I decided I wanted to explore Loki and Mobius' relationship in my book's universe a bit more, so this chapter and the next chapter will be specifically about them. I was very excited to write this one. Enjoy :)

  Word Count: 4,270

   The people of New Asgard had come to discover that winter in Norway was frigid. Even Loki had to agree, and he was a frost giant. Bitter, early-March wind nipped at his face as he walked down the sidewalk, his arms wrapped around himself. He had just left Brunhilde's house and began the trek to his own on the other side of the village. The Valkyrie had bribed him with drinks to help her sort through legal records for their settlement. 

  The Asgardians had been on Earth about six months at that point. Their settlement had had some ups and downs. They learned that not anyone can just settle anywhere, even if they were god's, for that matter. The result of that lesson was hiring a lawyer and beginning legal documentation. The lawyer, Mobius, was a strange fellow, but he was helpful. Between him, Brunhilde, and her human girlfriend named Sylvie, they had gotten a lot of work done, but they still had a long way to go. 

   Loki sighed at his thoughts as his body went on autopilot in the direction of his house. He and Thor had discussed it, and his brother decided to go live with the Avengers after helping everyone settle in for a month. He believed that Loki would make a better ruler than he would, and essentially passed the throne to him and Valkyrie. Of course, they weren't officially king and queen since they weren't married to each other, but the people could care less about that. Most tradition was left behind with Old Asgard. 

   The god groaned, once again thinking back to the legal documents. Most Asgardians didn't even know how old they were. That was never something they bothered to keep track of. In Midgard, it was almost required. 

  They were lucky they were allowed to settle on Earth to begin with due to Loki's track record of...incidents. Loki, Thor, Heimdall, and Valkyrie had to attend a meeting with the UN the first week they were there to convince Earth that they came in peace. Most of the Avengers were called to back their statements--or to defend the council if necessary. Norway had allowed them to stay on the condition that they hire a lawyer, which is where Mobius came in. 

  Loki smiled. Mobius was far from boring, which he was grateful for. He was empathetic and cooperative and did his best to understand the Asgardians' culture and loss. Loki hadn't even had to threaten him, which was probably a good thing on the god's part, given his record. 

  Mobius was also attractive in a strange sort of way. He was tall but charmingly clumsy and a bit awkward, like a newborn colt first learning to walk. His crooked nose testified of past accidents his lack of balance had caused. His face lit up when he talked passionately about his interests: fishing, biking*, swimming, hiking, jet-skiing-- especially jet-skiing. Loki almost asked him once to take him just so he'd stop talking about it, but he decided against it at the last second. He didn't want to get on his lawyer's bad side. (*Loki has come to learn to his disappointment that biking was in fact not a bisexual viking.)

  Loki internally cursed at himself. What was he doing? He couldn't get attached to his lawyer! He had a trend of ending up alone from people either leaving him or him pushing them away. There would be no point in setting himself up for the inevitable. Plus, was Loki attracted to him in that way? Mobius was probably married with a wife and kids for Odin's sake! 

    But he's never talked about them, the mischievous side of him reasoned. And he talks about everything he's passionate about. Why would he not talk about a wife or kids?

  Loki considered the thought, but then shook his head. Even if there was a chance of them being together, who didn't know of his track record? Who would want to date a god that tried to destroy New York and take over the Earth less than a decade ago? 

  The god groaned, deciding to cross the road and walk down to the small beach past the docks. He needed to get out of his head. He looked down at the smooth, flat rocks. He bent down and picked one up, turning it over in his hands. During a lunch break one day, Mobius and Sylvie had shown Brunhilde, Korg and him how to skip rocks (Korg didn't stay very long; he found it insulting). Loki smiled at the memory, but then frowned again upon realizing that it was doing the exact opposite of distracting him from his thoughts. 

  "GAHHHHHH!" he screamed into the fjord, hurling the rock as far as he could. He pulled at his hair. "Lady Sif was right!" he told himself. "I'll always be alone! Even if it wasn't for my mischievous history, it would be because I'm a pansexual distaster who sabotages relationships!" He kicked at the rocks, but  froze when he heard a nearby splash. He looked at the water around him, which was undisturbed. 

  He looked to his right, where a lot of the village's fishing boats were tied to posts on the boardwalk running parallel to the road. His eyes scanned the water and that's when he saw silver hair breaking the surface. 

  Loki's brows furrowed. Mobius (speak of the devil) was gasping and spluttering for air, reaching for the edge of the boardwalk about a foot above his fingertips. 

