Salon buddies for @favoriteanalyst

[cuttingremark]

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 The link she sent him takes him to a rather outdated looking webpage for the "TVA Salon and Spa", an older establishment that apparently started in the 50's as a barber shop, but recent made the jump to full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.

Comments

[favoriteanalyst]

"I can try a mead. Be one with the people. Try out a few little phrases, maybe. I'm definitely a little out of place here, but it's really exciting." He nods around to the decor. "I like the vibe."

[cuttingremark]

Loki orders two different types of meads that he enjoys, figuring Mobius will probably like at least one of them.

"Yes, this pub has been here for about 300 years. It's changed names and gone through some renovations in that time, but the building is the same. It was a favored haunt of Thor and his friends in high school."

[favoriteanalyst]

"And what about you? One of your haunts, or did you have a preference for somewhere else?"

[cuttingremark]

"I came with them on occasion, but in high school I mostly kept to myself and my studies. And in college, well, the places I frequented were either more seedier or more...colorful."

[favoriteanalyst]

"I've been to clubs back in my day, not as colorful." They've both made some allusions and told some stories to these kind of days. "Can't say I've been to a 300 year old pub."

He's curious about the reason for Loki just throwing all caution to the wind, but will not ask that here and now.

"So your brother isn't going to be at this shindig. And your dad's not great." To put it lightly! Possibly one of the reasons for the throwing caution to the wind, and also being a rich kid, frankly. "But I'll probably be meeting your mom, right? And she sounds great. Think she'll like me? Is she into the political scene?"

[cuttingremark]

"She'd never run for office, but she involves herself in other ways. Philantrhopy, community programs, stuff like that. She's his top advisor, in a sort of unofficial capacity." The soft smile that shows on Loki's face as he talks about his mother is a familiar, if rare one for Mobius to see. He doesn't talk about her often, but it's clear that while any parental affection he's lost for Odin has not been the case with Frigga.

"She's going to love you. She's always telling me I need to find someone 'with a good head on their shoulders'."

[favoriteanalyst]

"And you think that's me?" He grins nevertheless. "What, just because I'm not a wild child?"

[cuttingremark]

"I didn't meet you in a club, you have a respectable job, and you aren't going to drink half the venue's champaign in the first hour." Loki smirks. "I mean, that last one is an assumption, you could still surprise me."

[favoriteanalyst]

"So if I do it in two hours, I'm in the clear, got it." No, he will not be drinking like that at the event. Pretty sure getting drunk at his date's dad's political event would not be good.

"I'm not judging. But you usually like having a good time for an evening and leaving it at that, yeah?"

[cuttingremark]

Loki actually laughs at the two hour joke, a bit of mead possibly going up into his nose in the process. Once he regains his composure he shrugs.

"There are a few I've had repeat encounters with, but never with any expectations of monogamy or romance. It's easier. Normally." Safer is the word he doesn't say outloud.

[favoriteanalyst]

"Please don't die; I still need someone to translate everything for me."

But, good to know someone thinks he's funny.

"Easier, yeah. I can see that." He bites back the question of if it ever gets lonely that way. He imagines whenever Loki felt lonely, he'd find someone to have an encounter with. And wouldn't it be a little hypocritical, being a bachelor himself? "You know, usually meeting the parents comes later in the relationship."

[cuttingremark]

"Well, I've never been one for tradition." If he were being honest, he didn't originally ask with the intention of there being a relationship. It had been so long since he felt any sort of romantic attraction to anyone that it was hard to realize his feelings were more than just platonic.

[favoriteanalyst]

"I think I like it better that way. Tradition is boring. It sucks. People get so wrapped up in it that they put it before their own happiness. Seems like you figured that out early on." A compliment, really.

[cuttingremark]

A small smile plays across Loki's lips at the compliment. "Seems like you have as well."

[favoriteanalyst]

"Maybe not by choice, initially, but--yeah, guess you could say. Single middle-aged fella working hair who says yes to some new client asking them to another country. Not exactly typical."

[cuttingremark]

"Well I'm certainly glad you're up for an adventure." Honestly, who else would have even considered joining him on this trip?

The waitress comes back and asks if they're ready to order and Loki realizes he hasn't had much of a chance to look at the menu. Luckily old places like this very rarely changed their staples.

"Do you want another minute, or do you trust me to order for you?"

[favoriteanalyst]

"I trust you. Trust that I trust you. I'll keep being adventurous if you want me to." Or Loki might just order them steaks, whatever.

[cuttingremark]

"There are some who would tell you that trusting me is a risky gamble." Not one Loki's willing to toy with today. He orders a traditional sausage dish for Mobius and fried herring for himself, making sure to tell Mobius what he ordered once the waitress leaves.

"What sort of food did you grow up with?" He knows he's from a some small town in America, but he also knows America is a large country with many different regional cultures. "Wait, where did you grow up, exactly?"

[favoriteanalyst]

"Nowhere you've ever heard, that's for sure. South of the Mason-Dixon, doesn't really matter where." A little shrug. He could be more specific, but with no plans of ever going back, he doesn't see much point. "Nothing exciting. Definitely nothing like this anyway."

[cuttingremark]

"...should I Google what the 'Mason-Dixon' is, or can you tell me?" Loki's been in America for a while, but he doesn't know as much as someone forced to learn American history as a child.

[favoriteanalyst]

"Oh--heh, um, south of Pennsylvania? Traditionally kind of the border after the Civil War that demarcates the north and the south. And yes, it's silly that everything from Maryland down is 'south', that's just--" He waves a hand. "That's all I mean by that."

[cuttingremark]

"So somewhere more culturally south. Understood." He did have a few classmates who explained at least that much to him. "I take it also a bit more conservative?"

[favoriteanalyst]

"And a lot poorer. You wanna know what foods I grew up with: pizza at the local parlor when I rode there on my bike with the guys. Pasta I could make myself. Soup. Didn't really get a lot of regional fare except when we could go out to eat. Don't get me wrong, we weren't destitute, weren't going hungry, but it wasn't elaborate home-cooked meals every night with the freshest ingredients."

[cuttingremark]

"Moving to New York must have been a big jump for you." A big risk, Loki thinks. Life in the city isn't cheap, even for someone who doesn't have expensive tastes like him.

[favoriteanalyst]

"It wasn't the first place I went, but yeah, finding a cheap enough place on not a whole lot isn't great. Honestly, I was lucky I fell into what I did. Like I said...I'm proud of doing what I've done. Ever since I left home, yeah, I've had help, but I pretty much built myself up, bought and paid for and worked toward on my own."

He stops, giving a sheepish smile, a rub to the back of his head. "I don't mean to get intense about it. I do have some fond memories of home, just...not all that many."