Crash!

Loki's head snaps up at the sound, breaking him from his dreamland. What was that? What's going on? What–

Oh.

Thor's here.

That's alright, then.

Nothing can go wrong when his brother is sitting in bed with him.

Thor nuzzles his face in Loki's hair. "I'm sorry," he murmurs. "I can't help it. I'm getting anxious."

It must have been thunder, then, that woke him up. It's far from the first crash of thunder he's heard over the years. He just wasn't expecting it. He was just barely awake enough for it to startle him, but it doesn't scare him. It could never scare him. It just makes him think of Thor, and how could Thor scare him?

Loki takes his brother's hand in his own. He'd give it a squeeze if he didn't think Thor would mistake it for him trying to communicate – and he is trying to communicate, but not like that. Not with the one-means-yes system. He's trying to communicate...

Well, he's trying to communicate "I love you."

It's that simple, really.

"How are you?" Thor asks quietly. "Do you think the drugs have worn off?"

Loki's not sure whether they have or not, but he doesn't feel weird anymore. He feels awake. He feels conscious. He feels like he's a part of this world. So he squeezes Thor's hand once. He thinks they have. If they're still a part of him, they're certainly not as strong as they once were.

"Good," Thor says. "I told them it wasn't necessary. You were just scared, right? Because we left you alone."

Again, Loki squeezes his hand. It's oversimplifying it a bit, he'll admit, but that's fairly close to what happened. He was definitely scared, but it wasn't because he was alone. It was because he was afraid that he wasn't.

"I'm not going to let them do that to you anymore," Thor tells him. "You won't have to be alone. I'll take care of you."

Loki gives him a small smile, then rests his head back on his brother's shoulder. This is nice. He likes this. He likes not being alone. He likes that he can sit here and listen to the rain with his brother and pretend things are somewhat normal. It's been years, but finally, he can pretend things are normal. It's a wonderful thing.

There's another crash of thunder, and Loki flinches. He's still not scared. He firmly rejects the notion that it scares him. He just doesn't expect it. When things are quiet, they're quiet. He's not used to sudden, loud noises interrupting that.

But that loud noise is his brother, so he can't complain. After all, what more could he ask for than his brother's aura surrounding him, his concern pouring from the skies, longing to protect him, to keep him safe?

"Do you want a drink?" Thor asks. "I can ask somebody to bring you one. I don't know who's trying to hop between universes right now and who's not, but I'm sure somebody..."

Loki squeezes his hand twice. He'd love some more of his shake. He really does enjoy it. But he doesn't want to see anybody else right now. He just wants to be here with his brother and enjoy the moment.

Actually, he wonders...

One hand still in Thor's, he feels around for the TV remote, then the Atari controller. He's not sure this will work. He's sure Thor will think it's a ridiculous idea. And, actually, it will probably make him uncomfortable. He probably wouldn't want to... No, this is a dumb idea. It's so much effort for something only he'll enjoy. He's not going to ask.

"What is it?" Thor asks. "What do you want?"

Loki sighs. Well, maybe he is going to ask, then.

He types it out one letter at a time:

O

U

T

S

I

D

E

He looks over at his brother, a somewhat nervous smile on his lips. Is he going to think this is stupid? He probably is. He's probably right.

"Outside?" Thor repeats. "What about outside? Are you pointing out the rain?"

It's adorable, really, that Thor thinks he'd go through all the effort of typing out small talk on an Atari, but that's not what he wants, so he tries again.

T

A

K

E

M

E

It's times like these where he really wishes there was a question mark on the keyboard. He doesn't want to sound like he's demanding it. He's not. It's a stupid request. Thor's doubtlessly going to think it's stupid, too. It's pouring out. There's thunder, there's lightning. Not to mention that he'd have to carry him all the way out there, and then he'd get wet and they'd both get wet and then he'd have to carry Loki's wet self back into the building and put him back in bed and then the bed will get wet and everything is going to get wet and this really was a stupid idea, wasn't it?

The softness in Thor's voice surprises him. "You want to go outside?"

Loki squeezes his hand once, almost hesitantly. He would like to go outside, but only if Thor doesn't mind taking him. He doesn't want to be a pain. He certainly wouldn't have asked anyone else, but this is Thor. If he can ask anybody to maybe think about helping him in some entirely unnecessary way, it's going to be Thor.

"In the rain?" Thor asks. "I can probably stop it if I try."

