Chapter Text
You will have your war, Asgardian. If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can not find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain.
Loki jolted up, cold sweat dripping down the side of his face. Of course it was just a dream he thought to himself. It was the same nightmare every night, each one more vivid than the last.
He slumped back down, his head hitting the pillow forcefully. He wouldn’t go back to sleep. In fact, he couldn’t. “A scared little boy” Mobius had called him earlier. Loki had laughed at him then, but right now there was some truth in what he’d said.
He was in fact scared. Although he knew they were just nightmares, he couldn’t bare reliving the same memories every single night. Having to remember everything he’d done; everything he was forced to do. Not that it mattered, I mean who would believe him anyway?
He turned over onto his side, the clock shone dimly on the bedside table. 1:38am it read. Was it even worth trying to go back to sleep at this point? He could still catch a few hours if he tried, although he didn’t want to risk having another nightmare. Loki didn’t have it in him to fight another battle in his mind tonight.
The TVA had caught him just over a month ago now, with the fight he’d put up he was surprised they’d even given him his own room. Not exactly what he’d call suitable living conditions, he was a god after all. On one side of the room was a small bed with a bedside table. Mobius had given him a stack of magazines to help him pass the time, although he wasn’t quite interested in jet skis and didn’t have the heart to tell him he didn’t want them.
Every time the conversation of jet skis came up (surprisingly, a subject that was all too frequent between the two of them), Loki could only describe him as an over excited puppy. It was cute; although he’d never say that to his face. Mobius’s eyes would light up and he’d have a huge grin on his face.
The god smiled to himself as he pictured the other man. He turned his head to the alarm clock again. 1:43am it said this time.
He couldn't lie here any longer, as much as he usually enjoyed his own company, he didn’t want to be alone right now. He rolled over and sat up on the edge of the bed, taking a moment before he got up. Loki made his way to the bathroom and proceeded to splash his face with water.
Looking up from the sink he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror; his usual striking blue eyes were somewhat lifeless, nothing more than a dull grey. It had gotten to the point where his eyes were now bloodshot and the bags under his eyes were becoming more and more noticeable. It had been a while since he'd got some proper rest, maybe a week? Week and a half? He didn't know anymore, every day had blurred into one since he arrived at the TVA.
He brushed his hands through his slightly knotted hair. It wasn't like him to be this unkempt but he really didn’t have the energy right now.
******************
With a small sigh, Loki made his way to Mobius’s living quarters. He poked his head around the corner and looked inside. The lights were off and there seemed to be no one there. Loki scoffed in disbelief, why was he even surprised? The man was constantly working.
Loki carried on down the corridor, if Mobius wasn’t in his room, there was only one other place he could be.
He arrived at the analyst's office- a huge room filled with many cubicles. During the day, the office echoed with the sound of the busy workers tapping away at their computers. Right now it was almost silent, all the agents had called it a day and gone back to their quarters for the night. Every agent apart from the grey-haired man who sat hunched over his desk in the corner. Loki’s lips curved into a small smile; he was glad to see Mobius.
Loki took several strides towards the agent who was nose deep in a stack of files, before hesitating for a moment. Maybe he should just head back, Mobius was probably doing something important if he was still here past midnight, maybe it was best not to disturb him. He turned on the ball of his heel when a voice called out to him.
“Loki?”
He slowly veered back around towards Mobius who was looking up at him with a confused expression. Loki didn’t respond.
Mobius patted the chair next to him as he went back to his files. “Come, sit down.”
He dragged himself over with his hands in his pockets before slumping onto the chair, causing a loud creak.
Silence fell between the two of them for a few minutes; Mobius closed the report and threw it on a pile with all the other documents. He then turned his attention to Loki who was staring off into space.
“Hey.” Mobius said softly as he nudged the taller man beside him, causing him to flinch slightly.
“Sorry.” Loki mumbled, folding his arms firmly across his chest.
The agent cocked his head to the side in confusion. “Sorry? Why are you sorry?”
There was no response.
Mobius pinched the bridge of his nose and let out an audible sigh. He grabbed the back of Loki’s chair and swivelled it round so he was looking at him.
“Loki, is everything okay? You’re unusually quiet and I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty unsettling.”
The former prince of Asgard shrugged.
“Maybe I just wanted to be in your company.”
“Are you having a hard time trying to get some sleep?”
Loki shot Mobius a dirty look, “Don’t be ridiculous, I’ll have you know I sleep just fine thank you very much.”
Mobius scoffed. “Right. Clearly you haven’t seen the bags under your eyes. Loki, you look like, well…” He paused.
“I look like what?” Loki spat.
“You look like complete shit.”
He wasn’t even going to pretend to be offended, Loki knew he looked awful- he felt it too.
He knew he shouldn’t have come here, Mobius was asking too many questions for his liking.
There was a squeak as Loki got up from the chair.
“Loki, wait, where are you going?” Mobius questioned.
“To bed,” he replied bluntly. “Besides, you’re obviously busy right now.”
He began to walk away when Mobius grabbed at his sleeve, preventing him from taking another step. For the first time that night, Loki forced himself to make eye contact.
There was no point in trying to hide it anymore, Mobius could see he wasn’t himself. He could see it in his eyes; the mischievous twinkle was long gone and he could barely keep himself together at this point.
“You’ve been having nightmares again, haven’t you?”