(Y/N) sighed, tucking her phone back into her purse. She couldn’t believe she’d been stood up, especially after Wanda had so insisted that this date wasn’t a prank or to humiliate her.
Wanda Maximoff was one of the most well known girls at their school, incredibly popular and absolutely brilliant. So it came as a shock when Wanda had asked her out.
She shivered, and started the walk back home. She hadn’t realized quite how cold it was going to get before she left, but now she definitely wished she had brought a coat with her.
(Y/N) startled when a clattering of a trash can came from behind her. She whirled around, eyes wide and ready to run if need be. She relaxed a fraction at seeing who it was, “scarlet witch?” She exclaimed, confused, as to why she would be here.
Wanda hesitated, “uh, hey, I just, well, I noticed you seemed cold, so here,” she said, holding out her hoodie.
(Y/n) furrowed her brows, “thank you, but how am I supposed to get this back to you?” She asked, taking the coat, and slipping it around her shoulders, taking a moment to appreciate the warmth. The hoodie had a certain smell to it, though she couldn’t quite pinpoint it.
Wanda offered her a smile, “well, why don’t I walk you home? That way I can make sure you got home safe,” she offered. She glanced down at (y/n)’s hands, “your hands look awfully cold too, why don’t I help you with that too,” she said, grinning at her as she reached out and linked their fingers together lightly. “Why are you walking home alone so late anyways?”
(Y/n) threw her head back with laughter at the attempt to flirt, it felt nice especially after the night she’d had. She sighed, “I was supposed to be going out with this girl from my school tonight, Wanda, but I guess she ditched me,” she said. “It sucks, I’ve always really liked her but I think it was just a joke for her,” she muttered.
Wanda’s eyes widened, “oh well I’m sure she has her reasons for not showing up,” she exclaimed. “But are you sure that she stood you up? Maybe she thought it was on Friday?”
(Y/n) arched an eyebrow, “it is Friday.”
Wanda cursed, “are you sure?” She asked. She didn’t realize how far they had walked until (y/n) came to a stop in front of an apartment building.
(Y/n) offered her one last smile, “thanks again, you’re my hero,” she said, teasing lightly, taking off the jacket and handing it back to the other woman.
Wanda hesitated, “(y/n), wait,” she called, reaching out and grabbing her arm.
(Y/n) turned back, a slight frown crossing her face, “how do you know my name?” She asked.
Wanda sighed, “okay, don’t freak out,” she said, reaching up, and after a moment of hesitation, slid her mask off her face.
“I’m so sorry that I missed our date! It’s just, I thought it was Thursday, honestly, I got distracted and completely forgot and I-“
(Y/n) cut Wanda off by stepping forward, cupping her face gently, and pressing her lips to Wanda’s. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re absolutely adorable when you ramble?” She asked softly.
Wanda laughed lightly, and rubbed the back of her neck, “well uh, no,” she said, smiling, she was in shock, she certainly hadn’t expected to tell (y/n) who she was, much less for anything else to happen. “How about I take you out this weekend, for real this time?” She said.
Pairing: MJ/Shuri
Characters: MJ, Shuri, Peter Parker, Ned Leeds, Tony Stark
Words: 6355
Warnings: None
Prompt: “Are you from around here?”
As MJ approached the laboratory, she heard a jumble of voices growing increasingly louder.
“Why stop there? Why not add some AI?” MJ instantly recognized the voice of Tony Stark. She had become a regular visitor of Stark tower now that Peter spent so much of his time here, but she had never seen the billionaire in person. Not that she was impressed.
“I understand your wish to use your own technology, however, I believe you are forgetting the purpose. We are building an outreach center specifically for young people after all. I don’t believe they will have much use of your AI. We should be focusing on more necessary software.” Although MJ didn’t recognize the slightly accented voice, she gathered that it belonged to a young woman.
“What, you don’t think these kids could use a helpful assistant? AI is useful to anyone, tell her, F.R.I.D.A.Y.”
“That’s right. Artificial intelligence such as myself has several useful household applications, including—”
“I’m not saying AI isn’t useful, I’m saying perhaps we should focus on more pressing matters,” the girl replied. MJ wondered who she was. Anyone who could sound so cool while matching Tony Stark’s knowledge of technology must be a remarkable person.
“Um, I know I’m not really part of this conversation—” That voice she recognized. MJ cringed a little then. She hoped Peter wouldn’t embarrass himself in front of Tony Stark and a stranger who was presumably also a genius. “—but if I were a kid—”
“You are a kid, but go on,” Stark added.
“—I would think having an AI assistant was pretty awesome.”
“See? That’s three against one.” Stark sounded a little smug.
“Did you read my report?” The girl didn’t wait for Stark to reply. “Then you must know the designs for the center are still in the initial stage. We have more important matters to attend to before we start working on details such as AI assistants.”
“See, that’s where I disagree. I think your designs are already pretty advanced. Hell, you mentioned tech light-years ahead of the stuff I’m working on now.” Peter made a noise, as if intending to interrupt. “Yeah, kid, I know light-years is a measurement of distance. Loosen up, it’s a figure of speech. Anyway, point is, I don’t wanna make any changes to your design. It’s great. I’ll help out with the details, AI assistants, that sort of thing. I mean, it’s your building. Or is it your brother’s? Doesn’t matter. I’m saying it’s gonna be great. I’m just worried we’re actually spoiling these kids.”
“Uh, Mr Stark?” Peter asked.
“What, kid? You know I was kidding, right? About the spoiling?”
“Yeah, it’s just that I have to go now. I’m supposed to meet my friend MJ.”
“Alright, you’re dismissed.”
The door to the lab had only been opened a crack before Peter quickly closed it again. “Hey MJ, didn’t see you there.”
“Yeah, I didn’t want to interrupt,” MJ said.
“Okay. Cool. I just have to change first. Um… hold on.” MJ could hear Peter moving around behind the door.
“Why can’t you just come out? And why do you need to change? You’re not, like, naked, are you?”
“What? No!” Peter said. Then he finally emerged from the lab. “I just have to… I’ll be back in a sec.” MJ just stared at Peter, who was walking quickly past her, pulling a too-big lab coat around him while wearing… red tights?
“I’ll just wait here,” MJ replied casually. Sure, Peter was acting weird, but she’d seen him act way weirder.
In his haste, Peter had left the door to the lab open. MJ peered inside. Despite the presence of fascinating, cutting edge technology—stuff MJ couldn’t even imagine the use for—her eyes fell immediately on the girl standing in the middle of the room. MJ quickly realized this must be the stranger connected to the accented voice. The stranger’s braided hair was twisted in an intricate bun, and she was wearing a white dress with tennis shoes. MJ couldn’t decide if she was a classy, professional young woman or a kid her own age. She definitely looked young. There was something about her smile and her way of speaking—not the words themselves, but the tone—that suggested she really was a teenager. MJ observed the strange girl with interest, trying to figure out who she might be.
