"SO, BASICALLY," TONY RECAPPED after the Cap, "basically what Capsicle here means to say is that we aren't really ordering you, a small-time hairdresser, into rooming with the evillest supervillain of the universe who is also immortal and slightly...
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08. I can survive without sleep
Naz glared at the ceiling, eyes tight with sleep but the constant flipping of pages overhead was enough to drive the light sleeper crazy. She peeked at Natasha who seemed to have fallen asleep ages ago. What was the time?
Sure enough the wall on the clock was showing fifteen past three. Finally, unable to take it anymore, she whispered, "Loki?"
He took his sweet time to answer, flipping over another page, the lamplight continuing to shine over Naz's head. "Hmm?"
"Go sleep."
"I don't feel sleepy," he said, eyes stubbornly on the page. "Why don't you sleep? Your fidgeting about will wake the agent."
Naz sat up, angrily, "Oh I am fidgeting? You're continuously going flap flap flap over my head like a giant owl while that wretched lamp is shooting flares across my eyelids."
Loki raised his eyebrows and gave her a slant look, "Why is Elizabeth so hard on Darcy?"
"I-wait, what?"
"He is clearly trying his best but no, she has to be impatient and judgemental and downright rude," he sat up too, placing Pride and Prejudice beside himself on the sofa.
"Excuse me?" she looked aghast. "You're taking Darcy's side? He is horribly rude and totally misguided in everything he does till about two-thirds of the book and if it wasn't for Elizabeth, he would have stayed the same fucking way! Now, go sleep." She flopped back to mattress and turned away.
Loki looked at her figure now completely engulfed in the blanket and rolled his eyes, "I can't."
"Can't what?" she asked in a low voice, without turning.
He gave a short cold laugh, "Sleep?" He fidgeted with his shirt sleeve, "You know what happens if I sleep."
She turned back slowly, "Loki..."
He picked up the book and laid back, "It's okay. I'll just mark my page and switch off the light."
She pushed off her covers and sat up again, "Loki, you-"
"Good night, Naz," he said, switching off the lamplight.
"You can't go on keeping awake because of your nightmares," she said, her voice a soft whisper.
When he didn't answer, she reached out to his shoulder tentatively. She knew he wasn't big on physical contact. Well, unless he was delirious in the middle of the night. Okay, it was way past middle of the night. A little comforting pat on the shoulder wouldn't hurt, right?
Her hand wavered uncertainly in the air as she said, "Besides, I'm here. You'll be fine. You really need your beauty sleep, okay? Or you'll have huge dark circles like mine, okay? Tell you what, if you're not going to sleep, please don't stop...umm you can read Pride and Prejudice, okay?"
