Smooth Talker
| From Request Number 3.
Okoye x Black Fem! American Reader
Summary: You have an obsession with old, cliche pickup lines, and Okoye seems to be the main one at the recieving end of them. Though she often pretends that she isn't very fond of you, somehow she's fallen in love with your goofy self.
Author's Note: I know you said American, so I did write with an American accent in mind, and somehow, it came out sounding very country-esque. I want you to know that I’m not trying to generalise the American accent in this writing, but rather that I chose the one accent that I felt fit the story in a charming way. It’s purely just what I was specifically thinking of as I wrote. Much like how the rest of my fics work in the same way.
Word Count: 5k
Just jokes and a fun time
Warning: Extremely bad jokes, Mention of minor injuries
When Okoye had been asked to be in Shuri’s lab for the day, she’d assumed it would just be a slow day of observing what they did there, not fully paying attention, and sometimes giving her slightly unwanted but very honest opinions about the things that were being made.
She agreed without hesitation, going to the lab and standing just by the entrance. She couldn’t see Shuri anywhere, which she noted as unusual, but still no red-flags came up for her.
Out of all the things she thought was happening, a set up of some kind had been far from the first idea on her list.
At first she didn’t notice.
She heard 2 pairs of footsteps approaching and thought nothing of it. Shuri sometimes brought people in with her, so still it would be nothing unusual if one of Wakanda’s scientists entered beside her.
As they got closer. Okoye thought that she heard something familiar. She grew extremely quiet, even temporarily pausing her breathing to get a clear hearing of it.
It took a few seconds, but then it definitely repeated itself. She heard not only a specific sound, but a specific voice.
A hearty melodic voice that expressed genuine joy. In a laugh.
A laugh that, although was very unique and could not be easily imitated, didn’t quite fit into the ‘annoying laugh’ category.
Okoye enjoyed hearing the sound, and it was soothing to hear for the most part. But knowing who the owner of it was, she started to panic.
She had to find a way out.
She couldn’t leave through the door. She’d be caught instantly.
She couldn’t pretend to not see the woman either as that would only fuel her desire to talk to her.
Her eyes scanned the room for any hiding places, knowing that it would seem childish to hide but also wanting to continue having a day where her sanity wasn’t tested.
The only way that this would happen was if she didn’t make any contact with the woman she thought of at all.
So she made her way more into the lab to try her best to hide and blend into the room until she could make her escape.
She was almost there too.
Then, “Hey, Okoye!” your voice rang loudly through the lab; stopping her movement.
‘Bast help me.’ she prayed silently, turning around to give you her signature serious face as she walked towards you and Shuri.
She saw the look on the latter's face, and she finally realised that she was probably the cause of her dilemma all along. Shuri had clearly set Okoye up so she could watch the ultimately ridiculous encounter that always seemed to happen when you were around each other.
“Hello, Y/n.” Okoye said as professionally as she could.
You had your typical ridiculously cocky smile on your face that Okoye never seemed to be able to knock off.
Shuri smirked, watching the two of you look at each other with completely opposite expressions. When you’d suggested that she get Okoye into the lab just before you arrived, she knew it would be a sight to see.
She didn’t like deceiving the General but it sure was entertaining when she did.
The General almost looked impressed at the intentional coincidence, but she wasn;t about to show any respect towards the cruel situation she’d been placed in.
She wasn’t going to give Shuri any praise for this particular trick. Not when the first thing that she had to hear you say to her was, “I know it's the umpteenth time that we’ve met but um, do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?”
Then came that laugh again. So warm but so, so dumb. You laughed like you genuinely thought you were the funniest person in the world.
Every joke or pickup line was either bad, or absolutely terrible but every single time without fail; you’d laugh. And you’d get others to join you too.
Just like Shuri right then.
She tried to keep her mouth closed so her laugh wouldn't travel but she still allowed herself to be infected with the foolishness that you brought with you.
Okoye wasn’t the same, however. She looked at you. As in really looking at you. Standing her ground and not even letting her lips quiver in their temptation.
Her eyes let you know that you weren’t getting anywhere with that.
