The prince and the agent

Nightmare

Loki opens his eyes wide. First thing he sees and knows for sure it's real, is Mobius' face lightened by the lamp on the nightstand. Worried TVA agent gently holds his shoulder.

"You're finally awake," he says as casually as possible, but a relief can still be heard in his voice.

Loki doesn't say anything, which is very unusual for him. For a while he just breathes heavily but slowly calms down. Mobius uses his boyfriend's silence to tell him about thrashing in bed and screaming like a tortured soul. He also moves his hand down to Loki's.

"Was that another nightmare?" he finally asks, this time not hiding worry. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

At first the Asgardian prince doesn't respond, except for a twitch of the fingers Mobius is touching. It is like he wants to hold the other man's hand, but pride (or stubbornness) does not allow him.

And then a small nod of the head, very easy to miss for someone who isn't looking carefully. Mobius slightly changes his sitting position in the bed they share in their apartment in TVA headquarters.

"What have you seen?" he asks softly and then patiently waits for the answer.

Fragments of the nightmare are still in Loki's head: twisted, dark memories he wishes he could forget. Discovering his true heritage, falling through the endless void of space, the torture... There were even things that didn't happen... at least in his timeline... Yet. He was in a cell, unable to do anything when his mother was killed, followed by him meeting the same cruel fate in the hand of Thanos.

It takes Loki a while to gather thoughts.

"Miss Minutes," he replies finally, wiping sweat from his forehead.

Mobius chuckles quietly.

"You know, Lokes, I could actually believe you this time."

Curious, Loki raises one eyebrow.

"Why?"

Before answering, Mobius stretches his arms a bit.

"Sometimes, when I look at her, I can see darkness behind those big eyes."

Much to his own surprise, Loki also lets out a small laugh.

"Feeling better?" asks Mobius.

A heartbeat.

"Yes, Moby..." It's clear Loki wants to say more but something stops him, maybe pride again, but for Mobius that's enough, so he leaves the bed.

"I'm sorry, but I need to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

Loki nods.

"I won't go anywhere."

"Sure, Lokes."

Loki watches as his boyfriend walks to the next room. Both of them are wearing similar pajamas: cream colored pants and long sleeved shirts with patterns made of tiny TVA logos. What the Asgardian prince finds the most absurd is that exactly the same pattern is used on many things in the headquarters, including wallpapers, carpets and lampshades. To differentiate their clothes, Mobius jokingly put the "Variant" label on the back of Loki's shirt, just like the one on his jacket. Loki repaid him and now watches as the word "Douchebag" disappears behind the bathroom door.

Although the clock shows a very early hour, Loki doesn't want to go back to sleep. It's not that he is afraid of further nightmares, he's just not tired anymore.

On the nightstand on his side of the bed lies a small pile of books. Loki grabs the first one he touches which turns out to be a guide for new TVA employees that he hasn't read yet, despite promising to do it a long time ago.

Miss Minutes smiles widely on the cover. Not looking her in the eyes, Loki opens the book on the first page and starts reading.