[By : ravenbringslight on AO3]
"How long have they been out for?"
"An hour? Hard to say, they were both already unconscious when Steve found them."
"Are we sure it's a good idea to keep them in the same room?"
"Oh it's a pretty terrible idea, but it's the only biohazard containment room we have that's also capable of holding pissed off Asgardians for any length of time. So until we find out exactly what that weird alien plant sprayed them with and if it's contagious or not, sleeping beauties here get to nap together."
"Do you think they're ok?"
"I think we'll find out soon."
***
Thor came to slowly, swimming up through molasses-thick layers of consciousness to emerge blinking into a stark white room. His limbs felt like lead. Thoughts began percolating back into his brain. He and Loki had been trading blows, and then...? His brow furrowed. Loki. Where was Loki.
Turning his head required a few moments of coordination between his brain and his body and even then the movement was sluggish. Loki lay prone on the ground a few feet away from him, eyes closed and face slack.
"Brother," Thor croaked, cleared his throat and then more clearly, "brother." Loki stirred. "Are you well?"
Loki groaned and cracked his eyes open. "Thor? What..."
"Good morning, gentlemen." The voice from the comm sounded familiar. Agent Romanov? "It appears you've been the victim of a biological attack. Until SHIELD can figure out the exact nature of the substance that you were sprayed with, we're going to need you to sit tight."
"A biological attack?" Loki said dubiously, wincing as he tried to sit up.
"You got a faceful of alien pollen," Agent Romanov said flatly.
"I see," he said. "You realize, of course, that this pathetic room can't possibly hold me for very long?"
"Naturally." There was a sound of papers rustling and then, "Your vitals appear normal so far. We'll let you know when anything changes."
"I thank you, Agent Romanov. I will look after my brother," Thor said. The comm clicked off.
"Oh honestly," Loki spat.
Thor hauled himself up and scrubbed his hands through his hair. His head still felt thick. The leaden feeling was starting to be replaced with a kind of restless itch. He shook his hands, rubbed at his legs. The itch was deep, in his bones. Tingling heat began to gather under his skin. He started pacing the chamber, shrugging off bits of armor, head swirling, until he was down to nothing but his breeches. He would have removed those too, but...
Loki. He looked over to his brother. Loki seemed possessed of the same malady as he. He had stripped to his underclothes, finely woven shorts and soft green undershirt. He was currently lying on the chamber's one cot, curled in a ball with his back to Thor, shoulders hunched in on themselves. How small he looked, how vulnerable. Thor reached for him, but at the tiniest brush of his fingers Loki pulled away violently as if burned.
"Don't touch me," he hissed. "Don't- ohh." Thor's hand had grazed the exposed skin at the juncture of his neck and shoulder and the skin to skin touch sent a tidal wave of warmth and...something...flooding through the contact point and all the way down to Thor's toes and back. Loki must have felt it too. They groaned simultaneously.
