Hiya people! Here's a new chapter – Sunday evening, I know, you had almost lost hope for a minute – and I hope you like it ;) And not that I want to spoil anything but… there are beds involved! You know, because it's evening and all that, and that involves sleeping. Not because of anything you're thinking of right now, you pervs XD

PREVIOUSLY ON ASAF: "In case I do not see you tomorrow," which at this point seemed like a great idea, "I already wish you safe travels. And as I am still recovering from yesterday's events, I will be going to bed. Good night."

Loki picked up the bags with his name on them, and walked out the door, a "sweet dreams, Brother" following him out. He made his way to the room J.A.R.V.I.S. had mentioned – it was about half the size of Anthony's – and he slipped under the covers as soon as he had taken off everything but the strange Midgardian underwear. Today had been really tiring. And yet, sleep refused to come.

CHAPTER 14

The city lights cast a soft yellow-orange glow against the ceiling, and Loki's eyes remained fixed on it. He had already asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to make the windows opaque, like he had done that morning in Anthony's room, but the complete darkness had not helped at all – it had reminded him of endless days falling through the void of space and the dank cells afterwards – so he had the windows go back to their usual transparency. He had tried every possible angle and position he could think of, and yet, even though he felt bone-tired, he could not sleep.

He was splayed out on top of the covers, taking slow and deep breaths, but keeping his eyes open on purpose. Whenever he closed them, the pull was so strong he had to open them again to concentrate on the ceiling – if he did not, he would listen to his body's wishes, spring up and walk out the room before he had time to react, he was certain of it. He did his best to stamp down on the bond, piling layer upon protective layer, but Anthony's bright presence, his frustration, his sleeplessness, his aggravation and his wish to punch his pillow invaded Loki's mind as easily as Mjölnir could call for lightning.

His every muscle was wound tight, and he did not know how long he could go on like this without ripping up the sheets. A couple of floors above him, Anthony had stood up and was now pacing, his presence moving left and right, left and right, and annoying Loki even more. He had to think of something else, or he would end up going crazy! Or, he could give in. But that would be losing against the soul bond, against his soulmate, and against Lady Fate. He would do everything he could to delay such an outcome.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., can you teach me the Morse Code?"

"Certainly, Mr Friggason." The screen hanging on the wall opposite the bed – was that what they called a television? – sprung to life, and a list appeared on the slightly reddish white background. Loki sat up to look at it. "These combinations represent the letters of the alphabet and numbers. When used with sounds, a dash lasts the amount of time of three dots. In case of sounds or lights that cannot be held, it is the pause between sounds or lights that is longer for dashes. Each dot or dash is usually followed by a silence the length of a dot. Letters are separated from each other by a silence the length of a dash, and each word by a silence of seven dots. Using full sentences would be too long, therefore only the bare minimum needed for comprehension is usually passed along, and sometimes shorter versions of words are used, such as 'U.R' instead of 'you are' or 'your'. And sentences are usually separated by the punctuation code for a full stop, or, if needed, a question mark. Other signs exist, but I do not believe them relevant at this time."

Loki looked the list over twice, just be certain he had remembered everything. He recalled Anthony's 'message' during dinner, and translated it in his mind; as he had expected, it had been an insult. Loki laid back down. Anthony was still walking around in his bedroom, his presence moving in his mind's eye like a fly Loki itched to swat. He concentrated on their 'thread', and started the pinch and release that would send a message across.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

Sleep. Fuck, he just wanted to get some fucking sleep! Why the hell couldn't he sleep? Sure, he was used to it. He'd had almost as many sleepless nights in his life as he'd had sleep-filled ones, but usually those sleepless nights were at least productive! He'd start a new project, either down in his workshop or on his tablet, or even simply in his mind, but he couldn't even manage that now. He'd tried. God knew he'd tried. But the fucking soul-bond-mind-bond-presence-thing, even though the emotions in it were blurred and muffled, pulsed and pounded in his mind, in his chest, itching and urging him to do something, even if he didn't know what that something was. He didn't know why it was acting up now – he'd been fine during the day – but he sure as hell hated his soulmate situation all over again.

