When Tony's cellphone goes off at three in the morning Loki is ready to rain sweet vengeance upon whoever has the audacity to call at such an unreasonable hour.
“Hey there King Kitty. Why are you calling at three in the morning?” He hears Tony says and Loki opens his eyes. If T’Challa is calling Tony's personal cellphone it can't be good.
“You're visiting the UN building? Ummm…Sure I'll watch her, but she isn't going to like being treated like a kid. And she's definitely going hate having a babysitter...oh... alright then. See you both in the morning,” Tony says and hangs up.
“What was that about?” Stephen asks his voice mumbled by the pillow his face is buried in.
“King Kitty is visiting the UN building tomorrow and was wondering if we would let Shuri stay here for a couple hours,” Tony says.
“Surely Shuri is old enough to take care of herself,” Loki says.
“He's not worried about Shuri, he's worried about what she could do to New York if left unattended,” Tony says chuckling.
“Maria will be excited to meet new people,” Loki says.
“The princess of Stark Tower is going to meet the King and Princess of Wakanda. It's amazing,” Stephen says with a tired chuckle before softly snoring again.
Tony chuckles fondly and curls up with him and the others and they fall asleep.
The next morning Maria pays then absolutely no attention. Her focus is soley on the two new people in her home.
She likes the sound of T’Challa’s voice and she likes the sassy way Shuri talks to everyone.
“Brother, I am expecting you and Nakia to give me a niece as if not more adorable than Maria here,” Shuri says.
“I... Shuri, Nakia and I are not…” T’Challa says and is interrupted by Maria's hysterical laughter. Shuri simply smiles at her brother and continues playing with Maria's grabby hands.
“You are such an adorable little girl. Yes you are. Now, as a little sister it is your job to embarrass your older brothers as much as you can. You should tease them about crushes and video them being stupid,” Shuri says to the giggling Maria.
“I apologize for any trouble that Shuri teaches Maria,” T’Challa says and beats a hasty retreat out of the penthouse.
“As you can see I have perfected the art of embarrassing my brother,” Shuri says making Maria giggle.
“Shuri, do you want to watch Maria while we start breakfast?” Tony asks and Shuri nods.
When the adults are gone Shuri pulls out a small Black Panther plushie and hands it to Maria.
“Now, don't let my brother see that. He does not need a swelled head,” Shuri whisper with a wink at Maria.
Yeah, Maria definitely likes the Princess of Wakanda.