Just a short thing about two ships I love, one canon, one I would love to see canon—even as friends!
Disclaimer: I do not own a thing.
"It is so stupid," Shuri rolled her eyes at the hologram of Peter Parker that was in front of her as her fingers skimmed over the keyboard in front of her. "He pines for her just as Mr Darcy did after Elizabeth Bennet."
"Pride and Prejudice?" Peter asked with a goofy grin, leaning closer to the camera on his computer, which meant he blew up huge on the hologram that was being projected in front of Shuri's work station.
"You've seen it?" Shuri raised an eyebrow at him.
"Aunt May goes gaga over those old movies where they're in the weird clothes," Peter admitted with a shrug. "She found out I was skipping classes with Ned when we were thirteen because we found out where Captain America was going to the gym just down the road from our school and we wanted to watch him. Ya know, see how much he could bench. She made both of us watch the old version of it that goes for, like, thirty-seven hours." Shuri rolled her eyes again, this time at his exaggeration, but she couldn't help but grin at him. "So what are you going to do about it?"
"You think I haven't been trying to set them up since I was old enough to stop the hyrdo-lifts to trap them inside? It's a delicate process," Shuri responded. There was a beep from one of her kimoyo beads and she leaned back in her seat. "I have to go—that's my mother."
"You'll call me tomorrow, right?" Peter questioned with a hopeful smile.
"Are all you Americans so needy?" Shuri smirked at him.
"Only the ones who dress in red and blue and swing around Queens," Peter responded with an easy grin, not at all put off by her playful chiding. Shuri grinned at him and when he gave her a little, dorky wave, she couldn't help the light blush that sprinkled her cheeks. She shut off the hologram and headed out of her lab. She had met Peter in the outreach centre that was in California when he had come in with Tony Stark. Tony was all flashy smiles and shiny technology that really didn't impress Shuri but Peter had been adorable and amazed by everything. When they had started talking, she had been completely surprised by how intelligent he was and the way he managed to keep up with it all even though this was all brand new technology to him.
She may have developed a bit of a crush and he definitely had.
But she had more important things to worry about right now.
Like the fact that her mother was calling her to dinner with several ambassadors, which meant she had to put on a dress and do her hair in a more 'womanly' fashion.
Screw it, she decided as she bounced on of her lab, she was leaving the twin bunches with the lime green ribbons in.
Nakia wasn't at dinner that night, and even though T'Challa held conversation with the ambassadors and was his usual charming self—despite the faces that Shuri was pulling at him when their mother wasn't looking—she could see that he was disappointed. She took her position at the outreach centre in California very seriously, which was exactly what he had expected, but it meant that her time in Wakanda was limited. She had been here this morning, and so Shuri had assumed she was staying for dinner, but obviously she had flown back.
Her brother and Nakia had been in this on-and-off thing for as long as Shuri could remember. They had officially dated for several years when they were teenagers and Shuri was just five or six. They had broken up when Nakia had decided that her place was out in the world, saving people who couldn't fight for themselves, and T'Challa's place was in Wakanda, and that was something that would never change.
They were still pushed and pulled toward each other every time they were in the same space as one another, and even when they were apart, Shuri had walked in on her brother speaking to Nakia several times, and when she and Nakia were in California, she knew that they communicated a lot. With the bond that they had between them, they could actually make it work, because they had been for years already. Shuri knew for a fact that her brother had never so much as blinked in another persons direction and she was pretty sure that Nakia was too busy saving the world to have any sort of semblance of a love life.
She just wanted them both to be happy.
Shuri adored T'Challa more than anyone else in the world, and Nakia was like a big sister to her and a daughter to her mother, Queen Ramonda. She wanted them to be happy and she knew that even with the distance between them and the differences in their lives, they were happiest when they were together.
It was her birthday in two weeks, though, and Nakia had promised to be there for the party.
Her brother had also given her allowances to have Peter come into Wakanda as well, even though he wasn't particularly happy with the relationship budding the two. Not that he had anything against the kid, in fact, he seemed to quite like him, but no one was good enough for his little sister.
The two of them together could undoubtedly come up with something to throw her brother and Nakia together once and for all.
"I mean—it's just so—I mean—Wow," Peter had been stuttering for the past twenty minutes and even though Shuri had grown up in this incredibly technologically advanced city that she usually brushed off compliments about, it was different when it was coming from Peter. And also, they were in her lab, which she was especially proud of, so watching Peter run from side to side, looking at everything and touching things that she would usually be scolding people for even going near, was direct admiration of her and that was nice coming from Peter. "This place is amazing," Peter turned around and stared at Shuri with complete adoration in his gaze. "Even better than Mr Starks—but don't tell him that!" He quickly added, wide eyed.
