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“Mother, what do you do when dreams stay with you?” Loki asks, fiddling with the edge of the silk sheets.
“Do you mean like a night mare?”
Loki nods softly, the movement barely visible. Frigga sighs, knowing his dreams have been more vivid as of late.
“Whenever River Dream stays with us, wants to keep us wading through its shallows, wants to keep us longer; it is usually trying to tell us something.”
“Tell us what?”
“River Dream runs through all the realms, connecting the nine. But it is even said to connect us all.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Sometimes it wants to tell us something. Something good or something bad. A prophecy only to be understood after it happens. Sometimes there is good mixed in with bad, even when we can’t see it. Sometimes it tells of a person, of their soul.”
“Their soul?”
“Their very being.” Frigga nods.
“Do you think that is what my dreams are about?”
“It’s possible, Loki. We can go see Mimir in the morning, if you like.”
Loki nods. “Alright, mother. Thank you.”
She kisses him on the forehead, preparing to leave.
“Please stay a little longer.”
Nodding, she tucks him into her side again. “Have I ever told you the tale…”
Y/N mid story, waves her hands about as she weaves her tale of high seas, stormy nights, and a creature she’s never seen in person. Thor and Bucky sit side by side on the couch completely enraptured with her tale, like children at a campfire listening to a ghost story.
“I don’t mean to interrupt but, whatever are you talking about?” Loki asked with a wrinkled brow.
“Oh, this dream I keep having. It keeps continuing and intensifying like a memory or something, but I’ve never been to a land of ice or in a sea so cold before.”
“A dream?”
“Yeah. I’ve had weird vivid dreams as long as I can remember.” Y/N shrugs, looking back to Thor and Bucky. “That’s normal right?”
Thor grabs another handful of popcorn and shoves most of it into his mouth, mumbling over the buttery pieces.
Bucky shakes his head in disgust at Thor. “The only dreams I have that repeat themselves are mash ups of missions and pieces of my past. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. What about you, Loki? Do you ever have dreams like that?”
“Have you Loki? I imagine you’ve lived through weirder things than all of us combined.” Y/N said, giving him a comforting smile.
Thor chokes his popcorn as all eyes turn towards Loki.
“I ah,” Loki clears his throat. “Land of ice, sea so cold it felt like death?”
Y/N nods her head, “Yes, that is how it felt. I mean, I’ve never died, that I know of, but that’s how it felt.”
“I had the exact same dream.” Loki said softly, eyes turned down towards his feet. Many, many times.
“Really?”
Loki looks slowly up to her, his eyes large. Emotion rapidly change and show in flashes over his face. Fear, panic, hope, insecurity, pity, spite, longing, confusion, before settling on indifference.
“Are you crazy? Of course, I didn’t.” Loki spits out, cringing inwardly at his harsh voice. He chuckles offhandedly, looking to the side. “I didn’t, I don’t.” Clearing his throat again, he searches for the right words to get him out of this situation that he knows he’s simply putting off for a later date. “Y/N, I apologize, I didn’t mean to offend. Perhaps speak with Helen if these dreams continue to bother you in such a manner. Everyone has night mares and the random unexplainable odd dream. Take it from someone who has been dealing with these phantoms for longer than I can remember.”
And with that, Loki turned and left with a slight bow before Y/N could even fully comprehend what he said.
“What just happened?” She asks, worrying her bottom lip as Loki’s words fully sink in.
Thor and Bucky look at each other awkwardly in confusion, turning their attention to Y/N and the empty space that Loki once took up beside her.
Thor stomps through the compound. Down one hall, then another. Small items shake as his feet slam into the floor with each step.
Bucky sees him in passing, shaking his head and thanking his lucky stars that Thor’s not on mission to find him. After Loki’s little moment the other day, Bucky pulled Thor aside and asked him about it. Thor being a good brother, but unable to fully keep anything from Bucky, told him almost everything, needing an outside party to confirm his suspicions.
Thor thuds by Bucky again in his search, causing Bucky to chuckle to himself. “And here I thought I was the weird one of the group.”
“What?” Thor asks, back tracking towards Bucky.
“Nothing, bud.” Bucky smirks, “Check outside, by the Alder grove. I saw Loki out there during my run earlier.”
Thor tightly nods, “Thank you.”
Once outside, Thor makes his way to the grove, finding Loki leaning against a tree reading, seemingly happy, without a care in the world.
“Brother.” Thor said with a stern look. “A word.”
“Now I know you meant that as a question rather than the statement you – ah, okay, alright!” Loki squirms in annoyance as Thor forcefully grabs Loki by the arms and pulls him to stand.
“I speak to you as a brother and a friend. Talk. To. Her.” Thor said, trying to keep his booming voice in check. “Stop avoiding Y/N. I know you share the same dreams. Don’t look at me like that. I may be oblivious to somethings but it reads on you both like large tracks in a muddy field. I remember your dreams as a child, haunting you. Mother believed them to be more than simply that. You may act like you’ve out grown them… I’ve heard your cries in the middle of the night when you wake.”
