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peterpparkrr · 3 years

Text

irreconcilable differences

Series: Infinite universes (pt. 3)

Paring: Loki Odinson x reader

Summary: Now that Reader been apprehended alongside Loki by the TVA, her plans are going to be irreversibly changed. She travels through time (some more) and finds herself reckoning with her past, present, and future in ways she hadn’t planned.

Word Count: 1.6K

Warnings: swearing, brief mentions of death, canon-typical violence

A/N: Work is insane but I have a little bit more free time so hopefully I can post more stuff. I’m already working on pt 4 of this and also trying to figure out how/if to end this series so if you have an thoughts pls let me know!

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)

Pompeii, 79.

You go with Loki and Mobius on their little field trip to Pompeii. An experiment to test Loki’s new theory that nexus events can’t happen in apocalypses, there’s nothing that can be done to change a world that is about to end. You hate to admit it. But it makes sense. It’s probably one of the best plans that Loki’s ever come up with.

You can’t help but smile as Loki dramatically releases the cart of goats and dramatically declares himself a time traveler from the future bringing news of their imminent destruction.

As the people of Pompeii scream and run away you laugh at Loki as he enjoys the moment far more than any sane person ever should.

You giggle like a maniac as Loki suddenly takes you by the hand and twirls you around as the ash and smoke from the volcano begin to fall from the sky around you.

You’re not sure why he does it. And neither is he.

It’s… nice. It’s almost enough to convince you that you’re okay. That this is okay.

Alabama, 2050.

Your stupid, standard-issue TVA jacket with “VARIANT” plastered across the back matches Loki’s. Though, once you step inside the retail store where the TVA’s readings suggest the other Loki Variant is hiding, Loki’s jacket is once again dry while you're forced to shuffle around in soaking wet clothes.

As you take in Roxxcart™ -the Walmart of Earth’s near future- there’s a moment of joy as you wiggle your fingers at your sides and realize that you have your powers back, now that you’re no longer in the liminal space that is the TVA.

You consider it for a moment, giving your powers a little test run on one of the unsuspecting civilians around you, or maybe even on one of the TVA agents that have been giving you and Loki so much grief, but think better of it, instead focusing on the task at hand, finding this hidden Loki.

However, things pretty much immediately go off the rails as the team splits up and you’re left to wander the deserted aisles of Roxxcart alone, unaware that in the rest of the store things are going to absolute shit.

You try to talk him out of it, you really do, you try to give him the look, the wide, innocent eyes that would convince another Loki to change his mind. A look that a different Loki, your Loki would do anything to see wiped from your face.

There’s a moment of hesitation his part. A brief moment when you think that maybe you can convince him to stay.

“Loki… no,” You whisper softly. So softly you’re not sure you even hear yourself.

You should have known. You should have known that not-Loki would do this. That he would betray you. That he would betray Mobius. He’s not yours. He’s not yours. He’ll never be yours again.

So you let him. You let him go.

And then, in a half-second of divisiveness, you do something even you weren’t expecting to do.

You follow them.

Lamentis-1, 2077.

A female Loki.

You’re not all that surprised by her.

She asks you to call her Sylvie.

Just like Loki, she doesn’t know you. She doesn’t know how deeply intertwined your story is with hers, well, how in a different world, a world without the TVA, you might have even been lovers.

But that feeling gets less suffocating the more time you spend with the two of them. You begin to realize that these two are their own individuals - outside of the expectations that you’ve placed on them.

And you’re spending a LOT of time with them.

The three of you are trapped in an apocalypse together after all.

You’re walking alongside the train tracks, trying to get to the city, to get on the ark, and to survive. The involuntary deboarding of the train still stings.

Sylvie walks ahead of you and Loki. She’s calmed down slightly since the destruction of the TemPad. Another failure that threatens to break the already tense alliance the three of you had formed. But she still requires some space.

You cast a side-long glance at Loki as you walk in step.

“When… you said that I saw you die,” You say slowly, struggling to frame your thoughts into coherent sentences, “What did you mean by that?”

You’re not entirely sure what you’re trying to ask, but ever since Loki’s comment back at the TVA headquarters, you’d been unable to shake the feeling that Loki wanted to talk to you about it, to know who you were.

“Well, Mobius was considerate enough to show me a tape of my life’s greatest moments, concluding with the showstopper that was my death,” Loki replies impassively. “And you were there, with my brother, trapped as Thanos killed me.”

“You seemed quite distraught at the whole thing, screaming and crying,” Loki adds lightly.

“Yeah,” You reply quickly as you glance away from him.

“So how do we come to know each other?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” You reply honestly, “Thor brought me to Asgard and the two of us became close.” You leave out the fact that Thor brought you to Asgard so that you could meet with Frigga, that you had already watched Loki die once before Thanos, when fighting Malekith, or even that you’d helped Thor and Loki defeat Hela and bring about Ragnarok. Those memories, the details of your real story with Loki are still to painful to talk about.

Thankfully Loki seems to sense your discomfort with talking about it, and doesn’t press you further about it.

Once your trio got into the city you realized that getting to the ark was going to be more difficult than you expected.

The whole place was crawling with desperate people who were scrabbling to try and get on the ark, and there were just as many guards keeping these citizens from getting any closer to the ark.

You, Sylvie and Loki shared a look as you all realized that it was going to take some quick thinking and a bit of a fight to get you all on the ark.

The three of you take off, knowing you’ll have to run if you want to have any chance of getting the ark to take off before the impending destruction of this moon.

As you dodge and weave through the crowds and buildings several guards try and stop you. Loki and Sylvie are quick to fight them off, leaving very little of the fight to you.

It’s not until you’ve all been nearly crushed by a falling building that Loki manages to keep from falling on top of you that the three of you are ambushed by a large group of guards.

You see four of them immediate go for Sylvie, threatening to overtake her before you or Loki could even get to her.

