Karaoke Night M’Baku x Reader
A/N: It has been a really good writing day for me today! I’ve been going through it lately and this song has been on my heart and then I wrote this and there’s def gonna be a smutty part 2 but this part is just emotions. All of the emotions. Sorry not sorry lol
Warnings: bitch get ready for some feels cause there’s at least 2 in this ho, also I cuss so there’s that, kinda smutty if you squint, mild humor, also redeemed!erik if you really really squint
Summary: Song Fic-ish ispired by Stranger In My House by Tamia where karaoke night gets personal and emotional and Shuri is amazing
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He was lying. You knew he was lying. He was staring you right in the face and lying and had the nerve to believe you bought it.
“M’Baku, I will ask you one more time. Tell me the truth or I swear to Hanuman I will walk out the door and never come back.” You saw his jaw clench and he flared his nostrils. Was that supposed to scare you?
“Don’t threaten me (Y/N). I already told you. I had nothing to do with it.” His voice was laced with anger and you couldn’t give a shit. Your husband and his personal guards had during a night of excessive intoxication, which was happening much more frequently than it used to, completely destroyed your father’s sacred burial ground. On the one year anniversary of his death. You spent the night sobbing alone, wishing M’Baku would come home and comfort you. When you visited his grave, it was a mess and your husband’s wedding ring along with several empty bottles of alcohol were scattered in the debris. This was a week ago. You had just been flat out avoided being in the room with him successfully until today when he cornered you, demanding an explanation. When you asked him what happened, he denied any involvement.
“Did you desecrate my father’s grave?” You asked glaring up at him, tears swimming in your eyes. Lately, everything has been a struggle, It’d been weeks since you all have fucked. Longer since he’s verbalized that he loves you. If he loves you. This was the last straw. You were supposed to be headed to Shuri’s karaoke party (she was planning on getting lots of potential blackmail footage). Instead, you were fighting with him again. You were so tired of this. If he lied, you were really leaving.
“No I did not. I was not there. I spent the evening with the gorilla gang (Shuri jokingly once called them that when they grunted at Ross and they loved it and ran with it).” You nodded, sucked your teeth, and moved to walk past him. You were leaving. Tonight. He grabbed your arm, not hard enough to hurt but it was clear he was angry.
“We are not done here.” He demanded, glaring down at you.
“Yes, we are.” You said, pulling your arm from his grasp. Tears streaming down your face you shook your head and all but ran from the room.
You were on your sixth tequila shot. Nakia had taken one look at your ravaged face and just started pouring. You weren’t typically a tequila drinker but you wanted to forget. Forget everything if just for a while. M’Baku showed up about 15 minutes after you arrived, or around shot 3. Slightly tipsy, you talked to Shuri about maybe doing a song as long as she promised not to record. Of course, she immediately agreed, knowing how you felt about privacy. You were not the type of person to talk about your personal life with people. You would probably sing some fun girly song and it would be amazing.
Then M’Baku showed up and 3 shots later (or about 20 minutes even though Nakia was trying to get you to slow down) when Shuri came by to get your song, your answer surprised her and made Nakia put the tequila away.
After a stunning rendition of Run the World(Girls) by a tipsy Okoye that you could not wait to have the recording of, it was your turn. M’Baku was standing in the corner conversing with the gorilla gang, completely oblivious to the fact that you were now standing on the small stage.
Shuri adjusted the light from gold and red to blue and purple as the music started and you looked away from your husband.
You look just like the man
In the picture, by our bed
The suspense is pounding and clouding up my head”
Your voice rang out clear and melodic. You’ve always loved to sing, but were never a big fan of performing, which is why M’Baku’s head shot up like a rocket at the sound of you. His jaw clenched, both in anger and arousal. He loved your voice and the soft play of the lights on your dark skin made you look ethereal, but he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like this.
