Loki had a nightmare that night, as he did every other night. He was onstage, waiting for his cue, feeling the music wash over him... He was entirely focused, entirely ready. The moment was coming, almost there, when...

Silence.

He couldn't hear anything. The conductor's arms kept moving, the orchestra's bows kept sliding across the strings, but Loki was engulfed in silence.

The conductor looked at him, appearing slightly confused, and Loki panicked, trying to start his solo. From the look on the conductor's face, that wasn't right at all. Loki tried again, and now some members of the orchestra were visibly cringing.

Loki choked, unsure what to do, how to react, then everything went dark.

He woke up covered in sweat without any memory of the dream, aside from a vague feeling of panic that soon faded. Groaning, he rolled over to look at the clock. It was 10 AM, way too early for him to be up. He rolled back onto his front and buried his face in his pillow, but he quickly realized that he wouldn't be getting back to sleep anytime soon, and with the sweat drying on his body and soaked into his clothes, he would rather just get up and shower to try to shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

He grabbed his towel and left his room, pulling his door closed behind him. When he turned, the first thing he saw was Tony there with a piece of toast and a grin on his face. Tony set down the toast and quickly scribbled a note.

"Morning Princess."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Good morning, Stark." He was about to make his way down the hall to the bathroom when Tony started writing again.

"Someone's up early today."

Loki rubbed his eyes. "Not by choice, I assure you."

"Just couldn't stay away from me?"

Loki chuckled. "Believe what you will. If you'll excuse me."

Loki couldn't quite keep the smile off his face as he made his way to the shower. He turned on the water as soon as he entered the bathroom and started undressing as he waiting for it to heat up. He paused after he'd removed his shirt, staring at himself in the mirror. He was getting a bit too thin, he thought. He'd been slender his entire life, but before the coma, he had taken care of himself quite well. He watched what he ate, worked out daily, and generally just made sure he always looked presentable. Now, here he was, hair once again messy and tufted and curling out of control, deep bags beneath his eyes, and his ribs were sticking out far more than they every had before.

He groaned and turned away from the mirror. He stuck his hand under the water, finding it warm, and quickly shucked off his pants and stepped into the spray.

The hot water was heavenly against his skin. He hadn't realized how tightly wound his body was, but the heat soothed and relaxed him, and he found himself breathing easier. He stood there for a few minutes, eyes closed and swaying slightly from side to side, just letting the water pour over him.

As his body relaxed, it didn't take long until a more pressing concern made itself known. Still with his eyes closed, Loki slid his hand down his body to his cock. It was getting harder by the moment, twitching in his hand as he wrapped his fingers around it and gave it a slow stroke. He gasped and bit his lip to suppress a moan. He couldn't hear how loud he was, and didn't want to accidentally alert everyone else in the apartment - i.e. Tony - to exactly what he was doing.

He turned around so that the water was running down his front, swirling over his skin and down to the head of his cock as he stroked it, increasing in speed. He'd been neglecting this since the robbery, but now it was like his whole body was uncoiling, the tension was rolling off of him, and he desperately needed this, needed the release. Gods, it felt so good...

His lips were moving, repeating something over and over, but he couldn't really focus enough to know what it was.

He was getting close, so close, he could feel it. He couldn't hold back any longer, and he came hard, moaning, "Tony!"

His eyes opened when he realized what he said. He couldn't tell how loud it had been, but it had definitely been the other man's name on his tongue as he'd brought himself to climax. Loki was mortified, desperately hoping that Stark hadn't heard him, because he didn't think he'd ever be able to live that down.

He washed himself quickly after that, scrubbing his body and lathering his hair. When he turned off the water, he wrapped the towel around his waist and used another to dry the worst of the dripping from his hair. After brushing the knots out of his hair and pulling it into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, he looked at himself in the mirror again. The glass was fogged with steam, but he thought he looked better. His skin was flushed, so he didn't look so sickly, and with his hair brushed and pulled neatly out of his face, he looked at least somewhat human.

Loki wrapped his towel around his waist a bit more securely and left the bathroom, realizing belatedly that he would have to walk by Stark to get back to his room. He sighed inwardly, telling himself not to act awkward and to just go back to his room with as little interaction as possible.

But of course, it's Tony Stark, who can't just let things be, can he?

He was sitting on the couch, tapping away at a tablet when Loki appeared. A broad grin spread across Tony's face and he minimized a couple windows on the tablet, then opened a new one to type and show it to Loki. "My landlord called. I can go home tomorrow."

Loki nodded, trying to ignore the inexplicable sinking feeling in his belly. "That's...good," he said. "We can have our couch back."

More tapping at the tablet screen. "You mean Thor can have his tablet back and you can go back to being a koala."

"Koala?"

"Adorable and nocturnal."

