Miscommunication
Natasha’s phone pinged in her pocket as she stood in line at the coffee shop. She switched her wallet over to her other hand in order to fish it out. A small smile graced her lips as she saw who the text was from.
DickBrain <3: Might wanna make my double shot of espresso a triple. This project is kicking my ass harder than you did when you forced me into taking that self defense course with you.
Nat scoffed, shaking her head even though her smile never left. Tony would run solely on caffeine if she would let him. As she stepped up to the counter, she ordered her usual and decided to order Tony’s with only a double shot of espresso but asked if they could write triple on the order. The placebo effect can be a powerful thing.
Her and Tony’s relationship started what seemed like a lifetime ago. They met on the school yard when she tackled an older kid to the ground when they were teasing him. She got sent to the office for it, but it was worth it, as it created the foundation for a life-long friendship.
It was towards the end of high school when that friendship turned into something more. Natasha started to take school much more seriously when she realized that Tony would easily get into a prestigious college. Tony would help her with her schoolwork, and she would help him relax when his father’s insane expectations got to him.
She fell in love with him, despite the high walls she placed around her heart. And he fell in love with her, despite his feelings like he would never truly deserve her.
As she waited for her order, her phone went off again, still in her hand.
GeniusPrincess: Pleaseeee tell me you’re on your way back. He’s driving me CRAZY.
Another text popped up just as she finished reading the last.
GeniusPrincess: Also, I miss your beautiful face :)
Natasha couldn’t help but smile. Shuri was an unexpected addition to her and Tony’s relationship. She and Tony at the end of their undergraduate term. Now, they’re both going for a Masters degree in Physics and Electrical Engineering, while Natasha is working on her Masters in Criminal Psychology.
It seemed natural to morph into a polyamorous relationship as both Tony and Natasha were attracted to, not only her natural beauty, but her sharp wit and playful personality. Her sarcasm rivaled Tony’s and she more than kept up with Natasha’s flirtatious teasing. Shuri fit perfectly into their puzzle.
Natasha fell in love with both of them, a feat she deemed impossible in her younger years.
After grabbing her order and texting both of them back, she drove to their little shared flat close enough to the university campus to be considered student housing. She walked in, greeted by the sight of Tony sitting on the living room floor with Shuri tucked into his lap, staring at the wide variety of mechanical parts spread across the ground.
“I hear someone’s driving our Princess up the wall,” Natasha smirked as they both looked up at her, Shuri’s smile lighting up and Tony’s gaze immediately falling onto the coffee in her hands.
They both scrambled to stand up and close the distance between them and Natasha’s spot next to the door. Tony snatched his coffee, giving Nat a kiss on the cheek before taking a huge gulp and Shuri wrapped her arms around her, hugging her as if she hadn’t just seen her before she went on a coffee run.
Natasha giggled, a reaction that only Shuri could get from her, and returned the hug.
“You’re a lifesaver, Nat-Attack,” Tony hummed, checking the side of the cup, “Is this a triple?”
“Yup,” Nat replied, popping the ‘p’ and sneaking a wink to Shuri, who she informed about her slight deception in her last text.
“Woah,” His eyes slightly widened as the caffeine hit him, “Yeah, I can tell,” He clapped his hands together, smiling broadly at Shuri who was still in Nat’s arms, “Alright! I’m fueled up, let’s get to it.”
They were working together for some sort of engineering project, which had turned their relatively small living room into a workshop. The island that separated the kitchen from the rest of the room had blueprints and notes strewn across it. Parts littered the floor, tools were carefully lined up on the coffee table, and the air had a tinge of oil and metal to it.
Natasha cupped Shuri’s cheek, pressing her lips against hers for a short kiss, before asking, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Nah,” Tony replied before Shuri could, “We got it.”
He had already taken his seat back on the floor, grabbing a tool from the couch behind him. He was what Natasha would call, in his work-mode. He was usually a slightly clingy lover, peppering both of them with kisses and affection, but in this state, his attention was hyper focused on his work. He had always been like that, and he had always preferred to work alone until Shuri entered their lives.
“Come on, Love Bug, let’s dive in,” He called, and Natasha reluctantly let Shuri go.
Shuri sighed, “When this project is done, how about we go shopping? My brother lent me his credit card again.”
Natasha smirked knowingly and raised an eyebrow, “Did he really lend it to you? Or did you hack his bank account again?”
