Chapter Text
Loki wakes up to whistling. It's not Mobius's whistling, nor is it Thor's. It's too dry, too airy. He jerks up. The sun shines through the windows. Mobius is gone, his bed made. No...
Please don't tell him he's slept in. Please don't-
The little clock on Mobius's nightstand glows 10:00.
Loki throws off the covers and runs. He snaps his fingers twice as he does, getting rid of the cot and putting himself in an ugly sweater Mobius gave him months ago to prepare for this day.
"Kevin! Sean!" He yells as he flies down the stairs. "Mobius! I slept in! I'm so-" Loki cuts off as he swings into the kitchen. Ben stands at the oven, stirring some vegetable and looking at the turkey in the oven.
He spots Loki and grins, "Good morning, Loki. Late night?"
Loki scowls. "Where's Mobius?"
"Went to get your TVA friends. He asked me to watch the food."
"Why didn't he get me?"
"He said you were such a big help yesterday that you deserve to sleep in." Loki rolls his eyes. Sure. That's it. Ben goes over to the cupboard and takes out some flour. "He said if you woke up before he gets back to go get Sylvie. The kids are out with Thor getting gifts, so you don't have to watch them."
Loki crosses his arms. "And I suppose I'm just supposed to let you stay in this house alone cooking our food."
Ben looks confused, as if he doesn't understand why that's a problem. "Yeah... that's the plan."
Loki glares at him. "If Mobius hadn't asked me to go, I wouldn't leave at all." He grabs an apple off the table. Ben goes to protest but Loki takes a bite before he can argue. "I'll be back soon."
As Loki time skips, Ben screams. It's not satisfactory enough but it will do.
*********************************
Loki bangs on Sylvie's apartment door until she opens it, bleary eyed and hair all askew. "What is wrong with you?" She hisses.
Loki pushes past her to her slightly messy apartment. "Good morning to you, too."
"I was in the middle of sleeping, you know," she growls, nearly tripping over her trailing bathrobe tie.
"You have no idea what being interrupted in the middle of sleep is," Loki says as he goes in her bathroom, pops out her bathroom bag and starts shoving her cosmetics in it.
"What are you doing?" She asks, watching.
Loki barely looks up at her as he ushers her to her bedroom. "Come on. It's time to go. Up, up, up!"
"What has gotten into you?" Sylvie hisses as he grabs a duffel bag and shoves her hairbrush in it.
"It's Christmas Eve and Mobius asked me to get you," Loki says, magicing some of her clothes into the bag and then struggling to zip it up. When it doesn't, he magic's it, too.
When he looks at Sylvie, he sees how messed up her hair, makeup and clothes really are and snaps, "Look presentable, will you."
Loki knows he says the wrong thing when her nostrils flare and the next thing he knows he's outside on his butt with the door locked behind him. As her magic settles, she yells through the door, "I'll take my sweet time getting ready, thank you. And if you come in here again I'll send you to Abudabi and go even slower!"
She keeps to her word, too. It's difficult to not just magic her out here and go despite whatever state she's in but that would cause even more problems and Loki doesn't need her snapping at Mobius if he ticks her off too much.
So Loki sits on her step, watching as people walk by, looking at him strangely. It takes everything in him not to snap at them, too.
Finally, after what feels like hours later, Sylvie comes out with her little time stone. She is in an ugly sweater with bells and lights all over it. She carries her duffel bag and glares. "Well. Are we going?"
Loki glares at her, but stands. "Mobius won't be happy if we're late."
Sylvie rolls her eyes. "I highly doubt we're late. Besides," she opens the time door and before stepping through, says, "if you've been acting like this all morning I think he wants a break."
Sylvie's gone before Loki can argue. So he bites his tongue instead and follows.
******************************
Something is wrong. That much is certain when Loki comes through the portal to the front door of the house. As Sylvie opens the door, he looks up to where the sun should be. It's not there but behind the house, far away from a 10:30 sun.
