Loki was still waiting for Stephen to say something, but the muscles in his jaw were clenched—bulging, actually, like he was grinding his teeth. Was he diagnosing him then and there? Or was he…just waiting? Waiting for Loki to speak first?
It wasn’t like Stephen to do that. Loki didn’t know what to make of it. “Do you have any idea what it might be?”
“Do you have numbness in that leg?”
“Can it still be considered numbness if I’m in pain at the same time?”
“Paresthesia is often comorbid with neuralgia.” Before Loki could roll his eyes, Stephen self-corrected, rolling his own eyes, possibly at himself. They weren’t in a hospital, they were in someone’s garden in, as Stephen had so eloquently put it, Bumfuck, Scotland. “When you have pinched nerves, you can often have pain and numbness and tingling at the same time.”
Pinched nerves. Hadn’t Cora said that? It sounded so simple, like it wasn’t anything important. Just a pinch. Loki chuckled grimly, his eyes drifting toward the bed-and-breakfast. No sign of Cora, yet.
He just had to look away from Stephen for a little bit, to clear his mind. He didn’t enjoy feeling like he was under a microscope. He wanted to get up and move, pace, but he couldn’t. Quite literally.
Loki, Prince of Asgard, Sufferer of Irritated Nerves. Well then.
“How long has it been going on?” Stephen asked, almost gently. His voice sounded odd when it wasn’t full of snark.
