cuttingremark | Salon buddies for @favoriteanalyst

Salon buddies for @favoriteanalyst

It started about a few months ago. Loki needed to relax after making the mistake of spending his winter holidays with his 'family' (which ended in another spectacular fight with Odin that resulted in one broken window and a lost snow globe Loki has thrown through said broken window), but his normal esthetician was booked solid for the next year and couldn't fit him in outside of his own pre-scheduled appointments no matter how much money he offered to throw at her. Wanda was the best in the city, probably the whole country, so it made sense, but there's still the issue of Loki needing something to relieve his tension so he didn't strangle his paralegals. The thought crossed his mind of setting up a tindr profile for a quick fuck, but he isn't in law school anymore and that was just a disaster waiting to happen.

Wanda saves him from making a bad decision by texting him the information for another technician she helped train. She claims he's new, but very talented, which he figures will do in a pinch. The link she sent him takes him to a rather outdated looking webpage for the "TVA Salon and Spa", an older establishment that apparently started in the 50's as a barber shop, but recent made the jump to full salon under new management. Despite the clunky UI, he's able to schedule an appointment for a basic manicure the very next day with the young man Wanda had told him about.

Casey is a nice young man. Not anywhere as skilled as Wanda, but his nails come out looking acceptable with their basic black polish and the hand massage he gets to begin with is utterly divine. He doesn't go into detail about his family problems, but the other gets the gist that the holidays were strained and is more than willing to play the oh-so-important role of listening ear even if his platitudes do ring a little hollow.

When the appointment is over, Casey hands him a card for a free deep conditioning treatment or 30 minute shoulder massage.

"These are really just for family and friends," he explains, "but you really seem like you need something to help you relax." He thinks about declining, but decides it isn't polite and takes the card anyway before handing the young man a $400 tip.

The stern looking woman at the front desk gives him a serious look as Casey nearly passes out in the background. "I'm going to be checking those to make sure they're real."

"But of course, I would expect nothing less." His usual winning smile does nothing to lighten her glare as she rings him out. She asks if he wants to use the card to schedule something today. Why not? It's a charming establishment and he has some free time coming up.

The masseuse the card is good for, Bee, is apparently booked solid for the next month, but the stylist, Mobius, just had a cancellation in the following week that fit perfectly in his schedule.

That appointment was the beginning of the end for Loki.

So in he walks six months later, having ditched his normal high-end stylist for a middle-aged man who looks like he works in a cubicle rather than a up-and-coming salon. It isn't his normally scheduled appointment, but his cases have been crazy and Thor just left for his "journey of self-discovery" aka backpacking across Europe, so all of Odin's attention is now on his youngest.

Joy.

If Loki were the sentimental type, he'd think it a shame that the lobby area of a salon is more comfortable for him than his childhood home.

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"Depends. Are you gonna pay for this, too?" It's...a half-joke. He's pretty sure Loki would, and that would be fine at this point. "Because we could go to a fancy steakhouse, and I'll clear out your checking account or max out your credit card." Also a joke! He wouldn't deliberately choose somewhere fancy just to take advantage.

But also if Loki wanted to. Would he turn that down?

"I can if you want me too. Wouldn't want you to feel like a charity case." Loki grins, trying to make light of their earlier conversation.

"Sadly all the best steak houses have reservations at least a month out. If you want steak we're going to have to settle for something with fewer Michelin stars than you were hoping for."

It's fine to make light. It's fine that all of this is happening, in fact. It's fine to--he reaches, casually enough, to take Loki's hand in his as they walk. It isn't so far from linking his arm in Loki's, right? "I can promise I am just as fine with burgers as with steak. Or Chinese. Or sushi? Or Italian. Let's do Italian, there's gotta be casual Italian around here."

See? Casual.

Maybe it's the fact that Mobius initiated the contact this time, but the way he gently takes Loki's hand feels so much more intimate than when Loki had offered him his arm earlier. Intimate in a good way, of course, as Loki adjusts their grip to thread his fingers between Mobius'.

"Italian sounds lovely. There isn't much in the way of food in this district, but I know a little place I think you'll love."

And so they make their way back to the garage with only their growling stomachs to keep them on something of a schedule.

It feels good. If it's a date, they might as well lean into it. If Loki's really sure about spending all this money on someone he only thinks he's going to like in the longer run.

He kind of wants to press his luck. Looks at Loki in profile, soft, and...then doesn't. The doubts are clawing at the corners, and he's trying to hold them at bay.

"Thank you," said gently, sincerely. "For all of this. I don't know what you think you see in me besides a decent haircut, but I'll take it."

"You sell yourself short. You're funny, kind, intelligent, an amazing conversationalist..." Is he laying it on too thick? Oh well, no going back now. "Do you remember the first few times I came in? I told you about myself, where I was from, that my father is a politician."

"The first time I mentioned Thor, maybe on my third or fourth appointment, you asked 'Who's that?'." He gives Mobius' hand a squeeze. "I was surprised because I had assumed you would have googled me at some point, learned about all the scandals of my youth, about my golden brother who could do no wrong. Everyone else I'd ever met had, and either you have the best poker face in the world or...you didn't."

It's kind of a lot. Not overwhelming, though. "No, I wasn't gonna rush home to my computer and look you up. Like a research project. Maybe find your facebook, but no, I don't just look up my customers. And I still haven't even now. I'd prefer to learn about you and your family through you." He shakes his head. "If you wanna tell me about the scandals of your youth, I'm not stopping you."

