SAY IT AGAIN FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

WIP Wednesday

Was tagged by @loki-is-my-kink-awakening, and I actually have something started this week, so hopefully sharing it will serve as some motivation to finish it quicker! It's the next in my line-up of Fluffuary prompts: urgency / kneel / rural. It's a Lokius story, but following two variants, rather than the Mobius and Loki we followed in the series.

"I'm back!" Loki called into the house as he walked through the front door. Don looked up from the kitchen table where he was sitting with Kevin, helping him with his math homework. "You get Sean to soccer practice on time?" As Loki approached, he nodded. He came to a stop by their side and ran his hand along Don's shoulders. "His coach said they'll be having a long practice today," he informed his husband, "We have three hours until he needs to be picked up again." With that, a certain spark entered his eyes as he and Don exchanged knowing grins. They had hopeful plans for how they wanted to spend that particular Saturday afternoon. Plans that involved having the house to themselves. With Sean out for several hours, there was only Kevin left to cockblock them, but they were fairly certain it wouldn't be for long. Every weekend, Kevin's friend came to their door to invite him over to play video games. It was only a matter of time. But until then… Tearing his eyes away from Loki and back down to the table, Don finally noticed that Kevin had abandoned his math problems in favor of doodling a robot in the margin of his worksheet. "Hey." While Loki wandered farther into the kitchen to get himself a snack, Don tapped the paper to draw his son's attention. "Focus," he urged, "It's just long division, right? You got this!" He pulled over a separate sheet of paper, on which he'd written out one problem as an example. "Do it the way I showed you. Remember?" "That's not the way Ms. Tullis wants us to show our work," Kevin pointed out, going right back to his drawing. Groaning, Don rubbed his hands down his face. "Why'd they have to reinvent math?" he complained, snatching up the paper he'd used to explain the process to Kevin, "Solving it this way works just as well! Probably better!" Luckily, that was when the doorbell rang.

It's going to be exactly what it sounds like 😘

Tagging (probably duplicating several): @insert-witty-user-name-here, @dewdropreader, @lgwilt, @mirilyawrites, @sparrow-the-tired-lesbian, and anyone else that sees this and wants to share some of their work!

obsessed!!

❛ 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 ❜ It Was Enchanted To Meet You || Loki & Mobius [AU]

#eatingbark #cryingonthefloor

GUYS! LISTEN TO ME!!! MOBIUS DOESNT REMEMBER LOKI RIGHT??? REMEMBER THAT TWEET THAT TALKED ABOUT A POSSIBLE CHEEK KISS BEING FILMED??? AT. THE. JETSKI. STORE??? BRO LOKIS TOTALLY GONNA KISS MOBIUS TO HAVE HIM REMEMBER CUZ MOBIUS IS ACTUALLY SLEEPING BEAUTY AND LOKI IS THE ONE TO-

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Loki (TV 2021) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Loki/Mobius M. Mobius, Frigga | Freyja & Loki (Marvel) Characters: Loki (Marvel), Mobius M. Mobius, Frigga | Freyja (Marvel) Additional Tags: Singer Loki (Marvel), Mentioned Odin (Marvel), Good Parent Frigga (Marvel), Loki Loves Mobius M. Mobius, Mobius M. Mobius Loves Loki, Fluff, Comfort, Happy Loki (Marvel), Protective Frigga (Marvel), Self-Indulgent Summary:

Loki and Mobius have moved on from the TVA. They now live on Midgard and Loki is letting his artistic talent shine. He has become a singer and Mobius supports him every step of the way.

Frigga can feel Loki’s presence on Midgard and decides to investigate. Her curiosity leads her to a bar in the middle of downtown London. When she walks in she hears Loki’s voice and sees him singing on the stage with a band.

they ate this analysis UPPPPP! like DAMNNNN

Why Lokius Should Have Been Canon

This is a sort of combo of two metas that didn't quite get point my across. Some parts will be copied directly, but there's a lot of original content. I will discuss the ship between Loki and Mobius, their place in the show, and the MCU at large. My focus for this meta won't be parallels or motifs, because these things border on well-written friendships. But there will be some of that.

Romance in the MCU

There are a lot of straight couples in the MCU. (Almost) Every main hero is in some heterosexual relationship, Loki included.

(That's not all, not remotely).

But in the LGBTQ+ department... uh.. I think it was mentioned that Valkyrie had a girlfriend... uh... America Chavez had a pride pin... and Loki:

One line. Queer experiences are never a focal point of a show/movie the same way heterosexual experiences are. And that needs to change.

