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#t'challa fic
songficsbyrissi · 11 months
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The Fix (part 6)
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Previously on The Fix….(click here for part 5)
“I think…..I think I l…..”
You turned around to face him with a puzzled expression, gazing into his eyes. 
“You think you what?”
T’Challa shook his head and kissed your forehead. “Nothing. Just go on and be with him. That’s what you’ve wanted all along.” He managed to plaster a fake smile on his face. You weren’t really buying it but figured you had to. You said goodbye and walked out of the door. As you walked away from his office, you felt yourself tearing up and didn’t know why. What was the problem? You’ve gotten what you wanted, right?
Then why aren’t you happy about it?
************
You were back with Aaron. That’s what you wanted for so long. He was somewhat being more attentive than he was before. It felt like he was trying to redeem himself for the past shittiness. Your relationship was better now. You should be happier now.
But you weren’t.
You still thought about T’Challa. When Aaron was kissing you, you were lowkey wishing it was T’Challa’s lips. When he was hugging you, you wished it was T’Challa’s arms around you. 
You missed him. 
You hated to admit it, but you did.
Was it guilt because you were in a committed relationship, thinking about another man? Or was it regret that you took Aaron back?
No. You wanted him. Aaron was your man and has always been your man. This was inevitable, and both you and T’Challa knew it. 
Should you tell Aaron? Should you tell Aaron you cheated? Well, you didn’t cheat cheat, but you technically did. You gotta be honest with him. You can’t start this new relationship, especially since he’s improving himself for you. It’s only right.
Yeah, sure, bitch. You’re just hoping when you tell him, he leaves you alone for good so you can have T’Challa, all to yourself and guilt-free.
You winced at your brain. No, that’s not it. He deserves the truth. I would want him to tell me if he messed with another girl during our break.
LOL, so you can have an excuse to end it? So transparent.
Shut the fuck up, brain.
You finally got out of your head and glanced at your phone. It was almost 6, meaning Aaron was on his way over here. To study, of course. One would think after a long separation, you two would be at it like fucking rabbits. Granted, on your end, your needs were being more than fulfilled, but him? You weren’t sure, but then again, he swears he was faithful. It’s a shame you couldn't say the same.
Maybe Aaron wasn’t attracted to you anymore. No, that’s ridiculous. He wouldn’t have come back. You two were kinda starting over, so maybe he wanted to take it slow, which you were grateful for, lowkey.
A sharp knock on your dorm door shook you out of your thoughts. That must be him. You opened the door to see your boyfriend giving you a small smile. You failed to return it as he pulls you in for a quick hug and stepped aside to let him inside. He started to talk a bit about his day, but you weren't listening, and you felt bad that you weren’t listening, but you needed to get this off your chest.
“Aaron…we need to talk. Well, I need to talk, and you need to listen, then decide what you wanna do afterward. I just need to get this off my chest.” You blurted out, interrupting his rambling. He looked confused, taking a seat at your desk. In the look of confusion, worry seeped through. It seemed like he was panicking on the inside, but doing a good job to look calm. He was doing a good job, but you could read people easily. 
He’s probably worried that you're breaking up with him.
You wanted to sigh. You weren’t, but after this, you were sure he was gonna want to break up for good.
You sat on your twin xl bed, facing him with a sincere expression. “There’s no easy way to say this, Aaron. But I have to. I had sex with someone else during our break. I’m so sorry, but I have to be honest with you.”
Your boyfriend blinked a few times and let out a deep sigh. “Um, so there was another guy?”
It was your turn to be confused. “Yes, there was, but I promise I ended it when you came back. I feel bad, but you were gone and dodging me, and I know that’s not an excuse but-“
“Y/N…it’s cool.”
You could’ve sworn a record scratch played in your head. He wasn’t mad.
“Huh?” Your eyebrows furrowed with your head tilted. Aaron let out a dry chuckle at your expression.
“Yeah, well, I ain’t really happy that you did that, but I guess I deserved it for abandoning you.”
You felt like you were dreaming. Is this real? Is he being serious or sarcastic? Was he gearing up to break up with you viciously? What was his angle here?
You shot up out of bed like a Jack in the box. “Where is Ashton Kutcher with the cameras?!”
“What?”
You got close to him. “Aaron, I CHEATED on you, and you’re ok with that?!” 
He groaned in response, which caused you to raise an eyebrow, skeptical. 
“I told you! I ain’t happy about it, but we were on a break, and you were honest. Girl, what do you want? You want me to scream at you? To break up with you?”
You were taken aback by this because what did you want him to do? You weren’t sure, but damn, it felt like he didn’t really care. You told T’Challa you were breaking up y’all’s situation-ship, and he seemed distraught. Your fucking boyfriend, on the other hand, finds out you fucked another man, and he acts as if you told him you lost his pencil or something.
Hell, you were beginning to think you would get more of a reaction if you lost his damn pencil!
However, the crazy thing is, you were somewhat relieved he didn’t blow up on you. It was a mix of emotions, and you were overall annoyed with it.
“So I fucked another man, multiple times, and it was GOOD, I mean really -“
Aaron’s face scrunched up in disgust. “Alright, you’re doing a lot. I feel like you want me to break up with you.”
You got mute, but after a while, managed to squeak out. “Well, are you?”
He finally stood up and took your hands. “No, babe. I meant it when I said I wanted us back. I can’t sit here and act like you weren't gonna meet and like other guys during our break. Like I said before, I ain’t thrilled about it, but it happened. We just gotta push through.”
You raised an eyebrow again. “Did you meet and like other girls? Because you’re surprisingly so understanding about this.”
He let out another chuckle. “I told you I was working on me during our break.”
You allowed yourself to crack a small smile. “I guess you really did.” You leaned in to kiss his lips, and after a few seconds, you both pulled away.
“I really am sorry. I never meant to hurt you. For real.”
“I know you are. Now come on, let’s study.”
Aaron was at your dorm for maybe an hour before he had to go. You barely studied, but it’s ok. You could do it later. It was a little past 7. Still kind of early. You resolved things with Aaron, and you had a nagging feeling that you should resolve things with T’Challa. You haven’t talked to him since that day. It didn’t seem like anything was bad between you guys, but you still felt a pressing urge to see him. You decided to pop up, so he wouldn’t reject you. 
You got dressed in a simple, casual outfit and walked to his apartment. You remembered the number and made your way to his door. You hesitated to knock because what if he really didn’t want to see you? 
You didn’t get the chance to knock because the door swung open, and there was T’Challa, clad in his black v-neck t-shirt and grey sweatpants. It took everything, and I mean, everything for you not to look down. He was stunned to see you, and you gave a shy smile.
“Hi. I’m sorry for just dropping in on you, but can we talk? Please?”
Unbeknownst to you, he wanted to smile at you, but couldn’t. In all honesty, his heart was happy to see you, but his brain was angry at your audacity to show up at his apartment after breaking his heart. But with those eyes of yours, he just wanted to give you whatever you wanted. The problem was…you wouldn’t let him.
T’Challa finally mustered up some words for you. “Y/N, now is not a good time.”
You felt defeated, but you should’ve expected that answer. 
“I get it, but I just wanted to say-“
“Hey, T'challa, where’d you get that soap-“ a girl popped up from where his bathroom was, and her eyes fell on you. You recognized her. Nadia Richardson. She was a girl you had class with a few times, and let’s just say the classes weren’t the only easy things. 
Don’t get it twisted. You were very hoe-positive and not a slut shamer, but this slut needed to be shamed. She flirted and ended up sleeping with many men on campus, single, married, in a relationship, you name it. She didn’t care who she was sleeping with. She was an attractive woman and felt like everyone deserved a piece of it.
And it seemed like T’Challa was one of them. Her first professor. She must be fucking ecstatic. 
“Oh hey! I recognize you! Y/N, right? We had classes together!” Nadia must’ve seen the expression on your face and giggled. “Oh, this isn’t what this looks like! He was helping me with these upcoming finals! I was a mess, but he really fixed me!” 
She was grinning now as if she was mocking you. Your blood began to boil, and you sprinted away from his door. 
“Did I say something wrong?” You heard Nadia ask as you ran away. 
You couldn’t believe this. He really was fucking her?!?! A student? So quick after you two ended?! You felt like you couldn’t breathe with how furious you were. Hot tears were pricking your eyes as you continued to stomp away from that disgusting display. You fucking knew it. He was some sick professor that preyed on students, and your dumbass fell prey to him. 
You were not aware T’Challa had chased after you until you were finally outside, and he grabbed your arm, pulling you towards him. He had been calling your name the whole time, but you couldn’t hear in all the anger. 
“Y/N! Will you please calm down?!”
You pulled away from him roughly and gave him a huge shove to his chest.
“CALM DOWN?!?!! YOU WANT ME TO FUCKING CALM DOWN WHEN YOU GOT SOME BITCH FROM CAMPUS IN YOUR APARTMENT?!”
“Y/N, lower your voice please let me exp-“
You shoved him again, this time, the hot tears fell. “I KNEW YOU WERE A DIRTY DICK PROFESSOR THAT WAS OVER HERE PREYING ON STUDENTS! YOU WERE GIVING HER THE FIX TOO, I SEE!”
Now T’Challa was mad. “HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND, WOMAN?!”
You sarcastically laughed. “Oh yes! But I FUCKING FOUND IT! I should’ve never fucked your nasty ass!”
You turned on your heel to storm off, but he prevented that by grabbing your wrist roughly. You looked in his eyes, and you could’ve sworn you had never seen him that pissed before. You almost swallowed nervously.
“I did not fuck that woman! But even if I had, that is none of your concern! You ended our relationship to be with your boyfriend, correct?! So why are you still concerned about me?! Why did you even come here?!”
You finally swallowed and pulled your arm again, with no success. “I wanted to fucking talk to you! I didn’t wanna be on bad terms with you-“
“WELL, WE ARE. UNDERSTAND?! YOU CAN NOT BREAK MY HEART, AND COME BACK HERE AND EXPECT ME TO ASSOCIATE WITH YOU! HOW INCREDIBLY SELFISH ARE YOU?!?!” 
That was it. He finally burst. You were still trying to register what he just said to you. Break his heart?
T’Challa’s face softened, and he loosened the grip he had on your wrist. 
“I loved you. Loved you more than he did. I did everything I could to show you that I loved you, but you wanted him. I would have given you the world if you asked me to, Y/N. But you did not want the world from me. You wanted it from him. Even after you wounded me with your actions and now your words, I still love you.”
You don’t know what possessed you to do this, but you did it. You slapped him. Right across the face. You did it hard as hell too. He was shocked by your action. You were somewhat shocked by your action.
“You’re a fucking liar.” You hissed venomously. “You don’t fucking love me. You ran into that hoe’s arms right after I left! And now you wanna say you love me?!”
T’Challa‘s anger came back. “What are you doing here, really? Wanting to talk to me?! As if you care about me?! As if you love me?!”
“I DO! I FUCKING DO!” You shouted out, shocking him and yourself. It felt like something that was waiting to burst out of you, and it finally did. You felt relief, but you were still so fucking mad at him.
He finally let your wrist go completely. “I see I am not the only fucking liar here.”
His words cut deep. You were hurt. He denied your love, but hell, you did the same thing, so how could you really talk?
More tears fell, and you wiped them away, quickly. You took a deep breath and chuckled dryly.
“You know what? Go to hell and take that fucking slut with you.” You spat and turned to storm away, but you turned back to let out one more thing before completely walking away.
“And you’re right. I am a liar. Because I fucking hate you.”
You didn’t know when you got back to your dorm, but you did. Through the tears you sobbed while walking, you managed to make it to your dorm safely. You hated him, but you loved him. You love him. It took a minute to realize, but you did. If anything, you’ve been in denial about it because Aaron was all you knew. How could you let go of all you knew? 
Maybe you held onto the thing making you sad because once upon a time, it made you happy.
You fucked up. You hurt T’Challa and yourself by being an absolute fuck up. In reality, you didn’t deserve him. You clearly weren’t the type of girl he should love. Maybe he’ll find love with Nadia, and she’ll finally sit her lil nasty ass down. You had it coming.
You were scared to love him, and now you lost him.
Amid your sobbing and wallowing, you finally noticed your group chat had messages and, before you could read them, Melanie was calling you.
“HOE!!!” She screamed as soon as you answered the phone. You wanted to smile, but you couldn’t.
“What’s up?”
“Were you not looking at the group chat?! Bitch, we're about to go to this party at GSU. You down?!”
You shook your head as if she could see you. “I don’t think so. I’m not really up to partying.”
“Come on, bitch! Let’s go! We gotta party one time before we really gotta focus on finals! We deserve it! Besides, doesn’t your boo go here?”
She’s right. Finals was about to whoop our ass, and Aaron did go to GSU, the college thirty minutes away from yours. Fuck it. Let’s party and see your actual man instead of thinking about that stupid man you still love.
You got off the phone to get cute, and your friends came to get you an hour later. When you arrived at the party, it was loud and looked fun as fuck. Once you walked, Mel immediately went up to a guy, and Cass went to go get a drink. Ari stayed with you, being just as asocial and anxious as you are. Soon after, a man asked Ari to go dance, and she looked at you for permission. You silently gave it to her, and she went on her way. Now you were alone. You sighed deeply. This was trash. You should’ve stayed in your dorm. You really weren’t in the mood to party. 
A minute or two later, You decided to follow Cass’s lead and go get a drink. Maybe you just needed a drink or 2 or 5 or 10. You didn’t see Cass where the drinks were. You shrugged this off and continued getting a drink. As you were sipping, the three stooges ran up to you, with calm but panicked looks on their faces. What was going on?
“Hey, this party is actually wack. I think we should go.” Mel stated as the rest of them agreed with her easily. What the fuck is their problem?
“Yeah, it’s a Friday night. There’s probably another party we can go to.” Cass chimed in.
You looked at all three suspiciously. “What’s wrong with you guys? Your niggas did something?” You snorted before taking another sip.
“No, but yours did,” Ari mumbled under her breath, causing the other two to hit her. You didn’t hear her though.
“What?”
“Nothing, sweetie. We should just go!” Mel attempted to push you out of the kitchen while Cass and Ari followed behind. Once you almost made it to the front door, you glanced to your right, and think it was the alcohol affecting you, but you only had one drink. Were you drugged?
“Hey guys. Is it just me, or is that Aaron kissing a man?” You questioned, giggling at how ridiculous that might’ve sounded. When your three friends stopped, hung their heads in defeat, and sighed, right then and there, you knew you weren’t drugged. The alcohol wasn’t affecting you, and what you were seeing was real life. 
“You guys…Why the FUCK is Aaron kissing a man?”
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A/N: uh oh! Did anyone see that coming? I know I did because I am the author 😇 I do wanna make a few things clear:
I do not condone homophobia so please know this isn’t the direction I am going in with this story. Reader will NOT be homophobic, and I’m trying my absolute best to make sure she doesn’t come across as so. 
This bombshell moment has always been intended since the beginning of this story. It's not something I threw in for the hell of it lol. If you reread the parts and even this chapter, the hints were there!
That fight between you and T’Challa was whew! But let’s see how and if we come back from this! 😉
TAGS:   @iamrheaspeaks @chaneajoyyy @oceanscorazon @marvelpotterlove  @brattywriters-anonymous@cancerianprincess @blowmymbackout @ljstraightnochaser @blackpinup22 @airis-paris14 @vibranium-chakra@sociallyawkward18@chefjessypooh @mychemicalimagines@nerd-lovely @slimmiyagi @imasmille @ashanti-notthesinger @thehomierobbstark @give-me-a-million-dollars-pls @quietstorm-73 @90sinspiredgirl @lewatigress @kaykay0829 @queennanayaa @mysticbrownie @holy-minseok @queenof-wakanda @vibranium-chakra@slimmiyagi @yourfavoritefavorite @destino1 @theblulife​ @browngirldominion​ @guccixcucci​ @ladye103​ @fandom-fangirl22​ @voyagetoadinas9 @ambthegamer​ @catzspaceships​ @darkskin-buttercup​ @blackrockshooter780​ @sirenmouths @sj206260358 @prettyisasprettydoes1306@cozmicwonder @blogalrexists
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Are we dressing up for Wakanda Forever?
