shamechamber | [ post-zhautas ]

[ there was no escaping thanos. not really. not when such an outcome was long slated to be. but because loki had traveled back with the knowledge of his death, he could plan for it. after all his sister is the goddess of death and loki has maneuvered death to his advantage before.

he'll be damned if thanos takes his life away for good. so he managed to hide his spirit while his body perished in the flames. after that, it took time. years. but loki finally managed to piece his form together and return to the waking world. he wonders if it's too late. his hand hovers near the door before he thinks better of it, and slides in, using his magic.

the sanctum was . . . more of a mess than he recalled. dressed in his trademark, loki saunters in like he owns the place. ]

[When Stephen returned he remembered everything, but life on Earth was the same as he'd left it.

He looked, but Loki was gone. Peter was still young, Steve Rogers was not the Steve he'd known. Wong knew nothing of Zenith, no one seemed to. No one else existed from there, it was a little like waking up from a very long fever dream. Like Dormammu's timeloop, something apart from time and space that he had most definitely experienced, but that he had experienced alone.

It was difficult to move on from, but he hadn't had a choice. There was Thanos, and Nightmare, and a host of other threats, and he was still the Sorcerer Supreme with a world to look after.

So he did. He focused on what had to be done, as he always had, and let everything else fall to the wayside.

-

The Sanctum may have changed, but Stephen's perception of all that goes on in it hasn't. So when Loki walks in Stephen knows he's there. His heart gives a lurch in his chest, but it's wrapped in trepidation. Surely this is a trick of some kind. He hasn't found any sign of Loki in all these years, how is he here now? And what are the chances it's his Loki, when everyone else who'd been with him on Zhautas are nothing but memories?

Either way, Stephen has to know.

He floats down the stairs, cloak billowing gently behind him. His boots touch the ground without him realizing. While Stephen's goatee has grown to something closer to a beard, and the hair at his temples is maybe a little whiter, Loki looks just as Stephen last saw him. Stephen drinks in the sight of him, but doesn't come any closer. He tries to push something like bravado into his voice, but it comes out uncertain.]

Loki?

[ loki smiles, even if it is a little tremulous at the edges. it's possible that stephen no longer has the same memories. it's possible that loki has made a mistake. but.

but. ]

I'm here.

[Stephen's heart nearly climbs into his throat. It has to be. If it was any other Loki they'd never look at him in that way.

Cloak shoves Stephen forward when his own feet won't move, and he grabs Loki to him, pulling him into a hug. Alive and whole. Stephen breathes in once, twice, closing his eyes.]

What took you so long?

[ loki tentatively wraps his own arms around stephen, nuzzling his neck. ]

My apologies. It took me a while to regain my true form once more.

[Stephen laughs, the sound soft, muffled from Loki's shoulder.]

I was-- it was a joke. I can't believe it's you.

[He lifts his face, turns it toward Loki's, brow pressed to his temple for a moment before he pulls back enough to look Loki in the eyes.]

I was beginning to question my sanity. If it'd even happened. You remember me? In that...from that place?

[Like if he says Zhautas it gives Loki the chance to deny it, and he'll be lost to him once more.]

[ loki nods slowly, laying his hands on top of stephen's. ]

I remember. It's how I managed to survive.

[Stephen swallows hard, feeling both joy and sorrow bubbling up.]

How long were you there without me? And how long did it take you to re-form?

When I was returned, it was nearly the same moment they took me from. But it's been years now.

[ loki takes a moment because it is a difficult process to explain. slowly, the words come to him, piece by piece. ]

A long time. I was formless. Empty. I drifted among the stars until I could find a place to reconstitute myself. Rebuilding takes a lot out of me.

[Stephen slips one of his hands out from under Loki's, reaching up to touch the side of his face. His skin is smooth and cool to the touch, just as Stephen remembers.]

Then you should come in and stay. You'll be safe here with me, under my protection.

[And Thanos is dead, no longer a threat to either of them.]

[ loki smiles faintly, bemused. ]

You want me to stay in your Sanctum? The last time I was here, I was falling for a long time.

[Stephen's voice goes quiet, intent on light but delivered more tenderly than he means to.]

If I recall, a few years ago you had me falling, too. Quite unexpectedly.

[ that is so cheesy, but loki can't help but smile at it. ]

Is that what it was?

[Stephen couldn't help himself, it was right there!]

It is a very Midgardian phrase.

[Stephen lowers his hand to Loki's neck, curling his palm around the curve of it.]

Seeing you here again, now, brings it all back.

[ loki tilts his head to lean against it, pressing a kiss to stephen's palm. ]

All good things, I hope.

[Stephen pretends to ponder Loki's statement, secretly elated from that one simple kiss.]

Well, there was that one time you gave me an X on my Bangr...

[ he can't help a chuckle. ]

That was well deserved.

[Stephen's smile widens and he ducks his head.]

I suppose it was.

[Of course he'd never expected Loki to ever be fond of him, or the other way around. He knows how unlikely their relationship was, maybe still is, but it turned into something incredibly important to him and he doesn't want to lose it a second time.

Stephen cups Loki's face, feeling a quiet rush of both gratitude and anxiousness once more.]

Stay with me?

[ loki leans forward, pressing their foreheads together. he had already met up with thor because his brother needed to know he was in one piece before coming here. now, he can choose for himself where he wants to be. ]

I will be here.

[Stephen smiles warmly, letting his eyes slip closed. How many times had they stood just like this?]

Okay.

[The word barely leaves Stephen's lips before he tilts his face and moves in, pressing a soft, almost shy kiss to Loki's mouth.]

[ there is much that is said about two bodies existing together. how time stops for a single moment. loki has never believed that. he believes in motion. he believes in the turn and pull of stars, the depths of darkness. when loki kisses back, the world shifts and moves and he can feel it in his bones. he wraps his arms around stephen's neck, keeping him close. ]

[Stephen smiles briefly into the kiss before deepening it, melting against Loki's mouth, his body. Stephen's arms wind around Loki's back, searching for angles and cloth to grasp, to reassure it's really him. He's really here after all this time, tasting of frost and mint despite the New York summer just outside. Heart soaring, everything finally feels right.]

[ loki is as solid as he can be. he deepens the kiss, licking into stephen's mouth. usually he's more passionate, more bold. loki comes to take, because you never know when you'll lose. but here, he no longer holds that fear of losing.

perhaps he's finally won. ]

[Stephen kisses Loki thoroughly, and for as long as he can before he can hardly breathe anymore. When he pulls away, it isn't very far, but he can't help it, he lets out a small, stuttered laugh, joy enough to make his face go warm.]

You came back to me. I'd hoped, but I thought...I thought it was all over.

Haven't you heard? I am very hard to kill.

[ he smiles, bittersweet. ]

Surviving is what I do best.

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