about to bite into out of his hand.

“Hey—!” the god protested.

“What if this wasn’t meant for you?” Mobius said. “What if someone was going to buy this for their kid? Now it’s not gonna be there, because you took it.”

“So?”

“So they’ll have to get the next one. But what if— What if the next one has some kind of deadly parasite in it or something?”

“A parasite?” Loki said flatly.

“ Or something ,” Mobius stressed. “As soon as that kid eats it, he drops dead. And let’s just say, for argument's sake, that he was supposed to grow up to be the hero of this town. He was supposed to save everyone from the pirates that are gonna come through here and murder everyone in fifteen years. But now he can’t. Because he’s dead— Cue giant branch on the timeline and the T.V.A. right on top of us again.”

Loki stared at him incredulously. “Pirates... Really.”

“It doesn’t have to be pirates! I’m just trying to make a point here!”

“Mobius, don’t you hear how insane that is?”

“YES! It’s completely insane. It’s chaos!” the agent said. “And I’ve seen it happen, over and over and over again. Nothing we do out here is safe! No matter how insignificant it seems.” He brandished the fruit in Loki’s face to punctuate the message. Maybe it was too much to hope that the god would finally start taking their situation seriously. He wasn’t sure Loki understood just how vulnerable they were out here. If they started a nexus event, the T.V.A. wouldn’t even bother bringing them in; they’d prune the branch with the two of them still standing on it, and they’d never be the wiser, not until they were both disintegrating right before each others’ eyes. 

Loki shoved Mobius’ hand out of his face with a steely expression. “So what’s your plan then? To skulk around in the shadows, jumping from one time to the next for the remainder of our natural lives? Running from the most powerful organization in existence? ‘ For all time, always ,’” he mocked. 

Mobius took a deep breath. “Alright, Loki, calm down—”

The god laughed. “Oh, that’s rich coming from you. I’m not the one afraid to step foot outside the door.”

“I’m trying to protect you!”

“I don’t need protection!” 

“What do you need then?”

“To talk to someone! Anyone!” Loki flung his hands out to the side. “ Anyone but you!”

“Since when?” Mobius demanded. “You don’t even like people!”

“That’s beside the point!” Loki snapped. “We cannot just avoid everyone forever!”

“We don’t have a choice! Don’t you realize what would happen to you—to both of us—if the T.V.A. got a hold of you again?”

“I didn’t ask to be ripped out of my timeline! I didn’t ask for this!” Loki shouted. “You shouldn’t have bothered, Mobius! I would have been better off like all the other variants!” 

Mobius' gaze softened. “Don’t say that.”

“Why not? You supported the T.V.A.’s mission until I came along. How many variants did you have a hand in pruning?”

Loki could tell he’d struck a nerve. The agent averted his eyes with a grimace. “I thought what I was doing was right… I don’t know. I’m still not sure if it’s entirely wrong. Either way, I feel like what the T.V.A. does is necessary. I mean, what’s the alternative? All out war?”

Loki grabbed him by the shoulders. “The T.V.A. is controlling us. Both of us. Don’t you understand that? If we ever want a chance at freedom, we have to find their weakness.”

The agent pressed his lips together. His shoulders sagged under the weight of Loki’s hands. “It’s too risky, Loki... I’m sorry.”

Loki’s expression shifted; the god’s gaze could have burned holes into him. It was reminiscent of the look he’d given Mobius when they’d first met—contemptuous, spiteful, as if Mobius was almost certainly beneath him. But there was something else there too, something that hadn’t been there before. Mobius recognized it’s keen sting from the courtroom: betrayal. 

“…Sure you are,” Loki said. He grabbed the fruit back from Mobius and bit into it pointedly as he stalked back toward the door. “Coward,” he muttered under his breath.

Mobius sighed. “Where are you going?”

“Away from you,” the god quipped. “I told you I’m sick of talking to you. Or weren’t you listening?” 

Mobius ran one hand over the bottom half of his face. “Loki...”

The trickster shoved against the rusty door with more force than was probably necessary. Mobius flinched as it flew open and slammed against the outside wall. “Loki! Hey—” He rushed outside after the god. “Come on, what’s the deal with you tonight?”

Loki summoned his magic and clenched his fist. He heard Mobius cry out in surprise as a generous spray of dirt erupted at his feet. The agent coughed up the resulting dust and used his sleeve to rub it out of his eyes. “Oh, yeah, that’s real mature!”

Loki took another bite out of his fruit as he marched further into the field. “Don’t eat any of my food.” The order was even more childish than the dirt trick, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. 

Mobius opened his mouth to deliver a smarmy retort but thought better of it as watched Loki disappear behind the wall of grass. 

Ho-ly timekeepers.

A few years ago, if someone had told him he’d be sympathizing with Odin right now, he’d have called them crazy. He wished Loki would just talk to him, but even after everything they’d been through together, the trickster still preferred to play things close to chest. There was something more going on behind his sudden desire to stick it to the T.V.A.—there was always something more with Loki. He only hoped that the god’s secrets wouldn’t come back to bite them both later on… 

He went back inside where Loki’s bounty still lay on the table in haphazardly organized piles. There was only one pink fruit left, identical to the one Loki had taken with him outside, stuck in it’s own little section on the corner of the table. Mobius knew it had been intended for him, no matter what Loki said now. He leaned over and grabbed it, turning it over in his hands as he examined its shiny outer layer. The T.V.A. could be on their way here right now thanks to this one insignificant object. 

He lifted it to his mouth and took a bite.

It was probably one of the best things he’d ever tasted.

~~•~~

It was late when Loki finally returned to the clearing. If he’d been tired before, he was positively exhausted now. He almost regretted storming off due to that fact alone. Sure, he could have come back right away, but he had nothing if not his pride. 

He opted for teleporting to the other side of the door instead of dealing with the squeaky hinges this time. Mobius hated it when he popped in and out of places without warning, so, naturally, he did it as much as possible— until Mobius had gotten his hands on that gun, which wouldn’t have been a problem if he wasn’t so damn trigger-happy. 

He half-expected to be shot full of holes as he took his first steps into the room. Fortunately for him, Mobius had long since passed out in the corner on one of the folding mattress pads; they (“they” meaning Loki) had snagged them from a warehouse a few time-jumps back. Mobius had protested adamantly against such a luxury. Well, shoe’s on the other foot now, Loki thought to himself as he waved a hand back and forth in front of Mobius’ sleeping face. He noticed a faint orange glow beside his head and bent down to slip the TemPad out of the agent’s grasp. A single white line wavered across the screen, uninterrupted. No branching yet. They were safe, for now. 

Loki powered the device off and squatted next to the briefcase at the foot of Mobius’ bed. He stuck the TemPad back in the only empty slot and checked to make sure the case re-latched securely. His own briefcase was stored in the space between, where all the items he magicked away accumulated. Their cases held exactly fifty TemPads each, and each of those TemPads had exactly one location programmed into it. Mobius had taken great care in making sure each device had a matching one in the other’s case. That way, if they ever got separated, they’d simply pick up the next TemPad in line and meet up on the other side. It really was a brilliant system. Loki couldn’t have come up with a better one himself if he tried. The T.V.A. didn’t play around when it came to selecting their analysts; Mobius was a Hel of a lot smarter than he looked. 

Unfortunately… he wasn’t smart enough .

Loki placed his hand over the briefcase on the floor. His magic hovered just out of reach, ready to do his bidding the instant he called upon it. It would be so easy — 

He’d thought about leaving before. There was no sense denying it. On more than one occasion, he’d pondered what it would be like to test the T.V.A.’s prowess, to push and prod them into revealing their weakness. He missed pulling strings just to see the chaos unfold. He missed orchestrating plans and watching his enemies self-destruct trying to decode them. He missed having that power . The only difference now was that he had things to fight for other than himself.