Much like she’d been trying to let you know for the past 2 years that she’d known you personally.
You never seemed to give up though. And for some reason Okoye could tell that this time was no different.
“Back so soon.” she said, smirking at your surprised reaction to the question. “You know, back in my day people who never seemed to settle down into one place were called Nomads. Though, with you it’s strange. They usually travel in groups. But I have yet to see you with anyone else.”
“Oh, so that’s how you wanna be today, huh?” you asked, gaining a grin from the woman, “And you know you’re not that much older than me. Stop playin’.”
“How would I know that? I barely pay attention to you.”
“Come on now, Okoye. There’s no need to keep lyin’. I know you pay attention. You love me. I see it all over that pretty face of yours. I’m sure you were thinking of me the entire time that I was gone.”
“How would I have had the time to do that? You never leave for long enough for me to even realise that you’re gone.”
“I was gone for an appropriate amount of time.” you argued. You knew that she was just trying to get to you but you were completely fine with going along with it.
“So what’s brought you back?”
You grinned, seeing that she’d set herself up. “You.”
“Oh, Bast.” you heard Shuri whisper to herself, realising that she was still there. She was clearly enjoying herself more than a lot.
Okoye tried to seem unfazed, but it was clear that your answer had caught her slightly off guard.
“Nice try.” she said, looking away from you.
“Okay maybe it wasn’t all you. Shuri also asked me to help her on a mission. Plus I had a new invention on my mind and you know that Wakanda’s the only place I can make this kind of stuff without gettin’ arrested.” Okoye’s stance softened, though she grew slightly disappointed at the real answer.
“But…” you quickly said. “I saw you walkin’ by and I just had to come and say hello.”
“I wasn’t walking anywhere.”
“Yeah, you were. I literally saw you walkin’ in that direction.” you pointed to where she’d been going before you called her.
“You were.” Shuri pitched in.
Okoye looked at where you pointed, a guilty expression on her face.
Now you wore the biggest smirk. “I got you there didn’t I, General?”
She accidentally let herself chuckle, causing you to laugh in victory.
She couldn’t deny that she’d grown used to the face that you made when you won over her in one of your back and forth conversation battles.
She enjoyed seeing it now just as much as she had the first day that she’d met you.
2 Years Earlier
The General made her way around the palace after a morning of training, wanting to make rounds through the entire place to see if any of the royals required assistance with anything.
She didn’t believe that her skills would be very highly sought-after since it was a fairly quiet day, but it was her duty to make sure.
After going around almost the entire building, she ended up in front of Shuri’s lab.
It was louder than usual, and although music sometimes played throughout the day, the sound coming from inside was definitely being made by people talking.
It piqued Okoye’s interest; prompting her to go inside.
As she entered she felt a happy energy throughout the room, two different laughs bouncing off of the walls. One in particular that she’d never heard before.
It was full, and deep, with an interesting pattern to its rhythm.
As she got closer to its source, she was surprised not to hear the usually very loud AI that Shuri had made informing people of her arrival into the room.
She reckoned that it was probably temporarily put on silent mode, seeing as a new guest was in there.
By the time that she was only a few steps away from Shuri, she identified an unknown woman standing next to her. Tinkering with a hologram.
She let her footsteps announce her present, awkwardly waiting for somebody to notice her.
The first person to notice her was the unknown woman. She looked up at her, and completely stopped working on what she’d been doing.
Okoye stared at the woman as she grinned at her in awe. She had a few choice words for her when over a minute had passed, but she kept them to herself.
Then the woman finally spoke, “Wow. I think I was just blinded by your beauty. I’m gonna need your name and number for insurance purposes.”
Okoye was taken aback at the words. Her face creased in confusion.
Shuri looked at you, then at where you were looking, saying a silent but excited “oh” when she saw the General standing there.
“General, this is my friend, Y/n. She’s a scientist.”
“Hey.” you said in a way that Okoye could only describe as delirious.
She hummed a greeting, still thrown off by your first comment.
What shocked her was how serious you seemed to be in saying your ridiculous line.