"Sylvie," Loki hisses, "what time did you send us to?"
She glares at Loki, "Next time you'll think about interrupting a woman and touching off her belongings, won't you."
He follows her in, pushing out a pill of anger. "I should time skip you back to that apartment and leave you there."
"Spare me," she says, stomping the snow off her feet, "I think Mobius can live a couple of hours without you."
She's already halfway down the hall when Loki yells, "That's not the point, Sylvie."
But as he goes after her, Mobius steps out from the kitchen, and judging from his grumpy face and the Grinch sweater, he's not happy. "Where have you been?"
Loki points at Sylvie, "Sylvie took us-"
"You know what, never mind. Get in here." Then Mobius is back in the kitchen leaving stunned. Is he angry with him? Why didn't he listen? "Loki!"
"I'm coming," Loki says, worry filling him. And anger. So much anger. He looks at the oven for the time as he enters. 3:00. He grinds his teeth. He's going to strangle Sylvie.
"We could just turn up the temperature."
Loki turns to the table where D-90, O.B. and Mobius stand. O.B. is in a techie looking sweater while D-90 is in a T-shirt with a black apron on. Loki finds the sight odd even if D-90 was a baker in another life.
"It might make the turkey dry, or worse, break the oven, " D-90 says.
"What's going on?"
The trio turns. O.B. is the only one who lights up. "Hi, Loki! We're just having a problem with the turkey. "
D-90 scoffs, "Less the turkey, more the oven."
"What?" Loki asks.
Mobius sighs, "The oven is about ready to kick the bucket. Ben is gone so I can't ask him to finish the turkey. We're trying to see if we can make it go faster or maybe slower and eat later." Mobius looks tired. His eyes are red. He's seems done already.
Loki looks at the oven. "So the turkey just needs to be finished?"
D-90 nods. "Yeah. It just needs a little more juice."
Okay. Loki can do that. Nothing a little magic can't solve. As he moves to the oven, he feels the trio's eyes on him. "Loki," Mobius asks, worry in his voice, "what are you doing?"
"Finishing the turkey," Loki says. He lays his hands on either side of the oven and puts as much magic into it as he dares. "Heat up. Come on. Heat up."
Mobius turns the light to the oven on and O.B., D-90 and Mobius look in. "Oh, wow," O.B. says, "it's working. And fast, too."
"Too fast." D-90 stands and pokes Loki's arm, "You're cooking it too fast."
"I heard you," Loki growls, watching as the temperature gauge on the oven goes up. "I'm trying." Slow down, Loki, slow down.
Mobius stands, too. "It's fine, D. It'll be done and can just sit in there and be warm."
"It'll be dry."
"So. I like a dry bird."
"Uh, guys," O.B. says, tapping on the glass. Loki's anxiety rises at his tapping. He has to do this right!..why is the temperature so high? "I think it's going to-"
There's a loud popping sound. O.B. yells and rams into Loki right as something hits the glass window of the oven. Loki yells in surprise and trips backward but his grip is too tight on the stoves sides and as he falls...it comes with him. He yanks the hood off the stove as he falls and in the process smacks O.B. who gets trapped between him and the hood. He trips over a chair and they both go down. Loki hits his head on the wall. His neck pops with the impact.
"Ow," Loki moans, throwing the hood away. O.B. groans and rolls off him. Next to them, his glasses fall, glass broke and framed snapped in half.
"O.B.!" Mobius shouts. He's down by O.B. in seconds, grabbing his shoulders, "are you okay?"
"Y-yeah," O.B. stutters. He feels around for his glasses until he turns to Loki and he feels sick.
"Oops..."
There's a big red scrape across his forehead and the bridge of his nose. O.B. feels one part of his glasses and lifts it. He squints and then frowns when he sees how they are snapped in half.
