Legal Disclaimer: My work is my own creative intelligence and property, but I do not own the original source material it stems from (I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if it was). The opinions and interpretations of characters reflected in my stories may not follow what is portrayed from the source material. Please don't sue me, I'm a stay at home mom.

Author's Note: Well, I need to bloody stop making multichapters. As if my pile isn't high enough already, guh. Anyway, have a fic that came out of left field and beyond that I decided to write and gift to one of my best friends in the entire world. I found the initial idea very intriguing myself, and personally hadn't seen anything written like this yet (or hadn't dug deep enough to find and read it, at least). Anyway, have mostly plotless BDSM between Mobius and Loki because why not?

Warning Tag: Discussion of a Dom/sub contract; Mild Sexual Teasing

Word Count: 4,299

- Dedicated to BriMan -

Bargaining for Control

Loki fiddled idly with the Tesseract after speaking his truth. Mobius watched him intently, seeing the vulnerability he tried to conceal by busying himself with the glowing cube. Disabling the baton, Mobius placed it on the table and dug his hands into his trouser pockets, contemplating on what he was about to offer this Variant. It wasn't something he'd necessarily considered before with previous ones, but this one was much more… compliant and capable of seeing reason.

"I might not be able to give you any salvation, but I might be able to offer you something better," Mobius said, taking a few steps toward Loki. "You like making deals—exchange of services, right?"

Loki chuckled, ceasing his fiddling with the cube, he pressed it between his palms. "You are offering me a job?"

"More like a partnership," Mobius corrected. "I handle the special cases, complicated ones, as they come down through the pipeline. Turns out I have a particularly slippery one on my hands that I think you'd find most interesting. Maybe having a puzzle to solve will help occupy you while you figure things out."

"You don't care about my well being," Loki hissed, but Mobius could see he was mildly interested despite the walls he was trying to build back up. "Aside from doing your dirty work for you, what is it worth to me? And what is there to figure out? I cannot go back to..."

He trailed off, glancing at the projector screen before dropping his head between his arms, gently resting the Tesseract on his forehead. Mobius watched as he looked up enough to stare back into its dull blue glow, it mixing with the deep emerald of his eyes.

"You could maybe figure out yourself," Mobius suggested after a few beats. "If you'll have me, I might be able to help you get there, and maybe even get at least one of the things you want."

"And what, pray tell, would that be?" Loki questioned, flicking his gaze to meet Mobius'.

"Control." The word lingered heavy in the air for a moment, and Loki's head inclined ever so slightly at this. "Control over yourself, your choices, your life."

Loki tilted his head, thinking, but kept his gaze trained on Mobius. He was patient, but knew he had him.

"And your terms for this is to be your servant?"

"My terms are for you to cooperate and work with me," Mobius reiterated. "And offer you some guidance on the matter in the process."

"You wish for me to surrender to you, to be at your mercy." Loki got to his feet then, approaching Mobius slowly and at an angle, as if stalking prey.

Loki only stopped when he was mere inches away and looking down at him. Mobius met his intense gaze with impassive light blue eyes.

"And what would submitting to someone like you do to benefit me?"

Loki wasn't stupid, Mobius knew he'd detect the implication of his words. Mobius clicked his tongue, unbothered by the intimidation tactic.

"Well," he said, splaying a hand at the center of Loki's chest and pressing firmly against him enough to have him take a step back. "Boundaries, for starters."

Loki looked surprised at the bold gesture, allowing the pushback. Mobius inclined his head to keep eye contact as he dropped his hand from between them.

"How to establish them, enforce them, respect them, which brings me to the other point. Respect. Everyone likes to be respected, but the level you wish to have has to be earned. We already went over control, but that is also on the table." Mobius looked to the floor then, as if lost in thought.

Raising a hand in between them, he silently counted the points he made on his fingers, gauging Loki's physical response through his peripheral vision. "Trust might be a bit ambitious, but not completely out of the question, I believe. It is a basic requirement for this to work, after all."

Loki turned his face away from Mobius at the comment, exactly the reaction he knew would happen. "They all might be something useful and good for you in the long run, who knows? Right now, what really is there to lose anyway?"