The girl was standing over scattered papers, discussing something about computers with Tony Stark. The two of them spoke in low voices, although MJ probably could have understood what they were saying, had she been listening. MJ was, however, still staring at the girl, observing her movements and facial expressions, and letting her mind wander around the many possibilities of who this girl might be. Just then, the girl looked up. She smiled.
“You must be MJ,” she said kindly.
“Wait, you’re Michael Jackson?” Tony Stark briefly looked up from the documents spread out beneath him, seeming to assess MJ with one quick glance, before returning to his work.
“Yeah… I was just waiting for Peter. We’re supposed to work on this art project together.” MJ tried to sound casual, but standing here in a lab filled with robotics and geniuses she couldn’t help but feel dumb talking about some art project.
“That’s cool. Do you like art?” the girl asked, moving away from the table and walking toward MJ.
“I do, actually. I like to draw.”
“I wish I could draw, but the only thing I can draw is those dogs with the short noses.”
“You mean pugs?”
“Yes! They are so cute.” The girl spoke with eager enthusiasm, always smiling and waving her hands for emphasis. By now she was standing in front of MJ with her hand outstretched. “I’m Shuri.” MJ clasped her fingers around Shuri’s and shook.
“MJ.”
“So are you a Jackson fan or… No? Just curious,” Stark chimed in. Shuri rolled her eyes without turning around. She drew back her hand, and MJ couldn’t help but feel like Stark had ruined something. As his eyes darted between the two, maybe he got the same impression. “You know what,” he continued. “I think we’re done here for now. I’m gonna take a break, so you and Smooth Criminal over here can go watch cartoons, or smoke crack, or whatever kids are up to these days. See you tomorrow, princess,” he said, nodding at Shuri as he left the room.
“He’s…” MJ struggled to find the right word. “Eccentric.”
Shuri laughed. “Yes, he is.”
“Why exactly are you working with him?”
“Well, when he heard about my brother’s plans to set up an outreach center in California, he offered to help us set one up in New York.”
“So who’s your brother?”
“His name’s T’Challa. He’s…”
“... the king of Wakanda, the super high tech, super secret African utopia?”
“Yes.” MJ had trouble reading Shuri’s expression: something between amusement and pride.
“So you’re really a princess? And I thought Stark was just being a jerk.”
“No.” Shuri’s eyes fell on the documents still lying haphazardly on the table in the middle of the room. MJ thought she detected a passionate twinkle in the girl’s eye. The-girl-who-was-a-genius-and-a-teenager-and-also-a-princess. “In all seriousness, Stark is a good man. No one asked him to help with this project, but he offered anyway, out of the kindness of his heart I guess. And he’s spent a lot of time and resources on it… Still, I won’t correct you if you call him a jerk. Although I think he prefers ‘asshole’.”
MJ smiled at that. She regarded Shuri where she stood, one arm leaning against the wall and the other hanging easily by her side. MJ was just about say something clever in response to Shuri’s comment about Stark when Peter burst through the door.
“Hey, sorry for running out like that earlier. I just had to… change,” Peter apologized, trying to hide the fact that he was out of breath but not succeeding. “I just ran down like, ten flights of stairs.”
“There wasn’t an elevator?” MJ countered, clearly amused by the whole situation.
Peter seemed to consider this. “No, well yeah. But I…” He trailed off.
“Come on, nerd. We’re gonna have to hurry if we wanna hand in the project on time.”
“Right. The project. Yeah.” He seemed distracted.
“Is something wrong?”
“Yeah… I mean no! Nothing’s wrong, I was just thinking about the project and how we need to hurry up.”
“That’s what I said.”
Shuri, who had been following the exchange with raised eyebrows and that ever-present smile, decided to chime in. “Like I said before, I’m terrible at drawing, but if you need help with your project I’m sure there’s something I can do.”
“Really? Cause we do kinda need the help. Just as long as we’re not, you know, distracting you from your important work,” Peter said.
“Please. I’ve been working non-stop for the past week. I could really use a distraction. Besides, I’ve been so busy I haven’t even gotten to see New York.”
“I guess we can show you around after we’ve finished the project. If you want,” MJ said, a little too casually.
“That would be fantastic!”
✸✸✸
“This is taking forever,” Peter said, pouting and slumping against the couch.
“Come on. We have to keep going,” MJ replied. She reached for a tiny clay figurine and pushed it a millimeter towards another clay figurine. Then she reached for her phone, which was attached to a selfie stick, which was duct-taped to the couch in an attempt to keep it still. MJ took a picture. “There. See, we’re making progress.” She moved the clay another millimeter.
“I’m bored.”
“Seriously Peter? This whole thing is kinda your fault you know. The least you can do is help.”
“What? It wasn’t my idea to do a stop-motion video. That’s Ms. Shelley’s fault.”
“Yeah, well it’s your fault we’re so behind. If you weren't so busy with your internship all the time, maybe we wouldn’t have had to wait ‘til the last minute.”
“So you’re gonna blame me for everything?”
“You and Ned,” MJ muttered bitterly. “Where is Ned anyway? Isn’t he supposed to be here by now?”
“Yeah… He has been to your place before, right?” MJ shook her head in response. “Crap. I should go look for him. He’s probably lost.” Then Peter put on his jacket and left the apartment.
MJ turned to Shuri, who had been listening silently. Shuri looked tired, but peaceful. “Hey, does this look like a zombie to you?” she said, lifting the clay figure she had been working on to MJ’s gaze. It did look like a zombie, if you didn’t count the weird antlers sticking out of its head and the inexplicable purple patches in the otherwise green clay.
“It’s great,” MJ said with a smile, taking the clay figure carefully out of Shuri’s hand. She then proceeded to knock the ragtag team of Playdoh people, Barbie dolls and Transformers off the coffee table.
“Are you sure we don’t still need these?” Shuri said, picking up one of MJ’s near-lifelike recreations of Legolas from Lord of the Rings.
“Nope. We just have the last scene left. The one where the zombies take over the world.”
“What’s this story about again?”
“I really don’t know. It was all Peter’s and Ned’s idea. I’m starting to regret letting them do anything by themselves, ever.”
Shuri giggled. “But you enjoy it? Making art?”
“I wouldn’t call this art,” MJ answered, gesturing toward the crudely-made clay zombies strewn before them. It made Shuri laugh again, which made MJ smile. After that, neither of the two girls said anything for a while. “I mostly just draw people,” MJ offered suddenly.
“That’s cool. Maybe you could draw me,” Shuri said. Her eyes twinkled mischievously. Now it was MJ’s turn to laugh. “What? I’m serious! Draw me like one of your French girls.” MJ just shook her head at the cheesy reference to the world’s most overrated movie. However, she felt relieved that Shuri didn’t pursue that particular question. “Fine, I’ll just have to draw you something then,” she said instead. Shuri pulled a pen and a blank piece of paper toward her, and began to draw. MJ watched the princess where she sat on the floor, her legs folded beneath her. The businesslike impression MJ had gotten when meeting Shuri for the first time had now completely disappeared. She was still graceful, in her own way. MJ thought she was the only person who could pull off being elegant and playful at the same time.