Without thinking you stick your hands out in front of you channel all of your focus and energy into the blood pumping through their veins before you methodically press your palms downward, causing each guard around you to collapse to the ground.

“What…” Sylvie gasps breathlessly as she looks up at you, “How did you-”

“Are you certain you are not a goddess?”

Your breath catches in your throat as your head whips to stare at Loki where he’s standing next to you. He... Oh my god.

“And are you quite certain you are not a goddess?” Loki asks as he watches the bodies of the men around you fall to the ground, your hands stretched out in front of you.

You look over at him with just as much surprise as Loki knows is showing through his own carefully constructed facade.

You. You are powerful. Far more powerful than any Midgardian he has ever seen. More powerful than any of those other Avengers.

You could be very useful to him. He ought to keep you around.

Now it makes sense.

“No time to explain!” You shout as you grab hold of Loki with one hand and Sylvie with the other, “We gotta go!”

You’re all still running as the ark gets closer and clothes, until a massive chunk of planet suddenly comes crashing down from the sky, cutting into the ark and smashing it to pieces before you can even register what happened.

“So this is how it ends?” You ask softly as you sit between Loki and Sylvie, the three of you staring up at the sky above you as Lamentis continues to break up and crash into the moon all around you.

As the three of you accepted your fate you reached your hands to the people on your other side and squeezed their hands tightly.

You should have been afraid, you should have been very very scared by the reality that your death was imminent. But instead you just felt relieved. You were almost thankful that you didn’t have to continue on, to keep on living.

You turned to Loki, and found his eyes already on you. He lightly squeezed your hand and you opened your mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by the metallic shimmer of three Timedoors opening behind you.

#loki #loki fanfic #loki x reader #loki reader insert #loki drabble #loki odinson x reader #loki layfeyson x reader #loki series #sylvie laufeydottir #mobius m mobius #marvel #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #marvel one shot #marvel oneshot

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assemble-revengers · 3 years

Text

Nexus Split

**Contains spoilers for Loki**

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Word Count: 2203

Prompt: “Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye?”

Author’s Note: I woke up and chose violence today.

Time was hard to grasp before this whole mess began, but it at least had some structure regardless of how ethereal it seemed. There was structure and a time and place and you just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time so it seemed when you also made a move to snatch up the Tesseract the second you saw Loki move in New York. That’s how you got into this mess and honestly there were many things you had regretted initially. For instance, why couldn’t you have minded your own business?

Well, if you had you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet Loki, and at the moment? That felt worth more than anything. It hadn’t started that way -- the two of you were practically at each other’s throats and when you weren’t bickering between each other you were being confused by the politics of the TVA and time in general.

In a wild turn of events you became an unpaid intern all over again. You supposed it was better than dying or “being pruned”. You still were confused as ever by the lingo and even though you had tried your best to pay attention to the onboarding process, but frankly you were still wrapping your head around the prospect of the TVA in general. How had no one even considered this being a possibility? Where did these people come from? It seemed that it just...was? But if that was the case, why was there an onboarding process?

Miss Minutes was terrifying -- she was just so...eerie and popped up randomly and honestly you just wanted a nap. Or to wake up from this bizarre dream.

The worst part was the notion of running into other variants, namely the fact that a variant that had been targeting members of the TVA happened to be a Loki-variant.

“Wonderful,” you retorted, interrupting Mobius with disdain, “There’s another one of him.”

The aforementioned god was sitting across a table from you and you weren’t entirely sure how he was taking the whole thing. According to him, the tesseract was useless here. A paper weight. Another beyond weird thing that the TVA brought.

“We should team up,” a voice interrupted your spacing out and it took you a moment to realize that the voice belonged to Loki. And he was talking to you.

You blinked a few times incredulously, “You have been nothing but cruel to me since we met. Why would I ever help you?” Honestly, the audacity of men.

“I am sorry about that, by the way,” he answered, “I was going through something.”

You couldn’t help the laugh you let out, covering your mouth immediately to try to mute the sound and avoid any more attention. “Aw, that makes it all better.”

There was no reason to hide your sarcasm, and he knew that. You could tell from the way he blanched for a moment before resuming his composure, obviously trying to turn on some godly charm or something onto you, “I was. I truly am sorry.”

“Loki, you stole the Tesseract, tried to take over the world and brought a bunch of crazy alien things into New York City,” you listed, counting off the things on your fingers, “And now because you went after the stupid Tesseract again, with a room full of Avengers I might add, I cannot return to my life which wasn’t that impressive, but at this moment? I kind of miss it. So, no, I don’t accept your apology.” He was silent after that and you went back to your mind palace spiraling about the logistics of what was happening to you.

It was not a great day for you. Week? Hour? Time was weird. It was even more weird when you were suddenly having to do research into the Loki-variant-assassin. Going through files and files of different instances in time was tedious. It was interesting in that some of the things had already happened, were going to happen, and were happening in places you had never even heard of. It was during this that you and Loki had begun to work more collaboratively.

In fact, the moment you guys had made the connection that it was apocalypses? You taught the god of mischief the importance of a high five. Or rather, never leaving someone hanging because you chased him down, yelling at him until he returned the high five before you even allowed him to present your findings to Mobius. The bond continued when you both were treated like unhinged criminals or starved, ravenous animals by pretty much everyone other than Mobius who was...friendly as ever.

You did not have a lot of options in terms of trust. While Mobius seemed genuine, there was no way you could possibly know. The issue was that the only thing that was any level of normal in your eyes was Loki which was...laughable, but he was from your timeline. The two of you were in this together sort of because at this point you wanted to go home and it seemed he did too after the whole semantics of this whole thing. Or maybe he wanted to take over the TVA. Regardless, it gave you some hope that he might be kind and put you into your timeline where you belong.