Romance In the Show

Wrong, toxic, or unsuccessfu romantic love is a recurring theme in the show.

Sylki

Sylki was an icky relationship right off the bat. They are the same person. I can't find the post at the moment, but someone has pointed out in their post that them being the same person is referenced in every episode in season 1, which is when the romance took place. This made their romance uncomfortable for many viewers.

(Some consider Sylki a toxic relationship, but for this post, the topic is too large to handle with the nuance I'd like to handle it with).

When he's drunk, Loki compares love to a dagger, stating that it hurts you, but when you try to find strength in it, it's not real.

Which is exactly what happens. Sylvie pushes Loki into a portal and they never get back together.

The Love Triangle

In 02×03, Ravonna Renslayer is infatuated with Victor Timely, but he leaves her behind and betrays her when Miss Minutes told him to. One episode later, we discover that they were indeed an item, and established the TVA together. He Who Remains deleted her memories and they never rekindle their love.

Later in the episode, is the best example of "wrong" romance in the show. Miss Minutes, the AI clock, confesses her love to Viktor Timely. He, obviously, freaks out and shuts her off. Nothing ever comes of this.

Brad and Dox

This one is small, but a big indication to romance being a theme. In 02×01, we're shown this:

The gap in the age of the actors is uncomfortable, and a character in universe has this reaction to it. It is never mentioned again.

So what does all of this leave us with? Not much. None of this properly ties to the finale, or anything really. If I were to write the show I would cut a lot of this out, since it serves no purpose. But it does make you keep romance and its shortcomings in mind. The writers want it to be there, in the back of your head.

Loki and Mobius

Finally! I got to talk about them. The two people in question. First things first, who are they, together? They became really supportive, close friends.

Fans even drew parallels to Chaos & Order, which is a very important theme in Loki. But I'm not here to unpack them. These things don't necessarily make them in love. So what does make them in love? I'll present you my evidence, and you ask yourself,

Would it be valid to suggest romantic implications if a man and a women are:

1) Extremely thouchy with each other.

2) Riding on a tandem bike together.

3) Willing to suffer a fate worst than death for another.

4) Falling on each other after that^

5) Literally the Interrupted Declaration of Love trope. (Ex)

6) Being framed in a circle.

7) Waiting & giving permission to attack.

8) Fixing themselvs before seeing the other.

Of course yes. Maybe you think some of these are a strech, but ultimately, people would point out romantic connotations across the board. And I'm here, pointing them out right now. Some scenes between Loki and Mobius have romantic implications.

Conclusion

Loki is a queer protagonist in the MCU, a universe that lacks representation of queer experiences. His show constantlty reminded us of romance, sometimes for seemigly no reason. In the second season, they wrote him and his best friend with romantic implications. And then, nothing. It should not have been nothing. Lokius should have been canon.

Reparenting Loki

I want to talk about a dynamic in the Loki/Mobius relationship (in the Loki TV-series) that I've seen touched on but not really discussed in depth.

Note to Lokius-lovers: nothing I say here in any way precludes a healthy romantic relationship. They're both consenting adults, after all, and this wasn't a formal therapist-client relationship.

There's a technique in therapy called "reparenting". The idea is that trauma and behaviors caused by bad parenting can be addressed to some extent if the therapist assumes the role of a "good parent".

I think we can all agree that the "All-Father" was crap as an actual father. Odin knew that Loki took after him even more than Thor did, but many of those shared traits were things that he tried to hide from everyone, while Thor better represented the image he wanted to project. The result was a cruel favoritism, which was picked up by Thor and the rest of the Asgardians. Frigga's love and support wasn't enough to counteract that cruelty, particularly in a strongly patriarchal society like Asgard.

Side note (because I'm that kind of geek): there were so many similarities between Odin and Loki (Odin's friend and blood-brother rather than his son) in the old Norse myths that some scholars have suggested that Loki was at one point simply an aspect of Odin. There's also evidence that the stories as they came down to us were manipulated by the Christians who committed them to writing to shoehorn Loki into something more like the Christian Devil.

Anyway, getting back to our guys... Within the context of the TVA, Mobius represented an authority figure to Loki, who had a long history of rebelling against (or betraying) authority for obvious reasons.

I think the first turning point in the relationship for Loki was:

Loki: I am smart!

