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 The link she sent him takes him to a rather outdated looking webpage for the "TVA Salon and Spa", an older establishment that apparently started in the 50's as a barber shop, but recent made the jump to full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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"Were you happy with him?" He can't imagine that Loki was, but it apparently went slowly. Lots of abusive relationships start out happy. "If you seemed happy with him...then I get it. There's not much you can say, because that's all Thor's going to see. Calm before the storm."

"In the beginning, but even then I don't think it was him. He made me feel wanted and it was...intoxicating. I always felt like everyone's second choice, especially compared to Thor, but here was someone who actually preferred me." Loki shakes his head.

"I don't think he ever actually cared about me. Not as a person, at least. I was an object to him. A doll to own and show off when it suited him. Whenever I got hurt he always focused on how it looked, if it would somehow mar my appearance. It's why I never got my ankle never got seen about. He couldn't see it, so it wasn't a real injury."

Mobius had seen him with his cane in the colder months, Loki having said it was just an old injury that never healed well. After spilling his guts, he doesn't realize he never told Mobius exactly what injury caused it.

"That's your old injury," he states with such incredulity. It makes sense now, but he hadn't quite connected those dots. Ankles could be anything. Fall off a bike as a kid. Trip down some stairs. Anything. "That was him."

He has to swallow around the white hot hate for this man he's never met, blink it back a few times. "And Thor's afraid I'm like that?"

"Not directly, it was an accident. I mentioned going to the doctor and he said I was being silly. I just needed to put some ice on it and take some asprin. So that's what I did."

Loki nods against Mobius' shoulder. "Like I said, it's dumb and he's wrong. The most wrong he's ever been about anything. Which is quite a feat, I might add."

"I liked it better when I thought it was just a personality difference instead of him being afraid I'm going to start beating on you." Because one of those hurts a little more, frankly.

Loki is carefully not going to bring up the fact that Mobius does hit him, but only in ways Loki enjoys and only when he asks nicely.

That's the difference. In Loki's mind, it's a pretty big one.

"Listen to me," Loki sits up slightly, tilting Mobius' face to look at him with a gentle hand on his cheek. "This has nothing to do with you. This is Thor, and his demons, and decade old memories that he really should have gone to therapy for. He's projecting that on to you and that isn't fair. You are the best person I know and I love you more than anything. We will talk to him, I will make it clear that he will stop treating you like some kind of psychopath waiting to strike."

Mobius would say that's not beating him, and that is also a difference. Neither here nor there at this point. They know the difference.

He takes the moment of Loki standing up for him and once more saying the difficult and oh so welcome 'I love you' to lean in for a kiss. "Maybe we'll suggest therapy to him while we're at it. Anything to help. So long as we know we love each other, that's always gonna be enough for me."

And nuzzles against him a little. There's concern flooding out of him for it. "Did you get help?"

Loki's hand goes to the back of Mobius' head during the kiss and stays there, holding him close as he nuzzles right back.

"I did. It took some time to start, but eventually a roommate in law school threatened me with brussels sprouts if I didn't go see someone." There's a bit more to the story than that. A lot more alcohol, bad decisions, and tears. Ultimately it was good, though, which is why Loki can joke.

"Good. I'm glad. I love you exactly as you are. And I'll never hurt you unless you ask for it." Or is otherwise agreed upon beforehand.

"But only if I ask nicely, right?" Loki smirks, poking Mobius lightly in the side.

"If you ask nicely for the purposes of sexual gratification that will also stop the moment you want it to," he confirms with a grin.

Despite the fact that no one else is here to see, Loki hides his big stupid grin by burying his face in the crook of Mobius shoulder. His arms wrap around his boyfriend's waist and give a little squeeze.

"I'm going to say it one more time." And then be done, because he's filled his capacity for the phrase for half a year at least. "I love you."

"I thought love was for children?"

Loki's head snaps up to see Thor, standing awkwardly in the entranceway. The blond holds up a brown paper bag.

"I, uh, got bagels."

"Apology bagels?" Mobius says with a smile, though his tone is wary.

"I got three."

"I'll see that as a sign of progress." He motions across from them. "Think we all need to have a little sit-down, big guy. Sort some things out. We got drinks. If you're interested. To soothe the sting."

Thor nods, setting the bag down on the coffee table.

"I'll get the cream cheese. And another glass."

Thor disappears into the kitchen, Loki can hear him rustling around in the cupboards as he moves to sit next to Mobius rather than on him. He's still pressed against his side, arm looped around his shoulder. Perfect distance to lean over and press a kiss against Mobius' temple.

Arm around Loki's middle. "We're gonna be okay. It's all gonna be okay." And a reach for the bag. Bagels plz.

Thor's not gone for long, and he looks pretty humbled when he sets things down, pours himself some scotch, and settles across from the duo.

"I may have been...harsh," Thor starts haltingly. "Unnecessarily so. I find myself protective of my baby brother, and that has meant I have judged without fair reason."

"And it sounds like you've been overly protective for good reason." Is what Mobius admits.

Thor's eyes dart over to Loki.

"It's okay, I told him." Loki's hand on Mobius' shoulder tightens just a bit. "Everything."

Thor considers them both for a moment before nodding.

"I am glad you understand, but that does not excuse my...cold attitude?" For a moment Thor looks confused. "That doesn't sound right in English."

"It works well enough," Loki says, leaning over to steal a bite of Mobius' bagel. Thor chuckles.

"Bagels help make up for--hey." Mobius does not pull his bagel away nor thump Loki for it. He's used to this behavior by now. "Get your own, there's three!"

"It," says Thor, trying not to laugh and get them off topic, "does nothing to make up for anything. You have been nothing but polite, kind, accommodating, even in your own way attempting to be alike to a brother. And I have not shown you the same courtesy."

"Seems like the other guy put on a bit of a show," dour, annoyed, frustrated, even at something that happened a lifetime ago. "But do you trust Loki to drop the big 'I love you' on someone that isn't awful for him?"

The tips of Loki's ears burn. He'd said it three times, three! In less than an hour! It felt exhilarating and also terrifying, but he's never been so sure of anything in his life.

"To be honest, if I hadn't heard it myself, I wouldn't have believed it." Thor grabs a bagel and tosses it at Loki, who only barely manages to catch it with an overdramatic scowl. "Outside of you, I think I've only heard him say it to Mother."

"That's a gross oversimplification!"

"The point is," Thor says with a chuckle, "that it is not something he would say lightly, certainly not to someone who did not deserve it."

"I can tell you what the ex deserves, and it's something that would make his ancestors flinch."

Thor's eyebrows shoot up.

"And I can tell you that Loki deserves the world. And more. He's thoughtful and smart and witty and hilarious and intense. He's handsome as hell, utterly pretty and knows it. Puts up with me for reasons I don't think I'll ever fathom."

"Mobius!" Loki's face is bright red, not that he tries to hide it. Only takes a sip of scotch and tries to look bashful. "You have more to put up with than I do."

"I'm glad to know we are of the same mind in both regards." Thor raises his glass to Mobius in a small salute.

Mobius raises his in return. "We'll move forward without letting the past bog us down." Thor's coldness, for one, but also this whole ex business for another. Pasts in general.

"I don't know, I kind of like this protective side of you." Loki waggles his eyebrows at Mobius, a sly grin on his face.

Thor groans "Please not right in front of me, brother."

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Salon buddies for @favoriteanalyst

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