Work Text:
Loki yawns as he stares numbly at the ceiling. He was going on day 8 of no sleep, and it was starting to get to him. But, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t fall asleep. He sighs, throwing back the covers and getting out of bed. He was unsure if it was living at Stark Tower that gave him this curse or just simply the excitement (for lack of a better word) of the events that led up to him moving in.
He’s not sure exactly what his intentions of leaving his room were -- possibly just the pure boredom of being in one place for hours. Not that staying in his room was new to him. Loki wondered if the other Avengers being asleep had anything to do with the sudden courage to leave his room. Almost instinctively, he found himself walking the route to Thor’s room. He wants to knock but the utter fear of Thor rejecting Loki or just not even being awake stops him. For now, he just stares at the door, eyes heavy and burning with a longing desire for sleep. Just when he’s about to give up, the door opens. Loki startles slightly but doesn’t show it. He looks at Thor, unable to say anything.
“What are you doing?” Thor asks. Loki can tell by his voice that he wasn’t asleep, so any guilt of waking him vanishes. “Awake at this hour, I mean.” Loki’s expression softens as he inhales slightly.
“Can’t sleep,” he says dryly.
“Nightmares?”
“Not sure,” Loki shrugs, fiddling with his fingers. “I just...I guess I don’t really want to be alone. Sorry to bother you, brother.” Just as Loki turns away to leave, he feels Thor’s hand on his shoulder.
“Please stay,” he pleads. Loki turns around, confused. “I’d-I’d like some company as well.” Loki stares at him for a moment before they both walk into the room. They sit on the edge of Thor’s bed in companionable silence. The sky is barely lit up, the sun isn’t out yet, though. Loki wants to say something but instead moves closer to Thor, resting his head on Thor’s shoulder. He doesn’t know how he expects Thor to react; perhaps push him away. But Thor just lets him do that and, instead, asks, “Are you alright?” Loki nods.
“I’m so tired,” Thor shoves down his confusion and wraps his arm around Loki’s torso. Loki was never one to openly admit his feelings.
“How long has it been since you last slept, even for a few hours?” Loki thinks for a moment.
“Eight days,” he says hesitantly.
Thor sighs. “Loki,”
“I know, but I’m not purposely trying to stay awake,” he says. “Plus, there's not a point in trying to go to sleep if the sun will be up shortly.”
“It’d be worth it for a few hours,” Thor says. Loki shrugs. “Loki, I really worry about you.” Thor says. Loki lifts his head up and looks at Thor, a puzzled look on his face.
“What do you mean?” he asks.
“You have bags under your eyes, you’re undoubtedly hallucinating.” Loki barely nods, his eyelids drooping ever so slightly. “You look so weary, brother, even Banner is worried about you.” Thor explains. Loki doesn’t say anything and rests his head back on Thor’s shoulder. He feels his eyes slip shut and he somewhat drifts off. Thor’s almost certain that Loki had finally fallen asleep until he flinches, opening his eyes and lifting his head. “You alright?”
Loki stares at him, exhaustion manifested deeply in his eyes. “Something close to a nightmare,” he says. He lies back on his brother’s bed; Thor lies with him. Almost instinctively, Loki stretches his arm out over Thor’s stomach, something he’d do as a child after he’d had a nightmare. Thor chuckles as he begins to run his hand along Loki’s arm. Loki closes his eyes at the action.
“Some things never change, I see,” he says.
“I suppose,” Loki replies with a smile. His smile slowly fades and his breathing evens out, and Thor silently cries out a victorious ‘yes’ before standing up and draping a blanket over his brother. He lies back down next to Loki and pulls part of the large blanket over himself before giving into exhaustion and quickly drifting off.