The Disk
T’Challa was very close to tasering people and making off with the genius. When he wasn’t with the warriors and guards, he was teaching, or designing and building, or just being whisked away from the prince. He wanted to shout “I saw him first! He’s mine!” but had to keep pretending social etiquette outweighed primal instincts of territory and protection. Truthfully he was only stopped by his need to respect and honor Tony’s autonomy and happiness.
But seriously, three weeks of not seeing the man but in passing was taking a toll. He found himself getting upset easier, looking to fight anyone, had a hard time focusing, wanted to prowl his territory rather than sleep as if afraid someone would truly take the engineer from him.
“Seem upset,” comments the spider kid when T’Challa finds himself in the lab again. “Need any help?”
“No, thank you.” He sets a little harshly.
“The mechanic isn’t here.” The potato wielding one says as he gives a knowing smirk. A smirk too similar to Tony’s; both boys reminded him of them actually. “But I could tell you where he is, for a small price?”
“Harley!” Peter hisses. “He’s the Prince! And we are guests!” The two boys stare off, battling each other with their eyes, making T-Challa’s quirk an eyebrow as he feels the energy shift – two powerful shifters were in his mist. How he never noticed before was mind boggling.
“Fine.” Harley groans, rolling his eyes as the electric charge in the air disappears. “He’s out at the border meeting with the mining tribe. Wanted to see if there was anything he could do to help them.”
“He left about an hour ago so he should still be there, your highness.”
“Thank you.” T’Challa turns on his heels and heads out, barely stopping to undress before shifting to his tiger form. He only waited long enough for his guards to shift as well before running towards the mining tribe. Thoughts of find, protect, mate, drummed through his veins and encouraged him to go faster. It still took him longer than he liked to get there, and too long to find the older gentleman but eventually he found the man gesturing wildly as he talks to the leaders.
Slowing down so he doesn’t startle them or accidently put them on alert thinking there was an attack happening, T’Challa makes his way over. He could see when they were all aware of his presence when Tony stills like a statue before turning to him. “Hey Pink Panther,” the man greets in his teasing tone.
He shifts, his stride not faltering as he makes his way over. “Good afternoon, Anthony.” The prince could already feel a lightness in his chest. “What brought you out here?”
“I wanted to see how I could help with…….” He blushes, “well with healing the earth since mining leaves pockets and damage in its wake no matter how careful one tries to be. But I have to figure out how the meteorite and vibranium affects the land. And you?”
T’Challa didn’t even think about lying. “I’m here to see you. Seems like I never see you anymore.”
“Sorry. I have been caught up in a lot lately. Didn’t mean to ignore you.” Tony looked guilty and that just wouldn’t do.
“No, Tony. You have done nothing to apologize for. You have been bettering life for my countrymen. I’m just impatient and have been missing your company.”
“So…..” Tony cocks and eyebrow up and smirks. “You got jealous? Of your country?” T’Challa could feel his cheeks heat as he blushes, hands going behind his back as he clasps them together at the wrist. “Oh my Tesla! You have!” The man cackles but moves closer to the younger man, so T’Challa couldn’t feel anything but joy. “Well, how about we go fix that?” Tony waggles his eyebrows and turns to tell the others he will be back another time. “So then. Shall we go for a walk? Maybe I can finally show you what that disk does, and actually give it to you.”
“Let’s.” He grins. He got Tony back, and things felt right again
************
“Alright, you ready for this?” Tony asks with a huge grin on his face as he shows of the simple looking disk.
“Of course.” The prince grins right back. He had been ready since the moment Tony had mentioned it, but the engineer made him wait until they were away from everyone. Even the Milaje were not within viewing distance – though were within hearing distance and would be able to get to them quickly if necessary. “I am, as Americans say, at the edge of my chair.”
“Seat.” Tony corrects. He holds out his free hand in a simple ‘stop’ gesture and then flips the disk into the air, the disk soaring up a few feet before falling to the forest floor.
“What-“ he is shushed, and so he keeps his eyes on the disk as a kid would a magician. The prince watches as a figure emerges and begins taking shape in the light, almost looking solid except for the glow given off by the object.
“Hello, your majesty,” the hologram greets him in a Cajun accent. “I am, REMI. Royal Exemplar and Mission Intelligence. I was created to help with royal duties as well as being a support system, especially when you are the Black Panther.”
“………………” He stood there with his mouth hanging open, no clue what to say to the fact Tony had gifted him with not only an AI, but an advanced one that could also be either contained in a simple disk or was able to interact with it.
“Not all the bugs have been figured out, but I’ll be able to figure it out soon, I promise.”
The poor man is getting nervous and insecure. Do something!
“The disk also shifts so you could wear it like jewelry easily. Just need to apply a bit of heat before molding it. Can change it quite a bit without trouble. I tested it out………..Please say something.”
He didn’t. No, he used his lips instead to kiss the genius, hoping to render him speechless as well, and show just how much he liked the gift.