Thor is babysitting Little!Mobius and Little!Sylvie because Loki has to go on a weekend business trip, and he's just the coolest uncle.
Tiny baby Mobius had his reservations at first. He's always a little clingy to Loki, but now he is just head over heels for Thor and just so wants to be held and cuddled, and he loves that Thor lets him wear his big t-shirts to play in because of course all Loki packed was cute but rather frumpy and stiff baby clothes that aren't much suited to play.
And Sylvie? She loves having a big brother who's always happy to play with her.
Well... Loki plays too, but... he's not Thor.
Thor is really good at roughhousing and takes her out to ice cream and buys her (and baby) new toys!
Loki is a little mortified when he comes back to find how much his brother has spoiled his little ones!
Hi this is my first time submitting one of these so I'm not exactly sure of your guidelines or if you still even write these (just dm me if you cant do it, totally cool), but
I'd just really love to see Mobius being very very shy about being a flip and showing Loki his little side (which I personally imagine to be a quiet and observant baby) for the first time.
Poor Loki thinks it's adorable but isn't a very good caregiver (but he tries his best) being rather sarcastic and talkative, often needing a nudge into the right direction. (Maybe some lactation/breastfeeding might fit here? Idk)
Maybe Sylvie comes in and tries to help?
Okay...Huh
Little!Mobius x Daddy!Loki
Summary: Mobius shows Loki his little side for the first time
Warnings: mentions of knives?, all I could think of
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As of right now Loki and Mobius are sitting across from eachother at a table late at night going through some old files. Well Mobius is, Loki is right now twirling two knives between his fingers. (One in each hand).
Loki has been noticing how every minute or so Mobius would look back up and stare for a couple seconds of him twirling the knives. He also started seeing how Mobius would constantly shift around and just pressing his lips together. Trying not to say anything, that's what loki thought at least. "Are you alright?" Loki finally asked and put the knives down, now staring at the guy in front of him.
Mobius then looked up. "Umm, y-yeah why would y-you think not?" He studdered out. "Well you've been somehow acting well you know. Not like you at all" Loki raised an eyebrow in his direction. "What has you thinking that" Mobius said then squirmed around now plastering his eyes on the ground. "Becuase by now the normal you would've already told me to start looking through one of those files and taken the knives away from me" Mobius then looked up defeated and started to slowly cry.
Loki's eyes widened and went forward to get a better look at him. "Why are you crying, is it something I said" Loki said sounding worried. Mobius shook his head then stood up and hugged loki tight. Loki just stood there for a second before wrapping his arms slowly around the other man, accepting the hug.
After some time Mobius backed up and looked up at Loki. "'m so tired, wan go bed" he said with his eyes starting to water again, and slipping into little space. "Okay let's not cry again, is there you know somethin I should know. Like why your acting like you are, no offense" mobius then answered him "wittle space."
It clicked in Loki's head what he was talking about, he's read something about little space before. "Well where's your room?" Loki asked. Movies just shook his head and pointed at Loki. "You want to sleep in my room?" Loki questioned him again. Mobius nodded excitedly and Loki just shrugged, motioning for Mobius to follow him to his room.
Half way to his room, Mobius reached out and started to hold Loki's hand. Loki just looked at him with a small smile.
When they got there loki decided against getting the both of them into pajamas since Mobius would most likely fall asleep. "Let's just get to bed okay buddy?" Loki asked, only taking off his shoes putting them next to where Mobius kicked his off. "Okay Daddy" Mobius said and climbed into the bed, obviously waiting for Loki.
Loki just stood there stunned for a couple seconds before turning off the light and climbing into his bed next to the other man.
Mobius a couple seconds later cuddled into Loki, nuzzling his face into his neck. Loki smiled lightly and wrapped his arms around Mobius, starting to rub tiny circles on his back.
They were in peace and silence wrapped in the blankets cuddling when his door opened and the light turned on. Showing Sylvie walk through and saw them cuddling. "How long have you've been dating?" She smirked.
Synopsis: Thor and Sylvie decide to test the waters to the concept of Mobius and Loki sharing a bath
Word count: 2,796
Stand Alone?: Maybe?
Notes: Oof, here's a silly throwaway chapter of Loki and Mobius with their caregivers.
It's just kind of cute filler, but then again, that's just kind of the vibe of this whole fic.
There's something... off about this chapter. Something about it's just not working and I don't know what. Maybe I should be workshopping this fic more, but honestly I've been so busy with everything else, I don't really have the energy to. As much as I love this fic, it ranks the lowest out of these three projects + regular life (which I was going to detail but JESUS this note would become an essay)
Warnings: Semi-detailed diaper change, reference to the fact that swim diapers only hold solids.
Read it on AO3!
As it neared a month of Mobius and Loki getting used to each other’s presence, Sylvie and Thor met up to make an executive decision.
They stood at the edge of the playpen, arms crossed and pretending to be simply idly supervising while the two babies busied themselves with a series of puzzles and storybooks that Loki, oh so desperately wished he could read. These ones weren’t like the ones Mobius was usually given, as the pages were cardboard, or sometimes even paper, not some waterproof plastic material or fabric. They even had words, not just textures and pictures, or the occasional teether.
“So do you think it’s time?”
“How would I know?”
“You were a little babysitter, you should know.”
“I guess, but I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“So… maybe we should test the waters first?”
“Yeah, that sounds right.”
This big discussion was about the fact that their water bill was through the roof. Or, more informally: if it was time to get the littles to share a bath.
The day was supposed to be unseasonably warm, so they decided a good step would be to share a swim. Unfortunately, neither little had any idea how to do that. So, Sylvie and Thor selected the next best option.
Loki sat in the driveway next to the car as he waited for Sylvie to bring out a battered old kiddie pool, which had nearly turned white in the long six seasons it had spent in the sun, braced against the side of the detached garage, while Thor took Mobius out to find him a pack of appropriately sized swim nappies and a swim suit, which in this case, didn’t mean trunks and flip flops like it might for an adult. It meant a plastic nappy cover, a pair of water wings or a life vest, some sort of sandal or water shoes, and a bucket hat to tie it all together.
Sylvie unceremoniously dropped the plastic tub down and grabbed the hose from the other side of the house while Loki watched her, curiously toddling a few yards behind her at all times, still trying his best to be her little helper.
“Move!” she commanded Loki once the hose was on.
So he did, just a few centimeters out of her way as she clamped her thumb down on the hose and made the water shoot out at a much higher speed.
With it, she rinsed the built-up cobwebs and gunk out of the pool before dumping it out again, just as Thor’s van rolled up and parked right on the street.
“Just in time,” Sylvie said as she greeted them, letting Thor carry the baby in, as he had been napping on the long car ride home, bundled up in a new towel like a swaddling cloth and clutching a partially finished bottle.
Mobius slowly opened his eyes as the warm air hit him and cooed at Loki and Sylvie.
“I’m just going to get him dressed and then you can play,” Thor said to the slightly older little, who was trying to take Mobius out of his arms.
“That’s when we can fill up the pool, too,” Sylvie added.
