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The first time was an accident. A joke. But the reaction he got was just too good. The embarrassment, the sudden inability to speak (which was something Mobius was always on board for), and most importantly the blushing.
This is how it started:
They were following the trail of a Variant. Not the Loki Variant, one of the Variants the Loki Variant had released after bombing the timeline. Loki, his Loki, was speaking to a pair of airline pilots. Apparently the Variant had tried to take over the controls of the airplane.
Mobius was busy looking over what was left of the cockpit. It had been torn up in the Variant’s rage before one of the pilots had tackled him. Mobius was trying to make sense of it.
“Mobius?” he heard Loki call. He decided not to answer. There was a footprint in the cabin that did not belong to the Variant, too big to be human even. Which was odd. And Mobius knew a thing or two about odd.
“Mobius?” Loki called to him again, a little more annoyed. Mobius couldn’t help but feel his lip twitch up in a smile. He loved annoying Loki. Call it payback. So, once again, he ardently ignored the trickster.
“Mobius!” Loki shouted so the whole plane - which at this point were the pilots and a handful of witnesses - turned to look at him.
This time Mobius stood and turned to Loki as well, trying to stamp down his smile.
“Yes, dear,” Mobius said in a sing-song voice, “coming, dear.”
And as he got closer he saw the red blotches on Loki’s usually pale cheeks. It took him a moment to realize it was a flush. Loki’s eyes were downcast, staring at the floor. This time Mobius couldn’t help but smile.
Well, that was interesting.
--
So, needless to say, the second time was very much on purpose.
Mostly because Mobius wasn’t 100% sure what caused Loki to react that way. He had an inkling, but he was nothing if not thorough in investigating.
They got lunch together, like they did practically every day. Mobius decided this was a good opportunity to test his theory. Loki was eating a sandwich and drinking a Boku as he read through a file about the variant from the plane (who could apparently transform himself into a bear, hence the strange footprint).
Mobius cleared his throat, “Honey, could you pass me the salt?”
“Sure,” Loki said and passed him the salt shaker. Huh. Well, maybe he’d been wrong, maybe that wasn’t-
Oh, no, apparently it had just taken Loki a second to register what he’d said. Because all of a sudden Loki looked up from the file with wide eyes. He didn’t say anything for a moment, just stared, like he expected some kind of explanation, which Mobius was definitely not going to give because this was way too much fun.
“What?” Mobius asked, innocently. Loki huffed but said nothing, going back to his file, though Mobius noticed that his eyes were no longer moving, just staring at the page.
--
“You can’t win,” Loki said, dagger in hand. Hunter B-15 scoffed and twirled her own dagger. Mobius supposed this was a bad idea. Ravonna thought it would be a good team bonding experience, but if anything it just made Loki and Hunter B-15 hate each other more. They were horribly competitive, especially when it came to besting the other.
They circled one another. Every now and again one of them would lash out with their dagger. Eventually, Loki had managed to kick B-15’s weapon out of her hand. It went flying and almost hit Mobius where he sat next to some of the other Minutemen.
“Loki, babe, be careful,” Mobius complained. “You almost got me.”
Loki froze, his head turning slowly to look over to Mobius. Hunter B-15 took the opportunity to punch Loki in the nose and take his dagger, pressing the dulled end (he’d been right to have them use practice weapons) against Loki’s throat.
“Hey, okay, okay, that’s enough,” Mobius got up and moved between them, pushing the weapon away from Loki’s thin and pale skin. Even though they were for training, Mobius still didn’t like to see Loki vulnerable, dagger blade against his carotid.
Mobius wrapped an arm around the taller man’s waist, directing him to sit in his vacated chair.
“There you go, babe,” Mobius said, stressing the last word.
“It’s not funny,” Loki argued but his cheeks were going pink. He was wrong, it was pretty funny. But the funniest thing was Mobius hadn’t meant to say it when the dagger almost hit him. It just sort of came out.
Maybe he should be a little worried about that.
--
He really should put a stop to it. But every time he thought better of it, a little pet name would pop out and Loki would flush. During lunch, in the middle of filing paperwork, during weekly bingo night. It was just one after another.
“Good morning, sweetheart.”
“Don’t do that, baby, that’s flammable.”
“Hello, darling.”