Mobius reached a hand out to Loki, looking back up at him expectantly. Loki just stared at him for a long, drawn out minute before closing the very short distance between them once more. Standing at Mobius' side, Loki ignored the outstretched hand.

"I'll play your little game, but don't think I will play it nicely or your way," he uttered under his breath.

Mobius curled his rejected hand to point a lazy finger Loki's way, slightly shaking it between them. "That, I think we shall wait and see about, yeah?"

Loki quirked a brow, and it took everything Mobius had to not smirk. "I also never said you couldn't have any fun along the way. In fact—" Mobius shifted his weight, placing one hand on his hip and the left on Loki's shoulder, giving it a quick pat, "—I encourage it."

A long beat passed between them. Mobius was slightly surprised he rendered Loki speechless for the time being, but only waited a bit longer before deciding to move it along.

"Shall we get started? I can get you into something less demeaning, give you some time to clean up and contemplate things, then we'll go over the contracts and training sessions—"

"Contracts?" Loki cut in sharply.

Mobius nodded confidently. "You'll want them after you see what they cover."

"And what is wrong with the verbal agreement already made?"

He smiled, countering the intensity of Loki's gaze. "Having a physical copy of an agreement on hand provides accountability for one to uphold. Offers more stability and foundation. And they are the first step in achieving a level of control and mutual trust. I also have this feeling that a simple verbal recognition between us isn't going to hold its weight as effectively as it would on paper."

Loki looked like he'd just been slapped, and Mobius turned away so his grin couldn't be seen. He opened the door and motioned for Loki to go on ahead. As he did, he slipped a hand into the jumpsuit pocket and nicked the Tesseract hidden there, fingers grazing his hip in the process. Loki froze at the sudden action, but Mobius simply pressed his free hand into his back to nudge him along.

"I'll hold onto this for now," he said, holding up the cube. "Maybe if you do well, I'll think about giving it back."

Loki tisked, half-rolling his eyes as he followed him to wherever they were going now.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Mobius announced, pulling a keycard from his jacket to scan into the door he stood in front of.

Loki looked around briefly, they were in an empty hallway lined with orange doors against beige walls. There were no markers on them, which had Loki wonder how Mobius knew that he was at the right one or if it even mattered.

The room slowly lit up in a dull, tangerine orange glow. It was very small, square, and had two doors on the right wall. There was a bed against the left wall that took up most of the space, an end table beside it with a lamp and a magazine on top, and a lone lounge chair tucked in the corner closest to them and that was it. There were no windows. Everything was a shade of beige, tan, brown, and orange.

"How… quaint," Loki said, not hiding the disdain in his voice.

"It's not much, but it does the job." Mobius slid off his shoes and shrugged off the drab brown suit jacket, laying it over the chair. He gestured with a hand to one of the doors while loosening his tie. "The washroom is over there. Take your time, what's mine is yours. I'll have a new set of clothes ready for you here."

Loki made to head for the door Mobius pointed out but was stopped by an arm he bumped with his chest.

Mobius looked up at Loki, giving him a silent gesture as if he was forgetting to do something. When it clicked, Loki let out an exasperated sigh.

"You cannot be serious?"

"Oh, I am." Mobius leisured into his space and dropped onto the bed, reaching for the magazine. "I would like to encourage you to maybe pick up the pace just a bit, though. We are under a slight time restraint with my schedule."

Loki stood in the entrance just staring at Mobius. He flexed his hands before relaxing them. "Why do I feel like I shouldn't be here?"

"Because you shouldn't be," Mobius said simply. "Think of it as a trial run between us. I won't tell if you won't."

"Why me?"

"Now, that's a question for later. Right now I'd take advantage of the now."

Loki contemplated this, there was nothing stopping him from killing the man in front of him and blend in with the environment until he figured out how to get out of there… but where would he go? Letting out a breath, Loki slowly took off the white-strapped shoes and went into the bathroom. The space in there was not much better.