Loki’s gaze flickered over Mobius’ sleeping form.

He needed to be able to take risks without the agent’s paranoia holding him back, without his nagging, his stonewalling, his ridiculous need to hide away from the world. That last one was particularly pungent… 

There was also the issue of his safety to worry about. Loki had discovered early on that the agent wasn’t nearly as robust as he was, nor did he have any particular skill in the art of combat. He wasn’t helpless in a fight, but the analyst’s true talents were a lot less tactile in nature. Frankly, Loki valued those talents more, but he couldn’t drag Mobius into something he wasn’t willing to get tangled up in. What Loki wanted to do—? It was dangerous. There was no getting around that. He already had enough red in his ledger, and he wasn’t about to add Mobius’ blood to the mess… again . 

Maybe it was better this way. As much as Loki would have preferred to have Mobius by his side, maybe it wasn’t worth the risk. And anyway, the God of Mischief and Lies had always worked best alone… 

Did he still feel guilty for considering it? A little bit. Mobius had saved his life in more ways than one. He was too forgiving, too protective. Too trusting. Loki couldn’t picture himself betraying such a man. Maybe in the past, but... Mobius was his friend. Probably the only friend he’d ever had. It was more than that though. Mobius was... real. Their relationship was real. Every joke, every fight, every compliment and pat on the back—it was all free of the timekeeper’s influence. Everything else was up for debate. 

Everything. 

...And everyone .

He couldn’t even trust his own feelings anymore! And then there were the others… Thor, his brother, whose devotion knew no bounds, whose faith in him still had yet to break. Odin, who, for all his faults, had raised him as his own. Laufey, who had abandoned him. Sif, who despised him. The good, the bad— all of it false, all of it a construct by the authors of time. And it all paled in comparison to— 

Am I not your mother?

You’re not. 

You’re not.

You’re NOT.

Loki pressed the heels of his hands against eyes, as if to physically block out the words, but they were imprinted on the inside of his skull. It wasn’t even real. None of it was real! And yet, that only served to make things worse . 

He envied the family he’d spied on at the market. He envied Alcie for her sense of responsibility. He envied Tievel for his joy and Jista for his protectiveness. And he envied Vyi most of all. For her gentleness, for her humor, for the way she cared for children born of another woman. He certainly did envy their love for one another, but more than that, more than ALL of it...he envied their ignorance. Because none of it was their own. Because it was all of it, a fiction. And they didn’t have a clue. Loki did. And he missed the bliss of ignorance. He missed not knowing , even though he was destined for misery. Even though he was destined for failure, for pain, for loneliness and anger, for death and destruction and the literal ends of worlds. Destined to forever be—

A villain...

That’s not how I see it.

Loki’s hands fell into his lap. His palms were damp; a sudden coolness brushed against his cheeks. 

You and I here at the T.V.A… We’re the only ones who are actually free.

Was that true after all? He hadn’t really stopped to think about it’s applications at the time… His gaze traveled back to the sleeping lump on the floor.

At least allow yourself to feel proud of what you’ve accomplished. Of who you’ve become.

That much was true, at least. He was no longer the person the timekeepers had built him into. He was...different. He had changed. 

(You are capable of loyalty and compassion and friendship.)

And that was real.

(You can try to hurt me all you want. It’s not gonna work. I know you too well.)

This was real.

(I meant what I said today: I am proud of you.)

He was real...

.

.

.

Is that a smile?

Mischievous scamp.

Not bad.

I like having you around. 

You’re very clever.

You’re gonna take my job if I’m not careful.

C’mere.

I am smart.

I know. 

Okay.

Okay…

I’m Agent Mobius by the way.

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.

.

A puff of air escaped Loki’s lips as he fell back onto his own bed. His mind was made up. He would not, could not abandon Mobius. It would be a poor way to repay him for all that he’d done, all that he’d sacrificed, for Loki. Mobius had traded in his blissful existence at the T.V.A. for a life on the run with the Trickster God; probably not the most rewarding decision he’d ever made. Mobius was an outcast now, like him. All they had now was each other. And they would face the T.V.A. together, or not at all. Because if it turned out that everything else was a lie…he wanted to find out with the one thing he knew was real. 

~~•~~

Chapter Text

~~•~~

“Morning.”

Loki rolled over in bed with a soft groan.

“Or should I say afternoon?” Mobius corrected. He was sitting at the table, a half-eaten pastry in one hand and a TemPad in the other. 

Loki squinted at the light streaming in through the window, but trying to tell time was useless in a place with three suns. “You could have woken me up.”

“Yeah, I could have. But I figured you might have needed the extra sleep after your late-night escapades,” Mobius said. He took another bite out of the mint-colored tart and smacked the cream off his fingers. “Mm— These are pretty good, by the way. I saved you one.”

How was passive-aggressive Mobius still this amiable? Loki let out a long sigh as he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes with both hands. He still felt guilty about their conversation yesterday, not to mention that he’d seriously considered taking off with Mobius’ briefcase last night. He would have appreciated a little more animosity from the agent. At least then it would be easier for him to shake these feelings of remorse.

“Normally, I’d ask where you went off to last night,” Mobius began. “But you didn’t start a nexus event, so, frankly, I don’t care.” 

Loki ran his fingers up the base of his skull and pulled them back down through his mop of curls, using magic to turn the frizz and tangles of a fitful night’s sleep into glossy black ringlets. As vain as he was, Loki normally didn’t bother fixing his hair in the morning. It was just something to do that didn’t involve acknowledging Mobius. 

“Anyway, I know you said you’re sick of hearing me talk, but to be fair, I have to listen to you yak away just as much, if not more. So—” he brushed his hands together as he stood. “—I need you to go into town again. There should be a lot of discarded food leftover from the festival. The next place we’re going doesn’t have as much to offer, and I figured—”

“We’re leaving?”

“Yeah,” Mobius said without skipping a beat. “I’ll stay here to make sure everything is in order. Then we can—”

“But the T.V.A. won’t find us for another few days at least!” Loki argued. 

“I’m not trying to wait around for that to happen. The more often we move, the harder it is for them to find us.” Mobius cocked his head to the side as he studied Loki curiously. “Besides, I figured since you were so eager to leave last night, you wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

The casualness with which he said it caught Loki off guard. His expression faltered, and his silver tongue failed to form a coherent reply. He watched Mobius lean over in his chair to lift the briefcase off the floor. He shook his head slowly as he set it on the table. 

“You really are clever, Loki.”

Instead of relishing in the compliment like he normally did, the god dropped his gaze and felt his chest sink, even as his guilt reached new heights. “I wasn’t—”

“So what were you planning on doing?” Mobius continued. “Scrambling the timecodes? Deleting the locations completely?”

Actually, he’d planned on stealing the entire case, effectively stranding Mobius on this planet by himself until he cooperated, or until Loki figured out how to take down the T.V.A. on his own. You know, whichever came first. Because he was a horrible person and Mobius gave him way too much credit for being anything else. 

“I get it,” Mobius said. “You’re the God of Mischief. I know it’s not easy for you, being dragged around by some second-rate time-cop who’s too much of a coward to fight back against the organization that created him.” He shrugged. “If you want to leave, I can’t stop you.” 

He paused, as if he actually expected Loki to jump up and walk out the door now that he had Mobius’ permission. Loki couldn’t even meet his eyes. 

“I’m not trying to hold you against your will, Loki. Like I said, I can’t stop you from leaving.” The agent's gaze lowered to linger on the TemPad in his hand. “For what it’s worth, though… I’m glad you didn’t.”

Loki wanted to tell him it was worth everything. That reason he’d stayed was because he couldn’t abandon the one person he was sure cared about him more than anyone else. That he cared about Mobius just as much, if not more , because he was all that he had. Because without Mobius, he was…

(You deserve to be alone! And you always— )

“Loki?”