Getting Mobius up and dressed did take a little bit longer than expected due to the very simple, but unfortunate mistake of not realizing when the little one was done using his nappy and taking the tapes off just a little early. That paired with the typical baby fidgeting led to the need for some cleanup. But at least it wasn’t like when Loki was fussy and would purposefully hold it until then. This was just an effect of Thor not checking that he was already going.
When that whole ordeal was cleaned up, Thor got Mobius into a blue and orange swim nappy and covered it with some snapping plastic pants which were orange with a banana leaf design, followed by a matching bucket hat to appease Sylvie, and then Crocs that looked like little red race cars and water-wings with cartoon trains on them.
The little obviously wasn’t too sure about the look.
“You and Loki are going to swim outside today, what do you think about that? It’s like a big bath.”
Mobius pressed his mouth shut and nodded in a reserved fashion before Thor picked him up.
“Don’t freak out for me, okay? Let’s have fun. Loki’s very excited.”
Mobius nodded before sticking his thumb in his mouth as Thor made a quick stop in the bathroom and quite impressively squatted down to reach for a bucket of rubber toys inside the cabinet under the sink.
“Stay with me here,” he told the little, as Mobius struggled not to set his feet on the floor. “And--” Thor strained and grunted as he stood back up “--there we go.”
Mobius twisted in Thor’s arms and leaned backwards to try to look at the toys in the bucket, making the adult struggle for balance. Mobius suddenly and apologetically hugged onto him in a more convenient way.
“Mobis! Look!” Loki called once Thor and the younger tot stepped outside. He was bent over the pool in his own similar outfit, and splashed a little bit of water out at both of them.
Mobius covered his face even though he was well out of the way of the splash and let Thor set him down into the water. Loki happily crawled in afterwards.
Sylvie and Thor watched from the sides, and asked the littles about different toys that they set in, including the beloved washcloth alligator, Mr. Alligator, which both Mobius and Loki grabbed for immediately, almost taking the puppet off of Sylvie’s hand. When Loki eventually did get it, he knew how to put it on and started to snap the jaws at Thor and Mobius and Sylvie, eventually biting each of them on the hands and screaming with delight and giggles at how his family reacted, splashing his other hand in the low water and making waves by wiggling and hopping up and down with giddy happiness.
Mobius remained mostly still, sometimes playing with the rubber toys Sylvie or Thor had handed him and watching Loki play so actively in the small space.
“Loki, Loki,” Sylvie whispered to the tall little who was standing up on his knees in the pool to “bite” her again with the soft alligator.
Loki stopped his giggly play and slowly sat down to listen before taking the alligator puppet off of his hand and giving it to her.
“Do you think we can play with Mobius a little bit? Lookit, I brought more toys. How about the cups?”
Loki quickly took the rainbow stack of plastic cups she had handed him from her hands and took the stack apart, letting the cups float in the water until he had no more in his hands. “All gone!” he smiled at her before showing her his emptied hands.
“Wow, that’s very impressive, and how many was that?” she asked.
Loki shook his head. “All gone!” he repeated.
“How many cups were there before ‘all gone’?”
Loki looked and then scowled at her before trying to count. “Four!” he very proudly told her.
“Is it really four? Or is that just a number you like?” she asked back, looking at the eight cups strewn about the pool.
“Is four,” he assured her, definitely four .
Meanwhile, Mobius had begun to gather, dump out, and neatly set the cups at Thor’s flip-flopped feet. “Can I join you?” he asked the little, moving slightly to his side and dipping one of the cups in, scooping up the water.
Mobius, who had made a collection of seven dried cups, attempted to grabbed Thor's back.
Thor handed the cup back to the baby and watched him dump it out and set it behind him again.
Then, there was just one more, and it was a green one in Loki’s hands.
Mobius scooted closer to Loki and attempted to take the final cup hesitantly.
“Can you ask him ‘please’?” Thor prompted, but Mobius ignored him and reached across to take the cup from Loki.
Loki let him, just to curiously see where this was going, but when Mobius simply set it outside the pool, it was very obvious that this was not the desired outcome.
“Do you think you should share the cups?” Sylvie asked.
Before anyone could respond, Loki began to reach behind Mobius to grab a few of the cups, putting them under the water and dumping them into one another, or putting other toys inside the cups, with some stacking and an attempt to make an egg-like structure by pressing two together.
“Mumma! Lookit! Egg!” he showed her, when he finally got the hang of it.
Sylvie tapped on it to “crack” it, to which Loki responded by pulling the cups apart and freeing a small bath toy and some water.
“Here, Mobis!” He then said, trying to include Mobius a little more, even though the tot was already distraught and upset with the cups being taken from their spot from outside the pool. He scooped up a cup of water and dumped it right onto Mobius’ head, flattening his naturally fluffy and wispy hair into a pancake.
“Loki, that was very mean!” Sylvie scolded him as Mobius just sort of sat there in shock.
The smaller little wiped his eyes on his hands and tried to dry his face, but then smiled, he grinned and giggled and reached behind him for a cup, which he tossed at Loki.
But before Sylvie could tell them not to throw things, the two were throwing toys and splashing and screaming with giggles.
Sylvie and Thor both took a step back, leaving the toy bucket accessible, and trying to keep their clothes fairly dry as they chatted from a reasonable distance.
“Bathtime’s going to really be something,” Thor said.
“...Yeah…” Sylvie agreed. “So,” she switched the subject rather quickly. “Um, that water…” she added, as it was no longer as crisply colorless and clear, as is the pool ideal.
“We should probably take them out soon, right?”
“Well, there is one last thing I want to try. Just, can you watch them for a minute longer?”
“Yep, I’ve gottem.”
“Thanks.” Sylvie smiled before running inside to grab her final experiment.
Thor stopped the littles from drinking the water and tried to keep them settled and playing nicely with each other until Sylvie came back, which meant trying his best to create an interesting sensory experience for them. He wound up a boat and let it glide across the water, which Mobius immediately grabbed.
The little grinned and debated putting it into his mouth before looking at the wind-up key and trying to twist it himself. Then, he handed it back to Thor, clapping to tell the adult that he wanted more.
Thor set the boat back into the water after rewinding it.
This time, Loki dumped one of the cups of water onto the little boat, trying to sink it, but when it remained puttering around the pool, he decided to try and trap it instead.
“Okay, okay, I’m back!” Sylvie called with a smile as she shut the door and made it out to the driveway, making sure not to stumble in her wedge sandals before sitting down next to the kiddie pool in between the two littles.
She clicked open a light blue bottle and, in a Loki-like motion, dumped it upside down and squeezed in an almost reckless manner into the pool’s water.
Then came the fun part, when she got out the hose and refilled the steadily lowering water level of the pool, causing millions of bubbles to appear around the tots.
Mobius played like he usually would in the bath, clapping his hands with the bubbles in between and making little pieces of soap fly everywhere while Loki stood up, seemingly to make a point and grabbed a big brick of bubbles to try and throw at Thor, laughing and stomping in the water as Thor tried to catch the fluffy lump.
He then tried to scoop up more and threw it in the air, raising his arms up grandly to accent his impressive feat.
