Chapter 1
T’Challa sighs, somewhat annoyed with the turn of events in his life as of late. Shuri, who was usually jealous of his position, now thought this was all very amusing and he did not agree. The need to open Wakanda up to the rest of the world is necessary for a number of reasons, T’Challa agreed, but he did not know why that should involve marrying him off. He thought Wakanda was past that particularly dark part of their history where they treated their omegas like cattle more than people but his father’s current plan to integrate them into world politics stated otherwise.
“Oh stop being dramatic,” Shuri tells him, “it’s all your choice,” she points out.
“Except that I must make one. I do not leave this without getting married to someone- what if all of my choices are awful?” It was a legitimate worry; he had no interest in being treated like a farm animal in some other country because he ended up choosing the least awful, though still awful, of his suitors.
“Marry a man to piss everyone off,” Shuri suggests.
He lets out a sharp laugh, “oh, that would cause a fuss. Then you get stuck carrying on the royal line,” he says. Shuri wrinkles her nose at this but he knows that if she had to she would have children. Typically the child of the first born, meaning T’Challa, would carry on the royal line but he had less interest in children then his sister and unlike her he was not willing to make that sacrifice. The problem with Shuri taking on that responsibility, though, is that she is the product of their father’s second marriage- making her almost illegitimate. T’Challa, by his country’s current standards, would always be the preferred leader and royalty bearer.
“I lied. Be good and marry a woman. To be honest I am surprised you have choices that are not women, I did not see that coming,” she says. Neither did he but he knew his father was going out of his way to try and make him confortable and accommodating for his sexuality was an easy way to do that. But they all knew T’Challa was not supposed to choose a man, that was not in his country’s best interest and he was to always think of Wakanda first, regardless of the consequences to himself. That, according to his father, was his job as future king. To a point he agreed- of course his people should come first- but to do so at the cost of himself seemed contradictory. If he was to lead he needed to take care of himself so he could take care of his people, always putting the people first then becomes detrimental.
Moderation was always key, at least to him, and that was the way he was going to choose to lead. Of course he would always think of the people, but he would think of himself too and then make a decision that benefited them both, sacrifice when he could, and be uncompromising when he could not. This was one of those times where, as much as he would like to walk away, he would not. “I highly doubt I will like any of my options, man, woman, or otherwise. I have no interest in being house omega and an unfortunate amount of countries still assume the omega’s place is anywhere but where I need to be. I am supposed to be a king, how could I possibly marry someone who would likely prevent that?” he asks. Senseless was what this was, but it was still a useful integration tool. Even if T’Challa thought they could do better.
“Marry someone who does not have their head in their ass,” Shuri says. She rolls their eyes, “what fool with that opinion would even show up here?” she asks and T’Challa raises an eyebrow, “fine, fair point. I am aware that we have useful resources but I highly doubt they would make it far in this… marriage selection. Do you know the Americans have a show with a similar premise to this called The Bachelor? It is strangely addictive.”
“I am never speaking to you again if you find that junk entertaining,” he says.
“As if you do not like bad television, I know you have a secret fondness for British soap operas. You went to school there for a year and come back with a bunch of awful shows in tow, so no judging me for my bad taste.” He would object but she was right, he did have a secret fondness for all British television. That did not mean that he was going to accept Shuri’s bad television habits. They continue to argue about it back and forth before she gets bored and slinks off to go do whatever it was she did in her spare time.
*
Tony had zero interest in Wakanda, the prince, or anything else in relation to this whole marriage thing. But Obi had insisted, claiming it would be good for the company though Tony didn’t see how. Since he took over two years ago- when he was twenty one- the company has flourished in ways no one could have predicted. He is a genius, after all, so obviously he would have done fine but people were particularly surprised with his success because his entry into position as CEO involved him shutting down the weapons sector of the company. Everyone said he was a fool for it but he saw what those weapons did and he had no interest in carrying out the legacy of Howard Stark. Maybe before…
Now, though, he was stuck with Obi as a business partner and normally that wasn’t awful- except when it was. That was how he had, behind his back, been stuck into some bizarre competition for the attentions of the young omega Prince of Wakanda. It seemed a bit old fashioned to him but what the hell did he know about Wakanda? Because the answer was nothing he didn’t think he’d be a decent match for the prince but Obadiah had other ideas. And a sudden acceptance that Tony wasn’t straight. Pepper warned him against going but he figured he could knock himself out of the running quick and return to his lab and his company without Obi sitting around pestering him about things.
It wasn’t like he was a decent marriage candidate anyways, as a person or in the general context of what a high-powered politician would want or need. He knew that he was an ass, the he was selfish, and callus, none of those things made him the most likable of people let alone someone anyone would want to marry. So he’d go, disappoint Obadiah, and leave with his dignity and non-marriage status in tact. It would be like a small vacation, but without Obi breathing down his neck the whole time like he usually did.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Pepper asks, worried about him.