Mobius was staring at him. His eyebrows were drawn together in concern. “Did you hear me? I said if you plan on leaving, a simple ‘goodbye’ would be nice at least. You don’t have to steal off in the middle of the night.”

Loki swallowed. “Right…”

Mobius worked his jaw to the side. “On second thought, maybe it’s not such a good idea for you to go into town. You’re not looking so hot.” He grabbed the last tart from Loki’s haul as he stood and held it out toward the god when he was close enough. “Maybe you should eat something, huh?”

Loki met the analyst’s gaze briefly as he reached up to take the offering. 

“I’ll get you some water.” Mobius started for the backdoor. “We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”

Loki bit the inside of his cheek. “Wait—” 

Loki looked down at his hands as Mobius spun back around to face him. The green glow of magic rippled over his palm, taking the pastry with it. He knew why he wasn’t feeling well, and it wasn't due to hunger. 

“You should go without me.”

Mobius shook his head. “Not gonna happen.”

“Let them come,” Loki said. “It’s me they’re after.”

“No, see— you remember the part where I helped you escape the T.V.A? That was a lot of work. I’m not letting you turn yourself in on the off-chance that you uncover their weakness or whatever your plan is.”

“I’m not going to turn myself in,” Loki said. “I’m going to kidnap Ravonna.”

After a long silence in which Mobius did nothing but gape at him, the sudden laugh that broke through his lips actually managed to startle the god. “Wow. You know, that’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth. And that’s saying a lot .” 

Loki bristled slightly at the remark. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” He pushed himself to his feet and stalked toward the table in the center of the room. “You don’t think I could take her?”

“It’s not her I’m worried about. You realize they could call half the T.V.A. in on your location the moment they had you cornered?”

“Then I won’t get cornered.”

Mobius pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “You’re still underestimating them…”

“Mobius, you said it yourself. I’m a god!”

“Yeah? You remember who had to save your godly ass from them the FIRST fifteen times!?” 

Loki instinctively fell silent and leaned away as Mobius jabbed a finger in his direction. He’d been irritated with Loki before, pissed even, but nothing like this... Thankfully, the agent’s anger faded almost as quickly as it had come, replaced by the resigned tiredness Loki was more accustomed to seeing. 

“You wanna tell me what this is really all about...?” 

Mobius studied his eyes carefully. Loki forced himself to hold his gaze. 

“I’m just...tired of running,” he answered carefully. “You saved my life, Mobius— you’re right. And I’m grateful for that. But I don’t think you ever stopped to consider what would come after.”

Mobius exhaled audibly through his nose. “So what’s your plan, Loki? Capture Ravonna? Then what? You think it’s bad now— If we take her, they’ll send an army after us.”

“Then we’ll get an army of our own.”

It was something to say, just the first thing that popped into his head. It’s not like he stopped to think it through. He was just throwing out half-baked ideas in order to combat whatever Mobius said. He realized his mistake too little too late. 

“Uh huh...” Mobius’ expression shifted knowingly. “And where’s this army coming from exactly?”

Loki hesitated, pretending to seriously consider the question, but he’d already had his answer for a while. It had burrowed itself into his heart during his first day at the T.V.A., in the time theater, and he’d never quite shaken it away. To see his home again, to see his family, his mother— and now, to free his people from the bondage of the timekeepers, to lead them into glorious battle against those who would control them— A Prince of Asgard. A fallen god, re-born a hero. A savior — 

The people would adore him. The love of his family would be rightly earned. And they would still be free to make their own choices.

The idea was starting to sound better and better…

“Hear me out—”

“No, I’m gonna stop you there.”

“But—”

“It wouldn’t work,” Mobius said. “You so much as tap someone on the shoulder, and we’re done for. Besides that, you honestly think anyone on Asgard would believe you? No offense, Loki, but... you kind of have a reputation.”

Loki pulled on his most convincing mask of bewilderment. “Who said anything about Asgard?”

“Nice try… I know it’s been on your mind,” Mobius said. “And I know this place reminds you of home.”

Loki resisted the temptation to curse under his breath. It was both a blessing and a curse, having a friend who could read you so well. He’d taken one too many trips into town, spoken fondly of the people here one too many times, stopped to gaze at one too many sunsets. And clearly, Mobius had taken notice. 

Loki looked away. “It doesn’t matter...”

“Of course it matters,” Mobius said. “There’s no shame in missing home.”

He had that signature look of sympathy on his face, the one that he wore when he was truly being sincere...which was (annoyingly) always . Loki only liked to see that expression when it suited his purpose. It didn’t suit him now. 

“It’s not Asgard I miss,” Loki clipped. He regretted it instantly. 

“Your family then.”

“Just forget it.”

He waved his hand across the length of the table, and whatever food Mobius hadn’t eaten disappeared just like the tart. 

A soft sigh slipped past Mobius' lips. “I’m trying to help you.” 

“Well you can’t.” Loki grabbed his mattress off the floor and rolled it into a cylinder. He tugged the string around it and started tying it into knot, but something enclosed around his wrist, stopping him. The muscles in his jaw tightened. 

“I changed my mind,” Mobius said softly. “We can stay here a few more days.”

Loki scoffed and moved back toward the table, effectively pulling out of his grasp. “I don’t want your sympathy. When are you going to start understanding that?”

Mobius’ eyes followed him as he popped open the briefcase and pulled out the next TemPad. 

After a moment of hesitation he lurched forward and snatched the device out of Loki’s hand. “Gimme that.” 

The god shot him a look of annoyance but couldn’t contain his curiosity. “What are you doing?”

“I have an idea.” The agent tapped on the screen a few times and looked up as the orange doorway appeared. He gestured for Loki to go through first. “I’ll only be a minute.” 

He strode over to the corner and bent down to get his own mattress. He was halfway through rolling it up when he noticed Loki was still staring at him. “I mean it this time,” he said with a half-smile. 

Loki rolled his eyes and tried not to hold Mobius’ poor choice of words against him as he stepped through the portal. 

A sharp gust of icy wind met him on the other side. It cut right through the thin fabric of his cloak, and even with Frost Giant blood running through his veins, the sudden drop in temperature managed to pry a gasp from his lips. Judging from the darkness of the sky, it appeared to be nighttime, but Loki couldn’t imagine it being any brighter if the sun was out shining. The city below was practically glowing with activity, and it was no wonder. He’d recognize “The City That Never Sleeps” anywhere. They were, after all, quite intimately acquainted… 

He was still surveying the skyline when Mobius appeared behind him. “What are we doing here?” he asked with no small amount of indignation. 

He could practically hear the smile in the agent’s voice. “Nostalgia.” 

“Lovely…” He rolled his eyes and peered over the edge of the balcony Mobius had dropped them on. Doing so caused his head to spin; they were at least a hundred stories up, if not more. “I think I’ve had my fill of fond memories for today.”

“I didn’t mean yours. ”

Loki drew his brows together and tossed a glance over his shoulder. “What?”

Mobius had the briefcase in one hand and the mattress pad slung over his shoulder. He was still smiling as he came to lean against the railing. “If you’re looking for Stark Tower, you’ll have to wait another sixteen years.” He clapped his free hand against Loki’s shoulder. “Welcome to the roaring 90s.”

Loki scanned the city below with new eyes, but he couldn’t pinpoint anything about 90s New York that he didn’t recognize from 2012 New York. They looked about the same to him, except for the abundance of snow blanketing the ground and the red and green decorations hanging from every surface imaginable. 

“Come on.” Mobius was standing next to a new timedoor, waving him over. “Let’s take a closer look.”

Loki straightened. “What was the point of bringing me all the way up here if we were just going to end up down there?”

Mobius shrugged sheepishly. “Theatrics. I guess that’s more your thing...”

The admittance coaxed a chuckle out of the god. 

“Can you turn us both invisible?”

