Uh, a shifter AU in which T’Challa is a panther (because why not make his Black Panther powers more literal) and Tony is a dragon shifter.
Shuri looks over the pictures, impressed with how they turned out. They’ve been published all over the world, part of integrating Wakanda back into world politics, and the images are pretty. The Throne Room is especially beautiful, as are the various parts of Wakanda included in the photoshoot. T’Challa looks regal too, in royal clothing perched on his throne taking up the whole thing like he owns it. Which he does, technically. The only thing that’s a little off in all the pictures at least of T’Challa is the presence of a small dragon, often perched in his lap or on his shoulder.
And its not that Tony is there that’s the problem, though isolationists complain endlessly about it, its that he’s only photogenic half the time. He’s beautiful as a dragon, red and gold- not yellow, gold- and he fit in with the rest of the Wakadan decor. The country is colorful and rich so his coloring blended in nicely. And this was T’Challa’s way of including his partner in his life without having to deal with the publicity of Tony Stark in the photos. Smart, Shuri thinks, to have him in here as a dragon given that people wouldn’t necessarily recognize him right away given that he’s not often seen in his shifter form. T’Challa had wanted him involved, partially due to Wakandan tradition of being seen with your partner, but seemed to be smart enough to know keeping Tony in his human form was a bad plan given the uproar that would cause.
Shuri would find his solution more intelligent if Tony didn’t look ridiculous if his face is pointed towards the camera. Like an eagle with its picture taken head on. “What is his face doing?” Nakia asks her softly. Probably because Tony is currently sitting in T’Challa’s lap happily eating Wakandan fruits. Turns out he shares a diet with most lizards that way, at least when he is one. He refuses to eat insects though.
“I don’t know. These? He looks fine, and T’Challa looks nice too. This one though? I think he may be taking a shit,” she says and Nakia lets out a loud snort that resonates through the room. Everyone turns to stare and she waves them off.
“Shuri!” she hisses. “Don’t say stuff like that when there are good acoustics!”
“Its not my fault. Its either taking a shit or extreme constipation. Maybe he ate too much cheese that day,” she says and Nakia covers her mouth to keep from laughing.
“The one of T’Challa as a panther is nice,” she says after she gains some control of herself.
Yes, Shuri likes that one too. He’s in the mouth of Bast at the vibranium mountain looking out and he holds himself well. He almost looks like Bast come to life inside a monument dedicated to the god. That one and the one of T’Challa on the throne are her favorites, though she’s fond of the funny flamingos picture where no less than three of them have fallen in the background, spindly legs waving in the air.
“Yeah, it's good. Were you around that day? If you weren’t you missed out, Tony screaming as a dragon is hilarious,” she tells her. She doesn’t remember seeing Nakia but she knows that doesn’t mean much. War Dogs are masters of blending in even if Nakia has a bad habit of trouble following her around.
“He screams?” she asks and Shuri grins.
Tony shakes himself off looking displeased and T’Challa sighs. “I don’t know why Shuri finds your yelling so amusing,” T’Challa tells him as he pats Tony dry. Tony makes a disgruntled noise but lets T’Challa pick him up without incident. He’s a plucky little thing in dragon form, but he’s also quite pretty. Dragon shifters are rare, exceedingly so thanks to overhunting for their scales. Not that Tony would provide many, maybe four given how tiny he is, but his coloring is sought after, particularly the gold scales. All two of them.
“So,” he tells Tony, “are you going to shift back or are you going to stay a dragon this whole time?” he asks. Tony gives him a dirty look and T’Challa laughs. “Don’t look at me like that, you were the one who pissed off the sorcerer. I told you that was a bad idea.” Though he did make for a beautiful addition to those photos for various magazines. HIs coloring is pretty and looks nice against the patterns Wakanda prefers in design. The downside is that isolationists hated it and they’re noisy and aggressive. He understands why they’re angry with the presence of an American in photos about Wakanda but Tony was an animal in the pictures and people aren’t familiar with his looks. Dragons tend to be secretive thanks to being hunted for so long.
Besides that its tradition to include your partner in photos of that nature- what was he to do, ignore traditions but only when its convenient for isolationists? Because if he chose to ignore them any other time they would scream. This was his compromise- no one knows the dragon is Tony, and he appeased tradition. Problem solved except to isolationists who were never going to be happy anyway. The rest of the country was fine with his take on things given that Tony’s presence doesn’t disrupt Wakanda on display and he does look nice. And overhunting never happened here so dragon shifters are somewhat popular. For all anyone knows that dragon could be his brother, they have no idea. He has no brother and Shuri hasn’t presented with a form yet, but no one knows the difference.
Though he does like to joke that Shuri will present as a flea.
Tony makes an annoyed noise and T’Challa rolls his eyes at him. “Don’t whine, you did this to yourself,” he tells Tony. “You could have accepted that the sorcerer has a stupid form but you chose to make fun of him being a Tibetan sand fox.” Yes they’re quite ugly and odd looking but there was no need to be rude about it and clearly Strange didn’t take to it kindly.
His response gets him an annoyed scream and T’Challa sighs. “You did this to yourself,” he reminds Tony.
Shuri frowns at him and what? Tibetan sand foxes look like children’s drawings come to life. Yeah, all the stuff is there but those faces? Not right. “Its not my fault he looks like he was drawn by a five year old who only kind of knows what foxes look like,” he says in his defense. Strange totally overreacted, forcing him to stay a dragon for a fucking month. T’Challa was nice about it at least and let him hang out in Wakanda on account of he doesn’t want to die elsewhere. Sure its illegal to poach dragons and yeah it doesn’t happen that often but that’s because there are dick all for dragons left to poach. He didn’t want to take his chances and Wakanda only wants him dead for being from another country rather than his scales. He can deal with that.
“Have you seen those pictures of you and T’Challa? You think that sand fox was drawn by children? You must have been drawn by an alien who decided strange squiggles are a good face,” she says and excuse her, rude!
“Proof or it didn’t happen,” Tony tells her. Shuri is prepared because she pulls out a picture and sure shit Tony... doesn’t even know what to make of that. “That’s a fluke is what that is,” he tells her.
“Sure, Stark,” she says. “That’s what it is.”
T’Challa laughs, snapping a picture. It proves to be the wrong move when Shuri, in all her praying mantis glory, jumps at his face. He lets out a loud yell and smacks himself in the face, sending Shuri the bug flying. Its almost amusing, watching several members of the Dora Milaje jump to catch her but its Okoye who manages. Shuri lands gracefully in her hands before walking out just fine, looking surprisingly regal for a bug.
Tony takes a picture of her as she passes. “Who’s not photogenic now?” he asks. He’s pretty sure if she had fingers she’d flip him off.