A slightly guilty, but mostly mischievous smile graced her lips as she shrugged, “I think of it as testing his bank’s cyber-security. It failed, but at least it was more secure than his last bank.”
“Princess, I need your help,” Tony called out.
Shuri gave one last sweet kiss to Natasha’s cheek before walking over to Tony. Nat watched them work for a moment, leaning against the wall as she didn’t want to be in the way. It was endearing how harmonious they were. Tony would quickly slap something together and Shuri would go behind him and fine tune it. He was chaos and she was precision, both were equally brilliant.
Eventually, Natasha went to their room, sipping on her coffee as she sat on their large bed. Their bed was one of the most expensive things they owned since it was king-sized and purchased from a luxurious furniture store. Both Shuri and Tony came from wealthy households, but they both were trying to earn their own way in life.
She grabbed her psychology textbook, intending on studying while trying to push away the familiar negative feelings that crept in more and more often. In the background, she could hear her two loves playfully bicker, using terminology that she didn’t even try to understand anymore. Memories of the three of them played in her mind, bringing a small smile to her face as her eyes were trained on the words in her book.
It was hard for her to trust, to love. Natasha’s life hadn’t always been kind to her, but Tony was always there to help her through it. And then Shuri came in and the light that Tony brought into her life grew even brighter. They were indispensable to her.
But was she the same to them?
Tony and Shuri had their own language, they shared so much. They worked together, not only as partners for assignments, but as people like a well-oiled machine. Take away Natasha from the equation…and they still worked.
Snapped her textbook closed, Nat shook her head to dispel these thoughts. Tony loved her, Shuri loved her. She could see it in their eyes when they looked at her and could hear it behind their words when they talked to her. But she couldn’t help the little voice in the back of her mind wondering if they loved each other more than they did her.
It didn’t help that Tony had been distant lately. Natasha could easily blame it on the amount of work he needed to get done for his classes, but Shuri had roughly the same amount and still made time to hang out with Natasha, her other friends, and even her brother sometimes. Natasha couldn’t help but wonder about the future.
When Shuri and Tony get jobs in their fields, would it be even worse? It was like they were in their own little world that Natasha didn’t seem to fit into. She envisioned them talking animatedly about their work day over the dinner table while she fiddled with the food on her plate, smiling and nodding along, trying to be a part of the conversation as well.
Both Shuri and Tony were oblivious to Natasha’s struggle with her thoughts as they worked. Tony’s mind was buzzing with activity as he pictured each part coming together perfectly while assessing at each step what could be improved or tweaked. New, sometimes dangerous, ideas were constantly sparking in his thoughts whether it be work related or not.
One of those ideas he was going to put into motion today and it laid on the backburner of his mind until there was a lull in progress. He had to wait until Shuri could make a few changes to the programming software before he could continue and, in his mind, this was the perfect opportunity.
After staring at Shuri for a moment as she concentrated on the laptop screen in front of her, admiring how it lit up her face and reflected in her deep, brown eyes, he hopped up. He strutted over to the kitchen and opened cabinet under the sink. He pulled out two square jewelry boxes from their hiding spots, tucking one into the pocket of his hoodie.
He walked back over to Shuri, practically vibrating with excitement and a twinge of nervousness. She was currently in her work-mode, her eyes analyzing the code in front of her.
“Hey Love Bug,” His voice temporarily snapped her attention to him and she smiled at his soft expression, “I got something for our Queen Bee the other day. Wanna see it?”
Her smile grew as she nodded. She noticed that his behavior was slightly off, as if he was a bit nervous or maybe even bashful. She knew Tony well enough to know that this wasn’t some ordinary gift especially since he wanted to show it to her as well.
He cracked open the box, holding his breath as Shuri’s jaw dropped as her gaze fell upon the ring. It was simple but elegant, but the real star was the stone. It was a gorgeous ruby surrounded by smaller, sparkly diamonds. It fit Natasha’s style and personality perfectly. It brought happy tears to Shuri’s eyes as she realized that it was no ordinary ring.
“It’s perfect for her,” She whispered, and Tony’s body relaxed in relief.
“You think so?” He asked, a smile on his lips as he watched her inspect the ring closer.
She nodded, “I know so. That’s…” She glanced at the hallway that lead to their room to make sure the door was still closed, “That’s an engagement ring right? You’re gonna ask her? When? Wait, where? Can I be there?”
