Day 52
T'Challa isn't sure how exactly they got here but here they were in a disagreement. Really a fight but he hated that terminology. He hated how it held the connotation that he would harm the love of his life in any form, so he decided it must be called a disagreement. A loud one but still a disagreement.
"You think you know everything but you don't! You know barely anything about the real world! You have no idea how many things work!" Tony yells from the other side of the living room. T'Challa can see the panic and fear in his eyes, in his body language but he didn't dare cross the invisible line that Tony created to assuage that fear.
Plus he was plenty upset himself and might not be able to be of any comfort.
"And you think that because you lived longer and lived a harsher life that you know everything." He didn't yell, but his voice was definitely raised. "But you don't. You only know how the world you lived in works, but you have no idea how mine works. You know nothing."
"Then why are you here? Why are you with me? We clearly belong to different worlds."
Oh. That was the crux of it all.
"We may be from different worlds but it doesn't mean they do not overlap. It does not mean they cannot blend. It does not mean that we cannot create our own."
"Who are you fooling? Our lives do not work that way." Tony hugs his middle, shoulders hunching as if to make himself smaller. "We should not be together. It will all end eventually and I will be alone again." That last comes out barely a whisper, and the prince is sure he wasn't meant to hear it.
And that might have been what broke his heart the most.
T'Challa is quick to cover the ground between them, arms wrapping around his older lover. "Yes it can work," he whispers softly but surely. "You have been known to defy all odds, to make your own rules. You even defy physics. Tony, you can do the impossible. And I will gladly do the same."
"No," Tony pulls away. "No." He holds his hand up to stop T'Challa from following. "I cannot do the impossible. Improbable maybe, but not the impossible." Tony turns to leave and T'Challa is left alone wondering if his heart has just been shattered.
*******
Doctor Stark,
I know you must be aware that Prince T'Challa is heir apparent and while we are glad he has found time to pursue his interests, he is needed back in Wakanda for an undetermined amount of time.
It also means that during that time he will be meeting with potential matches. No matter how much he cares for you, he will need to find a suitable partner and have them bear his children. This does not mean that you cannot be his partner, his consort, but he is expected to take another.
You will have two weeks before he is notified and is called back. Please do not accompany him.
The Wakanda Council