Prompt from FlowersDM: Maybe you could do one where Y/N has a nightmare about the time in the blip when Loki was dead and Loki comforts them. In MTB Loki had a nightmare so I thought it could be nice for the roles to be reversed. 

A/N: 'It's been a long, long time' came on while I was writing this and I don't mind saying it made me a teeny tiny bit emotional</3 Thanks for leaving this idea, I hope you enjoy:)

...

Loki had been there, in front of you. And then suddenly he hadn't been.

You can remember the absolute, debilitating terror which had surged through you as though it had happened yesterday. You've never felt anything like it since, and you hope that you never will again.

Between seeing Mantis disintegrate and Tony sitting down next to you audibly worrying about Pepper, things were less clear.

Of course you remember running to Loki as it happened (the terror you felt had obviously rendered you incapable of rational thought; if you'd teleported to him you might have had three more precious seconds with him), and you remember the feel of his very solid, very real arms falling away into sudden nothingness.

You remember hearing him say I love you before he had disappeared entirely. You'd spent five years thinking about that moment specifically. And how you hadn't thought to say or think it back.

You remember thinking afterwards that your heart was beating so furiously hard and fast that it was going to fall out of your chest.

And then you remember feeling as though an invisible force had plunged a hand into your chest and torn out your heart and lungs and soul and everything you needed to survive. That was when your world had exploded around you.

You hadn't felt as violently or as intensely since that moment, until last week when you'd recovered the Infinity stones and Bruce had snapped everyone back into existence. Not even at your most agonisingly painful moments during the past five years.

Being without your soulmate for so long had muted your senses and essentially put a threshold on your ability to feel. So now that you had Loki back, even the smallest degree of emotion sent you spiralling.

And you hadn't exactly been feeling small quantities of emotion over the past week.

There had been a lot going on: friends who you hadn't seen for five years were suddenly back in your life, you were speed planning a wedding, you were still reeling from seeing your home, Asgard, again (you'd time travelled) and you were trying to remember how to be in a relationship.

It hadn't exactly been difficult falling back into step with Loki, it was just... different. Five years of grief had changed you quite a bit, and yet he was exactly the same person you'd lost all that time ago.

When you'd lost him to the Blip you'd been furious that your grief was being compared to the millions of other people who had lost loved ones across the world, the universe in fact. You felt sure that, having been soulmates with Loki, your grief was worse.

Whether that was true or not, you still don't know, but what you do know is that you now probably have a huge advantage over all of those people. Being soulmates is surely speeding up the process of reconnection between the two of you.

The minute you'd opened up your mind to him again it had felt familiar and reassuring, but it's taking you time to get used to it fully. You're almost there.

With Loki back you're the happiest you've been since you lost him, since before you lost him even. Thor showing up on Asgard to reveal Loki's disguise as Odin had been the first in a long, hideous chain of events which had led to where you are now.

The time before then had been the last time you were actually content, and not worrying about if you were going to be killed, or if Loki was dead.

Until now. Now, everything is near perfect. Apart from the nightmares.

It's as though your mind doesn't want to let you believe that you truly have Loki back. Every single night you've dreamt about the day you lost him.

This wouldn't be especially unique, you frequently have nightmares about it, except now when you wake up with your face already wet with tears, reaching for him, he's actually there.

This is exactly what's happening right now.

It's one of the nightmares where you're aware that you're dreaming, but you can't wake yourself up from it. They're the worst. Ordinarily you would just have to ride these awful dreams out, but it's not 'ordinarily' anymore.

You're watching Loki disappear right in front of your eyes, but you can also feel his cool hand gripping your arm, and hear his voice in your mind. Saying your name.

He pulls you from the nightmare so that you don't have to. His arms are around you before you're even awake properly.

I'm here.

You still have to turn to look at him. Just to be sure. There's heartbreak in his eyes; he hates that he hasn't been able to protect you from all the pain you've had to go through. Alone.

He holds you tightly while you recover. You kick the duvet off of you and attempt to stem the sobs which are emerging thick and fast from deep within your chest, clutching at his arms around your chest.

Breathe. Breathe with me.

You concentrate on watching his pulse on his wrist as you try to match your inhalations and exhalations with his. His heart beats steadily against your back, calming you.

After a few minutes your breathing is natural again, and you release your iron grip on Loki's arms, finding his hand instead.

Sorry.

What have I told you about apologising?

I know. Thank you.

His thumb rubs soothing circles on the back of your hand.

It's okay. I'm awake anyway.

This is true. He doesn't need to sleep unless he's healing or has used excessive amounts of magic, so at least you're only disturbing your sleep and not his too.

Do you want anything?

Just this.

He smiles as you shuffle backwards in an attempt to get closer to him and lean your head back against his shoulder to look up at him. You can't get enough of just looking at him.

"Did I tell you how much I missed you?" you whisper. He gives you the saddest smile in the world, choosing to lean down and kiss you rather than reply.

He pulls back and rests his cheek on your forehead, and you stay like that for a while, perfectly content to listen to him breathing. Eventually, your eyelids start to droop.

"Lie down." Loki tells you quietly, and you shift back on to your back. Loki follows suit, allowing you to curl up against his side before putting an arm around you.

You want to stay awake and just relish the feeling of being with him, but tiredness is proving a tough adversary.

"Sleep, love. We have forever." Loki whispers.

He's right. So you do.