Hi! Hope you enjoy this fun one-shot. I'm thinking of creating a series of one-shots so if you liked this or have any scenes you want written, please let me know! If you liked this, please check out my other work(s)! Thank you
"C'mon buddy, let's get you off to bed." Happy drags Peter into the living room of the Avengers Facility. Dumping the teen unceremoniously on a couch, he heaves a sigh.
Happy's phone rings and he reaches into his pocket to grasp it.
"Hello? Tony? Have you ordered another drink?"
"No no no Happy I've just got to tell you…" Tony's voice is muffled as loud commotion is heard on his end of the line.
"Tell me what?"
"Tell you that- hey Pepper no don't take my phone, Pepper!" Tony whines like a child with his toy taken away.
"Happy? Sorry about that, so I've been trying to call a chauffer but no one's picking up. I'm going to have to go get grab someone myself. Tony, stop, no he's not having a refill thanks. Do you think you can you make it down here in 10 minutes?"
"I think so, just tuck him in and turn off the lights, right?"
"How's Peter going?"
"He's drooling on the couch now." Happy rolls his eyes at drowsy Peter on the couch.
"Maybe you should ask Bruce to take a look at him."
"Okay, will do. I'll see you soon."
"See you soon."
She hangs up.
Happy looks over at the red-eyed and furiously blinking Peter sitting up staring at the wall with a confused expression on his face.
"Like father like son." He mutters.
"Happy? What are you doing here?" Shuri walks into the living room, pleasantly surprised.
"Ah, hi Shuri. Peter had a busy night so I'm just helping him get to bed."
"Hey hey hey." Peter mumbles blearily.
"Peter?" Shuri gasps, shocked to see him sprawled incoherently on the couch.
He waves cheerfully, then looks confusedly at his hand.
"What's this?" Peter pokes at his fingers.
Shuri chuckles. He's so cute when he's drunk, she thinks, ducking into the adjacent kitchen and pouring water into the kettle. Switching it on and waiting, Shuri turns around to peek through a crack, watching Happy bend over Peter and slap Peter's hand away from his face.
"Hey, stop that. No one touched my beard. Well, except maybe your aunt, she says it turns her on." She giggles at Happy's comment, finding the relationship between Stark's Head of Security and charismatic Aunt May absolutely adorable.
"Peter, we're going off to bed now." Happy says sternly, pointing a reprimanding finger at his young charge.
"Noooooooooo! Can I watch some TV?" Peter drops to his knees and begs pathetically.
Happy rolls his eyes and looks pleadingly towards Shuri for help.
"Well, don't mind me, I'm just here for another cup of tea." Shuri grins and turns back to her brewing of tea.
Back facing the unfortunate pair, she chuckles upon hearing Happy groans unhappily.
"Wait, aren't you like a doctor or something?" He asks. Slowly, Shuri creeps out of the kitchen to face them and nods her head cautiously, wondering if her peaceful night was about to be ruined.
"Can you do me a favor? I need someone to check him out so I can meet Pepper back at Downey Drinks."
"What's Downey Drinks?"
"The bar Tony took Peter to for dinner."
"So that's where they went." Shuri mutters to herself, taking a sip from her cup of tea.
"Huh?"
"Nothing. What do you want me to do with Peter?"
"Just watch over him, keep him company for a bit, maybe try to get him to bed. Sorry, we should've known this would happen, but Tony can be very persuasive." Happy sighs. "Wait, have you looked after someone who's drunk before?"
"Don't worry, he's not the first drunk I've taken care of. We get a few travelers wandering over the boarder every now and then." She shrugs casually.
"Oh okay."
"Yep." Shuri puts down her cup reluctantly. "Well, you best get back to Pepper, she doesn't like being kept waiting."
"Okay, thanks so much, Shuri." Happy grabs his jacket suit and rushes out the door.
Shuri sighs as she hears the faint rumble of his car driving off.