I might wear all black because I'm sad lol
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theflashzoom · 11 months
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BLACK PANTHER: NSFW PROFILE
Rating: Mature
Category: M/F
Relationship: Clint Barton x Reader
Words Counts: 623
Character: Clint Barton, Reader
Summary:
The King of Wakanda would request you to be your queen. In order to fulfill his achievement and love, you must understand the needs and requirements in order to impress the heart of the Black Panther.🐾
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tchallasbabymama · 2 years
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Troubled Waters Chapter Fifteen
Hey, loves! I got done with this a little earlier than I expected, so I just had to go ahead and share. I live for your comments and reblogs, so don't be shy. Check out my masterlist to read my other stories, and let me know if you want to be tagged in anything! Enjoy 😘
Word Count: 7,729
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In the weeks following the N’Miya concert, obambo attacks became the new normal thanks to recurring breaches in the veil. They happened randomly and without warning, sometimes right in the middle of someone’s home and once on a busy elementary school playground in the Mining province. Under Mandla’s watchful eye, aziza operatives patrolled the streets of Wakanda, searching for the malevolent magical beings and preventing most of the attacks from turning into full possessions. However, there were several humans whose lives now belonged to the obambo king and several more who had been traumatized by the experience of almost becoming an obambo’s prey.
Shuri dedicated her time to studying the scientific properties of magic and had begun drawing schematics for a device that she hoped would pinpoint breaches in the veil. When she showed Nia her design, she immediately volunteered to help test it in the magic realm, and the two of them began working closely to develop Shuri’s new invention. Nia had to learn how to work with Shuri’s technology, but she was a fast learner and picked it up quickly after a couple of tries. She was soon carrying device after device between the realms and testing them on both sides, but not being near a breach at the exact time it occurred proved to be a barrier to their success. They tried to track the breaches, but they were too random in time and location for them to pinpoint the next one. 
After a few days of trying and failing, Shuri had the idea to focus on something a little different and return to the invention after a brief intermission. So, Nia sat in Shuri’s lab, swiping through pictures of popular hairstyles on her kimoyo beads while the princess painlessly drew a vial of her blood. The panther cub, which Nia had named Ithunzi because she followed her around like a little shadow, lay at her feet, watching diligently as if awaiting a command. Even though it had only been a few short weeks since Nia found Ithunzi, they had become nearly inseparable. So much so that whenever Nia would disappear to the magic realm for the experiment, she would jump up and start whining the second Nia was out of her sight, scared that something had happened to her. Shuri tried her best to reassure Ithunzi that Nia would return, but nothing worked until she reappeared. The first time it happened, the growing cub jumped right into her arms, which quickly became the routine. Luckily, the equipment Nia carried with her was sturdy and could withstand a tumble or two… or six. 
“This one!” Nia exclaimed, startling Ithunzi and Shuri both. After scrolling for what felt like forever, she had landed on a picture of a woman with long, beaded cornrows and turned her wrist around to show Shuri.
“We’ll need to stop by Yeye’s and pick up some braid hair, but I can probably do it in about three or four hours,” Shuri murmured as she studied how the braids wound about the model’s head. “What color?”
“I think I’ll keep it natural for now.”
Shuri nodded and placed the vial of blood in her DNA sequencing machine. She and Nia stood up to leave, and Ithunzi followed suit, stretching out her body while Nia did the same.
“It will be ready in a few hours, but we can just get the results tomorrow,” the princess threw over her shoulder as crossed the room and packed her tablet in her Africa-shaped kente bag. “Got everything?”
Nia reached for her basket and nodded. “I didn’t bring much with me this time.” 
They made their way up the spiral ramp to the lab's exit, with Ithunzi close behind. Ayo saluted her princess and walked ahead of the group as they navigated through the winding tunnels of Mt. Bashenga to the Royal Talon. She then piloted them back to Birnin Zana, where they took to the streets, walking down to Three Step Town for the best hair store in the city. People saluted Shuri as they passed and threw curious looks Ithunzi’s way, but their reaction to Nia was still mostly uncertain. Just like with the aziza operatives that now openly roamed the human realm, the people weren't too sure about her presence in their society. Most were at least kind to her face, though that had more to do with her royal connections and personal bodyguard than anything else. The blogs were ripping her apart, though.
The group quickly came upon a bright yellow building that Nia had walked past on several occasions, and Ayo waited outside with Ithunzi as Nia and Shuri entered Yeye’s Beauty Supply. It was one of Shuri’s favorite places in all of Wakanda, and as soon as they walked in the door, Nia quickly understood why the teenager had been so excited to visit. Incense smoke whisked away the day's stress, and soothing music oozed from every corner of the store. The well-lit aisles of hair products, accessories, skincare, and more quickly became Nia’s happy place, too, when Yeye’s bright, shining face greeted them with a smile.
“Wamkelekile kwi Yeye’s!” The beautiful owner sang from behind the counter, marking her place in her book and standing to greet her customers. Her already wide grin pushed her chubby cheeks even higher when she recognized the visitors. “Princess Shuri, Sister Nia, a pleasure to have you.”
“Hey, Yeye,” Shuri pulled the statuesque woman into a hug and squeezed her tight. She had known Yeye all her life because, before she left to start her business, Yeye was Ramonda’s hairstylist. Young Shuri spent many hours watching Yeye’s fingers speedily re-twist her mother’s locs. Over the years, she eventually picked up her skills and translated them to braiding. Shuri braided all of her friends’ hair growing up, and T’Challa even let her braid his when she begged him enough. If it was long enough for her nimble fingers to grip, Shuri could braid anything. 
“What brings you in today, dear?” 
“I’ll be doing Nia’s hair tonight, and we just needed to pick up a few things.”
“Excellent.” Yeye’s vibrant smile beamed even brighter as she turned to Nia. “What style are you going with?”
Nia pulled up the picture and allowed the projection to hover inches above her kimoyo beads.
“This, but with fewer beads on the end.”
“Oh, that will look beautiful on you, love! Follow me, and I’ll get you everything you need.”
Yeye turned on her heels and took off through the store with unexpected speed. Shuri nudged Nia along, and they caught up to her in a few strides, but Nia’s head was on a swivel the whole time. They breezed past products she cataloged for later and stopped so abruptly that Nia almost ran into Yeye. 
“What color would you like?” the store owner asked, and Nia blinked in surprise as she tried to focus on the absolute marvel in front of her. It was an entire wall covered in bundles of hair of different lengths, colors, and varying states of kinkiness. 
“Where does all this come from?” she asked, too awestruck by all the options to process Yeye’s question.
“Each strand is made of a thin vibranium-cotton weave that has been manipulated to mimic the texture of human hair,” Shuri explained.
“Feel it,” Yeye encouraged while holding out a handful of tight, reddish-brown coils for Nia to touch.
“It’s so soft,” she gasped.
“You can curl it, blow it dry, stretch the curls out, wash it, dye it. Anything you can do with human hair, you can do with this.”
“Do you have something closer to this?” Nia asked, playing with the short kinks sprouting from her crown. 
“Of course, dear.” Yeye grabbed another bundle from a few feet above her head and held it next to Nia’s hair to check for compatibility. “Looks like you’re about a 4c. Do you want stretched or natural?”
“Stretched, please,” Shuri responded, the question going right over Nia’s head.
“Color?”
“Uh, dark?”
Yeye chuckled and plucked four bundles from the wall, handing them to Nia.
“Now for the adornments.” She took off again, and Shuri and Nia trailed after her until they reached a tall, revolving display of beads and hair jewelry in the center of the store. 
Even with all the choices, Nia instantly fell in love with a set of simple gold beads. Since that was all they needed for the style, they paid for their haul and hugged Yeye goodbye with the promise to return soon. Before getting settled for the evening, they made one final stop for dinner at a food cart and ate their meat and vegetable skewers on the leisurely stroll back to the palace. 
“Where’s your brother?” Nia asked, setting her basket down on the couch in the royal family’s communal living room and not-so-discreetly craning her neck down the hallway toward his suite.
“He’s not here,” Shuri said before snickering at the pout that took over Nia’s face. “Last I heard, he had to do something with the Brazilian government… or was it something with the Avengers? I don't remember; I just know he’s been busy trying to catch up on his foreign affairs since domestic has been so messy lately.”
Nia nodded, thinking about how T’Challa had been increasingly stressed since the obambo attacks began, and opening up the takeout container that held Ithunzi’s dinner.
“He needs to rest.”
“He does,” Shuri sighed. “But enough about T’Challa. Let’s watch that new dance competition show while I do your hair.”
Nia agreed and sat cross-legged on a pillow on the floor while Shuri got comfortable above her on the couch and started sectioning her hair. Ithunzi kept herself occupied with eating her meal, and after she finished, Nia watched with a smile as the cub chased her own tail and wrestled with herself until she fell asleep in a fuzzy black ball.
“How are things with you and Ebele?” Nia asked when the credits rolled on the first episode.
“Shh!” Shuri flicked her shoulder. “Not so loud.”
“Ramonda still doesn’t know?” Nia whispered, turning around to look at Shuri. The princess shook her head and turned Nia’s back around. “Why not?”
“I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
“Any reason in particular?”
“No, I just like our relationship being private for now. I don’t want to subject her to mama’s prying.”
“Well, I’m honored that you can share this with me,” Nia said, pulling a bag of plantain chips from her basket.
“You’re just so easy to talk to. Mama and T’Challa still see me as a child, and baba… well, I’m still working on that.”
“No progress there?”
“We went to dinner the other day, just the two of us. More like I went to dinner while he sat there, but still. We talked. It’s the first time we’ve been alone, just us two, since before he died.”
“Wow.”
“It was so awkward. I’ve had more engaging conversations with strangers,” Shuri said with a wistful sigh. “He just kept asking about my work.”
“But you love talking about your work.”
“Not with him! Not anymore… it’s just too weird.”
“It seems like he’s trying, though.”
“Since when are you a fan of my baba?”
“I’m not, but I think he sincerely wants to make things right where he can.”
“Did he say something to you about it?”
“No, but the man looks like the walking embodiment of regret every time I see him. Plus, umama eventually came around while working with him on the task force, so he can’t be all bad.”
“That’s what I used to think until I found out the truth.”
Nia could hear the heaviness in Shuri's voice, and it hurt to hear coming from someone so young.
“Was he a good baba?”
“The best.”
“Then focus on that. He did a bad thing, but he’s still your baba, and I can see that despite your anger towards him, you really do miss him.”
Shuri didn’t respond, too busy blinking tears from her eyes.
“Besides, we’ve been given an amazing opportunity to have our parents back. We can say all the things we never got to say and ask them questions only they can answer. I’m not saying you have to forget what he did, but take advantage of the situation.”
“I’ll try,” Shuri croaked around the lump in her throat, and Nia leaned her head against the princess’ knee.
“Sometimes, that’s all we can do.”
Shuri smiled softly and nodded before readjusting Nia’s head and continuing with her braids. 
“I think I’ll invite Ebele to dinner sometime this week. We don’t know how long the Returned will be here with us, and I’d like baba to meet her.”
“I think that’s a great idea!”
Shuri’s beads buzzed with a notification, and her eyes flickered to her wrist.
“DNA results are in.”
“I still don’t see the point in sequencing my DNA since you already got ubaba’s,” Nia said, popping some chips in her mouth.
“So I can learn more about how magic shows up in the body. For instance, humans have forty-six chromosomes, but Amare has forty-eight. I suspect you have forty-seven.”
“Makes sense.”
“From the scans I’ve taken, we already know your brain functions differently than his when you cast your magic, so I imagine your blood is different, too. Obviously, I can’t get a sample of Celeste’s DNA to verify, but I think your human blood affects your magic.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. It stopped my wings from growing, so who knows what else it did?”
“Does that ever bother you?”
“The wings?”
“Mhm.”
���It did when I was young. Even though I could do magic, I never felt like I fit in. Got teased for it a lot.”
“That’s so mean.”
“Yeah, but I grew up, went to therapy, and got over it. Now the main one that used to pick on me is a good friend.”
“Who?” Shuri asked defensively.
“Amita.”
“What?!”
“Mhm.”
“I never would’ve guessed.”
“She’s changed a lot since we were younger.”
“You’re so forgiving.”
“Only when I feel it’s deserved.”
“Do you think I should forgive my baba for what he did?”
“I don’t know if you’re the one whose forgiveness he should be searching for.”
“True. N’Jadaka will never forgive him, though.”
“Forgive who?” the prince asked as he shuffled into the room and plopped down on the floor next to Nia, waking up Ithunzi from her after-dinner nap.
“My baba.”
“You right,” he deadpanned. “What y’all watching?”
“Wakanda’s Best Dancers.” “Oh shit! I bet they turn it out.”
“They do!” Nia said around another mouthful of plantains, offering him the bag. N’Jadaka held his hand out, and she poured some into his palm, stopping when he gave a tired nod.
“Are you just now getting back from Birnin Djata?” Shuri asked her cousin. 
N’Jadaka sighed, “Yeah, and I’m exhausted. Training with Yaa is harder than the navy.”
“Less toxic, though, I imagine.”
“Way less toxic. And less violent than I expected. It’s actually kind of peaceful.”
“It’s a shame that the United States military is so barbaric that even a cult of the god of war is peaceful to you.”
“You don’t even know the half of it. I’m having to unlearn so much shit I didn’t even know I internalized.”
“Even the great Golden Jaguar isn’t immune to propaganda,” Nia teased.
“Yeah, I guess,” N’Jadaka said with a shrug. He finished off his chips and spoke with his mouth full, “I’m not really the Golden Jaguar anymore, though.”
“You’ll always be my Golden Jaguar, umzala.”
N’Jadaka chuckled.
“Thanks, cuz. I got next?”
Shuri shook her head.
“My fingers are getting tired. I’ll get you tomorrow.”
N’Jadaka nodded, and his eyes fell on Ithunzi, who was staring back at him expectantly. He smirked and reached out his hand to scratch behind her ears, and she collapsed into him before rolling over onto her stomach and playfully swatting at his hands. 
“Where’s T?” the prince asked, his eyes not leaving the sneaky little cub for a second. “I’m surprised he’s not down here staring all googly eyed and shit while you get your hair did.”
“He’s still in his office, apparently.”
“Oh, the Brazil thing?” 
“Mhm,” Shuri responded, deep in concentration as she threaded Nia’s hair through a bead.
N’Jadaka sucked his teeth and shook his head. “Sometimes, I’m glad he took the throne back; I don’t have the patience for all that.”
“All the diplomacy and politics,” Shuri said with a wretch. “Couldn’t be me.”
“That sounds horrible,” Nia mumbled, and the two cousins simply looked at each other and smirked.
“You better get used to it,” N’Jadaka warned. “That’ll be your job one day.”
Nia fell into a coughing fit to keep her chips from going down the wrong pipe.
“Uxolo?” she asked between breaths as Shuri patted her back.
“What, did you think being with a king meant you’d just get to chill and do nothing forever? Just sit there looking cute while he runs the country?” N’Jadaka laughed. “Nah, sis, you’re gonna have responsibilities one day. Big ones.”
Nia’s eyebrows scrunched together, making that little crinkle appear above her nose as she thought about N’Jadaka’s words. If he still had the heart-shaped herb in his system, he would’ve heard her heart nearly thumping out of her chest.
“Don’t let him scare you. As queen, you’ll-”
“It’s a little too soon to be talking about this.”
The cousins shared another glance.
“You sure about that?”
“Nia, if you and ubhuti haven’t already had a conversation about the future, you should talk to him about it… soon.”
Nia sat there quietly pondering her relationship while Shuri finished her last braid and looped three beads onto the end. Her mind barely registered the cheering crowd on the competition show or N’Jadaka roughhousing with Ithunzi on the floor again. All she could focus on was the future that she had tried so hard to not think about, and her stomach twisted into a knot.