She shook her head, deciding to just turn around and leave. But before she could, you were getting up and trying to stop her. “Wait, gorgeous!” you said. Making her stop.
She turned to look at you again, watching you rummage around for words.
“Your name?” you asked.
Then the same smile that you’d greeted her with came back on your face. Like you’d come up with something good. “Or can I just call you mine?”
Okoye grew wide-eyed at that, looking around the room to figure out where you’d got the gumption to talk to her like that.
She was willing to be respectful, since you were apparently a friend of the princess, but she had to make it clear to whoever you were that she wasn’t like whatever you thought she was.
“It’s Okoye.”
“Well it was nice meetin’ you, Okoye.” you said. You put an emphasis on her name. Like you’d decided right then that it was a name that you were going to remember. Like you’d just permanently stored it into your brain.
She shook her head, dismissing herself before she allowed herself to get too familiar with you.
You let her go, smiling to yourself as you returned to Shuri’s side.
“I know you already knew her name.” Shuri called you out as soon as you sat back down.
You laughed to yourself. She’d told you about the General many times.
“I was just tryna make a good first impression.” you admitted.
Shuri rolled her eyes, unsurprised at your choice to pick Okoye as the woman you were going to ultimately fixate on from then on.
Hours after the first encounter, Okoye had silently been hoping that you had left already.
She’d assumed that you wouldn’t be involved with anything that she was doing in the palace so she wasn’t all that pleased when she came back into the lab and saw both you and Shuri standing together.
“What are you doing here?” She let herself impulsively speak, gaining an intense side-eye from Shuri.
“Okoye!”
“Nah, it's okay, Shuri. I’ll give her some time to get used to me.” you grinned at her.
The General sighed, going forward to look at what she was called to do.
“Y/n and I have been working on a few new devices for the past few months and we need you to tell us how you feel about our new designs.”
“So she’s an inventor too.” Okoye said, eyeing you from across Shuri’s shoulder.
“Yes I am. And a good one too. I’m a full package deal really.” you shot back.
“Can the two of you behave yourselves, please?” Shuri groaned.
Okoye scoffed, going back to what Shuri was showing her.
The two of you stayed quiet while she looked through the designs for the new devices that you’d been working on. And from what she saw, you looked almost excited for her to see them.
After a few minutes of standing between the two of you, Shuri left to tend to her other projects. Instructing you to continue showing your designs to Okoye and taking notes on where they could improve.
Okoye stayed where she was standing, while you stepped closer to her. She looked up at you with only her eyes for a second, before looking back down to the table where your holographic designs stood.
She went through a fast procedure of looking at a design, telling you what she liked and then adding notes on what could be improved. Then you’d take a few minutes to write down the notes and you’d go to the next one. You got through about 8 designs before she realised that you hadn’t been taking notes for the last 2 designs.
You were looking down towards the table, but it was clearly not at the designs.
“What?” she finally asked.
You gave her a mischievous grin, “Your hand looks lonely. Can I hold it for you?”
Your hand approached hers, wanting to touch it. Kissing her teeth, she swatted it away.
Just like before, you chuckled in delight at the sight of her annoyance. Laughing was clearly something you did often.
It was slowly growing on her.
Very slowly.
“Can you focus on the task at hand, miss ‘good inventor’. You’ll find that this design is especially in need of improvement.”
Your face fell, and you looked down at your design. “What’s wrong with it?” you asked. Okoye nearly stopped messing with you right then. Seeing your face getting so worried at the idea of your design being bad.
Keyword: Nearly.
“It seems unrealistic.”
“What’s unrealistic about it!?” you demanded.
“You’re trying to tell me that you can make a shoe that can make any human run as fast as someone with supernatural speed abilities.”
“Well it’s not that simple.” you complained.
Now she decided to stop being so hostile.
She gave you as good of a smile as she would any stranger. “Then tell me how it works.”
Your eyes lit up at that, and for the next 40 minutes you rambled on about how you were able to figure out how superspeed worked in supernaturals. And how to use the elements you’d found in your investigation to replicate and centre them into a single object (in this case; a pair of shoes) that would slightly fuse with the body that they were on, to absorb, build up, and generate enough kinetic energy to run extremely quickly.
