Chapter 66: New Suit
Smack. "Ouch, fuck!"
"C'mon, Barnes, you're better than this." Natasha teased, eyeing Mika with a Cheshire grin. Mika shot a glare in her direction, though her heart warmed at her calling her by her new last name. It had been over two months since their wedding, but everything still felt new and exciting. She hadn't actually legally changed her name yet, but figured since she really didn't have current paperwork in general that it wasn't a big concern. If or when they ever left Wakanda, then she would worry about it.
"I'm tired!" she whined, rubbing the area where Natasha had popped her with the baton. It wasn't gonna bruise, but it certainly stung. Natasha lunged at her again, and she barely defended the attacks before they broke apart for a moment. "I haven't been sleeping well."
"I bet you haven't." she said, her grin widening. She launched another barrage, and Mika used the last of her energy to respond, using her quickness to go on the offensive and land a solid hit on Natasha's thigh. The assassin gave her a proud look, twirling the batons once as she eyed her.
"Can we please get breakfast now?" Mika asked. She loved sparring with Natasha, but she wasn't lying when she was tired. She'd been waking up a lot at night recently, which was unusual for her; she attributed it to the rising heat of the coming Wakanda summer. Once she got used to it (and convinced Bucky to lower the air conditioning a little bit), she would be fine. Natasha considered her question before holstering her weapons.
"I'll allow it, just because that was a really good hit." she replied. Mika smiled, dramatically tossing her own batons in the corner and slinging her arm around Natasha's shoulders. She grew still, just like Bucky used to, before relaxing into the embrace.
"And that's why you're my favorite. Don't tell Sam or Steve." she said in Romanian, just in case the other two were listening. She scoffed, shaking her head.
"We all know Steve is your favorite, don't even pretend." she replied, following her into the kitchen to find Sam at the stove. Any time they visited, Bucky managed to rope Steve into assisting with morning chores. Sam, figuring he did enough hard labor chasing Steve's ass around who-knows-where, always chose to sleep in and take over breakfast duties. As soon as they walked in, he handed them cups of coffee.
"You're all my favorites." Mika said sentimentally, placing an emphatic kiss on his cheek as she took the cup from him.
"Uh huh. Lies." he said lowly, flipping pancakes on the large cast iron griddle over the burners. "Steve is your favorite, we all know it."
"Only because he makes fun of Bucky so much." she said with a shrug, putting milk and sugar into her coffee before setting it on the table and collapsing into a chair. Geeze, Natasha wore her out more than she thought.
"Oh yea, it has nothing to do with his looks or his star-spangled attitude." Sam pointed out, plating the pancakes in a high stack. Natasha rolled her eyes, shaking her head at the man.
"Clearly she prefers the dark and brooding type." she said, as if the fact were obvious. Sam rose his eyebrows, holding his arms out.
"Okay, none of y'all are darker than me." he said, making Mika burst into laughter. Natasha kept a straight face, but the corner of her mouth was trembling. He turned to Mika, giving her an exaggeratedly seductive look and saying in an overly deep voice, "C'mon, girl, you want some of this?"
"Sam, stop hitting on my wife." Bucky deadpanned, coming into the kitchen with Steve in tow. Luna immediately trotted to Sam's side, looking up at him expectantly. He didn't heed the eyes on him, taking the top pancake and handing it to her. The dog, happy with her score, trotted away before Bucky could move to take the treat from her.
"What, afraid she'll realize my charm and leave your old ass?" he joked, picking up a knife and starting to run it through the pile of fruit on the island. Bucky gave an unamused huff of a laugh.
"If she left me for anyone, it would be Natasha." he said, grabbing some water from the fridge and handing it to Steve. Sam and Natasha looked to her for confirmation, and she merely held her hands up as if to say he's not wrong. Natasha perked an eyebrow at that, making an interested noise in the back of her throat.
"And since when do you have charm?" Steve cut in, stealing a piece of fruit from dangerously close to Sam's knife. The other man glared, brandishing the knife at him. Bucky's attention stayed on it, and even if he knew Sam was just kidding, it still made him uneasy to see someone handling a blade so lightly and easily.