  Loki's common sense kicked in and he rushed over to help, remembering that humans sucked at surviving extreme cold, let alone wetness mixed in with that.

  "Loki!" Mobius gasped when he saw his outstretched hand. 

  The god lurched forward slightly, then quickly righted himself and pulled Mobius out of the water, surprised at the mortal's weight. It didn't help that he was wearing a full suit that was now waterlogged. 

  "Are you alright?" Loki asked, grasping the man's shoulders. He was already beginning to shiver. 

  Mobius nodded. "Yeah, luckily my briefcase didn't fall in." 

  "I wasn't asking about the briefcase, I was asking about you!" Loki cried, a little too aggressively. His voice softened. "What happened?"

  Mobius hung his head. "I slipped on a patch of ice," he mumbled sheepishly. 

  "Well, you're about to become a block of ice if we don't get you somewhere warm." Loki used his magic to dry Mobius' clothes. The man looked down in astonishment. The god pulled off his coat and wrapped it around the lawyer's shoulders before he could protest. 

  Loki grabbed the man's briefcase, then used his other hand to take his arm, guiding him toward his house. 

  "Where are you taking me?" Mobius asked, his tone stuttery from worry. Or maybe it was the cold. "Also won't you get cold?" 

  "I'll be fine," Loki replied. "And I'm taking you back to my house. It's not a far walk; about five minutes." 

  They crested a hill, walking along the edge of the road since the sidewalk ended. "Wait...do you live in the lighthouse?" Mobius asked, looking at the only building in that direction. 

  "No, Heimdall does so he can keep the signal lit for ships. It reminds him of the bifrost. My cottage just on the other side of it. You can't see it from this angle."

  "Oh," Mobius murmured, his teeth chattering loudly. 

  "Did I dry all of you off?" Loki asked.

  "I t-think m-my u-underclothes are w-wet. I'm w-wearing th-thermals." 

  The god nodded. "I'll lend you some of my robes. For now, save your energy and don't talk until we get inside." 

  Loki unlocked his front door using magic. Mobius' eyes widened in amazement at the mechanism grinding as if he'd used a key. 

  The god dragged the man inside. He waved a hand, and emerald flames leapt in the fireplace, startling Mobius. 

  "Sit here. I'll get you some clothes," Loki instructed, pointing to the couch. 

  The lawyer was practically sitting in the fireplace when Loki came back with a robe and some long underwear. 

  "Here's some clothes. You can change in here because I'm going to the kitchen to make dinner." He pointed over his shoulder to the doorway on the left side of the living room. 

  "Why are you doing this?" Mobius asked, squinting up at him. 

  "Well, we can't lose our best and only lawyer," he scoffed. 

  The man was quiet for a moment. "You're not going to...prank me?"

  Loki's brows furrowed. "Why would I do that?" 

  Mobius scratched his head, trying to shed some of his awkwardness. "Well, you know-" he gestured to Loki "-god of mischief. You also did try to take over the world a few years ago…"

  Loki's expression darkened. "Well, if you don't believe in a change of heart, I'll take you out back and return you to the sea!" 

  Mobius flinched, guilt immediately flooding his body. Why had he been so quick to judge? He'd known Loki for six-ish months and he'd proven himself trustworthy. Why was he just now suspicious? "I'm sorry. That assumption was very hurtful and unfair. I mean, you can probably throw me back in now if you want to," he half-joked.

  Loki pretended to consider it, tapping his chin. "Well, if I did, I'd have a house to myself tonight, like usual. If I didn't...I'd have one more mouth to feed and someone sleeping here. So yeah, I guess you're right. The sea it is!" He walked toward Mobius, beginning to pick him up. 

  "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Mobius yelped, thrashing about. "I shouldn't have made biased assumptions! That was very unlawyerlike of me! Please don't throw me back out there!" 

  Loki looked down at him, smirking. "You're a funny little man, Mister Mobius. Now, I'm going to go make dinner." 

  "I thought we were on a first-name basis," the gray-haired man joked. 

  Loki paused at the doorway, turning to look at him. "Wait." He pointed a finger. "I've just always called you Mobius. What's your first name then?" 

  "Mobius." 

  "And your last?"

 "Mobius." 

  Loki raised his eyebrows. "Do I even bother asking what your middle name is?" 

  Mobius grinned. "It's Chad."

  "Really?"