---------
It was nearly ten o’clock when Shuri finished Nia’s hair, so the two of them said goodnight to N’Jadaka and retired to their quarters. Nia had started sleeping in the palace again occasionally, so she and Ithunzi made their way down the hall to T’Challa’s suite. He had given her access to his space in lieu of a separate suite and even set up a nice sleeping pallet for Ithunzi. Sometimes she used it, but she still curled up next to them most nights unless Nia instructed her to give them the bed for much-needed alone time. T’Challa found it interesting how the panther cub listened to Nia as if they spoke the same language. He swore it had something to do with her aziza powers, but Nia laughed him off every time. 
“We just have a bond,” she’d say, but he never believed it. 
While Nia got ready for bed, Shuri sat on the edge of hers with her jaw nearly touching the floor. She had taken a peek at Nia’s DNA results out of curiosity, but what she found shook her to her core. Without another thought, Shuri hurried through the palace, down the elevator, across the bridge, and up to the highest floor of the west tower. She didn’t even think to knock when she arrived at T’Challa’s office door, pushing it open so that it nearly flew off the hinges. Thankfully, the elevator's loud ding kept him from nodding off, so he knew that company was coming, but he hadn’t expected them to enter with such force. Neither had T’Chaka, who still resided in his office most of the time. 
“Shuri, what-”
“Look.” She pressed her kimoyo beads, and the lab results floated above her hand. She swiped it to the side, casting it to T’Challa’s screen, and both he and T’Chaka squinted their eyes at the information. A double helix twirled up from the bottom of the screen, and Shuri zoomed in on the blinking red section.
“What am I supposed to be looking at?” T’Challa asked with a yawn.
Shuri pulled up Amare’s results and placed them next to Nia’s.
“This,” she pointed to the left side of the screen, “is Amare.”
“Ok…”
“And this,” she pointed to the right side of the screen, “is Nia.”
T’Challa sat up straight and studied the two helixes, zooming in on Amare’s before doing the same to Nia’s. The two helixes were similar with one major exception: the G’s, A’s, C’s, and T’s that comprised human and aziza DNA were joined by two unknown nucleotides in Nia’s helix.
“That shouldn’t be possible,” he mumbled to himself as he looked back and forth between the two. He zoomed in on one of Nia’s base pairs and selected one of the strange nucleobases, studying its composition before moving on to the next one. “And you’re sure this other sample is Amare’s?”
Shuri zoomed out of Amare’s helix and scrolled back to the lab results at the top of the screen, showing him the abnormal number of chromosomes.
“Positive. I took both samples myself.”
T’Challa leaned back in his chair and stared ahead at the swirling DNA strands with the bizarre coding. 
“Could that abnormality have something to do with her magic?” T’Chaka asked.
“Nope. That shows up down here on the extra chromosome.” Shuri typed in the location, and both helixes moved to make the exact coding visible. 
“She’s not just an aziza,” T’Challa mumbled.
“Then what is she?” T’Chaka asked.
“Something we can’t even imagine.”
“But Celeste is a human,” said Shuri.
“As far as we know, intomba.”
“She would have said something-”
“Keep this between us for now,” T’Challa ordered, pushing back from his desk and standing to his full height. Shuri’s ears picked up on the severity of his tone, so she nodded solemnly in agreement.
“What will you do now?” she asked.
“Try to find the truth.”
“Nia knows the results are in. What should I say?”
“Nothing yet. I need answers first.”
“T’Challa, if this means what I think it means, then Nia could be-”
“No conclusions. Answers first.”
“The evidence is right in front of us!”
“We don’t know what we’re looking at yet.”
“We know she has DNA not found in humans or aziza. Ask Thor for a sample, and I bet you will find the same markers.”
“No conclusions, Shuri,” T’Challa reiterated.
“Fine. But if you don’t tell her by the end of the week, I will,” Shuri warned him before storming out of the office, leaving her brother and father alone with just their thoughts and the two swirling DNA strands on the screen. 
They sat in silence, staring at Nia’s DNA in awe, until T’Challa saw his father’s hand rest on his shoulder. 
“Get some rest, unyana wam. You have work to do tomorrow.”
T’Challa nodded, his eyes still glued to the screen, and an idea came to him. He decided to take his father’s advice and call it a night, so he turned off the many screens surrounding his desk before shuffling across the palace to his bed. He was pleasantly surprised to see Nia curled up under the sheets, so he quietly undressed and slid in next to her.
“Who are you, my love?” he whispered as she clung to his body in her sleep. He stayed up most of the night studying the hills and valleys of her face and wondering just what surprises she had in store for him that not even she knew about.
---------
The next morning, T’Challa struggled to keep the secret from Nia as he found himself being awakened by her gushy wetness sliding up and down his morning wood. Her kisses along his neck and the way her fingers gripped his chest drove him wild, and pretty soon, he had her toes pointed towards the skies as she screamed his name and shook with overflowing passion. They could have stayed in that bed all morning, but T’Challa exercised self-control and cut their session short in time for breakfast in bed. Nia had patients to see, so she didn’t stick around too long, and they promised to have dinner together when they said their goodbyes before parting. 
After speeding through his meetings for the day, T’Challa made his way to Birnin Mutata for the first time since they confirmed Bast’s disappearance all those months ago. He stood on the steps of the Necropolis and felt a wave of relief as the heavy stone doors slowly opened for him to enter. As king and Black Panther, he also acted as the high priest of Wakanda but had been more or less avoiding the temple for the past year. Seeing the garden of the heart-shaped herb look so desolate hurt his heart, so he stopped going regularly, and his visits ceased altogether after he realized Bast could no longer hear his prayers wherever she was. 
“Kumkani wam, it is so good to see you,” Jama, the head shaman, stood from testing the soil and saluted him as he entered the holy space.
“It has been too long, I know.”
Jama smiled and nodded softly.
“What brought you back to us?”
“I need to talk to Bast.”
“She has not made herself known in months.”
“I know,” he sighed, “but I have questions only she can answer.”
“Well, she may not respond in the way you are used to, but it never hurts to ask,” the older woman reassured him.
“Wise words, Jama.”
“I will leave you alone. Good luck, T’Challa, and may you forever be in our goddess’ favor.”
“Enkosi, and you as well.”
Jama nodded and disappeared into the catacombs, leaving T’Challa alone in the empty space with just his thoughts and the same feeling of being watched that consumed him every time he entered the Necropolis. He used to believe it was Bast watching him, but now he felt more inclined to believe it was his Ancestors that were buried in the bowels of the structure. However, despite the missing goddess, the temple felt the same as it always had as he approached the statue of Bast in her hybrid form that stood tall at the center of the room. The king lowered himself to the ground at Bast’s feet and prayed.
“My goddess, it has been too long since I last heard from you,” he began with a heavy heart. “Almost five months of silence on your end, but I need your guidance now more than ever. And something tells me you already know why.” 
He took a moment to collect his words and continued.
“Nia is special. That, I always knew, but there is something… otherworldly in her veins. Bast, I need to know: what is she? Who is she?”
He sat there meditating on his words, hoping in vain for an answer to his queries, but with no such luck. A whole hour went by before he gave up on contacting Bast and stood to leave so he could make it to dinner on time. T’Challa reached out to place his hand in the statue’s upward-facing palms the way he always did before he left, when his mind flashed with an image from the past, and he was transported into a vision of sorts. A very confusing one, at that.
Before him stood a statuesque woman in what looked to be an outfit from the 1930s. The surroundings echoed the vintage era of her clothing, but she looked out of place. Her pink day dress was beautifully made, but she stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the people on the streets of Birnin Zana. Her dark skin glowed with the shine of shea butter, and the wild mane of natural coils that usually surrounded her chiseled face had been domesticated by the searing heat of a hot comb and pinned into curls. 
The woman walked down the street like she owned it, and it seemed as if the pedestrians parted to make way for her. Many of them looked at her curiously, but most knew her well. She waved and said her hellos as she went about her business, walking swiftly as if she had somewhere to be until she entered a building that T’Challa recognized. Suddenly, the woman’s outfit made sense.
“Afua, you look like a local already!” called an older greying man behind the front desk of the War Dog headquarters.
The woman giggled and twirled around, making her knee-length dress flare out as she turned. 
“You think so?”
“I do. You know you didn’t have to go all-out, though. We have a whole team of stylists,” the old man explained.
“I know, but I couldn’t sleep the past few days, so I made some dresses and straightened my hair. You like it?”
“Hayi,” the old man waved her off with his face twisted in disgust that she would even ask such a thing. “It’s too colonizer-like for my taste, but you wear it well.”
“Enkosi, Bongani. I will be happy when I can wear it the way I want to again.”
“I bet you will be even happier when your assignment is done, and you can forget about that dreadful place.”
“Bongani…” Afua warned. 
“I am just saying! You young kids don’t know what it’s like out there. Just wait until you get called a nigger or have to avert your eyes away from the colonizers so they don’t feel disrespected.” Bongani shook his head. “Ha! As if they deserve our respect.”
The old man continued his rant as Afua patted him on the shoulder and walked towards the elevator bank, taking it up to the sixth floor and stepping out to a warm welcome.
“Well, someone came prepared.”
Afua turned to her left and smiled at the sight of her best friend in the entire world, her right hand, Mina, holding out a cup of coffee for her to take.
“Prepared and early, mind you,” Afua corrected her with a smirk as she grabbed the warm mug and took a sip.
“You know, we have stylists-”
“I know, I know. Let me have this, will you?”
Mina chuckled and raised her hands in defense.
“Very well. I’ll leave you alone, but only because I will miss you while you’re away.”
“We’ll still talk every day.”
“For work! I’ll miss just having fun together, so hurry up and do whatever the boss needs you to do so you can come back.”
“Trust me, if it’s anything like what training and Bongani’s stories prepared me for, I’ll be begging to come home by next week.”
The girls laughed as Afua sat down at her messy desk, and the edges of T’Challa’s vision began to blur before the whole scene was replaced by a bustling city street that he vaguely recognized. 
A beanpole of a man in a tuxedo held the heavy art déco door open for Afua to enter the Savoy Ballroom on that wintry night. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling that she could barely make out through the haze of tobacco and reefer floating through the air, and as soon as she checked her fur coat, her toes started tapping to the jazz music thumping against the walls. Dozens of sweaty yet sharply-dressed bodies swung about the dance floor doing something called the lindy hop that Mina had helped Afua practice before leaving home so she could fit in with the locals on her mission.
Afua had just arrived in Harlem the day before, and she was thankful to have had minimal contact with any colonizers thus far. She knew her luck would run out soon, though. The Savoy Ballroom was a hub of Black artistry and talent, but, like most things in the Bast-forsaken country Afua had found herself in, it was owned by white men. One of who was actively trying to get his hands on some vibranium through the black market and who was the sole reason for Afua’s presence in the club. She had been assigned to monitor him and report any suspicious findings, but as she scanned the busy space looking for his private section, her bright eyes got stuck on the stage. 
There was a copper-toned trumpet player with slicked-back wavy hair, freckles across his broad nose, and the quickest fingers Afua had ever seen. He played his instrument like he was heralding a new dawn with every note, and Afua couldn’t help but just sit at the bar and listen to him play. Of course, he noticed her, and after that moment, every note he played was for her pleasure. When he came over to introduce himself after his band’s set, Afua nearly slid right off her chair from his buttery vocals.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked her, and she had to remind herself how to speak.
“I’d like that very much.”
“I’d like to know your name first, if you don’t mind.”
“I’m A-” Afua stopped herself just in time, remembering her alias. “I’m Hattie. Hattie Jefferson.”
“Well, Hattie Jefferson, it’s nice to meet you. Calvin Beauregard at your service.”
“My service?”
“Whatever the lady needs, I’ll provide.”
“Let’s start with that drink.”
T’Challa watched as time sped up, and Calvin fell head-over-heels for Hattie and her full-belly laugh in just a few short hours. She even grew to love the way her new name sounded rolling off his tongue. By the end of the night, the two of them were tearing off each other's clothes and bumping into the furniture on their way to Calvin’s bed. 
The next three decades zoomed by like a movie. Hattie lived out her years as a schoolteacher while Calvin played his horn on every stage that would have him. They made good money, raised a daughter, and lived each day like it could be their last together. When Hattie renounced her Wakandan citizenship to stay with Calvin, Mina got her old job, so the two friends still saw plenty of each other for a few years before Mina’s assignment was up. Even after that, they remained pen-pals and wrote to each other regularly. 
Finally, the vision slowed, and there they were, Calvin and Hattie, thirty years later. Age slightly touched their skin, and they both had heads full of graying hair, but they looked the same. The husband and wife sat on the loveseat in the living room of their brownstone, anxiously awaiting the arrival of their daughter, when a knock at the door made Calvin shoot up from his seat much quicker than he should have.
“Your old bones are popping again,” Hattie chuckled.
“Oh, hush up. At least my hip don’t fall outta place when I’m getting some loving.”
Hattie laughed as she tossed a throw pillow at his shoulder.
“Shut up and answer the door. I want to meet my grandbaby!”
Calvin smirked and walked to the front door, flinging it wide open to find Bernadette with a bassinet hanging from her arms. 
“Hi, daddy!” 
“Look at my munchkin! She got her own munchkin now.” Calvin pulled her into a hug and fought back the tears that stung his eyes. It had only been a few weeks since she’d given birth, but he hated going too long without seeing his babygirl. “And I can actually hug you again without a basketball between us.”
“Stop hogging up all the love, and let my baby in here!” Hattie called from the living room, making them both laugh. 
Bernadette stepped inside and greeted her mother, but before she could even settle into the hug, the older woman was already pulling the baby from her bassinet.
“She looks just like you did, Bernie.”
“Mhm, she sure does.” Calvin agreed as he looked over Hattie’s shoulder at his grandchild. “And I’m glad, too. That Harold can rot in hell knowing his daughter don’t look a thing like his ugly ass.”
“Daddy, not in front of the baby,” Bernadette warned halfheartedly.
“She don’t know what I’m saying yet; she can barely hold up that cute little bobblehead.”
“What’s her name, Bernie?” Hattie asked, not taking her eyes off the little miracle for a second. 
“I still can’t make up my mind,” Bernadette groaned, and Hattie pried her eyes away from the baby to look at her daughter. She looked more than tired; she looked exhausted. Hattie could see that being a single mother was weighing on her more than she expected. 
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, honey. You’re doing great.” Hattie reached out and took Bernadette’s hand in hers. “And I know you want to be independent, but remember, you can always come home.”
Bernadette exhaled a breath she knew she had no reason to hold, and nodded as tears streamed from her sunken eyes.
“I thought I could do it, but I can’t,” she sobbed, and Calvin wrapped his arms around his babygirl.
“Yes, you can. You have us,” he reassured her with a kiss on the temple.
“You made it this far, and the baby’s healthy. That’s what’s important.”
“But she needs a name,” Bernadette sniffled.
“We’ll help you come up with one, munchkin.”
“Well, I had thought about maybe naming her after grandma.”
Calvin’s face lit up, and tears came to his eyes as he thought of his late mother.
“I think that’s wonderful.”
The baby wiggled in Hattie’s arms, and she looked down at her granddaughter.
“How do you like ‘Celeste’?”
The baby cooed, making the adults chuckle at her communication attempt.
“I think she likes it, Bernie.”
Bernadette smiled and kissed her little girl’s forehead.
“Then Celeste it is.”
---------
Nia was busy singing to her garden while picking okra pods for dinner when the sound of an approaching hoverbike caught her ear. She smiled to herself and continued singing her song until Ithunzi shot up from under Sego’s fig tree and ran to the front yard to greet their guest. Moments later, T’Challa rounded the side of the small home and leaned up against it as his eyes raked over Nia’s figure. She still had on the same long, flowing skirt and bandeau top he saw her wearing that morning, but he was looking at her with fresh eyes–eyes that knew more about her than she knew about herself.
“Are you just going to stand there and stare at me?” She asked, breaking him from his daze.