"O.B.," Loki whispers, pushing himself up to sitting position, "I'm so sorry. Here, I'll fix-"
O.B. and puts them down. "It's fine. I have glasses at the TVA. I'll just go get them later." But he doesn't sound like it's fine. In fact, he sounds downright upset.
"Really, O.B., I can-"
D-90 clears his throat. The three turn and Loki's jaw drops. The turkey is in his hands, charred black and bits and pieces of the oven door lie around the ground, exploded.
Mobius's jaw drops, too. "What?" O.B. asks. "What happened?"
"Hope you have a backup plan, Mobius, " D-90 says, flinging the pan onto the stove where it sits unevenly over the burners, "because dinner is fried."
***************************
It's Christmas Eve.
It's also the eleventh day of Jul or Hygge meaning to be away from the world. Where we find comfort and busyness in the everyday world. It's the one day where royalty is just like everyone else. Or at least that's how it was on Asgard. This entails playing games, reading and drinking hot chocolate.
After the incident in the kitchen, Mobius essentially cast him out, saying to take O.B. to the family room and ask Sylvie and B to come in. When all else fails, Sylvie and B are the answer apparently.
"Go tell everyone about Jul," Mobius had said, "show them what we are doing today."
Essentially he told Loki to get out and stay out. As he leads O.B. to the family room, he's internally screaming. This was not how this day was supposed to go. As they enter the living room, O.B. calls out, " B, Sylvie, Mobius wants you in the kitchen."
Sylvie's sitting on the arm of B's chair, chewing gum. She looks up at them and grins, "You owe me ten bucks."
B slaps down her book, a look of disbelief on her face. "Are you kidding me?" Then she sees O.B. "What happened?"
O.B. jumps in, "Loki hit me with the stove."
"It was an accident," Loki jumps in. Thor starts laughing from the couch and Loki points at him, "shut up or I'll seal your lips."
Sylvie stands, "Looks like we're damage control. Let's go see what the 'men' messed up this time."
As she passes Loki, he hisses, "I'll get you back for this."
"Uh-huh," she scoffs, then her and B are gone. Loki flinches when he hears B yell. Kevin and Sean look up and Love giggles.
After Loki puts O.B. in the chair B was just in, he scans the room. Thor is on the couch while the kids are on the floor. They pushed the coffee table to Thor and are playing Monopoly on it. Casey is in the corner playing with some cards.
Loki recognizes it has solitaire, something Casey would have played when he was in prison. That makes him feel nervous and he makes a quick scan of their belongings to make sure he hasn't swiped anything.
"I take it you've explained this day of Jul," Loki asks, watching as O.B. grabs the book B-15 had been reading. It's ironic that it's the very book he wrote on another timeline. He can hardly see it, squinting as he is but he seems content.
"Yes," Thor says, "we needed something to distract the guests until dinner is done." There is another yell from the kitchen than a loud crash. Thor winces. "Are we having dinner?"
Loki groans, "There will be dinner. Just...no turkey."
Thor's frown is so big it could touch the ground.
"So what are we eating?"
Loki looks down at the kids who are looking up at him with big eyes and siggs, "Well...I, uh, I don't know."
Love gives him this look that honestly should belong on a teenager. Thor slaps his leg. "She looks at me like that all the time. Can't wait until she's a teenager."
The sarcasm is thick today. Loki looks at their small bough that travel from the kitchen here, making a small tree. Gifts lay under them, scattered with name tags and bows. There are several new ones, badly wrapped no doubt from the kids.
Loki groans in falls into the seat beside Thor. "I was supposed to help today. Instead it takes forever to get Sylvie here and then I destroy our oven. I can't timeslip and fix it because Mobius will figure it out and I don't want to argue-"
"You're trying to hard," Thor says.
"What?"
Thor moves his piece to a property that he quickly buys and sends the kids arguing. He turns to Loki, smiling, "You are too worried just like you always have been."
"This is kind of important, Thor."
"The more you worry, the less likely it will work out." Thor takes a book out from under his arm that Loki hadn't noticed before. "Calm down a little. Enjoy life. Read a book."
