*Pre-Thor. No slash, just Thor and Loki brotherlyness :) READ AND REVIEW!

It was 4:30 AM. Hardly even night anymore, what was the point in trying to sleep?

Insomnia. Loki, pushed back the covers, swinging his legs off of his bed. How am I so greatly affected by such a human affliction?

He rubbed his eyes wearily. He'd hardly slept more than two hours in three days. He crossed the room to his mirror and clutched the sides of the bureau. He glanced up into the glass and was startled by his own reflection. He had dark shadows beneath his eyes. They were even more pronounced due to the deathly white pallor that had taken over his already pale complexion.

He combed his fingers back through his dark hair. A tiny bit of sunlight was beginning to illuminate the sky so that it was a grayish-purple color. Loki pulled on his boots, and left his room out to the hallway.

When he couldn't sleep- which was fairly often as of recently- Loki would wander the pallace, lost in his thoughts. These were the times he was left in his own mind, completely alone. And sometimes, Loki's mind was a dangerous and cruel place to be lost in.

It was times like this that he would think about how father always seemed to favor Thor. Or how the other warriors would tease him because while he was strong in intellectual pursuits, the battlefield was not a place Loki typically triumphed.

He would think about how he'd always felt out of place in Asgard. He'd spend hours thinking about that. But he could never figure out why it was he didn't belong.

"Loki?"

Loki jumped and turned around to see Thor leaning out of his bedroom.

"What are you doing? Seems an unusual hour for a leisurely stroll, don't you think?"

Thor exited his bedroom, crossing the hallway to study Loki directly and continued, "...Unless, you are unable to sleep as would be appropriate for such an hour... My, my, Loki Odinson does have a weak-"

"Don't!"

"-ness."

Loki sighed, rubbing his eyes again. The one thing Loki hated was feeling vulnerable. And most unfortunately for him, he felt this way fairly often when it came to physical fighting. It was part of the reason he'd mastered magic. It was a way to cheat the inevitable blows of battle.

"Fine, brother. You're right. I can't sleep." Loki admitted irritably.

Thor smirked, "Have you considered a sleeping draft from the healing room?"

Loki stood awestruck.

"I was unaware such a draft even existed-"

"And yet you're the smart one!" Thor teased and led his brother to the healing room.

He peered around, making sure the coast was clear and snuck stealthily into the healing room. Loki followed, and nearly bumped into Thor when he stopped abruptly in front of a cabinet. He rummaged through it a minute and emerged with a tiny glass vial holding a dark purple liquid.

He handed it to Loki who smiled, his tired eyes meeting Thor's bright blue ones, "Thanks for this."

"Drink it now, it takes a bit to take affect." Thor informed his younger brother.

Loki pulled off the tiny stopper and downed it. He felt not immediate affect and followed Thor back towards their bedrooms. Just as they reached Thor's bedroom, Loki felt the draft take affect. He was suddenly very tired and the hallway before him was blurring into nothing.

"Thor..." Loki mumbled, wavering, unsteady on his feet.

Thor turned back from his door and rushed forwards to catch his brother before he hit the floor.

He fell to his knees and scooped up his now unconscious sibling, carrying him down the hallway. He set him down on his bed, removing his boots carefully and whispered, smiling,

"Sleep well for once, brother."