Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 101

A/N this was originally two chapters but I decided to take the second one out because people on AO3 don't like Jane and are impatient about getting to Age of Ultron but I figured y'all on Wattpad are nicer about Jane so I'll give you the full two chapters in one

There are very few things Tony wouldn't do to have Pepper in bed with him right now. He has half a mind to fly out to Malibu tomorrow to see her. He always sleeps better with his girlfriend by his side, and, after tossing and turning for hours on end, now feels like an especially nice time to hold her in his arms. He could put this whole restless night behind him with just one kiss from the love of his life.

But she's on the other side of the country and has important things to do, which means he has to suck it up and deal with it himself. And, of course, by "dealing with it," he means foregoing tonight's rest and hoping tomorrow's goes better.

He heads to the kitchen first. He can't sleep, but he's absolutely exhausted. He's going to need some coffee.

And from there, he heads for the man cave. He'll put on a movie and see if that lulls him to sleep. If that doesn't work, he'll give up and head down to his lab. There's never a bad time to work on his Iron Man suits. (Except for when he's sleep deprived. Which is always.)

But as he's making his way to the man cave, he hears music; then, the dim light of the TV illuminating the wall. Somebody's already beat him to it, and he has a feeling he knows exactly who it is.

"Alright," Tony says, putting on his angry parent facade just because it's fun to tease Loki with it, "what're you doing?"

But he pauses when he steps in the room.

Loki's sitting on the couch, just as Tony had suspected, but he's not relaxing and watching a movie the way Tony had assumed he would be. Instead, all that's playing is the title screen of Night at the Museum, and Loki's not paying it any mind. His legs are pulled up into his chest, and his hands rest atop his knees, visibly shaking as his chest rises and falls rapidly.

Tony lets that exasperated facade fall at once. "Hey, you okay?"

Loki just nods.

He's lying.

"Panic attack?" Tony asks. He has a feeling this is roughly what he looks like when he's just come down from one, too.

Loki nods again.

"You want some water or something?" Tony asks. "I can get you some ice cream." He finds it helps to have something to drink afterwards, but given Loki's obsession with ice cream, that might be the way to go.

Loki shakes his head.

"Alright," Tony says. "You want me to stay or go?"

Loki gives him a small shrug. "I don't care," he says quietly.

Admittedly, Tony had absolutely expected Loki to tell him to get lost, so he's not entirely sure what to do right now. But he knows Loki has no problem telling him to go away, so if he's not doing it right now, maybe he doesn't want to be alone.

So, instead of hunting down another TV to watch a movie of his own choosing, he sits down on the arm of the couch by Loki's side. He props his head up on his hand and gives the god a sympathetic look. "You okay?" he asks again.

Loki nods. "I think so."

"What happened?" Tony asks — which is definitely not a question he'd like to be asked right after a panic attack, but he's a curious person by nature. He can't just not ask.

"Just..." Loki swallows hard. "Bad dream."

"Mm," Tony hums. "I hear that." He's certainly no stranger to nightmares. He drums his fingers along his knees awkwardly. "Does it still happen a lot? Is it getting better, or...?"