The tawny orange tile burned his eyes, even the shower stall was that burnt orange color. The soaps were colorless, scentless, and simply marked, which was a curious thing because he could smell a faint musk on Mobius that he couldn't quite pinpoint the scent of. Loki decided to take advantage of what was given because he still had the layers of grime and dried blood on him even after being processed and losing his entire attire to that ridiculous robot. It felt nice, to say the least, to have the warm water cleanse him of everything… of everything that had happened, but what came to the forefront of his mind was what he saw in that film room.

His life was laid out before him like some kind of play paraded about like it was nothing. They had even the earliest days where he watched himself being taken from Jotunheim by Odin, being raised alongside Thor, learning magic with his mother, Frigga. All the times he got into a bit of trouble with bouts of dirty tricks and mischief with the other children. When he tricked Thor by turning into a snake and then surprise stabbing him…

And even his more personal moments were put on display. The ones he did remember were incriminating or a means to cull the loneliness. Those that had yet to pass for him appeared to be out of a need in order to survive more than anything, whoever the Grandmaster even was, he didn't seem the sort to be at odds with. Having a dalliance with a Valkyrie, however, was probably one of the more genuine moments. Even though it didn't happen to him directly, he could tell that they felt comfortable and sated with each other even if it was for a short time before...

Shaking his thoughts away, he stopped the water and wrapped a beige towel around his waist. Loki stepped in front of the mirror and slicked back his damp, black hair, the curls in it flat from the water it retained. The jumpsuit was gone, he noted, replaced with a neatly folded dress shirt and brown slacks sitting on the edge of the counter. He wasn't going to question how they got there, unaware of Mobius entering the space, instead he pulled the off-white long sleeve on and the trousers, forgoing the undergarment and purposefully leaving the shirt unbuttoned as he exited the washroom.

Mobius was still on the bed, magazine open and covering his face. This man intrigued yet unsettled Loki with how easy he could see right through him. It was admirable, infuriating and… something else he couldn't figure out but it made his chest feel strange when he had touched his shoulder, back, and brushed fingers against his thigh.

Loki approached, taking the liberty to sit at the center of the bed to pull on the cotton socks.

"So now what?" he asked.

Mobius closed the magazine, taking in Loki for a moment before swinging his legs off the bed opposite.

Abandoning the magazine, he moved around to face Loki. "You clean up well."

Loki stood, allowing his height to loom over Mobius and making him tilt his head upward so he could see him properly. The shirt hung open between them and the silence drifted for a moment. Loki could feel the heat between them and noticed the agent's wandering eyes.

"Though I appreciate what you are attempting to do here," Mobius continued, and Loki tensed slightly, holding his breath as he started to button the shirt up. "Please try and tone it down for the time being until we have a chance to go over a few things."

He gave Loki a light pat on his chest once he made it to the top button, leaving a warmth behind that dissipated just as quick.

"There is one thing missing," he said, moving to the door to the left of the washroom. "Do you know how to do a tie?"

"Pardon me?" Loki asked, quirking a brow, unsure of what he heard.

"You know," Mobius motioned his hands in front of him before pulling a tie out from the closet. "A tie."

"I'm afraid I do not."

Mobius gave him a look that hinted at doubt but returned with a tie in hand anyway and expertly threaded it around Loki's collar and proceeded through the overlapping and weaving to get that perfect knot at the base of his throat cinched up. To finish it off, Mobius buttoned the collar in place and took a step back to admire his work. Loki found the closeness and contact strangely exhilarating.

"Looking sharp. Let's go get some work done."

Mobius placed him in front of a well-organized desk with a strange screen that was off-set on it with countless files of papers and folders lining the other side and all around him. The first thing that was handed to him was a twenty-five page TVA contract that went over their ridiculous propaganda and ironclad rules. What was appalling was that it was the 'light' version, but since he was working under the supervision of Mobius, he had very limited access to information. Mobius was positioned in the aisle next to the desk doing his own reading.

"Hold on," Loki said, giving Mobius a look. "It says here that the Variant is subject to pruning should their use to the agent is no longer required. This includes, but not limited to, the Variant providing information that is not integral to the assignment, whether it be false information or unrelated to the case. The behavior of the Variant is left to the discretion of their handler and may be pruned should they find the Variant uncooperative or difficult to maintain. This is absurd."