It was three fucking A.M. and he was sick of it! He'd tried working on his phone, on his pad, on paper, in his mind… He'd tried lying on his side, on his back, on his stomach, on the left side, on the right, under the covers, on top, with and without pillow – or pillows – in every angle possible on the huge bed. He'd even tried the uncomfortable couch, and armchair, and the floor. He'd drunk his coffee supply, a quarter of the whiskey bottle he'd stashed away under a pile of tee-shirts – Pepper had been against alcohol in the bedroom – and even water. He'd used the bathroom, wet his face with warm water, screamed at the ceiling and paced and paced and paced. And that was when it came.

Dot dot dot, dash, dash dash dash, dot dash dash dot. Dot dash dash dot, dot dash, dash dot dash dot, dot dot, dash dot, dash dash dot. STOP PACING.

Tony had already stopped at the first twinge of the thread, but after the whole message was delivered, he kind of wanted to continue just to annoy the bastard. So, Loki couldn't sleep either. He'd already known that, deep down. Those muffled feelings probably weren't what a sleeping mind looked like. Still, it made him feel slightly better that he wasn't the only one in this situation. Just slightly better. He started walking again, and sent out a 'WHY'.

ANNOYING was the response. Tony snorted. Yeah, well too bad, motherfucker; he was gonna pace as much as he fucking wanted. He couldn't sleep, and it was because of this soulmate shit, so Loki could suffer as much as he did. Served the bastard right to not be able to sleep either.

Another STOP came and went, and Tony simply answered NO. Anger was starting to tickle the back of his mind, and it painted a smug smile on Tony's face. Until suddenly a jumble of feelings assaulted him, blaring through his mind at full force, and he had difficulty concentrating on the next message, but if he felt it right it was YOU WIN. And certainly, there was a little bit of defeat in there somewhere, but the main emotion – if you didn't count the flames of anger – was determination. Somehow, that didn't feel like a 'win' to Tony. It took him a few seconds to realise Loki was on the move.

What the… Loki was going up. No, he was coming here! Shit! Shit, shit, shit! There was a super strong alien with fucking magic, sleep-deprived and irritated as fuck, coming here because Tony had been stupid enough to taunt him. And Tony was only wearing his boxer briefs. And as Loki was already on this floor, and Tony's pacing had brought him well away from his bedside table with the locator-bracelets for his still beat up armour, Tony could only watch wide-eyed as the door flew open.

Even if he was only wearing black trunks and nothing like his crazy full armour, Loki's dishevelled hair and the pulsing light of his presence was enough to make Tony instinctively take a step backwards. Several steps, because Loki continued towards him at the same speed he had walked in at, and Tony wondered if turning around and running would be of any use. Before he could even make up his mind, his crazy alien soulmate was standing right in front of him. And then Loki slapped a hand flat over Tony's Arc reactor. And then the world – the whole universe – came to a stop.

For a second there he thought the reactor had stopped working – he really needed to exchange the thing for a new one, by the way, this one had seen way too much mileage – but then he realised that it was more the surge and fizz of a newly established connexion that he was feeling, rather than the flicker and sigh of death he was expecting. His whole skin tingled all at once, his mind exploded in light, and then everything was calm, and he could finally fucking breathe. For hours he had felt like he was being smothered, and now his lungs – his mind – had cleared, and he was himself again.

Relief – the same relief he felt himself – bombarded him through the bond, and he knew Loki had suffered the same restlessness and edginess as he had. Thank fuck Loki had known what to do. They stood there for a minute, just breathing, until Tony realised there was still a hand placed over his heart, and he stepped back. And that was a mistake.

Just as suddenly as if someone unplugged the socket on a live machine, the soothing link shut down, and the buzz and the crowdedness in his mind reappeared – Loki groaned, which probably meant the same thing happened to him. And to remedy it, Loki got closer again and grabbed his shoulder this time. The relief was slower to come, but it came nonetheless, and Tony decided not to move again until he knew what the fuck was happening. Most likely the best decision of the year, that.

"Okay. Explain. What the fuck is happening."

For a moment Loki said nothing, and Tony had time enough to think that those green green eyes – geez, that was an otherworldly colour all right – were way too close for comfort. Tony preferred having his personal bubble uninvaded. He didn't mind reducing the size of it when he wanted, but unless invited inside, he wanted people to stay out of his frigging bubble. But then there was the touching, which seemed to soothe the whatever-the-hell-was-going-on-with-the-bond thing, so…

"I believe the bond is as reluctant to see us apart as you would be to part with a limb," Loki ended up saying, which kind of didn't explain much at all.

"Wow! You're comparing being a few floors away to losing an arm?" Tony let out a disbelieving chuckle. "Exaggerating much?"