"Hey, it's hard to run game whenever I'm too busy making sure you don't get us blown up. Or shot at. Or run over. Or-" he was interrupted by Natasha, who pushed the knife hand back to the cutting board and said,
"Hey now, don't discredit me for my one job." Sam stuck his tongue out at her before returning to his task, finishing everything up. The men carried all the food to the table, making Mika feel like a queen as they laid it all out in front of her. Bucky sat down next to her, and while she didn't mind seeing him all hot and sweaty, it definitely took everything in her not to wrinkle her nose at the farm life smells that clung to him. She had to keep a straight face; after all, she'd spent over an hour working out with Natasha, and probably didn't smell like spring flowers either.
Breakfast was a loud affair, as it always was when their friends visited. It reminded Mika of when she was very young, when she and her sisters would be trying their best to talk over each other and fight for attention from their parents. There was considerably less talk of princesses and unicorns nowadays, but that didn't mean this wasn't her family.
She was able to get out of dishes duty by using her time at the lab as an excuse. Usually she took the day if their friends were visiting, but Shuri was adamant that she needed to come in today, which meant that she made something that she was very, very excited about. The last time she'd insisted on Mika coming in, she'd created a true hoverboard like Back to the Future, only this one could operate over water. She wondered what it would be this time.
She said her goodbyes to her friends and gave a kiss to Bucky before making her way into the city center, smiling and greeting the people that she knew as she climbed the stairs all the way up to the lab. The music was different today, and while she recognized it, she couldn't quite place the tune. She barely had time to put her bag down before the Princess came swooshing in on her hoverboard, hopping off expertly and kicking it up into her hands.
"Finally! What took you so long?" she said, her eyes bright. She grabbed Mika's wrist and started dragging her away from her desk, not caring whether or not she was ready to move.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize…" she left the sentence hanging, realizing that Shuri was no longer listening.
"I meant to finish this as a wedding present." she said, leading her to the back lab that held the largest sand pit. "But then I just kept thinking of more things to add to it and make it better and then-"
"Shuri, what have you made?" Mika asked lowly. The Princess was entirely too giving, that was true; but she'd seen the wild things her mind could cook up, and this was something either fantastic or terrifying. Shuri didn't answer her, instead just directing her to a mannequin that wore black armor very similar to a certain Amazonian princess.
"Ta da!" she exclaimed, gesturing grandly at it. Mika's jaw dropped and she was actually rendered speechless as she walked up to it, admiring the armor. It was not leather, like it was supposed to be in the movie. Instead it was made of the same material that made up T'Challa's Black Panther suit. "Now you can really be Wonder Woman!"
"This is incredible, Shuri!" Mika said, running her fingers over it. The suit hummed with the vibranium energy woven into it. Shuri actually squealed with excitement, coming up and tapping one of the gauntlets so that the all nanites crawled into a bracelet, which she unsnapped and handed to her. That would be a convenient feature.
"Try it!" she said, watching as Mika slipped the bracelet on. She gave the Princess a grin before tapping it twice, the nanites immediately erupting from their home and crawling all over her until she was standing in the armor, complete with boots and tiara. Her tunic fell in tattered strips around her, but she didn't focus on that. She couldn't help but laugh, admiring how it looked and felt. It was a little tight, but not uncomfortable, likely due to the big breakfast she had that morning. Shuri took her hand again, leading her onto the platform.
"This is amazing." she admired, still looking at the armor as Shuri retreated behind a clear barrier.
"And fully functional!" she exclaimed, calling up more barriers until Mika was completely surrounded. Mika was confused at that, her posture shifting just slightly. Why was Shuri imprisoning her? "Now, spin really fast!"
"What?" Mika said, sure she didn't hear the girl correctly. Spin? Why?
"Just do it!" she said, exasperated, as if she were tired of people questioning her. Mika bit back a smart remark and did as the Princess asked, spinning so that the feathers of the pteruges rose around her. From the end of them, sharp nanite's flew like tiny v-shaped birds, sailing into the barriers with an impressively loud noise. Mika stopped immediately, eyes wide as she took in their power.
"Shuri! Why would I ever need this?!" she asked. Here she thought it was just a fun costume; when the Princess had said 'fully functional,' she definitely had not envisioned this. Shuri shrugged nonchalantly.
