“I bet you won’t do it,” Zuni tells him in a taunting tone.
Jakarra makes an offended noise at the suggestion that he wouldn’t follow through on her dare, “will so,” he tells her, holding himself with pride. He’s a prince; he wasn’t about to let the Jabari scare him off. Or the snow even though Tata hated the snow.
“Then how come you’re not going?” M’Koni asks, giving him a self satisfied look that Jakarra is even more offended with.
“I haven’t had time to go! Those mountains are far away,” he reasons, giving the area in question a look. He’s never been up there before but climbing a mountain can’t be too hard, he climbed things all the time. Not things that big but there were pathways he was sure, the Jabari had to walk on something.
“That just means he’s not going to go,” Josh adds, also giving him a self satisfied look that Jakarra resents.
He resolutely starts marching forward, annoyed with his friends’ picking on him and they all scramble to follow. “Wait, Jakarra you can’t go there, they’re savages!” Zuni says, fear on her face and he rolls his eyes.
“First you bet I won’t go, now I can’t go because you are worried? I am going to go because Jabari don’t scare me,” he says in a tone that suggests finality and he starts marching forward again. His friends rush after him, protesting the whole way but he has made his decision. Tata said he was too much like his father but Jakarra didn’t think that was a bad thing so he took pride in it.
It takes forever to get there but eventually they get to the base of the mountain and luck is on their side because they find a path too. “Jakarra this is a dumb idea,” M’Koni tells him, stepping in a little closer to him as she looks up the mountain.
“I think it’ll be interesting,” Josh supplies, grinning at Zuni and M’Koni.
They look at him like he’s grown a second head, “you’re an idiot,” Zuni tells him bluntly.
“Is not, you started this all,” Jakarra points out. “Besides, who says we’ll even find any Jabari? They probably do things besides lurk on the mountainside. Come on.” He keeps walking resolutely forward and his friends consider their choices for a few seconds before all three run after him. It takes them awhile to find snow and Jakarra quickly finds out why Tata hated it so much. It’s wet and cold and he disliked it. When he tells his friends this Josh gives him a funny look.
“Haven’t you seen snow in America?” he asks and Jakarra shakes his head.
“Tata never visits in the winter, he hates this stuff,” he says, brushing a snowflake off his shoulder in annoyance. Now he saw why and apparently the ice was worse.
“I can see why,” Zuni mumbles, giving the snow a look of disdain.
“Its not too bad,” Josh tells them but he gets skeptical looks in return. “What? We get snow in Italy, its not that bad,” he says again. Jakarra makes a note never to visit Italy no matter how much his father loved it there. If there was snow he refused.
“I think his mother dropped him on his head as a child,” Zuni whispers to M’Koni in Wakandan and they giggle, giving Josh an amused look.
Josh looks offended and turns to Jakarra, “what did they say? You guys know I’m not good at Wakandan yet,” he tells them, accusatory look on his face. It was why they all used English- they all knew it thanks to its near universality elsewhere and only Jakarra understood Josh’s native Italian. It had been how they met when he had been confused in class and mumbling to himself in Italian when Jakarra responded, also in Italian. After that he basically refused to leave his side and thankfully he wasn’t annoying so Jakarra kept him around.
“They said you got dropped on your head as a child. I agree if you think this stuff is good, my shoes are soaked,” he says, looking down at his soggy footwear in dismay.
“That’s because they weren’t meant for the snow. We should leave here,” Josh says, “it was just a stupid dare.”
“That you guys started,” Jakarra reminds them and he presses on, his friends at his back because that’s just what friends did. Plus they were the ones that started all this, if they didn’t want him to do it they should have left him be. It takes them awhile before they come across something and when they find Mandla it’s a total surprise, mostly because he jumps down from above them.
*
T’Challa loved his child, he did, but Jakarra was testing his patience. He swore that despite no biological relation he ended up far more like Tony than he ever did T’Challa but his mother likes to remind him that’s not true. Apparently he was also stupidly impulsive as a child but he liked to think he remembered his childhood well enough to know he was never quite impulsive enough to nearly start a war. “Apologize,” he tells Jakarra in a harsh tone, “sincerely,” he adds when Jakarra gets that look. The same one Tony did when he was about to say something snarky and probably inflammatory.
Thankfully Jakarra looks repentant as he looks at Mandla, “I sincerely hope I get the opportunity to kick you in the face again,” he says and T’Challa yanks him out of the way before Mandla manages to get ahold of him.
M’Baku laughs, apparently having an odd sense of humor, clapping a couple times before he talks. “Your child is a funny one. Mind you tongue boy, or I’ll cut it out,” he says in a chipper tone that didn’t at all match his threat. Jakarra looks up at T’Challa for some kind of confirmation from a king he actually recognized and he sighs.
“Be thankful he didn’t do that when you were first brought here. He was gracious enough to contact me to collect you peacefully. Which I appreciate,” T’Challa tells M’Baku, eyes averted as he inclines his head just a little. It was barely a sign of respect in the rest of Wakanda but here it was basically a declaration of peace. “That,” he tells Jakarra, “is how you properly apologize when you have wronged someone.” He gives his child an irritated look before looking back to M’Baku. He looks impressed.