Loki rolled his eyes. "I'm going to get dressed." He turned without giving Tony a chance to type out a reply and walked back to his room. He dug through the drawer, suddenly torn as what to wear. He hadn't really cared since he'd moved in with Thor, it hadn't been something he'd needed to bother with and he'd spent most of his time in pajama pants and ragged old t-shirts, but now... He wanted to look good, or at least not like some crazy homeless person. He settled on a pair of fitted black jeans and a deep emerald t-shirt that showed off his thin frame.

He emerged a few minutes later, yawning and heading for the couch. He sat down next to Tony and groaned. He glanced at the tablet when Tony held it up, reading, "Tired?"

Loki nodded. "Extremely."

"Anything I can do?"

Loki shrugged and leaned sideways against him. "I doubt it. Sleep doesn't come easily, ever since..." He trailed off, figuring Tony got it. "I have dreams," he murmured.

"Nightmares?"

He nodded against Tony's shoulder. "I think so. I can't remember them, I just wake up feeling terrified."

Tony seemed to hesitate, and then slowly typed, "I know how that feels."

Loki turned his head to look at him in confusion. Tony set the tablet so that Loki could see it and started typing. "My dad sent me off to private schools when I was a kid. Company like his, we were all targets. Always high security, private cars, private jets, he did everything he could to keep me safe. But one guy got through. They knew what car I was in. They boxed me in, trapped me in the car, and they took me. Kept me for a couple months hoping I could remember some of the weapons designs or hack into Stark systems, but I couldn't, I was only eleven. After a couple months, they released me. I still have scars from it."

Loki stared at Tony, mouth having fallen open early on in his revelation. "I'm so sorry," he finally said.

Tony just shrugged, typing. "No one can undo it. I moved on. Grew up, got past it, everyone involved went to jail and the publicity from is all drove Stark stocks through the roof. Everyone's happy." Except poor Tony, he seemed to be adding silently.

Loki bit his lip, trying to decide what to say. "I'm...I'm sorry you went through that, Tony. I truly am. But I'm happy that you seem to have gotten past it. Happy for you, and for me."

"Wasn't easy, took a while."

Loki yawned and shrugged, leaning back into him and closing his eyes. "You still did it, though."

He felt the tiny flexes in Tony's arm that meant he was typing again and he opened his eyes again to read it. "You tired, Princess?"

Loki nodded. "And you're warm." Loki had always been cold, ever since he could remember. It had culminated in him practically living in heated blankets in the winters and the use of fingerless gloves year round to keep his hands from getting so cold that he couldn't function at all.

Tony reached up and draped a blanket over Loki. It had been left there by Thor, but Tony had always burned so hot, he didn't use or need blankets to fall asleep. But it was nice to know that he could do something to stop the barely-perceptible shivers from rolling through Loki's body. Loki pulled his legs up under the blanket and leaned into Tony even more, eyes drooping heavily.

"Sleep. I won't go anywhere." Tony slid his arm across Loki's shoulders, lending him more body heat, and Loki's eyes drooped further, finally closing entirely as he fell asleep against him.

Thor came home hours later and found them still there, both on the couch with the blanket thrown over them, Loki curled into Tony's chest with Tony's arm hanging loosely about his waist. Thor considered waking them but decided against it. He knew that Loki hadn't been sleeping well, and he knew that Stark had a habit of putting off sleep until he literally collapsed from exhaustion. They both looked so calm, so peaceful at the moment. Thor stopped himself, mouth already open to greet them, and decided against it. He left them there, going to shower and fall into bed himself.

Loki was awoken the next morning by the sun rising through the window. He could honestly say he couldn't remember the last time that had happened. He felt peaceful, rested. He knew he'd be slightly sore because of his sleeping position, but he felt good enough that he'd let it pass.

He was pressed up against Tony, who was snoring softly, a soft, rhythmic rumbling in the man's chest that he could feel as a surprisingly soothing vibrating hum, and Tony's head was resting on Loki's comfortably, cheek pressed to his hair. Loki stayed there for a while, unwilling to move.

Finally, he could no longer ignore the urge to pee, but Tony's arm around his waist was kind of a roadblock to that, so he said, "Tony, wake up."

Tony started and looked at him, a broad, sleepy grin spreading across his face. He said something, but Loki's brow furrowed and he pointed to his ears, saying, "Deaf, remember?"

Tony rolled his eyes and grabbed for the tablet, typing, "Problem?"

"It's morning," he said simply. "We slept through the night." Tony looked around in confusion, then nodded."I'm going to go to the bathroom. Do you have to work today?"

Tony shook his head, then typed, "No, but I'm out of here today, I don't want to overstay my welcome."

Loki nodded. "Alright. You're welcome to stay a while longer, if you wish, as long as you don't move in. There are enough freeloaders in this apartment, thank you very much."

Tony smiled and nodded and Loki found himself smiling, too, as he made his way to the bathroom, feeling fully rested and better than he had since the robbery.

And though he didn't realize it, Loki had slept without a nightmare tainting his sleep for the first time since he'd awoken in the hospital two weeks before.