"I don't know. Just in case. You can turn all these features off of course, that way you don't accidentally harm children at the autumn solstice. Or if you just feel like being particularly heroic at home." she explained. Mika laughed and shook her head.
"You always have an answer for everything, don't you?" she said as Shuri lowered the barriers again, stepping onto the platform with her.
"Of course I do. Someone needs to around here." she said. She surprised Mika as she started hitting her bodice, and though the hits didn't hurt, they were still alarming. Mika tried to dodge, but the Princess was quick. Quicker than expected.
"Stop that!" Mika said, feeling very much like she was whining at her younger sister. Shuri did stop hitting, but didn't stop smiling, going back to her tablet and lifting up the barriers.
"I'm just trying to show you the best part!" she said. Mika looked down, noticing the purple lines of energy running through the armor, traveling into her gauntlets. She thought back to a year ago, when the then-Prince was given his new suit. Ah, so this is where she was going. Once the barriers were in place, Shuri grinned. "Make and X with your arms, then break it."
Mika couldn't help but smile as she got into position, feeling as her gauntlets vibrated with potential energy. This was the closest thing she was going to get to the super strength that Bucky and Steve lived with, and it was fun. She broke the X, watching as the energy sang out around her in a perfect arc. Again she laughed, completely astounded at what just happened.
"Holy shit!" she exclaimed, thankfully in Romanian (though Shuri definitely picked up the swear words in the other language remarkably fast). The walls lowered again, and Shuri danced onto the platform with her, obviously and rightfully very proud of herself.
"So? What do you think?" she asked, clasping her hands together. She was unable to stay still, shifting her weight back and forth as she awaited Mika's appraisal.
"Shuri," Mika began, pausing just long enough for Shuri's fidgeting to double. "this is possibly the coolest thing anyone has ever made for me."
"Just possibly?" she squeaked, looking affronted. Mika grinned, pulling her into a tight hug.
"I'm just kidding, of course this is the coolest thing ever!" she said, rocking her back and forth. "Thank you so, so much. I can't wait to show Bucky, we just watched Justice League the other day - oh wait, how do I turn it off attack mode?"
"Ah, yes, that would probably be a good thing to tell you." she said, pulling away. The purple energy had returned thanks to the strength behind her embrace, the lines trailing like ants until the gauntlets glowed. Mika stood very still with her arms far apart, not sure how to dispel the energy without hurting the Princess. Shuri took her hand, turning it so the underside of the gauntlet faced up. She pointed out a long line with a purple spot at the end, a perfect circle on the other side. "You're the only one who can turn it on and off - I figured that would be the best fail safe. Just touch here and drag it, then let it read your fingerprint."
"Do I want to know how you got my fingerprint?" Mika said, putting her index finger on the purple light and dragging it to the circle. It beeped nearly immediately, the potential energy dispelling with a bit of heat.
"Of course not." Shuri said lightly, stepping back to admire her work. Mika struck a pose, admiring how oddly comfortable the suit was despite its tightness. As they laughed, she pulled the Princess in for another hug.
"Thank you, Shuri. This is awesome." she said. She kept her arms around her and swayed lightly. "I just have one issue."
"What? What's that?" Shuri asked. She could see the gears turning in the girl's mind, trying to find any flaw in her design. Mika let her suffer a moment longer before saying,
"I didn't bring a change of clothing." she said, making the Princess dissolve into giggles.
"Perhaps I should have warned you of that." she replied. "I'll have someone find you a new tunic. In the meantime, let's play a little more, shall we?"
Mika grinned, backing away from her into the middle of the platform. Shuri grinned brightly, calling up the black sand around the edge so that it made a sword. She grabbed a hold of it and turned the suit back on, getting in a ready position as the sand formed the shape of a man that looked suspiciously like T'Challa. Even though she was still tired from her exercise this morning, she felt her second wind coming on. Perhaps she could wrestle up enough energy for one more round.
The sand sprung to life, stalking towards with all the grace of a panther. Mika stepped to it, taking a swing with her sword. The sand easily blocked it, quickly swinging at her side. She dropped her arm, the gauntlet taking the force of the hit and absorbing the shock of it surprisingly easily. She kicked it up a notch, going on the offensive. The sand was able to land a few touches on her, but the nanites absorbed most of the energy, and once she was able to land a foot on his chest and send him backwards, she made the X with her arms and broke it, the energy blast completely obliterating him. Oh yes, this was definitely fun.