“And now I owe you nothing,” M’Baku says and T’Challa understands what happened here. So he didn’t save his child because he was being polite. He didn’t kill Jakarra because T’Challa didn’t kill him in the challenge for throne when he took it.
He inclines his head again and picks Jakarra up, walking out with him unharmed.
“What did he mean that he owed you nothing?” Jakarra asks as soon as they’re out of earshot.
“You shush,” he tells the child harshly. “You’ve stuck your nose into enough places you had no business in today.” Jakarra accepts his fate and remains quiet as T’Challa carries him back down the mountain to his home.
Later when he gets time he calls Tony. “Its late for you,” Tony says in place of a greeting and T’Challa sighs.
“I am up late because your child nearly started a war today,” he tells him. He can basically hear Tony’s facial expression change to one of shock and confusion. It paid to have someone who knew him so well despite the early protests to their relationship. To be fair Wakanda was far less suspicious of outsiders with years of proof that outsiders could be let in without them losing their ways.
“He’s my child now, guess that war is literal. Color me curious though, how did an eight year old nearly start a war?” he asks.
By being stupid enough to torment the Jabari over a dare. T’Challa tells Tony the whole story from beginning to end and Tony lets out a sigh when he’s finished. “My mother likes to remind me I was an impulsive child, and arrogant too, but I like to think I was not this bad. He is supposed to be king some day and this is how he acts?” T’Challa shakes his head. This was unfathomably stupid, and the effects… T’Challa didn’t want to think about that at the moment. It would have been bad enough to have Wakandan citizens die because of his child’s stupidity, but there were people here who had no real history here, who had only base knowledge of why the Jabari separated themselves long ago and their deaths would be more in vain than the rest of the citizens.
“Relax, T’Challa. He’s eight- I doubt he’s going to be like this as an adult. We both know that a past as an arrogant fuckhead doesn’t guarantee an adulthood that’s the same way. Granted if he follows my timeline… well lets hope he doesn’t. Point is he’s a kid and yeah he did a really stupid thing for an even dumber reason. But that isn’t who he is,” he says softly.
T’Challa sighs, “lets hope so because M’Baku was only polite enough to spare him because I spared his life when I became king. If he does something stupid like this again we likely won’t be as lucky.”
*
It was stupid to antagonize the Jabari but, Jakarra thinks, it might be more stupid to go back after doing so. But he does because he felt that the Jabari were owed a real apology so he makes his way back up the mountain, this time in footwear that wouldn’t soak through. It’s a long, cold trip but this time when Mandla drops in on him he hears it coming and steps out of the way.
“You’re a fast learner,” he says, eyeing Jakarra suspiciously.
“Do you always perch on rocks ready to pounce on anyone who passes? Because that is-“ he shakes his head, not following through on the insult. It would just make his apology look bad.
“Its what?” Mandla asks, raising an eyebrow.
Jakarra shakes his head again, “nothing important. Look, I’m… sorry,” he says with some difficulty, avoiding eye contact like you were supposed to here. In America things were strange because eye contact was considered necessary for an apology. In Wakanda it was a sign of disrespect.
“You’re… apologizing?” Mandla asks, obviously surprised.
“No, I climbed up this mountain because I like the snow,” he says sarcastically.
Mandla smiles, “its so pretty!” he agrees and Jakarra rolls his eyes.
“No wonder everyone thinks the Jabari are stupid,” he mumbles.
“Well it is pretty whether you see it or not. Better than being hot and sticky everywhere else,” Mandla mumbles and Jakarra raises an eyebrow.
“How do you know what the weather is like elsewhere?” he asks, indignant.
Mandla rolls his eyes, “I know things, princeling. We study geography here too,” he says in a mocking tone.
“Fine, whatever. I said I was sorry and that’s all I’m here to do so bye,” he tells Mandla in an annoyed tone and he stomps back in the direction he came.
“I hate you!” Mandla calls after him.
“I hate you too!” Jakarra calls back, waving a hand around as he goes.
*
Tony gives Jakarra a disappointed look, “seriously, almost starting a war? Stupid move, kid, you’re smarter than that,” he says. T’Challa gives Tony a look because he was terrible at discipline and Jakarra knew it. Tony disliked the idea of Jakarra not liking him- a remnant of the way his father treated him and he cursed Howard for that every time he thought of the man. And every time Jakarra was in trouble only to get unimpressed looks from Tony and little else.
Jakarra looks like a scolded cat but he sighs, “I already got all the lectures from Tata, including all the ones about being a terrible king,” he adds. He looks unimpressed with this but that was his reality and the sooner he learned to think his way out of situations the better. And preferably learn not to get himself into the situations where he could start wars.
“You should listen you know, he’s trying to teach you,” Tony tells Jakarra gently. “And his advice is pretty much always right, I’d know, I ask for it often and he’s kind enough to make time for me.”
“Can we get back to you being the fun parent?” Jakarra asks and Tony laughs.
“Maybe when you stop nearly starting wars, kid. Until then my marriage in danger if I’m not mad at you,” Tony says. T’Challa smacks his palm to his forehead and sighs as Jakarra laughs. He loved Tony dearly but sometimes he wished for a half a second Tony would respond like near anyone but himself. But when Jakarra hugs Tony he does have to admit that it was sweet, even if the two of them were infuriating sometimes.