InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Shotgun shuts his cakehole..."

ᴀɢᴇɴᴛ ᴍᴏʙɪᴜs (timedoor) wrote in valloic,
@ 2022-04-01 14:24:00

Entry tags:

!: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: loki, ₴ inactive: mobius

Mobius & Loki

WHAT: Mobius returns after a crappy ten days (for him)
WHERE: Asgard Palace
WHEN: Backdated to right after the Sphere plot
WARNINGS: They're in the bathtub and naked for most of the log but it's not a focus
STATUS: Complete

In every language he knew, in the lives he’d lived.

As he and Loki talked about before, not everything was gold in Asgard but the version of this palace in Vallo definitely was. Throughout his less-than-savory tenure at the TVA (a very long tenure), he’d been an analyst - not field ops, he didn’t handle that part. From behind a desk, he tracked down pesky variants that were hard to track and passed the coordinates on to hunters like B-15 who would bring the variant in to detain them or (and this part now gave him nightmares that drearily seeped into peaceful sleep) execute them - a one-way ticket to the Void, as he knew now, courtesy of Ravonna Renslayer sitting at a judge’s dais.

Point was, he never really got to see much of the field. On occasion, he struck figurative gold - maybe once every hundred years or so, who was to say. But he wished he had seen Asgard - he imagined that the splendor of it would have been especially lovely when evening set in, with the fire from endlessly burning lanterns and the way the spires glinted, all those majestic architectural choices. The palace, transplanted to Vallo, was warded against intruders - but Mobius knew Loki went there frequently and even though it lacked the usual guards with their impressive spears and stern-looking helmets, it still had ‘a way’ about it, as the kids said.

When Mobius returned from sphere hell (or hel), he knew that was where his beloved would be too.

He hadn’t even really stopped to shower and change first, because he was eager to find Loki so he just headed to the palace straight away, rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt which had seen better days. The labyrinth paths of the gardens were his final stop, low hedges and flowers that were intense - the aroma intense enough to make him sniffle.

“If I were a Loki where would I be?” he asked out loud, grinning when he saw the very familiar back of his partner.

Loki had burnt himself out quite quickly after seeing the confirmation that Mobius was alive and for the most part, well - at least by Vallo’s standards. The few days before that had him in what could only be described as a well-tuned rage, not quite blind but possibly the most dangerous he had been since his arrival to Vallo, perhaps except for the time Fandral had been near-mortally wounded - at least then he had multiple outlets for his anger. This time it had just been… undirected.

One of the cliff faces just outside of New Asgard having crumbled to the beach in Mobius’ absence was completely unrelated to all of that, of course.

He had somewhat neglected his duties in the gardens because of it, crouched over a flowerbed as he removed some of the dying heads of the winter-blooming flowers so that they would grow again in the next year when he heard the sound of footsteps echoing through the palace, his eyes narrowing a little as one of his daggers appeared in his hand.

In theory, nothing unwanted should be able to breach the palace’s defenses, but- one could never be too cautious. Nothing should have been able to steal Mobius away from New Asgard without Loki’s knowledge either, what with the extensive warding he had done during the monster attacks. He stood up, his hand tightening on the dagger when the footsteps grew closer - don’t let them know you know - and then-

“Mobius?” he breathed, whipping around to face him with wide eyes as the dagger fell to the grass beneath his feet, near-instantly turning to run at him and catch him in a tight embrace, making a slightly wounded noise as he wrapped his arms as tightly around his shoulders as he dared to with the whole mixture of human and Asgardian/Jotun super-strength - “I didn’t know if you would ever come back,” and if Loki was speaking in Asgardian right now it hardly mattered. Mobius would understand him.

Honestly, if Loki hadn’t pulled a dagger from the ether, the space of his metaphysical cubby hole, then Mobius might think he’d been compromised. The intense hug was a lot preferable to being stabbed, however, and he threw his arms around Loki and squeezed - maybe it was a drop in the bucket compared to godly strength, but Mobius was still no slouch in that department, despite being human. Especially given how much relief and need and devotion he had to pour into the show of affection.

“I love you,” he told Loki, Mobius holding his face in between his hands - and Mobius kissed him, of course, pulling out heat and passion and adding just as much to the mix. It was a crash of so many feelings he wanted to convey, all of them melting together in a serpentine twist resembling the Viking pattern of a continuous knot. “Elskan mín.”

He pressed closer, as if it was even possible - and that didn’t make a difference. Mobius would find a way for it to happen, because ten days was a hell of a long time to be separated when you were rudely yanked from your home. “I’ll always find my way back to you. You have to know that by now,” he chuckled, breathless, but they could share breath. That was more than fine.