  "No, it's Mobius!" 

  Loki rolled his eyes. "Don't make me change my mind about the sea." 

  "I swear, it is! My parents thought it'd be funny! I got bullied for it all through school! I'll pull out my driver's license to prove it!" He fished his wallet out of his pocket, sighing in relief upon seeing Loki's magic had dried it. He held out the small card to the god, who strode over and grabbed it, squinting. 

  "Interesting," he muttered. "Three of the same name, huh?" 

  The lawyer cocked his head. "Haven't you heard of a Mobius strip?" 

  Loki smirked. "Now now, I know I'm irresistible, but you have to at least take me to dinner first." 

  Mobius' face flushed bright red, and the poor man turned into a flustered, stuttering mess. 

  "Oh wait, I forgot I'm making dinner! Maybe you can do that for me afterward!" Loki teased. He turned and walked into the kitchen before Mobius could react, hopefully sparing some of his embarrassment. 

  The lawyer groaned, putting his face in his hands. First, he fell off a dock and was rescued by his handsome client--who happened to be the king of Asgard--and now he's eating dinner with him? 

   Wait...did he mention spending the night!? The lawyer's eyes widened. What was happening!? 

  He took a deep breath and decided to finally change out of his remaining wet clothes. 

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "This is really good soup!" Mobius exclaimed, scraping the bottom of his bowl at Loki's small dinner table. The god did not make him do a strip-show, to his relief. He would've rather jumped into the ocean willingly than do that. 

  "Thank you. My mother used to make it," Loki replied, staring longingly at the space behind them. 

  Mobius cocked his head. "I thought palaces usually had cooks?" 

  "We did, but sometimes my mother cooked for us and showed us how to cook as well. She felt bad for the cooks as hard as they worked and wanted us to learn how to cook for ourselves." 

  "That's smart," Mobius replied. "She sounded like a great woman. May I ask where she is now?" 

  Loki choked up. "Gone," he whispered. "She died and it was my fault." He pushed back from the table, taking his bowl and busying himself at the sink. He startled when he felt Mobius' hand on his shoulder. 

  "I'm sorry, Loki. Losing a parent can be tough. I didn't mean to bring up a sensitive topic. And I don't know the whole story, but even if her death was your fault, that doesn't make you a bad guy," Mobius murmured. 

  Loki sighed. "Maybe I don't want to be a bad guy anymore. I'm trying to make amends with that." 

  Mobius smiled. "You remind me of someone." 

  The god looked at him, an eyebrow raised. "Who?" 

 Mobius blushed. "Bah, nevermind. It was a stupid comparison." 

  A hurt look crossed Loki's face. "You think I'm stupid?" 

  "No, no!" Mobius sighed. "You just...ugh, how do I explain this?" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "There's a children's movie about a villain that decides maybe villainy isn't all that it's cut out to be. What you said reminded me of it. It's called Megamind . We should watch it sometime."

  Loki chuckled. "I'm afraid I don't have a television." 

  "That's okay. I can get my computer and we can watch it together!" Mobius began to blush, realizing it sounded like a date.

  The god smiled. "I would like that." He hadn't made many close friends in New Asgard besides Val and Sylvie. Their form of fun was drinking. Loki was new to this type of bonding. He felt like he hadn't quite earned the people's trust. 

  Mobius gently nudged Loki over to wash his own bowl. "This robe is really comfy by the way. Thanks for letting me use it. That and the underwear."

  "You're welcome. I can dry your wet clothes for you." 

  Mobius smiled. "That'd be great." He led Loki over to where his damp clothes sat on the coffee table. Loki pointed at the fabric and they dried right before Mobius' eyes. 

  "Thank you," the lawyer said, impressed by his magic. It never ceased to amaze him. 

  Loki studied him for a moment. "I want you to stay here tonight. It's too cold after nightfall for you to commute back home. You can sleep here in front of the fire. It's warmer than the rest of the house."

  "Okay," Mobius replied. "I'll stay."

  Loki prepared the couch for Mobius, removing spare bedding from a closet that he had never used. People weren't exactly looking to have sleepovers with him. 

  Mobius watched as the god fluffed some pillows and spread out some real furskins on top of the blankets. 

  "Goodnight, Mobius," the god murmured before walking toward his room. 

  "Goodnight," he replied. "Thank you for rescuing me today." 

  "As I said, we can't lose our best lawyer, can we?" Loki winked at him, then disappeared down the hallway. 