He sets it in Loki's lap. He reads the title. Self-improvement for dummies.
"Bugger off!" Loki screams and throws it at Thor. He's already gone by the time Thor recovers and is yelling for him to come back.
Loki goes out the door and slams it shut, popping himself on the step and letting himself fume. This isn't right. He told Mobius he'd help and he hasn't done a thing. He's done the opposite! Why is he this way? Why does this keep happening? Why, why-
"You guys have come a long way."
Loki jumps so hard snow falls off the roof. Casey settles beside him a big grin on his face. " Valhalla, Casey," Loki gasps.
Casey continues as if he hadn't just scared the crap out of the god of mischief. "From the Luke and Leia kiss to threatening each other over everything. You guys are really something."
"Luke and Leia kiss?" Loki asks, rearranging his hair.
"Yeah. You know, star wars. The twins kissed each other. But then Sylvie kissed you and kicked you back to us-"
"Okay, okay," Loki steps in, feeling gross, "don't remind me. Why are you bringing that up?"
Casey shrugs, "I don't know. I just like watching you and Sylvie and Mobius interact. I can't ever tell who wants to throttle who when you're all together."
Loki rolls his eyes, "We all have our stupid moments, Casey."
Casey looks up at the trees, "I wonder if I'm a good kisser. I could find myself and-"
"Okay," Loki hisses, "move on. Why are you out here?"
"It's supposed to be a day to enjoy life right," Casey says, "I'm enjoying reminiscing while looking at the snow with you."
"Let's not reminisce about my past mistakes then, okay," Loki says.
Casey chuckles but nods. "Okay."
Loki wants to argue his point but he's tired of this conversation and Casey is not someone he has to explain everything to. So they sit in silence for a long time. Storm clouds overshadow Cleveland and snow slowly starts to fall.
It's quite relaxing. Casey has a fascination with it that keeps it entertaining. When it's about dark, Thor opens the door. Casey and Loki turn. Thor looks concerned that Casey looks half froze but he moves on when the wind starts blowing.
"Dinner is served."
***************************
This is not dinner. Well...it's half a dinner. Before Loki destroyed the oven, Ben, D-90 and Mobius had managed to finish up a bowl of potatoes, vegetables and apple pie. Then to add to the weirdness, there is McDonald's and poptarts because somebody let Thor in the kitchen and he thought it was a good mix.
Loki will hand it to him though. If today is about living the ordinary simple life, poptarts and McDonald's are a great way to show it. So, they have dinner, all ten of them, splitting the pie in little slices, each taking handful of fries from two bags, a couple burgers and a spoonful of vegetables and potatoes.
They eat in silence mostly. The conversation comes from O.B. and Casey who had nothing to do with the dinner and the kids who are loudly talking about how weird the grown ups are acting. Loki envies them. They have nothing to worry about. To them this dinner is just another dinner. They get fries and pop-tarts. The world has been made for them. They don't have a best friend who is stiring his food around, hardly eating and a sister who keeps giving them the stink eye.
O.B. looks down the table and asks, "What do you have to drink, Mobius?"
Mobius groans, "I knew I forgot something."
Loki stands so fast his chair topples, making a loud cracking noise on the hardwood of the dining room. He winces and is grateful they hardly eat in there. "I got it," he says and runs to the kitchen.
As Loki does, Mobius calls after him, "Ben got us some sparkling water. It should be in the door of the fridge!"
"Got it!"
The kitchen is an absolute mess, with ingredients everywhere and the oven toren apart. No doubt O.B. will fix it as soon as he gets his glasses. Loki hits the cupboards first, taking down ten small glasses. He hears her before she speaks with as loud as her sweater is, coming down the hall and stopping outside the door.
"What are you doing?" Sylvie asks, arms crossed glaring from her place on the threshold.
"Getting drinks. What does it look like?"Loki counts the glasses. He missed one.
