[ chapter four ] Frostbitten

( Time Variance Authority )

THE AMBIANCE WAS FILLED WITH THE COMPLEXION OF SOMETHING ATYPICAL BLENDING WITH UNEXPLAINED DOUBTS. Judging peeks and cold eye contact froze everyone's thoughts and concentrated them in one place, to something or someone strange.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" As he was looking behind me, Mobius questioned me on a window where he saw the reflection of two figures. His voice was trembling, devouring the impressions he had about the situation which was to occur soon. 

Luckily, only those who were in this room could see what was happening inside. So if he started to panic out of nowhere, nobody would eventually see it.

"If I remember correctly, you were the one who begged me to recruit Loki as one of the TVA's investigators for helping us to look for the other Loki variants," I smirked, glancing slightly at Loki who was gaping at the boy who was sitting right in front of him.

"Yeah, but this is completely different. How do we know it's safe?" Mobius asked again while putting his sweaty hand on the one-way mirror.

"How do we know that they will come back?" He continued in interrogation, overwhelming me with a questionnaire.

"Listen Mobius," I addressed him with a soft voice, as I was placing my hands on his pecan jacket which already had signs of constant wearing. My eyes were focusing on his dijon tie that was loose under the collar.

I held the tie carefully between my fingers, touching the soft silk that gleamed under the soft light due to the shiny finish and brushing the tan dots forming a firework around the logo of the organization with my fingerprints. 

I heard the forced gulp, twisting his ideas as I tightened his tie in a swift move upwards with my hand.

"Judge the tree from its fruit, not from its leaves," I whispered as soon as a beam enchanted my lips that pressured the corners to move into a pleased expression. I let go of his tie, wiping the dust off his shoulders.

When she walked away from Mobius, he took a deep breath, nodding in acknowledgment, reaching for a doorknob as he noticed a raven-haired prince aggressively pointing at the newbie.

"You gotta be kidding me," Mobius muttered. However, his conduct changed once he left the darkroom. A frown emerged on his face, defining his wrinkles.

"Get off the couch!" Mobius yelled at the prince of Asgard as he was still showing glints of his bratty attitude. He looked like a teenage girl who got scared by a little spider.

Loki glowered in disappointment because he didn't answer his question, preferably he gave him a cold shoulder, even though they were partners.

"No! This is absurd!" Loki questioned fiercely, putting his hands on his hips, glancing at Nicholas that was sitting on the couch in front of him that its color mirrored the currant bush, clearly protesting about their mysterious mission.

"I said get off the couch! Now!" Mobius shouted again, demanding respect from him. Normally he wouldn't care that much but the Headmistress was watching them, plus the couches were freshly cleaned.

Loki sat down since he hadn't any other option, still leering at Nicholas dressed in an entirely black suit with a shimmering silver logo of the Time Variance Authority pinned on the breast pocket.

As might be expected, Loki had the same suit on, convinced that he looked the best among them. Also, the prince was the one who won the staring contest with the boy that hadn't spoken yet.

Nicholas blinked, due to his being dry from the constant reversing the memories that flashed in front of his eyes as a viaduct, carrying the stream of his beliefs.

Mobius cleared his throat, addressing both of them to draw attention to him. When he succeeded he exhaled one more time to calm himself down.

"What are you looking at? You don't have much time to waste. Let's get to work," He encouraged them to stand up as he with one click opened the fluorescent marigold time door which challenged them to explore it.

Both of them immediately stood up when the dazzling orange glow blinded them.

Loki's eyes flickered in shock of amazement but the surprise faded as soon as he realized there must be a catch. He looked at Mobius in disbelief as he was handing him the tempad.

"Is this real?" Loki asked in confusion as the skepticism puzzled his mind, gazing at the tempad that looked suspicious rather than a way of possible escape. The portal lured him to observe it closer, thinking that the doubts would go away.

"Well— About that, you need to find out by yourselves," Mobius explained with a poker face that seemed more like an awkward spasm, holding back the nervousness that tried to overtake his whole body, making him quiver like a leaf in a slight breeze.

"Time Keepers gave you a chance, therefore I advise you to be careful about your decisions," He continued in explanation. The second part of the sentence stated he seemed a little bit worried.

Mobius patiently waited for Loki to take the tempad. When he did and started to walk to the door that led to the unknown, while he was examining the mysterious coordinates, Mobius unnoticed was softly grabbing Nicholas' arm and handing him a reusable heating pad that was already pre-heated.

The warmth slowly melted into his palm, and irritated the skin, making him wonder why did such a thing. 