“Finished,” Shuri said after a long but comfortable silence. When MJ looked up she realized how dark it had gotten. Dusk had come and gone, and the living room was now almost completely dark, save for the yellow light cast by a lamp in the corner. MJ shuffled closer to Shuri.
“It’s really cute,” MJ said softly. She looked over Shuri’s shoulder at the doodle. The bug-eyed pug on the paper seemed to stare at both of them at the same time. It was adorable.
Just then the front door flew open, followed by excited shrieks and laughter. Ned and Peter’s voices seemed impossibly loud in the calm, quiet apartment.
“So this is where you live! Hey, can I see your room? I asked Peter if you have any embarrassing baby pictures and he said no but I don’t buy it,” Ned declared as he dropped his backpack on the floor and shuffled through the hallway, stopping to scrutinize the framed photographs hanging on the wall. When he reached the living room, he stopped. He seemed to finally pick up on the rather tranquil atmosphere and lowered his voice. “Hi, I’m Ned,” he said, nodding at Shuri who was still seated on the floor.
“I’m Shuri. Nice to meet you.”
“Woah, did you guys make all this?” Ned asked as he sat down across from the two girls. He looked from the zombies on the coffee table, to the pile of toys on the floor, to the pug Shuri had drawn. MJ picked up the piece of paper and stashed it away on the couch behind her.
“Shuri and I did. Peter did not,” MJ said. Peter, who had sat down next to Ned, picked up on MJ’s lighthearted tone.
“Come on, I helped.” Both MJ and Shuri laughed. “I brought the dolls!”
“That you did,” MJ said while handing Barbie, Stacey and Ken back to Peter.
“So how much do we have left?” Ned asked.
“This is the last scene,” MJ replied.
“Wow. Sounds like you and Shuri were pretty productive.”
“Actually, MJ did most of the work,” Shuri chimed in.
“Come on, you helped a lot,” MJ countered.
“I just played with the clay. You did all the work.”
“You made all these zombies.”
“I hate to break it to you, but they’re not very good,” Shuri laughed and gestured at the so-ugly-they’re-cute zombies. “And,” she continued, “you made all the elves.” MJ smiled and turned to look at Shuri, who smiled back in response.
“Hey MJ, can I see your room now?” Ned said suddenly.
“Really? You just got here, and we have to finish—”
“I know, I know. Can’t you just show me really quick? I promise I’ll be cool after.”
MJ agreed, and led Ned to her bedroom. The room was small, simple and surprisingly neat. Ned went straight for the collection of old yearbooks in MJ’s bookshelf. As he was rifling through a book which contained a particularly embarrassing picture of MJ, Ned spoke casually. “So what’s up with you and Shuri?”
“What!” MJ sounded shocked. Ned looked up from the yearbook when he heard her harsh tone.
“You obviously like her.”
“No I don’t!” MJ didn’t like Shuri. She liked her as a friend. She thought she was nice and charming and funny. She liked that she was so chill but at the same time passionate about stuff. And she did think Shuri was really cute… Damn it, Ned.
From the look of his face, Ned seemed to have followed MJ’s thought process. He wiggled an eyebrow, then returned to rifling through the yearbook.
“Can you just, like, be cool?” MJ pleaded.
“I’m always cool. Unlike you in seventh grade.”
MJ grabbed the yearbook away from a giggling Ned. “I mean it.”
“I know, don’t worry. I have a plan.” Somehow this was worse.
“A plan? What does that even mean?”
“Don’t worry, I got you.” He was already on his way out the door.
“Ned,” MJ hissed.
“Trust me,” he replied, now in the hallway. MJ followed him.
“Hey guys, I’m really sorry, but I just found out that me and Peter have some super-secret science stuff to do. So we have to leave now,” Ned announced.
“Um, no we don’t.” Peter sounded alarmed. Ned shot him a look that seemed to say just go with it. “But what about the art project?” he asked, less tense and more confused.
“MJ and Shuri can finish it, right?” Ned replied.
“We’ve come this far without you, so yeah, I think we’ll manage.” MJ only pretended to be annoyed.
Ned quickly hustled Peter out of the apartment, to the tune of Peter’s confused mutterings and bitter protests. Once the door shut behind them, Shuri and MJ were left with that familiar, comfortable silence.
“So… That was weird,” Shuri said.
MJ barely got a chance to reply before her phone went off. She pried it off the selfie stick, only to find a text from Ned in the group chat.
Nerd #2: I think she bought it
MJ: Really Ned?? No one’s gonna believe you two have super secret science stuff to do
Nerd #2: Maybe we do
Nerd #1: No we don’t Ned!!!!!!
Nerd #2: Or do we?
After that, MJ’s phone was silent for a few seconds before receiving another text.
Nerd #1: Had to take Ned’s phone away bc he was being an idiot
Nerd #1: To be clear Ned and I do NOT have any super secret science stuff to do!!!!
Nerd #1: We just left so that you and Shuri could be alone together
Nerd #1: Have fun with your new girlfriend :)
Nerd #1: And pls don’t make me fail art
MJ was already stuffing her phone down the pocket of her jeans when she received Peter’s last text. She hated Peter for being so indiscreet, and she hated the way her face was growing hot.
“Don’t we still need your phone?” Shuri asked. She eyed MJ with curiosity, probably picking up on the other girl’s flustered manner but polite enough not to comment on it.
“Oh yeah, that’s right.” MJ fished the cell phone out of her pocket, and turned off the notifications before reattaching it to the improvised camera stand.
MJ began to move some of the clay figures around on the coffee table. Shuri shifted her legs and moved closer to MJ in order to do the same. They worked together to create a landscape fit for the final scene of their stop-motion film. Occasionally Shuri would ask MJ if a certain figure should go in a certain place. MJ would nod or shake her head. She wanted to speak more, to just have a regular conversation, but found that she no longer knew what to say. Eventually Shuri decided to break the tension.
“Your friends are nice.”
“I guess.”
“They’re still weird of course. But I think their hearts are in the right place.”
MJ nodded. Shuri was right of course.
In the end, the two girls winded up talking about completely different things. Shuri told MJ all about Wakanda. She described the Golden City and explained the events that had led to the creation of the Wakandan International Outreach Centre. MJ was delighted to see Shuri’s YouTube videos in which she pranked T’Challa. Shuri then got to hear all about MJ’s high school experience, which Shuri found surprisingly entertaining. When MJ told the story of her trip to Washington D.C., Shuri sounded more interested in the Decathlon than the explosion at the Monument. At one point, the two of them even ended up looking at MJ’s old yearbook pictures. Shuri laughed hysterically. Luckily, her laughter was pretty contagious.
✸✸✸
MJ woke up to a patch of sunlight on her face and a cold breeze in the air. She moved to close the open window, only to find her legs tangled in a blanket.
She recalled the night before, how she and Shuri had talked for hours before the Wakandan princess had been forced to leave. MJ wondered if Shuri’s agreement to be shown around New York had been serious, or simply uttered out of politeness. She hoped for the former.