“Is that such a crime?”
“No, your crime is not kissing me.”
T’Challa grinned as he made his way over to the garden, and he wrapped his arms around Nia’s exposed waist, planting a kiss on her neck while she lightly tossed the vegetables into the basket on the ground. 
“Is that better?”
“Maybe.”
He kissed the other side of her neck.
“How about now?”
“Getting better.”
T’Challa turned her around in his arms and kissed her pouted lips with fervor as his hands traveled down her backside, cupping her ample cheeks and giving them a squeeze. Nia giggled and leaned into his warm body, her hands caressing his beard as she allowed his tongue to explore her mouth. They pulled back and gazed into each others’ chocolate eyes for a moment, just reveling in the feeling of being together until T’Challa spoke again, breaking the intimate silence.
“When are your parents getting here?”
“Probably soon, so you’ll just have to hold out until later,” Nia teased, making a deep chuckle rumble in T’Challa’s chest at her insinuation. “What made you want to invite them, anyway?”
T’Challa planted a soft kiss on her forehead and unraveled his arms from around her waist.
“I’ll cook dinner,” he offered, ignoring her question. “You just sit back and relax.”
Nia’s heart fluttered in her chest, and she nodded wordlessly at T’Challa’s command. She could tell he was up to something, but decided not to push since she hadn’t felt like cooking after her long day at work. Her prying could wait until after dinner.
An hour later, Nia woke up from an unplanned nap on the couch with the smell of her ubaba’s okra stew wafting through the air. She heard laughter and blinked her eyes open to see Celeste and Oma across the room engaged in what seemed to be a riotous conversation. 
“There she is,” Amare called from the kitchen as Nia stretched her limbs out and rolled her neck. 
“Have a good nap?” T’Challa asked, stirring the pot of fragrant stew.
“The best,” Nia said with a lazy smile. 
“You have perfect timing, as always, imbali. Dinner is almost ready.” 
Nia got up to set the table for the three of them and gave Ithunzi some oxtails the butcher had gifted them earlier that day. Celeste and Oma joined them at the table, and the living beings present all dug into their meal. 
“This is amazing, baby,” Nia complimented the chef after her first bite.
“Amare is an excellent teacher.”
“He is.”
“So, what’s the special occasion?” Celeste asked, her eyes darting back and forth between Nia and T’Challa expectantly. 
“I can’t just invite my parents over for dinner?”
“Of course you can, babygirl, but we heard it wasn’t your idea.”
All eyes turned on T’Challa as he took a sip of his water.
“I admit I had ulterior motives.”
“Which are?” Amare asked.
“I went to the Necropolis today for the first time in a long time,” T’Challa started, and Nia reached for his hand, knowing how hard that must have been for him.
“Is everything ok?” she asked, her eyes full of concern.
T’Challa smiled warmly at her, “Yes, but I wanted you all here because I have some questions.”
“About what?” 
“About you, sithandwa,” the king answered, and Nia’s face twisted in disbelief.
“Me?”
“Yes… Shuri’s lab results came back yesterday.”
“Oh,” Nia waved him off, “is this about the extra chromosome? It’s cool, right?”
“Don't worry, that has no effect on fertility,” Oma stated, making Nia’s eyes nearly bulge from their sockets.
“T-that’s not-”
“That’s good to know for the future, but I have other questions for now.”
Nia looked at him like he had just started speaking in a foreign language and downed her glass of water.
“Nia’s blood had some qualities that neither of us had ever seen before.”
“Her magic?”
“No, Shuri took a sample of Amare’s blood for that. Aziza and human DNA are very similar to each other, and I suspect there are plenty of similarities in other species, too.”
“Ok…”
“Is something wrong?” Celeste asked.
“No, but what do you know of your grandmother? Her background?”
The question seemed to come out of left-field, and Celeste blinked in surprise.
“Hattie?”
T’Challa nodded.
“Not much. Mama said she hardly ever spoke about her life before she met granddaddy, and I never got to ask her about it. Why?”
“Her name wasn’t Hattie.”
“What do you mean?”
“Her name was Afua… she was a War Dog.”
“What?” Nia gasped at the same time that Amare’s jaw nearly hit the floor.
“No, that doesn’t make sense.” Celeste shook her head, unable to process the king’s words. “She was from Brooklyn and moved to Harlem when she met my granddaddy.”
“When I was leaving the temple, Bast sent me a vision somehow. Hattie was Wakandan.”
Silence stretched across the table.
“Umama, you said that when you died, you saw her. That you two were in Wakanda.”
“I thought that was just my imagination finally letting me see Amare’s home like I always wanted. You mean I’m… I’m Wakandan?”
“How many other outsiders do you see walking around here?” Amare asked rhetorically. 
“I just thought I was here because of you and Nia.”
“But what does this have to do with what’s wrong with my blood?” Nia questioned, still not seeing the full picture. “Is there some special Wakandan gene marker or something?”
“Not quite.”
T’Challa pulled up the projection of Nia’s DNA results and went to the section in question.
“What is that?” she asked, staring unblinkingly at the row of unfamiliar letters.
“Something not of this world.”
All eyes turned to Oma.
“What do you mean not of this world?” 
“Nia.”
She whipped her head back around to look at T’Challa, and he was beaming with so much pride that he almost began to glow himself.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I think you know why.”
Nia’s chest tightened, and she remembered Kokou’s words from when they summoned him to find Bast.
“You know, blood can tell you a lot about a person… or being. Who they are, what their lineage is…. You, Nia, are very special, but I am sure you know that already, don’t you?”
“My lineage….”
She stared across the table into her mother’s worried eyes. 
“I-I don’t understand. First, I’m Wakandan, now I’m, what, an alien?”
“Not an alien, Celeste,” Amare spoke calmly, staring between his love and their daughter in amazement.
“Then what?!”
T’Challa and Nia locked eyes, and she allowed him to intertwine their fingers as her heart thumped violently in her chest in anticipation of his next words. As soon as Nia saw the DNA results, something inside her knew what it meant, but she needed to hear someone else say it.
“Nia, Celeste… I believe you are descendants of Bast.” 
The words filled up the kitchen and expanded throughout the house, thickening the atmosphere so much that nobody dared speak except for Oma.
“I knew you were precious, but I had no idea just how much.”
“How do we, uh,” Celeste struggled to string her words together. “How do we find out for sure?”
“Kokou knows something.”
“I think Thoth does, too,” T’Challa added, remembering how he had Nia perform N’Jadaka’s exorcism. 
“Does Sekhmet know?” Amare asked.
The table quieted again as they all pondered the target that sat on Nia’s back.
“I think the more important question is, what more can I do?” Nia mumbled aloud as she stared at her hands, switching them from purple to red without hardly even trying. Her weeks of training with Amita and Shuri had proven to be fruitful, but this new revelation meant she’d need to level up. If she truly was Bast’s descendant, then she needed to seek a more advanced training–something no aziza could provide.
Next Chapter
Taglist: @maddeningmayhem, @theblulife , @motheroffae , @love-mesome-me , @toni9 , @dersha89 , @impremenior , @ljstraightnochaser , @love—life—passion, @yourstrulybrii, @hon-eey , @ariesthetouchdeprivedgirl , @viva-asgardia , @ashanti-notthesinger , @brattyfics , @cecereads209 , @wakandan-smuts-forever, @miryalle , @rolemodelshit , @afrosandsweatpants , @queengodiva619 , @fka-d-c-walker , @goddessofmischief0711 , @chereedrop619 , @blkbutterfly816 , @violettedelightz , @sarifinasnightmare ,
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griots-tales · 2 years
Text
Put Sum Respeck On her Name!
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Summary: A teenage Shuri accompanies her brother and his girlfriend on a trip to America... where she's antagonized by some incels, who soon regret it.
Word count: 2000
Warning: portrayed misogyny and bodyshaming
Characters: Shuri, Nakia, T'Challa, Okoye
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~
Her attire stood out from the bleak morning crowd of Upper East SIde; her gait almost announced the Royal blood in her veins, and her company only confirmed the fact that she was someone important: Princess Shuri of Wakanda strolled down the pavement in full style and Okoye in tow, sipping some coffee together.
"Finally, got some Starbucks, eh?" She grinned at her General and confidant.
Okoye shrugged but smiled softly as she answered, "Bast, it might be the only American thing that I like."
Shuri brought her lesbian flag-themed (cherry and tangerine meringue) drink to her lips, scowling as the sun hit her directly in the eyes. "Is this the place 'Kia was talking about?"
"I believe so, Inkosazana..."
They faced the kebab stand beside them, and watched its owner set it up for the day. Nakia was familiar with the landmarks around, and had suggested that they chill in the city for a while as they made plans.
"Sanibonani, babies!"
The person in question had arrived, sashaying down in her bespoke maroon and olive pantsuit. A pair of gold rimmed sunglasses framed her eyes, protecting it from the flashing sunlight.
"Sawubona! Where's my douchehead?" Shuri greeted, referring to T'Challa.
"Oh he's on his way," Nakia replied, proceeding to wave at the vendor cheerfully and socialize with him. They waited for the King and also their delicious-smelling lamb kebab order around a plastic table.
Minutes passed in small talk, and T'Challa ended up arriving only just in time to start eating along with them.
"I was helping this old lady with her car," he explained.
"And it took this much time?" Shuri complained.
The King rolled his eyes. "It was parked a little too far into the side of the road, and it was stuck in the mud. Her arthritic self wasn't the best candidate for the job."
"Pulling a car out would take you, like, five seconds."
"She thanked me for at least five minutes," He replied and turned towards his sister, irritated now. "Also, would you stop making such a fuss about the time?"
"And what if I don't?"
"I will stop bringing you along on any of my trips to nice places." T'Challa retorted, annoyed.
Okoye sighed audibly, knowing that both siblings were aware of how tiring they could be when they bickered. "I say we should discuss what we saw in the city, right now... it's a relatively leisure trip but we have serious work at the back of this."
"You're right," Nakia caught on, helping Okoye dispel the can't-stand-you vibes the siblings had today. "There is still a lot to observe, but we now have an idea of what kind of teams to dispatch to analyze the society. Putting up an outreach center will be of no use if it doesn't cater to the nuanced needs of each unique neighbourhood they're placed in."
Shuri seemed to cut her attitude down for Nakia: "There's a lot that can be improved infrastructurally, but the main problem seems to be the usual one. I did some research beforehand, and there is a clear trend of systemic causes behind the low paying jobs and increasing crime rate. Not any lack of resources."
"I agree," Nakia nodded. "That, along with more engaging and applicable education for the kids in the hood. These schools don't really provide them with everything they need."
Their discussion went on, and T'Challa took notes on a Kimoyo bead disguised as a phone. They came to some conclusions about how the resource planning and channeling should take place, and took them down on an agenda to discuss with the council and the WIOC team.
They got up from their chairs and thanked the vendor, who was now swarmed with more customers than seemed usual, probably because of the accidental sponsoring the expensive looking Wakandans did by eating there.
Speaking of looking expensive, T'Challa noticed that they stood out a little even though they had tried to dress more Western. "We should use something more casual..." He suggested, dipping into an alley and pressing a Kimoyo bead to turn his subtly patterned overcoat and leather shoes into a printed hoodie and sneakers. The others did the same, checking for any surveillance before using their technology to tone their outfit down a little. Only Nakia's pantsuit remained more or less the same, as her experienced ass actually knew what to wear outside.
They split up again, now T'Challa and Okoye going together to navigate some lesser known places.
Nakia accompanied Shuri on their second round of the city, interlocking their arms as they chatted about different things and browsed items in the Black owned stores, keeping some in mind to buy from later. They spent about an hour at a local art exhibition, noting how it helped recognize small scale artists.
When they felt hungry again mid-morning, they stopped by a ice-cream-parlor and ordered a pair of brownie sundaes to cool off with. There were way more people around, now, including a trio of twenty-something-year-olds in identical-looking sweatpants and t-shirts standing just outside the parlor.
**tw colorism, bodyshaming, misogyny**
The War Dog had caught bad vibes from them even as she passed them, but didn't acknowledge them the least. They stayed out of their way only until she first stuck her ornate little spoon (a speciality of the store) into the chocolatey ice cream.
One of the men, a lanky one, sat up in his chair and stared shamelessly at the two women.
"Whew chile, I thought it was the darkness of the void " He sniggered and munched obnoxiously on his half-eaten ice cream cone. "Man why she even dressed up? Is she going out with someone?"
His group guffawed lazily, leering at Nakia.
"Bruv I'm more worried about the other one... how her ankles ain't snapping?"
"No shit, sis ain't got no ass!" The first guy continued, talking loudly to make sure Shuri could hear him. The princess didn't even turn to look, raising a cold eyebrow as she stiffly let the dessert melt in her mouth. Nakia was tired of this already, but prepared to tell them off to protect her friend. However, she turned around and realized that she didn't need to:
A large hand came firmly to rest on the back of the leader's chair; and the mere presence was enough to make him believe that the long fingers were just a second away from reaching his neck and snapping it. The vibranium rings were still on, and though neither asshead knew anything about them, they fell silent as they took in the new arrival.
"Hello there." T'Challa's voice was as smooth as a blade held to one's throat.
"Sup, mister..." The shitface's voice cracked a little.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" He growled, "...like finding your eyebrows?"
They all stared back at him, bug eyed. The ashy fellow truly lacked any definite eyebrows, and seemed shocked at the fact that his natural features were being mocked.
Shuri giggled at her brother roasting the shit out of the incel. Nakia joined in, grinning as her boyfriend turned on the other two.
"And you. I saw you just an hour ago, sucking on the same damn soda can; Bast knows what your teeth look like now." He observed that the other idiot's tongue had immediately darted somewhere inside his mouth where he was definitely missing a tooth.
"Get outta here, N----" The third one said, in a brave and foolish attempt to make T'Challa back off.
He was returned with a glare that seemed to cut through him with no effort.
The King didn't need to speak a word before the first man made a run for it, jumping out of the chair and followed by the others, swiftly following his lead. T'Challa kept his gaze on their backs until they were completely out of sight, before looking back at Shuri and Nakia.
The War Dog smiled at him as she licked some vanilla cream off her spoon, to which her boyfriend slowly came out of his stoic-aggressive state. Shuri waved at him to join them, and he did.
"Ubhuti, I didn't know you could throw shade?" Shuri teased once he sat down on a stool between them.
T'Challa grinned. "I've been throwing shade before you were even born, sister what are you talking about?"
" 'Go find your eyebrows' !" Nakia chuckled, "I was actually gonna use that, by the way"
She watched the smile slide off a little from his face as it took on a serious expression. " They had no right to speak to you two like that, though. "
"I've seen worse." Nakia admitted darkly.
"I haven't." Shuri shrugged, and a little shakily, T'Challa observed. Her voice was concerningly smaller than he was used to.
Both their statements hurt his chest a little; and he took their hands in each of his own.
"The next time anyone says something like that to you, they might have to go find their lower jaw." He whispered, leaning to Shuri, earning a snicker that indicated her good imagination.
"And Nakia," He addressed his girlfriend, not letting go of Shuri's hand, "You don't need brush anything off if it doesn't respect your worth. Like I said, they'll spend days searching for their mandibles."
Nakia's beautiful lips widened in a humored smile, inspiring him to bend forward to plant a kiss on them. She was returning a brownie flavored one when-
"EURGH! Not in front of my salad!"
Shuri ripped her hand unceremoniously from her brother's in faux disgust at the PDA.
T'Challa rolled his eyes to the back of his head. "That is an ice cream, Shuri."
"It's the ice cream version of a salad!"
"Are we really doing this?" He groaned, going back to finish the kiss.
Shuri made it a point to make retching noises as they went on for a few seconds before breaking apart.
"This actually tastes good... can I have some?" He murmured flirtatiously to Nakia, completely ignoring his douchebag of a sister.
"Here take mine, I don't want to eat anymore!" Shuri joked in the background, over reacting. T'Challa pretended to steal it to tease her, but she swiftly moved it out of his reach and began eating it faster under the threat.