The feelings came out of nowhere. In fact, you hadn’t even realized it happened until there was a chance for you both to chase after the Loki-variant (or Sylvie as you would learn later) and before Loki went through the portal, he reached a hand out for you, Mobius yelling and you found your feet moving on their own accord, turning to mouth ‘Sorry’ to Mobius before grabbing Loki’s hand and rushing through the portal.

Sylvie was interesting and endearing and was someone you instantly found yourself drawn to. You felt sympathetic to her story, and maybe that was dangerous. Dangerous, but gave you another sliver of hope despite the fact things were bleak. Very bleak. Being on Lamentis-1 about to explode and everyone die bleak. Despite this, the two of you sat and chatted in your booth at the bar while Loki got absolutely hammered and even began to softly serenade you in what you assumed was Asgardian (this was after he sung to the whole room) and you found yourself pulling him back down to the chairs and pulling him into a hug while you laughed.

“Loki, I have no idea what you’re saying,” you giggled, pulling away from him, “But I think you’ve had enough.”

“Darling, I think I’m just getting started,” he answered with the smoothness of butter on a hot pancake. You couldn’t help the burning of your ears and the rest of the blush that began to dance across your features. Sylvie coughed. Moment interrupted (Thankfully? You don’t know). Back to the business of the world ending and no way out. Maybe that’s what let all of you decide to unload tales of the past. Yours was boring and...uneventful comparatively which led you to remain relatively quiet as both Loki and Sylvie talked.

Hearing all of Sylvie’s plight and what brought her to that moment had both you and Loki feeling empathetic. You felt anger that this whole this was allowed and deemed ‘okay’ by the TVA. An entity that really had no checks and balances as far as you could see. You pretended to ignore Sylvie and Loki bonding. You felt your stomach tighten. Envy was ugly and green really was never your color.

But that triggered the TVA rolling up and taking the three of you back. You weren’t sure what you were expecting. You weren’t expecting yourself to start fighting. Your restraints, the situation, the fact you were separated from Sylvie and more importantly Loki. You were utterly alone in your cell, screaming for them to let you out. The person interrogating you entered, tried asking you questions that you just couldn’t hear. Your head was swimming and it was almost as if you were hearing things like you were underwater. Fight or flight and apparently your entire being chose to fight.

Per someone’s orders you were moved, you lit up the moment you saw Loki and soon you were joined by Sylvie. Your restraints were removed and your eyes began watering as you rushed to Loki’s side, grabbing his hand as he gave yours a reassuring squeeze, moving so that he was shielding you from the front. The next thing you knew and before you had a moment to process, Mobius was pruned in front of you and Loki moved to shield you further.

Surprisingly, you were not entirely useless in the fight that ensued, but couldn’t help but feel entirely out of your element. The closest you had ever been to being in a fight in the past was when you were five and some girl stole your crayons and had the nerve to try to eat them.

Your adrenaline was pumping when you turned to Loki a feeling like being shocked by a plug while also being burned by a pan that had been on the stove. You were confused, Loki was yelling something. You couldn’t hear. You reach for him, desperate to calm him down or maybe it was because you subconsciously knew what was happening and you were terrified. The hot, electric feeling spread across your body before what felt like you were dropped in ice cold water and suddenly...your eyes blinked awake. You weren’t at the TVA.

Instead, you found yourself on the run (you hated yourself for missing out on all that gym time because your cardio could use some work) from a cloud that ate things. You would learn that you were in The Void, the evil vacuum of the cloud was called Alioth, and that there were even more Loki variants. One was an alligator. He was your favorite.

Your Loki also turned up and you practically threw yourself into his arms in relief, “I thought I lost you, you idiot.”

“I could say the same to you, pet,” he responded, murmuring into the crook of your shoulder. Reunions had to be cut short after you introduced the other variants, (“And this Loki is an alligator! How cool is that! He’s my favorite of all of you, no offense.”) and now you were seeking shelter to hide from Alioth and...well survive you supposed.

President Loki and the other Lokis were...a lot. In fact, there were so many Lokis that you were beginning to get a tension headache trying to keep up with everything that was going on. Some of them seemed to recognize you, including President Loki that informed you that you were late and with the wrong people (“No? I don’t even know who you are?” “You will.”)

Reuniting with Sylvie and Mobius brought even more relief. Sylvie seemed to think she could enchant the Alioth. You protested quite a bit before she was able to convince you otherwise. There was a way out. You had a chance to go back to the TVA and sort things with Mobius. Maybe go back to where you belong. Maybe stay. You weren’t sure, but it seemed Loki, your-Loki was hesitating.

Mobius was opening the portal behind you to the TVA. You stood with your hand firmly within Loki’s, fingers interlaced as you bid Sylvie a small, quiet ‘good luck, you’ve got this’. You and Loki were right by the portal, a sliver from stepping in before Loki stops, pulling you so that you two were facing each other, your back to the portal.

“What’s wrong?” you ask concerned.

“I’m staying,” Loki affirms, “To help Sylvie, to...do this.”

“Okay,” you lament. You were staying too. You tried to move to leave the portal Loki gave Mobius a heartfelt hug, which ended up being a group hug since Loki wouldn’t let go of you. In fact, as soon as Mobius was released from the hug, you were engulfed into Loki’s arms where you practically melted. The hug ended far too soon, but Loki didn’t release you, holding your face in his hands as he pressed his forehead to yours. It made your heart warm and peace washed over you.

“Loki…” you sigh, feeling an entire lifetime of emotions flooding your system, “I…”

“Shh,” he cuts you off, “I know. I feel the same...but I can’t bear to hear it.”

“Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye?” You inquire, voice cracking. You felt frozen in place as panic began to bubble up under your skin.

“Because you’re not staying with me,” he murmurs weakly, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead, “I love you, Y/N. Remember that, please.”

Before you could respond, you were shoved by a great force. You couldn’t even react as your grip was easily broken, your sense of balance knocked out from under you. Mobius had already stepped through the portal...surely it wasn’t still up? You landed on the ground, having been knocked off your feet, but you were no longer in the void.