When MJ turned on her phone she was overwhelmed by a cascade of texts. Several of them had been sent in the Decathlon group chat. Several more were from Peter and Ned. Most of their texts were about Shuri, which she tried to ignore, but two messages stood out among the others.
Nerd #1: I know you’re kinda ignoring me rn but I just wanted to make sure you sent the video to Ms Shelley
Nerd #1: You did send it right??
It was 11:54 AM, six minutes before the deadline, and MJ had not sent in the art project. She reached for her laptop and searched for the edited version of the stop-motion video. Just as MJ was emailing the video, her phone buzzed. A Facetime call from Nerd #2. MJ realized speaking to both Ned and Peter was unavoidable. She answered the call.
“Hi Ned.”
“Hi MJ!” Ned’s face was way too close to the camera. He looked up at the sound of a muffled voice and flipped the camera to not-very-unexpectedly reveal Peter, who was sitting on his bed surrounded by chemistry books. “Peter’s here, by the way.”
“Yeah, I got that. Are you guys ever not together? Can you even, like, function without each other?”
“Nope,” Ned and Peter said in unison.
“God, you really are losers.”
“Don’t forget that you’re a loser too, now that you’re friends with us,” Ned replied.
“Don’t remind me.”
“So how did my plan work out?”
“Ask her if she sent in the art project,” Peter interjected.
MJ couldn’t be sure because Ned’s face still covered most of the screen, but he seemed to pick an object up from the floor and throw it at Peter, who was presumably still attempting to study. The throwing of the object was followed by a subdued “Owch, why would you throw Barbie at me?”
“No one cares about the stupid art project, Peter! I wanna hear all about MJ’s date with Shuri. Was it magical? Did you stare into each other's’ eyes?”
“Gross.”
“Is that a no?” Peter had snatched the phone away from his friend, holding it at a distance in order to capture both of their faces. MJ rolled her eyes.
“Just tell us something,” Ned said, sounding impatient.
“It was fine. Nice. Whatever.” MJ turned the camera away from her face, hiding that smile that always showed up whenever she thought of Shuri.
“‘Fine nice whatever’ isn’t good enough. We need details! Like did you kiss?” Ned asked.
“No!”
“Are you in love with her?”
“What? No, I’m not in love with her, I just like her!”
“You are so in love with her,” Peter said while MJ rolled her eyes. “I mean I get it. If I was a lesbian I’d be in love with her too.”
“What?”
“Ignore him,” Ned intervened, retrieving his phone in the process. Peter’s face was barely visible behind his best friend’s head. “Are you gonna ask her out? Please tell me you’re gonna ask her out.”
“I mean it depends—”
“I’ll take that as a yes. By the way, Peter and I were just discussing the two of you and we think you’re really cute together.”
“Yeah, ‘cause you have lots of stuff in common and—”
A few seconds after she had ended the call, MJ received a text from Peter containing Shuri’s phone number.
✸✸✸
The coffee shop was crowded. So crowded that it was difficult to discern the line for ordering coffee from the line for retrieving coffee, and in between the lines was yet another group of people trying to navigate around all the other people. It was chaos. Shuri looked excited.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go to another place?” MJ asked.
“Is there another Starbucks close by?”
“No, I mean like another coffee shop.”
“But I love Starbucks.”
“Okay. What are you gonna get?”
“The pumpkin spice latte.”
“Really? It’s kind of a white girl drink.”
Shuri shrugged. “The white girls must like it for a reason. What are you getting?”
“A cappuccino.”
“But that’s so boring! Why don’t you get the unicorn drink?”
“The unicorn frappuccino?”
“Yes! I’ve seen them all over the internet.”
“Maybe like a year ago. I’m not even sure if they still make them.”
“They can probably make it if you ask.”
“It probably tastes disgusting.”
“That’s probably true.”
By now MJ and Shuri had reached the front of the line. MJ turned to Shuri and muttered “This is peer pressure” before ordering one unicorn frappuccino. The barista managed to maintain her smile, but MJ noticed that the curve of her lips went from easy-going to forced. As the two girls left the coffee shop, drinks in hand, Shuri began to laugh.
“Did you see the pain in her eyes?” MJ said. Shuri only nodded, speechless with laughter. “Now I can never go back there, thanks to you.”
“Was it worth it?”
MJ offered the drink to Shuri, who made a disgusted face as soon as it touched her lips. “It’s way too sweet.”
“I know. I can’t believe they sacrificed a unicorn to make this shit.”
“I’m sorry for forcing you to buy it. I just want to try all the Starbucks drinks before going back to Wakanda.”
“All of them? That’s impossible.”
“I’ve already had fourteen different kinds.”
“Fourteen? In the three days? That’s way too much caffeine.”
“I’ve barely slept, but I’m still sticking to my plan.”
“You know they have a secret menu, right?” Shuri’s eyes widened in surprise. Clearly she did not know. “You’ll have to stay here a long time of you want to try every drink at Starbucks.”
“I wish I could.”
“When do you have to leave?”
“In a week.”
“A week?!” MJ didn’t attempt to hide her disappointment. She had always known Shuri had come to New York in order to work on the Outreach Centre. But she had hoped her new friend would stay a little longer. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe it was better now that MJ wouldn’t have the time to fall for Shuri. Maybe…
Shuri reached to sweep a stray lock of hair behind MJ’s ear, letting her fingers brush softly against her temple.
… Maybe MJ had already fallen for Shuri, and one week was all the time she would be able to spend with this intelligent, beautiful, funny, ambitious, amazing girl. Maybe one week just had to be enough.
MJ and Shuri continued ambling along the street, not toward any specific destination. Pedestrians pushed past them while cars sped up and down the street, all moving much too fast for the girls who wanted time to stand still.
A cold gust of air swept dead leaves off the ground and traveled upward, sneaking its way inside hats and mittens, chilling ears and fingers. Shuri zipped up her bomber jacket. MJ realized she must not be used to the cold, having lived in Wakanda all her life. “Here,” she said, taking off her brown-and-yellow scarf and wrapping it around Shuri, who gave a thankful smile.
As the next gust of wind blew through the street, Shuri pulled the giant scarf closer to her chest and buried her nose under the swaths of excessive fabric.
“Better?” MJ asked.
Shuri nodded vigorously. “This is a great scarf.”
“Thanks. I had to knit it myself because I couldn’t find any scarves that hadn’t been manufactured by underpaid employees working under poor conditions.”
“I think it’s great that you care so much about human rights. Most people say they care, and say that people who don’t care are bad people. But when it comes down to it, most people only care about other people as long as it doesn’t inconvenience them.”
“Yeah. There are lots of vulnerable people in the world, but sometimes it seems like the people who can help them don’t give a shit.”
“For a long time Wakanda didn’t give a shit. We thought that interacting with the rest of the world would destroy the country, and said that the people who were suffering weren’t our problem. In the end my brother realized that helping others was more important than keeping our nation a secret. I think he made the right choice.”