"I won't, don't worry," Shuri grinned. Peter's eyes were still gleaming and it looked as though he had a hundred questions. But he cut himself off as he came to stand in front of her. Shuri spared a glance over the suit that he was wearing—which was very expensive, and she was guessing that Tony Stark had had it tailored especially for him—but then focused her eyes on his face.
"So you have a plan, right?" Peter asked with a grin.
"I do," Shuri nodded, the beads that were twined into her fancy updo rattling a little as she did so. "Okay, so everyone in the palace is down at the party," Shuri continued, rolling her fingers over one of her Kimoyo beads and doing a scan of the palace. There was the odd person on some of the other floors, but mainly everyone was in their ballroom. She was expected to be down there in about twenty minutes when her birthday cake was coming out, and so she and Peter needed to move quickly. "But Nakia got here late, and so my brother has gone upstairs to escort her down when she's ready."
"And?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I'm going to hack the hydro-lifts so that they freeze while bringing them down," Shuri smirked. "You know, like I said I did when I was younger?"
"It's very Parent Trap-esque," Peter let out a laugh. "Simple but effective."
"Exactly," Shuri grinned and she walked over to one of her computers. She typed in a few keys and then holograms appeared in front of the glass of the walls. There were three of them, one inside a life, a second of a long hallway and then a third inside a room that Peter was assuming was Nakia's. Nakia looked as though she was just finishing her make up, and from the view that they had from the corner of the room where the surveillance camera was, she looked absolutely beautiful. She was wearing a deep green and black dress and she was letting her hair free from its usual twists.
"You look beautiful," came T'Challa's deep voice as he moved from where he was standing beside the door. Nakia straightened up and she turned around to face him. For a moment, she wasn't smiling, she just regarded him with a look that said she could see right inside his head. Shuri rolled her eyes as she watched the two of them together, acting as though they were both oblivious to the tension between them.
But then Nakia smiled widely and bit down on the corner of her lower lip.
"And you look incredibly handsome," she responded, and then to the surprise of the two teenagers watching them, she reached up and pressed her lips to his.
"What?" Shuri cried out.
"Looks like they got this all figured out," Peter grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. T'Challa put his hands on Nakia's hips and held her body tightly against his. Shuri's eyes were so wide they looked as though they were about to pop out of her head and Peter ended up watching her, rather than watching the King of Wakanda make out with his girlfriend, because that was a little uncomfortable.
"Would you allow me to escort you to the party?" T'Challa eventually asked as he pulled back.
"Of course," Nakia smiled, but as he was turning toward the door, she reached out and gripped his arm, pulling him back into her. "You've got a little..." she let go of his arm and reached up to wipe at the corner of his mouth. "Lipstick," she smiled cheekily at him as she showed her thumb, which glinted scarlet red that had transferred from Nakia's own mouth. T'Challa smiled down at her, completely enamored, and then opened up the door for her. They started walking toward the hydro-lifts, not holding hands or linking arms but walking close enough together that their hands bumped together as they went. They had almost reached the lifts when T'Challa paused and stopped Nakia from pressing the button. "What's wrong?"
"I think we better take the stairs," he said with a small smile.
"We're four floors up," Nakia gave him an unimpressed look. "And these heels aren't particularly comfortable."
"Shuri's had this look in her eye the past couple of weeks, similar to the way when she would look when she was younger and she was trying to get us together?" T'Challa raised an eyebrow at Nakia.
"You mean, trying to force me take you back?" Nakia's voice was full of sass as she raised an eyebrow back and there was a gentle, melodic laugh from T'Challa. "Yeah, I remember."
"I think we're safer on the stairs, just in case she's rigged the lift," T'Challa continued with a grin and Nakia nodded understandingly, shaking her head with a smile as she looped an arm through T'Challa's and they started toward the stairs. Peter couldn't help but laugh as he looked over at Shuri, who was still dumbfounded as she stared at the projections in front of her.
"Your brother seems to have you all figured out," Peter said with a laugh.
"Shut up," Shuri rolled her eyes at him as she nudged him with her elbow playfully, just happy to see her brother walking arm in arm with the girl who completed him.
Let me know what you think x