Mobius says it like it's no big deal, like it's some kind of common courtesy he should expect of everyone. He without realizing how uncommon it had been in Loki's life, how rare that effortless kindness is for him.

Loki wants to kiss him. Badly. Right here outside the expensive parking garage before they go to dinner. He doesn't because he is first and foremost a coward and is too afraid of messing whatever this is up before it has a chance to really take off.

Instead he chuckles as they finally reach the car. "There were many, we'll need to narrow the field somehow to give me a starting point."

Rather than letting go of Mobius' hand so they can go to their respective sides of the car, he follows Mobius to the passenger side so as to open the door for him.

"Oh yeah? Should I just pick a topic and see if you've got any related scandals in your past?"

It isn't that he doesn't want to know. He's only interested if it's something Loki wants to talk about. Or if it's relevant to who he is now, as a person. He won't go prying.

Loki walks him to the passenger side and opens the door like a proper gentleman, and Mobius finds himself wanting to linger in this moment. Not let it pass them by. His look at Loki is terribly fond.

"We're both in agreement that this is a date, right?"

Loki just chuckles at Mobius's suggestion of topic driven play-by-play of his many scandals. He's embarrassed by them in the way someone else might be embarrassed of their middle school year book; more of a 'I can't believe I did that!' rather than a 'No one can ever find out about this.' Life in the public eye had numbed him to that kind of shame pretty early on.

Loki clears his throat and looks away for a second. "Well, yes. You did call it a date at the café. So long as you hadn't changed your mind in the interim." He finally looks back at Mobius, almost bashful. "Are you having a good time?"

He leans up, in, to press a chaste little kiss to Loki's cheek. "You're adorable." Is he perhaps just a bit red of cheek for that little act? Shush. "I'm having a good time in spite of my hangups, don't worry. So long as they don't chase you away."

Loki has done many many salacious things in his life. He's had sex with more people than he can count of any and all presentations. Multiple people at once, in public, in private, orgies, sex clubs, if you can name a kink, he has tried it at least once. Nothing makes his bashful. Except, apparently, a sweet kiss on the cheek from a charming man who Loki wanted to date first and have sex with later. Maybe. If he's okay with that. But not to fast. Can't mess this one up.

His cheeks turn a little pink, but his ears, visible only because his hair is currently back in a bun, turn bright red.

"I was rather more afraid of me being the one to chase you off." He gives him a quick peck on the forehead before scurrying to the driver side of the car and clambering in.

"Dinner then?"

He can't keep his grin to himself. "Dinner then."

So this is going swimmingly. As he said, hangups aside. They make it to dinner with time to spare, get settled in, get drinks, order food. Did they need to spring for wine? No. Did they spring for wine anyway? Absolutely. Mobius is letting his breathe (because that's what you do with wine, right! he knows a few classy things!), and he folds his hands, leans in a bit.

"So. Do you want to tell me about some scandals that would come up on the front page if I googled you? Or should we leave your past a mystery?"

Loki swirls his wine before chuckling and taking a sip (he knows you're suppose to let it breath, but he's always been too impatient for that.)

"What do you want to hear about: sex, drugs, or rock and roll? Which is, of course, a mix of the two." Loki quietly thinks he'll stick to his college escapades, lest he make things too uncomfortable with his troubled youth.

"I do like a little rock, but--" He lowers his voice conspiratorially. "Sex scandals, huh? You've really gotten up to some shit in the past. Hit me with something. Unless you wanna keep that under wraps."

"My third year at university one of my sex tapes got leaked. It was the second, but it was with one of the TAs for some class I was in, so a bit more scandalous than the first." Loki's voice is so blasé Mobius might thing he was reporting on his drive home from work rather than a sex tape.

"I'm...sorry, you have--you have multiple sex tapes? In school?" He blinks. "...Are you and your dad that famous that that's a thing?"

"Not outside Asgard and her neighbors, no." Loki grins at the look on Mobius' face. "I think it got popular because of my dashing good looks and my partner's washboard abs."

"You filmed yourself multiple times and some of them got out and caused a scandal." Wine? Wine. Wine drink. Yes. "Okay. You do not fuck around when it comes to scandals."

"Only two got out," Loki says with a mock defensive tone.

It had been a while since he had talked about any of his misadventures with someone, and Mobius' reactions do not disappoint.

"That's nothing. There was the time Odin had to fly to Italy to bail me out of jail after I got caught up in an underground sex club bust."

"You made that up. You just made that one up. There is no way. That didn't happen."

"If you speak Italian we can Google the article that ran in the papers. It was part of the restaurant La Rosa del Mare, maybe 12 years ago?" Loki smirks into his glass of wine.

"Oh yeah," he snorts, "I definitely speak Italian. Majored in it. I definitely know how to read an Italian article on a--sex club dungeon? How did you get from this to being a layer?"

"No, the dungeon is here in New York. That one's perfectly legal." Is Loki joking? It's a little hard to tell.

"I had a year off between my 3rd and 4th year in uni." Loki doesn't grow melancholy, but his smile does drop somewhat. "Spent a couple of months in rehab, took some time to think about my future. I knew I didn't want to do something expected of me, but still something...impressive. Lawyer seemed like a good fit."

"Rehab for the...sex, drugs, rock and roll? Sounds like you were quite the party animal." There are stories there. Clearly. But only if Loki wants to share them. "You definitely shouldn't tell me for legal reasons, but do you still get up to some shenanigans?"

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