The sky was full of ships.
Mobius stood at the window of the rental with Loki by his side, staring into the space beyond them. Hundreds of spacecraft, all different kinds, were lined up around a barrier composed of blue, translucent hexagons. They were clustered outside the planet that was home to New Asgard (or New New Asgard, if you counted the hundred or so years the colony had spent on Earth) like flotsam washed ashore.
"You know, I shockingly didn't want to see this," Loki said, breaking the silence.
"How do you suppose we get through?" Mobius asked, turning to look at Loki. He was glad the god had at least slept a bit more, but Loki's earlier vulnerability had concerned him. The passing out, the fear on his face, the hug. It was… unlike him. But Mobius was learning not to be surprised by anything anymore.
Loki shrugged, breathing in and out in a huff. "It seems like the only way ships are getting through is over there, and I'm willing to bet we don't have the clearances required."
Mobius looked where Loki was pointing, an empty hexagon in the forcefield surrounded by policing ships, only letting in one at a time. It was a total bottleneck, and Mobius could see at least a hundred crafts trying to get through at once. It would take them ages, even if they would somehow be approved. Unless…
"Can you bring us closer to the entrance?"
"Bold of you to assume I know how to control this thing beyond punching in coordinates," Loki scoffed. Mobius rolled his eyes and sat in the command chair.
"It can't be that hard," Mobius started, reaching tentatively for a lever on the floor.
"Oh you're definitely about to crash our ship into someone," Loki teased.
"Hush," Mobius said, concentrating. He pulled the lever.
The ship jerked forward, and Mobius watched in his peripheral vision as Loki struggled to stay standing. Something started beeping and the flat, fluorescent light shuddered as Mobius spun the central rotator towards the atmospheric breach.
"I hope you know what you're doing!" Loki shouted as the noise increased.
"Like you've ever known what you were doing," Mobius shot back. Biting his tongue in concentration, Mobius guided them towards the mass of ships and realized with satisfaction that he had been right.
"We need to board that ship," Mobius called to Loki as their own ship started to hum, like the vicinity to other vehicles was too much to take. He was pointing to a massive vessel that looked almost like a 21st century Earth cruise ship. A steady stream of small ships were docking through a boarding tunnel and letting off passengers.
"And how do you imagine we do that?" Loki asked, giving Mobius a look. "Surely you aren't-"
Mobius pulled the lever further back and their ship sped up. It sounded almost as though it was whistling now. Loki fell past Mobius, grabbing onto the back of the chair.
"Mobius!"
"I'm gonna need you to shut up now Loki," Mobius shouted over the din. They were weaving through other ships, some massive cargo transporters, others small pleasure vessels, and still others whose purposes were unrecognizable.
Shockingly, Loki complied with the order of silence. Mobius's heart was pounding with adrenaline. It felt like someone had given him the keys to a car and told him to go on a highway without ever teaching him how to drive.
As they approached the massive ship, Mobius shoved the lever back a bit to slow their trajectory. He felt slightly motion sick, like the ground was still moving faster beneath him than it was in reality.
"Permission to speak?" Loki hissed as they neared the loading bay, surrounded with security officers checking in passengers. The area was like a tunnel straight through the large ship, arcing to a point high above them. Crawling with people, the ground looked like a very difficult place to land. Especially since Mobius didn't know how to land.
"Granted," Mobius said through gritted teeth.
"What is your plan if we can even manage to successfully land without blowing ourselves or anyone else up?"
"You enchant the guards."
"We don't know how many levels of security there are, we don't know if I can correctly enchant them, nor do we know where do we go from there, and-"
While Loki was talking Mobius noticed a large red button on the control panel labeled only with the phrase for "descent" in five different intergalactic languages.
"Are you even listening to me?" Loki said, anger spilling into his words.
"Since when have you been Mr. Cautious?" Mobius asked, annoyed that Loki kept interrupting his thoughts. It was unlike Mobius to act so impulsively, normally he would be the one questioning Loki's logic, not the other way around. At this point, they had almost reached an empty landing pad. The ship sounded as if something was leaking, and a couple of people on the ground were looking at them with concern.
"Your desperation to have a mission blinds you," Loki replied, almost viciously. His words were full of honesty, and, Mobius knew, full of truth. Truth the man was refusing to acknowledge, in case it opened the floodgates to answering all the other questions he was refusing to answer.
"And your fear of failure holds you back," Mobius said, turning his head to look directly into Loki's eyes. The god was not pleased. Briefly, Mobius felt an exhilaration at his freedom. No TVA guidelines to follow, no rules, no greater power he was working for. Just him.
