"So you too find sleep to be troublesome?"

"Umm…" Bucky had not yet been to sleep, despite it coming up three in the morning, and he had been up since 5:30am to go running with Steve, so Bucky was tired, he just hadn't wanted to go to sleep, knowing the nightmares which sleep always brought for him. The microwave pinged and Bucky opened it, taking out his hot chocolate. He had found instant hot chocolate very much to his liking, and hoped it would help him brace himself for his oncoming slumbers. Or at least not allow him to sleep for very long, hopefully waking before the dreams got too real, for need of the toilet. "Yeah," he said to Thor, "You too, huh?"

Thor opened the fridge and took out the orange juice, then sat down and sculled half the container. "I find my dreams full of naught but Loki."

"Ok," Bucky said, sipping his hot chocolate. He'd been filled in on some of the history of the Avengers, and knew that Thor's adoptive brother Loki had been little but trouble; that was until the trickster-God had sacrificed himself to save his brother from some other, even worse bad guys.

"I know that he is gone, and yet I feel that he is trying to reach to me. I hope only that he finds himself naught in Hel, nor elsewhere as torturous," Thor said before sculling another great mouthful of juice.

"Right…" said Bucky, beginning to feel uncomfortable, wanting Thor to stop talking about death and torture and hell, but not wishing to be rude. He also couldn't help but wonder if all gods slept shirt-less,or just ones as extremely well-cut as Thor.

"He is gone," Thor said, taking Bucky's awkward politeness as an indication to continue, "I held him as he breathed his last. I watched as he faded away in my arms…"

"I'm not sure I'm the best person to be talking to about this…" Usually Bucky was content in the company of the Asgardian; Thor was a good gym partner, mostly because he didn't say much, being more of the act now, think about it never persuasion. But right now, everything about this situation was making Bucky squeamish.

"And yet the dreams are so very vivid, as though still Loki lives. As though he is trying to reach me. But I watched him die."

"Definitely not the right person," Bucky said now feeling very uncomfortable, standing up. He gulped down the last of his hot chocolate, despite it burning his mouth a little, he knew that if he didn't remove himself from Thor's melancholy tales of his dead brother, Bucky would likely find himself flashing back to memories less desirable. "Goodnight," Bucky said to Thor as he placed his mug in the sink and quickly left the troubled god to drown out his dreams with orange juice. Bucky felt a little rude, but decided not to let it bother him. He was just about to press the button for the elevator when it opened and he saw Natasha standing inside, her hair out, no make-up, dressed in pyjamas. Bucky couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, hey Bucky."

"You're back," Bucky said. Natasha had spent the last three days in Taiwan doing something that Bucky knew better than to ask about.

"Got back a few hours ago. I showered and tried to get to sleep, but I'm too jet-lagged. Are you alright?" She asked.

"I - ah," Bucky stumbled. Was he alright?

"You look kinda pale."

"I can't get to sleep," he admitted and relaxed his hands which he noticed he'd clenched tightly into fists.

"So you're haunting the place?" Natasha teased, thankful to notice that Bucky got the joke.

He shrugged, "I came to get a hot chocolate, but Thor's in the kitchen moping about his bad dreams about his dead brother."

"Oh," Natasha said, "Well, that's about enough to put anyone to sleep."

"It's as though he's trying to convince himself that Loki is actually dead."

"Thor said he saw him die."

"That's what I thought," Bucky said, "But he's going on as though…"

"Loki's alive?"

"I dunno," Bucky said, shaking his head, "Asgardians and stuff, it's all a bit weird. Does Thor know he sounds like something out of Shakespeare?" He asked.

"I really don't know," Natasha said, and gave Bucky a small smile, "Loki was a bit more - natural in his speech, I suppose, if you ignore all of the rule-the-world rhetoric. But you're right, it's all pretty damn mad."

"Huh," Bucky said, "Oh, did you want something to eat?" he asked, assuming that was the reason Natasha had come up to this level.

"If I'm going to have to listen to Thor go on about Loki, then I'm afraid I'm not that hungry. Not that I don't care about the guy, I just don't at three in the morning."

"Thor or Loki?"

"Thor."

"Right," Bucky said, "How bad was Loki?" he asked. Everyone seemed to have a slightly different opinion on the guy, from simply misunderstood (Thor), through to being the spawn of Satan (Tony - though Thor objected to this, on the ground that Satan was not a real being and Loki was of the Jutenheim, not of hell, which Thor seemed to think was an actual real place).

"Honestly?" Natasha said, "He was a jerk. But how bad he really is or was, I dunno. I wouldn't trust the guy, but Thor does, or did, so…"

"Some people think we should trust me."

"Hey, you didn't know what you were doing. Loki did," Natasha said.

"Even when he sacrificed himself?" Bucky asked.

"Buck…" Natasha said.

"We should get to bed," Bucky said.

"Yeah," said Natasha, and they both stood awkwardly in the hallway for a moment. "You going in with Steve?" Natasha asked finally, gesturing for Bucky to hop in the elevator.

He shrugged. "I dunno. Possibly."

The doors closed and the elevator began to descend. A few seconds later it stopped and the doors opened on Natasha's bedroom floor. "Do you want to come and - sit down?" she asked.

"I should probably…" Bucky trailed off. He didn't know what he should probably do. Did Natasha want him to sleep with her? Was that what she was asking?

"We can just share the bed," Natasha said, seemingly reading him mind, "If you want. We don't have to, you know, sleep together."

"Ok, yeah, no, ok."

"Unless you want to?" Natasha asked, confused at Bucky's response.

"What, no. Maybe. Not yet. No. What was the question?"

Natasha laughed, "See you in the morning?"

"Great," Bucky said, feeling strangely relived, "See you in the morning."

"Yep," Natasha smiled, "Goodnight." She reached up and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Goodnight," Bucky breathed as the elevator doors closed and Natasha disappeared down the hallway. Thoughts of Asgardians were quickly forgotten by Bucky as the elevator took him down a couple more floors, and a peculiar lightness filled him. Although Bucky would never admit it, he may have done a little skip down the hallway back to his room.