"How so?" Mobius questioned.

"Because it is subjective and entirely one-sided. It is saying that I could be killed for breathing wrong."

"Well, it's a good thing I am not trigger happy, then," Mobius assured, patting Loki's forearm. "They have to put that in to cover their own hides. It also says that all Variants working under the supervision of a TVA agent must wear a time collar and have a Hunter with a time stopper baton always activated present but I overturned all of that."

Loki stared at him. "Why?"

"Because I know that it would hinder your ability to properly cooperate for one," Mobius said, leaning back in his seat. "And two, you operate more efficiently without the threat of harm or imprisonment lingering over you."

The feeling that settled in Loki's chest was foreign. He couldn't figure out if it was gratitude or discomfort from Mobius speaking of something quite personal. Not knowing what else to do, he reverted to indifference.

"Right."

"This is a give-take agreement. In order for me to receive maximum results, accommodating you within reasonable expectations will help me get that," Mobius stated, and that feeling quickly vanished.

Of course there was a valid motive behind providing him such a comfort.

Without taking his eyes off Mobius, Loki flipped to the last page, grabbed the pen nearby, and signed in Runic on the dotted line without bothering to finish reading the document. With good measure, Loki corrected the paper stack and slapped the pen on top of it. Mobius didn't rise to the bait.

"Great. I'll get you set up for the training, and while you're occupied with that, I'll get our other contract together."

He leaned in front of Loki to wake up the screen. He could smell that musk again on the agent, and he decided that he quite liked it if only he could figure out what it was exactly. It seemed familiar but so foreign. Their closeness stirred something briefly in him, but he shook it away as he attempted to watch what Mobius was doing over his shoulder. He straightened up and gestured to it a second later.

"You hit this button to play the video. They auto-play after that so no need to do anything else. The same button will pause it." Mobius picked up the contract and tucked in under his arm, laying the pen on a yellow notepad that was hidden underneath. "For notes. You will be quizzed so stay alert."

He gave Loki a pat on the shoulder and excused himself. Loki watched him leave, still unsure how to process these gentle touches. They came after encouraging or reassuring statements. He was certain he liked the gesture, but after feeling that strange mix of emotion from before, he wasn't sure how to handle this kind of attention.

"The following contract is constructed with a Dominant and submissive relationship in mind," Loki read out loud and with unhidden snark, flicking dangerous eyes in Mobius' direction. "This agreement will be upheld by all parties as it contains details that have been agreed upon by them and how each person expects the predetermined relationship to proceed. If, at any time, one or more of the persons bound to this contract wish to withdraw and dissolve the agreement, then all parties must be present to foresee the proper closure and dismantlement of the contract in question.

"Adjustments to the binding contract may be held and considered should one or more persons involved request it. This is ridiculous," Loki said suddenly, slapping the paper hard on the desk.

The pair were alone in the office space, or at least for now, which insinuated it was fairly late, or at least a time where people trickled out to sleep or eat. The entire place and how it operated confused him, though, so ignoring it entirely was best lest he lose his mind trying to figure it out. Mobius had him running videos and scrawl out so many pointless notes from them that his hand actually started to cramp. Now that they finally had a moment to themselves, he was handed this more personal paperwork put together by his handler to go over.

"But it is good to know and be aware of," Mobius pointed out, lifting a cup of coffee to his lips, completely unfazed by Loki's reaction. "The next page is where everything is broken down for you to yay or nay over. Everything listed is what I am willing to do. All you have to do is cross out what you don't agree with, highlight what you will do, and question mark what you're unsure of, then we will go over it together and sign once everything is agreed upon."

Loki tilted his head, suspicious. "That's it?"

"That's it," Mobius said. "No schemes, no hidden agendas. Everything is laid out on paper of what to expect from me and what is expected of you and we do not deviate from it. You hold the choices and decisions of what those expectations are."

"I'm not so sure about this. It seems too simple," he muttered, flipping the page to scan the list of the first section.

"Sometimes simple is good."

Loki grew silent as he turned the pages and skimmed the lists. It was all so clean, neat, straightforward. From pain, pleasures, to day-to-day activities, obligations, and meals, all broke down into subcategories and what potentially fell under them should they be approved.