And every time it was funny. To see Loki smile just a little and try to hide his face. To see that red blush creep up from under his regulation TVA dress shirt.
Never did Mobius think that saying one would make him blush.
--
It was late and they were in the Archives. They sat across from one another, the table so full of paper Mobius had to use one of the Infinity Stones to weigh it down so it wouldn’t tip over. Loki seemed to find that amusing, but there was a strange sadness in his eyes.
“Penny for your thought,” Mobius said and put down the file he’d been reading. His eyes were so tired they had started to go cross. He needed a break. They both did.
“It’s still strange to see them as nothing,” Loki said, nodding to the Infinity Stone. “I thought it was my glorious purpose.” He said the words with a sneer.
Mobius reached his leg out, letting his knee come to lay against the inside of Loki’s thigh.
“You have a new glorious purpose now,” Mobius said, hands motioning to the room around them and the TVA in general. “A new home.”
He smiled, warm and inviting. That same familiar creep of red-tinted Loki’s cheeks. Oh, good, a new way to get him to do that. Mobius liked finding new ways of embarrassing Loki. Even when part of him knew good and well that it wasn’t entirely embarrassment.
“Thank you,” Loki whispered and Mobius felt a foot slide ever so slightly up his ankle.
“You gonna play footsie with me now, my love?” Mobius meant it as a joke, but Loki went so still he wondered if he’d somehow managed to break the god. Oh. Wait. What did he just say? He didn’t...say...what he thinks he just said. Right?
Right?
He could feel the heat on his face and he swallowed hard. He tried to laugh it off, but it came out just a little too high and too loud. One of the other people in the Archives shushed him from the next section over. Once again, he hadn’t meant to add the endearment. Just meant some light-hearted flirtation, not to full-on admit any kind of feelings.
“I...uh…” he started. He shuffled some papers. “We should take a break.”
With that he was gone, walking to who knows where, just somewhere away.
--
It was kind of awkward after that. Mobius tried to avoid Loki at all costs. But that was difficult to do seeing as they were partners. And he couldn’t ask to transfer Loki to someone else. He just had to find a way to make this less awkward. Because he was getting really upset at seeing Loki’s frown and the hurt look in his eyes when Mobius would deliberately avoid him.
But Loki was nothing if not persistent. And he hated being given the cold shoulder.
“What the hell is going on?” Loki asked him, grabbing him by the arm as he made to go past Loki to eat lunch in his office. “Why are you avoiding me?”
Loki was annoyed. Very, very annoyed. One might even say pissed. His forehead was wrinkled in a scowl, his jawline set, his teeth grinding.
Mobius debated playing dumb. Until Loki gave him a death glare like he knew exactly what Mobius was thinking. Which, to be honest, he probably did. They were always so in sync. Always knew what the other was feeling or thinking or trying to say.
So, Mobius decided to hit the problem head-on.
“I think I took the name calling too far,” he said. Loki released his arm and looked confused.
“Name calling?” Loki asked, sincerely. “What name calling?”
“You know,” Mobius whispered as one of the tech agents walked near them. He moved closer so no one else could hear. “The endearments.”
Loki suddenly looked so incredibly sad that Mobius felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
“Those...those were…” Loki swallowed harshly. “They were a joke to you.”
He couldn’t mean...he hadn’t thought Mobius was serious this whole time? Of course not. This was just Loki’s way of getting back at him. Mobius scoffed and backed away from Loki, but the look on the trickster’s face did not change. But that’s what he was, a trickster. Ergo, this had to be a trick.
“C’mon, Loki, you didn’t think…” but Mobius stopped himself when he saw the unshed tears in Loki’s eyes.
“No, I suppose I didn’t think,” Loki sniffled a little and looked away. He opened his mouth as if he intended to say something else, but just then Ravonna came in to announce that they had to go after a new Variant. High priority, very unstable.
--
“What was that about?” Ravonna asked after the mission. He’d seen the way she had looked between him and Loki after she’d entered the room. The way she had watched Loki leave and then gave him a quizzical look after her announcement. Fortunately, Mobius was able to brush her off to go on the mission, but now he was a sitting duck.