  Mobius slipped under the covers with a smile on his face. 

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   The lawyer woke up what he assumed to be a few hours later, kicking covers off and sweating. Loki seemed to have underestimated a mortal's average body temperature. The fur skins were unnecessary. 

  Mobius sat up, panting and wiping sweat off of his brow. He checked his watch in the dim light of the emerald fire. 12:37 . He decided to get up and get a drink of water from the kitchen. 

  After fishing around various cabinets for a minute, he finally found a glass and filled it with sink water. 

   He took a long drink and turned around, almost dropping the glass upon seeing a figure watching him from the kitchen doorway. 

  Mobius backed up until he felt the counter, not taking his eyes off of the figure. He squinted as it approached. 

  His nerves eased when he realized it was Loki--of course it was him--but his heart began to race again when he realized something was wrong. His robe was open, exposing his bare chest. His skin was blue, his eyes had an unnatural red glow to them, and he had blue horns protruding from his head. 

  Was he even awake? Was Mobius dreaming that Loki froze to death? He supposed there was only one way to find out. 

  "L-Loki?" Mobius whispered. 

  "What?" he asked, his brow furrowing. "Why do you look like a scared rabbit?" 

  "How are you not dead?" he asked, voice escalating

  Loki tilted his head in confusion, then glanced down at himself. "Ohhh," he murmured. "No wonder why you're so freaked out." 

  Mobius blinked and Loki's appearance was normal. "I need to go to bed…" he groaned, rubbing his eyes. 

  "Actually, I should probably explain some things to you," Loki said. He gestured toward the living room. "Shall we?" 

  Mobius nodded, setting the glass down on the counter and following him. 

  "What are you doing up, anyway?" the silver-haired man asked. 

  "I could ask the same about you," Loki replied, smiling gently. He grabbed a fur and began to drape it across their laps. 

 "I woke up sweating and needed a drink. You overestimated the amount of blankets I needed."

  "Well, I didn't want you freezing to death," he replied, shrugging. 

  "Why were you up?" Mobius asked. 

  "I don't sleep much. I could also hear you rummaging around the cupboards, so I thought I'd come in here to make sure you were okay." That was half-true. Loki really didn 't sleep much. He was also laying awake listening for any sound coming from Mobius so he'd have an excuse to check on him. 

Mobius sat for a moment, thinking. He noticed something weird. He was sitting right next to Loki, yet couldn't feel any heat radiating off of him. He reached out and touched the god's left hand, then quickly retaliated. It was ice cold. 

  "Loki, you're the one that's freezing to death, not me!" 

  "No, I'm not," the god replied, sighing. "It's about time I clarify some things." 

   Mobius watched as Loki's skin changed until it was a shade of cobalt blue. His eyes turned red and blue horns appeared. The lawyer's eyes widened. 

  "Remember how I said I was adopted? I'm part of a race of people called Frost Giants. I'm a Jotun." He took a deep breath. "Asgard never had the best relationship with Jötunheim. My brother was banished because he and our friend group attacked it several years ago. I...I never knew I was Jotun until I came in contact with the Tesseract afterward. My father had kept it a secret all those years." 

  "That's terrible!" Mobius exclaimed. 

  "I know," Loki sighed. "I'm a monster." 

  Mobius frowned. "What? No! I was talking about the fact that your dad lied to you for what, thousands of years? From the stuff I've heard about your dad, he wasn't the best role model or father figure. I'm sorry you had to go through that." 

  "Thank you," Loki murmured. He raised his head. "Anyway, I normally use magic to conceal my true form. I'd scare too many people if I didn't. I've gotten into the habit of transforming back at night. There's something about this form that makes me more tolerant of the cold. I guess I just forgot you were sleeping in here. I'm sorry for scaring you. I suppose I'll--uh--transform back now." 

  "Wait!" Mobius interrupted. 

  Loki paused, raising an eyebrow. 

 "Can I just...look at you for a few minutes?" the silver-haired man asked sheepishly. 

  Something pulled at Loki's heartstrings. He was always feared in this form. This was how he'd make humams bow down and scream in fright. He was a monster in bedtime stories, not a Renaissance painting. Nevertheless: "I suppose." He turned on the lamp beside him. 

  Mobius wriggler closer, leaning into Loki's space. The god's skin crawled at the attention he was receiving. 

  "Woah," Mobius murmured. "You have patterns! Could I…?" He stretched out his hand, pausing in front of Loki's face. Loki nodded. 