“I think so too. Making advanced technology available to people from all backgrounds is gonna make a big difference.”
For a while the two of them continued walking down the busy street, until Shuri stopped abruptly. “Weren’t you supposed to be showing me around New York?” she asked.
“This is New York.”
“Yes, but this street is just like any other street in any other city! I want to see the real New York.”
“What, like the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building?”
Shuri seemed slightly frustrated. “Are you from around here?” she asked, ignoring MJ’s question.
“Yeah.”
“You’ve lived here your whole life?”
“Yes.”
“Then you must know the city better than anyone! I want to see everything from your perspective. Take me to your favorite spots.”
Finally MJ understood exactly what Shuri wanted to do. And she knew exactly where to take her. “Come on then,” MJ said with a mischievous grin, taking Shuri’s hand and leading her away.
✸✸✸
MJ didn’t let go of Shuri’s hand until they had reached their destination. “Is this the place?” the princess asked. MJ nodded and pushed open the door to reveal a dark, old-fashioned room filled with shelves of books. “Your favorite place in the city is a used bookstore?” Shuri sounded curious, as if keen to learn more about her new friend.
Still, MJ felt nervous. “I’ve never told anyone about this place. I usually come here when I want to be alone.”
Shuri looked up from the novel she had started leafing through. Something about her expression told MJ that Shuri understood the significance behind MJ’s words. That Shuri had been invited to a part of MJ’s life she had never shared before. That she had never wanted to share before.
The girls were alone in the store, apart from the owner: an elderly woman who shuffled between the counter and the back room. The owner of the store paid no attention to MJ and Shuri, in fact, she barely seemed aware of their presence. Neither MJ nor Shuri seemed aware of the old woman, or if they were, they quickly forgot about her. In this store it was easy to forget about the rest of the world. Any anxiety MJ had felt upon entering the store with Shuri had been left at the threshold. Inside, there were only stories. Shuri enjoyed reading the bad ones aloud. She would open a romance novel and the read the summary to MJ, who would try to keep a straight face and who almost always failed.
When the two of them finally left the store, laden with several books each—good ones—dusk had already settled. The sun had disappeared behind the tall buildings across the street, and left long shadows to form patterns on the ground.
“I really should get back to Stark’s,” Shuri said.
“Okay.” They decided to stay put and wait for a cab. As they were waiting for a car to arrive, MJ changed the topic. “When do you think the Outreach Centre will be finished?”
“According to Stark’s estimates, two years, although I think that’s optimistic.”
“And when it’s done, I bet you’ll need a bunch of people to work there…”
“Of course. We will need scientists and technicians to work as mentors and teach the kids about our technology. Why?”
“I’ve been thinking about… applying for a job. When the center’s done obviously.”
Shuri’s eyes widened, first in surprise, then in excitement. “That’s a great idea! It’s the perfect job for you! It’s perfect!” Shuri was practically beaming. MJ beamed too.
“I know it’s years away, but I’m already excited.” Shuri nodded in agreement. Then MJ noticed her smile falter. A second later Shuri was smiling as broadly as ever, but by then MJ had already picked up on the fluctuation in her demeanor. The short-lived moment of pure joy and exhilaration was replaced by lopsided smiles and bittersweet words.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving in a few days,” MJ said.
“Me neither,” Shuri said.
And then she just stood there, looking small. Looking sad and looking small. And maybe it was that Shuri looked like she was freezing in the autumn breeze, or that her wide smile had been replaced with an expression of melancholy hopelessness, or that she was still wearing the too-big yellow-and-brown scarf. For some reason MJ just felt like kissing Shuri. And she did. She placed one hand gently on Shuri’s cheek and the other at her neck and kissed her lips for just a few seconds before pulling away. She scanned Shuri’s face for a reaction. MJ felt her heart pound, her stomach clench, her fingers tense.
Shuri spoke so softly. “I was hoping you would do that.” That smile again.
Shuri kissed MJ ever so sweetly. She wrapped her arms around the other girl’s waist, buried her hand’s in her hair, leaned against her. Neither of them could stop smiling. After an attempt to return MJ’s scarf which turned into yet another kiss, the two of them somehow ended up tangled in the soft knitting.
When a cab approached, they were finally forced to break apart. MJ stood on the sidewalk and waved goodbye. She smiled that smile she hated. Bittersweet.
✸✸✸
“I’m gonna miss you, Shuri.”
“I will miss you too, MJ.”
“Will you come back soon?”
“Hopefully.”
“But not definitely?”
Shuri shook her head. “I have a lot of work to do, and I’m not sure if any of it will bring me back to New York.” MJ, although obviously disappointed, nodded in understanding. “You are of course welcome to visit me in Wakanda.”
MJ imagined being shown around the palace, walking through the forest, getting to see all that amazing technology with her own eyes. She imagined doing all those things with Shuri. “Yeah, I’d like that. Maybe in the summer.”
“I can’t wait.”
Shuri looked over MJ’s shoulder and giggled. When MJ turned around she saw Peter and Ned waving at them from the airport entrance.
“What are those idiots still doing here? I told them to wait in the car,” MJ said with a disapproving glance in her friends’ direction.
“You know,” Shuri said once MJ had turned back around to face her. “When I went back to Stark’s after we had gone to your bookstore, Peter was there and he told me you were in love with me.”
“Oh my God.”
“He was very excited when I told him—”
“Oh, I know. I only got, like, a thousand texts.”
Shuri giggled. “He’s not very good at keeping secrets.”
“He really isn’t. I’m surprised he hasn’t accidentally told someone that he’s Spider-Man yet.”
“You know that Peter is Spider-Man?”
“Of course. He’s terrible at keeping secrets and a terrible liar. He just doesn’t know I know.”
“Are you going to tell him?”
“I wanna mess with him a bit first.”
Shuri’s eyes lit up at the idea of MJ pranking Peter. “When you do, you must film it and show it to me. That reminds me…” She began rummaging through her backpack. A minute later Shuri had procured what looked like a beaded bracelet. She offered it to MJ, who turned it over in her hands, inspecting it.
“I’m guessing this isn’t just a bracelet.”
“These are Kimoyo Beads. They have many uses, but I thought we could use them to communicate when we’re not together. The beads display holograms, so we can see and talk to each other even when we’re far apart.”
“How do they work?”
Shuri grinned. “You’ll figure it out.”
And then there was nothing more to say. MJ wrapped her arms around Shuri and pulled her into an embrace. Shuri nestled her forehead under in the crook of MJ’s neck, surrounded by knitted scarves and locks of hair. When Shuri eventually broke the embrace, she did so hesitantly.
“I have to leave now,” Shuri said. MJ was still holding on to her shoulders.
“I know.”
“I’m gonna miss my flight.”
“So?”
“So? I’d be stuck here for another day.”
“Doesn’t sound so bad to me.”
Then Shuri held MJ’s face in her hands and kissed her softly, sweetly. “Good bye.”
“Bye.”