Tony chuckled, closing the box and tucking it into his pocket. He and Shuri had talked about marriage before when Natasha was in class. It seemed like the next logical step in their relationship, but they knew he could only legally marry one of them. The concept panicked Shuri a little at first, needlessly worrying where it would leave her if Tony legally married Nat. After plenty of assurances and deep conversation, she was happy to agree that him and Nat should tie the knot.
She was his first love after all, and they had been together through the majority of their lives. When first entering the relationship, Shuri was a little apprehensive and worried that she might feel like the third wheel. But Natasha went out of her way to make her feel like an equal and Tony, at least thought, he made sure that there was no favoritism.
“I’m gonna ask her at the pier downtown,” He smirked, “And of course, I want you there, Princess. I don’t think I could muster up the courage without you.”
Shuri squealed, pressing her lips against his and almost knocked the laptop off her lap in the process. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Natasha’s face when he proposed. Tony excused himself and she tried to make her mind concentrate onto the coding again even though all she wanted to think about was how sexy and beautiful Nat would look in a wedding dress.
Tony didn’t bother knocking before coming into the bedroom, a habit he had even when they were only friends. Natasha had once again opened her textbook, trying to focus on studying.
“Heeeeeey Natty,” He smiled, using her old childhood nickname as he closed the door behind him. He flopped onto the bed, a wide grin on his face in response to her raised brow.
“Oh no,” Her lips twitched as she recognized that gleam in his eye, “What are you up to now?”
He feigned a shocked gasp, placing a hand against his chest, “Me? Up to something?”
She rolled her eyes in response, nudging his stomach with her foot and he dropped the act with a dramatic sigh.
“I got something for our Princess the other day,” He propped his head up on his elbow, “Wanna see it? I need it Nat-approved.”
Her brows furrowed, her mind instantly checking to make sure Shuri’s birthday, or another holiday wasn’t coming up. They each got each other little gifts from time to time, but if it was something he wanted her to approve of, then it was bigger than those.
“Sure,” She nodded, pushing her book to the side.
Feeling a wave of nervousness and excitement again, he pulled out the other box from his pocket. Nat gasped as she took in the shape of the box. He opened it and revealed the ring to her, effectively sending her heart to her stomach.
It was perfect. The band was engraved with Wakandan symbols, Shuri’s native language. The stone was a purple sapphire and had two smaller diamonds on either side. She instantly knew two things: that Shuri would absolutely love it and that it was an engagement ring.
“You – you’re going to ask her to…” Her voice trailed off, her mind unable to comprehend what was happening.
Tony took her shocked expression and tears in the corners of her eyes as the same as Shuri’s. He smiled widely and nodded.
“To marry me,” He finished, “You think she’ll like it? I’m planning on asking her at the pier downtown.”
Natasha felt numb. She hadn’t had the same conversation about marriage with Tony as he and Shuri did. The last time they mentioned marriage was when they were still a single couple and even then, it wasn’t a very serious discussion. Hearing him mention the pier broke her heart further. It was a special spot for them, and it was where they took Shuri on the first date they shared as a throuple.
She found herself nodded, pulling on a smile, “Of course, she’ll love it.”
Tony felt a rush of pride at how well his plan was playing out. He was excited to see their reactions when he pulled both rings out at the pier and proposed to them both. He wasn’t sure how the wedding would work, but he knew for certain that he wanted, needed, both of them in his life forever.
He needed them both to know that he was serious about their relationship.
“I’m so glad you think so,” He grinned, kissing her on the cheek before tucking the box away and standing up to leave.
He closed the door behind him, unknowingly leaving behind a devastated Natasha, who now let her tears freely fall. Her fears were confirmed.
…
Natasha was very good at deception and acting as if nothing was wrong even if everything was, it was a natural talent of hers. From the moment she saw Shuri’s ring, she knew she had to protect herself from the two people she never thought would hurt her. Maybe that’s why it hurt so much.
She distanced herself from her two lovers, spending less time with them, showing less affection and having less and less conversations with them deeper than surface level. It was all so gradual and expertly done that it went over both Shuri’s and Tony’s heads for a while.
That was until Tony found out that Natasha had signed up and been accepted for an internship at an elite intel company overseas.
“What the hell is this?!” His yell echoed throughout their flat as he held the acceptance letter in his fist.
Shuri grimaced but Natasha didn’t flinch, crossing her arms over her chest.
“You’re just going to leave, huh?” He continued, his volume lessening and the hurt started to come out in his words, “Were you even going to tell us?”