The pool began to slosh and overflow with Loki’s stomping about and eventual sit-down back into the water, and when that happened, Sylvie turned the water off and moved the hose out of the way to let the littles play just a bit more in the foam until she noticed Loki’s chest and belly beginning to pinken and Mobius’ fingers pruning up as he reached for her to pull her down and show her the bubbles firsthand and the boat that he had been playing with.
She begrudgingly reached her hand into the gross water and began to pull out toys and set them into the bath toy bucket after trying to flick away any droplets, and soon, Mobius began to join her while also covering himself in bubbles, sinking down as low as he could into the water while Loki instead got up and out.
“All done!” Loki said in an unbothered manner.
“All done?” Sylvie asked.
“Yep! All done!” he repeated, showing her he had nothing in his hands as if that had anything to do with anything.
“Okay, okay, I see you,” she smiled before grabbing the hose once more.
Thor lifted Mobius out of the gross but still bubble-filled water as Sylvie turned on the water and sprayed Loki as well as the side of the house, rinsing him off and making him giggle as the high pressure drops pelted him, knowing he’d then be able to run up to Thor and be wrapped in a big, warm towel.
Mobius was set down at the end of the driveway, but didn’t stand up until Sylvie instructed him to. She was gentler on him than Loki as she washed him off, taking his hand and letting the water pour over him, even daring to get his legs and belly and back, which he fought her on, threatening to sit back down on the pavement or even lie down until she turned off the hose and wrapped him in a hooded bear towel, before giving him plenty of cheek kisses and handing him off to Thor, taking Loki’s hand in her own instead.
“Here, switch?” she asked once they got inside.
Thor handed Mobius back to her and took Loki’s hand to get him redressed and diapered.
Sylvie cradled the baby in her lap. Practically rolling him up into a ball and tucking his head into her neck. “You did so good. You played so well with Loki and hardly any tears, huh?” she asked in a sympathetic cooing voice, rubbing his shoulder lovingly. “Such a sweet baby.”
Loki was quick to come toddling out of the nursery in one of his many pairs of not-denim short overalls with Thor behind him.
“Switch?” Thor asked her, offering to take the baby off her lap and leave her with Loki.
“Yes, thank you.” She handed the little up to the larger man, who let Mobius sleepily slump over his shoulder.
“Naptime already little one?” he asked gently.
Mobius nuzzled a nod.
“Okay, we’ll just need to get you into your naptime clothes then.”
Most of the day wasn’t of note, but of course, evenings meant messes, and messes meant baths, and that was yet another experiment for Sylvie.
She washed each of the littles up individually and gave them a rinsing off with the removable shower head before giving them a proper bath, the warm type with actual washcloths and real soap.
With Loki’s lanky limbs, it was a bit cramped, but both tots managed and Sylvie was shocked how easily it went, with exception to Loki’s splashing and Mobius almost crying over it-- and the loss of his pacifier to the water.
However, both were so exhausted by the time they were diapered and in warm clothing that they could hardly keep their eyes open for long, especially as Thor held Loki and rocked him back and forth with the most love in the world, kissing him on the temples and letting the little one lace their fingers together, as seemingly, the little didn’t know what to do with his sleepy, idle hands.
Mobius, however, refused to be cradled tonight, and instead slept on Sylvie’s lap on his tummy, letting her pet his back and speaking to him softly as he kicked his legs just a bit.
Another milestone had been made in the family, and yet it was still just another day, another night, more crib snuggles and stories and songs and pacifier snuffles and baby kicks.
Coffeeshop modern AU where Sylvie is a regular with her little one (Mobius) and Loki is just very taken with them. When he's on a break one day, Loki decides to ask Sylvie about maybe setting up a play date? Loki is still very new to taking care of Thor, who tends to have some temper issues because of (divorce? Parental death? Something), and is having a very hard time adjusting to living a small apartment with his biologically younger, adopted brother taking care of him.
Mobius and Thor seem to really hit it off and their caregivers become closer too, taking on babysitting jobs for one another, talking about local daycares, etc.
If you like Sylki there's room for a romantic plot line, or they could stay friends. I think the idea of Sylvie being a #girlboss and Loki becoming a househusband against his will is really funny, especially if they're just friends/neighbors/roommates. But maybe Sylvie finds a girlfriend (B-15?).
Maybe Mobius is this big comfort blanket who helps Thor calm down during the tantrums not even Loki can fix.
Maybe when Loki and Sylvie fight it freaks them out, scares them beyond reason and needs to be fixed.
Nothing In The Parenting Books Prepared Me For This
Chapter 59: The One Where Everyone is Little
Synopsis: Thor and Mobius get to try out being small with Loki and Sylvie.
Word count: 7,317
Stand Alone?: No. Part 3/3 of a mini-arc
Warnings: wetting
Notes:
Well, this is the third and final in my series of utility chapters, but the good news is, it did exactly what I needed it to do! The point was to test dynamics and see what I wanted to do on a new fic, which will begin uploads on the 25th to mark my first AO3 anniversary! But don't worry, this fic still has a few chapters still left in it, even if uploads may become slightly more sparce.
Also, don't worry, this is probably going to be the last you'll see of little!Mobius in this fic. I'm going to keep writing him, but I just like him a lot more as a caregiver in this specific story.
Read on AO3!
When Sylvie came back with her arms filled with Thor’s stuffed animals, she was surprised to find not one, but two little ones, once again.
Loki was in a colorful romper, and, like usual, a bulky nappy, lying on the floor on his belly next to Mobius, who was in a very similar state sans the wardrobe change.
Loki was up on his elbows to poke at an odd toy that the two were entranced by while Mobius rested his head in his hands.
The lower half of the ball-shaped toy was blue, while the top half was a clear look in at three rocking-horse figures on a grassy painted surface. It made little glockenspiel noises as the figures rocked back and forth. But even though that interested the babies, it had no effect on Thor and Sylvie.
Sylvie knelt down and caressed Loki’s chin, forcing him to meet her eyes. “So, you’re just leaving me to play caregiver, huh?” she passive-aggressively asked him.
“No,” Loki told her, wiggling and giving her one of those ridiculous smirks that had too much genuine sentiment in them to be really mischievous. “Seevee liddle too, an’ then all be liddle bigga ta help!”
She crossed her arms and pucked out her bottom lip as she considered this. “Only a little bit small though, okay? Not fully.”
“Okay,” Loki shrugged. What did he care, anyway?
Starting to feel a little bit left out after dropping off his stuffed animals on the crib, Thor wandered to Sylvie and the younger littles, finally deciding to observe what the interesting toy was that the boys were so enamoured with.
He picked it up, and shook it.
At first, Loki seemed hurt to have the ball taken away, reaching up to take it back, but then as the dink dink dinks filled the air he became even more curious, and stood up to watch the curious rocking horses and maybe grab the ball back so he could force it to make that noise, too.
Thor set the ball down and kicked it lightly over to Mobius.
It made one full roll, and then stopped about a foot away from him, rocked back and forth, playing a couple more notes, before stabilizing itself.
Mobius curiously shimmied up to sitting and picked the ball up. “It’s weighted,” he commented, holding it out for Loki or Sylvie to take so they could test his theory.