"You know," Mika said, once she was out of breath and done fighting. "I think Natasha might like one of these."
"Oh, I'm working on hers. She just has different needs than you." Shuri said matter-of-factly, lowering the barriers around the platform. A lab technician walked in then, carrying a new tunic. She handed it off to the Princess, who quickly passed it on to her friend. Mika smiled.
"You're always taking care of us, Shuri." she said affectionately, suddenly overwhelmed with how much she cared for the girl. She resisted the urge to hug her again, instead gratefully taking the new covering from her. For the last time, Shuri raised the walls, this time making them completely opaque. Mika turned the kill mode off her suit before tapping the wrist, watching with fascination as the nanites once again crawled into bracelet form. She was tremendously uncomfortable being naked in the middle of Shuri's lab despite the walls, and quickly pulled her new dress on before knocking on the walls.
"Somebody's got to take care of you all." Shuri remarked once visible again. Mika ran her fingers over the new bracelet adorning her wrist; did she need a super suit with Wakandan technology? No. But did she feel oddly proud to have it? Absolutely.
The hours seemed to drag by as she did her work at her station. She was so excited to show off her new gear, knowing that Bucky would appreciate both how it could protect her and also the aesthetic. When she finally reached the end of her day, she rushed out of the lab but forced herself to drive safely through the busy streets, her thumbs tapping quickly on the steering wheel as she navigated through the traffic. She hummed along to the song on the radio, her energy starting to return despite the fatigue that had been plaguing her all day. It was time for round two, and this time Natasha was not going to win.
Her heart fell and she couldn't help but pout as she pulled up to their house, noticing that the vehicle their friends usually came in was not in its usual spot. She got out of the car and walked up the front porch, but noticed that Bucky wasn't in the house. Instead, he was down underneath the tree, hanging out with the kids who still periodically came to check on him. A quick check from the front door as she sat her purse down inside told her that Bucky wasn't the only one out - the entire house was empty except for Luna asleep in the living room. She made her way down to the tree, the kids' faces lighting up as they spotted her.
"Birdie!" they cried, getting up and running to her. She wasn't exactly sure how Bucky managed to get them to call her that, but she wasn't complaining. She bent down to accept their tiny embraces and messy kisses on her cheek, laughing as they all talked to her at once. When she finally escaped from their clutches, she was able to finally greet Bucky.
"Everyone leave?" she asked, giving him a soft kiss. He nodded.
"Some emergency." he explained, pulling her in for another kiss. He then dropped his eyes to her outfit, his brows furrowing. "That's not what you were wearing this morning."
"Had a wardrobe mishap." she explained, holding up her wrist to show off her bracelet. "Shuri had a new present for me. I'll show it to you later."
He made a curious noise and coupled it with a grin, turning his attention to the kids. "Do you want to show her what you've been working on?"
Mika perked an eyebrow, looking at their adopted niece and nephews. They suddenly looked quite shy, wringing their hands and shifting their weight back and forth, their eyes anywhere but on her. Bucky knelt down in front of them, murmuring quietly, "Go on, you're ready." They all made noises that disagreed with him, mumbling so that she couldn't hear. Whatever they said, Bucky understood, and after a low laugh he started leading them in whatever they'd learned.
Mika covered her mouth with her hand both to hide her laughing and her almost-tears as the kids slowly and carefully stumbled through the numbers one through ten - in Romanian. It was a little thing, really, but for some reason it struck something in her heart. It reminded her vaguely of her own baby sister, finally learning her numbers in school.
"That was perfect!" she said encouragingly as they finished, kneeling down next to them. "Has White Wolf been teaching you?"
"Yes." they chorused, embarrassed by the praise and attention they were giving them. Bucky smiled.
"And what else have we learned?" he asked, leading them once again. They smiled and giggled, once again crawling on top of her as they tried their best to say I love you in Romanian. Mika laughed again, if only to cover up the tears that sprang to her eyes. It was one of the more adorable things she'd seen in her entire life.