Loki looked bewildered. "Exaggerating? On the contrary. Losing a limb is a feeble image compared to missing half of one's being." Okay, when you thought about it that way…

"Still, why did it happen all of a sudden? We were fine during the day."

"Your feelings and presence became increasingly stronger in my mind during the day."

"Really? I didn't feel that much from you."

Loki lifted one eyebrow. "That is because I was shielding."

Ah. Yes, that would explain that. "Okay… But that still doesn't explain what the fuck is happening."

Loki huffed and turned away, taking his much-needed touch – shit, why did they fucking need to touch? – away, and in a panic-induced reflex Tony managed to grab the bastard's wrist with two hands before he could walk away. "Don't you dare fucking do that! Don't you fucking walk away. Tell me what's happening."

Loki faced him again, with too much emotion on his face and in the shared part of their beings. "I don't know!" he half-screamed, before he closed his eyes and seemed to get a hold of himself. The turmoil diminished in the bond as well. "I am… uncertain as to why this is happening, and why it is happening now, however I do have a theory."

"Great! I'm all ears."

Loki's sigh swept across Tony's face. "I believe now that I was wrong in my interpretation of the Myths I remember. I thought that 'being one' and 'not being able to be apart' simply meant that they were linked like we are, with the soul bond, with the emotional transference. However, I realise now that it can also mean that soulmates need to be close, very close, to each other. Such as touching. Because when half-souls merge and become one, after death, there is absolutely nothing separating them. But we, we have our bodies keeping our soul partially separate, while it needs to be whole, to be one. By physically touching, the link, the 'thread', becomes unnecessary. Can you feel the thread now?"

And when Tony looked for it, for where it connected to him around his Arc reactor, and where it usually was attached to Loki's chest – just below the clavicles – he couldn't find it. Instead, both his arms and Loki's arm seemed to serve as link, and instead of a thread it felt like a steel cable. The connexion between their souls was better. Like going from shitty wi-fi to ethernet. Well fuck.

"Okay, I think I get that. But we can't exactly… touch all the time for the rest of our days."

Loki snorted, and Tony was sure the arsehole just thought him stupid. Well fuck him. He didn't grow up with this shit! "I doubt we will have to touch all the time. First of all, our bond is still growing and stabilising, so this… effect might not be so dire in the future. Furthermore, if soulmates needed to be constantly joined physically, the Myths would certainly mention it. It is more likely that soulmates touch for a certain amount of time, say, at night, which permits them to be separate during the day."

"You mean, like a battery recharging." Well, shit. If Loki was right, that meant they had to sleep in the same bed – touching, for crying out loud – for the rest of his goddamn life. If that was true; one, he was fucking screwed, because this meant there would be zero chance of a personal life whatsoever – not that he'd expect it with the whole sharing feelings shit, but still – and two, it meant it that it was a good thing Pepper had left him when she did, because he wouldn't have been able to stay with her anyway. That fucking hurt, first of all. Because this was supposed to be Fate, right? Or so Asgard's beliefs said. So he and Pepper were never meant to be together. And it meant he wouldn't ever be with anyone ever again. Unless that someone was Loki… Yeah, no. Nope. Uh-uh. Not gonna happen. Tony swallowed with difficulty. "So, you're saying we need to sleep holding hands?"

"It… would seem so, yes."

"Okay. Well, fuck it all, I guess. I'm beat. I wanna sleep and forget about everything for a while. So let's go." Tony let go with one arm, and with the other towed Loki behind him until they reached the foot of the bed. He took a deep steeling breath and left Loki there, before hurrying over to his side and slipping under the covers. Loki, on the other hand, was goddamn slow, but when he finally laid there, on his back, far away but close enough to touch at arm's length, they re-established their 'link' and Tony let out a relieved breath. "J.A.R.V.', door and lights, please." Darkness overtook the room, and Tony closed his eyes. He was awfully aware of the hand he was holding, which made this position anything but comfortable, but his exhaustion was overwhelming and sleep claimed him anyway.

When Tony's eyes opened, light entered the half-opacified windows, which meant it was at least past eight o'clock – J.A.R.V.I.S. had strict instructions to not try to wake him before that unless he absolutely needed to. And it wasn't a sound that woke him. It had to be a dream, or perhaps a nightmare; they usually were nightmares anyway. It had to be one of those, because he woke completely, all of a sudden, just like he did after a nightmare. No sluggish mind that wouldn't wake up before a strong dose of caffeine. No, it was sudden, clear awareness. And yet he didn't remember any nightmares, or dreams, and he didn't feel any lingering emotions or physical signals that he'd had one, like a fluttering heart, or sweat, or a chill. No, wait a sec! There was something kind of chilly!