Mobius hit the red button without breaking eye contact.
They plummeted downwards. A cushion of air was released beneath the ship at the last second to avoid their total demolition. Mobius was nearly thrown from the chair, and Loki was on the ground. The ship was beeping wildly and Mobius thought he could smell smoke. Security was already making its way towards the pair.
"Quick, grab anything you need that you can carry and leave the rest here," Mobius started, shaking himself off from the shock of landing and pushing himself out of the chair before rushing towards his pack. He removed the pruning stick and tempad he had brought, although he wasn't sure if either would work within the strange anti-TVA technology phenomenon surrounding New Asgard. Regretfully, he left behind the clothes and shampoos. Hopefully they would find new ones. Spinning around, Mobius saw Loki grabbing his dagger.
"What now?" Loki asked, looking up at Mobius, who was collapsing the pruning stick and shoving it in his pocket with the tempad.
"Enchant our clothes, something that would blend in. We look out of place right now," Mobius replied, moving towards the windows to see that two security personnel were nearly outside the ship. Mobius felt the cold wash of Loki's illusion as his hand-picked Target clothes melted into gray slacks and suspenders over a white collared shirt. Loki's reflection in the window showed that he wore the same.
There was a rapping noise from the ship door, and Mobius looked at Loki. He held his gaze. It was becoming almost painful to look at the god as so much more piled between them, said and unsaid. Loki nodded once in understanding and opened the door.
…
They got past the guards.
It hadn't been easy, Loki's magic seemed to falter and for a moment Mobius was sure they would be caught. But somehow, they had made it through. Loki had even convinced the guards that they were VIP passengers, to which Mobius did not object. Now, they were being led down a hallway completely coated in crimson velvet with gold sconces lining the wall and emitting a pinkish light.
"Through here is our Exclusive Lounge," their guide told them with a flourish and smile, like he had been carefully programmed for this exact moment. It was one of the guards that Loki had enchanted, a petite human with red hair and a rather violent smattering of freckles.
"Lovely to hear, Clifford," Loki replied, voice smooth almost to the point of oil. Mobius imagined it coiling around the small man ahead of them, spilling from Loki's mouth and reaching Clifford's enchanted mind. It was a bit horrifying, but Mobius wholly acknowledged that he was the one who kept encouraging Loki to do magic. In a sharper, hushed whisper, Loki spoke to Mobius. "So now what's the plan now, oh great leader?"
Mobius knew how much it bothered Loki to be out of control, and he was almost tempted to ignore the god's question. Granted, Mobius barely knew the plan himself, so keeping Loki in the dark would only hinder their progress.
"Your desperation to have a mission blinds you."
"And this is all based on a theory from the variant who blew your previous mission?"
Mobius blinked back the voices, unnerved by how ironically similar Loki's criticism had become to Ravonna's chiding.
"Once we reach the lounge we can mingle with the other passengers until we find two people whose identities we can take on. I mean, I hardly think Thor's dead brother could wander around New Asgard unnoticed," Mobius replied, keeping his voice quiet enough that Loki had to lean in to hear him. He wasn't sure if Clifford could really understand them through the enchantment, but he didn't want to find out the hard way.
"Okay one, no one says mingle and two, how are we supposed to just commit identity theft whilst trapped on a ship with the people whose identities we are stealing?" Loki asked. Mobius just gave him a pointed look. For a moment, he felt a flash of pity as he noticed that Loki's eyes were dull and burdened with dark circles, as if he hadn't slept in a month.
Well, he hasn't. Apparently.
"Mobius, no," Loki started as he realized what Mobius was implying. "No more magic. I'm not your secret weapon."
"Actually, I think I have every right to encourage you to use those fancy powers of yours," Mobius shot back, frustrated. Doesn't he understand this is the only way? "What, can you think of a better way out of this mess?"
Loki was silent, and Mobius knew he had won. He tried to push away the feelings of guilt that came with the victory. After Loki screwed him over so many times, always having the upper hand, it was only fair that Mobius took advantage of his powers. Right?
They had reached the entrance to the Exclusive Lounge, two heavy oak doors marked only with a gold plaque reading "Exclusive" in about twenty different intergalactic languages. Clifford opened the doors with a grunt and some difficulty, revealing an area of glassy black floor and windows to the infinite expanse of space rather than walls. Tables of two and four were scattered throughout in an expanding spiral pattern from the bar, which was against the wall closest to the entrance.