“It’s called a glamour.”

“Okay, can you glamour us both?”

Loki nodded. “If you stay close.”

They stepped out of the portal into an empty alleyway. Loki’s boots sloshed into a shallow puddle of brown-tinted slush. He moved out onto the sidewalk and glanced down both sides of the street. It was surprisingly empty, which made it all the more unexpected when something brushed against his arm, and not only that, but it seemed to stick there, like a parasite. 

“Mobius.” He looked down at the man, who was practically glued to his side. “What are you doing?”

“You said to stay close.” There was a lilt of genuine confusion to his voice that Loki might have found endearing if he wasn’t still annoyed.

“Not that close. I just meant within sight. Give me these,” he added as an afterthought, taking the briefcase and the mattress and magicking them away with the rest of the supplies. 

Mobius folded his arms together against the cold and took a couple steps back. “Well you know I don’t know how your magic works.”

“You would if you’d ever come out with me before now,” Loki said. “Where’s this sudden courage coming from, anyway?”

Mobius tilted his head to the side, gesturing for Loki to walk with him. “Before Ravonna tasked me with hunting down dangerous variants, I was a period analyst for earth, an expert on select eras of human history. They would call me in for additional debriefing if one of our teams was headed into a hotspot. Occasionally, I even got to do some field work.”

“So you did a lot of field work in New York during the 90s?”

Mobius shot him a conspiratorial glance. “Not just New York.”

Loki wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean. “But if you’re so familiar with this place, why haven’t we come here before?”

“We can’t stay long,” Mobius said. “Ravonna’s probably got people watching this section of the timeline.”

Loki scoffed. “The whole section?”

“What’d I say about underestimating them?”

Loki raised his hands in surrender. “Fine. What are we doing with our precious time then?”

“I’m getting a drink.”

Loki followed him onto another side street littered with soft drink cans and piles of frozen black garbage bags. He slipped his hands into the folds of his cloak as Mobius approached an old metal door and jimmied with the handle. He managed to pry it open just enough for Loki to catch a glimpse of the inside. 

“It’s padlocked,” Mobius said, brushing his hands together to rid them of the cold. “You wanna give it a try?”

Loki eyed the other man warily. Normally, he would have been all for this sort of thing, but after all of Mobius’ lecturing, he was confused about his sudden change of heart. “Aren’t you worried that—”

“Loki, just trust me on this, okay?” He stepped back, giving the god room to do his thing.

Loki shook his head with an air of exasperation. “All right,” he relented. He made sure Mobius really was standing far enough away before conjuring a dagger in one hand and bringing it down hard on the space between the doorframe. 

CHNGK

The padlock (or what was left of it) fell to the floor on the other side. The door creaked open. 

Mobius whistled appreciatively. “Have I ever told you how much I like having a god around?”

Loki tried not to let the flattery get to him as he followed Mobius inside. They looked to be in some kind of mini grocery store. Mobius made a beeline for the row of freezers in the back and started loading his arms with his favorite brand of soft drink. 

“Grab whatever you want,” he said. “Hurry. We’ve only got—” He struggled to pull the TemPad out of his pocket while balancing four cans of Josta in one hand. “—maybe three minutes at most.”

“Three minutes until what?” Loki demanded. “Oh, give me those.” He took the sodas and stuffed them into his pocket dimension along with everything else. It was a good thing magical storage units didn’t ever run out of space.

Mobius stalked to the first aisle and started grabbing things off the shelves at random. “Why are you so concerned all of a sudden? I thought you wanted me to loosen up? Make up your mind.” He shoved the pile of snacks in Loki’s direction. “Here.”

Loki huffed. He was really starting to tire of being Mobius’ enchanted pack mule. “And you said I was excessive?”

“Doesn’t matter here,” Mobius said, tossing a couple more colorful packages his way. “It’s all going to blow up in about two and a half minutes.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Oh—! Can’t forget the Pop Rocks.”

“Mobius!”

“Yeah, okay, we’re gone.”

They hurried out through the same door, and no sooner had they crossed to the other side of the street when the entire building went up in an explosion of flames. Shards of glass and metal went everywhere. Loki shielded his face with his arm as the intensity of the heat flared out toward them. Mobius grabbed his other arm and pulled him away from the wreckage as a few late-night stragglers began to assemble around the scene. 

“What the Hel was that?” Loki hissed.

“Busted gas main. Happens more often than you think in this kind of weather,” Mobius said, tugging his own cloak tighter around his body. “Whaddya say we head somewhere warmer, huh? I think Pearl Jam played a few months ago at Downing Stadium.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“One way to find out.” Mobius summoned another timedoor, their third in the span of an hour. If he was worried about attracting the T.V.A.’s attention with all this jumping, he wasn’t showing it. In fact, he seemed positively giddy as he bounded through to the other side. Loki had no choice but to follow. 

The first thing that hit him were the screams. Thousands of voices, howling at the top of their lungs. Even after Loki’s brain identified it as the sound of excitement, not anguish, it was still a terrifying sensation to walk into blind. The sudden pressure of a hand wrapping around his forearm did nothing to help quell his alarm.

“Careful.” Mobius chuckled. “It’s a long way down.”

Loki stumbled back from the edge of the metal scaffolding, still trying to get his bearings. Mobius gripped the back of his bicep with his other hand to help steady him. That’s when he noticed the music.

One, two, three, four, five against one

Five, five, five against one

Said one, two, three, four, five against one

Five, five, five, five, five against one

It rose above the roars of the crowd like a phoenix from the ashes, and it didn’t take Loki long to pinpoint the source. From up here in their crow’s nest, he could see that they were in an arena of sorts. Rows upon rows of people were curved around a central dais that was lit up like a beacon. Loki spotted maybe four— no, five figures, including the man behind the drums. 

I'd rather be —

I'd rather be with —

I'd rather be with an animal

The song went on for another minute or so before the lead singer had to stop the music to address the crowd near the front of the stage, which had quickly gotten out of hand. Loki took the opportunity of a quieter atmosphere to address his own cause of inanity for the evening. 

“Mobius, what are we doing here?”

The agent turned to him with the same cryptic smile he’d been wearing for the past half hour. “Having fun.”

Loki frowned. “Since when? What about hiding from the locals? What about the T.V.A.?”

“Don’t worry about them for now. I’ve got it all under control,” Mobius assured him. “Just relax.” He grabbed the railing and lowered himself down to sit on the platform with his feet dangling over the edge. “And pass me a drink, will you?”

Loki sat cross-legged next to him and conjured one of the Josta’s to his hand. He held it out toward Mobius in silence.

“Thanks. Have you ever tried one? You should try one.”

“I’m fine.”

“Suit yourself.” Mobius shrugged as he popped the top of the soda can. “I grabbed some candy too if you wanted to finally give that a try.”

Loki waited until Mobius had focused his attention back on the stage before summoning a few of the colorful plastic packages. He looked between them indecisively as he tried and failed to discern whether ‘Nik-L-Nip’ sounded more or less appetizing than ‘Gobstoppers.’

“These are my favorite.” Mobius took one of the rainbow bags from him and ripped it open. He dumped a couple individually wrapped candies into his palm and gave one to Loki. “You’re supposed to see who can keep it in the longest.”

Loki tore open the wrapper and held up the tiny yellow disk in the light so he could get a better look at it. “What’s the catch?”

“You can’t ask questions. Now, on the count of three.” Mobius brought his own blue candy to his lips. “One, two...three.”

Loki popped it into his mouth, and the taste made him grimace almost instantly. “Ugh— Is that supposed to happen?”

“Yup,” Mobius said, squinting as he swallowed the acid-like taste building in his mouth.

“Gods, it feels like it’s burning.”

“That’s the idea.”

“I thought you said it was supposed to be good. ”

Mobius laughed. “In hindsight, Warheads probably aren’t the best introduction to candy.”