“Nope. But when am I ever sure of anything?” he asks with a grin. Pretty much his whole life has been him winging it and coming out more than on top, he had faith that would continue to work.
“Shutting down the weapons sector of the company,” Pepper says, “it’s the only thing I’ve ever seen you do because you were completely sure of it.” He stills for a moment, remembering coming back from Afghanistan traumatized but determined not to be his father. The trip was never meant to end badly- he and Howard were demoing the Jericho bomb and then… And then Howard was killed and Tony, he was lucky to escape for a solid five seconds before he was knocked out and captured. For three months he was kept in a cave with a broken leg making some sort of attempt to build a fucking bomb for terrorists while Yinsen tried to fix him. Together they managed to fool the people holding them hostage long enough for Tony to escape- Yinsen not being so lucky- and he was back in America.
Don’t waste your life. When Tony came back Yinsen’s words haunted him, they still did, but shutting weapons down was a good start in honoring that. “It was the right thing to do,” Tony says eventually, because it’s true, and a lot less horrifying than the whole tale.
“So it is, but you didn’t seem to care before,” Pepper reminds him gently. No, he hadn’t, because he was too caught up in trying to impress a man that was never going to be impressed with him and he was using blood money to do it. He shouldn’t have needed to experience what the people affected by his weapons to know they were wrong but that was how things went.
“Well, I care now. But back to the subject at hand- I might as well go and be my regular self, fail, and then Obi won’t be riding both of our asses about it. You know me, Pep, do you really think I’m marriage material?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
Pepper smiles and shakes her head, “no, I don’t. But please don’t do something drastic while you’re there,” she says, “I’ve had enough heart attacks from your antics.”
He huffs out a laugh, “it’s me Pep, I’m sure at some point I’ll do something to draw attention to myself.” When Rhodey had found him he asked how he had known and Rhodey had laughed and told him that some things just screamed Tony Stark and a giant explosion was one of those things.
*
Tony sticks to the back of the crowd, outright avoiding people in general let alone T’Challa. The point was to go unnoticed for as long as possible and then if he was lucky he’d get kicked out for being so boring. That’d be a change of pace for him given his usual overexcitement. The crowd, he gathers, isn’t any more exciting than he is playing dull and he feels for T’Challa. He moves away from everyone else and ducks out a door onto a rather nice balcony, even by his own standards. From what he’s seen the whole country was nice, and very… green. He had no idea what he was supposed to expect but he didn’t figure he’d find a huge amount of trees for some reason. Or at least this area had a lot of trees, he had no clue what the rest of the country looked like.
He’s standing there for a few minutes before he hears a small meow to his left. He turns and finds a small white cat perched on a small ledge slowly inching towards him looking frightened. “How the hell did you even get there?” he asks the animal, moving closer to the edge of the deck to help the cat. He doesn’t get an answer from the animal, obviously, and the little fur ball scoots away when he reaches out. “Damnit, if you don’t want to die over there you best get your furry butt over here,” Tony tells it. Why he thought the cat would listen he had no idea, but the two small steps it takes backwards was irritating. “Oh come on, I’ve only got so much reach and you’ve only got so much ledge, make it easy for me,” he says, wiggling his fingers a bit. Mercifully the feline recognizes that it would benefit from the rescue and it starts crawling forward again. Tony manages to take hold of the cat and bring it back over the edge of the balcony, safe though probably a little traumatized.
“Thank you for rescuing my cat. I have no idea how Jujube even gets up there but this is not the first time,” someone says from behind him. He just about drops the fluffy white cat- Jujube- but he manages to keep hold of the poor feline while he turns.
“Oh, uh, hi. Your cat might have a death wish,” he says, barely stopping himself from saying they had that in common. T’Challa didn’t need to know about his recklessness because it wasn’t relevant. Of course he’d run into the prince while trying to avoid him. That was just his luck.
“She does, she likes high places and then suckers people into rescuing her from herself,” T’Challa says, grinning at the cat. Apparently Tony had that in common too, except his ‘high’ places were more like terrible press coverage or being captured by terrorists. And to be fair he mostly saved himself from terrorists. Pepper had to save him from the press though.
“Well… at least she’s cute,” Tony says for lack of anything remotely more interesting.
T’Challa considers him for a moment, head titled to the side. “Why are you out here? If I did not know any better I would think you are avoiding me given that I am the main attraction,” he says, a slight resentment tingeing his tone. Ahh, so Wakanda wasn’t so old-fashioned after all. Which begged the question of what all this even was then.