Nick peeked at Mobius, incomprehensible, however, he pushed him to the door that swallowed him whole right after Loki took all the courage and went straight into the scintillating nightmare.

( Location unknown )

A FLICKER DISAPPEARED IN A MURK, illuminating the snowy precipice that headed to nowhere. The sudden temperature change hit them as hard as feeling nothing underneath their feet — endless nothingness.

The strong wind was playing with the white freezing powder that punched them in the faces as they were falling, rolling in the deathly cold snow down the cliff.

The heat from Nicholas' palm vanished and his hand became frigid as the snow brushed through his fingers, almost paralyzing them as the coldness froze them for a moment.

Nicholas landed in the snow blanket. Luckily, no stones could hit his head or get injured, but the intense iciness got under his suit, consuming his slightly tanned skin that became rosy at his defined features.

The powder avalanche touched his nape, making him cower in shoulders. Even though he felt like he was out of breath, he tried to stand up immediately, but the attempts were unsuccessful. He felt the cold pulling him down, making it difficult for him to move, as if his limbs and the blood froze completely, immobilizing him, making him lose his mind.

Nick blinked several times to get used to the darkness that was trying to blend with the snowfields. He had the advantage of living in the darkness before, so his eyesight was ready to be used in these situations.

He shivered in horror, his body froze as he observed a silhouette of someone that was in the snow. He held the heating pad tightly, even though the warmth was already gone and it seemed it had the purpose of being a reusable ice cube.

He knew it was Loki due to the long slicked raven dark hair that was glittering under the moonlight due to the snowflakes which settled on his head. The subtle light of the tempad was reflecting on his dark suit, illuminating the outline of his body.

"Of course, it's a trap! I should've known!" Loki was mumbling, trying to decode the coordinates that were flickering on the screen on the tempad. His fingers brushed over a strange symbol carved on the lid. He stood up with a sharp and dramatic hair flip, dusting off the snow that stuck to him as he was lying in the snowdrift.

He raised slightly one of his eyebrows as he realized that the coordinates were timed to change in a few hours, making the tempad to be unable to be used within the countdown. He murmured something in anger, showing the tempad back to the pocket.

Loki wanted to explore the terrain, making his way in one of the snow paths, forgetting that he was sent here with someone else, someone that was indeed vulnerable to low temperatures.

"L-Loki?" Nicholas addressed him quietly since the gale was echoing through the mountains, stealing his words. The sound of his teeth chattering was louder than his cry for help. He noticed how the frost didn't stop him, as if the coldness was his element.

It took him a moment to look back at Nick, who was uncontrollably trembling, as his lips were slowly turning blue. Loki exhaled first in annoyance, remembering what Mobius said about making decisions, but the exasperation disappeared as he observed him being entirely helpless.

This made him think. If he was part of some TVA test, he wanted to be the best one, and showing his empathy towards others was definitely key to the spectators' hearts.

Although Nicholas felt unexplainable pressure on his chest, fighting with his inner demons, his heartbeat calmed down, perceiving the fact that he was coming back for him. He hissed in pain as he was reaching out his hand to give Loki permission to help.

Loki pulled Nick to his feet, noticing the icy touch, it made him realize that he was frozen to the marrow.

Nicholas stumbled, as his heavy legs wanted to tear him down one more time, nevertheless Loki was faster. 

He put his right hand on his back, pulling him even closer, now he held him in his arms around his waist as if he was fragile, which eventually turned out to be true because it felt like he was clenching an icicle. 

He held him very delicately as if he held a withered flower.

The boy glanced at him in shock which then faded away since he was so mesmerized by Loki's blue skin tone mirroring the lapis lazuli and his eyes burning red. The red tones were more saturated than Nicholas' flushed nose, which was irritated due to the icy air.

His heartbeat went crazy, even though a frozen fist was clutching his heart. All of a sudden a warm feeling engulfed him as a green gleam dimmed, adding weight to his shoulders.

Since he was enthralled it took him a moment to realize that it was in fact a warm snow jacket that pushed his shoulders down. Nicholas' eyes sparkled in enthusiasm. Loki eventually let him go, but he still had the on his back as support if he tripped once more.

The only thing he managed to do was letting out a soft murmur of thanks as he was trying to put properly on the jacket Loki recalled for him. Nick was still shivering frantically attempting to put his hand through one of the sleeves.

The prince of Asgard was patiently waiting next to him, observing the mountains veiled in white, mirroring the snow dunes. A cold breeze was hitting his face. The swishing sound gave him chills.

The eerie atmosphere was the originator of the goosebumps. Being with someone he didn't even know in the middle of nothing, unintentionally showing his true form was simply terrifying. He never felt so lost before.