“Eventually,” She answered cooly.
Tony looked at her like she grew two heads. This wasn’t his Nat, wasn’t their Nat. This was the Natasha that everyone else saw: cool, calculated, detached.
“It says you leave in a week,” Shuri noted, having read the letter as well.
Natasha’s heart broke a little more to see the tears gathering in Shuri’s eyes. She knew this part would be hard, she had coached herself on how to act, how to push these horrible feelings back. She fought the urge to envelop her Princess in a hug, to kiss away her tears, but then she remembered the ring.
She didn’t fit into their love anymore.
“I do,” She stated simply, breaking the dam that held Shuri’s tears back.
Tony huffed, “So that’s it? You’re done with us. Just like that? Is that why you’ve been skipping out on date night, why you’ve been staying out until we go to bed? Why we’re just ‘Tony’ and ‘Shuri’ in your phone now?”
Everything that had been gradually happening suddenly all came together in his mind. It was glaringly obvious with hindsight, and it made it hurt even worse. Natasha recognized the rage and betrayal building up in Tony. She had seen it plenty of times targeted towards his father and she knew he was bound to blow up.
She wanted to avoid that, so she quickly altered her plans. She steeled her heart, feeling the familiar icy numbness.
Shuri knew Tony’s emotions as well and her mind was scrambling to find a way to keep Natasha and trying to think of where it all went wrong. She could tell that they were both gearing up to say things that they wouldn’t be able to take back.
“Let’s take a trip to the pier,” She quickly suggested, grasping at straws, “Get some fresh air and – and talk about this.”
She wanted to remind Tony of his planned proposal to her, and hopeful remind her of fond memories they all made at their special place. However, it served as the final blow to both Tony and Natasha’s heart for different reasons.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Natasha tried to keep the bite from her voice, “I’ve already made my decision. As for this relationship,” She scoffed, covering how her words threatened to crack, “I think we all knew it would end like this.”
All the anger seeped out of Tony, seemingly deflating his body, only to be replaced with anguish and a sense of mourning.
“No,” He cleared his voice, fidgeting with his sunglasses in his hands, “No, we didn’t know. But, gee, thanks for telling us. You’ll be a damn good spy cause you certainly had me fooled for – what, almost two decades – that you actually cared? Because this,” He gestured at her, but still refused to look at her in the eye, “I don’t know this. But maybe you were actually this…the whole damn time.”
“Tony,” Shuri pleaded, but he shook his head.
“One hell of a social experiment,” He sneered, “But fine. Leave. But don’t come crawling back when you find out that you fucked up. I spent too long listening to you bitch and moan about your dad doing the same thing and how your mom always took him back. I can’t speak for Shuri, but once you walk out, you can’t come back.”
It was a low blow and everyone in the room knew it. Comparing their relationship to that of Natasha’s parents was baseless since her father was incredibly toxic and abusive to both her and her mother. Tony said it to hurt her, just as much as she was hurting them.
“He doesn’t mean that,” Shuri jumped in, casting a glare at him before her eyes pleaded with Nat, who didn’t outwardly react.
His wounding words only helped strengthen the walls around her heart. She left the flat without another word, without another glance at either of them. It was better to leave then to stay and exchange more damaging words.
A few days later, she had packed up everything she would need in order to start her new life when Shuri and Tony were at class. She decided to stay in a motel close to the airport for the remainder of the week as she had already filled out all the forms and gotten necessary permissions from the university for her internship.
Shuri sobbed when she noticed Natasha’s things missing from the flat when they came back from class.
“What happened?” She asked out loud the same thing she had asked herself a million times by now, “She just…shut down. Has she ever done this before?”
Tony sighed, sitting on their bed and rubbing his face tiredly. He had spent the last few days manically switching from throwing himself deep into his studies to showering Shuri with attention and love, trying to make sure she didn’t leave him too. Shuri felt a bit too smothered by it, but she understood what he was doing.
“Oh, she shuts down all the time,” He stated, “But never to me, never to us.”
But the concept got him ruminating over past memories. One instance in junior high stood out to him.
“She tried to shut me out once,” He recollected, staring at the wall as he thought, “It was after her parents finally split for good. She dumped basically all of her friends and I was the only one who kept pestering her while she ignored me. When I finally got her talking again, she said that being close to others was too risky.”
He sighed, “I mean, we eventually worked it out, obviously.”