Loki spat the sour disk back into its wrapper and rubbed his tongue against the roof of his mouth to rid it of the putrid flavor. He decided now might be a good time to try Mobius’ drink after all. It tasted a lot better, at least. 

A few more cans and half a package of ‘Pixy Stix’ later, he and Mobius were really starting to enjoy themselves. The music wasn’t half bad paired with several ounces of sugar, and watching Mobius, who seemed to know almost every single one of the lyrics, belt them out with the rest of the crowd was a show in and of itself. 

Oh, I walked the line

When you held my hand and I —

Oh, I walked the line

When you held me close at night

Oh, I paid the price

Never held you in your eyes

Loki whooped with the rest of the crowd as the song came to an end. He glanced up at the sky as a wave of thunder roiled above them. By this point, it’d already been raining for a good twenty minutes. The weather hardly discouraged the rest of the attendees, but he was still glad for the platform over his head.

The next song started up to even more enthusiastic applause, and he noticed Mobius perk up beside him. “Oh, this one’s the best.”

He wasn’t alone in that sentiment. It seemed that everyone in the stadium knew the words to this one. 

Sheets of empty canvas

Untouched sheets of clay

Were laid spread out before me

As her body once did

The instrumentals were a lot mellower for this one. That, along with the crowd’s combined efforts, helped the lyrics stick out more than the previous songs’ had. Loki folded his arms over the railing and rested his chin on top of them while he listened. 

Oh and all I taught her was everything

Oh I know she gave me all that she wore

And now my bitter hands

Chafe beneath the clouds

Of what was everything

Clearly, the song was about a woman. A past lover. One that was greatly missed. 

And twisted thoughts that spin

Round my head

I'm spinning

Oh, I'm spinning

How quick the sun can, drop away

Or maybe it was more than that… The lyrics almost seemed to suggest that he was going insane over her. Could one really be pushed to madness over love? Even one that had been lost?

And now my bitter hands

Cradle broken glass

Of what was everything

Or perhaps, not lost...but one that had never even been in the first place...

All the love gone bad

Turned my world to black

All that I am

All that I'll be

Loki tuned out the rest of the song as he leaned back from the railing. He felt like the man in the song. Everything seemed to be clouded over by thoughts of his family, of love that had never been. Would he ever be able to let go of that knowledge? Or would it continue to consume him until he went mad? Until his own world turned to black? 

All that I am

All that I'll be…

Loki corrected his expression when he noticed Mobius staring at him, but it was too late. He already had that look of concern on his face.

“I think we’ve spent enough time here, don’t you?”

Mercifully, he didn’t ask anymore questions as he helped Loki to his feet and tapped new coordinates into the TemPad. 

“Come on. I’ve got a lot more to show you.”

This time, Loki didn’t hesitate to follow him. 

~~•~~

Chapter Text

~~•~~

Even before his invasion of New York, Loki had always seen Midgard as lesser—lesser infrastructure, lesser technology, lesser beings—but then, he’d never had someone like Mobius to show him around. Mobius saw beauty and potential in everything. His view of this world was infectious, and Loki had to admit, he’d never been to another place quite so vast and varied as earth. Specifically, 90s earth.

After leaving the Pearl Jam concert in 1996, they jumped forward to 1999 to experience what Mobius called “The Most Magical Place on Earth.” It wasn’t ‘magical’ in the legitimate sense, as Loki quickly discovered, but he enjoyed the happy atmosphere it presented and the food even more so. Perhaps when Mobius said ‘magical’ he was really talking about the Mickey Bars and Dole Whip. 

Letting the God of Mischief run around Disney World on a sugar-high wasn’t exactly one of Mobius’ most well-thought-out plans, but Loki was behaving himself (for now) and he looked like he was having a lot of fun. They couldn’t go on any of the rides, but Loki seemed to enjoy spectating just as much. He wasn’t impressed with the castle, but the giant man-made tree in Animal Kingdom piqued his curiosity. He said it reminded him of Yggdrasil. 

He was also fascinated by the idea of the World Showcase. Mobius explained that not everyone had the opportunity to travel to other countries on Midgard. This was a way to bring a taste of other cultures to them. 

They happened to catch the Tapestry of Nations parade while they were in Epcot. Loki couldn’t stop laughing at the giant puppets and the people who were controlling them, and Mobius was afraid he was going to fall off the roof of the building they were hiding on. He was worse than some of the kids down on the street.

“I think you’ve had enough sugar and caffeine for today,” Mobius said. “That last Mickey Bar was a mistake.”

After diluting the god’s glucose levels with several cups of water, the two of them headed to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. By the Trickster's standards, that parade was a lot more entertaining. Mobius decided against introducing him to beignets on account of all the powdered sugar, but they did manage to get their hands on some other iconic New Orleans cuisine. The Jambalaya was good, and Loki was a big fan of Étouffée (Mobius was convinced he only liked it because it had a fancy sounding name), but he didn’t understand the appeal of boiled crawfish. Working so hard for such a small portion of meat seemed like more trouble than it was worth. 

“You’re just mad because it took you five minutes to crack open the first one,” Mobius teased. 

“We can’t all have your talents, Mobius,” Loki said, gesturing to the pile of empty crawfish carcasses on his companion’s side of the table. 

Mobius laughed. “You want me to do a few for you?”

“Shut up.”

Next up was a place called Las Vegas, a booming city smack dab in the middle of a dessert. For that fact alone, Loki found its existence an incredible feat of ingenuity and persistence. Humans would settle anywhere, wouldn’t they? He liked walking the strip and pointing out cool buildings and light displays, but this part of Midgard was a bit warm for his taste. Even after shedding their cloaks and donning more earth-appropriate attire, they were both finding it a little difficult to breathe in such dry heat, Loki more so than Mobius. 

Aspen, on the other hand, was like a breath of fresh air, especially after the stifling weather in Vegas. Unlike Loki, however, Mobius’ enthusiasm for the temperature shift was in short supply. His boots, while waterproof, weren’t built for the snow, and even with both cloaks wrapped around his body, plus a (decidedly thin) blanket Loki discovered in his pocket dimension, he was still freezing after only an hour outside. 

“We can go if you want,” Loki offered. 

Mobius pulled his knees closer to his chest as a group of skiers flew past them. “Nah. That’s okay.”

Loki was lying on his back, half-buried in the snowbank. He propped one hand under his head so he could get a better look at Mobius, who was huddled on top of a tree stump like some strange sub-species of tropical bird that'd clearly lost its way in the migration. 

“You’ve been shivering non-stop for the past ten minutes.”

“Oh, don’t pretend like you’re concerned,” Mobius said, swinging his foot down to kick a lump of snow at Loki’s head. “You’re enjoying it.”

Loki snickered as he brushed the white powder from his face. “Only slightly.”

“You look too darn comfortable,” Mobius said covetously. “I know you’re a Jotun, but geez, do you have to rub it in?”

The casual reference to his heritage gave Loki pause. Yeah, he was a Frost Giant. They both knew it. But he’d never had anyone else bring it up like that before. Even after all this time, it still seemed taboo, like something you didn’t talk about, like something you weren’t supposed to talk about. 

Mobius made it seem...normal. 

“Hey.”

Loki sat up on his elbows as he looked over at Mobius again. “What?”

“Nothing.” The agent shrugged underneath his mound of make-shift coats. “You just got quiet for a second there.”

Loki pursed his lips and returned the shrug. “Just nothing to say, I suppose.”

“You always have something to say,” Mobius joked. “I don’t have to talk about the Jotun thing if you don’t want me to.”

Loki blinked down at the snow. “No, it’s— It doesn’t bother me.”

“You seem a little bothered,” Mobius pressed. 

“I’m not,” Loki said defensively. “I just wasn’t expecting you to bring it up. It doesn’t bother me when you talk about it.”