Hand feeding, for example, was listed under both general meals and praise/pleasure rewards. Whereas choking (Loki crossed that off entirely) was listed as both a punishment/pain and pleasure/kink. The sub-category of it, however, listed two separate gagging options.

"What is Gagging - Other?" He questioned, finding the lack of an additional list to it unsettling.

"It covers anything that is not expected to be used as a gag but could still potentially provide it," Mobius explained. "Things like clothing—ties, belts, sleeves of a shirt, fingers."

Loki's brows shot up at the last one, looking up at Mobius with an intense curiosity. "What?"

"You know," he continued, making a pyramid-shape with his fingers and mock-demonstrating the motion of shoving them into one's mouth with his other hand. "Finger gagging. I personally find it enjoyable. It's like a display of physically going in and taking one's voice from them in a way."

Though the description of it was unsettling, it strangely had Loki's attention and he promptly placed a note on it beside its respective category.

"Anyway, the standard ones are intentionally made to gag and are made of some sort of material—soft leather, vinyl, rope, and may or may not have additional apparatuses on them."

Loki quirked a brow. "Like what?"

Mobius rolled his shoulders and lazily looked at Loki. He clearly could see through Loki's feigned ignorance, but didn't seem to mind entertaining him anyway.

"You've got your ball gags, gags intended to completely remove the ability to speak, your feeding gags, gags that permit oral sex."

The word rolled off Mobius' tongue so casually and smoothly it had Loki shiver involuntarily at it. Maybe this agent really did know what he was doing with him after all.

"Right," was all he said in response, making sure to note beside it, 'No Silencing.'

As he ticked things off the list, he started to feel self-conscious about what he found desirable. He was fair game with most of what was there, to say the least, though he made sure to note that choking was one of his hard limits, as the contract called it, though gagging he was fine with if he could still somewhat speak. When he was finished, being especially meticulous about the punishment portion of it, he was quite pleased with himself and what little he wasn't willing to do. When he pushed it over to Mobius to go through, Loki couldn't help but feel a bit elated to see how the agent would respond.

Mobius sifted through each page carefully, only asking one or two questions to clarify something before adding in his own note here and there, but what had him stop dead was the end. He tapped on the category of nicknames.

"Now here is where we are at odds." Mobius pointed at it with the pen. "I am not allowing you to call me anything else besides 'sir' or my own name. If anything, you would be considered the pet."

"Out of the question," Loki deadpanned. "I refuse to grovel more at your feet than what I've essentially and embarrassingly already agreed to. I will not humiliate myself any further by calling you 'sir.'"

"Alright," was all Mobius said, crossing out both nicknames and noting 'None - Names Only. - Offense Resulting in Minor Punishment Category of Doms Choosing' beside it. "Should you deviate from this, appropriate punishment will be given. Are we in agreeance?"

Loki gave it a quick scan before reluctantly nodding. He always wanted a pet, and even if Mobius wasn't going to appease him by allowing him to be called as such, he could still treat the situation as such.

"Okay," he said, "Now we need to settle on a safe word. Have any on your mind?"

Loki chewed at his lip when Mobius met his gaze, finding that part of the contract a tad silly, he doubted Mobius would even push him close enough to his limits that would essentially require it, but wasn't going to argue over it.

"Not at the moment, no."

"We will come back to that later, then." He made a quick note before signing on one of the lines and pushed it toward Loki. "The second this is signed, we are officially inaugurated, so to speak, and will be effective immediately."

Loki accepted the pen and eyed Mobius' elegant signature and printed lettering of his name. He found it slightly odd that his first and last name were the same, mildly curious if the middle M was just the same.

"You wish for it to be in Latin text? I did not do that with the other one."

"You can do both, if you wish," Mobius said with a gentle smile.

Loki obliged, signing his name in both Runic and Latin text before placing the pen on top of it.

He wasn't exactly sure how anything was going to play out, but he did feel really good about having the ability and freedom to map out everything about this agreement between Mobius and himself. Though, he knew to not underestimate the agent again, he had confidence that the game that they both agreed to play would lean heavily in his favor.