Shuri’s brows furrowed, “So it’s happened before…we just need to find what triggered it this time.”
Her gaze drifted across the room as she thought. Her heart lifted a fraction with hope then plummeted when her eyes fell onto the red curtains that Natasha had picked out for the room. Bittersweet memories of home décor shopping with both Tony and Nat flooded her mind.
They were still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, which was filled with sneaky kisses in public, constant caresses and handholding, and tangling their limbs in their bedsheets. Those same sheets felt too cold without Natasha.
She tilted her head to the side, snapping out of her thoughts, as the familiar color made another memory to surface. An idea sparked into her mind.
“Wait, maybe she knew,” She turned back towards Tony, who jumped at her sudden proclamation.
His expression scrunched in confusion, “Knew what?”
“That you were going to propose! Maybe it freaked her out, maybe – maybe she was worried about ending up like her parents or something,” Shuri began to pace, shoving together the pieces of the puzzle in her mind, “I don’t know how she found out, but Nat always knows things. Remember when we tried to throw her a surprise party for her birthday last year? Or when we tried to cover up that wine stain on the carpet? The list goes on. Wait, what did she say when you talked to her about it?”
At her last question, her pacing stopped, and her attention was fixated on Tony, who was staring at her, blinking in response to her words as the gears in his mind started spinning.
“Yeah, that’s certainly possible,” He mumbled, “Wait, talk about what?”
She huffed and gave him an exasperated look, “Marriage!”
Tony still wore a look of confusion and deep thought until his skin paled and his eyes widened. Everything clicked into his mind at once.
“Oh god,” He whispered and Shuri rushed over to him, cupping his face in her hands with her brows furrowed in worry.
“What is it?”
“I messed up,” He managed to croak out before elaborating in response to her panicked face, “I – I was going to propose to you both at the same time. I got a ring for both of you. I showed you hers and her yours. The plan was to go to the pier and surprise you both.”
Shuri stood with her mouth slightly agape at the news. Her heart surged with a flurry of emotions, but she pushed it all back to try and focus on their current problem. If she was going to get Natasha back – which she was hellbent on doing – she needed to approach this analytically.
“So, in her mind, you were going to propose to just me?”
He noticeably cringed, tears starting to fill his eyes, “I didn’t – I didn’t think she would…I didn’t mean to hurt her. You reacted so well to it, you were so happy…I thought her reaction was the same, but looking back…”
“I wasn’t surprised though,” Shuri shook her head, “Because we talked about it. We agreed that you would marry her. You and her…didn’t talk about it?”
“No!” He ripped his face from her hands, choosing to bury it into his hands. He was somewhere between feeling furious at himself for being so careless and his already fractured heart breaking even further. The stern, condescending voice of his father screamed at him form the back of his mind. It was his fault, all his fault.
Shuri held him as he cried, muttered apology after apology. She was silent, letting him air out his emotions. As she whispered soothing words in his ear, she was thinking of a plan to get their Queen back.
…
Natasha was sitting on her motel bed, lounging in baggy sweatpants and a t-shirt while she stuffed her face with chips. Her eyes were trained on the shitty soap opera playing out on the fuzzy screen on the wall opposite of the bed. Her mind idly followed along with the cliché plot, willing away any deeper thoughts.
Her phone suddenly light up with a call, the ringtone sending a sliver of ice through her heart. It was Shuri’s ringtone and she made a mental note to change it after she ignored the call. Both Shuri and Tony had been blowing up her phone with messages and calls.
The call ended, but as she picked it up to change the ringtone, it rang. Shuri again. Her brows furrowed at this, Shuri wasn’t the type to make call after call unless…
“Hello?” Natasha said into the phone, not even realizing that her thumb had already accepted the call.
“Nat!” Shuri’s sweet voice made Nat’s bottom lip tremble, “Thank god. It’s Tony. Something happened in the workshop on campus. I – I didn’t know who else to call.”
The panic in Shuri’s voice went straight into Natasha’s body, amplifying as her mind raced with possible scenarios. Envisioning Tony laying on the ground, body bloodied up and broken from some sort of industrial power tool made her stomach twist painfully.
“Where is he?”
“He’s still there. I’m on my way over now,” Shuri responded, “I know you want nothing to do with us, but will you please meet me there? Please, Nat.”
Natasha was already slipping on her shoes and grabbing her keys, her body on autopilot and her mind was currently useless.
“I’m on my way, okay? It’ll be okay,” She ended the call, just barely biting back the urge to say ‘I love you’.