After a moment of consideration, Mobius nodded. “Okay.” Another pause. “Just me specifically...?”

Loki made a show of rolling his eyes as he pushed himself up out of the snow. “Let’s go. Before you become a Mobius-cicle.”

Mobius chuckled. “That’s good. Answer the question.”

“I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean.”

“You said, ‘It doesn’t bother me when you talk about it.’ So, is it just me? Or did you mean it in a general sense?”

“Can you not do this right now?”

Mobius tilted his head to the side. “Do what?”

“Over-analyze everything I say. It’s annoying.”

The agent reared back slightly, a dubious expression tugging at his features. “I don’t feel like I’m over -analyzing anything. You’re the one who said it that way.”

Loki ran his tongue over the back of his teeth as he considered the white-capped head sticking out from the pile of cloaks. “I only meant... It’s different. When you talk about it.”

“How?”

The god huffed. “I don’t know. Maybe because you’re not Asgardian.”

Mobius studied him thoughtfully. “What if I were?”

Loki frowned. “But you’re not.”

“I know. But what if I were?”

“Then…” Loki shook his head and tossed his hands into the air. “I don’t know! Is there a point to this interrogation?”

“It’s not an interrogation,” Mobius said. “I’m not an analyst anymore. I’m just trying to understand where you’re coming from.”

Loki didn’t think one could just decide to s top being something, especially when one had been created specifically to be said thing. The fact that he felt obligated to answer only further convinced him of Mobius’ innate ability to draw out information from his subjects. “Asgardians despise the Frost Giants. You know that.”

“Jotuns.”

“Whatever! They hate each other! I hated them.” He still wasn’t sure where he stood on that front, actually. “If Asgardians speak of Frost— of Jotuns, it is only with disgust and malice.”

“You don’t think that goes both ways?”

“Undoubtedly,” Loki said. 

“Then who’s right?”

“What?”

“If both races talk bad about the other, then who’s right? Who are the real monsters here?”

Loki’s jaw trembled noiselessly. “I don’t— I didn’t say they were monsters.”

“You have before,” Mobius reminded him. “But they’re not. Neither of them are. They’re both bitter over a war that happened a thousand years ago. The only difference is that one of them lost.”

The god looked as though he was having trouble trying to grasp the concept. His brow was furrowed deeply and his eyes kept going in and out of focus like a camera lens that couldn’t quite shed the blurriness at the edge of the image. 

“You only ever heard one side of the slander, Loki,” Mobius said. He slipped off the tree stump, clutching the blankets around his shoulders as he waded through the snow. “I know it’s difficult to accept when you’ve only been taught one thing all your life, but the Jotuns lost everything when Asgard took that Casket. And after centuries of being under house-arrest on a crumbling planet, can you really blame them for wanting revenge?”

“...no” Loki said slowly, as if he were in a trance.

“No,” Mobius agreed. He reached up and put one arm around Loki’s shoulders, blankets and all. “They’re not monsters, Loki. They never were. And neither are you.” He smiled. “I know you’ve probably figured that out already, but it can be good to hear it from someone else every once in a while.”

Loki wasn’t sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry. Possibly both. Somehow, he settled on a blank stare instead. “I… I’m not sure what to say to that. Thank you?”

Mobius laughed tenderly and gave Loki’s shoulder a light squeeze. “That’ll work. Now, let’s get out of here. I can’t feel my feet.”

Per Mobius’ need to thaw out, they made what was supposed to be a temporary stop in San Francisco, which was neither too hot nor too cold. 

Loki sat on the topmost rung of one of the towers holding up the Golden Gate Bridge. It was an impressive piece of architectural engineering, considering it was constructed entirely without the use of magic. He caught himself looking down at the cars crawling across the long stretch of road, and below that, the deep blue of the water crashing against the supports. A sudden wave of nausea swept over him as he recalled what had transpired the last time he’d been on top of a bridge… Timekeepers or no, that was one memory that still felt very real. He swallowed the bile building in the back of his throat and carefully inched back from the edge. It took a few minutes for the sense of vertigo to pass. He tried closing his eyes, but it didn’t help much. The darkness only served to remind him of the endless void of space he’d fallen through, down, down, down…

Suddenly, he remembered why he was up here in the first place, and also that he wasn’t alone. He spared a subtle glance at Mobius, but for once, the man wasn’t paying him any mind. Lucky for him; he wasn’t keen on the idea of another therapy session right now.

He took in a deep breath of salty California air as he forced himself to focus on the horizon. His eyes traced the outline of the land as it snaked along the bay toward them. They paused on a long strip of piers jutting out into the water in crooked fork-like patterns. Each side was lined end-to-end with what appeared to be sailboats in mostly similar shades of bright, eye-catching white. 

“That’s a lot of boats,” he noted aloud. 

Mobius bent down beside him as he pointed out the mini-armada. “Sure is.”

“They don’t seem like they’d be good for much, though. Pretty sure I could sink several of those with my bare hands.”

Mobius chuckled. “Oh, I don’t doubt it. But they’re not made for combat.”

“No?”

“Nah,” Mobius said, standing to his full height again. “They’re just for fun. We can go take a look if you want.”

Loki pushed himself to his feet and followed Mobius through the timedoor. They strode along the pier side by side, admiring the craftsmanship of the boats. Well, Mobius was admiring them; he babbled on about upkeep and logistics while Loki tried to riddle out the lack of progress in Midgard’s maritime travel. According to Mobius, their warships didn’t even fly. Honestly, what was the point of a boat if you could only use it in the water? He supposed that’s what cars and planes were for, but wasn’t it simpler to just roll everything into one? It must have been their lack of magic that put them so far behind. From all the other wonders Loki had seen today, it was the only logical explanation.

Mobius was still going on about the pros and cons of sails versus fuel-powered motors as they walked back across the wharf. Loki didn’t understand half of it, but he pretended to show interest where he thought it appropriate—a nod here, an “uh huh” there. However, being the God of Mischief, he tended to get bored rather easily, so it was no wonder that an otherwise unremarkable shed door creaking in the wind grabbed a hold of his attention. 

“Hold that thought,” Loki said as he broke away from Mobius to investigate. 

“Wait— Where are you going?”

“Shh!” The trickster placed his finger tips against the door and pressed it inward, just enough to slip inside. 

“Loki!” Mobius whispered. He crept as close as he dared and called again. “Loki?” 

No answer. 

Mobius squinted into the darkness as he pressed his face against the crack in the doorway. He couldn't see a damn thing.

“It’s safe!”

Loki ducked as Mobius spun around and swung a neat right hook where his head had been. “Loki—!” The agent growled. 

The god’s grin was all mischief. His voice was anything but. “What?”

“I thought I told you to stop doing that. One of these days, I’m gonna clock you,” Mobius said, elbowing him in the chest for good measure. 

Loki feigned a grimace and laughed as he pushed open the door a little wider. “I’d like to see that actually, with those baby hands of yours.”

“Oh, pl— I don’t have baby hands.”

“You do.”

“I do not !”

“Whatever. Look what I found!” Loki flipped the light switch by the door and a pair of fluorescents flickered to life overhead. “Ta-da!” He gestured to the center of the room where another aquatic vehicle sat elevated atop an old trailer. It was a lot smaller than a sailboat. 

Mobius' jaw went slack. “You’re kidding…”

“It’s cool, right?” Loki grinned and shoved him toward it. “Get on.”

Mobius stumbled forward before coming to an abrupt halt. “No—no, I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“It’s not ours.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Mobius, come on. Who cares? This is your chance!”

Mobius glanced back timidly. It wasn’t the kind of expression he wore often. “I don’t know, Loki… What if something happens?”

“Nothing is going to happen with you just sitting there.” Loki dragged him along by the wrist as he spoke. “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll get on first.”