"You know that's not what I mean."
"I'm fine." Loki has to reach clear to the back of the cuboard to get the last cup.
"You're acting like a psycho," Sylvie hisses.
Loki puts the cup down way harder than he means to. "Whose fault is that?"
As he goes to the fridge, Sylvie follows, scowling, "Don't you blame me for your mental breakdown. I told you to stop worrying about everything."
Loki rolls his eyes and grabs the fridge handle. Sylvie grabs it, too, and slams it shut before Loki can open it. He glares, "Move, Sylvie."
"No."
"Now."
"No! Let me help!"
"So you can show your the 'superior Loki.' I don't think so."
Her jaw drops, "You really have lost your mind."
Loki tugs at the door. She shoves it back. "Let go "
"No."
"Sylvie, let go."
"Not until you you let me help serve the drinks."
"No!"
"Do you really think everyone is going to hate you just because I hand them a drink?"
"Get out of my way, Sylvie. This is your last chance."
"And I said-"
This entire time they are pushing and pulling on the door, back and forth until this moment. Loki pulls as hard as he can while Sylvie yanks it the other direction.
"-No!"
The door rips off the fridge, taking Loki and Sylvie into the table behind them. The door and them land on it, breaking it with their combined weight. The table goes to the floor and rams into the oven, pieces flying. Food from the door, pop, sauces, the sparkling water, too, hits the floor, some glass objects exploding leaving a mess. Sylvie pushes the door off her and they stare in horror at the mess around them, then at the fridge with no door.
"Fix it," Sylvie gasps, breathless.
"Fix it," Loki hisses back.
Loki's heart is beating so hard as Sylvie and he get to their feet and grab the door. Loki holds it to the fridge while Sylvie pulses magic into the two pieces, knitting the door back on the fridge.
"Hurry, hurry," Loki says, trying not to shout.
"Shut up. I'm trying," Sylvie hisses.
Then they feel it. The stare that who knows how long has been there. They turn slowly and there is Mobius, leaning against threshold, watching them fix the door with food surrounding his feet.
Sylvie and Loki stare in horror. "Mobius," Loki gasps.
Mobius looks between them before going to the sink and filling up a couple of the glasses, before walking out with them. Under his breath, Loki barely hears him muttur, "Have two Loki's in your life they said. It would be fun they said."
Loki groans and hits his head on the door which consequently rips it off again. Sylvie groans and lays her head against one of the fridge drawers.
"Well," she mutters, "if it's any consolation, I think he hates us both now."
Loki has to bite his tongue against that. She may have made them late today but the door is both their fault.
At some point, Mobius comes back and gets milk for the kids. The vein in his forehead is throbbing but he swallows hard and says to them, "At least fix the door, please. We can worry about the rest later."
Mobius wants to explode. But if there is one thing Loki knows about Mobius it's that he's good about bottling things up but that bottle will explode sooner than later. But for right now, he's gentle. Sylvie and Loki exchange looks and get to work...slower this time.
***************************
Loki does all the dishes. Sylvie and he both. It's their way of making it up to Mobius who despite their best efforts still looks like he will burst a blood vessel if they so much is look at him wrong.
So, while they wash dishes and listen to the Christmas music B-15 put on and the others talk, they fume and debate their next move.
At some point Sylvie sighs as she dries a large plate and puts it away. "I'm sorry."
Loki stops scrubbing the apple pie dish. "What?"
"I told Mobius I'm trying to be better and this is my chance to try and do that so..." Sylvie groans as if it's gutterly hurting her, "I'm sorry."
Loki sighs, "I suppose I am, too."
"We're both idiots. Just one more than the other."
Loki rolls his eyes and hands her the pie dish, "I think its equal."
Sylvie scoffs but says nothing more. They go through a few more dishes before she says, "You do need to slow down though. Mobius doesn't look okay. I don't think freaking out over everything is going to help."