Warm hands on his face and a kiss was all it took for Loki’s heart to calm down, ignoring the small and angry part of him that still found it difficult to trust, put his heart in the hands of somebody who could very easily crush it, if he so desired. He pushed that thought aside and leant forward to gently rest his forehead against Mobius’, hand sliding to the back of his neck to hold him there for a moment, a moment where it was only them and Loki had Mobius’ full attention, which was admittedly just how he liked it.

“I want to believe that,” he murmured, leaning in to steal another kiss as he considered his words. Back in- home was the wrong word, but back in the place he’d arrived from, he had no way of telling if he would ever find his Mobius again. The one who trusted him and had found him in the deserted wasteland at the end of time. “I love you too,” in every language he knew, in the lives he’d lived.

Eventually, a realisation hit and Loki pulled back just a little, enough that he could rake his eyes over his body and take everything in. “You aren’t- are you hurt? Do you need medical assistance?” Loki could heal him. Would heal him, even if it took every ounce of his seidr.

“Believe it,” Mobius smiled, managing to dust a few more kisses all on Loki’s face, dropping them there like breadcrumbs, before they separated for a moment. For now, anyway, because Mobius fully intended to cling and not let go. He had plenty of attention to pay to his favorite pussycat (and snake and - well, pretty much favorite everything), his cup runneth over in that regard.

His fingers brushed down Loki’s forearms, smooth muscle and sinew and unblemished skin, until entangling with his hands, a loose link. Because Mobius couldn’t stop touching him. Didn’t think he could touch him enough. “We found a room with a bunch of healing potions the second to last day,” he said. “That took care of any injuries and I didn’t really get anything too bad.” Edwin hadn’t been so lucky, however - it was fortuitous that they did find the room that was basically an old-timey medical lab.

“Mostly could just use a bath,” he crinkled his nose teasingly, since he probably smelled like he did. The bathroom in the safe room was tiny. Functional, but barely a step above. There weren’t any long, hot showers where you had the time to turn around and around like a rotisserie chicken in there.

There was still some level of frustration that Mobius had been hurt and Loki hadn’t been there to stop it. He let their hands tangle together and hang between them, looking down at the join with a small frown before lifting one of Mobius’ up to his lips, pressing a kiss to his fingers. “Well. I think I can manage a substantial bath,” he murmured.

Admittedly, their bath in New Asgard was best described as ‘poky’. As in, any attempts to share usually ended in lots of accidental elbowing and poking, to the point where Loki had long since given up on that. Right now, however, they were in Asgard’s palace and he gripped his hand a little more substantially, leaning in to press another chaste kiss to his lips before turning to lead the way through the golden walls of the palace. He knew where most things were in this version, now - where he was leading Mobius to was his bedroom and adjoining bathroom, in the most literal sense of the word. The bath was probably more akin to a pool.

“I think this should be to your liking, sir,” he smirked a little.

Well, now wasn’t this something? Mobius had come to the palace a couple of times before, mostly just to do some work in the garden and help out there - but he and Loki usually stuck to their place in New Asgard (and their bathtub was definitely a contortionist feat if they wanted to share - the shower was a lot easier, actually). He hadn’t yet seen the opulent bed chambers his royal prince boasted, and he whistled - very impressed, yes.

“It’ll do,” he promised coyly - and would he have room to stretch out in that miniature swimming pool that was supposed to be a tub? Yeah, definitely. After ten days of cramped, sore muscles and feeling like his shoulders were basically concrete slabs, this would be welcome.

His hands drifted to Loki’s clothes, beginning to unbutton and unfasten. Just a few buttons, and he’d do the rest while the tub was filling up. “I really did miss you,” he exhaled with relief, because he was here now - where he belonged. “And I’m sorry you were worried - wasn’t my intention to up and vanish like that.” Plus Thor and Torunn had been there too, so it wasn’t like Loki could seek comfort from family - it was just a lot of rude kidnappings, basically.

“Did you get in some good gardening, at least?”

"Is this a hint that I'm to join you?" Loki smirked. He'd planned on letting Mobius have the lion's share of the tub, but if he insisted, how could Loki ever refuse him? He smoothed a hand over the front of his shirt, thumbing over his collar before undoing a couple of the buttons as well. "I suppose you do seem to be in need of some help. You're incredibly tense," he couldn't exactly blame him, after- what, ten days? The time discrepancy was interesting and something Loki would have been eager to investigate if it had been anybody but /Mobius/.

The question about gardening made him scoff slightly. "Well. If there were weeds before, there certainly aren't any now. It was that or destroy Strange's sanctum, which I'm not sure anybody would have appreciated, least of all Kate," no mention of Strange, of course. He'd still not forgiven him for leaving him to fall indefinitely while he'd had a nice little chat with Thor.