You felt your heart shattering. You couldn’t even cry. He was gone.

#loki x you #mcu loki #loki x reader #loki x y/n #mcu x you #mcu imagine #mcu x reader

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lightsupinthenorth · 3 years

Text

Damn it, I’m calling you mine

Read on AO3

When Alternate-Mobius (as Loki has taken to calling the Mobius from this timeline in his head) comes to get him out of his cell and lead him to one of the interrogation rooms for the umpteenth time in however long it is he has been stuck in this cursed timeline, Loki lets himself be dragged there without protesting.

Protesting got old fairly quickly, considering it accomplished nothing at all. It doesn’t even get on the nerves of the TVA agents and hunters as it did in the timeline Loki left against his will.

Alternate-Mobius’ grip on his forearm is firm, firmer than it usually is. As if he were afraid Loki was going to make a run for it. As if Loki were stupid enough to think it would be of any use, after all this time. Loki would be insulted if he could muster enough energy for such an emotion.

As soon as they’re inside the interrogation room, Alternate-Mobius locks the door behind them. That’s new, too. Loki’s eyebrows raise slightly, but Loki doesn’t question Alternate-Mobius. What is even the point? He’ll know soon enough what the man is trying to do. Probably.

Alternate-Mobius fiddles with his TemPad for a few seconds and a familiar orange portal opens in front of them.

“Follow me.”

Loki nods, ready to obey, but Alternate-Mobius doesn’t move. Instead, he opts to stare at Loki with a frown on his face.

“Really? You’d follow me just like that? You’re not even going to question it?”

It’s Loki’s turn to frown. Why would Alternate-Mobius ask such a useless question? Has he yet to register how Loki’s fire has died out ages ago?

He shrugs.

“Okay then, let’s go…”

Loki swears he hears Alternate-Mobius mumble “what the fuck have they done to him?”, but he doesn’t have time to think about it any further before he’s pulled by Alternate-Mobius through the time-portal.

Before Loki can blink, he’s in a living-room with Alternate-Mobius by his side. All he can focus on apart from that is his own confusion.

He hadn’t known what to expect, but he hadn’t been expecting something this benign.

“Where are we?”

“Oh, so you still have some questions then. Thank God, you had me worried for a second over there.”

Loki, instead of unpacking what Alternate(?)-Mobius just said, glares at him until he relents.

“We’re at my flat, it’s a long story, I’ll explain everything later. First, tell me if you’re okay.”

His gaze travels the length of Loki’s body, as if he’s assessing damage, and then he’s staring right into his eyes. Maybe he’s searching for the damage in his soul, then. There’s a lot to find, without a doubt.

The concern that radiates off of the man brings a realisation to life in Loki.

“Mobius?”

Of course, it’s Mobius. Alternate-Mobius is also Mobius. But what Loki is really asking is “are you my Mobius?” Because that’s how he thinks of the first version of Mobius he got to meet. He can’t ask that, though. Mobius couldn’t possibly react to such blatant (and misplaced) possessiveness in a positive manner.

“Yes.”

Loki wants to take the simple answer at face value, but he has to be sure. He has to be sure he’s got this right. He couldn’t cope if he accepted this as true only to have his fragile hope ripped away from him later.

Sylvie betrayed him, sending him to an alternate timeline where everything that had become familiar to him at the TVA was here and not here at the same time. It had been torture. Especially seeing Alternate-Mobius constantly. The other version of Mobius only served to remind Loki of what – of whom – he had lost.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

It’s not comfortable, being on this side of lies. Loki has a lot of experience as a liar and as the one being lied to. He far prefers the first configuration, it has to be said.

“What would I gain by taking you here and lying about which version of me I am?”

“Seriously Mobius, now is not the time to answer a question with another question.”

Loki is dead on his feet. He cannot fathom how he manages to stay standing. He fears it will not last much longer.

“I… I don’t know. Ask me something only your Mobius would know.”

Loki blinks a few times, trying to come to terms with this Mobius (whichever he is) saying “your Mobius” like this. Like it’s easy. Like it’s an evidence.

It turns out that Loki worried for nothing, earlier, when he kept himself from asking if this Mobius was his.

After a small eternity, Loki focuses on Mobius’ request instead of on this insignificant (but not for him) detail.

“How did we find out Sylvie was hiding in Haven Hills, Alabama?”

Loki could have asked Mobius a lot of things, but this question seems like a good option. No one knows about this but them. Loki doubts Mobius put it in the reports or mentioned it to anyone, because it’s just a detail, a clue that led them to Sylvie. It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. But Loki remembers it, and he’d bet his Mobius would too. The elation they felt when they reached their goal is not something that can be forgotten easily, after all. At least, Loki hopes not.

“We found out because you’re clever and we make a great team, but I don’t see how that’s gonna convince you I’m your Mobius.”

Loki feels winded by Mobius’ words. The praise, the acknowledgment of their partnership, and the “your Mobius” (for the second time in a matter of minutes). However, he can’t let himself lose his focus.

“That’s very nice of you to compliment me, and we do make a rather spectacular team. But I’m asking you about the clue which led us to the right location.”

“Oh, you mean Kablooie?”

As soon as Loki registers the words, his knees buckle and he might have fallen down if Mobius weren’t there to steady him. He extends his arms and Loki instantly grabs them. His heart is beating so fast he’d fear a heart attack if he were human.

“It’s really you.”

Loki hears his own voice crack with relief, and his eyes fill with tears.

“It’s really me.”

Loki didn’t need the confirmation, but it is so on brand for Mobius to give it to him anyway that Loki gets the impulse to throw his arms around him and bury his face in his neck. He tries to resist the impulse for a mere second before giving up entirely and engulfing his Mobius in a (perhaps overly) tight hug.