Loki took the ball, madly shook it like Thor had, and then set it down. Nodding to confirm that this was in fact the case, shoving it once more, just to watch it roll back and prove this once again.
Loki got up, abandoning Mobius on the floor, to bother the big kids, who were standing by the opened crib, chatting about Thor’s plush stuffed animals.
“They’re not gonna play, you know,” Sylvie said as Thor introduced his toys. “Like you can play with your toys, but they’re not going to.”
“They won’t?” Thor sounded a little disappointed.
“No. But you can play, though. It’ll just be on your own.”
“Will you play with me?”
“Um…” Sylvie paused for a minute to think about it… “no.”
Thor looked a bit taken aback. “Oh…”
“Yeah… but you can still play on your own… Or you could just bring your stuffies while we play something else.”
“Something else?--”
As Thor questioned what exactly she had in mind, Loki finally found a way to catch their attention. He was sitting in the crib, rooting through the plushies, when he picked up a blue Carebear with a rather grouchy face, and pressed it up to Thor’s face.
“Mm-ah!” he said like it was a kiss.
Before he could do it to Sylvie, she put her hand up to stop the kiss. “Ick!” she said, sticking her tongue out.
Mobius watched from afar, still on the opposite side of the room while Sylvie and Thor chatted, both obviously trying to somehow cling on to adulthood.
He debated getting in between them, but as he mulled it over, before he could make a decision, Sylvie looked at him, her distant conversation with Thor disappearing into thin air, and marched over to where he sat.
“Do I need to pick you up?” she asked.
Mobius shrugged, a bit unsure himself.
“Well we’re gonna go play outside. So you gotta get dressed in something that’s not pajamas because I know if you were big you’d be grumpy about that.” She spoke really quickly and like she knew every word she was saying was so incredibly boring-- logistics logistics--.
Mobius nodded that he understood and stood up, cautiously gripping the zipper of his pajamas.
“Oh! Um he had some little clothes earlier!” Loki piped up, letting himself have some more grown-like speech.
He summoned the clothes to his hands and began to quickly wiggle them onto the little with help from Sylvie, who shoved him out of the way when he couldn’t do the buttons on the little one’s shorts.
Mobius inspected how his nappy fit under the shorts and smoothed them out a bit before Loki picked him up and brought him outside to a small dried creekbed a couple hundred feet away from the home.
“Seevee get water n’ we’re gonna make pottery,” Loki explained as Sylvie ran with a watering can to the lakeside.
“Is there really enough clay in this dirt for that?” Mobius asked, sitting down to pick up a handful.
Loki shrugged, and then grinned just before Sylvie poured out water in front of him, accidentally splashing the mud onto the little, who laughed and stuck his hands in it.
Mobius stopped for a second until Thor did the same, and then did it himself as Sylvie dumped another can of water on the spot, and then sat down to begin sculpting her own masterpiece.
“It’s just like play clay we made last year,” Sylvie said, ripping a glob of earth away from the greedy roots of a nearby tree and letting the dirt get under her nails.
Thor followed her lead and took a massive clump, grinning as he did so and smacking it down onto the forest floor before trying to shape it.
Loki, covered in speckles of mud, simply pushed the clay in his corner around, not really bothering to scoop or really take anything out to make a finished piece.
Sylvie took Mobius’ chunk of clay out of the earth for him.
He couldn’t help but blush a little bit as she set it in his hand.
He immediately began shaping an item-- something intricate, like a Grecian urn-- and now that he felt like he had some permission, he began to dip his hands into the muddied water of his own volition in favor of his creation.
Loki sort of played with his, and Thor worked on creating a small beast while Sylvie shaped a weapon in her hands-- a small knife, actually.
As Mobius watched them, he stopped, and squished his art project again, electing to start over.
Traditional ceramics was definitely an ideal outcome. If this actually worked, it would’ve been very nice to come out of today with a new pot, but perhaps it was more important to allow himself the grace of working with clumsy hands like Loki did.
What was something a young toddler would attempt to make? He asked himself, looking to Loki and Thor. Thor wasn’t that little, but he definitely had around the same level of fine motor skills as little Loki.
Mindlessly, Mobius began to roll his mud into a ball, and then squished it; pulled it apart. This wasn’t so much about the final creation as it was about the act of creating something.
He started on something new. Three new things actually, breaking up his big clump of mud into new, tinier pieces.
“Whatcha making?” Sylvie asked as she dug up a new clump for herself.
“It’s you! An’ Loki an’ Thor,” Mobius told her a little bit self consciously.
“Mine needs a bun so you can tell it’s me!” Sylvie critiqued. “Maybe my horns, too.”
Mobius seemingly ignored the suggestion, and made no acknowledgement of her words until he showed her the completed clay figures.
They were modest; rather lumpy and disproportionate, about on the level of what a child may actually sculpt. But by the time he was done, it seemed like everyone else was, too, and thinking about it for too long wasn’t going to make anything better. Only Sylvie had made something actually impressive: a nice bowl, and an itty bitty dagger that looked as if it were made for a Lego person.
“Okay, so now we can put them in the oven,” she smiled, feeling as though her art were very impressive compared to everyone else’s.
Mobius looked up at her. “We’ll need some magic for that.”
“Mhm! I can!” Loki said, running back to the house in bare feet with his piece of clay, which Mobius now realized had become a miniature horned helmet, the perfect size for a plush animal.
The house became quite toasty as the oven heated to an unreasonable degree. Of course, that was partially welcomed as the day began to cool, since the cabin lacked much climate control.
Together, the awkward group of mentally kindergarteners and toddlers worked on making something to eat, an early dinner of sorts.
Most nights, Mobius would put something on the barbecue for the group or make some sort of vague oven-baked casserole for Loki and Sylvie out of whatever was in the fridge (occasionally he’d use a crock-pot if the day was especially busy, or hand them some sort of microwave meal).
“Can I help?” Mobius timidly asked as the Asgardians stared blankly into the fridge.
“No,” Loki said.
“But… I can cook.”
“Hush, you’re just a baby,” Sylvie interjected, picking him up. “Why don’t you go start a game we can play after dinner?”
“But I wanna help!” Mobius fussed, gently setting his fists on her shoulders, as if he were scared to hurt her.
“I’ll put you in the crib if you don’t calm down,” she whispered, quietly in his ear, bouncing him up and down lightly.
“No, we need him here. We’ll just give him the Loki jobs, Loki can have yours, and you and I can do the big kid stuff!” Thor proposed.
Mobius breathed a heavy sigh. That could work. Not ideal, but it had some weight.
“Okay, so what can we cook?” Sylvie then asked.
“Mac and cheese,” Loki suggested, shaking a box he pulled out of the pantry.
“Is there another box?”
Three more boxes appeared in Loki’s hands, and he set them down on the counter.
Mobius watched them for a second from Sylvie’s arms and then wiggled down to open the fridge. He took out a handful of vegetables, buns, and a large package of hamburger for them to also use.
“What’s this?” Thor asked, turning around to look at him.
“I was thinking we could put in some broccoli, an’ have sloppy joes with our mac and cheese, an’ maybe salad?”