Okoye didn’t bother to pay attention to most of what you said, but she pretended to care for most of it. She wasn’t sure why she wanted to make you feel better, but she did.
Well, at least she wanted to when you were being serious.
When you went back to your corny pickup lines, she grew less tolerant of you again.
And luckily for her, you’d allowed yourself to get distracted again at some point.
“I think someone must have stolen the stars and put them in your eyes.” you muttered out.
She looked at you, realising what you’d said and immediately she was back to how she had been acting before.
“You should go back to Shuri. I'll finish the notes on your designs.”
She started to direct you back to where Shuri was.
You scoffed, “Okay, I see how it is with you.”
You voluntarily started to walk away. But just as Okoye had turned to go back to her table, you turned around again, calling her.
“Okoye, wait!”
She sighed deeply, slowly turning. “What now?”
“I just wanted to tell you; I’m no photographer, but I can definitely picture us together.”
You didn’t wait to see her reaction, rather choosing to turn back around and imagine that she smiled at you. Maybe even blushed.
She didn’t. Shuri watched her wave you off, going back to the table without a blush in sight.
When she saw you stumbling back to her with that smile on your face, she wondered what you’d seen that she hadn’t.
As you sat down next to her again, Shuri tried her best to cover up her surprised reaction.
She continued with her work for a few minutes while you daydreamed about the previous encounter.
Then, “I think your General likes me.” you said confidently.
She looked up at you, then back towards Okoye. Who was still not smiling.
“I don’t think you interpreted that moment correctly.” she no longer tried to hide how ridiculous she thought you sounded. Seeing as you were clearly in too much of a state to notice her words. Or her laughter.
You ignored her anyway, nodding your head as you silently hyped yourself up in your final decision.
“She likes me.”
You laughed in victory.
Presently…
“Did the sun just come out or did Okoye just smile at me?” you asked the two women as they looked down at the table full of new devices and inventions.
“This again.” Shuri groaned as she contemplated whether it had really been a good idea to set Okoye up to be there that morning.
Okoye, who had for some strange reason again allowed herself to grow comfortable in front of you, immediately stopped. Seeing where that had gotten her. She looked away from you.
“What am I looking at here?” Okoye steered the conversation back to the devices.
“What do you mean what are you lookin’ at? It’s the weapon gear we’ve been designin’ and makin’ for months.”
“Where are the improvements that we made?” Okoye asked.
You looked at Shuri nervously. You thought she’d told her.
“Um, Okoye.” Shuri spoke. “I may have forgotten to tell you that we decided not to add your suggestions for this one.”
“You forgot to tell me, or you didn’t want to?” The General corrected her.
Shuri tried her best to explain the situation.
You watched in amusement as you focused on the last details for your mission.
When you checked the time, and realised that you were running out of it, you had to get Shuri to stop talking so you could go.
“Shuri. We gotta get goin’.”
Shuri looked at the time, and looked at Okoye apologetically.
“No, you can spare me five more minutes to finish explaining how you think that the original design was somehow better than the one we worked on.” Okoye demanded.
“I’ll explain later. I promise.” Shuri said before going to get her things.
You waited for Shuri, watching as Okoye processed what she now knew.
You shrugged when she looked at you, “I thought she told you.”
“It’s your loss. Our designs were better.”
You wanted to stay and apologise, but Shuri was already at the door calling for you to leave with her.
“Hey, I’ll make it up to you. What's your favourite drink again?”
“My favourite drink?”
You smiled, “I'm asking so I know what to buy you on our first date when I get back.”
“You know what, you can just go now.” she said, waving you off.
“Oh come on, you’ve gotta admit that one was good!”
“Go!” she accidentally laughed once again.
“Ha! I knew you liked it.”
“Y/n! You have places to be!”
You waved her a goodbye, nearly tripping over your feet as you blew her a kiss goodbye.
The General tried to stop herself from smiling, finding it exceptionally hard.
“She’s so annoying.” she lied with a grin.