He set about starting the bath running, conjuring up a few additions - oils, soaps, various different bath products that Loki had acquired or learned of during his time in Vallo, including a slab of soap shaped like a pie.

"Which would you prefer for your shoulders?" He questioned, holding up two bottles from his crouched position by the taps. "I can't say I've ever massaged anybody before, mind you."

Mobius rolled his eyes, fondly. “Please don’t destroy anyone’s house, especially over me,” he insisted - because that would just be rude. Besides, he liked Strange and Wanda - and he didn’t want to see what they’d do in the form of retaliation either. Not even the cockroaches would survive, and coming back to Vallo: The Apocalypse wasn’t really the greatest thing. “Weeds are fine though, destroy all the weeds.”

And was that soap shaped like a pie? Adorable. Mobius couldn’t recall the last time he’d soaked in a tub like this, with all of the fancy stuff. “Hmm - “ He tossed his shirt aside (or actually, he folded it first since he wasn’t that chaotic). “This one,” he tapped the bottle Loki held in his left hand. “I’ve never gotten a massage before but I’m sure you’ll be good at it.”

By the time he had stripped out of the dirty, sullied clothes (maybe he should burn these), he was able to slip into the tub and make space for Loki to situate himself, getting comfy. “C’mere, pussycat. You really have never massaged anyone before? I thought that was one of your prime seduction moves. Thought I saw it on one of the reels,” he teased.

“Me? Offer a massage? I’m a prince of Asgard,” Loki replied haughtily, only half-joking as he disrobed, slipping into the hot water beside Mobius. It was almost a touch too hot for Loki, although it was still in a pleasant way - at least, with the guard of his glamour. There was a little step on the side intended to lead down into the bathtub that Loki took a seat on, beckoning for Mobius to come over to him.

He picked up the oil from where he’d left it on the side, popping it open to give it a curious sniff. He remembered liking them both, but this one was definitely more in the realm of lavender and rosemary, gently calming and probably in some way supposed to be ‘healing’. In Vallo, it probably was.

“I don’t recall massaging anybody, though. Not in any-” he hummed. “- not in a way that was intended to actually make a difference to how somebody’s muscles felt.”

The scent of lavender was pleasing, and Mobius followed his (busted) nose to where Loki was - floral and fresh, herbal and not too pungent. He was more than fine with breathing this stuff in - in fact, he may very well fall asleep but that wasn’t an insult. It was because he was exhausted but also finally relaxed enough to actually get some decent shut-eye, even if it was in a gigantic bathtub, the steam rising like dragon’s breath.

He scooted back toward Loki so he was situated between his lover’s knees, able to lean against his chest if he wanted - prime access point for those shoulders, which were still quite tense and sore though Mobius was certain he’d unravel soon enough. Especially with this kind of treatment. “Well, I trust your hands,” he grinned crookedly. “They’ve never let me down before.”

Tipping his head back, he fluttered his lashes and gazed at Loki for a moment. “Thank you, by the way. You know - for all of this.”

“I should hope they haven’t,” Loki pressed a gentle kiss to the back of his neck once Mobius found himself situated there, bracketing his legs at his sides so he could lean back if he wanted to. It would make the angle a little awkward, perhaps, but Loki would almost certainly survive if Mobius kept looking back at him like that.

He laid his hands on his shoulders, pausing for a moment when Mobius thanked him with a roll of his eyes. “Isn’t this something of a given in a relationship? Not that I can claim to be an expert on- romance, as these things go, but if I can do anything to alleviate your pain I will,” admittedly, it was in a way that he wasn’t sure where to start. He seemed coiled up all over from presumably the stress of being stuck in some horrible fae realm so he just started working his thumbs into the spaces beside his spine, opting for an ‘inside to outside’ game plan.

“Is it… something you’d like to talk about?” admittedly, he was curious, but he was also fairly sure somebody with more magical know-how would have a write up done at some point of the situation they’d ended up in.

Oh, those thumbs were amazing - Mobius groaned, but it wasn’t because it hurt. Not really. If it did, it was most certainly in that ‘hurts so good’ kind of way - sometimes you had to experience a little pain with the pleasure, like smoothing out the kinks of soreness; it would hurt now but once it was done he’d feel much better.

So yes, keep going. He was definitely encouraging Loki on over here.