“You and your salads. This is enough!” Sylvie assured him.
Mobius shook his head irritably and tried in other, smaller ways, to interfere with their cooking, and adding the vegetables himself when none of the other littles would, or suggesting different spices until Sylvie decided this wasn’t working the way her and Thor had envisioned. She picked him up, threw his upper half over her shoulder, and dumped him onto the couch.
Mobius was, at first, offended and surprised that she’d take that sort of action against him. Sure, she’d throw Loki out of the way, but him? He paused for a second, leaning on the back of the couch and observing more bad practices or poor cooking choices.
He considered the next course of action. He couldn’t just sit here, right? But if he just walked back, then he’d get tossed right back to where he started, and that was no good either.
But, he thought, if there was a time and a place to act like a baby, this was it.
He mustered up his courage and trust in his companions, and leaned against the back of the couch before sticking his arms out towards them and letting out a loud whine.
Normally, if Mobius was put in this situation, he’d just leave or maybe just hang out where Sylvie set him, but things were starting to feel different now.
Unfortunately, the little who attended to him was not Sylvie or Loki, but Thor, and the other two were left to finish the meal.
Thor picked Mobius up and put the dreamer’s head on his shoulder.
Gently, he bounced Mobius up and down as if he were inconsolable. “What is it, little one?” he asked.
“Let me help!” Mobius whined again, reaching out towards Sylvie and Loki, who were stirring and draining hot pots of overcooked pasta in blatant disregard of the instructions on the packaging.
“They have it. It’s okay. Why don’t we make a fort instead? It’s boring over there.”
Remarkably, Thor was almost exactly the same little as he was big. He said he was about five, but nothing really changed aside from the fact that he was a little more fidgety. Well, that’s what Mobius had thought at least. It only really clicked once they went into the nursery for pillows and blankets, and Thor used the opportunity to introduce some of his stuffed animals.
“This one’s Grumpy. He’s not my favorite Carebear, but I like him because I got him out of a claw machine and that was really lucky but it’s also because I’m like super good at everything.”
“So which’s your favorite?” Mobius asked as Thor handed him the toy.
“I like Brave Heart Lion because he’s super brave and cool just like me!”
“I didn’t know you liked Carebears.”
“Yeah. They’re fun… Um, I like He-Man and Transformers more though, but you don’t see them around so much.”
Mobius nodded understandingly.
“But we can watch some of that later though. Let’s get yours and Loki’s pillows and blankies.” As Thor spoke, he shoved the pacifier clipped to Mobius’ shirt back into the little’s mouth.
“Hey!” Mobius complained, smiling.
Thor scooped him up, blankets and plush toys spilling out of both of their arms. “There!” he yelled as he dropped everything onto the living room floor.
Mobius only made an “Oof!” as he fell down with everything else.
Loki left his post in the kitchen, flicking melty cheese and sauce off his hands before joining the other littles, leaving Sylvie on her own to cook the hamburger meat in an unoiled pan.
At first, Mobius tried to help in construction or at least the layout planning of the fort, but he soon found himself relegated to just the underneath of it all, crawling to reach toys and pillows and set them up for everyone else and making sure they got a good TV view.
Dinner itself was actually somewhat edible, and both Mobius and Loki were able to feed themselves in their highchairs while Thor and Sylvie poked each other with their forks and generally made a mess trying to bug each other.
Loki also made a mess. He picked at his mac and cheese with only his hands, using a pinching grasp, and then wiped the excess cheese on his bib.
He only ate about one layer into the bowl before deciding he was done and pushing it aside in favor of the sloppy joe sandwich he was given, which he also only took one bite out of before setting down and simply playing with the food on his plate and tray.
Mobius on the other hand, did try his best to actually eat, as lunch, or “tea”, hadn’t been exactly filling, since it had pretty much just been beverages and some small pastries. However, because of this, paired with the food he was eating, both his mustache and bib became orangy-yellow and red Jackson Pollock paintings.
Thor wiped up their faces with the bibs Sylvie had put on them, and picked both littles up once she had set all the dishes in the sink for Mobius to wash at a later date.
After setting both littles down, Thor pulled back the backs of each of their nappies and checked both of the diapered littles in a very childish way that made both tots quite fussy and uncomfortable.
Mobius put his hands behind his back to smack Thor’s hand away, while Loki simply whined and scooted away, but Thor caught him before he could get far and scooped Loki back up.
“Soggy little thing,” he commented as Loki struggled and kicked and whined.
“Mobius, should we put on our jammies?” Sylvie asked. As she fluffed pillows inside the fort and turned on the tv.
Mobius nodded. “Yeah, jammas,” he said absently around his pacifier, while examining one of Loki and Sylvie’s long-time ignored plush animals that was sitting against one of the couch legs, away from the other toys.
It was one of those baby toys with different buttons on it that activated a noise or sometimes small light. He pressed one button on the little green dog curiously, but when nothing happened, he tried another, and another, until finding the velcro on its back and prying the battery box out.
“Hey! Babies don’t get to play with that, that’s for the adults,” she told him, stuffing the box back in and pressing the velcro back together.
“But… m’ a big adult!” he whined in the most unconvincing tone Mobius was probably even capable of.
“I’ll fix it after we get your jammies on, how’s that?” She sounded quite stern when she asked.
Timidly, Mobius let her lead him back to the nursery where Loki was still on the changing table. His new nappy was on, but his pants were still down around his ankles, as Thor had seemingly gotten distracted making silly faces at the little and trying to make him giggle, which was, to say the least, not working out too well, as Loki looked away with arms crossed, and rolled his eyes at every attempt Thor made to win him over.
“Just set him down,” Sylvie said, rolling her eyes as well, and getting ready to shove Thor out of the way.
“Fine, but he’s being a big grumpy bear.” Thor pulled the pants around Loki’s ankles all the way off as he said it.
“Maybe if you had actually properly checked his nappy, he wouldn’t be,” Sylvie mumbled as she helped Loki up.
Loki patiently sat down on the floor, seeming to understand that there was a reason for everyone being in the room, and opened his toy box while he waited.
Thor sat down a couple feet away from him and tried to poke and prod even more to get a smile or giggle out of the fussy tot.
Now, with a clean nappy, teether toy in his mouth, and without restraints, Loki wasn’t as fussy. Instead of an eye-roll or resigned huff, Thor would, at least now, get at very least blank stare, and at worse, Loki would sort of crawl or walk on his knees slightly further away.
“Brother, look at this!” Thor shook a ring filled with plastic beads in it to get Loki’s attention.
The little stopped trying to slide up and down the crib bars to look back at him.
Thor shook the ring again, causing Sylvie to look back and for Mobius to accidentally drop his fidget toy down at her feet.
This time, Loki sat back down across from his brother.
“Look at all these!” Thor said in fake puzzlement, pointing to all the differently sized rings. “Can you help me stack them, brother?”
Loki smiled and then shook his head, simply taking the one green one Thor had shook and shoving it into his mouth. Not fully, it was much too big for that, but just enough to get his lips over the hard plastic.
“Ew!” Thor laughed.