The bar itself, as well as the tables and chairs, were made of a pure white quartz, seemingly carved right where they stood in sharp, blocky figures. The wall behind the bar was the only one not fully transparent to the expanse of ships, stars, and force-field blockade outside, instead it held what seemed like hundreds of bottles in every size and color imaginable. Really it seemed to be the only true color in the lounge, as all of the passengers were dressed in various metallics. Mobius was fairly certain that this was something they had independently decided for the moment rather than a current cultural trend.
Clifford had already let the heavy doors fall shut behind Loki and Mobius, and Mobius once again felt a wash of magic as Loki changed their clothes to match everyone else. No one seemed to notice.
Without saying anything, Loki, clad in a silver fabric that twisted around his body like a plume of smoke, had begun making his way to the bar. Mobius had no choice but to follow. Catching his reflection in one of the massive windows, the former analyst saw he was wearing a dark gold sleeveless jacket loosely laced with thick black string across the front and even darker bronze slacks cut above the ankle. His hair was quaffed up and away from his face, as though he had been through a particularly violent windstorm, and when he raised a hand to his ear he felt it was adorned with various earrings and cuffs. He also had no shirt on.
"Loki," Mobius huffed under his breath. Granted, the fashion blended well with what everyone else was wearing, and he was far from the most exposed. It was impressive Loki could adapt their outfits so quickly, and Mobius was amused to note that apparently the god had no problem using his magic when it came to fashion. Mobius was not used to the many… inventive costumes Loki had thought up, especially not after spending his entire life (that he could remember) in a TVA uniform.
Loki was already sitting next to two human men (only about half of the Exclusive Lounge passengers appeared to be human, and it would be much more difficult to disguise themselves as something they didn't more or less resemble), chatting with them as if they were old friends. Sliding into the open seat at Loki's left, Mobius glanced over the strangers.
They seemed to be in their forties, if they really were human. Both wore matching steel-colored loose fit shirts. The man farthest down the bar had long salt and pepper hair braided with silver cuffs, as well as a heavy beard.
"Oh, gentlemen, this is my fiance Morton," Loki said, moving aside so Mobius was visible and patting him on the leg. Mobius hadn't even noticed that the engagement ring illusion was back. He had given up on wondering why Loki continuously made their disguise 'in a relationship with each other.'
"Well what a coincidence, we're engaged too!" the man closer to Loki said. His hair was blonde and fell around his face in gentle waves, and Mobius could tell from the way he slurred his words slightly that the other couple- the only couple- was already on their way to being drunk.
"Serendipitous indeed!" Loki cheered while waving over a bartender with skin the color of a tangerine peel. Loki muttered something about 'strongest alcohol you have' and the bartender nodded before disappearing. "So what brings you two here?" Loki said, addressing the couple again.
"Oh well Dwar is actually sovereign of a little ocean planet, maybe you've heard of it, Elgot?" The blonde one answered, and Dwar overexaggeratedly pretended to be abashed by his sudden exposure as a world leader.
"Well this one here is my first gentleman, which is still quite the powerful position," Dwar interjected, reaching out and adjusting his fiance's hair.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't catch your name," Mobius started, addressing the blonde man.
"Steyva!" he answered cheerfully, as if it was a rallying cry. He said it like "stay-vuh." "I forgot that we only introduced ourselves to Layson here, how rude."
Why does Loki get a cool name but I'm Morton?
"Now gentlemen you didn't exactly answer my question, what are you doing here?" Loki pressed. There may have even been some magic in the last part, as Mobius suddenly felt the urge to announce his entire plan to the room. He was grateful that Dwar and Steyva weren't sober, or else they may have found Loki's aggression strange, but it rolled off their backs.
"Well, as I was saying, we are actually here to attend King Thor's birthday extravaganza, we've got a whole fancy room in the palace and everything," Dwar boasted.
Mobius had not been aware it was Thor's birthday, and he felt Loki subtly tense in front of him.
"I also have an idea for a tariff proposal on inbound goods to Elgot that I would love to have the king's opinion on," Steyva added, beaming proudly.
"Isn't he so smart?" Dwar cooed, leaning over and resting his head on Steyva's shoulder. Mobius felt a brief flash of envy at their closeness.
"Oh very," Mobius replied, intent on not allowing Loki to be the only one to speak. The response was pure flattery, he knew nothing about these people. The orange bartender set down two electric yellow drinks in tall, thin glasses for Loki and Mobius, and Mobius immediately took a massive swig.
It tasted like battery acid and melted lemon candy, and Mobius could already feel the alcohol entering his bloodstream. He tried his best not to gag.