"At least one of us got away." She mumbles, taking another sip of her tea to bolster herself.
Walking over to Peter, who was busy pressing every single combination of buttons he could come up with on the TV remote, Shuri groans silently.
"Look! That guy's putting his hand in that girl's back pocket." Peter points to the TV, and Shuri turns to find a heavy teen make-out session displayed on the high-quality screen. "Silly! He doesn't know he already has a pocket." Peter laughs heartily.
Rubbing her temples tiredly, Shuri miserably says good-bye to her easy night of binge-watching that very same tv show that has just been spoiled inadvertently by Peter while being tucked up comfortably in bed.
"Peter, how many drinks did you have?"
"What drinks?"
"Come on Peter, I know you're drunk."
"Who's drunk?"
"Fine." She sighs. "Don't tell me, then."
Silence erupts between them as a loud, repetitive, and annoyingly persistent advertisement plays from the TV.
"Shuri." Peter says ruefully after a while, turning to face her directly. "I only had two drinks."
Shuri smells a mixture of wine and Coca-Cola on his breath and gets up to pour Peter a non-alcoholic drink.
"Do you want a cup of tea?" She asks.
"Yes, of course. Because I'm British." He replies, straightening his tie.
Shuri rolls her eyes and laughs, surprised at how authentic his accent sounded.
"Sure, Peter." She calls back.
Handing Peter the cup, Shuri adds,
"Here, it might help with the raging head-ache that comes from inhibiting alcohol with avery low tolerance."
"I just had the soda part, I swear." He protests weakly, grabbing the cup and taking a long draught of the tea.
"Uh-huh." She replies, unconvinced. "Alright, let's get you to your room."
Grabbing Peter's hand, Shuri struggles to haul him up. Together, they stumble towards the stairs, Peter wrapping a hand around Shuri's waist to steady himself.
"Getting handsy, are you?" Shuri smiles to herself.
Pointing down the corridor, she tells Peter, "Okay we're going this way."
"What? No, we should go this way." He insists.
"Peter, you need to go to your room. I don't think Wanda, Natasha, or Okoye would be very impressed to see you in their room."
"Then can I go to your room, please?" Peter pleads.
Shuri sighs again, and lets him drag them towards her room, utterly defeated. No, she'd already learnt her lesson about arguing with a drunk last time, and Shuri wasn't keen on making that mistake again, not when she didn't have another 4 hours to waste!
Opening the door for Peter, he flops straight down on Shuri's bed, utterly exhausted after walking upstairs, down a corridor and into a room.
"I'll get your clothes, wait here." She tells him. Taking Peter's muffled answer as a 'yes', Shuri heads off to his room.
Opening the door, she flicks the lights on and peers around curiously. She'd never really been in Peter's room at night before, they mostly saw each other during the day. Plus, everyone knew how bad T'Challa would freak out if he thought Peter and Shuri were visiting each other's rooms at night. Grabbing a tousled pair of clothes tossed on his bed, she runs back to her room, praying that the new A.I Tony had installed after Jarvis wouldn't report anything.
"Peter!" She hisses, throwing his clothes on the bed and poking Peter's side. "Change into these so you can go to bed."
"Okay." He says sitting up.
Exhaling loudly, Shuri steps out of the room relieved that at least one thing was going right. Maybe she could even sneak in an episode or two after Peter had gone to sleep. Checking her watch for the time, Shuri opens the door to find him still in his suit and tie, instead staring at the shirt she had brought him.
"Peter!" She exclaims frustratedly. "Why haven't you changed yet?"
"I don't like this T-shirt."
"Okay." Shuri has no clue what this has to do with Peter's ability to change clothes and fall asleep. "Can you at least take off your shirt and put this one on?"
He pouts pitifully and does what she says. Well, not all of it, only the first half, refusing to then wear the rejected item.
