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It always started well.
Loki was always enticing, even when he wasn’t trying to be. It was his smirk in particular that would always get Mobius, sometimes it would be outwardly suggestive, but others it would be a case of him simply appreciating something funny that happened, or what someone said. Of course, Mobius loved it most when it was something he himself would say that Loki visibly appreciated, but - partially out of force of habit - he would usually try not to let on about it. He was used to having to hold back his own appreciation for Loki, to an extent, since he was once his “handler,” and kept having to remind himself that it was okay now, that they were able to openly show their affection for each other.
But that led to another problem.
Since becoming part of the TVA team, Mobius hadn’t had a lot of sexual encounters. Or any, really. It was never directly discussed, but everyone there knew those in charge wouldn’t want the workers galavanting off in pursuit of those kinds of…pleasures. Mobius assumed some may have broken that unspoken rule, but he - always the people-pleaser - was never one of them. Besides, he never found himself feeling any particular desire to do so until recently. Maybe it was because of that pie rumored to suppress the agents’ sex drives, among other things, but he liked to think the shift happened when Loki showed up.
Now, after everything that had gone down, they were finally able to get hot and heavy whenever they felt like it. Like right now, for instance. It was a pretty typical encounter for the two of them; they had reached their shared quarters and managed to slam the door shut before really getting into it (lest someone shout at them to “get a room!”). But just as Mobius was able to start truly melting into Loki’s kisses and the way he ran his hands up and down his back, however, the raven haired god pulled away, electing to leap onto the bed, splay himself across it with one leg outstretched behind him and the other knee sticking up, and give Mobius a look that was a combination of playful trickster-ness and lustful sensuality.
Loki, unsurprisingly, liked to mix things up in the bedroom (as he did everywhere else) and this was a new seduction tactic from him. Mobius allowed himself to drink this view in for a moment, appreciating the effort Loki always put in for him. Not that it probably took too much effort for Loki; Mobius had seen nearly every moment of his life, including some of the more private matters, and he knew Loki had gotten around back on Asgard. Surely he’d learned a thing or two from those partners. Not to mention his threesomes…and foursomes…and more somes…
“Mobius?”
The gray-haired man’s head snapped up, not realizing he’d gone from taking the view in front of him in to zoning out. He refixated his eyes on Loki, not knowing how to respond.
“You know, there’s no need to fantasize about what you see,” Loki said. “This isn’t an illusion projection, I’m here and very much for the taking. Unless my current position is too strong of a reminder that you’re dealing with a god.”
Loki gave a smug smile, which only sent Mobius’s mind into even more of a tizzy. Maybe Loki was right. After all, he had not only been with so many others, but many of those “others” were powerful beings just like him, whether that be in the magical or royal sense. How could Mobius even measure up to that? Maybe he couldn’t handle being with a god, and that’s why he always got in his head whenever they had an intimate moment like this. Studying someone’s life and actually being with them were two different things, and perhaps Mobius just kept getting overconfident that the former would lend itself nicely to the latter.
Mobius’s reeling thoughts were only interrupted by the sound of Loki quietly clearing his throat.
“I take it you didn’t understand that was a joke.”
Mobius quickly tried to collect himself, smiling the way he usually did when he wanted to brush off something uncomfortable. “No, uh, no. I got it.” He made his smile bigger, but this only served to make his words even less convincing.
Loki now had a facial expression of concern that no longer matched the “come hither” position his body still held, and cocked his head to the side. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Mobius was still committed to that right-as-rain smile, which was starting to make his face cramp up.
“Well, we both know that’s not true.” Loki’s words were matter-of-fact, but he was clearly getting worried about Mobius. He now sat on the edge of the bed, trying to figure out the trouble.
“Just…don’t worry about it,” Mobius’s smile had faded to an extent, and his deflections were weakening as well.
“As someone who’s seen my entire life play out multiple times over, you should know full well that’s not going to happen.” Loki teased, hoping it would lighten the mood.
But it didn’t. In fact, it did the exact opposite. Mobius thought right back to all the activities he’d seen occur between Loki and his various lovers, and any attempts to hide his emotions were now out the window.