"Now now enough about us," Steyva began. "What are you two doing here?"
"We're actually doing a tour of some of the most interesting planets before our wedding," Loki began, grabbing Mobius's hand with his own and intertwining their fingers. Mobius suddenly felt that Loki forced them to pretend to be in a relationship just to see Mobius squirm. He took another swallow of bitter liqueur.
"Oh how lovely! Darling, why didn't we think of that?" Dwar said, turning his head that still rested on Steyva's shoulder so he could look at his fiance.
"I don't know, we'll have to do it once all that nasty business with the pirates settles down."
Mobius could tell the sentence was a bait for them to inquire about the political problems of Elgot, but, already feeling slightly buzzed, he simply did not care.
"Do you two know anyone in New Asgard personally? Anyone expecting you?" Loki pried, and Mobius cringed at his bluntness. Although he probably deserved it, having made Loki follow along with his directions blindly.
"No, isn't that dreadful? Not a single New Asgardian soul. Well, at least we've got you two now!" Dwar replied while Steyva took an awfully long swig of his drink, cherry red and opaque like a wax seal. Soon enough, the pair would be too drunk to fight back. Mobius had also noticed that Dwar said New Asgard like "nwasgard," as if it had been so long that the two words had simply become one new country.
"That you do," Mobius answered warmly, "Here, Dwar, you must try my drink, it is simply divine." Mobius could feel Loki barely hold back a laugh at his poor imitation of their posh accent.
"Well if you insist," Dwar replied, grabbing the glass. His pale brown fingers contrasted intensely with the neon yellow liquid, and he downed the entire remaining drink in a gulp.
This is turning out to be much easier than I thought.
"Now Layson, you must tell them the story of that pet alligator you had…" Mobius continued, easily tempting Loki into spinning a wonderful lie about his non-existent pet ("You know, at first I thought he was a crocodile, so I named him Croki, but I was soon proven quite wrong…)
Before long, Dwar was slumped over nearly unconscious on Steyva's shoulder, and Steyva had begun humming some sort of sea shanty under his breath while staring through his glass like it was a telescope. Mobius elbowed Loki in the side to stop the recitation.
Suddenly, Mobius realized the pair had been holding hands the entire time and he quickly pulled his hand away. Loki pretended not to notice (again again again. when do we stop pretending?)
"Would you like some assistance to get back to your room?" Mobius asked, and Steyva vaguely waved dismissively.
"You want assistance back to your room," Loki said, putting his hand on Steyva's. Mobius saw the blonde man's eyes flash green.
"Wellif ya don't mind, suppozit won't 'urt" Steyva slurred, getting up and pulling Dwar along with him. Mobius briefly noticed the man's posh accent had slipped.
Loki and Mobius followed the drunk pair out of the Exclusive Lounge and down the hall to their room, but just as Steyva pulled out the key, Loki moved behind them. He put his arms around the two as if going in for a double hug or to pose for a picture, but Mobius knew his hands were going for the exposed skin around their necks. He shuddered a bit to think of how many times Mobius himself had been skin to skin with the god.
Enough to enchant me a hundred times over. One way or the other.
Mobius kept watch while Loki enchanted the husbands-to-be, praying to whatever it was that he believed in that no one would come wandering down the hallway at this extremely compromising moment.
Suddenly, with horror and awe, Mobius noticed Loki was turning blue. Again. (beautiful beautiful beautiful)
It began at his hands and traveled up his arms, standing in gorgeous contrast against Loki's silver dress. Mobius could even begin to see the darker, tattoo-like frost giant markings coming into place. Under the pink sconce light, he almost looked violet.
I'm making him use too much magic. He's destroying himself.
The sconces were beginning to flicker green, and the air felt electric. Mobius felt drunker than he already was.
Whether it was enchanting two people at once, already being drained of magic, enchanting drunk people, trying to keep their minds intact (Sylvie never tried, she just left them broken and empty), or some sort of mental fortification the pair possessed that Mobius hadn't realized, Loki was struggling. The god's head was hanging between Dwar and Steyva, dark hair cascading over his grimacing face.
Mobius felt like he needed to reach out, touch the blue parts of Loki, wrap his fingers around his wrists. But he didn't know exactly how the enchantment worked. Would touching Loki suck him into the same brainwashing?
And then Mobius heard something that made his decision for him. From around the corner, he could hear footsteps and laughter. People were coming. Steeling himself, Mobius reached out, putting his hands over Loki's.
Nothing happened.
Or, at least not to Mobius.