"We need to keep going," Loki uttered, knowing that if they will move, at least the boy's body temperature will stay normal. He peeked at him, checking if he finally wore the jacket correctly. Nicholas seemingly struggled with the zipper as the sleeves were longer and didn't match the length of his arms.

As soon as Nicholas nodded at the remark, he put on a hood to protect his ears from the freezing gale that friskily played with his curls. 

A pleasant feeling of being secure swept over him, realizing that Loki was already ahead. He had no choice but to follow him if he wanted to survive. . .

THEY CONTINUED THEIR JOURNEY THROUGH THE SNOWFIELDS THAT REMINDED THEM OF SUGAR LOAVES.  It didn't seem to be a civilization nearby. The only thing that surrounded them was snow and dark woods covered in sleet. Sparks of snow glitters faded away when their shadows suddenly appeared when the moon was showing them the way.

Nicholas finally noticed two sets of tracks that lead in the same direction they were currently heading, making him believe that they were walking around in circles. Nevertheless, if this was indeed true, the snow would have swept these tracks because a blizzard was coming.

Loki suddenly changed direction only because he noticed that Nicholas needed to break. He walked slowly and was too far back, sometimes stumbling as if his legs weren't listening to him.

"You said we need to keep going," Nick stated as he was puzzled by his sudden decision. He studied Loki as he was collecting the wood that was entirely covered in snow, definitely wet, but he wanted to use it for a campfire.

"Let's pretend I never said that before," Loki responded without hesitation as he realized it wasn't a good idea to force him to go hiking. He should've left him in the snow to die of hypothermia when he had the chance to do so.

Loki could win the TVA's competition in a snap but he decided to babysit Nick, at least he finally knew how others, especially Thor, felt when he must look after him, whenever their parents were gone.

"Do we at least know where we are?" Nick questioned quietly. As soon as he asked, Loki handed him the tempad. He didn't even look at him.

Nicholas stepped aside to examine the tempad which was surprisingly extremely cold to touch so he almost hissed in pain when his fingers stuck to it. The flames of sudden fire and the green glow lit up his eyes, making him take a glimpse at Loki who conjured a blanket out of nowhere and placed it on the ground which shone in greenness. There were no signs of snow around the fireplace as if the area was shielded thanks to an invisible shelter.

The green zone sparkled underneath the warm radiance like fairy dust.

"It says Dead Mountain, which is pretty accurate," Nicholas mumbled, trying to make a joke in this hard and serious situation but his confidence left him as soon as he registered that it could sound like he was trying to make an impression on Loki. At the moment he was completely useless and he felt bad about it.

"1959," he said plainly which led him to pause for a moment as he perceived the fact he time traveled.

"Wait! How do you know?" Loki questioned him, coming a little closer, taking a look over his shoulder at the tempad's bronze display. The information was indeed written in Russian but when he clicked on the flickering writing, the words were suddenly translated.

"Well, if I had the time, I could have figured that out by myself," he uttered in suppressed anger, tightening his lips. He took the tempad, to observe it more closely.

"Did we really time travel?" Nicholas proceeded in interrogation. An infinite amount of unease was forming and crawling to the darkest corners of his mind. The answer to his question was too obvious, that Loki's deadpan expression made him anxious.

"You don't really see it, do you? You literally signed a contract with the Time Variance Authority and you're still surprised that you time travel? It's obviously a test. Do you have anything there at all? Clearly not. Because with that constant questioning you're proving that you aren't meant to pass it, so don't even try, " Loki was indirectly pointing at the boy's head. He didn't really care that it sounded bad, lowkey making fun of him that he needed more time to absorb it all.

Nicholas sat down on the blanket that Loki prepared for both of them but mainly for him since he was vulnerable in a cold. He was sitting near the fire and stared into the dashing flames as if he was in a trance.

Although the fire crackles could be heard for miles and miles, Loki focused mainly on the boy's quiet sobbing.

Loki exhaled loudly because his throat clenched in anxiety since he knew he was the one who made him cry, which reminded him of himself when he was younger — misunderstood. Even though Nicholas wasn't doing anything wrong he was unreasonably mad at him and he felt bad about it.

It was very awkward since he didn't know how to properly apologize because he didn't know him at all but still pretended that he did, hurting him on purpose.

A green color flashed in his hands, generating another blanket that he clutched in a sudden wave of nervousness. He didn't even want to go near him because he knew he had hurt him but he needed to beg for forgiveness which wasn't his style at all.

Loki gathered all the courage and went to him, covering his back with a blanket, making sure that he's secured, and protected from the freezing temperatures when he clearly couldn't protect him from his honesty.

