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 The link she sent him takes him to a rather outdated looking webpage for the "TVA Salon and Spa", an older establishment that apparently started in the 50's as a barber shop, but recent made the jump to full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

[cuttingremark]

"Glad you've had a good time so far." Loki stops flipping through channels, settling on a rom com about a pop star marrying a random man attending one of her concerts.

"I'm going to have to get better at giving head. Can't have the best blow job of the relationship be the first one."

[favoriteanalyst]

"I can't imagine getting better, but trust that I look forward to it."

He's pretty sure he knows how Loki got so very good, and he wonders if that's something else to talk about. But maybe not directly now. "And I'm sure to get better at just about anything I do to you. So I'm not worried about that."

[cuttingremark]

"I look forward to it" Despite the salacious topic of conversation, Loki doesn't move to initiate more than a chaste kiss. Maybe he'd feel more in the mood later, but at the moment he's content to just enjoy Mobius' company.

"Us being together doesn't go against some kind of hair dresser's code of conduct, does it?" He knows how other professions work. Totally.

[favoriteanalyst]

"I'm not giving you any discounts if that's what you're asking." It's nice to snuggle and gently smooch. It doesn't have to be rowdy raucous all the time. "Not yet anyway."

[cuttingremark]

"Hm, yet? If I'd known discounted hair cuts were on the table, I would have given you a blow job a while ago," Loki teases. This from the man who tips no less than a hundred.

[favoriteanalyst]

"You might get them for free, from me, at an in-home visit if you keep going the way you're going." Being boyfriends. Mostly. "But I might still accept a tip. Or the tip." mobius please

[cuttingremark]

"Just the tip? That doesn't sound very pleasurable for either of us."

[favoriteanalyst]

"You'll get a whole hell of a lot more than the tip soon enough." And that's a promise. Gotta compare to the dildo, after all!

[cuttingremark]

"I'm looking forward to it." Loki scoots down on the bed a bit so he can throw an arm over Mobius' chest and nuzzle into his neck.

[favoriteanalyst]

"Oh--hey there, cutie." He waits for Loki to get himself resettled and slides an arm around his shoulders. "You cozy? Wishing you were being swept away by some international pop star into awkward marriage trap turned real love?"

[cuttingremark]

Loki smiles, the 'cutie' making him blush a little. "Hm, I think I'd rather find a handsome stranger willing to enter into said marriage trap to keep me from crying on stage in front of millions of people."

[favoriteanalyst]

"Maybe you shouldn't have made your planned marriage a huge public concert event. Or, maybe go through with the whole thing in spite of the cheating, and then end it behind closed doors, call the whole thing a publicity stunt." He rubs his hand down Loki's back. "I'm just saying. But, I'm still glad to be your handsome stranger in this imaginary scenario."

[cuttingremark]

"What can I say? I love a spectacle." Loki rolls over so he's laying half on Mobius' chest, smiling up at him. "Maybe I just need a down to earth math teacher to show me what a relationship out of the lime light is like."

[favoriteanalyst]

"Or a down to earth hair stylist?" Mobius supplies. "I dunno how much lime light you get, though maybe I wouldn't be good for that given the whole last night thing."

Happy 600 comments

[cuttingremark]

"I'm good with the substitution if you're okay with swapping the pop star for a personal injury lawyer," Loki teases. "I don't know, I think you handled it pretty well."

/throws confetti

[favoriteanalyst]

"I could've handled it in a way that wasn't doing what I did. Whether that would've been better or not is a matter of opinion." He plays with Loki's hair a bit, seeing as he's right there and it's freshly washed and wonderful. "You know, I think I just kinda blacked out for a moment there? I don't feel like I remember actually throwing the wine. It was in my hand one moment and wasn't the next. So I guess it could have been worse."

[cuttingremark]

"Good thing you had something in your hand to toss. Security would have been far less charitable if you'd punched him." Loki wouldn't have cared, and honestly the wine was way funnier anyways.

[favoriteanalyst]

"I'm not usually the violent type." Hm. Something to consider, anyway. Back to happier topics! "In bed might be different, but only when it's wanted." Like sex. Always a happier topic.

[cuttingremark]

"Rough sex and explicit consent? Careful, Mobius, I might start swooning." Does he notice the very obvious and abrupt change in topic? Of course. Does he mind? Absolutely not.

[favoriteanalyst]

He grins, big and silly, and laughs. "Shut up. Pretty sure you'll swoon at just about anything I do, you big softy."

[cuttingremark]

That gets a hearty laugh out of Loki "I have been accused of many things, but never being soft." Not that he seems offended. He doesn't see himself as soft, but it's nice to be with someone who can find a few curves amongst all the sharp edges he's built around himself.

[favoriteanalyst]

"First time for everything. You're definitely soft around me, so maybe I just bring out some different sides of you."

[cuttingremark]

"Maybe you do." Loki's smile is soft as he places a quick kiss to Mobius' chest before laying his head on it like a pillow. "If I fall asleep, wake me up before 4, okay?"

[favoriteanalyst]

"If you fall asleep, I'm waking you up before then unless you wanna skip lunch entirely. And we have to at least finish the movie."

But it's cozy, like this. Just the two of them, taking a day in to rest and recoup, to be relaxed in each others' company. It's nice to have someone comfortable on him, someone to rest his arm on, to stroke him gently. Is this what couples do? No wonder there are so many of them around. And when that movie ends, he flips around until there's something else on that's agreeable and simply has a good time. Chattering, commentating, making fun of characters and plot holes.

[cuttingremark]

The rest of the day is spent in lazy bliss. Loki doesn't so much nap as doze lightly on Mobius' chest. They order room service for lunch, chat some more about their respective places of work, flirt. It's nice, comfortable.

Eventually dinner time does roll around and they have a decision to make.

"Alright, do you want to lay low, or cause a scene?" Loki asks. "I'm friends with the owner of one restaurant, they can get us a private room away from the main floor. Or we can go wherever and see what happens." Loki's fine with either, but he's more use to it than Mobius is.