Loki gave a small gasp and the blue began to recede, back the way it came, gaining momentum as it went until Loki's skin was pale again.
"You will both leave this ship immediately. You will not remember anything about us. You will not be confused as to why you left," Loki said in a strangled voice, staggering back away from them just as the group Mobius had heard rounded the corner.
Dwar and Steyva simply walked away, sobered, faces blank. Mobius hoped that Loki hadn't accidentally shattered their minds.
Loki was staring at Mobius, and he couldn't read the look. Already having taken the room key from Steyva, Mobius quickly turned around, shoving it in the lock and pushing open the door. Loki followed him in what was more of a balanced collapse than a walk, closing the door behind him with a hollow bang just as the noisy group passed.
Mobius wandered further into the room, sighing deeply with relief at their narrow escape. The only light came from the windows, a subtle, gray glow. Mobius realized his clothes had melted back into the t-shirt and sweatpants he had been wearing before any of the enchantments.
The man was clammy with nerves, as if he had touched a live wire and survived. Shaking out his hands, Mobius turned around. Loki was still standing, leaning really, against the door, looking up at Mobius from behind a curtain of loose black curls. His clothes had returned to the ratty, unbuttoned white shirt and slacks. He looked like a wraith, all dark hair, pale skin, magic, and bones.
"What did you do?" Loki said, voice dangerously low. Mobius hadn't realized that he should've been more concerned about Loki's reaction to the interference than the actual interference.
"I touched you."
"Why." It didn't sound like a question. It was a command.
Mobius decided now would not be a good time to tell Loki about the blue skin.
"You looked like you were struggling."
Loki took three long strides forward in a blur of motion until he was face to face with Mobius. "Regardless of whether or not I was 'struggling', why would that make you touch me?"
Mobius fought the urge to back away (because you needed help. I wanted to help), instead looking straight up into Loki's terrifyingly beautiful face and going on the defensive. "Well it worked, didn't it?"
"But what if it hadn't, what if you ruined everything. What if I had enchanted you?"
"That didn't happen," Mobius answered through gritted teeth. Their faces were only a foot apart and Loki's breath smelled like alcohol. "Why are you so angry? If I hadn't done anything we would have been caught."
"Because if I hurt you I would never forgive myself," Loki replied, raising his voice until he was almost shouting. Instead of flinching, Mobius moved even closer.
"You've already hurt me, Loki."
Mobius's voice was steel and weight. He had poured all of the shame, all of the mistrust, all of the anger at himself for forgiving Loki so easily into that one sentence. For more than forgiving him.
Loki's face shuddered between a sneer and a sob. They were so close. Too close. (always too close.) Loki smelled like sweat, he hadn't showered in days. Without even meaning to, Mobius felt his gaze fall down Loki's face and rest on the god's lips.
He immediately looked back up at Loki's eyes, but it was too late. Loki had noticed the change. The god of mischief's face began to soften, agonizingly. It was suddenly more frightening and exhilarating than any of the expressions of rage or fear or pain he had seen before. It almost looked like love.
"Well it's breaking my reality!
Do you enjoy killing? I'LL KILL YOU!
Because I see a scared little boy shivering in the cold, and you kind of feel bad for that ice runt.
I always do.
But maybe he's worth the trouble.
I know you have a soft spot for broken things.
Thank you, my friend."
What do you do after everything falls apart?
Mobius immediately backed away, turning from Loki and moving to sit on the opposite side of the massive bed.
"We should sleep," Mobius said, voice emotionless, without facing Loki. Technically it had only been about three hours since Mobius had woken Loki up to see the blockade, but Mobius was exhausted.
When he dared to look back, Loki was still standing in the same spot. Mobius laid down on his side and closed his eyes, heart pounding, trying to remind himself to breathe.
I imagined it I imagined it I imagined it.
Soon, Mobius felt Loki's weight on the other side of the bed and listened as his breathing slowed. Wildly, Mobius remembered how even two days before he would've avoided sharing a bed with Loki. Then he remembered comforting him just hours ago ("You're safe with me." Is he safe with me?) Now it was Mobius's turn to struggle falling asleep.
"That's not how I see it."
Mobius was beginning to wish that that was how he had seen it. That he had taken one look at Loki and written him off like everyone else. That he hadn't become Mobius's most difficult mission.
"Your desperation to have a mission blinds you."
"Look, I know you have a soft spot for broken things."
Mobius was no longer certain Loki was the broken one.
a/n: thanks to everyone hanging around! this was the longest chapter so far lol