Tony had been lying on his stomach, head turned to the left – he had a freaking crick in his neck now – left hand curled close to his face, and right hand places unknown. And that unknown was kind of chilly. He slid it half an inch over the surface it was resting on. The unknown was also kind of skin-y and there were some weird bumps? Tony slowly – ouch, his neck! – turned his head to the right and plonked it back onto the pillow. Yep, there was Loki all right. And his skin was kind of bluish, though not as blue as he'd been before. Almost as if he was about to turn blue, but his normal-skin-colour-magic was still holding on for now. And now the bumps and chill made sense. At least Tony could partially answer the question: how far do those ridges go? At least to the lower abdomen, it seemed.

Now, a certain number of things needed to happen. Of course, he needed to get his hand away from there – that sure as hell was priority number one. But there were things to take into account. Like, what would happen if they stopped touching? Was the bond really working on a recharge-discharge basis, or had they gotten that wrong? How long did the recharge need to be if it were? This had probably been six hours max, as it had been passed three AM when they started… touching yesterday. And even if it was enough to last for a while, how strong would the feeling of getting back to wi-fi – to the thin tread between their unified soul – actually be? Would it be strong enough to wake Loki? Loki was still sleeping, right? Tony tried to gauge the alien's face. It looked peaceful, and so did the extremely muffled feelings of the bond; as if there was some sort of sticky gooey filter they had to pass through before reaching Tony, reducing their intensity to almost nothing.

Just as he was about to just go for it – fuck the consequences, they couldn't keep touching all day anyway – Loki gulped in a startled breath and sat up with a jerk, face turned towards the ceiling. It had the benefit of dislodging Tony's hand, and without any ill effects he could really notice. Tony sat up as well, but Loki did not react, still staring upwards. For a second there, Tony wondered if his soulmate was still asleep, until he spoke.

"He's gone."

Tony frowned. "Who's gone?"

"Thor. He activated the Tesseract."

"Ah. Are you all right?"

A pause. "Yes." A lie. Loki looked at Tony with green eyes flicked by red. "Why wouldn't I be?" Tony wondered if Loki wasn't actually asking himself that question – why was he feeling kind of sad, a little scared and a little lost? Tony pretended he couldn't feel that through the bond, and acted as if he had been asking that question for a whole other reason.

"Well, you're looking kinda blue." He could see Loki's eyes widen before they turned towards his own skin while he looked down at his hands. He knew the exact moment Loki thought the Asgardian equivalent of 'shit!'. Panic started to trickle over to Tony while he saw Loki's breathing increase. "Don't worry," he said to try and placate him. "You're not blue-blue ye—" Tony stopped short. Of course he shouldn't have said that; that was just taunting fucking Lady Fate, because the second he started speaking, the colour deepened, the patterned ridges rose and eyes turned into rubies.

A low, menacing growl resounded in the room. "Fuck the Norns!"

Tony stared, mouth agape. "Holy shit! Did you just say 'fuck'?" Loki – freaking exotic alien Loki – glared at him, and it was both super scary and exhilarating. Tony laughed, and the glare doubled in intensity. "I think that's the first time I've heard you cuss. I'm enough of a bad influence to make an alien prince insult his deities within two days of knowing me. I should probably receive a medal for that." Well, at least his habit of saying weird shit still had the capacity to defuse uncomfortable situations; Loki's eyebrows, which had been trying to meet each other in the middle, separated and went in search for his hairline instead.

"You want to be awarded for being a bad influence?"

"Yeah. An award is an award, and I got a collection to uphold."

Loki rolled his eyes. "I do not know about Midgard, but on Asgard you would not even qualify for the competition."

"Is that a challenge?" Tony smirked. Loki sighed and looked at his own hands again. He closed his eyes and obviously tried to make his skin change colour, because it rippled in a very disturbing way. Unfortunately – well, unfortunately for Loki, because Tony didn't mind seeing him like this at all – the blue returned full force, and disappointment flowed over through the bond.

Yes! I got Tony and Loki back in the same bed, and I got my favourite Jötunn skin back as well! I hope you like it – I sure do :p

Spread the Luv!

LL