“I’m checking your clothes
And you wear the same size shoe
You sleep in his spot and you’re driving his car
But I don’t know just who you are”
You refused to look at M’Baku looking instead at Nakia, Okoye, and Shuri who were all huddled together, clearly concerned. Your behavior tonight was far from your normal and they knew it wasn’t because things were good. Something was wrong, the tequila glaze in your eyes proved that. But as much as they wanted to say you were just drunk, you were still very much so coherent and coordinated.
“There’s a stranger in my house”
You sang turning to finally meet your husband’s accusing eyes. You stepped off the stage walking towards him.
“It took a while to figure out
There’s no way you can say who you say you are
You got to be someone else”
The liquid courage warming your blood gave you the guts to walk straight up to him, as the spotlight followed you, courtesy of Shuri. He was livid, you could tell. He didn’t want a scene, didn’t want people to know you all were having problems. He’s been struggling with dealing with all the changes that come with the Jabari rejoining Wakanda and Wakanda rejoining the world. It was affecting everything, including your relationship. He had no idea what to do and felt helpless which makes him angry and irritable.
“Because he wouldn’t touch me like that”
You sang stepping back. At that M’Baku’s face fell and you could see the shock. It hadn’t hurt when he grabbed you but in that moment you were truly afraid he would have hurt you. Hit you. And the man you married would never have raised a hand to you. You turned making your way back towards the stage.
“And he wouldn’t treat me like you do
He would adore me, he wouldn’t ignore me
So I am convinced that there’s a stranger in my house”
With each word you sang, he felt a little more of his heartbreak. The song may have been written by another but it was yours in that moment. It was the truth of your pain, pain he had caused. He stood where you left him looking dumbfounded. How did it go this far and how could he fix it?
Don’t see your shadow around when you walk”
By now the entire party was focused solely on you and M’Baku. The only noise in the room was the music and your voice. You were a siren and had captured them all in your melodious snare. But all you could see was the spotlight that you drunkenly stared into because it was pretty. All he could see was the halo of light around the angel he loved.
“You’re leaving no kisses
If these walls could talk
They would have nothing to tell”
M’Baku thought back to the last time he said he loved you. He couldn’t remember. He couldn’t remember the last time he told you you were beautiful. He couldn’t remember the last truly loving thing he said to you. The last time you’d fucked it was quick and fast and hard, fitting for the argument it was wrapping up. When was the last time he really made love to you? He couldn’t recall and the guilt was nearly choking him.
Is there someone imitating me?”
You sang, tears beginning to form in your eyes as you turned towards your husband again. In that moment there was no one else but the two of you. You had to know. If he wasn’t with you, he might be with someone else. The tequila thought it was likely. The thought had passed your sober mind several times when you woke up in the middle of the night and your husband still wasn’t home, and then didn’t come home at all. You loved M’Baku very much and kept yourself up because of it. Your hair was always done. Your soft skin glowed and always smelled faintly of jojoba. You had amazing taste in clothes and always dressed beautifully. You thought if you put more effort into your appearance he would pay attention, but no matter what you changed or did, lately he never noticed. You had to know why.
“Could she be taking my place?
And tell me that I am wrong when I say”
M’Baku looked back at the gorilla gang almost hopelessly. He knew they had ruined your father’s grave but it had an accident. M’Baku had been drunk and feeling guilty about not being there for you and wanted to clean and prep the burial grounds. The gorilla gang went to grab flowers from a nearby field and had awoken an angry family of skunks and then chaos ensued. In all the craziness your father’s grave was “a little” messed up. He went back the next day and cleaned it all up, so you wouldn’t find out. Only you did somehow. He panicked when you asked him and denied all charges. He didn’t know how you knew, only that he was becoming more and more sure you did. He knew he needed to fix this and fast.
“There’s a stranger in my house
It took a while to figure out
There is no way you can say who you say you are
You got to be someone else”
He started walking towards the stage, eyes never leaving your face. This was not the time and place for this discussion but he knew it was happening now.