Cautiously, the younger little took the ring back out with strings of spit coming off of it, and set it back down onto the floor, seemingly a little bit hurt by that.
“Babies tend to teethe, Thor,” Sylvie said. “If it can fit in his mouth, he’s going to put it in his mouth. Stop acting surprised.”
Mobius paused and tried to roll over on the changing pad, which was, purposefully, pretty difficult to do, in order to grab the keychain-taggy-crinkly-giraffe-mirror-rattle-thingy while Sylvie was distracted.
But he was just a second too slow.
“Hey, Mr. Silly, your bum’s still out,” Sylvie said, pushing on his legs and trying to flip him back over.
Mobius blushed beet red, both from the awkward angle he was leaning at, and from Sylvie’s comment, which had caused both Thor and Loki to giggle. Well, at least it put Loki in a better mood.
Not knowing what else to do, Mobius tried to wiggle himself back into position so Sylvie could finish her job, but also so he could make the saddest possible face at her and gently ask for the toy back.
Luckily, it seemed he didn’t need to. After being properly moved into position, and setting his arms next to his head, out of Sylvie’s way, Loki toddled over and picked up the toy.
He carefully inspected it-- A stroller toy which had been detached from the shade-- before reaching up as high as he could and dangling it above the age dreamer’s head.
Begrudgingly at first, Mobius reached for it and grabbed it from Loki’s hand, but soon a small, almost embarrassingly so, sense of accomplishment began to set in, and he smiled, bringing the taggy creature up to his nose and mouth and almost hiding his face in it.
Sylvie finished taping on the colorfully printed nappy and helped the little sit up.
“Lookit!” Loki grinned. “Match!” he laughed, pointing at his own diaper, covered in shapes, numbers, and big blocky letters with an alligator on the back.
Mobius looked down and realized he had gotten the same, and not one of the blank medical-looking ones he had been given previously.
“I think it makes you look very cute,” Sylvie commented, before Mobius had a chance to protest it. “And we can put pants over it if you want.”
Mobius considered this and then bravely shook his head. It was warm outside and in the home, and Loki wasn’t wearing pants either.
“Actually, a onesie, might not be a bad idea though,” she commented. “Don’t you think?”
Mobius stood up and tested out the feeling before agreeing. He knew the nappy would sag and get heavy if he chose to wet it. It would be really nice to have something holding it in place like that.
Sylvie took off his shirt and kissed him reassuringly on the cheek before placing one of Loki’s onesies over him. Once again, it was a bit big, but Sylvie was quite confident that that would be okay. It was white with blue accents and covered in little crayon drawn rainbows and squiggles, and Loki rarely ever wore it. In fact, when he saw it on Mobius, he sort of shrunk it to fit. “There, baby!” he giggled.
“I’m not a baby! I’m like your age!” Mobius complained before getting down from the table.
Sylvie opened the oven with mittens, as everyone else was “too little” and irresponsible, citing they’d “get burned so don’t touch any of it,” and swatting Loki’s hands away from the figure he had produced.
The regressor kept trying to look over her shoulder and made sure to point out his piece to everyone around him in an unbridledly self-assured way that only a toddler Loki was really capable of.
Mobius couldn’t help but smile a little bit, knowing that if Loki wasn’t so little-- maybe even just a year or two older in headspace, he probably would’ve thrown a fit about having made anything with imperfections, like the little dents and scratches that had been pressed into the helmet on accident from other dirt and the regressor’s nails.
Loki’s perfectionist instincts had kicked in early in life, Mobius knew that for a fact, but it seemed that the little’s small headspace had preceded the high standards he set for himself.
Thor finally got a glimpse of the tray after that, but did not find his creature. What he did find instead was a smattering of small clay bits around the tray.
“Yours had an air pocket,” Sylvie said shortly.
Thor took a moment to process this and then sat down like Loki would to have a big pout.
“You can always make another. The dirt clay stuff’s probably going to be there tomorrow.”
“Probably?” Mobius asked.
“Well… I mean, you never really know.”
“I guess not.”
As they talked, Thor had folded his arms. It wasn’t quite a tantrum or a meltdown like what would be expected from Loki, but a swelling of negative emotions, that for Thor, was not expressed in outright screaming (and he pretended it wasn’t expressed through crying either), but instead, took on small actions to express frustration and aggravation, creating an uncomfortable amount of sudden tension as he stood up, knocked the cookie sheet of items to the floor, and stormed off, presumably back to his yurt.
Loki, almost immediately, began to cry.
And hearing that, Mobius immediately snapped back into full caregiver mode and picked the tot up. “Hey, hey, Lokes, you’re alright. Thor’s not upset with any of us.”
“Just give him a minute. He’ll cool down,” Sylvie added.
Even when big, situations like this weren’t uncommon (hence why Thor was not invited to board game nights) but they weren’t usually around a little Loki.
Big Loki could handle anything (or so he said).
Big Loki could get his head cut off and be fine. He could wick away rude words and fights like water off a duck, and prevent any damage from coming to material things he cared about with his magic.
Little Loki though… little Loki could not.
When Thor was big, Mobius could give some kind of a lecture, vie for sympathy with little Loki’s tears and get Thor to apologize pretty quickly, but if the playing field was now so equalized, would that even work?
Probably not, both Loki and Mobius thought in unison.
“Me?!” Sylvie asked. “Why should I go talk to him?!”
“You’re the most grown-up looking of the three of us,” Mobius reasoned. “You hold power.”
“Wan’ Tor!” Loki cried.
“And I should take care of him, don’t you think? Tot to tot?”
Sylvie gave him the biggest eye roll ever seen in the history of the universe. Just because he had figured out that age dreaming was kind of fun sometimes meant he just knew everything about being little, huh? In all fairness, though, even if he couldn’t regress, Mobius did probably at least know a little bit more than Sylvie on the matter, as he had sort of had to study up when he began figuring out Loki.
“Just go see if he’ll calm down.”
“Fine. But you’re the worst!” she said in a way she didn’t really mean before leaving to go find Thor. “And for the record”-- she poked her head back in-- “I hate being the big sister.”
“I know.” Mobius said. That last bit did actually get to him, pulling at the guilt he had been feeling all day, at least since Sylvie and Thor had gotten involved. Maybe next time he should ask Kate or Sam to babysit for the four of them. But he shook the feeling off quickly when Loki began to wiggle out of his arms.
“Um...” Loki started to say, pausing to unscramble the jumbled letters in his brain into coherent words and wipe his pinkened face. “You’re being too big.”
“I am?”
“Mhm.”
“Okay, well… how do you want me to be?”
It seemed Loki had a very specific script that the dreamer was refusing to follow. This was the yell for cut.
Loki plunked the pacifier hanging from Mobius’ shirt into his mouth, then shrugged. “Be littler.”
“Oh, hey, um… What about the puppy? That might help.”
“Puppy?”
“Mhm!”
Mobius crawled into the fort and brought out the toy puppy dog with all the buttons in the paws, showing it to Loki.
“Oh,” Loki said, as if the pup had just sprung into existence.
“Mhm! Can you help me turn it on? The batteries are dead.”
