Insomnia
Loki’s hand hovers above the door handle, trembling. Don’t wake Thor, you don’t need to wake Thor, a small voice in his head told him. He needs his rest.
Loki needed his rest, the selfish side of him answers back. And he couldn’t get any, when every time he closed his eyes he was there and alone and he opened his eyes grasping for someone who wasn’t there.
He takes a deep breath, hand forming a fist, raising it to knock-
“What the hell are you doing?” Loki jerks back, turns, and tries to suppress the instinctual defensive stance. It’s Tony Stark, looking at him with an accusation plain on his face.
Things had not been easy, for any of them, since Thor and Loki had crashed landed here on their escape from Thanos. The physical wounds had healed, and Thor had managed to get Tony to agree to let Loki have free reign of the Avengers complex, but there is still a simmering tension in the air. As he predicted, Tony plainly believed he had somehow enchanted his brother, tricked him into trusting him again. There was nothing either of them could say to convince Tony he was wrong. It was understandable, Loki admitted, justified suspicion. Most of the time he dealt with it by ignoring the tension, keeping out of Tony’s way, and consuming himself with trying to find a way to contact the Valkyrie.
It was just particularly annoying at this late hour, when he hadn’t slept a full night in nearly a week. The exhaustion pulls at him and he just doesn’t want to deal with this right now.
“I was-” He starts.
“You were lurking around my house-”
“I wasn’t-”
“-planning who knows what-” Fury rises in Loki.
“I wasn’t, and I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
“Don’t have to…you’re in my house, horns, you’ll explain yourself when I want you to explain yourself.”
“You insolent-”
The door wrenches open, revealing a bleary eyed Thor.
“What is going on?” There’s a moment of resounding silence.
“He was…lurking, I don’t know what he was doing.”
“I wasn’t doing anything!” Loki cries, indignant.
“Then what are you doing, in the middle of the night, skulking around-”
“Enough!” Thor says. “Loki-”
“It is clear I am not welcome,” Loki says, anger brimming. “So I’ll just go back to my room then.”
“Good!” Tony says at the same time Thor says, “No, Loki, wait-”
But he’s already gone, back in his room in a blink, curling on his side in bed. He hugs his knees to his chest and tries to ease his breath and racing heart.
A small, tired part of him still wants Thor.
Thor hears Tony out patiently, still feeling bleary and foggy with sleep.
“Stark, I don’t think Loki had something nefarious planned at 1 am.”
“You trust him too much, he could have done anything to you while you were sleeping.”
“Stark…”
“He was hovering outside your door.”
“Stark.”
“You can’t keep trusting him.”
“Stark, he’s my baby brother,” Thor snaps finally. “What do you want me to say?”
“He’s not a baby, Thor, he hasn’t been a baby - hasn’t been innocent in a long time. I don’t know what happened between you, but you can’t forget how dangerous he is. We have to-”
“Tony, can we just talk about this in the morning?” Thor rubs his face. “It’s the middle of the night. I just want to go back to sleep.” Tony fixes his jaw.
“Fine. Fine.”
And he leaves Thor to finally go back to sleep.
Not that Thor had been sleeping terribly well. He kept waking in sudden panics and had to calm himself by repeating, over and over, in a whisper it’s okay, he’s okay, he’s okay, you’re safe.
He has a sneaking suspicion of what Loki was doing outside his door. This suspicion is confirmed the moment he collapses back to the mattress and with a crackle of light, Loki appears next to him.
“Thor, we need to talk about Stark.” Thor rolls onto his back as Loki starts talking, railing against Tony Stark and his surveillance and his suspicions. He would be annoyed, would tell Loki that they’d talk about it in the morning like he did with Tony, but in the dim light he can also see the dark shadows under his eyes, the way his hands would not still, the wanness of his cheeks.
“What were you doing outside my door?” He finally asks, interrupting the monologue. “The truth, Loki.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” He says in a whisper, after a moment’s hesitation.
“Nightmares?” Thor whispers back. Loki nods. “Stay here.” He finds his brother’s hand in the darkness. “I couldn’t sleep either. I was afraid too.” He tugs on the hand and pulls Loki down, tucking him under his arm with his head resting on his chest. He draws the blankets up around them and for the first time all night Thor feels his fear fully dissipate. He rubs Loki’s shoulder absentmindedly.
“It’s just so quiet,” Loki says. “Being alone.” Thor hums in agreement. His room had felt unnaturally silent since he moved there from the infirmary. “I even found myself missing the Valkyrie’s snoring. Even…even there, there were so many sounds and I could still hear you breathing.”
“I know, it’s too quiet here.”
“And cold.”
Thor tucks the blanket a little closer around them. “Good night, brother,” He whispers. Loki’s already dropping off, relaxing into him. Thor sleeps dreamlessly for the first time in weeks.