His fingers traced over wherever he could get to, stroking over smooth skin that was in his vantage point - he’d traced the shape of Loki in pretty much any form, whatever form he chose, and Mobius loved each of them and knew them all pretty well by now. “Well, I didn’t mind teaming up with Lena - we make a pretty good team anyway,” he said. “And Edwin warmed up to us after a bit.” He’d been standoffish at first but that was to be expected - they’d only just met, not to mention they were tossed into kind of an impossible situation. “I like to think I’m pretty good at puzzles - and I didn’t have any magic, not like the two of them,” he continued. “So I wanted to be useful somehow - it was just frustrating. We were always tired and there was never enough rations. I don’t even know what the point was, besides to be...annoying.”

He hated pointless stuff like that. By the Timekeepers, it was vexing.

The noise from Mobius made Loki drop a kiss to the back of his neck - perhaps he could ease the pain away with magic, but he had it in his head that it would ruin the plan of ‘get your hands on Mobius for as long as you like’.

“Not having magic doesn’t make it difficult for you to be useful,” Loki definitely wouldn’t have held an opinion like that before the business with the Time Bastard Authority, granted - he had always thought that magic was one of the things that gave him superiority, regardless of whether it truly aided him in the way Asgardians’ strength did. “You proved that quite effectively when we worked together. I just- wish I had been there,” at the mention of rations Loki perked up, wondering if Mobius had paused to eat before he’d tried to find Loki - he lifted one hand to click his fingers, the bathtub now lined by various delicacies of Vallo - and if people who worked at the shops they came from found them missing later, he didn’t particularly care. Mobius deserved the best, clearly.

“Have something to eat. And drink. There is wine, but I’m not sure if you’d prefer actual hydration right now,” he scoffed softly as he continued his work down his back, gently pushing him forward so that he could get better access to it.

He was being spoiled a lot, wasn’t he? Mobius wouldn’t put up a fuss. At all. He was accommodating too, leaning forward so Loki could do what he would with those amazing hands - though Mobius at least managed to grab water for hydration, and something that resembled food; he wasn’t sure what it was, just that it had protein. Most likely. And he needed the protein, because those meager rations weren’t really all that great.

“I’m eating,” he promised with a laugh - and, honestly, lounging in a tub with food and drinks and getting massaged was like the very epitome of decadence, but maybe it was deserved. Mobius liked to think he did deserve nice things sometimes, and there wasn’t anything wrong with that. “And I wish you had been there too, honey. But - even if something like this happens again, know that I’m with you where it counts.”

In the heart, and all of that romantic stuff. He knew Loki spooked when things like that were mentioned but then again, he was being very romantic now so Mobius would press his luck.

“It seems that something like this is happening on a more regular basis than normal lately,” he murmured, wondering if something had- upset the core of whatever Vallo was. It wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility, even if his fears of He Who Remains were somewhat assuaged with the time that had passed between his waking up with those memories and them getting to this point, where Loki was comfortably lounging in a bathtub with somebody he could fairly confidently say actually liked him.

It took a surprising amount of self-control to not attempt to sabotage this before it inevitably went south itself. He let out a soft huff of air as he rested his chin on top of his head, pausing in the massage to just drape his arms over Mobius’ shoulders and just- sit there, for a moment. “I don’t understand how you can be so sure.”

“Well, I know a lot of things,” Mobius pointed out, eyes crinkling at the corners and digging in to the familiar lines when he grinned. His fingers tapped Loki’s knees, playing a little senseless rhythm. “So you’ll just have to trust me about it. I think the bad stuff feels like it happens more often than the good, because of how intense the bad actually is - I was stuck in the cupboard place for five days on your end, but we had Ymir for a couple weeks. So it sort of balances out. A little.”

And honestly, Mobius would put up with all the nonsense if it meant getting a glimpse of a timeline where they were settled and actually happy - and had a family. A small one. Where he got to be a dad but also Uncle Mobi and wear many hats - that was worth everything to him.

“Am I turning into a prune yet, elskan mín?” he asked, holding up one hand to have a look.

“I suppose,” Mobius had a point - Ymir had been here for two wonderful weeks and that accounted for only half of the Vallo-time that Mobius had been missing. It hadn’t even been a taxing ordeal past the first couple of days where he hadn’t known if he was alive or dead, but now he did know. With only minor destruction on Loki’s part, too. They had each other in Vallo and that probably counted for a lot when he thought about the fact that if he went back, he might risk never finding his Mobius again. He dropped his forehead to rest on the back of his neck, huffing a soft breath as he closed his eyes just for a moment until Mobius spoke up, lifting his head again to squint at his hands.

“You could be worse,” he informed him, tugging him until he was flush against his chest, head propped up on the top of his. For now, in the privacy of (sort of) his bathing chambers, he wasn’t afraid of showing Mobius just how deeply he cared.