She grabbed her keys and raced out the door.
…
The campus was about 30 minutes away from her motel, but Nat got there in 10. She raced through the halls and down the stairs, deeming the elevator too slow. If she were thinking logically, she would have noticed the lack of ambulances or firetrucks in the parking lot and the lack of emergency personnel in the building. It was a Saturday, so there weren’t even many students milling about.
She threw open the doors to the workshop and stopped dead in her tracks, her chest heaving but her heart halting at the sight before her.
The workshop was empty of people, but seemingly every available inch of surface area – barring the floor and higher up on the walls – was covered in pink sticky notes. Her lips formed the wh- shape but her words died in her throat as she took a closer look.
Your cute squinty eyes in the morning before you drink your coffee.
The way you scrunch your nose and snort when you laugh too hard.
The warmth and safety we feel in your arms.
The late-night conversations that range from alien abduction to philosophical discussion.
The way the world just seems brighter when you smile.
Tears started filling her eyes as she read one after the other, her mind connecting the dots and her heart steadily thawing.
Your shameless off-key singing in the shower.
The way you constantly look out for us, in ways we don’t always see.
Some notes made her laugh – though it came out slightly choked by her tears – and some made her cry harder. She didn’t even realize that they noticed some of these quirks and some she didn’t even realize she had. She was so enthralled by reading them, she didn’t hear two steps of footsteps walking up to her.
“They’re the reasons we love you,” Shuri’s voice made her head snap towards them.
“Not all of them,” Tony added, “But we ran out of post-it notes.”
“You…” Nat took a deep breath in, still clutching some of the notes in her hand, “Why?”
Tony responded by lowering onto a single knee, Shuri mimicking his movement. Nat’s heart and mind felt scrambled as she gasped.
“Because I love you, we love you,” He stated, his voice cracking under emotion as he pulled out a ring box from his pocket and opened it to her.
Her stomach twisted at the sight of the box but she gasped yet again as her eyes fell upon a beautiful ruby ring instead of Shuri’s ring like she expected.
“Oh my god,” She breathed out.
“I’m an idiot,” Tony declared, huffing out a laugh, “No news there. But I planned on proposing to both of you at the same time. I showed Shuri this ring the same day I showed you hers. I want…I need both of you in my life forever.”
While Nat was processing this, Shuri pulled out a box from her pocket as well. She opened it to reveal ruby-encrusted band that would fit perfectly underneath the other ring.
“I know we neglect you sometimes for our work,” She admitted, her watery eyes filled with regret and hope, “I know it’s not easy putting up with us, but we want you to know that you are worth so much more than all this,” She gestured around the workshop, “We’re sorry that we ever made you feel like a third wheel, but we’re begging you to give us a second chance. We love you, so much.”
Her voice finally broke, but she put on a smile, “Will you marry us?”
Natasha took in a shaky breath, pressing her hands against her mouth. For once in her life, she didn’t analyze it. She didn’t systemically think of the pros and cons of her decision and she took the frozen dagger out of her heart.
They wanted her, they needed her. She wasn’t thrown to the side purposefully and she was still a part of their puzzle. Without her, there was no puzzle, like how a machine can’t work with a missing cog. She knew their words were true, it was written on their faces and her heart warmed in response to them.
She had imagined the rest of her life to be cold, void of light and warmth. She would have endured it and possibly could have convinced herself that she preferred it. But with them, her future seemed bright again and like a moth to a flame, she couldn’t help but be drawn back in.
“Yes,” She whispered and was suddenly tackled with an embrace, with Tony on her right and Shuri on her left.
“I love you both,” She stated, pulling in each of them for a passionate kiss and, oh how her lips had missed theirs.
After plenty of extra kisses later, they still held each other as if scared to let go.
“We probably need to have a talk about…all this,” Shuri tentatively spoke.
Nat snorted as Tony grumbled, but she agreed, “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. I also need to cancel the internship.”
“How are you going to do that?” Tony asked, happy about the subject change.
Nat arched a brow at him, smiling, “I have my ways. How did you convince them to let you cover the workshop with notes?”
He smiled cockily, “I have my ways as well.”
He didn’t convince them at all, in fact he didn’t even ask the instructors or the dean about it. Part of him was slightly worried that he and Shuri would get in trouble for it, but that could be dealt with later. All that mattered was that he had his Princess and Queen in his arms.
Right where they all belonged.