The prince and the agent

Haircut

Mobius is a deep sleeper, especially after a tiresome day. Loki sometimes says he could lay next to a marching band and not even wince. That's not true. The TVA agent is aware something near him happens but very often is too tired to bother with reacting. Like this time when he feels movement of the mattress, followed by the sound of steps. That could only be his boyfriend going to the bathroom, so nothing to worry. Everybody does that from time to time.

Next time Mobius wakes up it's because he himself needs to use the toilet. He stands up and goes through the dark room to the next one barely conscious. While there his mind becomes more clear. He realises that, although the light is on, he doesn't recall pressing the switch. If it wasn't him, then Loki most likely forgot to turn it off, which is still odd. The Asgardian prince is many things, but none of them is sloppy.

Finished, Mobius turns towards the sink.

"Oh dear," he whispers, just now seeing the handprint on the mirror. Floor is littered with snippets of familiar black hair. Thinking about what could got his partner into a rapid change of hairstyle at this hour, Mobius comes closer. Inside the sink he finds more hair, scissors... and blood.

Struck with fear, Mobius checks the bedroom. Light from the bathroom reaches the empty bed.

Where is Loki?! How could he sleep through something like that?!

*

Mobius finds his boyfriend in their living room. The only source of light here is the telly. Loki is sitting on the couch, watching muted film from Mobius' collection of VHS tapes, but it's clear he isn't really paying attention to it.

After turning on the lights, Loki hisses like a vampire exposed to the Sun. He puts hands on top of his head, but that's not enough to hide shortened hair and dried blood on the left side, coming down onto a sweat drenched pajama shirt.

Just looking at his face, Mobius slowly puts all clues together. Noticing that, despite the injury, Loki's ear is whole, he sighs in relief.

"There you are, Lokes."

The prince doesn't respond, just looks at the other man with a mixture of anger and shame. Anything that got into him before, is now subsiding.

Not saying anything himself, Mobius goes to the kitchen. After washing hands, he takes out the first aid kit and returns to the living room.

"Can I see your ear?" he asks gently, sitting down on the couch.

Loki complies and slightly turns. After carefully cleaning off blood, Mobius notices a wound freshly closed with magic. It should fade completely in a few days.

"Does it hurt?"

Loki doesn't answer, which probably means it doesn't, not that much or he just doesn't care.

"You gave me quite a scare in the bathroom," Mobius admits.

Again, no word from Loki, who returned to watching the movie with a blank stare. If the situation was different, he could laugh and be proud of causing such a reaction. And what makes this situation worse, it's not the first time when something like this happens.

"It is a very odd time to get a haircut," Mobius adds with the hope of making Loki react, which indeed happens.

The prince looks into Mobius' eyes, albeit a bit unsure. He struggles to find a way of expressing what he's feeling without losing the remains of dignity. Again, not the first time.

"You know me, Moby," he says finally.

"Yes, I do. You used to keep your hair short back in Asgard, before..." Mobius stops himself. Knowledge of what happened next means he doesn't have to say it out loud. They both agreed to never use T-words again around each other.