Shuri stands at the edge of the bed, wondering how on earth her night had changed from ordering pizza and eating it alone to Peter sitting half naked on her bed in her room.
"What are you doing?" She asks, hands planted firmly on her hips, utterly confused.
"Michelle bought me this T-shirt for our second-year anniversary." He murmurs thoughtfully, twisting the fabric between his fingers.
"That's nice." She says nonchalantly, ignoring the clench of subtle jealously simmering in her stomach. Shuri knew how close Peter was with his friends, Ned and MJ. And she knew that Peter had been crushing on Michelle long before he began dating her. So why wouldn't he wear her gift?
"Do you want me to get you a new shirt?" Shuri says bewilderedly.
"No." Peter says simply. "Give me yours."
"What?"
"It's my shirt."
Shuri looks down, realizing that the comfy top she was wearing was indeed the same one she had stolen from him two weeks ago, when Shuri had spilt orange juice on herself in Peter's room while they were testing out an invention.
Oh, why did he pick now of all times to briefly regain him common sense?
Shuri sighs in defeat.
"Fine."
She snatches the gift Michelle gave Peter and turns away to change. Throwing the top she had previously been wearing at Peter, Shuri wriggles into the other shirt, grimacing at the large icon of a smiling heart.
"Yay!" Peter yells. "We can have a PJ party now."
He climbs out of the bed and grabs his phone, opening the music app and connecting to Shuri's bedroom speaker. Shuri sits in her desk chair, too tired and helpless to oppose Peter's crazy ideas.
"What song should we play? Oh, I know, what about 'Waste the Night' by 5SOS?"
The song blasts from the speakers and Peter begins to sing along.
"I don't wanna waste the night, waste the niiiiight." He croons.
Shuri struggles to conceal her laugh lest Peter notice and call her out. Instead, she nods and taps along to the beat. Oh, if only I could record this, Shuri thinks.
"Aw, the song's ended! Ooh 'We Don't Care' is next! Ooh well, I'm kinda drunk, but it's kinda fun, even though we know it's wrong, but we don't, we don't care – Shuri, sing with me!" He begs.
She rolls her eyes in response, but the smile sticking to her face betrays Shuri's real feelings.
"And you keep getting closer, but I'm feeling alright," Peter yanks her chair towards himself and towers over Shuri so her whole line of vision is filled with solely him.
Immediately, the atmosphere shifts from energetically excited to something more heated. Shuri watches Peter's gaze drop from her eyes down to her lips and her breath quickens. Closing his eyes comically slow and leaning forwards so close until…
Hollaback Girl blares from the speakers, Peter's ringtone for Michelle playing, interrupting the moment.
"So I'm gonna fight, gonna give it my all, gonna make you fall, gonna sock it to you." Gwen Stefani sings.
And instead of the passionate kiss Shuri's been dreaming about since she met Peter, his girlfriend calls instead.
"Hellooooo?" Peter answers, waving drowsily at the camera.
"Peter?" MJ's voice crackles out of the speakers. "Are you drunk?"
"No… okay maybe." He admits.
"Well, do you remember what I said at dinner tonight?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"What did I say?"
"You wished me happy birthday?"
"And?"
"Um…" Peter shoots Shuri a panicked look. Unable to help, she just shrugs in return.
"God," On-screen, MJ rolls her eyes angrily at her camera. "I bet you weren't even listening when I told you to call me."
"Oh, right. Sorry."
She sighs loudly and sends scathing look at her boyfriend through the screen.
"So? Aren't you going to ask me what I called you about?"
"Yes okay, what did you want to talk about?"
"Should we break up?"
"I-well, um…" Peter fumbles with his phone, dropping it clumsily on the floor then picking it up, inadvertently turning it to include a confused-looking Shuri on-screen.
"Because, I don't know, I just feel like we don't have the connection anymore, like we used to. Maybe it's because we were so young, not even graduated high school yet, and everything just happened so fast and now it just feels like we're going nowhere…Wait, is that Shuri?" She screeches angrily.
