real talk tho... t'challa getting mad because he's the only one who's allowed to fight bucky. new law; when bucky says fight me only the king gets to take him up on it.
Hope its cool that I combined these and I hope y'all enjoy :)
“Get off of him,” T’Challa nearly growled, ripping a SHIELD agent off of Bucky’s form.
They were in New York for a couple of weeks on official Avengers business. Unsurprisingly, things were still tense within the group, between Bucky and Tony especially. Bucky elected to stay in the SHIELD facility(though that didn’t really make him anymore comfortable). T’Challa tagged along as well.
While under Wakandan care, Bucky and T’Challa had grown close. It didn’t happen overnight, per se. But a simple familiarity had developed between them, a whispered joke here and there to a shoulder to cry on, someone to confide in.
After the mess with Zemo Bucky had been a bit hesitant in talking with a psychiatrist. But he needed to talk to someone. Someone he could trust.
Bucky talked and talked, and T’Challa listened. It hadn’t been easy to get the words to come out at first, but once T’Challa managed, the words didn’t want to stop.
But it hadn’t been until Bucky came to T’Challa’s aid did they truly become close.
It was his fathers birthday. But he hadn’t remembered until the day was nearly half over, like his brain was trying to keep him from the pain. He wanted to get up, to go find Shuri. To hold her, to remember their father together. But he couldn’t move.
T’Challa couldn’t move, and he was making a sound. Almost a sob but drier, pure pain. He’d never gotten a chance to mourn him, not really. T’Challa had gone after revenge first and foremost before thinking about anything else. Moving fast fast faster until he was burnt out.
His staff had the sense to leave T’Challa alone for the day. So when Bucky came bursting into his chambers, he’d been shocked and angry. He loved Bucky but -
Before he could yell at Bucky or at himself or do anything else Bucky had pulled him into a tight embrace. Bucky wrapped his arms around T’Challa’s body. Bucky gripped him hard enough that T’Challa could feel the tremors racing through his body, heartbeat elevated.
“You’re alright,” Bucky had soothed, running his cool metal fingertips across his spine. “I’ve got you, ‘Challa.”
T’Challa isn’t sure how long the stood there together. But as soon as he pulled away, T’Challa went back in for another hug, breathing a thank you into Bucky’s skin.
After, they were as close as ever. Sparring in the morning, laughing over a nightcap in the evening.
And T’Challa loved him the whole time. But he hadn’t planned on telling him. Ever, probably. And definitely not today.
But T’Challa had never seen Bucky spar with anyone else. With their hands on him, he felt jealous, territorial. When three agents started fighting him, T’Challa felt angry. When the agents started fighting dirty, sending Bucky reeling with a punch to the face, kicking his legs out from under him. T’Challa felt down right possessive.
Before he could think twice, T’Challa was stalking toward the fight, yanking one of the agents off of Bucky. “Get off of him.”
The agent that he grabbed by the shirt looked affronted, but changed his expression when he realized who T’Challa was. They slunk off, leaving Bucky and T’Challa alone in the training room.
“What the fuck, T’Challa?” Bucky exclaims, shoving T’Challa’s offered hand away. “What was that for?”
T’Challa pauses. “I - they were hurting you,” he said.
Bucky snorts, touching the now tender area around his eye. “Some have called me the greatest assassin of the 21st century. And the 20th.”
He laughs. “I’m sorry, I just…I care about you.” The words fall from T’Challa’s lips before he can stop them.
Realizing what he said, T’Challa backs away from Bucky slowly, utterly embarrassed. “Nothing, nothing. I’m sorry Buck.”
Bucky strides forward, grabbing his hand in his. “No,” he says, voice steady and eyes wide with something. “Tell me. Please.”
T’Challa shuts his eyes, fearful of the expression he would find on Bucky’s face. He blinks them open when he feels a pair of lips on his own; soft, slightly damp. T’Challa’s kissing Bucky, no he’s being kissed.
Bucky’s smiling into, grinning almost as T’Challa chases his taste. They’re still holding hands, and T’Challa feels like he’s flying.
They don’t pull away until they must, being careful of Bucky’s bruised face.
“I love you, too,” Bucky says simply, eyes sparkling with joy.
T’Challa pulls Bucky closer. “You should smile like that more often.”
“As long as your around?” Bucky says. “You got it.”