Loki nodded and put his thumb in his mouth before casting a small spell with the other hand.
Mobius smiled and tried pressing one of the buttons, to which the toy responded by lighting up and talking about a number, asking the little if he could count that high.
Mobius was obviously quite tickled with the toy and set it down in front of him.
Loki watched him for a moment, and then grabbed one leg, and set it a little further out, and then did the same with the other.
“What doing?” Mobius asked, obviously meaning to slip an extra word or two in there.
“There. Littler,” Loki answered.
“...Oh… okay,” Mobius said, slightly confusedly as he continued to press buttons and played with the toy.
Loki watched, crawling around the fort, messing with a couple of toys absently: setting them down, and then picking them back up again, watching Mobius, and eventually sneaking in between his arms to watch the puppy toy, as well.
But Sylvie, leading Thor in appeared mere seconds after the two had gotten comfortable, and both Loki and Mobius peeked out of the fort to watch them as they walked past, only ducking their heads in as the older littles got closer.
Neither Sylvie nor Thor looked at the two when they came into the fort.
Thor put his knees up to his chest and set his back up against the couch, burying his face into his stuffed animal and closed himself off, while Sylvie more passively did something similar, but in more of a criss-crossed sort of way-- out in the open-- while she picked up the tv remote. “Thor said he’d come back if we watched a movie he wanted to see,” she mumbled.
But it seemed like she was the only person who actually cared about that.
Loki was very quietly and gently trying to scoot closer to his brother and cheer him up in an awkward reversal of events from that afternoon while Mobius pulled him away very gently, trying to give Thor a little bit of space.
After turning on the tv, Sylvie looked back at Thor. “What do you want to watch?” she asked.
Thor shrugged. “I dunno I didn’t think you’d really agree,” he admitted softly and in a voice muffled by his teddy bear.
“Um…” Sylvie browsed through the catalog, flipping through movies rapidly with her finger continuously pressed on the scroll button.
Thor watched from behind his bear, with his eyes just up enough to watch the screen. “Wait-wait-wait!” he said suddenly, lifting his head up.
“Barbie and the Diamond Castle? Really?”
“No, the one before it!” he said, snapping out of his grudging angry funk, and running up to the flatscreen excitedly to point at the little thumbnail so Sylvie knew exactly what he wanted to watch.
“Oh, lizards. Very cool,” Sylvie commented.
“They’re dinosaurs, and they’re super cool,” Mobius said around his pacifier, hardly looking up from helping Loki restack the rainbow rings while hugging the puppy close to him.
Plenty of other toys, mostly baby toys, scattered the fort, and as Sylvie turned on the movie (and Loki helped dim the lights), she reminded the younger littles to turn off the sounds on their toys, taking a moment to flip a couple of the switches herself.
Although he kept the puppy in his hands, Mobius stopped slapping buttons and stacking toys and sat down to watch the animated creatures on the screen. He set his pacifier into his mouth and watched intently, with a big, silly, grin on his face.
He looked between the two older littles, and then back at Loki, who still seemed content with his toys, even though he was definitely watching the movie and fairly entranced.
That’s when Mobius decided to check on Thor, crawling over to him, in front of Sylvie’s view, which resulted in a small kick meant to nudge him out of the way.
After he eventually made it to Thor, he sat down, puppy still clutched in one hand, and patiently waited for Thor to talk to him first, keeping a little bit of distance.
“Have you seen this movie before?” Thor eventually whispered.
“No. Have you?”
“No.”
“But you really like dinosaurs.”
“I like all lizards.”
“They’re closer to birds in real life. You know, most of them were actually feathered.”
“...Oh. That’s a little less cool; Wouldn’t really want to ride a giant bird…”
Mobius considered that for a moment. “I would.”
For a long while, almost ten minutes, they sat in silence and watched the movie, but eventually, Thor couldn’t stop wondering why Mobius had gotten closer to him of all people.
“Um… Would you like to be held?” Thor asked awkwardly.
Sylvie looked over and raised her eyebrow at him.
Thor shrugged back while Mobius chuckled embarrassedly.
“No, I’m all good. I just thought you liked dinosaurs, too.”
Sylvie pet his back a little bit and scooted closer to them, before whispering, “you should let him, he’s really good with babies.”
Thor heard her and smiled before gently lifting Mobius up into his lap, helping the other age dreamer face the screen and wrapping his arms around his midsection.
After a few minutes of watching them, Sylvie grabbed Loki away from his toys and did something relatively similar, with a couple adjustments due to their awkward size differences.
But instead of babbling on about the movie and pointing at the different plants and animals and animation history, Loki rolled over and wrapped himself around her like a koala.
“Gods, you’re annoying,” Sylvie mumbled as she pet his hair, moving it out of her face.
“Can I take him?” Mobius asked.
“No,” Sylvie scowled, hugging the gangly tot. “He’s my responsibility. I’m the big sister.”
After a long while, Loki made a small mew by her ear, signaling that it was perhaps closer to bedtime than she had thought.
“Okay, potty break time,” she announced, pausing the movie and moving Loki off her lap.
“Aw!” Thor cried. “I don’t even have to go!”
“Well I need to make the littler ones bottles. It’s their bedtime and Loki’s getting sleepy.”
“But Mobius isn’t a baby. He’s a big kid like us!” Thor argued.
Mobius paused. “Just in talk… I’d really like a bottle, actually.”
“I know, that’s why I’m making you one,” Sylvie replied.
She held both bottles and crawled into the fort, waiting for three tots to join her.
She waited until Thor got comfortable first and told him to cradle Mobius like he would Loki, which the both of them weren’t too comfortable with at first.
However, as Sylvie got herself and Loki into place, she began to give Thor directions, and Mobius found himself pressed into a big, comfy tummy.
Sylvie unpaused the movie once bottles were in mouths.
Loki scooted up and unlatched from his bottle after a few minutes before tilting his head back to look at Thor and Mobius. He could see Thor pretty well, but most of what he could see of Mobius was the two argyle socks that fidgeted and kicked ever so slightly and a tiny patch of gray hair a bit further away that was a little messier and out of place than usual. Occasionally, there was also a tiny hand that came up to readjust his bottle.
Thor smiled back at little Loki and leaned in a little bit to tap him on the nose until Sylvie leaned the tot back up and stuck the bottle back into his mouth.
Mobius watched the tv as he drank, keeping his focus on the movie, sometimes pointing at things he found particularly interesting.
There was a moment of sleepiness the little experienced as he got down to the final quarter of his bottle, rolling into Thor similarly to Loki and shutting his eyes for a few moments. But the climax of the movie was much closer than he had anticipated, and a loud tyrannosaurus roared onto the screen, to which Thor responded by leaning forward to watch, squishing Mobius a little bit.
It all happened so quick that Mobius hardly had more than a moment to think about anything, including what he was doing until Thor said it.
“Ew! Sylvie!” Thor whined, sitting up straight.
“Hm?”
“He’s pottied in my lap!”
“Both him and Loki are babies! Come now, this can’t be the first time one of us has had a bit of an accident while you’re holding us.”