Mobius sighed. “Look, let’s just go to bed, and-”
“Do you mean to say we should go to sleep, or continue what we started a few moments ago? Because this sort of thing always seems to happen when we attempt to be intimate.”
“What are you talking about? We’ve been ‘intimate’ a bunch by now.”
“Yes,” Loki said. “But you always seem to be…hesitant, in one way or another. Somtimes in a more subtle fashion than others.”
Mobius looked down again. Of course Loki was smart enough to catch on to what was going on.
Loki spoke up again after a brief moment. “I have to assume this isn’t a coincidence.”
Mobius took a deep breath and glanced back up at Loki. “It isn’t.”
When he was finally brave enough to take another look up, Mobius could see that Loki was now smiling, though it had undertones of sadness. “Thank you for the honesty,” the god said. “Care to spare a little more?”
Mobius sighed and took a seat next to him on the end of the bed. “You know how I’ve seen your entire life? You know, you’re… entire life?”
It took a second for Loki to fully understand what Mobius was insinuating, but he caught on pretty quickly. “I assumed you’d probably seen certain… acts I’ve partaken in, yes.”
He seemed a tad embarrassed, which was unusual for him when it came to these kinds of matters, but it did help Mobius relax a little, the ball being somewhat back in his court. “Hey, it’s nothing worse than the rumors some of the other agents were spreading around. Some of them are still convinced you once slept with a horse.”
“A
horse
? Don’t be silly.” Loki rolled his eyes. “Let me guess,” he said sarcastically. “I’m sure they also thought we had a child together too?”
“Well I wasn’t gonna bring up that part, but…”
Loki opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, and he ended up simply flopping backward onto the bed. (His concerns were somewhat alleviated, however, by the genuine smile Mobius now had on his face.)
“I think you may have gone a little overboard with the honesty.”
“Okay,” Mobius said, feeling a sudden surge of confidence now that Loki was the one in the proverbial hot seat. “Then now it’s your turn. How do I compare?”
Loki shot back up to sitting position again. “To the horse?”
“No, to the others.”
“There were no other horses. There wasn’t even the original horse to begin with!”
“Not the horse, everyone else! All the gods and heirs and other elite figures. The ones I know you’ve actually been with, because, well…” Mobius’s burst of confidence disappeared as quickly as it came once he realized he was actually asking Loki this question. (There was also the fact that it was really sinking in that he’d watched pornographic footage “starring” Loki that he hadn’t even given consent to be viewed, even if Mobius had been given essentially no choice in the matter.)
“I mean, that feels like a lifetime ago now,” Loki said. “To compare that to this…” he took a pause to think. “It’s just different.”
“I’m not sure whether I should like that answer or not…” Mobius muttered.
“It’s not bad ,” Loki quickly assured him. “It’s just…heavier now. More…emotional.”
“Is that you’re way of saying I’m not as good in bed as you’ve grown accustomed to?” Mobius’s tone was somewhat flat, almost light with shades of sarcasm, but he could feel his mind start to race again.
“No!” Loki said. “I’m saying it’s not about that, there’s a different-”
But Mobius was only half-listening at this point. “Look, I think I can work through this,” he said. “I know I’m not what you’re used to and it’s not like I have the history you do. I mean, I know I have experience - I’ve got two kids on the timeline and all - I just - I don’t actually remember - I mean, you know how much I loved that pie-”
“Mobius,” Loki interrupted - perhaps a little too sharply - and the agent immediately snapped out of his jittery rambles.
“You’re being ridiculous,” Loki said, this time more gently.
“Well, I know the pie thing is just a theory, but-”
“Not that,” Loki interrupted again. Mobius looked at him expectantly for clarification, and Loki continued. “I’m not saying being with you lacks anything, Mobius. Rather that you carry a new element to the proceedings with you.”
“Okay…” Mobius took a moment to process this. “So what does that mean?”
“Oh, Mobius.” Loki smiled. “Don’t you see? Being with you has taken me to a whole other realm of pleasure.”