Shuri walked toward the security check, pulling her suitcase behind her. She turned around once, to wave and give MJ one last smile. Seconds later she had disappeared in the crowd of people milling around the airport.
The ride home started off in silence. Stark’s driver, Happy, seemed to have picked up on MJ’s somber mood. Even Ned and Peter were quiet. At least for a while.
“It sucks that Shuri had to leave,” Ned said suddenly.
“Yeah, it does.”
“But you’ll probably get to see her soon, right?” Peter sounded hopeful.
“Maybe,” MJ replied, stroking the Kimoyo Beads on her wrist.
“I know we’re not princesses or geniuses,” Peter said, while Ned pointed to himself and mouthed I am. “But we’re still your friends,” Peter continued, “you still have us.”
The corner of MJ’s mouth lifted ever so slightly. “I guess you’ll have to do.”
Notes: I had so much fun writing this! Btw this is the first and only fic I’ve ever written, although I think I want to write more, so if anyone reading this has any feedback or constructive criticism feel free let me know. Thanks for reading :)
Pairing: Michelle Jones/Shuri
Word Count: 13.8k
Thank you so much to @lesbiansassemble for letting me take part in her 10k femslash challenge, with the prompt “We’re Trapped”!!
MJ doesn't do opening up to people. She doesn't do dancing at lame parties. She doesn't do singing in public. She doesn't do losing control in any way that she could possibly help, ever. She also definitely does not do being trapped in an elevator - not after what happened at the Washington Monument.
And then she meets Shuri.
((I wrote this for a challenge with a 500-word minimum, and ended up writing so much more. I totally fell in love with these characters and how I imagined their relationship might grow. I hope you enjoy it if you check it out!!))
Read the first chapter below or check it out here on AO3!!
***
“- and she’s coming to our school? Our school?”
“Ned. I’m not kidding.”
“Tell me this isn’t like the time in eighth grade when -”
“No, I swear to God, it’s not like the time you ate your own eraser.”
“You said that you’d switched out one of my things for candy and it just looked so -”
MJ folded her arms, sank down in her seat on the bus, and tried to tune out the conversation Peter and Ned were having in front of her.
“I said that because I thought you’d guess , not just pick something up and chew on it…”
She closed her eyes, and pictured her desk back at home: and there they were - her headphones, sitting on top of her laptop. Exactly where she’d left them, trudging past in an early-morning haze on her way out of the door; their wire curled up in an enticing beckon, promising bass thick enough to drown out whatever was going on in front of her.
“No, no, seriously,” Peter was saying. “I swear, she’s actually coming to our school.”
MJ’s head was aching. Last night had held an accidental Wikipedia binge, hopping from article to article, reading all the new tech pages that were springing up like weeds on the sidewalk; Kimoyo Beads. Ring Blades. Vibranium Strike Gauntlets. The details were sparse and there wasn’t a lot to go on - but over the course of the six hours MJ had spent lost down the rabbit hole, at least two of the articles had already grown extra subsections. New information was flooding in.
It had made MJ’s heart thud as she sat bathed in the blueish light of her laptop at three in the morning, on the night before the first day of junior year.
And it was only now, as she sat on the bus and tried desperately to convince her body that closing her eyes constituted more sleep, that she felt even the slightest twinge of regret. Watching this stuff happen was once-in-a-lifetime.
“Hey, MJ.” Ned’s voice, loud enough to be heard clearly over the roar of the bus, made MJ frown. “MJ.”
“Mmm.” She did her best impression of a person who was extremely asleep.
“EM JAY.”
She slit her eyes open, making sure that her stare encompassed the exact right ratio of tiredness, irritation, lack of investment, and sheer dead-eyed scariness as possible. Ned hitched on a grin in the face of it, clearly not appreciating the artistry that went into the expression’s careful emotional makeup.
“Did you know about this?” he said, gesturing with one hand towards Peter. The bus rattled onto the school grounds, stop-starting to avoid the students running across the path. MJ glanced from Ned to Peter’s profile and back again, making sure to look completely disinterested.
“Know about what,” she said flatly.
“Who’s joining the school this year?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Really?” Peter spun completely in his seat to look at her. MJ’s eyes flicked over to him - his brown hair a slight mess, as usual, though she could see that there had been some attempts to school it into a definite style. He, too, looked tired, though MJ could concede in the privacy of her own head that he wore it with better humour than she did herself. “How’d you know?”
“Because we’re best friends already,” MJ said.
“You what?”
“Oh, yeah. Me and my dear friend Please Shut Up go way back.” She glared at the pair of them, and then shut her eyes.
“What’s up with you?” she heard Ned say. “Late night?”
“You really wanna know?”
“Uh… yeah, I gue-”
“I was hanging out with Please Shut Up. Having a ton of good times.”
“You’re mean.”
MJ snorted. The bus came to a complete stop, and the doors sighed open; MJ kept her eyes tightly closed for a few seconds longer, trying to enjoy the feeling as much as she possibly could while everyone around her scrambled for their bags and began to pile out into the parking lot.
“Ding ding,” she heard Ned say. “This is our stop.”
“Ugh.”
Rolling her eyes behind closed lids, she grabbed for her backpack on the empty seat beside her, and slouched off the bus behind Ned and Peter. She winced against the sunlight, sleeplessness watering everything around her down to a kind of liquid surreality. She yawned - but even as she did so, even as most of her mind was dedicated to wishing that she was back in her bed with her head on a soft pillow and her comforter pulled all the way up to her chin, even as she blinked slowly and sleepily - she realised that there was some kind of commotion happening across on the other side of the parking lot.
“Oh my god,” Ned said, punching Peter - surprisingly hard, MJ thought, but Peter didn’t seem to really feel it. “Oh, my god, it’s happening. It is happening.”
The words what’s happening were on the tip of MJ’s tongue; an image of Ned’s smug face rose up in front of her, how happy he’d be at knowing something she didn’t after she’d been rude on the bus, and she bit back her questions. Instead, she started to head quickly towards the school - directly away from the crowd. There were a few odd looks thrown her way by all the people heading in the opposite direction, but she paid them no attention whatsoever.
The growing melee surged behind her as she walked through the school gates, not meeting anyone’s eye. Instead of going inside, though, she took a quick right, heading for a conveniently placed wall that started low and slowly sloped upwards; climbing up, she walked her way to higher ground, peering over the heads of the crowd in the parking lot.
She was too far away to see what was really happening, except that there were four sleek black cars all parked side by side, and some women in red standing absolutely still and eyeing the general ruckus of students. They seemed to be keeping some kind of peace just by looking vaguely ready to kill anyone who looked at them.
MJ stared, wishing she could so effortlessly channel that kind of energy.
The clothes they were wearing… she narrowed her eyes. She knew that armour, she knew those patterns. They all had shaved heads, too - no hair for anyone to grab onto in a fight.
She blinked. Surely, it wasn’t possible. She’d just spent all night reading about these exact women and their country and their weapons and their technology, and now she was sleep deprived, and seeing things. These could not be the Dora Milaje.