Mobius wraps his arms around Loki in return, hugging him back. That’s when the tears begin to fall in earnest. Before he knows it, Loki is sobbing uncontrollably in Mobius’ embrace. It’s most undignified and he’s probably ruining Mobius’ shirt, but Loki’s too far gone to care. Anyway, Mobius has seen most of his life when he was working for the TVA, and Loki’s done his fair share of embarrassing things. This is not the worst one, by far.

Being vulnerable is still difficult for him, but he has no control over himself right now, so vulnerability is the only way to go.

Mobius has an armful of crying god, and he’s taking it in stride if he does say so himself. He’s been looking for Loki for so long, he’s been through so much to find him that he’s prepared to accept anything Loki throws at him now that they’re finally reunited.

“There, there. It’s going to be okay now.”

Mobius continues to whisper reassurances in Loki’s ear until Loki’s sobs subside. Mobius is loath to break their embrace, but they can’t possibly stay like this much longer considering Loki has looked on the verge of keeling over ever since he got up from the floor of his cell. When he saw him, Mobius had to make a conscious effort to reign in a gasp (the hunters guarding Loki’s cell would have found that mightily suspicious coming from the Mobius he was then pretending to be). Loki is thinner, there are bags under his eyes, and his skin has taken a blueish tint which, rather than being reminiscent of his origins, looks sickly. Now that Loki’s finally safe, Mobius wants nothing more than to take care of him and nurse him back to health.

“We should probably sit down. Would that be alright?”

Mobius can feel Loki nod, but Loki makes no move to separate himself from him.

Okay. Mobius can work around that.

He slowly walks them to the couch without letting go of Loki. They fall on it rather gracelessly, and Loki immediately rearranges himself so he’s lying down with his head face down on Mobius’ lap and one of his hand gripping his knee. He wishes Loki would let him see his face, but it certainly isn’t the time for requests.

Mobius passes the fingers of his left hand through Loki’s messy hair and Loki shivers against him.

“Is this okay?”

Loki’s only reply is a hum. Mobius interprets it as acquiescence, so he repeats the motion again, and again, and again. To comfort himself as much as Loki.

“Do you want something to drink? Or eat?”

Loki’s grip on Mobius’ knee tightens and he whimpers. Mobius’ stomach drops.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?”

“I… I’m fine. Just… can we stay here for a while?” Loki’s voice is hoarse and tentative, as if he were expecting Mobius to turn him down. As if it were a credible outcome. Preposterous.

“Of course, anything you want. But, please let me know if you need anything else, alright?”

Loki hums again, and Mobius goes back to playing with his hair.

It must be hours before either of them speaks again. Loki’s turned around by now, so he’s facing Mobius while still resting his head on his lap.

“Do you have a bathtub?”

“I do.”

“I could go for a bath… But…”

He’s reluctant to voice his desires. He’s been attached to Mobius as a barnacle to a rock for longer than he can tell, and Mobius must be tired of him by now. Maybe he’s been tired during this entire display of neediness and has only tolerated it for Loki’s sake. Mobius is decent enough that it doesn’t sound particularly far-fetched.

“But what? Go on.”

“Would you… would you mind staying with me while I’m in the bath?”

“Sure.”

Mobius looks unphased, but Loki still needs to ask:

“Are you sure it’s no bother? I know I’m being clingy and…”

Mobius interrupts him:

“Rest assured, you’re only the one clinging to me because you beat me to it. I don’t want to be apart from you anymore than you want to be apart from me.”

Loki frowns, as if facing a puzzle he can’t quite solve.

“Really?”

“Of course. Why do you think I looked for you for months?”

And it makes sense, from an objective point of view. It’s a wonder Loki can’t wrap his head around it.

“Oh” is all he has to say.

“Yeah, oh.”

Loki will wonder later how exactly Mobius managed to rescue him. He’s not strong enough to deal with that conversation at the moment.

“Come on, let’s get that bath running.” Mobius says, sitting up straighter.

Loki gets the message and pulls himself up. He only loses physical contact with Mobius for a handful of seconds before he reaches for his hand and slide his fingers between Mobius’.

They walk to the bathroom hand in hand and Mobius only lets go when Loki has to undress. Mobius looks away until he’s in the bath, hidden by the bubbles. It’s a sweet, if useless (Mobius probably saw Loki naked in countless occurrences on the TVA tapes), gesture.

Loki would ask Mobius to join him if he had the courage. He can’t find it in himself. He’s been bold enough as it is. Besides, it would definitely cross the line. To be honest with himself, he’s not sure this line exists anymore, but he ought to pretend it still does. For Mobius’ sake, if not for his own.

“Can I wash your hair?”

The prospect of Mobius’ gentle hands back in his hair is a pleasant one, to say the least. So, Loki immerses himself in the bath to wet his hair and comes back up, before replying:

“Please, be my guest”, trying for a teasing smile that probably comes out looking wrong.

Mobius returns Loki’s fond smile, relieved to finally see a positive emotion displayed on this beautiful face.

He grabs his bottle of shampoo from the edge of the bathtub and squeezes some of it into his palm. It’s cheap stuff, with a cheap artificial apple scent. Surely not up to Loki’s standards. However, Mobius doesn’t reckon he’ll care after his forced stay in the Alternate-TVA.

When he starts rubbing the shampoo into Loki’s hair, Loki shivers again, and then moans. Mobius puts the reaction in a corner of his brain so he can examine it later. It might be a thing.

Mobius takes his time (which is to say, he takes far more time than is necessary), before he finally requests:

“Bend forward and close your eyes for me, please.”

Loki complies without a second thought, and warmth spread inside Mobius at the display of trust.

“Good boy.” Mobius says it without thinking, as he’s reaching for the hand shower.

Loki tenses up, and Mobius instantly regrets the words. They’re out, though, there’s no calling them back.