“You don’t need to go too far with those metaphors of yours,” Mobius half-chuckled. “I know I haven’t really shown any ability to ‘rock your world’ yet.
“On the contrary,” Loki retorted. “I’d go so far as to assert my full confidence that you could take me over the edge with words alone.”
“Okay, now you’re definitely going too far.” Mobius rose from the bed to stretch and try to get his mind off the current topic of conversation.
“Care to prove my hypothesis wrong, then?”
“What?”
“Use your words to seduce me, and let’s see what happens.”
“Um…”
“I already know I’m right about this,” Loki continued. “But I want you to see it, too.”
“Uh, sure…” Mobius really didn’t want to do this. “But you already have a head start. You know, from earlier.”
Loki cocked his head in confusion for a second before he realized what Mobius was referring to, rolling his eyes. “I wasn’t that close.”
Mobius put his hands on his hips and cocked his own head to the side as if to argue with him, to which Loki responded by promptly stripping down and showing him that he was now back to the starting line, so to speak, opening his arms to emphasize his point.
Mobius sighed, rubbing his face. He didn’t really believe Loki’s claim of the power of his words, and at this point he really just wanted to move on with his day and try to forget about matters of the bedroom for now. But Loki looked so insistent, and Mobius knew he was going to disappoint the god either way, so he figured he’d do it on Loki’s terms to make him happy, if only for a brief window of time before he was inevitably proven wrong (and Mobius was further humiliated).
But he didn’t exactly know how to proceed from here. There he was, standing next to the bed, fullt dressed, and there was Loki, lying on the bed fully un dressed. If this were a “normal” encounter, there would be a lot of options for what to do next, but he didn’t see the need to strip down himself right now (especially since he planned on this being over as quickly as possible) and wasn’t sure what Loki wanted him to do next.
After a moment of silence, Loki looked over at him. “So…” His voice was seductive, yet expectant. He clearly wanted Mobius to do something, but the analyst was still stuck.
“I don’t know what you want me to do,” Mobius said honestly. “This was your idea; I’m not the one who’s convinced my words have some kind of magic powers.”
“Fair enough,” Loki said, to Mobius’s relief. He might’ve been given an out from this after all.
“So, I can just…?”
“How about we just talk? Come, sit down.”
Mobius slowly obliged, but grew a little confused when Loki didn’t sit up or redress himself. He simply tapped the space on the bed beside him and Mobius sat down, still feeling uneasy. “This is still pretty weird,” he remarked.
“We’re just going to talk,” Loki reminded him, as if that was supposed to make him feel better. “How would you evaluate our mission today?”
Mobius recognized Loki’s tone from the countless times they’d sat together with a snack in the automat, and Mobius didn’t know whether he was grateful for the sudden semblance of normalcy or if it made this whole situation even stranger. He didn’t want to argue with Loki right now, though, so he took a breath and tried to play along. “It worked out well,” he said. “Pretty standard stuff for the most part.”
They’d been in a community center on Earth circa the summer of 1985 facing an attack from a Kang variant (they sure did like to come after Earth a lot). Sylvie, Verity, and the hunters had admittedly handled most of the fighting, with Loki and Mobius taking charge of keeping the people who were unable to escape, staying with them in the basement while monitoring what was going on up above.
“I don’t know,” Loki said. “I mean, there was a good mix of magic and brute force on the frontlines, but I still think they could have used the power of another Loki, just to get things done a little more quickly.”
“Nah, you’d probably have ended up in the firing lines yourself.” They both had to smile since it was true that the hunters - not to mention Sylvie and Verity - could become quite irritated by Loki when it came to battle tactics. “Besides, you did a good job as is.”
“You did most of the research,” Loki pointed out. This was true; Mobius knew a lot about various time periods at this point, and could locate any information he didn’t with more ease than anyone else at the TVA. “I just made sure we had the proper gear for the occasion. And daggers, which you did not end up letting me use.”
“I’m not talking about the research,” Mobius said. “I mean the way you were with everyone in the basement. You really know how to play to the people you’re around.”
