Loki is just happy to be here.

The Loom is destroyed.

The multiverse is alive and well.

Everybody lived to tell the tale.

Who doesn't love a happy ending?

It's only been a few days since Loki, Sylvie, and Mobius moved to New Asgard (circa 2023), and they've already made quite a home. Mobius has his own place a short ways away, so right now, it's just Loki and Sylvie, the latter still fast asleep in bed while the former gets an early start.

She's feeling really good today. She doesn't know if it's because she has her brother back or because she finally has a home or even just because she woke up with her lovely girlfriend in her arms, but she is having a wonderful day, and she's not going to waste it.

She felt rather feminine when she woke up, which was almost unfamiliar after so long presenting masculinely. She can only guess how long it's been since she presented herself as a woman – decades, at least; Asgard's misogyny wore her down eventually, and being a man just seemed so much easier.

But today, she wakes up feeling like a woman, so, for the first time in far too long, she lets herself be a woman.

She doesn't have any feminine clothing, but Sylvie's acquired quite the collection over the last few days (largely in thanks to Love, bless her heart, hounding everyone in sight to help Sylvie build her wardrobe), so that's where Loki goes shopping this morning. She's quite a bit taller than Sylvie, even in this form, so her cropped shirt barely reaches her waist and she has to wear a skirt because literally nothing else will fit, but she's okay with that. She feels like a woman, and she's going to be a woman, even if her clothes are eight sizes too small while she does it.

This is the first time since they arrived that Loki's woken up before Sylvie, and she decides to make the most of it. She's going to make the most amazing, delicious, disappointingly Midgardian breakfast Sylvie has ever had. It's going to involve some research on her new computer that she doesn't really understand how to use and stealing quite a bit of food from Thor's fridge, but it will be worth it when she sees the smile on Sylvie's face.

They're going to be okay here.

Things are going to work out.

She's going to make sure of it.

She starts with the pancakes. She googles the recipe, makes a list of everything she'll need (which also includes googling what a griddle is), and then teleports to Thor's house. He and Love must be fast asleep because nobody comes out of their rooms to ask why she's looting their house, and it's only a matter of minutes until she's back home with everything she needs.

She begins mixing the ingredients, which involves a lot of teleporting back and forth between the kitchen counter and the computer to check the recipe, and she's well on her way to making her girlfriend a delicious breakfast.

She's in the middle of mixing the final ingredients when...

"What the fuck are you doing in my house?"

Loki turns around, and, for the first time since they left the TVA, the sight of her girlfriend makes her frown. Sylvie wasn't supposed to wake up yet. It defeats the whole purpose of breakfast in bed!

Sylvie holds out a hand, and a knife from the knife block on the counter flies into it. Her jaw is clenched, her eyes are narrowed. This is not a good situation to be in.

"Sylvie, it's just me," Loki says quickly, holding her hands up by her head instinctively in a surrender of sorts.

"Who are you?" she demands, and she points the knife right at Loki's face, which is oddly attractive if also mind-numbingly terrifying.

"It's just me," Loki says again, rushing through her words. "It's me. It's Loki."

Sylvie pauses, brows furrowing, and slowly, she lowers the knife to her side. "Loki?"

"Mm-hmm," she hums. "It's just me. Please don't stab me." Not that she couldn't handle a stab wound or two, but New Asgard doesn't seem to have healing stones and healing naturally just sounds like so much work.

Sylvie cocks her head to the side, eyeing her uncertainly. "Why are you...?" She gestures to her with her knife.

Loki hesitates. "Why am I awake, why am I making breakfast, or why am I a woman?"

Sylvie gestures vaguely with her knife. "The last one."

"I do this sometimes."

"No, you don't."

Loki furrows her brows. "What?"

"No, you don't," Sylvie repeats. "I'm the only female Loki."

Loki nods slowly. "That's true."

"So how are you a female Loki if I'm the only female Loki?"

"Because I'm not," Loki says. "I am, but I'm not."

Sylvie's face creases in confusion. Loki's does the same. That was a horrible explanation. She should try this again.

"I've been told I have a strange relationship with gender," Loki tells her. "Sometimes I'm a man, sometimes I'm a woman, sometimes I'm neither or both or some secret third thing. It's very complicated."