"I'm so sorry," Loki apologized as he sat right next to him.

"And I mean that sincerely not as a joke," He added, glancing at him while his eyes were drowning in sorrow, thinking that this would work as an apology.

"Is that really what you think of me?" Nicholas questioned as he was still shedding tears, not even trying to wipe them off because they were slowly subsiding.

"Yes, well, not really, I mean it's only an assumption," Loki shrugged his shoulders while being too honest which was in fact a need to start their friendship in the right way. He was shamefaced, regretting every aspect of their previous conversation. Nicholas had a bubbly personality, even though he was introverted most of the time.

"I'm sure you have some assumptions about me," He continued, thinking that this would help them but Nick raised slightly one of his eyebrows in pure confusion.

"No, I don't," Nicholas shook his head.

"What about the New York Chitauri Invasion I led in 2012? What's your opinion on that? It literally feels like yesterday," Loki asked very carefully, expecting that he would praise him for that because starting a war conflict was quite worthy of respect.

He shook his head again.

"Oh really? Are you sure? Maybe you heard something but you can't connect it because you weren't there when it happened," He tried to get an honest and positive answer.

"I wasn't born yet," Nicholas simplified the response because he felt like Loki would be able to interrogate him about the New York attacks in detail.

"Oh really! That technically explains why you're not afraid of me," Loki chuckled ironically but the laughter faded away as he exhaled, "nevertheless, you definitely heard of me before, there's no way you didn't." He wondered.

"I don't think so," Nick insisted, knowing that he had never heard of him before for which he felt terrible. The tables have turned. The only one who was sad here was Loki. He studied him as he was gazing at the soothing fire, calming his nerves.

"Maybe, I have one," Nicholas said after a while, wanting to bring peace. He was talking about assumptions again because one popped up in his head as soon as one of the flames scorched a snowflake that got in its way by accident.

Loki locked eyes with him.

"Although you made mistakes and hurt a lot of people, you are trying to do the opposite," Nick declared, not even knowing it was still an assumption or his point of view because he helped him a lot today which he didn't have to.

"Okay, I'm not sure about this one, but nice try," Loki smirked at the nonsense the boy uttered, taking the tempad from the pocket of his pitch-black jacket, checking the remaining time which separated them from using the tempad for opening another timedoor.

"What's that?" Nick asked, pointing with his finger at the symbol that was on the back of the tempad. It seemed like it was carved there at the last minute. It looked like an uneven rhombus.

"Huh?" Loki wondered, and looked at the back of the gadget, noticing a familiar runic symbol. He touched it before but he didn't examine it in-depth, thinking it was the stupid logo of the organization.

"It's a Jotunheim's rune," He dry swallowed, finally realizing that this carving showed his form. Every time he touched one of them or touched relics of Frost Giants he temporarily reverted to his original form - the only explanation of him being blue all of a sudden.

"I think I've seen it before," Nicholas confessed, snuggling down the blanket. He was so tired, maybe because he finally cried and the fire was cozy, although he almost died in one of the snow pits.

"Where?" Loki interrogated him immediately as he admitted that he saw the rune before. He was silently freaking out. They did that on purpose, showing his weakness.

"I don't think that sleeping is the best decision at the moment when I am asking you where you saw it, Nicholas," He demanded a response but when he took a glance at him, the boy was already lying down, cuddling with the checkered blanket.

"Oh come on! You can't be serious," Loki expressed in disappointment and breathed out. He had so many questions that needed to be answered and Nick chose resting rather than responding to them.

"This is important," He insisted, but when he reached out for him to shake him a blinding light, reminding him of a fireball flew across the skies, illuminating the snowfields turning them into eruptions that in a second faded away like an extinct volcano.

A woman shrieking and a loud growl echoed through the mountains.

Someone needed help immediately. When he turned back to wake up Nicholas because it was an emergency, the blanket descended, outlining the boy's body, which disappeared in the darkness right in front of his eyes.

He was gone.

author's note:

yes, and I did indeed edited the Jotun!Loki gif at the top 

Ya girl Chia is back with a new chapter that I wrote for literally a thousand years but whatever, I am here to introduce the important segment of this story. Therefore I am introducing you to one of my fav adorable, but chaotic team-up I ever came up with. Everyone is babysitting Loki but Loki never was the babysitter.  (Also a little reminder for those who would like to ship them, although Nicholas is biromantic demisexual he's still a minor, keep that in mind, thank you 💜) Thank you for patiently waiting for the new chapter!

Do you know what mysteries surround the Dead Mountain in 1959?

a sign-off gif by @/silksenses