MJ wasn’t even completely clear on how that was pronounced, let alone being prepared to see them in her school’s parking lot.
And then, out of one of the cars, stepped a girl.
MJ felt her breathe leave her, before she’d even fully registered who she was looking at. Dressed in lowkey, casual clothes - just jeans, a t-shirt, and a black and white jacket, with her hair tied up at the back of her head - was a person MJ knew by sight, instantly. Someone she’d read about; someone she followed on Twitter; someone she’d seen on the news, announcing the arrival of new outreach buildings across the country. Someone she’d actually considered getting Snapchat for, just to see her stories and selfies.
Shuri, Princess of Wakanda.
The crowd around Shuri were going wild, yelling and waving. The Dora Milaje were looking, somehow, even more stern as they kept the tide of teenage enthusiasm at bay. Shuri offered them all a grin, and MJ felt her heart flip in her chest.
With a little nod of her head, Shuri began to walk towards the school. Like a flock of seagulls, the students all around her shuffled and squawked at each other, following along; Shuri seemed unfazed, not ignoring them, but just smiling around and occasionally laughing.
She must be used to this by now, MJ thought.
“I told my brother,” she heard the Princess say as she headed through the gates. “I told him, I wanted to take the bus! The big cars will only make it worse! Tomorrow I’m taking the bus here and there’s nothing he can do about it…”
MJ shifted, almost falling off the wall. Shuri was going to be here - not just for one day, but for two?
The suddenness of her movement must have caught Shuri’s eye. Down below, the Princess jerked her head up - frowning, her eyes drifted upwards too - and quite suddenly, MJ found herself meeting the gaze of the Princess of Wakanda.
MJ froze.
Shuri’s eyebrows raised slightly, and her mouth crooked into a smile - a small one, genuine, not for show - as she took in MJ standing atop the wall. MJ swallowed. Before there was time to smile politely, or wave, or do anything at all, the moment was over. Shuri had walked into the school, her eyes sliding away.
When the swirling wave of students chasing after her had washed inside with her, MJ hopped down off the wall. She leaned back against it; she could still feel her heart pounding.
Shuri had smiled.
And MJ hadn’t even tried to tame her hair this morning, beyond shoving it into a bun at the back of her head. Not that she expected someone as smart as Shuri to be making judgements about someone based on how many flyaways they had going on, hair-wise, or how beat-up their shoes looked, or how probably vacant and awestruck their expression was…
MJ breathed out. But Shuri had smiled.
She found herself half-smiling down at the ground, just thinking about it.
“So, how did you enjoy meeting Princess Please Shut Up ?”she heard a voice say. She looked up, blinking away her mind’s looped replaying of the moment that had just happened.
Ned was smiling at her smugly, while Peter stared up the steps after Shuri.
MJ considered using words to reply, and then decided a simple gesture would do the trick.
“Aw, come on. That’s not nice.”
They headed inside as a reluctant, ragged trio.
“So… she’s here because…” MJ said, unable to resist fishing for information any longer.
“To go to school,” Ned finished for her. “Something about community outreach or whatever.” MJ tried to keep walking normally, tried to keep breathing. Shuri. The Princess of Wakanda - a title so grandiose that it sounded ridiculous even to think it - that Shuri. Was going to be here every day? Was going to take classes? Was going to join band or the cheer squad, was going to go to parties, was going to - to go to high school?
“But she’s, like… a genius,” MJ said, sounding stupid to herself. “Like… she doesn’t need high school.”
Ned shrugged, while Peter looked thoughtful.
“Peter, does she even know about -” Ned began.
“Don’t know,” Peter said shortly, with a pointed look, before seeming to sink back into his thoughts. MJ narrowed her eyes at the pair of them, before shrugging it off.
ok so i wrote this for @lesbiansassemble‘s femslash writing challenge. I’m not good with deadlines but i think i’m almost on time ^^'. (This is no excuse but i had most of it written for weeks and ended up deleting it by mistake, which made me very discouraged, so i’m sorry.) I’m not a big/good writer so bear with me and this story. It’s gonna be mutli chaptered but i can only post the first one today.
Since i’m posting only the first part, i thought i’d give a small summary : Natasha needs help with something from her past, help of a different kind. It just so happens that Clint knows a person with the right abilities, in more than only one way.
pairing: wanda maximoff/natasha romanoff
word count: 1008
i’ll be posting it on ao3 later maybe :)
Clairvoyance
Wanda didn't lie to people.
Not all the time, at least.
Not really. She told them what they wanted to hear. Was it always entirely accurate? Maybe not.
But she knew how it went. She'd been there, she'd done that and she'd learned that no one cared about the truth.
She shuffled the cards.
The balding middle-aged man was watching her, eyes decidedly focused on her fingers.
Slowly, one by one, she laid the cards on the small glass table between them.
He leaned froward slightly, eyes squinted to get a better view of the draw in the dimly lit room.
Once she was done, he looked up at her, mouth hanging open just a bit and pupils shining with excitement and in expectation.
With the same slow pace, she placed her fingers on the middle card. She marked a pause, for theatricality.
People wanted to hear what they wanted to hear. It didn't matter, the truth, because it wasn't why her clients consulted her.
She turned the card around in a fly movement, earning a gasp from the man and uncover the tower.
——————
She didn't know where she was.
The night was falling, obscurity was taking over the streets and she was lost in this goddamn city.
Natasha sighed loudly, for herself because there was no one around. She reached inside the deep pocket of her coat, one more time. She felt her phone, hesitated, grabbed it anyway.
She tried pressing the button again.
Nothing happened.
She'd had this fantasy of throwing it on the sidewalk, watching it explode in tiny little pieces against the concrete, but it was a gift from Sam and she definitely couldn't do that.
She nicely put it back in her pocket and picked up a small piece of paper instead. She unfolded it, tried to smoothen it, gave up and took a few steps toward a street lamp.
Under the orange-ish light, she read the scribbled words for the umpteenth time. A name and an address, in Clint's godawful handwriting: 306th Helen's Street, Wanda Maximoff.
She read it again, for good measure, hoping maybe for some kind of revelation, but she was reaching the limits of her patience.
"Whatever." She said aloud to the empty lane, and she started walking straight forward. Screw it for today, all she wanted now was to find a hotel and sleep until tomorrow. Then she'd take the first train and go back home, watch a movie with Sam and Bucky and forget about this day forever.
She was a little lost in her thoughts when she took a sharp turn right and almost collided with a tall, large man. He dropped his wallet in surprise. She promptly stopped to pick it up and hand it to him with an apology. Of course, because it was that kind of day, he glared at her and turned around, grumbling in his chin.
Some other time, it would have meant nothing to her. She wouldn't even have given it a second thought, but tonight, Natasha was tired. She watched him disappear slowly in the obscurity, anger and frustration growing inside of her like branches and stunning her into place. She clamped her fists, the sting of her nails digging into her palms, also clearing her mind and keeping her from following the man and beating the shit out of him.
She took a deep breath, tried to refocus.
That's when she realized.