Thankfully, before Mobius can go into a full-blown panic caused by his own stupidity, Loki relaxes again, even though his breathing is now laboured.

That’s quite a lot to unpack there. Mobius will make sure to come back to it in the future. Until then, he focuses on rinsing Loki’s hair without making a mess. He then wrings the excess water out of it as gently as he can and grabs a towel from the rack attached to the wall.

He hands it to Loki and looks away again to give him some semblance of privacy. He hears Loki get up and say:

“It’s okay, you can look. I don’t mind.”

Mobius should decline, but he’s too weak. It’s so hard to not keep his eyes on Loki constantly when he has just got him back.

So, Mobius looks at him, and instantly notices Loki’s lower torso is covered in bruises. They’re stark against Loki’s skin, which is now back to its usual paleness, sans blueish tint.

Mobius must have visibly reacted, though he’s not aware of it, because Loki takes a glance down his own body and flinches.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think…”

“Don’t apologize. Not for that.”

Loki’s mouth clicks shut.

Once Loki’s dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants (both black, thankfully) that he borrowed from Mobius, he brushes his teeth with a spare toothbrush.

Then, Mobius manages to talk him into eating something and having a cup of herbal tea (camomile), even though it ruins the point of the aforementioned toothbrushing.

What would he not do to appease Mobius and keep him from worrying? Loki prefers not to know.

They retire to bed soon after that, tangling together under Mobius’ fluffy comforter. Loki’s about to fall asleep, lulled by the repetitive motion of Mobius’ fingers running lines on his back, when Mobius speaks:

“I… I know I should let you rest before broaching this topic but… I won’t be able to think about anything else all night if I don’t ask…”

Loki’s tempted to tell him to spit it out, but he refrains, letting Mobius continue at his own rhythm.

“The other me… is he the one who, you know… the bruises?”

“No. He wasn’t particularly nice, but he was never outright cruel to me.” That much could not be said about many other agents of the Alternate-TVA, but Loki refuses to get into that. “Nevertheless, he was… wrong in so many ways.”

Mobius’ hand stops moving up and down his back.

“How so?”

“He was... different. He hated Josta, he didn’t care about jet skis, he was right-handed… He was cold, warier of me than you were, and a bigger stickler for the rules. He… he just wasn’t you.”

His Mobius was everything this other Mobius wasn’t to Loki. He was trustworthy. He brought him hope. Because he had seen Loki, he knew almost everything that could be known about him, and still he believed he could be someone good. The other Mobius had not witnessed any of Loki’s numerous lies and betrayals, and still he trusted him far less than his Mobius did despite every piece of evidence proving he should not.

Loki can’t comprehend the undeserved trust Mobius has for him, but he is grateful it exists.

“He sounds like a jackass.”

Loki lets out a teary laugh.

“He was. Thank you for rescuing me from him.”

“You’re very welcome. I needed it as much as you did, anyway.”

“You’ll tell me how you did it, right? Tomorrow?”

“Anything you want”, Mobius says for the second time that day.

And, by the Norns, does Loki want. He wants so much.

He raises his head from Mobius chest and places his lips on his. He keeps it brief, pulling back before Mobius has time to react. The line is crossed, annihilated. What can Loki say? He’s never been good at denying himself what he wants.

“Was that okay?”

Mobius exhales slowly, his body going lax after tensing up from the surprise.

“More than.”

“Good.”

They stop talking, then. Loki falls asleep in a matter of minutes, hopeful for the first time since Sylvie pushed him through a time-portal to get rid of him. Things are still a mess, but there’s a slight chance they’re going to be fine and, for now, that’s enough.

Thanks for reading ;

#Loki #Mobius #Lokius #fanfiction #hurt and comfort #Loki spoilers

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nebulousfishgills · 3 years

Text

My thoughts on the finale (long post)

Okay, I really just wanna put some thoughts down and I need to do it here. Spoilers and opinions, you can choose to agree or not, but please be respectful

I usually try to have a good attitude about things, pointing out the best in everything.

I'm having a really hard time right now.

That's not to say the episode was bad, it's just...

Well, I feel like I'm watching the Game of Thrones finale again. I just feel so unfulfilled. Then again, my hormones are a little out of wack at the moment (thanks mother nature) so my odd feelings could be because of that. I feel so angry and upset and hyped and... I don't honestly know. I really don't. I feel like I want to throw up, but not in a bad or good way.

I guess I just...

Feel.

I've stayed up every night for every episode because I just adored it so much. Yet I feel like... there should be more. I know we got a second season confirmed, but we don't know when. We don't know what it means for the future of the MCU. We don't know anything.

I guess we should have expected this because Loki was supposed to be this new horizon for the MCU. Doctor Strange 2 needed a plot. Someone said this show was just a big ad for MoM, and I find myself disagreeing with that, but only a little.

I think the best way to describe it is it's like the show suddenly decided it wanted to be something else. It's not a bad thing necessarily, but after episode 3, the tone really shifted.

I'm trying really hard to hold off on my more detailed thoughts, but they just keep creeping in, so I'll just wrap up this... intro? Idk.

I think the TLDR is that I feel disappointed, but I don't really blame anyone. Kate Herron, Mike Waldron, they all did AMAZING jobs. They really deserve the highest of praise for this. Is it my favorite MCU project? Yes. Am I excited for season 2? Absolutely.

But Game of Thrones can still be my favorite show and I can still dislike the ending.

I find writing this out is helping me feel better. Once I sleep it'll probably feel less... hopeless.

Now, next section. My thoughts on key plot points.

We all figured Kang would be introduced. I'm actually very excited to see what they do with him. The actor was just phenomenal and I can't wait to see him later on. Someone call up Erik Voss because he redeemed himself after the whole Mephisto deal

I guess the Multiverse was reborn, but not in the way I was expecting/hoping. I feel like there's a large gap between when the timeline shattered and the final scene with Loki, Mobius, and B-15. What happened? Though, I guess it makes sense. We all wanted a multiverse. We never considered the consequences.