For the hours that remained in the day, she tried to stop herself from thinking about you and your corny jokes. Unfortunately only encouraging her brain to think back to your most outrageous ones over the years.
Like when Okoye had just been surveying a training session that you were in, and you pretended to have hurt your knee saying, “Do you have a band-aid? I scraped my knee falling for you.”
Or when the two of you had conveniently decided to have lunch in that same place at the same time and you said “If you were a fruit, you’d be a ‘fine-apple’.”
She remembered when she’d taken you back to your designated room after you’d spent an entire night working, and you’d drowsily said “Aren’t you tired?”
She’d said no, but you continued through her interruption.
“,from running through my mind all day.”
That was the first one that she’d ever allowed herself to properly laugh at. Helping you get into bed before closing the door and allowing herself to burst out into a fit of giggles.
She’d refused to talk about that night after it happened, feeling embarrassed that she’d let herself do it.
But now, she’d laughed a fairly large amount of times throughout the day with no shame, even though she’d dreaded seeinging you at first.
She was growing more and more confused at her conflicting feelings towards you. She realised that she probably would have told you what her favourite drink was had she had the guts to.
She didn’t want to throw all sorts of 4 letter words around looking to describe how she felt about you. Especially any ones that started with ‘L’.
When she passed the lab again after she’d been gone long enough for you and Shuri to be back, she forced herself to stop thinking about you in those uncomfortable ways.
She forced herself to stop indulging.
She entered the lab with a neutral expression, ready to face you again.
What she found in the lab was a complete wreck of messy stations and Shuri in her black panther suit. Hurt.
“Shuri, what’s going on?”
“Okoye! The mission didn’t go according to plan.”
“Well what are you still doing here? We need to get you to the infirmary.” She tried to make a grab for the younger woman but was quickly swatted away.
“I’m fine, Okoye. I have to do one more thing before I get myself checked out.”
“What’s so important that you’re willing to stay here in all this pain just to finish it?”
“Y/n was kidnapped!”
The world seemed to stop for a moment. All the air being sucked out of the room, making it harder to breathe.
“She was taken right out of my hands. I need to go find her.”
Okoye shook her head, “Let me do it,” she said without hesitation. Her head was screaming at her not to, asking her what on earth she was doing.
“I’ll go find her.” she told herself.
“Okoye. You know that those people are dangerous. I can’t let you go there without some type of-”
“I don’t care! We have to find her, Shuri. I don’t care what I have to do. I’m going to go find her.”
“Where is this coming from?” Shuri asked, looking at the General questionably.
Okoye shook her head, refusing to elaborate. “We have to get her back. She’s too important to-” She stopped herself.
Shuri finally connected the dots, “To you.” she finished.
Okoye looked down, staying quiet.
Shuri didn’t need to wait for answers, “Okay. I’ll stay here and guide you while you go.”
Okoye looked up again, saying a silent thank you.
Within a few hours Okoye was at the location that Shuri had directed her to, looking for the underground warehouse that you were supposedly taken to.
She walked around looking for an entrance, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around she found herself ambushed by three people in masks.
Without hesitation she charged for the biggest one, taking them out and then going for the next.
When the last one was on the ground, pleading for her mercy she yelled, “WHERE’S THE ENTRANCE!?”
They pointed to the secret lever that opened the door to the building.
The General quickly knocked them out, making her way to the lever.
She pulled it, allowing herself to be lowered into the ground.
She went looking for you in every room. Finding herself fighting several people per room before she decided to go looking for the room that most likely held you in it instead of charging into every single one.
The doors were closed, so she listened for voices.
Then, she heard a loud screech,
She ran to the far end of the building, barricading through the door and aiming her spear at the guard that she was met with.
“Don’t hurt her!” you yelled, causing the General to turn around to see you in strangely high spirits.
“Y/n!” she let out a deep heavy breath, but then looked at the guard who was backed away in a corner.
She scowled at her, “Why shouldn’t I hurt her?” she hissed.
“She was goin’ to help me escape!” you explained.
Now Okoye couldn’t keep herself focused. She dropped her spear looking at you with many questions.