The man was coming out of a building, not at all different from the rest of the street, but above the massive entrance door, glowing in the light of the street lamp, three digits detached from the grey walls: 3, 0 and 6.
You gotta be kidding me she thought, as her eyes went through the list of the building occupants on the right of the porch.
Slowly, she pressed the ivory button for apartment 26, the one that said 'Wanda Maximoff, psychic and medium, consultation on reservation only.'
———————-
Wanda tucked the tarot game in a small box that she stowed in a drawer.
Then she sighed and picked up a broom. The man had let dirt all over the floor. Next time, she thought, she would force him to wipe his dirty boots, even if she had to stay in front of the door with him and watch. The old wooden floor was damaged and not easy to clean up and she needed the place to stay presentable.
She took a moment to rearrange the pillows and blankets, she blew all the candles one by one. She usually liked doing that, watching the little flames and the smell of the wax, but now she just wanted to shower, eat and pass out in bed. She was about to go upstairs to do just that when the bell rang.
She froze for a second. Then she looked, by habit, at the grandfather clock against the wall in the back, the one that hadn't worked in years and that was perpetually stuck on 2:37.
It had to be at least 9pm.
The idea crossed her mind of ignoring the bell, but it rang a second time, and a third.
"Ok, ok, i'm coming." she muttered. She crossed the room in a hurry and stayed by the door.
"Good evening. Sorry but the consultations are over for today." she said in the intercom, hoping that the person would get the hint and leave.
"Are you Miss Maximoff?" the person on the other side asked. She was a woman, not one of Wanda's clients.
"Yes. But if you want an appointment you're gonna have to call back tomorrow."
"I'm not here for an appointment. Miss Maximoff, I need your help. Please."
Wanda opened her mouth to reply. Look, it's late. Come back tomorrow for whatever it is you need. Even better, book a fucking appointment like everyone else.
But the woman spoke again in the intercom before she had time to get the words out.
"Clint Barton gave me your address. He said you could help."
A/N: a while ago, I entered a writing competition that @lesbiansassemble created to promote more sapphic fanfiction within the Marvel Fandom. I entered to write a Trish Walker/Karen Page fanfiction using the prompt, “You’re distracting me.” Here’s the final piece, set post-defenders, hope you like it! (Title from “Supergirl” by Gina Young)
Trish Walker had a mental list that she kept running titled, “Perks of Being Karen Page’s Girlfriend.” So far this list was in the hundreds, and included things like “being able to bitch about my Powered Vigilante Friend to someone who gets it,” and “I’ve always got a partner who’s willing to spar with me” However, the most unlikely, and quickly proving to be Trish’s favorite perk was most definitely that she had someone to pull information-gathering all-nighters with. Before she was dating Karen, finding information for Trish Talk had been done on her own, or with Jessica popping in and out at sporadic hours, dropping some files on her kitchen island, and then walking out before Trish could comment about her general state of disrepair. Though she supposed, that Jessica had seemed to be injured much less as of late, and that was one thing that Trish was incredibly thankful for. For the first time in a while, with Matt, Luke, and Danny, she wasn’t the only one watching out for her sister anymore, and for the first time in years, Trish could devote herself to, well, herself.
This was proving to be a difficult adjustment, though, and had flung herself into work deeply, just to have a distraction. Karen seemed to get that, and as time had gone, the two woman had opened up to each other more. Karen, for the first time since she had met Matt and Foggy, had begun to feel safe in Hell’s Kitchen. The “dark corners” didn’t feel so dark without evil ancient cults, or kingpins, or mind-controlling self-serving assholes. She felt almost relaxed. She loved writing for The Bulletin, and she loved being with someone whose passion met her own, who wasn’t divided between methods of bringing the worst of the worst down.
Which leads into now, where the two women were sat at Trish’s kitchen table, each with a pile to themselves, as they researched a slew of allegations about a high-profile pharmaceutical company CEO who had been embezzling money. Both Trish and Karen loved their work, but to be honest, corporate crime like this was actually kind of boring. Karen was nearly falling asleep on her keyboard, and Trish was on her second pot of coffee that night.
“Do you ever sit and think, ‘hey I should quit my day job, learn to make soaps and candles, and move upstate to run an alternatives medicine shop to make a living?’” Karen said, dropping her head directly into the keyboard of her now powered-down computer, thankful she had the foresight to realize that it was getting too late to stare at a screen for much longer.
“Oh, almost constantly,” Trish said, looking up lovingly across the table at her girlfriend’s tired face. “That daydream is right up there with running off and becoming a high-profile hitwoman who has a high moral code, but is still known for her ruthless murder nonetheless. My two most common fantasies when things begin to go wrong.”
“Well, if I quit my job, there would be no one to write about the high-profile and sexy details of all your jobs, so maybe stick to the alternative medicines scam with me?” Karen jokes, grabbing Trish’s hand from across the table.
“You really want to start a scam business with me?” Trish asks, her voice dripping with mock excitement.
“ I mean, it’s the most grand gesture I can think of.”
Trish groaned in agony. “Ugh, stop being so cute and wonderful, you’re distracting me.”
“I’m distracting you? You’re distracting me, with you cute and wonderful face.” Karen joked.
Trish sighed, and closed her own laptop, and begun to gather up her papers. “Can we both agree that we’re not getting any more work done tonight, and it’s probably time to throw the towel in and get to sleep?”
Karen followed suit, throwing files into her Daily Bulletin canvas bag to take back to work on Monday. “Yeah, you have a point there. I’m too tired to do anything more, so it’s time to sleep. I haven’t slept properly in days, if I’m honest”
Trish walked over to her girlfriend, and wrapped her arms around her waist. Karen, blushed slightly and smiled, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend’s neck and leaning in close, their foreheads touching.
“Hey, it’s okay. You need sleep. You’ve been working so hard lately, and you just need to relax, okay?” Trish said with sincerity.
Karen leaned up and connected their lips, smiling. Trish moved her hands to either side of her girlfriend’s face and deepened the kiss. When they finally parted, both were breathless and lightheaded, certain that they had never made a better decision than meeting one another.
“Yeah, I definitely could use some sleep”
“C’mon, it’s time to get your ass into bed, then.” Trish said, grabbing Karen’s hand, and beginning to head to her bedroom.
“Yes Ma’am,” Karen said, with a Snort. Trish smiled, and thought to herself, that even if she never got any work done from here on out, there’s no distraction she’d rather have by her side.
Hey guys, the deadline is today! Don’t worry if you haven’t finished it yet, as a couple of people have asked for extensions, but if you could hand it in ASAP I would be very grateful. xx
This is just a reminder for those taking part in my femslash writing challenge, that the deadline is in 11 days time (25th September). If you’ve spoken to me about extending your deadline, then you don’t need to worry about that, but if you think that you may also need an extension, can you please get in touch with me ASAP? If you have already submitted it and I haven’t acknowledge it by liking your post or writing a comment, can you please get in touch with me too? Good luck guys, I can’t wait to read your work. We’ve had some fantastic submissions so far. Thank you! xx