“It’s nothing,” Mobius replied as he took off his bulletproof vest. He kept glancing over to Loki, who was using a locker across the room instead of the one he normally used next to Mobius’. The mission had gone surprisingly smoothly. The Variant was caught with only minimal damage to one of the Minutemen. Mobius would normally be very happy about this but that was difficult as the lead feeling in his chest had not budged. Loki hadn’t spoken or so much as looked at him the entire mission.
“Don’t ‘it’s nothing’ me. What did you do?” Ravonna asked, jabbing a finger into his chest.
“Ow, why do you think I did something?” he argued. Ravonna crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow.
“Because Loki looks like you just killed his puppy,” she whisper-shouted. She looked around to make sure no one had heard her. Everyone was going about their business. Except for Loki, who looked sullen and pale (well, more than usual, anyway) and didn’t even bother to look up as he walked out of the locker room.
--
Mobius M. Mobius was an idiot. That’s pretty clear. But in his defense, Loki was distractingly adorable when he blushed. Now the hard part was going to be the apology. It couldn’t just be any old “I’m sorry” it had to be something better. Something that said “I’m an idiot, I know this, please love me anyway.”
Because as difficult as it was to admit, he loved Loki. Dumb desicion, obviously, but the M in his middle name stood for Moron at this point.
He found Loki in the cafeteria, sitting alone with no food, staring at the tabletop. It was late (well, late was relative in the TVA) and no one else was around. There weren’t even guards at the door.
“Uh, Loki?” Mobius called out lightly. Loki flinched a little, but did not look up. “I brought you a salad.”
He placed it down in front of the god, who raised an eyebrow at it. He’d hoped to get a small smile at the very least.
“Not really hungry,” Loki mumbled and pushed it away. Mobius took the chair across from him. He fidgeted with his hands for a moment, not really sure where to start.
“Look, I’m really sorry,” was always a good way to begin an apology. “All of this started out as a joke. I said it that first time and you were just so, well, cute.” Mobius chuckled but Loki glared at him.
“I am the God of Mischief. I am not cute .” He made a face at the word, scrunching up his nose. The irony was that it was very cute.
“I just liked the way you reacted. And then it just kept happening, there were a few times I didn’t even realize I was saying it.”
This seemed to intrigue Loki. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair.
“How many times?”
Mobius thought for a moment, “Uh, like a dozen.”
“So half?”
Now it was Mobius’ turn to be intrigued. He grinned softly.
“Wait, you were counting?”
“No,” it came out a little too sharp. Mobius couldn’t help but laugh.
“Look, I’m not good at talking about my feelings and emotions. We don’t really have therapy here. And I’ve never been…” he paused for a moment, drumming his fingers on the table. “I’ve never really loved anyone before.”
Loki perked up then. “Oh, and who might that be?”
“You really gonna make me say it?”
Loki tilted his head to the side and smiled, all teeth, “You want me to forgive you?”
“You little shit,” but he supposed he did deserve it. He leaned forward and motioned for Loki’s hand. Loki rolled his eyes but uncrossed his arms and held out his hand, which Mobius took before Loki would change his mind. “I love you.”
There was silence between them for a moment. Mobius still had that pit in his stomach. Maybe Loki would reject him. Maybe he’d read all the signs wrong. Loki looked away from him, back down to the tabletop. But soon he looked back up with a devilish grin on his face.
“Ha! I knew it!” Loki gloated. “I knew I could get you to say it first.”
“What?!” Mobius tried to jerk his hand away, but Loki held fast. Mobius counted to ten in his mind to calm himself. He asked through gritted teeth, “Was all of this just a ploy to get me to say I love you first?”
“Of course it was,” Loki answered honestly, shrugging his shoulders.
“I hate you so much.”
“No, you don’t, you love me,” Loki said smugly. Mobius shook his head.
“Well, you could at least say it back,” he replied. There was a pause that went on just a little too long. Mobius felt his stomach fall. “If you want,” he added lamely.
“Mobius, I…” Loki stopped, laughing nervously. He ran his thumb over Mobius’ knuckles. “I love you, too.”
Loki looked up at him with that smile. The one that made his whole face light up. The one that went all the way to his eyes. Mobius felt his heart melt. Dammit.
“For all time?” Mobius asked, only half-joking.
“Always,” Loki replied, not joking at all.