Prompt from Madie_Laufeyson: While y/n and Loki are sharing the room maybe one of them has like an intense nightmare or something and they talk about and can relate to each other and stuff, and it's like a major bonding moment for them.

A/N: hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates, my uni work is ramping up and i've got so much to do ahhh. here's a new chapter, i hope you enjoy<3 (also please keep sending prompts! i'm sorry if i don't get round to replying to all of them but i love reading them all!)

...

Dinner is awful.

You spend the whole time either trying not to listen to Amber almost obscenely openly flirting with Loki or worrying about the fact that you have to share a room with him tonight. Would it have been better or worse if he'd decided to share with Amber?

Worse. Definitely worse.

You eat quickly and finish before Loki and Amber. Not wanting to have to sit and wait for them to finish (Amber's barely touched her food, she's so busy talking) you stand up and announce that you're going to turn in early.

They barely acknowledge you as you leave.

You're halfway across the lobby when you hear quick footsteps behind you, and then someone calls your name.

"Agent Y/L/N!"

You turn to see Maya, one of the recruits who you'd suggested to Polly, hurrying towards you.

"Hey." you greet her with a smile.

"Hi. I just wanted to say... about earlier-" she trails off and looks at you as though waiting for you to interrupt her.

"What about earlier?" you ask, faking a confused look. You have a feeling you know what she's about to say.

"Thank you for letting me get one over on you, but... I don't need special treatment. I don't mean to sound ungrateful-"

This time you do interrupt her.

"I didn't give you special treatment." you tell her firmly.

"Come on, I'm nowhere near as good as Henry and Ffion. They couldn't take you down." Maya scoffs.

"Maybe you need to have a bit more faith in yourself. You've got real potential." you tell her. She looks pleased at that, even if she tries to hide it.

"I'll see you tomorrow." you smile, and she nods and turns back to the dining room.

When you get up to your room you stand and look at the bed for a few moments before getting into your pyjamas. Loki can take the sofa; if he'd wanted the bed he should have been quicker to get to the room, you think to yourself.

You settle into bed and grab the book you'd brought with you to read, trying to get lost in it, but it's difficult. After about half an hour you hear Amber's laugh (a sound you've very quickly grown to despise) nearing your door, and drop the book on to your bedside table, switching the light off swiftly.

Pretending to sleep will be easier than the predictably awkward small talk that will ensue otherwise. You lie down quietly, close your eyes and concentrate on making your breaths deep and even.

Amber and Loki talk outside her door for five minutes (you can't quite make out what they're saying, which is probably for the best), before her door opens and closes. Seconds later the door to your room does the same.

Loki stands still for just long enough for you to start feeling uncomfortable. What's he doing?

"Do you really think you can trick me into thinking you're asleep?"

You're facing away from him, so you allow yourself to smile.

"Maybe I just don't wanna talk to you." you counter, your voice muffled by the duvet.

"Why ever not?" he asks, moving across the room. You hear him kick his shoes off and undo his jacket.

"'M tired." you mumble, fighting to keep your heartrate under control as you listen to the sounds of him undressing. Why could Fury have not just remembered to book an extra room?

"Right. And you're taking the bed are you?"

"I was here first."

"Charming."

"That's me."

He's silent as he finishes doing whatever it is he's doing (you fight the urge to look), and then the sofa creaks as he lies back on it. Silence for three seconds, and then...

"This is the most uncomfortable thing I've ever had the displeasure of reclining on."

"Oh, I'm so sorry Your Majesty." you say sarcastically, propping yourself up on one elbow to grab a pillow and throw it at him. You get a glimpse of skin as you toss the pillow in his direction; his chest and half an arm propped behind his head, illuminated by the dull light coming through the window.

You lie back down again quickly.

"Thanks a lot." Loki replies, equally as sarcastically.

The silence after that is long enough that you actually start to drift off. You hadn't been lying when you'd said that you were tired.