I'm angriest about Mobius losing his memories and not getting his jetski. Like I said, Yelena can get a dog in BW after mentioning it once. But as someone on Reddit pointed out, they had to make sure Marvel would greenlight a second season. It does not mean I can't have a huge cow about it. That's what we get for jinxing it, friends.

I think I understand what Star Wars Sequel haters went through. Getting all these grand (maybe... glorious?) ideas about the ending and what a hopeful message about destiny and identity the series could give us. And the series gave us... none of that. Hell, I was so sure these would be used, and I was bamboozled. I'm sure others saw it coming, but they just looked too good to be fake out shots. My best guess is that they're gonna use this footage in season 2 for a plotline and they stuck it in here to trick us... but maybe that's just me being desperate

It was barely 1 AM here, Marvel. The Miss Minutes jumpscare was NOT COOL. I mean, THIS IS HORRIFYING IN LIGHT AS WELL

I'm really confused about Ravonna now. Is she good or is she bad? Where did she go? And why was it important we see her backstory and not any of the others (say, B-15 or Mobius)?

God, okay, I guess I have to address the elephant in the room now.

The Sylki kiss and then betrayal fight thing.

Let me get one thing very extremely clear before I continue: I do prefer Lokius, but I am FINE with Sylki. I think I've just been desensitized to any ship that ends with -cest because, as I've made clear here and in the past, I adore Game of Thrones and Crimson Peak.

I honestly think my main reservation about it is a flaw within myself that I dared not admit until I saw it staring me in the face: I'm probably a little possessive. I can admit this and I really dislike it about myself. But I think I'm just not a fan of Loki having a love interest in general. What makes Lokius different, I have no clue. Maybe deep down I knew Marvel was too much of a pussy to ever make it canon... then again, I was begging for a last minute kiss or something. My feelings on the matter are complicated.

But the way they handled the kiss in this episode? Gotta say, not too much of a fan. I know some antis like this, but it just felt too... not genuine. Maybe I'm just an idiot who thinks all kissing should have a meaning. A purpose. The Reylo kiss in Rise of Skywalker? Ben just saved Rey's fucking life, I think that warrants a large gesture of affection.

But this?

I think I get bad juju from the kiss, not the fact that they made it Canon. You can disagree or agree any way you want, you can even send nasty anon messages. That's my opinion and I'm choosing to stick to it.

And sending nasty anons won't do squat, I don't give a shit about faceless threats and hate.

Anyways, back to my point

The fight felt like a mutual betrayal, but at the same time it felt like neither really wanted to go through with it. I admit I felt Sylvie was more in the right and that Loki seemed a little too complacent, especially after everything he went through and saw. But like Sylvie, I didn't consider the consequences and now everything is fucked. But I still don't think Loki was right.

I think it boils down to being an impossible choice because no matter what you pick, everyone loses.

I believe that my main gripe with Sylvie and Loki's ideology split is that it feels a little too rushed and/or, dare I say it, out of character. I've agreed with Loki's characterization up until this point (again, you can disagree with me, that's your opinion and you have full right to it), but... man, I don't know. It all feels like an impossible situation.

Then again, I'm not the one in the director's chair. I'm not the team in the writers room. I don't know the first thing about making a project like this. I like taking solace in the fact that Tom had some creative control in the series about the character he loves so much. And, let's be real, he knows Loki the best out of all of us. None of us can hold a candle to that.

We can call ourselves experts, but Tom is the real expert. I trust him more than anyone. If he hated how this was turning out, he probably would have said something.

We just have to trust in the creative process

So, at the end of the day, this series was (and still is, remember, season 2 is on the way) absolutely phenomenal and I think it's Marvel's strongest work in a very long time. They know Loki is a character we all love and adore and I feel like they've done their best in honoring that. Besides, what other character is getting a second season? How awesome is that??

I found writing this out helped me process my thoughts and emotions IMMENSELY. I don't feel as... angry? Hopeless? I don't know. I keep comparing this to the end of Game of Thrones, and I feel like that's doing a disservice to Loki. Game of Thrones' ending was just absolute dog shit and there was no chance to redeem it because it was the last season.

Loki has a second season on the way.

It's not over yet.

Nothing is ever final until the universe forces it.

Kang can be stopped

The Multiverse can roam free

Loki can learn to find true happiness

Sylvie can stop running and fighting

Ravonna can redeem herself

The TVA can burn or reform (whichever you choose)

And yes

Mobius can get a jetski

We know nothing yet of season 2, what it will entail, how it connects to the rest of the Marvel Universe, or even when it will be out. But I know that I will eagerly await it when that day comes. I will once again put on a smile. I will wait hours to watch the new episode the moment it drops. I will be excited for it and enjoy it.

Because, at the end of the day, that's all it's about. Telling a story. And, mother of God, Marvel sure is telling a good one.

Until next time, my friends.

For All Time. Always!

-FishGills

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ragnarachael · 4 years

Text

the valiant arsonist — curiosity

Pairing: Loki x TVA Agent!Reader

Word Count: 1,285

Summary: You and your team at the TVA have captured Loki, and it's your job to research things about the man.

Note(s): ....don’t look at me like that. As we know, I originally wrote this on tumblr at 1 in the morning right here BUT I spent a day or two revamping it, made a bit of lore, and now am invested in this idea. a mix of MCU canon, marvel comics canon and me canon lie ahead ‘cause i can(on)! (also cross-posted on my AO3 account!)

MASTERLIST ! FEEDBACK !

“He’s plotting something.”

“Plotting, agent? Plotting what?”

“I.. I don’t know?” You huffed out finally, shifting the files under your arm as you grab your coffee cup from the countertop of the break room. Your director let out a harsh sigh as she grabbed her coffee. "He's a suspicious character, director—"

“Don’t waste my time with your delusions, agent. This man—”

“God.”