"Uh, yeah." Peter scratches his head.
"What is she doing here? We're discussing our relationship, for God's sake!" MJ snaps.
"Look, it wasn't intentional, she was just helping me-"
"Out of what? Your clothes? I bet so." She interrupts, sneering and curling her lips in utter hatred. "Is that the T-Shirt I got you for our second anniversary?"
"Um…" Peter is at loss for words, a headache fast forming from this conversation progressing at a breakneck speed.
"Stop! I knew it already."
"Knew what?"
"That you don't even love me anymore!"
"No! MJ, that's not…" Peter trails off, momentarily looking as if he lost his train of thought. "Not what's going on."
"Then why is Shuri in your bedroom at 2 o'clock in the morning, dressed in your shirt I gave you, on your 21st birthday? Shouldn't that be something you do with your girlfriend?"
"MJ, you're not getting it."
"There's nothing to get! You've been cheating on me with Shuri this whole time."
"MJ…" Peter sighs miserably, unable to articulate his racing thoughts into cohesive words.
"That's it, we're done."
Shuri watches Peter's chest heave slowly as the click of MJ hanging up reverberates though the room. He drops the phone and sinks down on the plush bed, burying his face in his hands. Her heart aches with the pain displayed on Peter's face.
"Peter." Shuri whispers and gets up from the chair to stand in front of him. "I'm sorry."
She bends down to hug Peter, wrapping her arms around his sobbing frame.
Gradually, the bawling subsides as Shuri's soothing presence calms Peter down. His hazy mind thinks, Gosh, she smells so good.
Peter blurts out,
"What would you say if I proposed to Michelle?"
Shuri casts him a stunned look, then replies,
"I'd support you. If that's what you really wanted to do then, of course."
"I was going to ask her. I had a ring and everything." He admits, shaking his head. "It was my mother's. I opened the bank account on my 20th birthday, found it there and kept it."
Shuri says gently, all too aware of her own heart breaking as she whispers the words,
"She would say yes, if you asked her, Peter. You know that? She loves you."
He gives her a tired look.
"I'm not sure anymore."
They sit side by side in comfortable silence.
Slowly, Peter's head begins to droop, the exhaustion finally catching up with him. Calm and comforted by Shuri, he gradually slips into a deep sleep.
Shuri, the ever-observant scientist, notices his change in breathing and lightly pushes Peter's hair out his face, shifting slightly to the side to allow Peter to rest fully on the bed.
She climbs out and gazes at the boy who was her first friend American friend, then first best friend then finally her oblivious first crush. Now, 4 years later, nothing has changed. Shuri is still as smitten as ever, though always careful to conceal it. She could see how happy Peter was, or at least had been, with Michelle and never wanted to ruin that for him.
"She's so lucky to have you." Shuri tells him and turns away, preparing to sleep in T'Challa's spare room in the Compound.
But Peter's arm shoots out to grab her hand and with one powerful tug, he pulls her back into the bed, pressing their bodies close together.
"Peter? What are you doing?" Shuri asks, puzzled.
"Stay with me." He whispers in a broken voice.
And so she does.
The first thing Peter saw when he woke up was the suit he'd worn last night hung up on the back of the bedroom door. Then he saw the dark-skinned hand lying on his chest and realized that he should not have listened to Tony and drunk that second calimocho.
Leaping out of the bed, Peter accidently nudges Shuri, who immediately wakes up, startled.
Awkward seconds tick past as the two stare at each other in embarrassment.
Peter swallows dryly.
"Did we- did we… what happened?" He runs a tense hand through his hair and collapses into the very same chair Shuri had sat in previous night.
Shuri clutches the blankets around herself, thoughts running at a million miles per hour. What will he think of last night? She anxiously wonders.
"Happy brought you back and asked me take care of you because you were drunk. I got you your clothes, but you didn't want to wear them, and you started playing music and then Michelle called." She rambles on, swallowing nervously.