"Goodnight." Loki says suddenly.

"Night." you mumble, already half asleep.

...

You dream about them. Of course you do.

Jasmine Jones. Rachel Lloyd. Mark Cox. Robbie Marshall. The ones you hadn't been able to save.

You dream about the roar in your ears as the building had started to collapse. The sounds of their desperate shouts in your earpiece as they'd tried to find each other and get out before it was too late.

The silence when they didn't.

You dream about sprinting flat out back into the collapsing building. You dream about the burning, screaming pain in your muscles as you'd tried to use your powers to hold up the debris which crashed around your head as you cried out for Jas and Rachel.

You dream about being pulled from the building by strangers. Being held back as you tried to get back into the wreckage and find your friends. Watching as they pulled Jas out from the rubble...

...

You sit bolt upright, gasping for air, clutching at the duvet. Tears are running down your face; your chest feels tight, too tight...

"Y/N, Y/N-"

Loki has you by the shoulders. You grab his arm instinctively, you need to hold on to something.

"Breathe. Just breathe."

You're shaking; you can feel Loki's eyes on you.

You close your eyes, embarrassment already setting in. Why did it have to be tonight? You try to take deep breaths with your eyes shut, but then you see Jas again. Your eyes fly open and loud sob escapes you; you instantly press a hand to your mouth.

"It's okay." Loki tells you quietly.

You look up and realise that you're still clutching his arm. You let go of him quickly. He shifts away from you slightly.

"Sorry. Fuck, sorry." you say, your voice constricted as you wipe the tears from your face hastily. This is the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened. Ever.

"Don't be sorry. Nightmares are... they're not fun." Loki tells you, looking at his hands.

"... you have them too?" you ask, your voice shaking. You clasp your hands together in an attempt to get them to stop trembling. Loki nods.

"Sometimes. Usually when I'm sleeping deeply, which isn't often anymore."

He's trying to take your mind off of it. He knows exactly what to do. You're so grateful for him in this moment.

"Why not?" you ask, drawing your knees to your chest.

"l only sleep deeply when I've overexerted myself, physically or magically." he tells you.

"And you haven't had cause to use magic." you say.

"Correct." he replies. You deem it safe to close your eyes again and rest your forehead against your knees.

"Are you okay?" Loki asks you. He sounds truly worried about you; your heart does a small sort of bellyflop.

"Yeah. It was just..." you trail off.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Loki invites you.

"I- uh. It was just the same as usual." you tell him in a sort of hoarse whisper.

"The undercover mission?"

You nod, looking up at him and then to the window, resting your chin on your knees.

"The base we were staying in was targeted by some other organisation, we still don't know who. They messed with the foundations and planted a bomb. Four of my closest friends died in there. Jas... she was only five years older than me. I couldn't save them. I barely saved myself after I tried to get to them."

"I'm sorry." Loki says, after a long pause.

"We'd been working it for so long, that case. Planning it for months. It was the organisation that gave me my powers, the one that my parents were part of. I engineered the whole thing, found out who they were and where they were hiding. There were innocent people in there, being tested on like I was. Kids, even younger than I was. We only managed to get three out before... well." you tell him, unable to stop now you'd started.

There's a long, long silence. Finally your heartbeat returns to normal.

"Sorry. I don't know why I'm... I don't really talk about it to anyone." you say, suddenly embarrassed again.

"Stop apologising." Loki says simply.

Tiredness takes you again quickly, but this time you're less eager to succumb to it.

"I'll..." Loki says after a few minutes, gesturing back towards the sofa and making to stand up.

"Stay." you say. You'd been going to add, 'if you want', but something stops you. It had sounded more like a question anyway.

Loki looks back at you, opens his mouth, closes it again, and then slowly lies back on the left side of the bed. You do the same, getting under the duvet.

It doesn't feel awkward. It feels right.

You fall back asleep easily with him lying next to you.