Nakia shook her head endearingly at their antics, giggling as she scooped some brownie and ice cream to feed T'Challa with. The King accepted it with a momentary, but pointedly seductive eye contact as he practically sucked the fancy spoon: throwing hints like these weren't uncommon between them.
Having a (now, thankfully and unfortunately) loud and annoying teenage sister around wasn't the best way to get sparks going through dessert metaphors, but it did help keep up the vibe for the rest of the morning until noon, where they met Okoye again at Sylvia's for some good soul food.
-
The General was inevitably livid when she heard what happened to her Princess and her friend.
"Kumkani, you should have cut his tongue off-" She stabbed her barbeque ribs as though they were his.
"It would have been a legal complication, and he had also taken his chance to run. I decided against it." the king explained.
The Princess smirked, "But you looked like you were gonna do it. He low key deserved it, too."
T'Challa shrugged. "Andazi, kungcono ukuba asimfaki ezingqondweni zethu"
"He's not wrong... we have better things to think about." Nakia nodded, digging into her macaroni.
"You can always talk about it if it bothers you, though. Don't hold back." He corrected himself slightly.
Shuri smiled, and looked at Okoye as the General took her hand.
"And if you want him impaled, I have no problem-"
They all laughed, but knew that the Dora wasn't bluffing, since they had enough experience of her dutiful brutality. Shuri felt warm inside for once, feeling the security of her family and friends again. In the recent years of turmoil and instability in her country, it wasn't many nights that she could lie down and sleep without feeling the weight of the country in her gut.
Ironically, in this strange land which she had been (rightfully) warned about before, she found a day and night of peace. Harlem buzzed and stirred constantly around her, as she could see in the bird's eye view from her personal suite that night. T'Challa visited again to check on her before leaving her to the perineal buzzing of her own mind.
No shit! Sis ain't got no ass!
The words echoed again in her mind. But this time what bubbled in her throat was mirth.
"Who, me?" She said to herself, chuckling at the mirror. "Bitches be assless and brainless but come at me, damn!"
Her full length reflection smiled back at her: And she loved herself more than anything at the moment.
~
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haechvn · 1 year
Text
“stay with me”, she kisses into your skin, hands caressing your sides and your back. it’s nice. moments like this when her mind isn’t clouded by the harsh realities of her surroundings. she reminds you of the shuri you knew before the talokan invasion and t’challa’s passing. soft spoken, easy going and open to love. she has carefully placed her heart in your hands and reached a place where she is able to trust you with every fiber in her being. without fear or resistance. 
giggling at her loving actions, you bring her head closer to yours and plant pecks under her jaw, feeling her relax with you tough and sigh in response to you. she can finally be happy and enjoy life. 
“leaving is the last thought I had and you know that baby.”
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ghostsprettymama · 1 year
Text
Mona Lisa.
" your wish is my command,"
A/N: my first writing hopefully a Story maybe, leave a like while u at it :3  (modern au, t'challa, shuri, and Erik have no familial relations, minor characters are mentioned but no sexual events with them.)
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warnings: peer pressure, manipulation, violence, drug use, smut, 18+ please, swearing,  oral, alcohol use. And
word count: 3,203 words 17,166 characters
Pairings | gang member ! Shuri x Black! reader, the reader having a crush since childhood.
ALL CHARACTERS ARE 18+!
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Part two. Part three.
Y/n L/n a girl with her family finally moved back to her hometown, she sure missed her old friend Shuri. Her sneaky ass was happy since she knew her friend still lived in ATL, specifically the neighborhood her family stays in.
Shit, for sure she was tired of her brother Erik's loud ass snoring, "mom can you wake him up? He's so loud!" She said, annoyed at his obnoxious snoring. He sounded like he was having the dream of his life, shit maybe you would sound like that too if your bitchass would sleep when told to😒.
"He gets that from your father, querido. Wake him up gently, i dont wanna hear his whining." (darling). your father had taken offense to the smart remark, giving your mother the side eye and a stank face. " Well, they both got your sass, and be quiet cuz ik damn well you didn't forget who was driving," he said, playing with her. Your mother put her hands 
up as a fake surrender. You wanted love like your parents, but yk nobody in ATL gonna give you that.
You shook your brother, not as gently as your mother wished, but he'll be alright. After enough shaking he woke up stretching, then of course staring you down. "can't have shit with you around Y/n always gotta be the #1 hater for what.." he said, looking at you like you had lost your damn mind. You rolled your eyes, scrolling on Instagram.
Then you came across your childhood best friend's Instagram page. It was her. Shuri, your cheeks went a little red, and your heart beat so loud you could hear it in your ears. 
You Followed her, wanting to dm her but hesitated to, but you proceed to stalk her account, like some photos, and watch her story, something in you was proud. She had a big platform and was making a lil' money off of it. Good for her. You wanted to dm her and yet you hesitated, After all, she might not know who the hell you are, knowing you'd look crazy as hell dming her, even more, crazy saying stuff she probably won't remember.
Erik glanced over shaking his head " Aint that the one girl you like" he cocked an eyebrow staring you down, he already knew the answer but wanted you to say it "She’s no- you tried to speak and yet got interrupted by your brother. "yeah right, ever since we was 5 all you did was play with her, and only look at her. Shit, I remember you throwing a ball at her brother's head for being mean to her" he said, shaking his head " you do like her but you're  1.) in denial 2.) oblivious" he finished. 
Damn, he ate that, he even left you speechless, you stared off trying to think of a comeback knowing damn well you don't got one, your grip of steel loosened on your phone and he took it dming shuri for you.
Suddenly you snapped out of it trying to get  your precious baby back, but of course, your brother is stronger and "better". he kept one hand on ur face keeping you away from the phone, as he texted shuri for you.
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Erik pov
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"Damn," I said biting my lip, "Told you so," My younger sister Y/n said, "Mann you ain't tell me shit, at least she remembers your shy ass." I said kissing my teeth and making a sound with it, throwing the phone back to Y/n.
I gladly will support my Lil sis thru this, I just don't fw her brother, and T'challa doesn't fuck with me. 
We keep it lowkey and don't fight in front of them, it ain't their business anyway.
She should date Shuri anyway, T'challa 's hoe ass doesn't deserve my sister anyway.
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Y/n pov
I smiled at the message, my eyes lighting  up with joy, I can tell Erik is happy that I'm smiling at least, my dad parked in front of our house, damn it's big, telling us to gtfo the car.
I quickly texted shuri something hoping id get a good answer. 
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(darling)
Then you heard running in the house and a woman came out, your eyes went up and down her body scanning her to see if it was shuri. your shuri.
you looked at her fit and slim body, her wearing a sports bra and jogging pants so low that you could see her v line,  you moved your eyes to her upper body, her unmarked pretty chest,  her untouched neck and collarbone, and last but not least her face looking as if it were sculpted by the gods, my god her jawline.
Her jawline was something you could mark up for the world to see, and her pretty plump lips were kissable, soft, and plush. her pretty button nose. You enjoyed it dearly and it complimented those beautiful eyes.
I shook my head that you don't like her. At least you thought that, you didn't even know why your mind was thinking like this.
You ran up to her and hugged her tightly " SHURIII I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!", you hid your face in the crook of her neck and then gave her a friendly kiss, she lifted you, your legs automatically wrapping around her built waist. "y/n!  Sithandwa! " Shuri wrapped one hand around my ass to cover it  since my skirt was rising and the other around my waist
"Y/n! the movers are finished, you and Erik enjoy being outside me and your pa are gonna set stuff up" my mom yelled as she and dad went inside slamming the door.
----
SHURI POV
she smirked at the messages shaking her head, shuri got up from her bed and quickly got dressed.
Of course, she remembered her childhood best friend, she thought about her and wrote about her, for 13 years straight in 35 hub notebooks. 
But of course,  Shuri wouldn't let her know allat, she wanted to have some fun with the girl, so she checked y/ns pages looking at posts, highlights, and everything.
Damn, she grew up.. She looks different now, especially her body... haven't seen her in a bit. damn, that ass. she liked a video of her working out at the gym, Shuri's eyes went to her chest as she bit her lips. exiting off her page.  I'm not gonna do anything dumb, take it slow, it's your bestfriend shuri you can't fuck around with her like them flings at school. she smacked her head, before she turned around opening the blinds of a window close by her  bed, she saw a car hoping its y/n, and her heart raced as she squinted seeing Erik in the car.
She knew it. y/n was there, and she got a notification from Instagram, from "Y/n 🫶🏽" she confirmed that it was indeed her in that honda civic.
Shuri texted back w speed, running out of her room and almost falling down the stairs, her speed startled her older brother T'challa  " Girl what the fuck are you doing running around like a damn cheetah???" said T'challa giving his sister a look like she lost her damn mind.
"what's got you in a rush 'anyway?" T'challa said standing up, towering above the 5"8 female slightly.
Shuri looked him up and down, returning his curious look with a stank face " if you don't back your black ass the fuck up.." she rolled her eyes stepping back "Y/n's back and I miss her so I'm gonna go see her outside. come out or not grouchy ass " shuri walked outside, her brother following behind watching from the door Frame.
" damn.." me and T'challa both said under our breathes looking at y/n, "you can tell she's checking you out, her gayass can't even hide it" T'challa laughed quietly staring at Y/n then his mood changed seeing erik lean against the car, and watching him
Shuri knew damn well they didn't fuck w each other, hes not as dumb as Y/n with social cues. It was shuri’s turn to study y/n, shuri slowly traced her eyes up the curvy woman's body, stopping at her pretty breasts, she bit her lip snapping out of it when y/n jumped on her. "ingaba le ntombazana isisidenge itsibela umntu inxibe isiketi esifutshane..." (is this stupid girl jumping on someone in a short skirt...) said T'challa, his voice raspy when speaking his native tongue.
 "Watch your mouth," Shuri said in a threatening tone, understanding Xhosa while the Beautiful girl in her arms didnt. Her doe eyes looked at shuri then T'challa.
Erik got closer sitting on the step.
----
Y/n's pov
When she looked at T'challa he stared back, her innocent eyes lost in his eyes full of things she wasn't ready for, he smiled innocently while his eyes meant something else, it felt like a cat hunting a mouse.
She looked away eventually letting T'challa win the stare-off turning her head to Erik as she yawned
"Erik can you believe it! they still remember us!" she giggled with a smile, Erik nodded staring at the sky as it began to rain down hard "mmh it's raining.. I don wanna ruin my hair..." she sighed. Erik motioned to grab her  from shuri and she repositioned her to be at her side
"Easy big and strong, you guys can stay with us till the rain stops" said shuri looking at T'challa with pleading eyes hoping he'd say yes.
T'challa looked at Erik, his eyes saying "fuck no" only because it's T'challa. "mmh.." he thought abt it yes come in" he nodded moving from the door.
They came in one by one, shuri sitting by Y/n, Erik on the steps, and t'challa sitting at the door.
Eventually, the tension eased, and they'd all be heard laughing and talking about stuff they missed in their childhood, that or reminiscing. 
Shuri would notice y/n is fast asleep, her head on her lap.
"so.. does she still like me?" shuri eyes Erik " she was blushing when she found your page and was acting like a middle schooler too shy to text you yada yada," said Erik leaned against the wall with his eyes closed.
Shuri smiled "I just wish she would say it" she shook her head gently, stroking her head, running her hand thru y/ns braids.
"I'm gonna bounce, I rather sleep at my house, and have her home when 
she wakes up" Erik left and T'challa had gone to his room.
-----
SHURI
"let's get you somewhere nice to sleep."
she gently would pick up y/n  bridal style,not trying to wake her, she locked the doors before moving upstairs to her room.
Shuri would take her shoes off and put her in some old pjs she had. tucking her in and getting with her.
shuri closed the blinds and the curtains, dimming the lights and getting ready for a rest.
hours later
Shuri woke up to  y/n watching tv, she shook her head and went under the covers and appearing between y/ns legs laying her head on y/ns lap.
"Hey ma. Shouldn't you be leaving?" shuri said in a raspy morning voice. this got Y/n soaked to her core, she noticed the sudden heat but was too tired to embarrass her about it. 
"Ma? that's a new nickname." y/n looked down at her stroking her head, shuri hummed while Y/n watched tv. " you know I'm so glad that you remember me, shit, 'd cry if you didn't" said y/n
shuri smiled chuckling" let's get some drinks yeah? im thirsty" she gave a tap to her butt causing y/n to jump. Shuri left 
first to the kitchen leaving y/n upstairs.
----
Y/n
Y/n blushed, thinking that it was weird for friends to do this. but it was shuri, and she didnt mind at all, when she got off the bed, she went to the bathroom to find herself in a shirt, Shuri's shirt and  pretty panties she had on.
did she... Y/n thought to herself, blushing.  they were both girls and friends, she shook her head, overthinking it, skipping on down the kitchen and there she was, drinking from the bottle, Hennessy. she had a cup for y/n  ready to join her . "to my friend coming back!" she smiled, clinking her bottle yo y/n's cup.
"I um, never had any before shuri. I dont know" y/n said kind of worried, looking at Shuri with her pretty doe eyes " dont be a pussy n drink up." her voice sounded commanding, not the usual soft tone she had with y/n.  but either way, something in y/n liked it, she got more aroused and obeyed shuri's orders automatically, she didn't know why but she just wanted to please her.
She gagged at the taste sticking her tongue out in disgust but drank every cup poured for her till she was giggling on the table.
"man i should get home shuri" y/n would  hiccup looking at her. but  got no reply, shuri was texting sb. Her body wasn't too far from y/n, so she pulled her closer with her legs putting the phone aside. 
"Put the phone down. I want attention * hiccup * " y/n  said tracing a finger down her body, "damn shuri you look so goooood..." she tightly closed her legs while staring, shuri looked at y/n then her phone, deciding to play the intoxicates ones game.
"Don't need T' stare y/n.. tell me what you like,"  shuri said. y/n had the drunk confidence, she didn't feel shame temporarily "i like everything I see..." your hands went up and down her body as you bit your lips. "but these clothes gettin' in the way.." you slowly would look down her body, your pussy turning into Niagara falls.
Shuri gave a light tap on your ass before feeling you in all the right places, but she wouldn't go further without your consent. "can i- "just fucking touch me shuri" you hissed out, obviously wanting shuri so bad " say it then princess" shuri said looking into y/n's eyes, but it wasn't her soft look anymore, she was hungry, hungry for you.
" Please shuri, I need you so bad, everything you do just fucks with my mind, please just fuck me already " you whined out, sounded like a melody to her ears, she'd move stuff off the counter putting the alcohol back in the fridge. then went back to y/n  moving her waist more towards her, Y/n would support her body with her arms as shuri took y/n’s panties off  spreading your legs.
-----
You gasped at her strength, how quickly she grabbed your legs and spread them, you were shocked you were doing this with your best friend, damn, didn't know Hennessy made bitches gay.
She moaned at the sight of your pretty pussy being so soaked just for her, "all this just f'me Y/n? " she chuckled " y- before you could even get a word in her mouth attacked your pussy, her tongue causing you so much pleasure, your body grinded and rocked against her tongue, your pretty moans filled the room.
Shuri gripped your thighs glaring up at you, damn she was sexy from this angle"Sthandwa, let me take care of you" (my love). You nodded your pretty doe eyes rolling back at her tasting you and abusing your clit "fuck shuri I feel something in my tummy" You said feeling the knot form in your stomach "that's good, js means you’re gonna cum soon my Inbazana " said shuri taking a break from attacking your pretty pussy.(my girl)
"mmh why did you stop shuri" you whined as she'd chuckle " hold it f'me yeah?" she said as she went back to tasting you, her tongue doing tricks against your clit. "i-ill try," you said stuttering from all the pleasure you were getting, grinding against her tongue again since her hands moved, your head tilted back as your eyes rolled back, you moaned softly not wanting to wake T'challa up.
then you felt her long fingers enter you, you arched your back moaning loudly, a soft tear falling from your eyes "Ah? do you like it sthandawa? like feeling my fingers" she slowly thrust them in your pussy as her tongue will still attack your clit, nice and slow this time.