"And I love you too." she said slowly in Romanian, hoping that they understood her sentiments even if they didn't understand her words. They hugged her tightly, saying their newfound phrase over and over. Their voices were too loud in her ears and their hands too tight, but she didn't care. She just held them tighter to her until they were giggling and trying to squirm out of her embrace.
"Now, go on home. It's almost supper time." Bucky said once they'd escaped their prison of affection. They all said their goodbyes before scampering off to the path that led back to their village, their voices carrying the sounds of numbers in broken Romanian until they were too far away to be heard.
"You've been busy, I see." she commented as they walked back up to the house. He shrugged.
"Figured it never hurt to learn another language." he explained. She tucked her hand into his elbow, leaning close to him so she could rest her cheek on his shoulder as they walked.
"Not a bad idea." she agreed. "If we have kids, what languages will we teach them?" The question was out of her mouth before she registered she was asking it, and she silently grimaced; they'd just gotten married, no need to have the kids discussion yet.
Luckily, Bucky didn't seem to mind. "Well Romanian, of course. So they can talk to your mother." he started, and she nearly choked on the swell of emotion bubbling in her chest. "And English, so they can talk to Steve and Sam. And then maybe German, so they can make fun of you with your sister."
"Hey!" she chided, pinching the sensitive skin of his inner arm. He jerked at the pain, but she held tightly, preventing him from escaping. "That's not fair. The only other language I know is Russian, and I refuse to teach them that."
"Good. Me too." he said, the smile on his face not quite reaching his eyes. He stopped her as they reached the front porch, his expression suddenly serious. "Now if something...if something's wrong with me, if we can't…" he left the sentence hanging, unable to speak of one of his deepest concerns. He opened his mouth to continue on, but Mika interrupted him with a smile and a kiss.
"Then we adopt." she said shortly. Then she tilted her head to the side. "Or, we can just get more dogs!"
"We are not getting more dogs." Bucky said, his heart rate returning to normal now that the hurdle was crossed. "You and Luna already take up way too much of the bed."
"There's plenty of room for more." she said, opening the door and leading him inside.
"The dog isn't even supposed to be on the bed." he reminded her.
"How can you say no to her little face?" Mika asked, putting her hands on the cheeks of said dog and lifting her head from the couch so she could kiss her. Luna didn't move at all, the only sign of life being her tail thumping against the cushions.
"Easily. One of us has to." he deadpanned.
"Oh good, you can be the tough parent then." she replied with a grin, making him roll his eyes.
"Weren't you going to show me something?" he asked, changing the subject. Her eyebrow twitched, but she allowed the change. She held up her new bracelet.
"Are you sure you're ready?" she answered his question with another question, giving him a seductive smile. His face changed ever so slightly, one corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk.
"I'm always ready." he replied. She tapped the bracelet twice, ruining a second tunic of the day as the nanites ran over her body and formed the armor. Bucky's jaw literally dropped, his eyes scanning every inch of her as she stood in a heroic pose. "Wow." he breathed, his gaze still roaming so that he didn't see the wide grin on her face. Good. That was exactly the reaction she wanted.
"Now, good knight, take me to our chambers." she said in her best impression of royalty. He grinned, his eyes darkening at the order.
"Yes, princess." he said, throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her to their bedroom. Turns out, the easy on-off feature was just as handy as she thought it would be.
Aaaaaand another fun slice of life chapter! Thank you all for your patience since I couldn't update last weekend. I'm sorry if these last chapters haven't been super exciting; I wanted a bit of a break of happiness cause the clusterfuck arc that is Infinity War is happening very, very soon.
Speaking of arcs, would y'all be into occasional (short) story arcs involving other characters (i.e. Steve, Sam, etc)? I'm trying to plan out the story through Infinity War and beyond, so if y'all are strictly here for Bucky content (which I totes understand), then let me know! Also, who's pumped for Falcon and Winter Soldier?
Thank you so so SO much to those who reviewed! I can't tell you how much your words fuel me. It's pretty much most of the reason why I keep writing haha. You're all amazing and I keep your comments in my heart at all times. Does that sound cheesy? Cause it's true.
Please let me know what y'all thought of this chapter!
-XM