Loki responds with one of the acronyms that Tony taught him to shorten the time it takes to communicate with them:

I

D

C

"Oh, oh, I've seen that!" Thor says eagerly. "I've seen that in the Fortnite chat. It means... It... It means... Um..."

Loki tries again.

I

D

O

N

T

C

A

"Care!" Thor finishes. "'I don't care.' That's what it means." He pauses. "You don't care," he repeats. "You don't care if it rains?"

Loki squeezes his hand once to confirm.

"Is the rain why you want to go outside?" Thor asks.

Loki hesitates. It's not why he wants to go outside, but it's why he thought of it. It's something new. It's something happening. He doesn't get to see many things happening. He mostly just lies here and listens to other people talking about him like he's not here (and occasionally talking to him, but not quite as often). If he can go outside where there are things happening...

After a moment of deliberation, he squeezes Thor's hand once. It's not really why he wants to go outside, but it might be nice. He kind of wants to go out in the rain. And it doesn't sound too much like Thor minds it, so maybe...

"Okay, then let's do it," Thor says. He pulls the blankets down so he can pick him up, and then he pauses, eyeing him uncertainly. "Do you have other clothing?"

Loki pats the bed twice. He just has his hospital gown, but that's alright. He likes his hospital gown. He's grown so used to it that the idea of wearing pants makes him oddly uncomfortable.

"Have you been wearing this the whole time you've been here?" Thor asks.

Loki pats the bed once.

"We need to fix that," Thor says. "We need to find you new clothes. This isn't fair to you."

Loki pats the bed twice.

"No?" Thor says in disbelief. "You don't want to wear something new? Something normal?"

Again, Loki pats the bed twice. He likes his gown. It's comfortable. It's light and flowy and doesn't hold him down like leather does. Why would he ever want to change it?

Thor frowns. "If you're sure..."

Loki pats the bed once. He's very sure.

"Well, it's going to be cold," Thor tells him, "so you're taking a blanket."

Loki doesn't mind that. As long as he doesn't have to wear pants, he's okay with this.

So Thor burritos him up in a blanket, then picks him up in his arms. He has nice arms. He has comfortable arms. He could fall asleep here if he wasn't so eager to go outside.

"Let me know if this is uncomfortable," Thor says.

Loki doesn't move. He's very comfortable, and he doesn't want to give his brother the impression that he's not.

Thor takes him through the halls, and Loki stops trying to look around fairly quickly. All the movement isn't so bad when his eyes are closed, but trying to watch where they're going does nothing but make him lightheaded and dizzy.

He knows they've made it outside when the air grows cold. He can feel it even through his blanket, but it's not that bad. It's not like he's sitting naked in the snow for hours on end, so it can't be that bad.

"I should have brought a pillow for you to sit on," Thor mumbles to himself. "You're too skinny." Louder, more pointedly, he says to his brother, "Do you want to sit on the bench? It's sort of shielded, but you'll still feel the rain."

Loki opens his eyes and looks around, but from the doorway, he can't see much. He opts to tap Thor's chest once in agreement and just hope it works out. He's not sure what his other options would be if he refused, but the bench doesn't sound all that bad, so he'd rather not risk unknowingly choosing a worse option.

Thor carefully sets him down on a bench, and he holds onto him as he sits himself down by his side, almost as though he's afraid Loki will fall over if he lets go. (He might, actually. He's not sure.)

Loki opens his eyes and looks around. There's not much to see. It's not all that different than the view he's had from the room all these years. It's just an open field of grass and a bunch of trees in the distance. It's plain, simple, but it's nice. He likes that there are no surprises. He gets to see exactly what he'd expected to see; nothing more and nothing less.

Beneath the lip of the building, he's largely protected from the rain, but the wind blows some lighter drops toward him, splattering gently across his face and bringing about a small smile. He likes water. It makes him feel clean. And, even better, he doesn't feel like he's inconveniencing anyone to get clean. Sometimes his friends will help him wash up a little bit in bed, but he always feels bad about it. He doesn't have to feel bad about this.

"Is this what you wanted?" Thor asks him.

Loki closes his eyes just long enough to nod, then opens them again. The world gets all weird and spinny when he nods with his eyes open. He'd use a hand instead, but they're very comfortably burritoed into his blanket and he's not going to mess that up.

"I'm glad," Thor says. "Is there anything I can do?"

Loki just rests his head on his brother's shoulder. Anything he could ask for from his brother, he already has. He just wants him here. He wants him alive. And, by some miracle, he has that. He couldn't possibly ask for more than this.