“Well, I did aim to be king for nearly my entire life. I needed to make sure I was someone people took notice of.”
“It’s more than just commanding a room,” Mobius continued. “It’s how you can switch between telling our cover story to the crowd, comforting crying kids and scared parents, and debunking time travel rules to a bunch of pre-teen boys…even though we’re not supposed to divulge the business of branch protection on the timelines…”
“Did you even hear what they were saying? Going on about possibly not being born,” Loki scoffed. “That new film they were going on about really seemed to have them in a tizzy.”
“Still way better than you handled Pompeii,” Mobius chuckled. “But you’ve always cared about people, I know you have. I saw it when I would study your life on the timeline, and I saw it today. And I’ve really loved seeing you embrace that side of yourself since getting here.” Mobius was getting nostalgic now. “I know I say it all the time, but I really am proud of you.”
He looked down at Loki, having momentarily forgotten their current situation, and was startled to see that Loki really hadn’t needed a head start, he was fully back in the race now, so to speak, even though Mobius hadn’t even touched him and his hands were splayed out on the bed, nowhere near his member. His eyes were closed, and Mobius could see his face glistening a little. Loki really was legitimately turned on by Mobius’s praise, and the analyst couldn’t believe it.
“Don’t stop.” Loki’s voice came out hoarse and slightly harsh, but as he opened his eyes to look at Mobius it was clear this was because he was in the zone and didn’t want to be brought out of it. “Keep going.”
“Um, okay.” Mobius started to feel self-conscious again, but tried to forget Loki’s current position and return to what he’d been saying. He failed miserably, letting out a laugh and shaking his head at what was going on.
Mobius couldn’t believe he never realized it until now, but given Loki’s life of coming up short to Thor in the eyes of not only the Asgardian public, but his own father, it made perfect sense for him to have a praise kink. And truth be told, he was enjoying fulfilling his request. Loki had been denied positive affirmations from others for far too long, and Mobius was only too happy to oblige.
“You really are something, you know that?” he said. “I know you’ve always tried to come across that way, and I can’t exactly say that was inaccurate, but now that you’ve stopped trying to be some hot-shot, you’ve shown us who you really are.”
Mobius willed himself to look down at Loki again, who was now fully back into the zone and even gripping the blanket on the bed. Mobius’s disbelief that Loki had been right started to subside, giving way for a sense of enjoyment of his own. He could feel that he was starting to get turned on himself at the sight of Loki like this, and realized he needed to get this finished fast unless he wanted his own needs to distract from Loki’s.
Starting to overheat, Mobius took off his jacket, loosened his tie, and moved down to get his hands (and mouth) on Loki. But before he could do so, he felt Loki’s hands gently push him away.
“Remember the deal, Mobius: ‘ words alone ’.”
“Right,” Mobius said. He still wasn’t sure how this was working for Loki, but the main thing was that it was working, and that he himself was honestly getting pretty into it as well at this point.
“Now,” Loki said, lying back down and closing his eyes. “Tell me who, exactly, I really am.”
Mobius smiled. “You’re someone who knows how to seize the day, no matter what lemons life throws at you. You’re one of the smartest people here at the TVA, even if none of the others want to admit it. You are…whoever you want to be. I’m just glad you chose to be here, with me.”
That did it. Loki moaned as he came, and Mobius was so turned on that he didn’t even care about the mess it would leave, or the explanation he would have to come up with when taking the blanket to the TVA’s laundry services. Just as Mobius was about to start taking care of himself, however, Loki slowly sat up and looked at him, smirking once he’d come down from his high. “So…”
Mobius was still in disbelief. “Yeah…”
“I was right, yet again.”
“I know,” Mobius shook his head and smiled.
“You really were wonderful; I knew you’d be,” Loki said. “And it seems like you feel better, too.” Mobius nodded, and Loki continued. “Though if there’s another area which could do with some attention, I could help you feel better in that manner as well…”
Mobius took him up on his offer, and happily joined him on top of the bed, mentally filing away the idea that Loki may not be the only one who could be taken all the way solely by words…