This little ficlet was inspired by an amazingly angsty piece of artwork on tumblr by Smudgeandfrank, which can be found here: smudgeandfrank dot tumblr dot com / post/659961616360783873/leave-it-to-me-to-take-a-great-joke-from-thor (ff doesn't allow links so that's why it's written out so weird lol)

Please check it out and give the artist some love!

It used to be a fun joke - a mischievous diversion thought up between two impish and dangerously bored brothers. "Get help! Please! He's dying!" So droll, so unendingly fucking hysterical.

But here, in this moment, in this utterly maddening liminal space that calls itself the TVA, Loki hardly catches the twisted parallel of those words as they roar from his mouth in a panicked rush. He is clutching Mobius, his Mobius thank the gods, close to his side. They are in one of the nondescript TVA hallways, back in their own timeline after slipping through a time-door Loki opened at the last minute.

He'd found his way to Mobius - they'd found their way to each other, truth be told - after searching and searching and searching and finally ending up in an obscure timeline branch at the same time. It was a dangerously unstable place, Loki could tell immediately, a place pulsing with the scent of death and despair. Mobius, wearing mangled minuteman gear and looking like he'd been through Helheim and back, beaten half to death on the way there, had staggered toward him as soon as they caught sight of each other. Loki, his brain refusing to process what he was seeing, barely caught him when he'd collapsed in his arms. Oh, shit, oh, shit. Oh, Mobius.

"Kn-knew I'd find you sooner or later," Mobius said with a hitch in his breath and a weak smile at his bloodied lips.

Dread, heavy and awful, thundered through Loki's chest, making his heart ache and his movements clumsy. His hands trembled as he clutched at Mobius, unsure of how to fix this. All he knew was that he needed to get him somewhere safe.

"We can't stay here," he choked out, tears stinging at the backs of his eyes. "Can you walk?"

Mobius nodded slowly and looked up at him with unabashed trust in his eyes. It twisted painfully at something deep inside Loki. Stuffing down the fear and worry that threatened to consume him, Loki gingerly looped Mobius' arm over his shoulders while fumbling in his pocket for the temp-pad. Mobius winced at the movement and Loki stilled immediately.

"It's going to be all right, darling. We're getting you out of here."

Mobius tried for a laugh, but it was a wheezy, wet sound. Not good. Loki brought a steadying hand up to Mobius' chest, the tears he'd been holding at bay now crowding his eyes.

"Loki, listen. I've gotta tell you -"

Loki shook his head and cracked open a time door with the pad. He couldn't do this, not now, not like this. "No time. We have to go."

Loki did his best to hold Mobius up and hold himself together as he shuffled them through the door with Mobius limping along beside him, but as soon they passed the threshold and Mobius sagged against him, Loki lost every last shred of control he'd had.

And now, here they are, with the chaos of TVA agents scrambling about every which way over their precious broken timeline while Mobius is barely holding on to consciousness. Loki erupts.

"Get help!" he screams. Hot angry tears are sliding down his cheeks. No one stops. "For fuck's sake, someone! This man needs help!"

Mobius grabs weakly at Loki's shirt front with another of those alarming wheezes coming from his chest and Loki gingerly lowers him down to the floor. Mobius leans his back against the wall, his hands limp in his lap, and looks up at him. Loki is kneeling before him, scared, truly, for the first time in his life.

"You're my favorite," Mobius says with a wobbly smile. A thin rivulet of blood wells up from a cut in his bottom lip. "You know that right? Outta all of 'em."

Loki tries to smile back but he just can't do it. His heart is breaking. He swipes harshly at the tears still streaming from his eyes then reaches forward to try to rub away some of the blood caked on Mobius' temple.

Mobius leans his face into the touch with a sigh and his eyes slip closed.

No, no, no. "Mobius? Stay with me, okay?"

Loki looks around frantically. Through the disorder of people running through the hallway he sees a medic jogging toward them. Relief washes over him and he turns his attention back to Mobius. He's still breathing.

"Hold on just a little longer, darling, just a little longer." Loki has never begged in his life, not once, but now it's all he can do. "Please, Mobius, for me."