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 The link she sent him takes him to a rather outdated looking webpage for the "TVA Salon and Spa", an older establishment that apparently started in the 50's as a barber shop, but recent made the jump to full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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"Best way to get to morning is to sleep. Do you need anything from your room, or are you good?"

Mobius turns off the tv, tosses the remote, and pulls Loki closer against him. "Hard to know how I could be better, in fact. I'm good if you're good."

"I'm very good." Loki tucks himself against Mobius--his boyfriend's chest and closes his eyes. It's a wonderful feeling, being held by someone he thinks he might love.

He wakes early the next morning, still in Mobius' embrace. For a while he just lays in the comfortable silence until the soft buzz of his phone alerts him to a new text. Carefully, so as not to disturb his companion, Loki turns over and grabs the device from where it charges on the bedside table. He flips through the messages and calls he missed the previous night from his mother, from Thor, and even a single missed call from Odin. He has half a mind to just ignore them all, but he'd learned long ago that problems left to lay only got worse. So he gets out of bed as softly as he can and goes to the attached living area, hoping Mobius doesn't wake until after he's done talking to his mother.

It's a deeply comfortable sleep, and if Loki had tried to rouse him, it would've been difficult. It's later when he does start to wake, blinking blearily, before slowly remembering. He's alone in this bed which just should not be. Which means Loki's doing something and didn't want to disturb him.

There are more indications that last night happened, such as the remnants of lipstick on his lower half, his discarded suit on the floor by the entranceway. He bundles himself up in a robe and follows the quiet noises from the living room of the suite. Whether Loki's still on the phone or not, Mobius comes up behind him, arms around him, face buried in his shoulder, with a muffled, "Breakfast."

Priorities, he's got em.

"Yes, we saw the news-- yes, Mother, we." Loki leans into the embrace, tense muscles easing just a bit. He'd put on one of the hotel robes before making the call, mostly just to stay warm. "Yes, at the same time from the same bed, he's my boyfrie--well, when would I have told you? It's not like we talk much." Loki reaches over and grabs the hotel's room service menu to hand to Mobius.

"The phone works both ways you know." He pinches the bridge of his nose. "I know. No, I know. Very well. I love you too, Mother. See you in the spring." He hangs up and drops the phone onto the nearby table with a heavy sigh before turning to bury his face in Mobius neck.

"Morning."

He takes the menu but doesn't look at it yet, too occupied with holding his boyfriend. He waits for the conversation to end, for Loki to turn and greet him properly.

"Morning. Breakfast," again, with a little wigglewobble of laminated menu, and shuffles them both over to a seat to both look over it. "Coffee." Also important.

He is starting to catch up here. "...Were you telling your mom we're sleeping together? Didn't sound like a fun conversation."

"I'll just have whatever you're having." Loki glances at the menu half-heartedly. Coffee or tea sounded good, but he always lost his appetite after dealing with family matters.

"She's just shocked I'm actually confessing to being in a relationship. They got it in their heads a bit ago that I had a secret paramour I was hiding from them for some reason or another."

"Do I need to go make nice? I can go make nice. With her." Obviously. Not with Odin. "How bad did I fuck things up?"

"She's not upset at you. Well, she is a little bit, but I think she's just quietly happy someone stood up for me like that." Loki pulls his legs up over Mobius' lap. "She can't meet with us before our flight, but she's planning to visit New York in the spring. Said she'd like a chance to talk with you without the formalities."

"So it's..." He lets that hang in the air for a few moments, reading the menu and trying to parse the conversation at the same time. "Okay? It's okay and I'm not going to be arrested for political crimes and actually your mom doesn't hate me for making a fool of her husband?"

"Well you won't be going to any political functions in the near future, but other than that, you'll be just fine." Loki smiles at the other's expression, reaching up to run his fingers through the mussed silver hair. "No one's going to arrest you. And if they tried, they'd have to go through me to do it."

"So you'll stick up for me," he muses, leaning into the touch, "but not yourself."

It's an idle comment, something he might not have voiced if he were a little bit more present and caffeinated. But he was certainly going to let Odin talk shit about him until Mobius stepped in and nearly threw hands.

Loki's fingers still in their petting as he pulls back.

"That's a completely different situation. If I tried it would only make it worse," he says in almost a whisper, his face an inscrutable mask.

He makes a confused noise, and then a thoughtful one. Blinks and refocuses on the menu. "Yeah," he agrees. "Yeah, I get that. You don't win against someone like that."

A bit of tension Loki didn't even realize he was holding loosens. He doesn't say anything more about it, but he does lean forward to rest his head on Mobius' shoulder. Between that and the legs over his, he's practically in the other's lap.

"I was right, though. Mother said he'd just found out he was loosing a big donor before the event. Doesn't excuse it, but it explains why he went directly to calling me a whore rather than waiting until family dinner."

He's gonna get a kiss on his pretty little head, that's for sure. "Childish of him." No shit. Doesn't help anything, though. He reaches for a phone set by the couch. "'m gonna order, and then we can cuddle up while we wait. You okay? All things considered?"

Loki nods. "Better than I would have thought, actually." He can't remember the last time he had someone to cuddle up to like this when he was dealing with family drama. Sure, there were some of his flings that liked to be close before or after sex, but there aren't any expectations with this. He didn't realize how freeing that would feel until he has it in front of him.

He slings an arm around Loki's shoulders and gives the desk a call to order up some breakfast--nothing fancy, nothing adventurous, and with plenty of coffee. When he's done with that, he cuddles more against Loki, holding him close.

"This help?" And also maybe the sexual favors from last night.

Oh yeah, the sex was amazing, but this is something else. Something equally good, but in a different way.

"It does." Loki wraps his own arms around Mobius and gives a little squeeze.

"Mmm, good. We'll wake up to food and then go hop in the shower." There's a lingering faint scent of sex and sweat that feels a little heady for first thing in the morning, and yet, it's nice. "Could try princess carrying you, but I might pull something if I do." Just as an idle thought, the way Loki's draped on him.

Loki chuckles and places a kiss on Mobius' shoulder.

"If either of us is going to pull something, I'd rather it be during much more interesting activities than that."

Loki doesn't drift back to sleep, but he does enter a very peaceful state listening to Mobius breath in the quiet room. They stay intertwined on the couch until the food arrives and they're forced to get up. The food is delicious (obviously) and the coffee plentiful and very welcome.

"At some point, I'm going to get you to try sour herring. It's a right of passage." The coffee seems to have perked him up.

"Fish is not supposed to be sour," Mobius complains. "But we're still here for a little big longer, if you insist on some of my last memories of here being disgusting." The food and caffeine seem to have done wonders in waking Mobius up as well, thankfully.

"I'm sure we can do something that will overshadow it." Loki gives him a wink before draining the rest of his coffee. "Speaking of, I believe a shower was mentioned?"

"You incorrigible flirt." Decidedly not a complaint. "We could both use a shower, yeah. Probably big enough to fit two, even, don't you think?" He makes to stand and holds out a hand gentlemanly to help Loki to his feet as well.

"Well it certainly seemed it yesterday." Loki takes the hand gently before standing. "Lead the way Mr...." His brows draw together in confusion "wait, what is your last name?"

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