“Because he wouldn’t touch me like that
And he wouldn’t treat me like you do
He would adore me, he wouldn’t ignore me
M’Baku stood in front the stage, silently asking your permission to join you.
“There’s a stranger in my house”
You swayed and offered him a hand onto the stage as you sang. If he wanted to do this, you were more than willing. It was kind of the reason your tequila brain chose this song. You hoped he would hear you, really hear you. You loved him and you needed him in your life, but you needed him. Not the man he’d become.
Tell me where we first kissed”
You sang to him, meeting his teary gaze with one of your own. Your first kiss was under the Hanuman statue protecting the entrance to the Jabari lands. You were friends at the time, only friends, each with a secret longing for the other. After a pretty one-sided snowball fight, you found yourselves giggling in the snow. You had shivered and he had immediately pulled you into his warm embrace. There was a breath of air and then he pressed his soft lips against yours and you were done. You were his, and you thought he was yours. Until recently.
“Tell me where my spot is”
At this you turned around pressing your body against his warmth. You felt so cold without him at night. You needed him in your bed, in you. His dick game was 100 but more than that, the way he loved you was so beautiful. You needed to feel loved by him. You needed him to touch you.
“Tell me if I like it, love it”
You slowly grind against him, feeling him stiffen and making T’Challa very uncomfortable. Shuri had the good sense to look away when you said “my spot”. N’Jadaka grinned, golden grill flashing in the dark. He didn’t know you that well, but he knew you were that bitch after tonight.
You turned again to face him. Reaching your hand into your cleavage you pull out his wedding ring. Evidence of his lie. The color drained from his face as he looked in horror at the beautiful band he’d asked everyone to keep an eye out for. He’d planned on just having a new one made if he couldn’t find it, and you hadn’t been speaking to him so he didn’t have to explain to you why he wasn’t wearing it.
“That the stranger is me?
Have I changed so drastically?
Is it I want more for me?
And you remain the same?”
Your voice never betrayed the tears that had begun to stream down your face. How many other lies? Was this the way it always was? Had you changed? You had considered these thoughts many a time, with no real conclusion. Your tears broke him as nothing else could. The pain on your face shook the core of him. What manner of man could dare call himself as such and hurt the one who loves him the most? M’Baku, the great leader of the Jabari fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around your waist as he held you and silently sobbed. He was going to fix this. He had to. He couldn’t lose you.
“There’s a stranger in my house
It took a while to figure out
There is no way you can say who you say you are
You got to be someone else”
You slowly disentangled yourself from your husband’s embrace. Partly because you were about to fall off the stage, the tequila beginning to affect your balance, but also because you wanted to him to remember who he was. He was the man you loved and you needed him to come back to you. Taking his hand you pulled him to his feet.
“Because he wouldn’t touch me like that
And he wouldn’t treat me like you do
He would adore me, he wouldn’t ignore me
So I am convinced there’s a stranger in my house”
As the last notes of the song fade away, the room erupts in cheers and applause which causes you to jump. You’d nearly forgotten you had an audience. You blushed and hide your face in M’Baku’s chest as he wraps his arms around you. Maybe they would think it was for a show. He met T’Challa’s eyes and knew the man saw the truth in the performance. It shamed M’Baku.
Seeing your clear discomfort Shuri immediately dims the lights and grabs her microphone.
“Isn’t (Y/N) amazing! Now put your hands together for my cousin N’Jadaka bringing you the Cali flow with a little Next Episode By Dr. Dre! Give it up!”
M’Baku ushered you offstage and out of the room. As soon as you all had a moment alone, he was going to start fixing this. His lips burned to apologize, kiss away the tears, make it all better. He couldn’t stand being the cause of your pain and being so oblivious to it. A small smile flittered on his lips as he imagined all the many, many ways he was going to make it up to you.
@muse-of-mbaku whatcha think of my first M’Baku fic sis?