"Right." Peter nods as he attempts to sort out last night, feeling the stab of a headache begin to form. "Ow."
"What's wrong? Oh, right – first hangover. Let me get you some water." Shuri dashes out of the room before he could say another word.
She hurries down to the kitchen and pours a large cup of water, downing it all in one gulp. Breathing deeply, Shuri wipes her mouth, retrieves another cup from the cupboard and fills it.
"Bad hangover?" Natasha asks, sitting at the kitchen table.
"Something like it." She mutters, hunching over the sink.
"Wanna talk about it?" The super spy tilts her head and beckons the heaving young woman closer.
Shuri nods, taking the spare cup with her and grabs a seat, breathing deeply to control her raging emotions.
"So…is it about a boy?" Natasha cocks a knowing eyebrow.
She nods with a pitiful expression.
"Okay well, do you like him?"
Shuri nods again, a little more enthusiastically.
"And, he likes you back?"
"Well...I don't know. Last night, his girlfriend called just as everything was beginning to go well and she saw me and broke up with him. And now he hates me." Shuri bursts out, burying her head in her hands.
"Was it really your fault? I mean, what exactly was he doing in the first place?"
She peeks from behind her hands and admits,
"He was drunk."
"Oh." Natasha says slowly, everything becoming clearer to her. "Is this about Peter?"
"I- what- no…maybe?" Shuri averts her eyes, but the assassin already knows the answer.
"Listen, Shuri." She takes the younger girl's hands, squeezing them softly in sympathy. "I've known Peter for a long time. And I know for absolute certainty, that he isn't angry. He's just confused. Mostly because Tony took him drinking last night to celebrate his 21st birthday and this is his first hangover, but also because I know how much both MJ and you mean to him. So, I think you just need to go back and tell him the truth and let him figure it all out."
Shuri bites her lip to hold the gushing waterfall of tears from flowing and nods.
"What- what if he says no?" She whispers.
Natasha chuckles with a wicked glint in her eyes.
"I'm sure MJ is a nice person and all, but if Peter chooses her, he's making a grave mistake. And I mean grave mistake."
Shuri cracks a small smile, not missing Natasha's subtle hint.
"Okay, thanks. I'll bring the water back to him now." She waves good-bye and rushes through the door.
"Woah, what's all the hurry about?" Steve swerves to avoid colliding with the bolting princess.
Natasha just smirks and turns her cheek for her boyfriend to kiss good morning.
"Ah, young love." Natasha sighs, taking another sip of her morning coffee.
"Oh? Are you playing match-maker now?" Steve grins.
She shrugs coyly.
"Just a bit of…encouraging really."
Steve shakes his head and laughs, knowing that whoever Natasha had joined together, let no one even dare try to take apart, or risk facing the assassin's legendary wrath.
Standing outside her bedroom door, Shuri takes a deep breath in and pushes the door open.
Peter is sitting up in bed, on the phone to Ned.
"Okay, I've got to go, thanks for calling me, I'll see you soon."
"Here's some water." She passes the cup to him, involuntarily flinching when their hands connected.
"Thanks." Peter drops the phone into his lap and drinks thirstily.
Silence stretches between them and swells to fill the room.
"Ned called me." Peter finally breaks the rising tension in the room. "He said Michelle talked to me last night and she got…upset."
Shuri gives a disbelieving laugh.
"Upset? That doesn't even begin to cover it. Last night, she was furious."
"Yeah, she was." He shrugs casually from the bed.
Shuri twists her hair nervously with her hand, wondering why his tone was so nonchalant.
"Shuri, why didn't you come to the dinner last night?" Peter asks seriously.
"I-I just had work to do." Shuri stutters, thrown off guard by the question.
"Really? While you're on your 3-month break?"
"What? How did you know?"
"T'Challa told me the other day."