Sylvie just looks at her for a few moments; then, "You can do that?"

"Of course I can," Loki says. "I'm a shape-shifter. I can do anything."

"No, not that," Sylvie says. "I mean you can change genders. You can just wake up and decide that you don't want to be a guy, and then, whoop, you're not a guy anymore."

Loki hesitates. "Decide might be overstating it," she says. "I can decide to change my appearance, but my gender itself is usually out of my hands."

Sylvie stares at her for a few moments.

"That is so weird."

Loki clasps her hands behind her back awkwardly. "Is this a problem?" she asks. "Because I can change back if–"

"Don't you fucking dare," Sylvie interrupts.

Before Loki can even begin to process that, Sylvie flings her knife aside and runs up to her, throwing her arms around her girlfriend's neck and pressing their lips together.

Loki rests her hands on Sylvie's hips and closes her eyes, reveling in the feeling of her girlfriend's lips on her own. It feels different like this – not better, not worse, but different. She doesn't know if it's because she's so much smaller or because her body moves differently in this form or what, but somehow, this experience that she's had dozens of times feels new now. It feels like the first time all over again.

Sylvie runs her fingers through Loki's hair, gliding through her long, dark locks until they get tangled in the curly mess at the ends – and Loki can tell they're tangled because of the way Sylvie keeps pulling on her hair; the way her lips still as her attention shifts elsewhere. Loki smiles to herself and lets their lips separate, only to rest their foreheads together because she is not moving away from her lover, no matter how ridiculous the situation is becoming.

"How is that working out for you?" Loki asks quietly, a teasing lilt to her voice.

"You need to invest in a hairbrush," Sylvie mumbles as she carefully pulls her fingers free.

Loki huffs. "I'm sure that can be arranged." She presses a kiss to Sylvie's nose before standing up straight, and she can see her girlfriend's face flush the faintest shade of red, which puts a smile on her face. She's so easily embarrassed in the cutest of ways. "My hair aside, though, this is alright? You don't mind that...?"

"Why would I mind?" Sylvie asks. "I like women. You know that. And I like you, which is what really matters." She stands on her toes, her hands on Loki's shoulders for balance, and presses a kiss to her girlfriend's cheek.

"I just wanted to be sure." Loki leans down and kisses the top of her head.

"Well, rest assured, I still love you." Sylvie jumps up and wraps her legs around Loki's waist, and instinctively, Loki's hands shoot out to hold her up. "And I will win the kissing war." She presses a kiss to Loki's neck to prove it.

Loki huffs a laugh. "The kissing war?"

"What, you don't think this is a war?" Sylvie asks teasingly. She kisses Loki's ear – and gives it a little nibble, too, for good measure, which gets another laugh out of her. "I will find the most places to kiss you."

"Oh, we'll see about that," Loki says teasingly. She grabs Sylvie by the waist and hoists her up, and her shirt rides up just enough that Loki can kiss her stomach before setting her back on the floor.

Sylvie scoffs, slapping a hand over her heart in mock offense. "Oh, it is on!" She takes her girlfriend's hand, and she brings it to her lips as she bows dramatically. "M'lady."

Loki bites her lip to keep from laughing. She doesn't know what she did to deserve the cutest girlfriend in the history of girlfriends, but she's sure glad she did it.

"I feel like an eligible bachelorette at a ball," she jokes. "Are you going to ask me to dance now?"

Sylvie's eyes light up at the question. "I wasn't," she admits, "but I sure am now." She kisses Loki's hand once more. "May I have this dance, m'lady?"

Loki frowns. Usually she'd jump at that, but... "The pancakes."

Sylvie rolls her eyes. "Fuck your pancakes. Dance with me."

One look at the smile on Sylvie's face, and Loki breaks. She pulls Sylvie in close, one hand on her waist while the other still holds hers. Sylvie grins and wraps her free arm around her, pulling her closer until their foreheads meet once more.

"There's no music," Loki remarks. She has a sneaking suspicion that Sylvie plans to fix that. She's always on top of everything. She's good like that.

"Oh, you're right." Sylvie frowns, an exaggerated movement. "Maybe we can't dance."

Loki furrows her brows. That's not quite what she–

Sylvie smirks. "Guess we just have to kiss instead."

Needless to say, Loki does not have to be told twice.