Loki kept his eyes closed. He hoped that it could help him pretend that he was still asleep and hence somehow trick his mind into going back into that blessed peace.
Yet as the Trickster, he knew it wouldn't work.
The God of Mischief was also well aware of the reason that kept the sleep away.
The wound.
The wench of a healer said that he should be alright in the matter of days.
Great.
How many days did she mean?
A sharp pain shot through his belly yet again and Loki bit his lower lip to prevent a whimper from escaping his lips. In the end, his oaf of a brother was in the cell with him and so he couldn't allow himself to show weakness.
Thinking of Thor…
Loki's eyes burst wide open. For a while, his pupils were unable to adjust to the omnipresent bright light of the dungeons. He blinked a few times and then he saw the situation clearly.
His brother decided to use his bed despite his clear instructions not to.
For a moment, Loki was consumed by an absurd rage. As usual, his rage meant that the magic energy was accumulating inside of him, ready to explode at any moment.
Which was a bad idea.
Once again, Loki was reminded of the wound in his belly. He forced himself to take deep, regular breaths in and out to take control of the pain.
Ignoring Thor for a moment, knowing very well that the Thunderer wasn't a light sleeper, Loki brought his knees up to try to subdue the piercing pain. At that moment he noticed another strange thing.
He was covered by a blanket despite being very sure that he fell asleep without it.
Could it have been Thor to put the blanket onto him?
The idea entered Loki's head almost immediately. His wit and intelligence were legendary, and his brain was always quick to analyse the situation and come up with the most probable solution. Considering that they were inside a cell, the only logical implication would be that Thor put the blanket onto him. Unless the blanket levitated onto him by its own will. Which was impossible.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Loki urged himself not to dwell on it. His carefully buried sentiment was screaming at him that if Thor bothered to put the blanket onto him, it was obvious that no matter what he said, he still cared about him.
When Loki opened his brilliant, emerald eyes, they were full of rage and disgust.
The disgust was aimed at himself.
How easy it is to break down his walls. He spent years trying to build a solid fence around his emotions so that he wouldn't be bothered by the lack of love, appreciation and attention that his co-called family and subjects were paying him. After the Midgardian fiasco, Loki swore to himself that these walls must be strengthened to a maximum security so that no one could ever catch a glimpse of his regret and longing for love.
He has already been degraded and humiliated enough. His living quarters have been changed from the prince's chambers to the dungeons. He was brought to Asgard in chains and a muzzle, forced to suffer the looks of contempt from anyone who had the luck to see the distrusted prince brought to his knees. Both figuratively and literally.
Upon those circumstances, it was quite a miracle that he still managed to keep the vestige of his old pride hidden underneath his skin. He swore to himself that they could not humiliate him unless he decides to let them humiliate him. He vowed not to show weakness, not to show care to those who would not show it to him and not to let his mind and actions be driven by how utterly and terrifyingly lonely he truly was.
And so quite obviously, it would be a weakness to allow himself to be comforted by the idea of his brother putting a blanket over him.
It would be presumptuous to assume that Thor did so because he still cared about him.
Maybe Thor was afraid that Loki might turn into a Frost Giant in his sleep and as Thor decided that it was underneath him to sleep on the ground, he might get burnt if he accidentally touched his brother in the sleep. Or the God of Thunder may have only been disgusted by having to watch the fake Aesir skin of his and so he decided to cover him by a blanket.
Yes, one of those must have been it.
Another ray of sharp pain hit Loki by surprise and this time he wasn't able to suppress the small moan that escaped his lips. Terrified, he eyed Thor and breath out in relief when the Thunderer was still deep asleep on his side, his arms rested casually in front of his face.
Loki wanted so much to reach to Thor, shake him awake and tell him that his belly was hurting.
He wanted someone to comfort him, to tell him that it will all be alright. Someone who would hold him through the pain because they cared.
He was so weak.
But why has he always tried to be strong?
It has never worked out for him anyway.
Loki's mind began working as a well-constructed clock. Thor was fast asleep and hence unaware of the situation around him. Loki understood that he was coming to his conclusion because he wanted to come up to that specific deduction, but as another hit of severe pain ran through him, he decided that he doesn't care anymore.
In the end, that's what everyone was saying.
That he didn't care.
Had they only known that the opposite was true.
Loki cared too much, much deeper than most people. That's what got him into this mess in the first place.
Slowly, almost insecurely, Loki carefully slithered his arm on the bedsheets away from his painful belly towards Thor's hands. He hesitated when his fingers gently brushed against his brother's. Loki caught his breath but Thor didn't seem to be waking up. Encouraged by this, Loki dared to let his palm and his fingers slip into Thor's.
As he expected, a shiver of energy ran through him when their palms intertwined. Both brothers had a lot of energy inside of them. Thor was full of the energy of lightning while Loki was full of magic.
"You're not trying to push me out of the bed, are you?" Thor mumbled, half-coherently and his hand tightened his grip on Loki's.
The God of Mischief froze. He observed Thor with his perceptive eyes and to his relief he understood that Thor was still asleep.
"No." He answered, half to Thor and half to himself.
"Good, brother." Thor replied satisfied and continued snoring quietly.
Loki understood that Thor's mind must have connected the idea of them sleeping in one bed with the many occasions when they would share a bed as children and Thor would often end up on the ground.
Loki didn't try to supress the smile forming on his lips by the memory.
And there was one more reason for that smile, even though this one Loki was not willing to admit to himself.
Even though unconsciously, Thor has called him a brother.
Another shot of pain erupted in Loki's stomach, but this time, he had his brother's hand to hold onto. He would be fine.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter in which the brothers encountered Odin to hear his judgement with a brief episode of Loki waking up in the middle of the night. Oh well...sometimes things don't go exactly according to plan. I blame Loki for being too...intriguing (in the best possible way of course).
Odin in the next chapter ;)