A/N: This is basically a tweet by the amazing "at WalkingFannibal". Thank you for letting me steal your idea! Unbeta'd.

He made it. Loki esacped Hel and found his brother, alive, at the other end of the universe. But his mind isn't ready to accept that they're both alive, and well, and together. He keeps having nightmares about Thanos. About all the ways he tortured him, humilated him, until he finally broke. About the titan's threat to do even worse, should Loki fail on Midgard. He wakes up in sweat, his whole body tense with the effort to swallow his screams. Those are the better nights.

Some nights it's Thor being tortured or killed, and those are unbearable. Those are the nights he does scream.

One of those nights he sits up, bending over in pain. It's a pain worse than the physical agony of being beaten, burnt, broken and cut to pieces. It's the pain of losing his brother. Of being utterly alone. He knows Thor is fine, probably peacefully asleep not too far away from him, but the pain just doesn't stop. The nightmare refuses to let him go. Loki takes a breath, calming himself as much as he can, and throws a veil over himself. It's so sloppy it would never work in battle, or even in daylight, but it'll do for a quiet night indoors. He needs to see Thor. Just see him. Look at him, reassure himself that his brother is whole and sane and safe.

It works. The pain subsides, retreating like a falling tide. He can breathe again. Thor is alright. With a deep sigh of relief he turns to leave.

"What are you doing here?"

Loki freezes. Crap. The veil is down and he didn't even notice. Clenching his jaws he tries to come up with a lie, but draws a blank.

"Loki?"

Thor sounds sleepy and a little annoyed. Loki stares at his brother, his vision going blurry. He swallows hard, trying to regain his composure.

"It's nothing. Go back to sleep."

Thor stares back for a long moment and then gets up.

"What is it, brother?"

He sounds worried now, his voice low and gentle, and that's what undoes Loki. There's nothing he can do against the tears, and when Thor takes that one step closer and pulls him into his arms, he starts to cry in earnest. Thor holds him until he's calmed down, and when he speaks again his voice is suspiciously rough:

"I'm here, Loki. We're safe."