Rest in Peace, Chadwick Boseman. Wakanda forever.
This is a lighter chapter than what the situation entails but I wanted to publish something in honor of the King. It really is tragic, he was taken too soon.
Shuri hadn't really ever been grounded before. Chastised, reprimanded, told to stay out of the way so she could stay safe, yeah, all of those things. But never grounded. It was interesting, actually, a strange change of pace.
She'd spent the rest of the day after her visit to New York sleeping in and lazily texting and calling her friends.
Peter, who was also grounded, texted her around three in the afternoon his time, 12 PM where she was, "Did you reference Pitch Meetings during our battle?"
"Yeah, was that unprofessional?"
"It was kind of funny, I just realized it. That was clever."
"It was super easy, barely an inconvenience."
Peter sent a laughing emoji and then hit her with, "How was your breakfast date?" Along with several smirking emojis and one with heart eyes. She burst out laughing.
"The best not-date I've ever been on."
"Are you guys going on another not-date?"
"Probably not."
"Probably not?" Several frowny faces.
"If we go on another anything it will probably be a real date," Shuri responded, giving Peter something to freak out about and then going radio silent.
Peter sent her a lot of text demanding more details and providing her with a small army of heart eyes emojis. She couldn't imagine how many texts Ned was getting about the same thing, and he was in school. She couldn't help feeling bad for him.
She spent a good amount of time talking with T'Challa as well. Going over plans she could make without having to ask his permission about it later. She was doing her best to follow her brother's rules but running an organization was going to be difficult while grounded. Being her own person was going to be difficult while grounded. She vented a little in a phone call to Peter, who knew a thing or two about being grounded, but he kept pestering her for details about breakfast, so finally, he became too insufferable to talk to.
Peter's funniest line was when he asked her for T'Challa's number so that he could ask the King of Wakanda for details on her "date." She had laughed and hung up on him.
She really wanted to talk to Ned. But he'd had the longest day and she wasn't about to bother him when he really needed to be taking a nap. He was the only one who hadn't gotten a day off and he deserved a rest. She didn't know how she felt after their not-date and she really, really wanted to talk it out with someone, preferably Ned. His words had been sweet and they'd filled her head with confusing, happy thoughts. Peter thought she liked Ned. Like, like-liked him. Did she? She had to admit that when it seemed like he had a crush on her, her heart soared a little. He'd talked about a real date, without a chaperone. That excited her more than she was ready to admit. She'd practically froze.
Her brother had teased her about it. Had called it a date and told her that he was going to tell their mom about her new boyfriend.
"No more running off with your boyfriend," he'd said.
"And we're going to have to talk it over before your boyfriend can visit Wakanda." She was blushing and frustrated with his teasing. She wasn't defined by the feelings she had for someone else. When she got done talking to T'Challa, she tried not to think about Ned or the breakfast date.
And then, she got a phone call.
"You should be sleeping!" She immediately chided, the second she heard him breathing on the other side of the call.
"I can't sleep, I have homework!" Ned laughed, and his laugh filled her with some sort of joy. He was okay, he was safe. That was what mattered.
"I can help you with your homework. I know a thing or two, about, things."
"Wow, I can't believe I'm friends with the smartest woman in the world," Ned chuckled. He did sound tired.
"Did you call me for tutoring?"
"No, but the help would be appreciated. There are some subjects that are just so boring."
"Do you want to talk about the boring stuff?"
"No, actually, uh, I wanted… I wanted to talk about us. About any potential of us… Peter and I could come visit you over fall break. It's only two days but that'd be a four day weekend and-"
"What exactly are you asking, Ned?"
"I want a proper chance at a part 2, at a… Well, a real date. Breakfast or otherwise. Uh… What do you say, Shuri? Am I a guy that you'd kinda be into?" Shuri had to laugh at his cheesy line.
"I don't know. I'd have to go on that date."
They were silent for a minute, both probably feeling a little bubbly.
"Why do you like me?" She finally.
"You're so smart and funny," Ned said, "and you care so much about so many people. You're a good person."
"Anything else?"
"You're very cute," Ned added.
"Aww, you're not so bad yourself."
"I know that I'm not the kind of person who deserves a second date with a princess."
"That's bull. It's insane that you don't see the coolest parts of yourself. You're hardworking and brilliant and I know you're the type of person who would go to the ends of the earth for the people you love."
"I don't know how you do that," Ned said, "say all the right things, all the nicest things…"
"I've been reading this self-help book. How to get a Ned."
"You have a Ned."
"You said that last night," Shuri remembered.
"Yeah, well now it's true. If you want it to be true."
"Let's see where this goes. If… If this doesn't work out, like this, will I still have you as my friend?"
"Of course. Keeping you in my life is more important than having a girlfriend."
"Thank you, Ned. I think we're going to be friends for a long time."