Before Mobius could even think of protesting, Loki popped out of his reach and reappeared straddling the front seat. He grabbed both handlebars and wriggled them back and forth testingly. 

“Loki, we really shouldn’t—”

“Why do you pick right now to start getting all paranoid again?” Loki demanded. “This is your dream , Mobius. Isn’t it?” 

The analyst furrowed his brow as his gaze fell to study the red and yellow decals pasted onto the siding. A faded lightning bolt zig-zagged down the side of the dash, and the ‘M’ and ‘A’ stickers underneath were almost illegibly scratched away so the brand read ‘YAHA’ instead of ‘YAMAHA’ like it was supposed to. He noticed the stitching on the seat was also coming undone in places and the hull was rusting from salt damage. It didn’t look like anyone had ridden it for a while. 

Loki slid to the back of the seat and held out his hand. “Come on. Don’t let the T.V.A. take this away from you too.”

Mobius worked his jaw to the side as his eyes rose to meet Loki’s. After another moment of hesitation, he took the god’s hand and pulled himself up onto the jet ski. He leaned forward slightly and took hold of the handles. 

“It’s not a bad model,” he mumbled, pressing against the gas lever with his fingers. “Little rough around the edges, but...nothing a little detailing can’t fix.”

Loki shifted to the side so he could look at Mobius' face. The wistful smile there drew out his own decidedly more playful one. “How long do you suppose that would take?”

“Not long,” Mobius said with a shrug. “I imagine it would run just fine as is.”

“Maybe you don’t have to.” Loki dangled the safety tether in front of Mobius’ face with a smirk. 

“Where’d you get that?” He reached up to take the key, but Loki snatched it back before he could.

“From inside the console.” Loki leaned over his shoulder and clipped the hook into place. “Go on. Start it up.”

Mobius sighed. At this point, what did he have to lose? “Only for a second. You’re not supposed to run it out of the water.” 

He held in the ignition and the jet ski revved to life. Loki pointed to the right side, and Mobius obliged him by pumping the gas a few times. The dials on the dash reeled and the engine roared in response. 

“Oh, yes, ” Loki purred. “Now that’s awesome.”

Mobius chuckled as he cut the engine off. “Yeah, it is.”

The trickster’s eyes sparkled impishly. “Want to test it out for real?”

“Mm... No, I don’t think so.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

He wasn’t, not entirely. But— “It’s not worth the risk.”

Loki watched him pat the neck of the jet ski as if it were an old horse about to be put down. The god rolled his eyes. “Give me your TemPad.”

“For wh—? Hey!”

Loki snatched the device out of Mobius’ back pocket and scrolled through the time coordinates. 

“What are you doing?”

He tried to grab it back without success as Loki leapt off the jet ski and through the timedoor he’d created. 

“Loki, wait!” Mobius called as he bounded after him, though he was shocked to see that they’d ended up in the same place as before. “What’d you do?”

The god tossed the TemPad back to him. “This is exactly three years prior from where we just were. And would you look at that?” He pointed to the jet ski, which had moved very little, if at all, from the place it had been before. “Seems to me like it’s been abandoned.”

Mobius double-checked the timestamp on the TemPad. “Or forgotten.”

“What difference does it make?” Loki said. “No one will miss it.”

“I guess…” Mobius tapped the TemPad against his palm a few times. “It’s a little cold for jet skiing.”

“Uh, hello?” Loki gestured to the device in Mobius’ hand. “We can literally go anywhere.”

Mobius pursed his lips together. He was running out of excuses, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a really, really bad one. Either he’d lost his mind and was about to get them into a heap of trouble, or...

“Come on,” Loki said, smirking as he slipped both hands into the pockets of his jeans. “You know you want to.”

Mobius shook his head in exasperation, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “We’ll need a change of clothes.”

Loki’s smirk morphed into a full-on grin. “Leave that to me.”

~~•~~

“OH SHI—”

Loki held on for dear life as they hit their own wake and were sent flying what felt like ten feet into the air. He’d never known the agent to be anything but meek and mild-mannered, so the sudden appearance of his inner speed demon was a bit of a shock, to say the least. Loki’s adrenaline fluctuated wildly between unbridled excitement and stomach-plummeting fear. As for Mobius—the man was having the time of his long bureaucratic life . Anytime Loki managed to get a glimpse of him from the side, he was all smiles and crazed laughter. The Hawaiian sun above them couldn’t have beamed any brighter if it tried. 

Loki was happy for him, but he would have been a lot happier if Mobius wasn’t trying to throw him off every ten seconds. “Do you think maybe you could slow down a little?” he hollered over the hum of the motor and the crashing of the waves. 

“What? What’d you say?”

“I said, slow down! ”

“What?” Mobius shot him a grin over his shoulder. “Just kidding. I heard you the first time.”

Loki rolled his eyes as Mobius eased off the gas and came to a stop. He killed the engine, and the air filled with the calming sound of water lapping against the side of the vehicle and the distant call of albatross nesting upshore. 

Mobius took in a deep breath and let it back out with a contented sigh. “It’s everything I thought it would be,” he said. He glanced briefly at the horizon before turning to smile at the man behind him. “Thank you, Loki.”

The god pretended his heart hadn’t instantly melted like butter at that proclamation as he replied, “Well, in that case, I guess I’ll forgive you for trying to lose me in the waves back there.”

Mobius chuckled. “Fair enough. I’m willing to give you a shot at revenge, if you want.”

Loki waved the offer away. “Nah. This is your thing. Besides, I’ve never been the best pilot.”

“Come on,” Mobius chided. “I’ll teach you.”

“No, seriously, I’m fi— o-kay.” Loki was forced to slide up as Mobius maneuvered around him and took a seat in the back. “I guess we’re doing this now. Brilliant.”

“Don’t be like that. It’s easy,” Mobius said. “Start. Stop. Throttle. Speed gauge.” He leaned up and pointed to each object in turn. “You’ll need this too,” he added, slipping the safety cord over Loki’s wrist.

“What’s it for?”

“In case you fall off, it’ll kill the motor.”

Loki scoffed. “Well it should be the passenger wearing it then, not the crazy driver.”

“We’ll see,” Mobius said. “Hold in the green button.”

Loki begrudgingly did what he was told. The jet ski putted to life and began drifting across the surface of the water. 

“Good. You’re all set. Just be careful when you—”

Mobius was cut off as Loki squeezed the throttle a touch too hard and sent them rocketeering over the waves. He quickly released it, nearly throwing them both over the edge again. 

“Norns, that’s sensitive,” he muttered. “Look, I told you, this is not my thing.”

“It’s fine,” Mobius assured him. “Try again. Just— take it easy.” He took a few fistfuls of Loki’s button-up shirt, just as a precaution. 

Loki was sure to take it very carefully this time. At first, he wasn’t comfortable going over ten miles per hour. Normally, he wouldn’t have cared, but he didn’t want to be the thing to screw up Mobius’ fun. The agent didn’t seem to mind, though. As with everything else, he took Loki’s blunders in stride and showed him how to correct them. Not even twenty minutes had passed by the time Loki had practically mastered the art of jet skiing. He could easily handle it at 30 MPH now, and he even managed to throw Mobius off once.

“Alright,” the agent sputtered as he struggled to climb back onto the vehicle. “You got your payback. You happy now?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Loki replied. He grinned as he bent down to help Mobius up. “I didn’t even hear you scream at first. And then when you came out of the water— I thought, ‘that’s got to be the biggest bloody fish I’ve ever seen!’” 

Mobius tried his best to look disapproving as the god fell into a fit of laughter. Truth be told, he’d seen Loki smile more today than he had the entirety of this past month. The unadulterated mirth on his face made him look so much younger than the guarded sulk he usually wore. It was easy to forget that the god was, in terms of an Asgardian’s typical lifespan, hardly equal to a human in their twenties. And for Mobius, whose lifespan had practically been limitless within the T.V.A, Loki really was just...a kid.  