“—whatever, he’s dangerous. He was on our radar for a reason. We need to find out more information as to how he's been disrupting timelines and then work our way from there. I don't want to hand this over to the faceless bastards upstairs. That's the last thing we need,” your director scoffed, flipping her hair over her shoulder before sipping at her styrofoam cup. "Mindless clones trying to do our work? Hilarious."

Just as you were about to speak up again, your director turned and walked out of the breakroom which left you alone with your paperwork and research files under your free arm, along with some slightly stale coffee in your hand.

You decided to follow suit, heading to your desk and placing the files on the desktop with a sigh.

Loki was… something.

A terrifying something.

He scared you, sure. However, he intrigued you even more. He seemed like he wasn’t used to Earth customs.

But that’s what you were here for. For researching his parentage, figuring out what and who he actually was.

To you, he was definitely some kind of God. Your research even confirmed it to a T.

What kind of God, you had no clue. But you had a hunch.

The last time you interacted with the man, he was being hauled away from the "crime scene" in thick metal cuffs, looking beaten and bruised as if he fought his way to the top of some weird chain. SHIELD would have to get involved with that side of the arrest, but it wasn't the first time.

You still had so much research to do, but you couldn't itch the creeping feeling that something bad was going to happen because of him. And were sure that you couldn't look it all up on the computer at your desk.

The only person who could answer your question and prove you're right was Loki himself.

And that meant finding a way into the interrogation room, which was already complicating things further for you.

You're barely qualified to hold an interrogation, which means that you're not allowed access to any of the interrogation rooms.

But you know someone who is.

"Heey, Travis," you said with a fake happy tone. "What'cha doin'?"

"Trying to access files from Earth-199999. What're you doing?" he questioned back suddenly, not even spinning in his office chair to look at you. You wanted to huff just to get his attention.

"I was just wondering if you wanted lunch?"

Travis rose a brow then, looking at you as he stopped typing on his keyboard. "Lunch?"

"Yeah."

"With me?"

"Yes!" You exclaimed, making a show of looking around before leaning down to speak quieter, "Agent Smith has been hitting on me again. Just do this for me, please?"

Travis seemed to take the bait and was quick to glance over Agent Smith's way before turning back to you and nodding.

"Lunch it is—"

"Oh my god thank you so much!" You were borderline squealing as you hugged Travis in his seat, your hand immediately finding his badge that was clipped on his shirt. Travis laughed nervously as he hugged you back. You started to rattle off on where you should go, still bouncing while hugging so you could successfully unclip the badge.

Once it was unclipped you were sure to move away from Travis as fast as you could, continuing to talk about places to eat as the badge made its way to your back pocket.

Eventually, you and Travis agreed on a local sandwich shop to meet up at around noon and you were on your way to the hallway that led to the interrogation room.

It wasn't too hard to persuade the guards to go off and do their own things once you found the correct room Loki was located in.

After getting the I.D. scanned by the small key pad next to the door, the locks seemed to click before your hand drifted to the handle. Twisting the handle, you didn't expect to see Loki just sitting in the middle of the room.

He could have at least be put up in his cell.

Loki was at the metal table, hands cuffed in the middle of the table by the same thick cuffs he had been in when you first saw him. He was adorned in TVA attire as he immediately eyed you the second the door was closed after entering.

“I don’t bite,” he said, which caused a chill to travel down your spine as you pressed your back into the door from the sudden attention, taking a deep breath as he finished: “hard.”

You let out a weak and uneasy laugh, pushing off the door to carefully walk to the pushed in chair across from him at the table.

“Funny.”

“Quite,” Loki replied, a brow raised in confusion. “What are you to try and get out of me now? I’ve told Agent Packard all he desired to know.”

“You—You literally hypnotized him,” you stumbled over your words slightly as you grabbed the back of the metal chair, trying to think of a way to be intimidating by squaring your shoulders as you leaned against the back of the chair.

It didn't seem to be working.

“And in turn, I've given him a key to a new gateway of life.” Loki looked amused by the scrunch of your nose due to his response as you pulled the chair out to sit down. “Do you not agree, mortal?”

“Well I mean I wouldn’t know, I’m just.. I’m just…” You trailed off, looking around the room to try and find a way to phrase what you wanted to ask as Loki sat up in his seat, starting to watch curiously. Closely, even.

“I’m just here to ask a question. A.. personal question, you could say.”

Loki was interested by that, letting out a low, seemingly devious hum as he leaned forwards on the metal table top. “A personal question?”

“Yeah. Personal.”

“Well, agent,” he mused, barely gesturing his cuffed hands for you to go on, “I’m all ears.”

The tone in his voice screamed mischief.

It took everything in you to muster up the courage for your question.

“What are your plans once you’re out of here?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Y'know, your plans. Once you’re not tied up with us, of course.” You smirked a little as you tapped at the metal cuffs that were surprisingly holding him down.

You recall your research saying he could easily do otherwise, and Loki didn’t look as if he liked your question.

“That is for me to know—”

“Are you sure about that?”

Loki glared at you, leaning back in his seat as he started to relax, a lazy smirk falling onto his lips.

“What are you to do with my reply, pet?”

That nickname made your skin crawl, especially with the tone he used.

“Whatever I please with it. It’s a personal question, afterall,” you replied evenly, shifting in your seat as you started to feel a bit too comfortable in the hot seat.

Loki inspected you for what felt like hours. Green eyes scanning over your face and upper body, uniform, and name badge multiple times before speaking up again, no hesitation in his tone.

“I’m going to burn this place to the ground.”

#loki x reader #loki x y/n #loki fanfic #loki #loki odinson x reader #loki layfeyson x reader #loki drabble #loki imagine #marvel imagine #marvel writer #rachael writes #am i feeling like i've popped off?? yeah. just a bit.#tva agent!reader x loki #tva

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