“How did you convince her to help you do that?” she asked.
“I asked her nicely. And I threw in some of my best pickup lines.”
Okoye gasped, “You used one of your lines on her?”
“Well I’ve been tryin’ them on you for 2 years and you haven’t done anythin’ with it so I was explorin’ my options.”
She stopped, realising how ridiculous you and her both sounded. Realising that the joke was over you actually explained, “I threatened her with the hidden weapon.”
She hummed in understanding, pointing her spear at the guard again.
“Let us go and I won’t hurt you.” she demanded.
The guard nodded, stepping towards and then past her.
Okoye went to you, helping you up and carrying most of your weight as she was led out through the exit.
She saved your exact coordinates on her beads, noting that Shuri would need them for when they inevitably had to come back.
She helped you onto the quinjet, laying you onto a chair while she started it on autopilot.
“I got her.” she told Shuri through her earpiece. She’d put it on silent mode for the majority of the mission.
Then she went back to look through and check you for injuries.
You co-operated as she took most of your gear off, testing the mobility of each part of your body.
“Are you a parkin’ ticket,” you started and Okoye already had her eye-roll ready. “,because you’ve got fine written all over you.”
“Y/n, focus. I need you to tell me where it hurts.” she pleaded.
You pointed to all over your abdomen, having gotten a pretty good beating there.
She took out the first aid she had and immediately got to work. She was barely breathing. Trying to get you wrapped and rested as soon as possible.
“Okoye, breathe. You saved me. I’m okay now.”
You put your hand on hers, forcing her to take deep breaths with you.
“Thank you.” she said.
“Any time.” you said, allowing her to finish.
When she got done, she sat down next to you, focusing on her breathing.
You were fine now. She just had to keep reminding herself of that.
She only came back to reality again when she heard you talking.
“You looked like if you could arrange the alphabet, you’d put U and I together.” you said, with a concerned smile on your face.
“What?” she asked.
“I mean you looked really scared back there. And right now.”
“Oh.” she said, “Well you should have just said that.”
“Yeah. I should have.” you agreed to make her feel better.
“But seriously. Why do you look so scared? Even if you hadn’t come; I would have found a way out. I would have been fine.”
Okoye took her time finding an answer. She barely knew why either. She’d grown so used to pretending to just tolerate you, these new feelings were hard to accept.
“You’re important.” she said.
“To who?” you asked, looking into her eyes for an answer. When she looked into yours with that same hesitation that she had earlier, you gasped. “To you?”
She didn’t respond at first.
“I’m important to you?” you asked again. You were smiling that victorious smile again, already making Okoye regret her next move.
“Don’t make a big thing out of it.” she told you, confirming your suspicions.
You completely ignored her request, making a very big deal about it.
“You like me! No, you love me!”
“No I don’t!”
“Admit it, Okoye. I’ve already found you out. Spare yourself the pain of keepin’ it to yourself.”
“Okay fine! Maybe I do. But you have to be more quiet. I don’t want just anyone knowing. “ she said, pointing to her ear.
You realised that she was talking about the earpiece, which she’d clearly forgotten to turn off. You nodded in understanding.
You whispered, “But you do?”
“Yes. I lov- like you. I like you.” she didn’t want to rush herself.
She waited for some other snarky remark to come out of you, turning to see you with tightly closed lips.
“Aren’t you going to say something?” she asked.
You shook your head. “I was. But you're so beautiful you made me forget my pickup line.”
She looked at you in complete disbelief; laughing.
‘Only she could find a way to add her pickup lines into a serious conversation.’ she thought.
Maybe that’s why she liked you. You were relentless in trying to get what you wanted. Even when you had it.
It was refreshing to feel that dedication.
Okoye allowed herself to release all her tension around you now.
Then she felt you jolt in excitement. “What’s wrong?” she asked worried again.
“Nothin’. I just remembered what my line was.”
She sighed, “Go ahead.”
“Listen to this. If you borrow me a kiss, I promise to give it right back.” you chuckled looking at her.
And as stupid as it was, she actually borrowed you that kiss.