Mobius: I know. Loki is rarely left speechless, but his only response to Mobius's simple affirmation was a very un-Loki-like "Okay..." He didn't know how to respond because he wasn't used to that kind of thing, particularly from someone who had power over him. It happened again with:

Loki: A villain.

Mobius: That's not how I see it.

The dynamic between these two people throughout Season 1 was like that. Mobius's genuine love (whether you read it as romantic, platonic, fatherly, brotherly, or a mix of any or all of these) for and non-judgmental acceptance of Loki was apparent from the start, but of course Loki's experiences during his very long lifetime made it nearly impossible for him to trust that until Mobius's actions convinced him that it was real. Learning to trust Mobius also allowed Loki to see himself in a new light.

For his part, Mobius consistently modeled what a good father would have been: loving and accepting, yes, but still able to apply "tough love" when that was warranted. Mobius didn't put Loki into the bad-memory loop to punish him because he was angry (though he was angry, or at least a bit hurt and disappointed). He was just trying to force Loki to acknowledge a truth about himself so that they could move forward — and it worked!

Mobius's instincts and experience as an actual father to two boys, one reasonably well-behaved and the other a mischievous troublemaker, served him well in this, even if he didn't consciously remember his life on the timeline.

Mobius all but confirmed this when he said:

Mobius:  I see a scared little boy, shivering in the cold... 

It's also significant that when Loki brought this up later, he called it "patronizing", which we usually use to mean "condescending", but can also mean "supporting" and has its root in the Latin word "pater" (father).

I see the hug in episode 1-5 as a sign that the reparenting had taken hold, and that Loki, while not completely healed (it would take a lot more than that!), was at least in a place where he could trust someone, accept love/friendship, and think beyond his own wants and needs.

By Season 2, the relationship between the two men was evolving into one of equals, but even then Loki still occasionally looked to Mobius for guidance. Mobius's approval had become important to him. When Loki witnessed the firm but compassionate way in which Don dealt with two boys who were so like himself and Thor (despite being a stressed-out single dad rather than a god-king with tremendous resources at his disposal), he had to have seen that this was at the core of who Mobius was. Moreover, Loki — and any viewers who had similarly survived a traumatic childhood full of emotional abuse and neglect — probably guessed that Don himself was a survivor who was determined to see to it that his boys would never have to deal with that. If that was the case, then Mobius didn't just see his own son in Loki. He saw himself and couldn't help but empathize.

Don wasn't perfect. His frustration with his younger son was very evident, but Loki, observing, could see the love that lay under it. He may even have thought of times when Odin was driven to anger by Loki's actions and realized that the anger didn't necessarily mean that Odin didn't really love him. Learning to forgive what can be forgiven is another aspect of recovering from childhood trauma.

It's worth remembering that Mobius knew Loki in much the same way we do. We got to see the things that Loki never let anybody see: the fear, the vulnerability, the pain, the longing, and the sadness. (Doesn't hurt that TH can turn a simple reaction shot into a freakin' soliloquy!) The difference is that, while we only get to see the highlights (and lowlights) of Loki's life, Mobius had access to all of it and he had centuries to study it.

Mobius literally knew Loki better than anyone else in (or out) of the multiverse. How could he not love him? And for Loki, knowing that somebody who knew him that well genuinely cared so much for him (same with Sylvie, who understood him in ways that only another Loki could and vice-versa) had to have shaken him to his core and made him rethink a lot of things. The fact that it was Mobius to whom Loki turned in episode 2.6 when he thought he might have to kill Sylvie shows how much he still looked up to Mobius in many ways.

This was a show about redemption, yes, but also about healing from childhood trauma. They did an amazing job with it.

i ride by this place every morning and all i can think is, is this a loki reference?

omg guys so tomorrow the next episode of loki is officially dropping but i can’t watch it until saturday 😭😭😭

im gonna have to wait 2 days to see if these old men fuck.

this is my last post before seeing if lokius is endgame because i’m gonna be off of socials until i watch it. wish me luck everyone to avoid spoilers.

lastly, MARVEL PLEASE JUST LET THEM BE TOGETHER OR AT LEAST DONT LET SYLKI BE TOGETHER

also me rn

HOLY CRAP! I didn’t expect all of this! They’re so awkward and adorable 😫

I noticed you seemed interested in my Lokius roleplay post. I have a couple of plots that I posted too. Would you like to roleplay with me? If not, that's totally fine.

Hey! I don’t think so. Thank you for offering though!