She began to gently suck her lips against your clit at the same pace, your hand moving to her hair automatically, you couldn't even control your body right now, all you were doing was speaking and acting on impulse.
She kept going swapping with sucking and licking your clit, you whined wanting to cum so badly " please shuri please can I? I wanna cum so bad please" you whined, looking at her with your pleading doe eyes, this whole time her eyes remained on you, every reaction of yours turned her on to the max. You began grinding against her faster, you needed her so damn bad.
"Hmm..." she thought about it going faster with her licks and sucking, her fingers finding your g-spot and abusing it, you threw your head back moaning, not caring how loud you were, suddenly you heard that T'challa was up and moving "please let me cum shuri please. ill let you do what you want to me for a week." she smiled at that deal nodding, making it final
The girl attacked Y/ns pussy her fingers brushing up against the g-spot nice and good, her licking and sucking causing y/n pure ecstasy as she squirted in shuris mouth, T'challa was almost near the kitchen before she licked her clean before moving her from off the counter, keeping her panties.
"What the hell is going on with all this damn noise Ri?" said T'challa dressed in only sweatpants and damn was he built
"ah.. yeah we were talking, now we're gonna go back to sleep bye!" shuri ran with y/n back to her room locking the door behind her.
T'challa sighed turning on the kitchen light and seeing the mess that happened " did these niggas... fuck on my counter... and not clean it up" he looked repulsed cleaning up after them
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The two girls cuddled each other, Shuri's leg resting between y/ns thighs, they looked at each other and smiled, shuri closed her eyes beginning to drift off to sleep
"Are we still friends...?" Y/n said, looking up at her hoping she'd say yes, Shuri opened her eyes and smiled " of course" she kissed Y/n's head before closing her eyes and her own
As they slowly drifted off to sleep.
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dontask-idkeither · 1 year
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Hold me by the heart
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Shuri x Black!Fem!Reader
Word count: 1.4k
Summary: When Shuri is at her absolute worst, you were always right there to hold her and comfort her.
Translation: Ungubani -> Who are you?
Note: T’Challa is very heavily involved here and the overall all fic is pretty sad. This also heavy with grief and has a major Wakanda Forever spoiler, just in case you haven’t watched the movie yet.
Y/F/N means your father’s name, I couldn’t really think of a name to put for that so
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2016
Being an war-dog stationed in Austria was not how you expected to be spending your 18th and 19th years of life. After a year in the Austria, you missed everything about home. The air, the water, the people, the food, your culture, your family, your girlfriend. You were sat on the couch in the apartment that had been given to you, clicking through tv stations.
You got to the news to see that the Vienna International Center had been bombed. You sat up as you listened to the headline. When the broadcaster said that King T’Chaka of Wakanda had been assassinated, your heart stopped.
Images of the building on fire, smoke clouds darkening the sky, flashed on your screen. But they didn’t register. The only thing flooding your mind was that your King was dead. Your countries ruler was gone.
And then your mind drifted to your girlfriend, the princess of Wakanda, Shuri. You hadn’t noticed your tears until heavy knocks came to your door. You wiped the tears and looked through the peephole.
There you saw two members of the Dora Milaje at his side. You immediately opened the door and they glided in.
“Ungubani” “Y/N, daughter of Y/F/N” You pulled your bottom lip down to show your war-dog tattoo to the Dora.
T’Challa walked into the apartment. You didn’t look at him for very long, as you lightly bowed your head, but the devastation was clear as day.
“My Prince.” You said as you bowed lightly. You knew very well you weren’t required to do this, it was more so to please the Dora than because of a distant relationship.
T’Challa just pulled you into a hug which you returned instantly. You stayed there for some time, trying to comfort the man you had known as an older brother for years.
He pulled away but left a hand on your shoulder “It’s time for you to come home.” You nodded and you knew the implications behind it.
You knew T’Challa wouldn’t be returning home for long, he was telling you so you could be there for Shuri.
You packed away your things as fast as possible and hurried to the Royal Talon Fighter. The flight was spent mostly in silence, you leaning on T’Challa’s shoulder as a form of comfort. He greatly appreciated it.
When you landed, you were overcome with nerves. You hadn’t been home in a year and the first time you return, is because the man you viewed as a second father was now with the ancestors.
You stood at the top of the stairs and almost went into a panic. T’Challa’s hand squeezed your shoulder in encouragement, you took a deep breath and descended down the stairs.
You saw your girlfriend and her mother standing side by side in front of the palace. Her red, teary eyes lit up when she saw you. She waited until you were some feet away from the plane before she ran into your arms.
You welcomed her and held the back of her head. The world didn’t matter as you held her, all you wanted was to ease her pain. “Thank you for coming.” She said through her tears.
“Shh, no need to thank me.” You pulled away to hold her face, her hands held your wrists. “I will always be here for you.”
2018
N’Jadaka had killed T’Challa. Right in front of your eyes. Your body and mind had gone numb. You sat in one of Wakanda’s lush forests, and for the first time the scenery of Wakanda didn’t have any effect on your sour mood.
Your heartbroken girlfriend sat between your legs, holding your knee as she cried. You had one hand massaging her scalp. Her mother sat in front of you, holding her hand and yours.
“First Baba, and now my brother. Mama we didn't even get to bury him.” You shushed her. Ramonda wiped her tears.
You wished you could be of more comfort for her, but your own pain was rendering you silent.
In a way though, the severity of your own emotion helped Shuri understand that she was not alone in this. She wouldn’t be missing her brother alone. She had her mother, and she had you.
2024
Shuri had been working around her lab trying to find a cure for her brother. You had gone some time before to say your goodbyes to T’Challa in the event he didn’t make it.
You told him how much he meant to you, as a brother, a friend, and as an overall inspiration. You told him that if he didn’t have any fight left in him, that it was ok. That you would take care of his beloved mother and baby sister, that you would protect them with your life. You told him that you would dedicate your life to protecting his honor and his memory, and to making him proud.
With a final squeeze of his hand, you left the room he was in and ran back to the lab. Over the years, Shuri had taught you a lot about technology and you were ready to offer your help in any way you could.
When you got to the lab, people were rushing out. You walked in confused. You saw Shuri standing alone at one of her tables. You walked over to her and before you could say anything, you saw Ramonda walk in.
You felt nauseous because you knew what this meant. You tried to hold it back, but a sob ripped through your chest and you turned away.
“Griot, whats my brothers heart rate?” Shuri asked, voice thick with fear.
“Your brother, is with the ancestors.”
Shuri slowly walked backwards, all the emotion hitting at once. She only heard a faint ringing in her ears and her head felt as if it would explode. Before she fell to the floor in complete agony, your arms wrapped around her weak body.
You eased her way to the floor and she held your biceps tight as she loudly cried. Seeing her in this much pain only worsened your own, you threw your head back as to not see the hurt. You bit your lip so hard you tasted hints of blood. Ramonda slowly walked over to her grieving girls.
The funeral
You still did not feel worthy to walk alongside the Royal Family through this. Despite all the assurances by Ramonda that you belonged there, and Shuri saying how badly you were needed, you still felt unworthy.
You swallowed those insecurities and walked with your head high, but face riddled with exhaustion and all the overall grief you were facing.
T’Challa’s coffin was placed on the ground and before it was lifted, Shuri placed her body over it. Ramonda went to pull her back, but you lightly put your arm in front of her. She looked at you with confusion but you knew Shuri needed this moment.
She didn’t get to properly say goodbye to her own brother, this was her own way of doing that now. After some time, you moved your arm and nodded. Ramonda lightly pulled a broken Shuri from her brother’s coffin and back to her feet.
Shuri placed her face in your neck and you placed your hand on the back of her head.
2025
After the passing of King T’Chaka, you never thought you would leave Wakanda again. Now after losing T’Challa and Ramonda, and all the death you saw in your country, you couldn’t bear to be there. You needed to be far, in order to heal.
That is how you ended up with Shuri in Haiti. You had burned your funeral garments together on the beach and began to heal together.
Right now you sat in your room, writing in your journal. Writing out every thought and feeling you had throughout the day. Shuri had gone for a walk, she felt she needed to be alone with her thoughts.
You had no clue how long you had been writing when the door to your room creaked open. You looked up with a smile to see your lover, but your smile fell when you saw the state she was in.
Her thoughts had clearly taken her down a dark path. She stood in the doorway pulling at her sleeve as she cried. You almost jumped from your chair to hold her.
She kept her arms where they were but she just cried even harder when you held her. “I’m here love. I’m here.”
To that she pulled you in even closer. “Make it stop…” she begged to no one in particular. Your heart broke even further.
You wished you could. You wished you could take all her pain away. Wished you could take all for yourself. But you couldn’t.
What you could and would do, is hold her. Hold her through it all just as you had always done.
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chaossmagic · 2 months
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"You don't know how much it means to me that you're doing this."
For a moment, T'Challa didn't reply, though his fingers flexed on the controls of the Quinjet for a split second. Then, "It is nothing."
"But it is. What you're offering - what you're asking to do-" Steve's words caught in his throat, and he looked down at his fidgeting hands in his lap, blood caked under his filthy nails. His entire body throbbed with bruises, but still he only had one thing on his mind.
"I almost caused more hurt to someone who has already been through so much pain. The least I can offer as an apology is a place of refuge and safety, where we have resources that may help your friend's...unique situation," T'Challa explained, turning to Steve with a gentle, sympathetic smile. "If I cannot at least try...I have failed him just as so many others have."
Steve was surprised when his eyes stung suddenly with tears. He snapped his head forward, staring at the vast expanse of blue sky and lush forest, the sun just starting to lower to the horizon on his left, as he tried to frantically blink them back.
It had been a long, tiring, emotional, exhausting few days.
"Ever since I found out Bucky was still alive, all I've ever wanted to do was keep him safe. To repay all the times he did the same for me when we were growing up. Now that I can, now that he doesn't have to fuss over me anymore. And after Hydra..."
He let his thoughts trail off. Steve didn't know why he was telling T'Challa this; he barely knew the man. But since he was taking a huge personal and political risk for them, he figured he owed him some honesty.
T'Challa's nostrils flared almost imperceptibly, and Steve saw a brief flash of anger on his otherwise calm and composed face. "I have read a little about what that organization of monsters masquerading as human beings did to your friend. I can assure you, in my country, they will never touch him again."
"That's all I want," Steve said. "That's all I ever wanted to do. It's the only thing I have to do."
Steve turned to the front again, watching the sky as it slowly turned from blue to orange and red, azure bleeding out into tangerines and crimsons. It was the kind of sight he'd have loved to draw, if he were in a different situation, pencil and oil pastels capturing the way the colours changed as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky.
"We'll cross the border before nightfall," T'Challa informed him, disturbing Steve from his thoughts. "Perhaps you should wake Sergeant Barnes. He may wish to enjoy the view as we reach the entrance to Wakanda. It really is quite extraordinary, as biased as I am in favour of my home country." The king smiled, and Steve found himself smiling back.
As Steve nodded and rose, heading towards the back of the Quinjet to the medical bay, where Bucky remained fast asleep on a hospital-style cot, a thick-knit blanket pulled over him that was decorated with a riotously colourful pattern of lines and shapes, the enormity of the situation dawned on him all at once.
What he'd told T'Challa was true. He'd do anything, go anywhere, to keep Bucky safe.
But the road they were going down was a dangerous one; blinded by his emotions, tired and desperate, it was however the only road he could see in front of him.
Because that's what you did when you loved somebody like he loved Bucky.
You'd do anything you could to save them.
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sofia-falcon · 1 year
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Upcoming Fic Ideas!!!
1. Five times Attuma watched stalked Okoye and the one time she called him out
2. Shuri proposes a marriage between M'Baku and Namor to ally Wakanda and Talokan.
3. Riri meets Peter Parker and they discuss science
4. T'Challa's spirit makes peace with his family and makes fun of his mother's new girlfriend
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risingoftime · 1 year
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𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕼𝖚𝖊𝖊𝖓’𝖘 𝕮𝖔𝖓𝖋𝖎𝖉𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖊 | 𝖘𝖍𝖚𝖗𝖎 𝖔 𝖗𝖎𝖗𝖎
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"I am the Queen of the most powerful nation in the world, and my entire family is gone. Have I not given everything?"
summary: Shuri is to be enthroned as Queen of Wakanda and doesn’t know if she will be able to bare the weight of the crown without her mother’s wisdom. She seeks out Riri’s guidance and warmth to thaw her frigid heart.
word count: 2.5k
warnings: death, grief, angst, hurt!shuri, loss, hint of friends to lovers, fluff, anxiety, wakanda forever spoilers. 
a/n: This is definitely something that I’m not used to writing. But I hope y’all like it as much as you like my other fics! I’ve been struggling with major writer's block :|
➴ feel free to send me more thots
RIRI’S POV
I stared after her as she glided down the staircase. Shuri’s dress cascaded behind her like a black pool of water. It was made of the finest silks, held by gold rings and an encrusted black panther head with fangs on her chest. The dipped fang dangled in between her breasts against her bare skin. I tried to gulp down the lump in my throat, but my mouth became dry when I focused on the cutouts that exposed her dark skin. Okoye sure knew how to pick a dress. Shuri had tried her best to fight her way out of it, but it was clear that this was the dress. She had exclaimed that the outfit had fit too tight, too provocative, just too much for her. Yet as I watched her approach her subjects, all the nerves she had exhibited earlier were untraceable across Shuri’s posture. Her stride was regal, almost identical to Queen Ramonda. The people of Wakanda silently watched Shuri in awe. They had never seen the Princess in this light. No, not their Princess, their Queen. I was not able to be in attendance during Shuri’s inauguration amongst the Wakanda Council. Not only because I had school, but I wasn’t allowed. The ritual had been private, a sacred ceremony to officiate Shuri’s place on the Wakanda throne. Outsiders were not welcome. However, when Shuri insisted I attend the Public Crowning of the Wakandan Queen, I couldn’t refuse.
I stood off in the distance at the side of the balcony with Agent Ross to obtain the perfect view for the event. Out of sight from curious onlookers but close enough to make out every detail. M’Baku held the crown in his hands as if it was a delicate flower, and tiny beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he walked towards Shuri. He had argued with Okoye for days that placing the crown on Shuri’s head should be him. Shuri told me that he yelled at Okoye and told her “she hadn’t become the general again until a couple of weeks ago.” This struck a chord with the Dora Milaje, leading to both groups almost getting into a physical altercation. Shuri had to break it up in the end. They settled it over a coin toss. I couldn’t hold in my laughter at the audacity of it all when we’d been on the phone. Imagining the mighty M’Baku keeled over a coin in anticipation was enough to elicit a giggle out of her.
“I present to you, Shrui Udaku, the Queen of Wakanda.” As M’Baku gently settled the gold crown atop Shuri’s head as his voice boomed loudly across the silent crowd of Wakandans.
“I present to you, Shrui Udaku, the Queen of Wakanda.” As M’Baku gently settled the gold crown atop Shuri’s head as his voice boomed loudly across the silent crowd of Wakandans.
“I present to you, Shrui Udaku, the Queen of Wakanda.” As M’Baku gently settled the gold crown atop Shuri’s head as his voice boomed loudly across the silent crowd of Wakandans.
“I present to you, Shrui Udaku, the Queen of Wakanda.” As M’Baku gently settled the gold crown atop Shuri’s head as his voice boomed loudly across the silent crowd of Wakandans.
“I present to you, Shrui Udaku, the Queen of Wakanda.” As M’Baku gently settled the gold crown atop Shuri’s head as his voice boomed loudly across the silent crowd of Wakandans.
“I present to you, Shrui Udaku, the Queen of Wakanda.” As M’Baku gently settled the gold crown atop Shuri’s head as his voice boomed loudly across the silent crowd of Wakandans.