"I'm not freaking out," Loki says, "I'm being helpful."
Loki knows she's looking at the oven when she says, "Helpful. That's a word for it."
"You know what," Loki hisses, shoving a cup at her, "just wash."
Sylvie just gives him this disgusted, completely done look. But they finish the cups and dishes and pans in silence, put the tupperware in the fridge which is still working to their relief and go to the living room.
Sylvie doesn't have a problem getting on the floor and tackling Love who screams and laughs as Sylvie tickles her. But Loki stands in the doorway and he has this overwhelming sensation that he's back in the tree, on the outside looking in.
Loki clenches his fists, expecting timelines to be there. He feels like there is too much green in his vision. He backs away from the threshold and into the hall, gasping. He's here. He can feel the wood beneath his feet. He can still smell the pie. He can hear Mobius's voice talking to O.B. He's here. Loki is home. Loki is where he belongs.
Loki latches on to the kids laugh, Thor's laugh, and Mobius's voice and clutches his shirt, taking deep breaths. He needs to breathe. He's still here. He's not floating in space, in prison, or in a tree.
He's home.
With that, Loki shakily reenters the room where the kids, Sylvie and Thor play a game, B-15 and Mobius are talking and Casey and O.B. or sharing one of Mobius's mystery books.
Loki stares at Mobius, watching his eyes as they seem to get more and more tired. Loki can't bring him any food. None he doesn't magic up anyway and Mobius hates the taste of it. Says it always tastes fake, like plastic...
He's startled out of his thoughts when Love tugs on his sleeve. Loki looks down at her and her Lilo & stitch sweater. "Yes, Love?" He asks.
"What's wrong?"
Loki stares at her for a moment then looks back at Mobius. "I want to help Uncle Mobius, but I'm not sure how."
"What present did you get him?" Love grabs his hand and uses it to twirl herself.
Loki shrugs, "I haven't decided yet."
She stops twirling. "You don't have a present-"
Loki has to slap a hand over her mouth before she get anyone's attention. "I didn't say I don't have one, just that I don't know what to give him or what he will like best."
She spins away and demands, "Tell me!"
Loki sighs. He's starting to see why Thor has no control whatsoever. He bends over and whispers in her ear the two gifts he's debating giving Mobius. The second one she lights up on.
"That one!" Love scrunches her nose. Suddenly there's a loud crashing noise and Stormbreaker is by their side seconds later. "Let's make it," Love says.
*****************************
Yggdrasil is the most elaborate thing Loki has ever created. The power and concentration needed to intertwine the branches in such a manner, to have them thrive and live is a massive undertaking. While this project is hardly comparable to Yggdrasil it still feels as if it is the second most elaborate thing he's ever created. Maybe because it's so small and intricate that the amount of concentration he has to use feels so immense.
Loki blows his magic on it, ingraining it in the metal that Stormbreaker and Mjolnir has helped them make. Love and Loki spend a long time out in the backyard in the dark creating this gift. With each new mark, Loki takes deeper breathes, making sure it's absolutely perfect.
Love is so proud of it that she finds the gift wrapping and box herself and even wraps it herself in green and blue wrappings with a gold bow. Loki tells her to go put it under the tree but as she goes in, she shouts and runs. Seconds later Mobius comes out. He looks absolutely confused, looking between the fire pit and Love before looking at Loki.
"What was that about?" Mobius asks.
Loki shrugs. "Nothing. Just... some family bonding," he says.
Mobius raises of brow, "Well, your family bonding took three hours. What were you two doing out here?"
They both look at the fire pit with its small amount of embers, Mjolnir sitting on the stones and Stormbreaker who is turned toward Mobius almost in interest.
"Nothing," Loki says again.
Mobius stares at him for a long moment before sighing and coming down the stairs and going to the shed. "What are you doing?" Loki asks.
"We ran out of wood for the fireplace," Mobius says. He drags the ax out of the shed and over to their small pile of wood. "I think you're yule log finally kicked the bucket. We need a couple of more pieces."