“To be honest I am. Again, in the interest of not wasting time of either of us, I have a bit of a bully for a business partner and it was easier to go along with his grand plans to make connections with Wakanda than to fight him on it. I’m not sure what he’s looking for though, the only thing I can think of is vibranium but that metal is too hard for most of my projects, and it isn’t very conductive. If he was looking for business ventures he should have chosen a prince with a bunch of gold. So basically I’m here until you kick me out, which can be now if you want, I won’t take it personally,” he jokes. Of course he wouldn’t, that was his whole plan.
T’Challa’s eyebrows shoot up, “well that is certainly interesting. Most people here have agendas, mostly political agendas, and to be fair so do I so I cannot really fault them for that. I did not expect to find someone without an ulterior motive, though.” He tilts his head again quizzically; examining Tony in what he thinks is a new way.
“I do have an agenda, it just doesn’t happen to include you,” Tony points out, “though I am interested in what you’re looking to achieve. This all seems a little… three hundred years ago by American standards.” Roughly, depending on what area you were from and sometimes race or culture. There were different courting conducts for most places and cultures to it sort of depended on where you were from and any cultural background you have. Hell, these days different subcultures had different rituals too- like the gay scene in San Francisco. There were a whole host of new rituals around same sex couples, combining cultures, and even accommodations for relationships with more than two people, though you’d have to find a tolerant community for that.
“This is three hundred years ago by Wakanda’s standards too, but this is an easy way to open the country up to the rest of the world and make easy ties politically and culturally. I certainly do not appreciate it, but I understand the importance of my father’s decision to integrate Wakanda back into world politics,” T’Challa tells him. He’s right, of course, but Tony still raises an eyebrow at that.
“True, though that doesn’t explain my presence. Pretty sure gay marriage would piss people off more than anything,” Tony points out, “and isn’t Wakanda doing fine? I’ve heard rumors of utopia.”
“Ha, utopia. Perhaps after the civil wars that ensued after we first closed off the country, and after we stopped relying on mining for our economy due to environmental damage. But we are sitting in a bubble- it would not do well for us to have an abundance of infighting so I suppose compared to some countries we might be utopian. And that is another problem- sitting in a bubble does not give you genetic variety, which is why there is an assumption that I will marry a woman despite the accommodation to my sexuality. That was more for my own comfort given that I am not at all comfortable with this whole… thing,” T’Challa says, waving a hand around. He wrinkles his nose in distaste too, obviously not pleased.
Tony laughs, “oh my god, did you just all but admit to me that you’re inbred? Because if you want people to leave quick, just tell everyone else that,” he says, snickering. Jujube does not appreciate his jostling her with his laughter so she starts squirming and he releases her onto the deck.
“I am not inbred, thank you, but if we continue the isolation we will be. We are not that large of a country and with no immigration or other methods of gathering new genetic material, well, I am certain you know basic science. And as much as I would like to sabotage my own marriage I will not because it is important. Though if you know anyone with a secret vendetta against omegas I would love to know. I hate cooking,” he says, shuddering in distaste.
“That’s gunna depend highly on specific geographical location, most countries are all over the place with the omega thing. God knows why, who cares? You smell pretty in heat, that’s about all that makes you special. No offense,” he throws in. It wasn’t like he was much more special, alphas were basically useless outside of chemically reacting to omegas the most, which did little more than help the reproduction of the species along a bit. Even then betas got busy too, humanity would be fine without anyone’s hormones making bizarre laws for omegas to follow because they smelled ok for a few days a month. Tony felt bad for anyone who had a menstrual cycle that coincided with their heat. That just seemed unpleasant.
“No offense taken,” T’Challa says, “at least I know there is at least one person here who does not have much of an interest in me. I never thought that would be something I found appealing. And I do know you have no interest, I am quite good at reading people so lying would not be wise.” His tone is just shy or sharp, but it’s final, Tony didn’t doubt that T’Challa really was good at reading people though Tony has never been a good liar where it counts. The only thing he was good at lying about was how much he slept, or more accurately didn’t sleep, the night before. After years of practice he finally managed to learn how to lie to Pepper so she wouldn’t worry about him so much. The bonus was that it worked on Rhodey too.
“Well, I guess that explains your honesty,” Tony says. For all T’Challa knew Tony could have been lying through his teeth to get to know him better, but he didn’t doubt that he was easy enough to read. It was something he knew because Obi tried to train him out of it for business purposes. Tony just learned to use it to his advantage instead because there was no way he’d break his habit of showing near all. “Ten bucks says you get a ridiculous amount of jewelry out of this,” Tony says, grinning.
“I already have, and if I receive some other tacky ring or necklace I might lose my mind,” T’Challa says, rolling his eyes.