A mischievous, emotional, homesick kid that Mobius had dragged across space and time to save from an organization that wanted him dead. 

What kind of life was that? Always looking over your shoulder, running in fear without a moment of relief to speak of? Honestly, it was a miracle Loki had stuck with him this far… 

“Hey, Mobius.”

The god’s voice drew him back into the present. “Yeah?”

“Do you want to head back?”

Mobius nodded as he wrung out the hem of his floral t-shirt. “Sure. It’s been a pretty long day. I don’t know about you, but I’m about ready for a nap,” he said with a chuckle. 

Loki moved to give back the controls, but Mobius stopped him.

“You can drive us back. You’re pretty much a natural, you know?” he said with a pat to the god’s shoulder.

The smile Loki gave him in return—full of sincerity and trust and what could only be described as affection—burned its way into his chest. And for the first time, he wondered if he deserved any of it. 

~~•~~

After returning the jet ski to the shed in California, they both decided to head back to their little spot in Hawaii for the night. Mobius said it was populated enough for them to stay for a couple days, at least. 

Loki stared up at the stars from his place on the mattress. One of his arms was propped underneath his head while the other was draped lazily over his midsection. The swell of the ocean waves crashing against the beach filled the air, and if he closed his eyes, he still felt like he was careening up and down on the jet ski. It was a surprisingly calming sensation. 

Mobius grunted as he sat cross-legged beside him on the sand. “Star-gazing?”

Loki nodded. “We used to do it a lot. My mother and I…” 

“Yeah...” Mobius said. He brushed the sand off his hands absently.

Loki rolled his shoulders back as he shifted his position on the mattress. “The formations here are different,” he noted. “Do you recognize any?”

Mobius turned his face up to the night sky. “Maybe.”

“Here. Do you want this?” Loki asked as he held out Mobius’ bedroll. 

“Thanks.” He spread it out on the sand next to Loki and laid back with both hands entwined under his neck. “Let’s see. I only know like three, but… That’s the Crux for sure,” he said, pointing to a compass-like pattern of four brightly lit stars. “And I think that might be Ursa Minor there.”

“What’s that one supposed to be?”

“I don’t know. A bear, I think.”

“Doesn’t look much like a bear to me.”

Mobius chuckled. “No it doesn’t.”

Loki went silent after that. When Mobius finally dared to look at him again, he was surprised to find the god staring back. 

“What was today really about, Mobius.” It was said more as a statement than a question, as if he fully expected there to be some ulterior motive. Unfortunately... he wasn’t wrong. Not entirely. 

“I told you. Having fun.”

Loki gave him a look that was equal parts unimpressed and empathetic. “No. Really. ”

Mobius sighed as he turned his attention back to the stars. “I just thought that, since I can’t take you home— since we can’t go to your favorite place on the timeline, we could at least visit mine. Let loose a little bit. Forget about Ravonna and the T.V.A. and just...live.” He paused and selected his next words carefully. “I don’t want you to resent me for running away, even if it is to save both our skins. I know this isn’t what you signed up for, but I don’t want you to bail on me either. Because if I’m being honest, I think we stand more of a chance if we stick together. Plus…”

“I’ve sort of grown on you,” Loki finished. 

Mobius smiled. “Just a little.”

Loki shook his head mulishly, though the slight curvature of his lips betrayed him to the contrary. “I don’t plan on bailing. Not anymore,” he promised. 

“So bribing you with candy and a good time worked after all?”

“Oh, that was unnecessary. I’d already made up my mind the night before. Although I did appreciate the attempt, very much.”

Mobius slapped his arm with a soft cackle. “You don’t miss a beat do you?”

“Well, you certainly don’t make it easy.”

“Good to know.” Mobius pressed the back of his knuckles to his lips as his laughter died down. “What made you decide to stay anyway?”

The mood between them shifted instantly; the sensation was almost tangible. Mobius turned his head to look at the god, though he was almost afraid of what he would see there. Loki’s face, however, was proficiently blank, though there was a certain shine to his eyes that hadn’t been there a moment before. 

“Loki?” Mobius pushed himself up onto his side so he was looking down at the god. He saw Loki’s throat bob up and down as he swallowed.

“Back at the T.V.A., in the cafeteria…” he began. “I asked you about free will.”

Mobius tilted his head to the side. “You did.”

“You said it was complicated.”

“I did,” Mobius said slowly. 

“So it’s true then. The only people in the universe with free will are the people inside the T.V.A.”

Mobius looked as though he was struggling to form a coherent thought. “I— I don’t know.”

“I think you do,” Loki said bitterly. 

“What are you saying?”

The god sat up and bent over himself, resting his elbows on his knees as he twisted his hands together. “Despite...everything. You are the only person who has ever chosen me. And I chose you, likewise, of my own free will. You are the only friend I’ve ever had that was real, Mobius. That’s why I stayed.”

Mobius watched him try to blink away the tears without much success. “That’s not true, Loki.”

“Isn’t it?” The god locked him in place with a fierce emerald gaze. “Tell me, if the timekeepers dictate all that happens on the timeline, who's to say that those who loved me actually did? Or that those who hate me actually despise me and weren’t just playing along with the person I was before all this? Who’s to say my brother actually believed in me? Who’s to say my mother cared so deeply for a discarded giant’s off-spring? Who’s to say that I truly care for any of them? The timekeepers made it all up! They made it up, Mobius! None of it is real! Do you understand—?” His voice broke off into a sob, which he forced into a laugh. “My life on the timeline hasn't held any truth to me for a while. I suppose I only recently figured out what that really meant.”

“Loki…” Mobius’ hand hovered just above his arm.

He shook his head. “Why—?” he demanded, seemingly more of himself than Mobius. “ Why do I miss them?”

Mobius considered him with soft eyes. “Because they’re yours. You don’t always get to choose who you love.”

Loki’s face contorted painfully as the grief plaguing him finally cracked the facade, and Mobius, as always, couldn’t stop himself from wanting to fix what was broken, even though he couldn’t, even though he was the last person on the timeline that could. 

“Do you want—”

Loki’s head dropped onto his shoulder without warning. His breath hitched once, twice, the only signs of mourning besides the dampness soaking through the thin fabric of Mobius’ t-shirt. His hand came up to rest on Loki’s back automatically. 

He couldn’t fix this. All he could do was be there. 

Mobius held him for longer than Loki had ever allowed before. He hated that it was under these circumstances. As much as he’d wanted Loki to open up to him, he hadn’t wanted it to come at a cost like this. He didn’t want Loki to believe that he was the only one person on the timeline who cared about him. He had so few that did already...

Eventually, Mobius calmly suggested that they both at least try to get some rest. Loki must have been even more exhausted than he’d let on, because he was asleep, albeit fitfully, within minutes. Mobius, on the other hand, couldn’t even close his eyes without seeing Loki’s grief-ridden visage behind his lids. All of the irreverence, the carelessness, the growing desire to find out the T.V.A.’s weakness— He’d known from the start that there’d been something more behind the charade. He was only grateful that Loki had divulged it when he had. Living with knowledge like that...it couldn’t have been easy. It still wasn’t. And no matter how Mobius tried to twist it, he couldn’t deny that Loki’s words held some truth to them.

The timekeepers made it all up. None of it is real .

Mobius ran both hands over his face as the first hint of sunlight appeared over the water. He hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep. Maybe he could blame the reckless decision he was about to make on that.

Loki flinched awake as something nudged into his shoulder blade. He flipped over onto his other side and squinted up at Mobius blearily. His gaze traveled to focus on the orange glow of the time door behind him. “Where are we going?” he asked hoarsely. 

“Asgard,” Mobius said. “I’m taking you to see your mother.”

~~•~~