He sets a log on the chopping block. Loki hates when he does this. He nearly cut his foot off the last time he chopped wood. As Mobius swings back, Loki butts in. "Wait, we'll do it." He looks at Stormbreaker and the ax seems to read his mind. He flies to the pile and starts chopping while Loki lifts a handful and splits a few with his magic. When Stormbreaker is done, Loki arranges the logs in a neat pile.
It's the first thing that's going right all day.
Loki puts his hands on his waist, a big grin on his face. Mission accomplished. But he doesn't get praise like he's expecting. Instead Mobius glares at him, his eyes turning stormy in the foggy moonlight. Clouds cover the moon as Mobius grabs three pieces of wood and stomps to the house.
Loki stands confused for a long moment until he realizes that Mobius is deeply and unashamedly angry.
"Mobius," Loki calls after him, running to the house as the screen door slams shut, "Mobius! Wait!"
The warmth in the house is a bit of a shock to the system but that doesn't stop Loki from stopping Mobius halfway down the hallway. "Mobius, wait-"
"No," Mobius growls, "I will not wait. I have a job to do. One I can actually do."
The way he says that speaks volumes and Loki tenses even harder, making his head spin. "What are you talking about," Loki struggles to say, "you can do-"
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I can't cook, can't get out of bed, can't sleep, can't talk to anyone, can't fix anything-"
"Mobius!" Loki grabs his shoulder, stopping him, but he twists around so fast the fabric of his sweater rips.
By now they are outside the living room, where the entire world can hear them. Loki feels sick. "No!" Mobius shouts. The look in his eyes reminds Loki of his anger at Brad and Loki can't tell if it's at him or at himself. "You've done everything, Loki. Take care of my kids, watch my kids, take care of the house, and what have I done? Nothing! The least I could do is cut some wood!"
The picture is getting a little clearer. Mobius is not mad at everything that's going wrong this week. He's mad at everything that's gone right.
Something in Loki pops. The shell of anger maybe or maybe his own insecurities making an appearance. It doesn't matter what it is. What does matter is it takes over and fast.
"Well maybe," Loki hisses slowly, "if you actually cared for yourself you wouldn't be lied up in bed and we wouldn't have to do everything."
Mobius's face is turning red. "Fine. You want specifics. Here it is. I can cook. I can chop wood. I can take care of my kids. I don't need you treating me like a porcelain baby when I can do just as much as you."
"Uh-huh. And what about when you can't, Mobius. What about the days when-"
"I want you to treat me like a normal human!"
"I am! I treat you-"
"No, you act like I'm going to break every two seconds. I can be just as strong as you!"
Loki sees it, Mobius's body turning to ash, spaghettification, pruning. He feels fire light up his chest. "Are you?" He yells, the world fading until it's the two of them in a big angry bubble, "Because last I checked you weren't the one who could do magic. You were the one who had to be brought back a thousand times! You're the one who can't fight-"
"STOP IT!"
It's so sudden and so loud it knocks Mobius and Loki out of their angry bubble but that's not what stops them. It's Sean who barrels into Loki as hard as he can shoving him back with all the strength his little arms have. Loki stumbles in surprise and stares at him, confused. He's never seen Sean angry. Not really. Not like this as he backs up into his father as if protecting him while Mobius stares as well, just as confused.
Then he remembers six days ago when Loki found Sean in the pantry and the conversation that ensued and what he told him to do.
If I ever, and I mean ever, do anything that you don't like to your dad you have permission to tell me off. Do what you need to protect your dad. Okay?
Horror courses through Loki, and he almost doubles over. He starts shaking as he looks in Sean's eyes and sees the fear and anger. He's crossed a line. A big one.
Loki can't say anything as he drags his eyes to the floor and moves past the boys and Mobius, past gawking faces and whispers to the door where he steps out into the falling snow and closes Mobius's door tightly behind him.