  Mobius started with the swirls on his forehead, following them along his face. They were slightly raised from the rest of his skin, which was cold to the touch. 

  Loki studied him as he traced, listening curiously to the "awes" and praises escaping his lips. A tear slipped down his cheek. He never thought he'd be appreciated in his true form. 

  Mobius stopped. "Did I do something wrong?" 

  Loki shook his head. "How am I not scaring you or making you recoil in disgust? I'm a reminder of what my people wanted so badly to destroy--which they did. I-I attacked New York and sent my brother through the grief cycle at least two times. I'm not worthy of anyone's attention, especially this part of me." 

  "Hey, hey," Mobius soothed. "Yes, you may have done all that stuff, but people still love you. Brunhilde told me about Ragnarok and how you brought one of the grandmaster's ships to Asgard to help fight Hela. You could've just said 'hasta la Vista, losers'--or however you say it in your native tongue--and ditched them. But you didn't. And I've watched you rule these past six months and you've done so much for your people. And I know that despite all of your mischief, Thor loves you more than anyone. He sees the good in you and has forgiven you. The people love you. I--" Mobius caught himself "--I know you're a good person, Loki. And I believe in you. I can believe in you for the both of us. You're not the pansexual distaster you say you are." 

   Loki froze upon hearing that, his red eyes staring at the human. Mobius had to admit that his eyes were a little creepy but cool at the same time. "I never told you I was pansexual." 

  Mobius blushed. "Oh...uh...I heard you yelling on the beach yesterday. I ran over to see what was going on and slipped on a patch of ice. That's when I fell off the dock."

  Loki studied him. "And you're not disgusted by the fact that I don't like just women?"

  Mobius snorted. If only he knew. "No. It's not the forties anymore. For the most part, people are supportive of the LGBT community." He ran his fingers along Loki's patterned face again, following them up to his horns. "And Lady Sif was wrong. You're not alone. You don't deserve to be alone. Heck, I'll date you just to prove her wrong." Crap. Mobius' stupid mouth got ahead of his tired brain. 

  A sly grin crept up Loki's face. "Oh would you now?" 

  Mobius blushed, avoiding his gaze. "That was hypothetical." 

  "Oh was it now?" He tapped a finger on his chin. "I believe a certain someone wanted to watch Big Brain with me." 

  Mobius smirked, still tomato red. " Megamind ."

  Loki outstretched his arms. "Well there you go, our first date is covered!" 

  The lawyer continued to blush. "You remind me even more of Megamind now. He has blue skin, too." 

  Loki looked at him curiously. "Really?" 

  "Yeah. There are a lot of cool blue characters. Megamind, Jake from the Avatar movies, Stitch, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sully, Genie, Grover, Cookie Monster…" 

  Loki beamed, making Mobius wish he'd smile like that all the time. 

  "See? Being blue isn't so bad! I think you look wonderful in this form." Mobius really needed to go to sleep. His mouth wasn't filtering any of his thoughts anymore. 

  Loki chuckled, placing a hand on Mobius' face. "Thank you." 

  The Jotun's touch sent chills through his body. "One more question: would cuddling you be like cuddling a fridge or a snowman?" 

  "Ah, so you want to cuddle with me now? We haven't even been on our first date yet, Moby," Loki teased. 

  Mobius' heart melted. Moby . Then his eyes widened. "No, no, I didn't mean for it to come out like that!" 

  "Oh, so now you're coming out to me?" 

  Mobius' face burned as Loki laughed. "Someone's tired," Loki said after composing himself. "Maybe they should lay down." 

  The lawyer grumbled as Loki gently laid him down on the couch, pulling a blanket over him. He turned off the lamp and shimmied beside him under the fur, half of him hanging off the cushions. The couch wasn't made for two.  

  Mobius began shivering after a minute of Loki pressed against his side. "Does that answer your question?" The human nodded. 

  "Don't worry. I can change my body temperature," Loki said. He immediately made himself warmer. 

  "That's cool." Mobius yawned. "Do you turn purple when you sunburn?" 

  Loki rolled his eyes, crawling out from under the covers. "I think we should go to sleep now." 

  "Well now we've got to test this!" 

  The god chuckled. "Goodnight, Mobius." He tucked the covers in around him. 

  "Goodnight." The man fell asleep a few minutes later, dreaming of a beautiful frost giant saving him from the depths of the ocean. (Wear life jackets on jet skis, kids!)