The sea of people began to bow down to one knee, row by row, like a wave. I was in complete awe to see the power that Shuri held. She was now the sole leader of a whole country. I fell to my knees but kept my head raised to see only Shuri left standing and staring at me. A hint of a smile on her lips. She was breathtakingly draped in black and gold. I couldn’t help but feel special amongst all the people in front of her. She chose to steal a glance at me before she bellowed for everyone to rise.
The Dora Milaje raised their spears, and the Jabari tribe beat their chests in triumph, celebrating the new ruler of Wakanda. Shuri placed her arms over her chest as an “X,” yelling, “Wakanda forever,” and it wasn’t until she did so that I saw the tears flow from her eyes. They were leaving a streak down her perfected makeup—a sign of the girl who had nearly lost everything.
Shortly after the public inauguration, I returned to Shuri’s headquarters, where I stayed for the week. Desperate to change out of my heels, I mindlessly flung them on the floor to walk barefoot on the black marbled floors. My feet instantly felt soothed by the contact of the cold tiles. The only sound echoing is the soft padding of the soles of my feet, walking to sit at Shuri’s vanity overlooking the city of Wakanda. Shuri’s room was quiet and sombre. I bet I could hear a pin drop. At times it felt surreal to be in Wakanda, miles away from the loud streets of Chicago and the MIT students' crowds. When I first met Shuri and Okoye, I had been ready to throw anything to keep them from taking me away from the familiarity of my dorms. Although it had been months ago, I could recall the memory like it was yesterday. One would find it difficult to forget. When I first set eyes upon Okoye, she appeared viperous and ready to strike at any moment’s notice. I’m still surprised I was able to gain her respect. Okoye does not offer that to just anyone. Then again, I’m astonished about many things that have occurred these past few months.
The sweltering heat and sun from the ceremony had caused my dress to stick uncomfortably against my skin. I desperately needed to change into an outfit that allowed me to breathe. I fumbled with the zipper behind my neck, and my fingers struggled to pull down the clasp lock that kept the fabrics mended together. I am to be a scientist, and I still couldn’t figure out the intricacies of a simple dress zipper. Midway through my struggle, I heard my phone ping from a text by Shuri. We had unique ringtones for each other.
Meet me in the lab.
I looked at the clock to see not much time had passed since the public inauguration. Shuri should have been on the road for the parade throughout the city. That was the plan; she shouldn’t be in the lab. I made my way to the familiar doors I’d entered countless times to find Shuri sitting on the floor. Her dress puddled around her in a great heap of black silk. Once we made eye contact, Shuri was unrecognizable. The gold crown was still pinned to her head, and Shuri’s makeup remained perfectly painted on her face regardless of the tear stains. It pained me to see the softness in her eyes become cold and void. I’ve wished to keep the tenderness alive within Shuri, but since the murder of her Mother, Queen Ramonda, she hasn’t been the same. Shuri had become quick to irritate and rash. She still refused to tell anyone about the family member she had encountered in the ancestral plane. I knew better than to ask. The question always triggered an argument.
“Shuri, what’s wrong? What are you doing here? You should be with your people.”
“You are my people. That’s why I called you.” Her eyes remained trained on the ground. I’m convinced her glare could bore a hole in the laboratory floor if she wished. I couldn’t find the words to respond, unsure if I should correct her or scold her that she knew what I meant when I first said it. Deciding to remain quiet and listen was a safer option; once Shuri overcame her grief and anger, it was best to stay silent. I lowered myself to the ground to sit patiently in front of Shuri. Finally, Shuri released her lips from the tight line to speak again.
“Bury your dead. Mourn your losses. You are Queen now. Those words have haunted me for days as a prophecy I wished would not come true. I walked down these hallways a million times, feeling like a ghost in a shell. My insides cried for anyone to reach out and extract the pain that held my heart. But, instead, I’ve spent the remaining months making myself digestible for others to the extent that I no longer know what is left of me.
“The tears that have escaped me since that day felt like they would choke the life out of my soul. I would force myself to scream out from the empty cavern of my chest, yet no matter what I do, it’s as if it will never end. I wake up overtaken by a body that no longer knows rest, Riri. I don’t know how to cultivate the strength to be a Queen for Wakanda.” Shuri’s voice remained bleak as she spoke. I noticed the changes that had come over Shuri for quite some time but did not dare to look deeper. It wasn't easy to find the right words to provide comfort.
“To understand the depths of mourning, you must know love. The feeling you are experiencing is your yearning for your Mother with nowhere to go. It’s the final act of love. But she is still a part of you. Although she may not be present in the physical plane, she lives on with your ancestors. Or at least, that’s what Okoye has told me. She was quite brief with answering my questions.”
“Okoye has time to talk to you about Wakanda history?” Shuri asked.
“She doesn’t. I annoy her enough until she spares me some details.” The comment gained a full smile from Shuri. Her body language shifted slightly to face me onward, our knees lightly brushing against each other. I took this as a chance to use the light fabric of her dress to dab at her wet eyes, careful not to smudge her mascara. Thankfully her dress was black, and the action didn’t ruin it.
“That’s the thing about grief. It’s messy, and it gets everywhere,” I whispered.
As I was about to retrieve my hand back to my side, Shuri grabbed it to encase it into her own. Her skin was soft and warm while she traced circles on the back of my hand. She’s held my hand countless times, but the way she grasped it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I didn’t have to look up to know that Shuri was now staring at me.
“I’ve prayed to feel a release, and at times it felt like no one was truly listening. So, Riri, I’m thankful I have you in my life, especially now when I need to bring myself back to Earth.”
“I think this is the first time you’ve admitted that you like me around.” Then, slowly raising my head, I offered Shuri a toothy grin.
“But there’s no need to thank me, that’s what friends are for!”
Shuri’s lips pursed when I said “friend,” as if the word tasted sour on her tongue.
“What? Did I say something wrong?” I felt worried that I may have ruined the moment. It wouldn't have been the first time. Shuri’s mood has been unpredictable, and I could never be sure what I might have said to trigger a reaction.
“No, not at all. It’s just…”
“Just what? Come on; you know that you can tell me anything.” Shuri broke eye contact to watch our intertwined hands, twiddling her fingers as she did so. She often did this when she was nervous or agitated. I wanted her to spit it out, but considering she finally stopped crying, I didn’t want to welcome another onset of tears.
“I don't want to ruin the friendship that we have together. Still, I want to be honest with you and myself. I like you, Riri, more than a friend. I’ve felt this way for a while now. I guess by saying this, I’m wondering if you feel the same way.” Shuri stumbled over her words. They all seemed to come out quickly and jumbled.
I wasn’t oblivious to how close Shuri and I had become. I held her down when she took the heart-shaped herb. I have never been much of a fighter, but I fought for her and would do it again if I had to. She never had to ask because I would always be there without a second thought or doubt. Thinking back, Shuri has done the same. I can’t remember a night without not talking to her on the phone. I never thought about her busy schedule as an upcoming Queen because Shuri made time to pick up my calls. The stolen glances and shy touches were not in vain. Shuri had become a part of my world. Of course, I felt the same way.
Wrapping my arms around Shuri, I brought her close to my heart and said just that. Her body fit perfectly against my own. As I held Shuri close to my chest, Shuri began whispering a song. I didn’t understand the Xhosa language but a deep understanding capsuled in my mind of memories that would never be erased. Almost ancestral to a place that I felt akin to. It offered a tiny bit of abreaction that denied us. I felt her breath on my neck as she sang; it left goosebumps and a fluttering feeling in my stomach. Numerous thoughts clouded my mind. The outstanding one was the desire and fantasy of what it’ll feel like to have Shuri’s lips against my own. However, this was not the time. Not when she had a duty to fulfill. As if the Universe had heard her, Okoye burst through the laboratory doors.
“What is the meaning of this? Queen Shuri, the people of Wakanda await.” Okoye’s eyes were ablaze, and darted between the two of them. I became increasingly aware of how we must’ve looked at that moment. I opened my mouth to say something, yet Shuri beat me.
“I’ll only go if Riri comes with me.”
I attempted to separate myself from Shuri, but she didn’t budge. Okoye looked as if she was at a loss for words. Unsure if she should risk her position to oppose the new Queen. When she didn’t immediately speak it felt like my heart would beat out of my chest. The seconds felt like hours as I watched Okoye’s face slowly morph into a soft expression.
“As you wish, my Queen,” she sighed.
---
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idk-bruh-20 · 2 years
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If Peter Parker and Morgan Stark got to grow up as legit siblings they would have the EXACT same dynamic as T'Challa and Shuri in Black Panther send tweet
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Learn Ya || Chapter 9
​Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Author Notes: SURPRISE SHAWTY. Shout out to everyone that lowkey bullied me into continuing this fic some three years later. I love y’all for that. I kept the same tag list as before so if you no longer wish to be tagged, just let me know.
Amaya felt like her whole world had come crashing down in a matter of seconds. 
She’d had her life planned out from the time that she was a young girl, and now all of those plans had gone astray. She could understand that her mother’s job was having financial issues and there needed to be cut backs as far as employees went. What she couldn’t understand was why her mother needed to be included in that. She sort of knew that she was being selfish about her true reasoning for caring that her mother lost her job, but she couldn’t help it. Her entire world had just been flipped on its head. 
She couldn’t afford school anymore. The financial aid she had been given didn’t cover the complete cost of her first year. Her mother was going to cover the difference so that Amaya didn’t have to worry about the financial strain of school and could solely focus on making sure she made the best grades that she could. She was even going to cut back on the hours she worked at the centre to give her all to her academics. 
That wasn’t the case anymore. 
She had to come up with the money in a very short amount of time and she had really only two options as far as she was concerned because deferring a year simply wasn’t going to work for her. 
She could either work more hours at the centre to get the money to pay the difference or she could take out student loans. Honestly, neither of them were stellar options, but she was heavily leaning towards the student loans. It would give her the money she needed right in that moment and she could deal with the fall out to her credit score and paying it back later in life. All she wanted to do was go to law school. How she did it really didn’t matter to her anymore. 
“Is everything alright, Amaya? You have been unusually quiet tonight?”
She looked up from the plate of food she had been toying around with the last few minutes, pushing around bits of mashed potatoes across the ceramic, and saw T’Challa looking at her. Concern was etched into his features, brows sitting low on his face and his full lips pulled down into a soft frown. 
She really should have canceled their date but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to do that. It had been a few weeks since she had last seen him and she knew he was a busy man. Though, she supposed canceling would’ve been better than going and being in a sour mood the entire night. 
“Yeah, everything is fine.” She did her best to put on the most convincing smile but the look that he gave her showed that it didn’t work in her favor. 
“I do not appreciate being lied to.” The frown was still etched on his face but his voice was soft, almost as if he didn’t want to scare her. 
Amaya pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and let out a small breath through her nose. She certainly hadn’t meant to lie to him but she wasn’t sure if they were at the stage where she could dump all of her issues onto him. Everything up until that point had been lighthearted and fun so it was hard to say if he truly even wanted to know. She allowed silence to settle between the two of them as she continued to push around food on her plate, lost in her thoughts. It might be good to talk to someone who could provide an outside prospect of things, and he might even have some sort of sage advice to give to her. 
“No, really everything is fine,” she had every intention of leaving it at that but the way he lifted one brow let her know that it wasn’t going to fly a second time. “My mother lost her job and now I’m trying to figure out how to pay for law school.”
She hadn’t really said those words out loud. Other people might have said them to her, Charlie or her brother, and she might have thought them on more than one occasion, but the words had never once left her mouth. Not even when her mother had sat her down and told her the whole truth. Saying the words out loud would only make the reality of her situation settle in, making it that much harder for her to try and deny the truth. She had hoped that if she simply just remained positive then maybe things would work themselves out, but with each passing day, she could see that a positive attitude wasn’t going to work and that very same attitude diminished and made way for a more negative one. 
When his hand moved across the table, she didn’t hesitate to slip her into his. Regardless of whatever mood she was in, her body sought out the physical comfort from him because there was something about his presence that had been nothing but soothing for her, even in the times he made her heart stutter in her chest. 
“How much is your balance?”
“A lot.”
“How much is a lot?”
“$19,980. I gave them $20 so they would stop calling me for a few days but really I just think the lady felt bad for me when I started crying on the phone. Half of that needs to be paid by the end of next week.” Again, she had thought about her situation plenty of times but saying it out loud only made it that much more daunting for her. 
“I will take care of it.” His tone was so final as he squeezed her hand. 
“T’Challa, no. I can’t ask you to do that.” The very last thing she wanted him to think was that she had only told him in hopes that he would pay for it. 
“It is a good thing you are not asking and I am offering.”
“I mean I get that but I’m still saying no.”
“It is also a good thing I am not seeking your permission on this.”
Amaya rolled her eyes and kissed her teeth. “Now is not the time to be playing that little game where you need to have control over everything. This is serious and it’s too much money for you to pay and I can’t pay you back,”
“You will not need to pay me back. Consider it an early graduation gift if that will help you feel better about accepting the money.”
“I don’t need you to do that. I can figure something out.” She made a face and could start to feel herself get defensive. 
The logical part of her knew that he was only doing this out of the kindness of his heart and not because he thought she couldn’t do it on her own (which they both know that she couldn’t). But there was also some jaded part of her that felt like he was doing it because he expected something in return. Sex maybe. 
Of course there had been indications that the two of them were sexually attracted to each other, anyone on the outside looking in could see that, but he hadn’t given her any reason to believe that was the one and only thing that he was after. It was yet another thing she had to remind herself that set him apart from the men she had dealt with in the past. Particularly Rod. 
“Come here.” A frown had once again settled onto his face as she pulled her hand away from his. 
“You can’t just distract me with whatever you’re going to try and do.”
“Amaya,” her name was a rough warning on his tongue that she felt right between her thighs. What was wrong with her that him being even a little stern with her was making her wet? “Come here. I won’t tell you again.”
She watched as he pushed his chair away from the table a little bit. Any other time she would’ve pushed the boundaries a little bit more, trying to see just how much she was able to get away with, but she didn’t have the energy. She mirrored his actions and stood up from her own chair, rounding the table to stand in front of him. She wasn’t standing long before she found herself being pulled down into his lap. 
A shuddering breath left her lips when a large hand rested against the bit of thigh exposed by her dress. A distraction and damn if it wasn’t working. 
“Why is it so hard for you to accept my help?” She could barely think with the way his thumb traced back and forth across her skin. 
“Because I don’t want you thinking I told you so you would help me.”
“If you are going to be someone in my life then you should expect to be taken care of in all aspects of your life, Amaya.” She had to admit that he did have a way with words but she could tell that he wasn’t just saying them for show. He meant them. 
��I don’t think I know how to let people do things like this for me.” Amaya prided herself on being an independent woman. Of course, her mother and her family were there if and when she needed to help but no one outside of that circle really did anything to take care of her. 
“I can teach you.”
————-
The rest of the dinner had placed Amaya in much better spirits and a lot of that was due in part to T’Challa keeping her in his lap with an arm wrapped around her waist as he held her close. The two of them fell back into their usual back and forth banter with ease. It was nice to not have to worry about whether or not she was going to be able to attend school or not. 
She had never been so grateful to be called into work on a random Tuesday morning. Without that, she would’ve never met him and she would currently be shit out luck, probably forced to drop out of school because Rod certainly didn’t have an odd $20,000 laying around to help her out. 
She still hadn’t agreed to let him pay for her first year but she also wasn’t fighting him on it either. She would sleep on it for a few days, telling him she would give him an answer in a few days time. He had been reluctant but he agreed, albeit begrudgingly. 
The night was coming to a close and she felt an almost loss at knowing that he would be leaving in the morning and hadn’t really given her a time frame on when he would be back. 
Her key twisted in the lock of her front door but she didn’t open it. Instead, she cleared her throat and mustered up all of her courage, putting on her proverbial big girl panties as she turned to look at him. “Did you want to…I don’t know like come in or something?”
Even in trying to make it sound like no big deal, her voice cracked. 
“I would love to but I do fly out early tomorrow morning.” She was happy that he sounded sad about the fact but she had no intention of letting up. 