"Wait, you're in contact with him? Dammit, I told him to stay out of this!"
"Shuri, you're avoiding the question."
"Fine. Okoye asked me for some help checking new research, so I thought I'd do it then."
"That's the story you're going with?"
"You know what? Let's stop pretending here. I already know what happened, I was there last night. I know Michelle was at the dinner and she called when you were drunk to break up with you and I know you were upset because you were going to propose to her and now you want her back. So, just tell me what I need to do to fix everything."
"What are you fixing?"
"I don't know, you and her, I guess."
"But, what about you and I?"
"Uh..." She inches back towards the door subconsciously, wondering what he was getting at. "Why do you want me to fix that?"
"Shuri," Peter steps closer, almost pressing Shuri again the door, and removes her hair from her hand, instead tucking it behind her ear gently, then resting his hand lightly against her cheek. "There's only one mistake that needs to be fixed."
She smiles nervously,
"Okay, tell me what it is, and I'll fix it."
He stares straight into her eyes.
"Last night, did I kiss you?"
"No."
"Then, help me fix that."
And as Shuri freezes in shock, Peter bends down to softly touch his lips to hers. Gradually, she responds by pressing back harder and reaches up to tangle her fingers in Peter's hair. He smirks against her lips as the sound of Shuri's moan tingles across his spine, right into his heart.
"Peter." She gasps, heart fluttering wildly. Shuri presses her hand to Peter's laying against her cheek, returning his intense gaze. "It's not too late. I know you love her, you almost married her, so if you call her now, she'll take you back."
He looks deep into her eyes and without a single moment of hesitation replies,
"Shuri, I don't want to marry Michelle. I want to marry you."
"Peter? What do you mean?"
"I already wasted four years being too scared to ask you out." Peter admits, caressing her cheek gently. "I'm not going to waste any more time."
He reaches behind Shuri into his suit pocket to withdraw a ring.
A glistening lilac amethyst set in the center glimmers hopefully up at Shuri.
She gasps and covers her mouth in utter disbelief.
"Shuri Udaku, will you do me the absolutely honor of being my wife?"
"Peter, yes!"
And he carefully slides the shining ring onto her finger.
She launches herself at Peter, hugging him tight and sending them tumbling onto the bed. He grins, returning the gesture. And soon the innocent motion turns more heated as their mouths meet once again. Shuri stares upwards into the tender eyes of her long-time crush, now future husband.
"Peter?"
"Yeah?"
"I didn't go to your dinner because I knew Michelle would be there. And I thought you still loved her."
He smiles.
"I know. But by then, I already knew I loved you."
They share another passionate kiss and Peter slyly slips his hand into Shuri's back jean pocket.
"Peter!" Shuri giggles in shock at his bold actions.
"What?" He grins. "I saw it on TV somewhere."
"Shuri, Peter." Steve calls from the kitchen. "Breakfast's ready!"
Shuri gives her fiancé one more peck and opens the door, leading him out to breakfast.
Stepping into the kitchen where most of the Avengers were gathered, Steve and Natasha immediately shoot Shuri hopeful looks. She grins bashfully in return, raising her left hand slightly.
"Well," drawls Natasha from the dining table. "I suppose congratulations are in order?"
Steve chuckles and shakes his head.
"I'm so happy for both of you." He gives a hug to Peter and Shuri.
Meanwhile, Tony looks around with a confused expression on his face.
"Am I missing something? What's going?"
Peter takes a deep breath and Shuri squeezes his hand supportively.
"Shuri and I are…getting married!"
The room bursts into cheers and congratulatory applause. One by one they approach the couple with words of encouragement and "About time!".
Tony looks stunned before grabbing Peter in a massive hug. Whispering close to his ear, the billionaire says,
"I hope you have a plan to tell her overprotective wildcat of a brother."
"Don't worry, Mr Stark, he was the one who gave me the idea." Peter replies with a grin.