“Shut up, Thor. You don’t know of what you speak.” Came Loki’s terse reply, edged in fear and hope.
“I do.” Thor chuckles, pointing a large finger Loki’s direction. “That’s why it bothers you.”
Loki shakes his head in defeat. “Possibly.”
“Talk. To. Her.”
“I..” Loki starts, as Thor continues to glare at him. “Alright fine, I will speak with her. But you must let this go. It’s not your burden to share with her.”
“I will, as it’s yours.” Thor says evenly, though his smile is starting to grow more and more. “Now go.” Thor pushes Loki towards the compound. “Before I throw you to her.”
Loki rolls his eyes, a smirk crackling slowly across his face as he makes his way across the lawn.
His journey to Y/N’s room is a blur as flashes of their shared dreams flash before his eyes, fogging his mind. His mother once told him that another might share his dreams. Oh, how terribly right she was. And he wouldn’t listen, not fully, thinking simply she meant his aspirations and desires and not the darkness that followed him in sleep, regardless of the calm that always accompanied it somehow. Though perhaps Y/N might be capable of sharing all his dreams, those forced upon him and those he created himself.
“Y/N?” Loki calls softly at her door, knocking twice. “Darling, I’d like to have a word.”
“You feeling better from earlier?” Y/N asked, opening the door.
“I do. And again, I apologize –“
“Just – what happened Loki?” She asks, letting him into her room. “Did I do something?”
“Not at all, love.” Loki whispers. “I suppose I need to be more transparent about all this.”
“All this?”
“Let me explain. Hearing you share your dreams the other day, brought something to the forefront of my mind that I have been avoiding for what seems like an age.”
“Avoiding? You can’t really avoid dreams.”
“Evidently not.” Loki chuckles. “May I?” He motions to her bed, and sits after she’s nodded.
“So, what’s this really about?” Y/N asks sitting next to Loki.
“I used to, still do on occasion, really, have these reoccurring dreams. Sometimes, most times, they were night mare-ish in their darkness, other times, there was this sweet, softer note to them. Just as you were describing before to Thor and James.”
“I didn’t know. No one’s ever shared my dreams before.”
“I’m not entirely surprised. Even my dreams were considered highly abnormal in Asgard.”
“I can’t imagine that was easy.”
“It was when my mother was alive, when I was younger. She, she tried to tell me something and I pretended it wasn’t real for so long.”
“What do you mean?”
“That sometimes, you meet and know someone through dreams. Through the bad ones and the good ones, even if there were very few of the good ones. I know I may sound mad, but please hear me out. Before, long before we met, I didn’t, I couldn’t, see you in real life. But you still managed to appear in my dreams. For years, I’ve felt like I’ve known your spirit. It’s calming, joyful, albeit somewhat chaotic energy.” A soft smile forms on Loki’s lips. “I hope I don’t sound too foolish here, but I feel the fates have set this up for a long time: our coming together.”
“Fates? Like destiny?”
“Possibly. My mother used to tell me, when I was but a child, that things like this were possible. I hadn’t believed her for so long, mostly wishing her words to be those of comfort to a child whose sleepless nights plagued him for many years.”
“But?”
“But the more I had the dreams, and the more they got worse, but also better by your calming presence… I think she was right.”
“You know, no matter how strange or terrifying my dreams have been, there was always this oddly calming presence somewhere in them. And that made me not as afraid as I knew I should have been.”
“Truly?”
“Yeah. I know it sounds a bit crazy but it’s always been there. Whenever my friends and I would talk about our dreams, I’d leave the calming spirit out most of the time. Not everyone believes that they can meet their person through their dreams.”
“Their person?”
Y/N chortles at Loki’s shocked, hopeful expression. “I don’t think you’re mad. Well, at least not when it comes to this. I wish you would have said something sooner.”
“And sound as daft as my brother, if I was wrong? Never.”
“Will you be more open with me from now on? At least try?”
“I will, I want to.” Loki’s smile turns genuine and a touch goofy, if Y/N was being honest. “If I can but repay the smallest fraction of comfort you’ve given me over the years…”
“I could say the same about you. I know things have been a little… awkward with us so far… but maybe we can change that now?”
“I’d like that.” Loki takes Y/N’s hand in his, bringing it to his lips and pressing a gentle kiss to her knuckles. “Tell me, do you have any plans this evening?”
Y/N shakes her head no, her bottom lip trapped between her teeth hiding a blooming smile.
“Would you join me for a meal? We can talk, get to know one another better outside of the dream realm. Perhaps compare notes on our shared dreams?”
“I’d like that very much.”
Soft voices draw Thor nearer to the dining room. It’s late, much later than he expected anyone to be up. Cracking open the door just a touch more, Thor looks to see his brother and Y/N chatting away. Each face adorned with a content smiles as they continue unaware of their being found out.
Closing the door slowly, Thor smiles to himself. His hand lingers on the door, as he silently sends them his blessing.
“Some goodness did come from his night mares.” He whispers to himself. His eyes drift upwards for a moment. “Mother, you were right.”