She picked Mobius up, who looked about ready to cry as she spoke, setting him at her side and placing her arm around him while Loki kept himself tethered to her, taking his own bottle so she could have both hands free. “Did he leak?”
“No,” both Mobius and Thor said in unison.
Sylvie unsnapped Mobius’ onesie just to double check. “Poor thing, feels like that bottle just ran through you didn’t it?”
Mobius’ nappy wasn’t leaky, nor especially heavy. Thor had probably just panicked at the little bit of warmth he could feel through the onesie.
“M’ really sorry,” Mobius said quietly, still a bit upset and shocked.
“Hey, no, don’t apologize,” Sylvie admonished him.
“Yeah, baby no sad,” Loki agreed, wiggling out of Sylvie’s arms to nuzzle against Mobius like a cat before picking him up into his own lap and hugging him.
“Let him breathe, silly bunny, there’ll be enough snuggles at bedtime,” she cooed, pulling them apart and taking Mobius’ bottle from Thor. “Can you hold it yourself?” she asked.
Mobius nodded.
“That’s good,” she said. She looked over at him after saying that, scrutinizing him a little bit closer to check if he was being honest and to make sure he wasn’t all that hurt by the incident.
The accident had caused him to sort of snap out of headspace, or anywhere even remotely close to it, and it was obvious from the way he was sitting and the fact that he was debating on twisting the cap off his bottle.
“No, don’t do that,” Sylvie warned him, reading his mind.
“B- but--” he stammered.
“Alright, okay, I see now,” she sighed, before gently moving Loki’s bum onto the floor, keeping his upper body positioned appropriately, and having Mobius do the same. “It’s just like the first time we did this. It’s okay.”
Reluctantly, Mobius latched, but halfheartedly, he didn’t really feel like he had much of the stomach for this. This was wrong. Something was wrong. And he knew going into this that something was bound to happen. For the first few hours everything had been so nice, but nothing like that could last, nothing could ever last hadn’t he learned that by now--
Suddenly, the bottle was taken out of his mouth and Mobius looked up to find not only credits rolling, but both Sylvie and Loki staring at him.
Loki was first to react, “is okay,” he said slowly with genuine concern with his voice, rolling over to place a hand on Mobius’ head.
“Embarrassment is part of being small sometimes. It’s alright. You’re little, and more than that you're tired.”
Mobius shifted onto his back but shook his head.
“Yes, you are. Those are those scary sleepy thoughts.”
“No.”
“If you were just a little more regressed you would’ve just had a meltdown.”
Mobius opened his mouth to say something else, but then shut it again knowing she was right.
“You and Loki just need some changes and then we’ll go to bed.”
“I don’t want to sleep!” Thor piped up.
“We’re all going to sleep because it’s Mobius’ fir-- second time being little and him and Loki are just babies.”
“But it’s my first time and I’m not a baby.”
“Then don’t! Go grow up and go sleep in your own house.”
Loki made an effort to get his big brother to stay after that, trying to hug him close so Thor wouldn’t leave, and of course the bigger God couldn’t resist that little face.
“Okay,” he surrendered. “I’ll stay.”
After nappy changes, a potty break for the older littles, and some fort redecorating, the four were ready for their bedtimes.
They made a sort of nest in the center of the living room, with the coffee table set outside for the evening so that everyone could comfortably lie down. Although Thor and Sylvie had originally planned on spreading out and creating an environment like the naptime sessions at daycare, Loki decided that other plans were necessary and that he wanted to sleep in a modified version of their usual configuration, with everyone snuggled together under just a couple of blankets.
The rest of the group hesitated just a little bit but Loki was confident. He wanted to be right in between Thor and Mobius, nestled in comfortably, and Sylvie very quickly agreed that she’d be a big girl and snuggle up to Mobius.
It was no fight to get them to get comfortable, but it was a fight for Mobius to let Sylvie read the bedtime story, and to not read it himself. However, he fell asleep with a pacifier in his mouth and the arms of both Sylvie and Loki around him.
“So…” Sylvie said as she strode up to the kitchen table.
“Hm?” Mobius asked, looking up from his coffee, already showered and dressed, back in his adult attire.
“How’re you feeling?”
“Sore, if I’m being honest,” he laughed, looking up at her. “How’re you feeling?”
“Um… Not great.”
“Oh? What’s up?”
“That… yesterday-- was a lot on me.”
“Yeah, same here.”
“What do you mean ‘same here’?! You got to be tiny and taken care of!”
“I-- I know, but we’ve been over this, it's just… I don’t know.”
“You facilitated it! That’s what Loki said!”
“I know, I know, I did. It’s just like… fun when it’s just me and maybe a caregiver but it was just so much! And it’s so hard to just let you guys do stuff for me. I don’t fit into that ‘baby’ or ‘toddler’ or ‘big kid’ sort of thing like you or Loki do.” He genuinely sounded upset.
Sylvie patiently listened, at first standing with her upper body leaning against a chair, but then sitting down and propping up her head in her hands. “It is sort of tough isn’t it?”
He nodded frustratedly.
“We’ll work it out, and I’m sure Loki and I will be happy to help you be small whenever you need if you just let us know,” she said, but then she considered her own train of thought which she had originally approached him for. “But um…”
Mobius took another sip of coffee to hide his smile as he predicted what she was going to say.
“I hadn’t really prepared to be a caregiver yesterday, like mentally… so um…”
“You want some daddy time?”
“If you’re alright with it.”
“Yeah, that would be good for me, too actually,” he smiled.
“… and them?”
“What about them? They’re sleeping. We’ll be quiet and clean up once they’re up. There’s no big rush today.”
Curse of vivid mental image but no drawing be upon me.
I don't know the pose but mobius with a primary colored 198/90s sweater and overalls because he is baby <3
It is in my head. He lives in my head.
He is asking Sylvie (maybe Loki depending on which AU this is idk) for something. It's about a toy. Batteries for one he has or maybe about a new one he sees and he wants it really REALLY bad because it's so cool.
He's either sitting on the floor with the toy in his hands asking them about it, or tugging on their sleeve and pointing to get their attention.
headcanon that baby little Mobius has a really kitschy 1960's/70's nursery. It is the ugliest thing in the world but Loki still let him have it over something a little more sleek and upscale after seeing how happy it makes him.
They sit together in the wooden rocking chair a lot. It shouldn't be able to withstand the weight of two adult bodies, let alone one Asgardian, but it does anyway.
Sylvie sometimes finds them curled up together, with Loki fast asleep after trying so so hard to be a good caregiver, and picks the equally sleepy baby up off his lap, carrying him to either the crib or guiding his mouth to a warm bottle.
She doesn't really get it, but if it makes them happy, she reasons, there must be something to it.
When he has older headspaces, he really tries to interact with her more, because she is his favorite, if only by a little bit, showing her toys and handing her whatever is in his hands, which usually ends up being a stuffed animal with a strange, cartoony, too-close-to-realism-for-comfort face.
He sits on the shag carpet floor with his mix of wooden carved toys his caregivers made for him and plastic Fisher Price toys in pastel blue soft overalls that aren't really denim with a big puppy patch sewn across his chest.