“I know I know. It’s just Charlie isn’t home and I really don’t wanna be home alone, Sir.” She rocked back and forth from one foot to the other, looking up at him with what she could only hope was a look of helplessness. 
T’Challa made a soft sound like a hum as he hooked his finger underneath her chin. “You call me that and think I’m just supposed to give in to you whatever you want.”
“I do.”
“I could tell you no right now. Don’t forget that, Amaya.” Despite the half grin forming on his lips, he gripped her chin a little tighter. 
“I know you could, but do you wanna know what I think?” His fingers left her chin in order for his hand to cup the side of her face. Her body wasted no time leaning into his touch. 
“Enlighten me, beautiful.”
“I think you don’t want to say no. I think you want to come in as much as I want you to come in. You just wanna play hard to get.” She reached behind her and opened her front door. 
“I’m playing hard to get?” He chuckled softly as his brows lifted. 
“Mhmm,” she nodded. “You definitely are and you need to cut it out before it gets you in trouble.”
She took one step back and then another, finding that he was following her back into her apartment. The way kept his eyes on her as he pulled her keys from the door and kicked it closed before flipping the lock, had her chewing on the inside of her cheek. She found that she loved having his attention solely on her. 
“You and your mouth.” His thumb ran across her bottom lip and it took every ounce of strength that she had to resist the urge to pull the digit into her mouth. “Always pushing your limits.”
“You like it or else you would’ve made it so I couldn’t sit down for a week by now.”
“The night is still young.”
Taking his hand from the side of her face, she wrapped her fingers around his wrist to guide him to her bedroom. The voice in the back of head was telling her that she needed to get herself under control.  She hadn’t invited him up because she wanted to jump his bones. She really had invited him because she didn’t want to be alone for the night, and she wanted to spend what little time she did have left with him. 
When she pushed open the door to her bedroom, she was grateful that she had cleaned up some before she left. Any other time, her room would have been in shambles with clothes and shoes thrown all over the place in her attempt to find something suitable to wear. Instead, it was just the small desk in the corner of her room that was a mess with books and papers haphazardly thrown across the top, and her bed that she had forgotten to make. 
Her room was small and his large presence made it seem that much smaller. 
“I’m gonna get changed but could you unzip my dress for me?” She could easily reach the zipper herself but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun. When she turned and pulled her braids over her shoulder, she felt his presence behind her. 
T’Challa said nothing as one hand ghosted up her arm and the other wrapped around the small zipper and pulled it down slowly. Amaya swore her heart felt like it was about to explode out of her chest and it didn’t get any better when she felt his lips trail along the skin of her shoulder. She inhaled sharply. His fingers pushed down the thin straps of her dress and her hands instinctively came up to hold the dress in place before it hit the ground. 
She talked a big game and had no problem teasing him but she wasn’t so sure that she wanted to drop her dress and stand in front of him in just a pair of panties just yet. 
When his lips pressed the shell of her ear, her eyes fluttered and she let out a small sound despite her best efforts to remain calm. It had been far too long since someone had touched her, played with her body until her mind went fuzzy and she couldn’t think, and it showed. 
“Go change before I forget that I would like to be a gentleman tonight.”
She wondered what might happen if she told him she didn’t want him to be a gentleman, but something was telling her that she wasn’t quite ready for that. T’Challa seemed like a man who knew exactly what he was doing with far more years of experience than she had. She didn’t want to write a check that her ass couldn’t cash.
“Right,” she nodded her head and stepped away from him. 
She practically scurried out of the room with her pajamas in hand. She knew if she had stayed in her bedroom for one second longer, she would have easily given in to the x rated thoughts that had been swarming in her head. The magnetic pull that man had over her body was insane. Scary. Thrilling. And more than just a little erotic. 
She had never wanted to fuck someone so badly in her life. It was to the point that if he asked, she would be hard pressed to say no, but she truly did what to take things slow with him. She wanted to be sure that they had something that went beyond just the very apparent physical connection and attraction. 
And she didn’t want him to think she was a whore. 
Amaya used her night time routine as a means to distract herself, probably taking far longer than she needed to, but she needed to give her body all the time that it needed to cool down. By the time she had gone through the steps, her body was still on edge but only just barely. She was sure she would be able to keep her hormones in check. 
Or so she had thought before she stepped back into her bedroom to see T’Challa sitting up against her pillows with her civil procedures book in his hand. It would have been fine for her, nothing she wouldn’t have been able to handle if he hadn’t stripped down to his boxer briefs and nothing else. . 
This man was going to be the death of her. 
“You just made yourself right at home I see.” She gave him a pointed look before she shoved her clothes into her hamper. She just needed to distract and deflect so nothing got out of hand. 
“Well, you can only leave a man to his own devices for so long before he starts to get bored.” The smirk he gave her when he looked up from the book had her grinning back at him like an idiot. 
“I see that.” She rolled her eyes as she walked over to him and pulled the book from his hands. “I don’t think this is how you want to cure your boredom though.”
“Do you have any suggestions then?”
“I have a few, but you have to leave so early in the morning and I would hate to keep you up all night, y’know?” She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling as he laughed. 
She dropped the book back off on her desk before she flopped down on her back onto her bed. 
“Lay down before your mouth lands you into some trouble you can’t handle, Amaya.” He shook his head. 
She had no doubt that she would find herself getting into some trouble at some point with him but tonight wasn’t going to be the night for that. Crawling into bed, she laid on her side with a hand curled underneath her chin so she could face him. He wasted no time in mirroring her actions minus the hand under his chin. 
“Do you know when you might be able to come back?”
“Unfortunately, no I don’t. There are quite a few things back home that I will need to take care of before I can get away again.” His hand reached out and his thumb moved along her cheek. 
She figured that he was a busy man but she’d had a sliver of hope that he would be back sooner rather than later. It was getting harder and harder each time to only have an afternoon or a few hours a night with him at a time before he disappeared for an extended period of times. Phone calls could only do so much. 
She really did like having him around. 
“Don’t look so sad,” she wasn’t aware that she had started to frown until he pointed it out. “I’ll still make sure to call you every day.”
“Don’t get me wrong, it is nice hearing from you every day but actually seeing you more often would be even better.” She shrugged her shoulders and toyed with the ring that hung from the chain around his neck. When she looked up there was something of a smug smile on his lips. “What?”
“If I didn’t know any better I would think you had a thing for me.”
“You’re alright I guess.” She rolled her eyes playfully. 
“Oh I’m just alright? I guess I should go somewhere where I will be appreciated then.” He started to roll over to get out of bed before she caught his arm. 
She pressed her body into his and buried her face into his chest, inhaling his scent gently. “Don’t go.”
His arms wrapped around her tightly, holding her close, as he pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. 
“I’m right here, baby girl.”
Tag List: @deliciousstreetkidcroissant @rose-bliss @theunsweetenedtruth@cancerianprincess @aykanna@supersizemeplz@ayellepea @Ijstraightnochaser @chaneajoyyy@vanitykocaine @slimmiyagi  @purple-apricots@justanotherloveaffair@beautifulqueenflaws@hotthrow@90sinspiredgirl@hidden-treasures21@marvelpotterlove@depressionandfandomsinc@theblulife @airis-paris14@blackchickfics @skysynclair19 @jusanarae57@leahnicole1219 @blackdesires-blog @voyagetoadinas9 @lalapalooza718 @blackpinup22 @chefjessypooh @tntnv @jennajai@erikstan4ever @raysunshine78 @determinednot2fall @tchallasbabymama @prettystringbean @kissmyafropuff @blowmymbackout @wakanda-inspired
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chaneajoyyy · 2 years
Note
Do you know of any Halloween/fall M’Baku or T’Challa fics?
M'BAKU / T'CHALLA HALLOWEEN/FALL FICS
M'BAKU HALLOWEEN/FALL FICS
shadows in the closet- @supersizemeplz
risky dreams- @eerythingisshaka
wakanda as warewolves imagines, wakandan supernatural au’s/imagines, willing heart, your worst nightmare- @youreallyshouldtalkmore
the arrival series- @muse-of-mbaku
girl of his dreams- @tchallasbabymama
T'CHALLA HALLOWEEN/FALL FICS
three king of dreams (ft. erik and m’baku (for christmas but still a little spooky), a single prick series- @supersizemeplz
fictober 27 “remember, you have to remember”;  “fictober 29″ at least it can’t get any worse”- @eerythingisshaka
wakanda as warewolves imagines, wakandan supernatural au’s/imagines, your worst nightmare, noble intentions- @youreallyshouldtalkmore
ever after- @wakandan-flowerz
crossroads blues @tchallasbabymama
howl- @hearteyes-for-killmonger
***IF YOU HAVE OR KNOW ANYONE WHO HAS M'BAKU AND T'CHALLA HALLOWEEN/FALL FICS PLEASE HIT MY LINE SO I CAN ADD!!!***
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griots-tales · 2 years
Text
Canon Details in Black Panther that people forget:
T’Chaka watched Back To The Future 2 a lot
Everett is divorced (deleted scene)
T’Challa and Nakia are childhood friends (deleted scene)
Ramonda considers Nakia to be a suitable person to take the Herb.
The Jabari are vegetarians, but some of them make an exception for fish.
The only time T’Challa takes off his kimoyo beads is when he fights at the waterfall. Otherwise, it’s only War Dogs who don’t wear it (openly) while they’re on their missions.
W’Kabi’s Rhinos eat apples/peaches
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haechvn · 1 year
Text
I'm Not Sure
Pairing: Shuri x F!Reader
Warning: Just sad really. Angst. Self-Discovery. Self Doubt
Summary/Request: Our baby Shuri has been through a lot and she needs an outlet.
Word Count: 1.4k+
Author’s Note: I know i've been releasing a lot of smut filled fic but I really wanted to capture Shuri is her truest form ( in my head at least)
Taglist :  @melodykisses, @blackhottie25, @tonakings, @coalmistyy, @szalipcombo, @prettyluhlaiiii, @yelenabelovasgf, @callmeoncette, @clqrosmgc, @beautybyfire, @homelessmicechild, @shurisbitch
Translations: Sthandwa = My love
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Shuri’s head rests on your lap, hands caressing the sides of your hips as soft African lofi plays in the background while you two are resting in her bedroom. One of your hands travels through the maze of her curls, aiding in a soothing feeling to the woman whose mind did not allow her to rest. You are currently occupied with a book that T’Challa had left for you and Shuri to read that he had written for you. A token of love he felt for the two of you as individuals and as a pair he knew would stand the test of time. Sweet but also five hundred pages long. His heart was truly in it.
Today was one of those quiet days for Shuri. She barely responded to her colleagues at her laboratory, her mind constantly wandered to a thousand different realms during council meetings and she couldn’t seem to find her footing anymore when it came to building and trying to help her country.
Ever since she had lost her last family member, everyday Princess Shuri would always ask herself the same question and always come to no definite conclusion: who am I? For the longest time, her identity rested in her achievements or titles bestowed upon her by others. She wasn’t necessarily questioning her abilities to get tasks or assignments done; she still excelled as a scientist and during her training with the Dora but that’s just it. Is that all she is? A scientist and the Black Panther? These questions made her feel as though she was experiencing an existential crisis at the mere age of 21 but in all honesty, it has been making her so anxious and uneasy.
Turning to Bast felt like a waste of time to her since she was abandoned by her family in the ancestral plane and the last words she heard from her mother “show them who you are” didn’t resonate with her at any degree because who is she truly? Clearly her mother saw something in her that she still cannot and the fact that she doesn’t have any family to help her navigate this journey of self discovery at times pushed her over the edge.
How is she meant to find purpose and reasoning in this world that doesn’t seem to stop taking from her? She’s sure that pretty soon all that will be left of her is her name. The advancements that she has contributed to the world of science have only made it easier for her to ignore the deep rooted feeling of confusion that she felt within the depths of her soul.
Sighing out in frustration, Shuri quickly raised her head away from you, sending the book in your hand flying and giving herself an excruciating headache. Grumbling under her breath, she couldn’t help but feel pathetic. Even when she’s alone with her love, her mind still plays games on her and she seems to fall for it every single time. Luckily she has been more open and honest with you about how she has been coping with her state of being but it has been getting harder and harder everyday to put on a smile and march forward.
Climbing off the bed, she went to retrieve your novel for you, looking enticing might I add, with a simple white tank top and pair of black spanx that showed off her incredible physique that she has been training so hard to achieve. Delicately grabbing the book off the floor, Shuri felt her blood run cold as she skimmed the cover, eyes darting back and forth thinking this was yet again another trick being played on her. To My Loves by T’Challa Udaku it read. That is the name he had for the two of you, even far before Shuri had mustered up the courage to ask you to be hers. Tears filled her eyes and they eventually littered the novel in her hands. Shoulders slouched over, shaking with no intention to stop any time soon, she made her way back to the bed and buried her face in your shoulder crying until she didn’t have the energy to continue.
“Awe baby what’s going on? Is it the book? I’m sorry he told me to show it to you once I finish. I can put it away if–”
The cries became heavier and tears came out harder as she dropped her full weight on top of you, squeezing you in her arms as if you are meant to disappear at any second and honestly speaking you just might. Her mind goes back to the love her brother had for the two of you, always telling her, “Shuri, you know you’ve got a special one and you need to do everything in your power to keep her. You two are a lot more similar than you think.”
All this time she has spent searching, questioning and debating her existence and place in this world, it never dawned on her that the one person who knows her more than any other soul she’s come across might be able to truly navigate her feelings of despair. Of course T’Challa wrote a book for you and Shuri, he could never once hide his adoration for how much you have been able to help Shuri bring out the light that has always been inside of her and he also teased that the two of you would one day reign side by side as the Queens of Wakanda. If only he was here to provide his guidance to her just one last time.
“How am I supposed to be,” she sniffles, eyes meeting yours tears overflowing from her cheeks and staining her shirt, “your woman and love you the way you deserve if I can’t even understand who I am? My mind won’t give me a break and I can’t keep doing this.” Her speech is decorated with hiccups and pauses, showcasing a side of Shuri you haven’t seen in such a long time. She is normally so stoic and tall in her presence but she is now quite literally in shambles, unable to get proper handle for herself.
It’s about time she broke down like this. She’d been trying to just hold these feelings hostage without any real release and now she can truly start to move forward even if she didn’t see it that way.
“How does being the world's smartest woman or a princess help me deal with the fact that I’m lost sthandwa? How does any of this black panther nonsense help me—”
“Baby,” you cooed, wiping her tears, heart breaking at the sight ,”I need you to take a couple of breaths okay? Can you do that for me?”
Roughly shaking her head in disagreement, she continued “How is breathing gonna help if I don’t want—”
“Shuri! Please. Breathe. Right now.”
One, two, three, four, she counted in her head. Maybe she was doing too much or overreacting instead of thinking things through logically.
“Everything you are feeling is valid my love.” She has been doing a lot of thinking out loud in her most vulnerable moments. “The last thing you need to do is worry your pretty head about how you can be better for me when I accept you for all that you are.”
Shifting around in her grasp, you reach for the love letter her brother dedicated to her. Opening to the first page, you placed the book in her hands.
“Here. Read it. All you need right now is a little something to ground you.”
Deep down, she still has not been able to come to terms with her brother’s passing so the thoughts of reading his words, knowing his voice would be speaking to her scared her more than anything. Sensing her hesitance, you gently rubbed a hand on her back. “I’m right here with you. Don’t worry too much, okay?”
Slowly nodding, she gathered herself to uncover the true last words her brother had for her.
“To my Shuri. Firstly you are mine. Everything that you are comes from your heart and nothing can ever compete with how much you have changed me as a man—.” She closes the pages, heart fluttering at his kind words but the feeling of his absence taking over her once again.
Maybe this is exactly what she needed. A chance to see herself through the lenses of those who celebrated her the most. She always held her brothers’ words in the highest regard so maybe he hasn’t completely abandoned her after all. She can already start to feel a shift within herself.
Bast, she whispers in her mind, thank you.
Maybe it’s not so bad to believe again.
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