Chapter Text
Bed Sharing AU
New York was the worst. Why did people live here. What purpose did it serve. Why had he agreed to meet a prospective client here.
“You’re coming up on a hotel now,” Shuri said, voice tinny through the speakers. It was one of the few times she actually sounded sympathetic. “I’m sorry. I should have insisted on something in the city. I just thought you might like being away from the crowds.”
“I did until this blizzard came out of nowhere,” T’Challa muttered, squinting through the snow.
“I’m sure it’s not a blizzard to New Yorkers,” Shuri replied. “In any case, I’ll contact the client and let him know you won’t make it.”
“Sorry,” T’Challa offered. He knew Shuri had been really looking forward to this deal. It was unfortunate that she’d been in the middle of an experiment that needed her supervision; he would have offered to keep an eye on it so she could come instead.
Shuri was quiet for a moment before she answered, “It’s not your fault. I probably would have gotten lost in the storm too, anyway.” There was a clicking sound as she tapped at her screens. “The hotel should be just there!” she added sharply.
T’Challa hit the breaks and slid a few feet. Luckily he’d been going slow enough that it probably would have been faster to get out and walk. He peered out the window. “I see it. Thanks, Shuri.”
“Stay warm, T’Challa. Call me in the morning so I know you didn’t freeze to death on the way to the lobby,” Shuri replied. She was only somewhat joking.
T’Challa nodded and pulled into the parking lot. “Of course.” He let out a soft noise of vindication when he noticed another car with New York plates turning in just behind him, moving more on par with a tortoise than a muscle car. So it wasn’t just him. This weather was shit.
He forgot all about the other driver as soon as he opened the door. Shit. Hell. It was cold. It was very cold. He missed Wakanda. He missed long, hot days and beautiful sunsets. New York was abysmal. Fuck New York. Especially fuck New York in winter.
T’Challa had been so focused on getting into the warmth of the hotel that he hadn’t stopped to consider how full the parking lot had been. Not until the concierge saw the person coming in behind him and her face fell. His gut clenched with anxiety. He didn’t want to have to call Shuri and ask her for more directions because the nearest hotel was full.
“I only have room bed left,” the concierge said nervously. “With one bed in it.”
T’Challa felt his shoulders sag. He turned to ask if the man minded, because maybe if he was native he would know where the next closest hotel was and could get to it. The question shriveled and died in his throat when he actually saw the person .
It was like every cartoon of a kitten abandoned in the rain rolled into one. The man was wet, and shivering, and his eyes were big and brown and the only thing visible on his face because of the scarf wrapped around up to his nose. There was still snow in his hair.
He said something that sounded like ‘bebed.’ The concierge stared at him, uncomprehending.
Luckily, T’Challa had a little sister who often talked with her mouth full when she was in the middle of a project and their mother wasn’t there to scold her. “How big is the bed?”
The concierge’s eyes darted back and forth between them. “Uh―it’s a full.”
T’Challa turned to look at the man. Somehow, the man managed to wordlessly convey his hopefulness with just his big brown eyes. He was giving T’Challa the choice, since he’d gotten there first.
T’Challa had always been weak for kittens.
“We’ll take it,” T’Challa said. “And an extra blanket.”
.-.-.-.
“Thanks,” the man said once they’d stepped into the room, beginning to unwind his scarf. “Also sorry for making that lady think we’re a gay couple.”
“I mean… if she thinks I’m the sort of asshole to not hold the door open for my boyfriend, that’s on her,” T’Challa muttered. If he’d known the man had been so close behind him, he of course would have held the door open for him. He just hadn’t been able to see him through the snow.
“In any case, thank you,” the man said again. “I can sleep on the floor, if you―oh,” he said when he saw T’Challa was spreading the extra blanket over the bed.
T’Challa stripped off his coat and grabbed a hanger to put it on. “This night is already weird. As long as you don’t snore, I don’t mind sharing a bed.”
“I talk in my sleep around one in the morning,” the man offered. “But you can just push me out of the bed then.”
T’Challa considered it, remembered this man was a stranger and not his sister, and asked, “Can I just wake you up instead?”
“Oh,” the man said.
The man’s honest surprise that he would rather wake him up instead of assault him made T’Challa finally turn.
He nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw the man was staring up at him as if he didn’t know what to say. He somehow looked even more like a kitten now, bright-eyed and wondering. He had also stripped off his coat and boots and was even smaller than T’Challa had previously thought. Why would he ever push a kitten out of bed? Especially a tiny one?
“I’ve also been told I cuddle people when I’m asleep,” the man warned weakly.
T’Challa considered this as well, but immediately disregarded it as unimportant. Anything would be better than the time he and Shuri got stuck in the mud and had to sleep in the car until help came. She’d stuck her feet in his face. Having someone (handsome) hug him in his sleep wasn’t a big deal. “The body heat will keep me from dying,” T’Challa said. “Because New York is awful and cold and I hate it and I want to go home.”
The man couldn’t help a bark of laughter, and T’Challa thought the smile on his face was much better than the concern or the wide-eyed wonder. “You and me both! I grew up here! It’s why I moved to Malibu. Fuck the cold. As soon as this blizzard blows over, I’m going home and never leaving again.”
T’Challa felt even more vindicated than he had been earlier. This native New Yorker had called the storm a blizzard, too. It wasn’t just him. “I’ll make my sister come to New York next time,” T’Challa agreed. He held out his hand. “T’Challa.”
“T’Challa?” the man repeated dumbly, taking his hand.
T’Challa had gotten that response every time he’d introduced himself since leaving Wakandan soil. “Yes. It’s Wakandan.”
“I’m supposed to meet a Wakandan,” the man said, voice small.
T’Challa paused, staring at him, before asking, “Tony? Tony Stark?”
“Oh my God and you saw me after I fell on my ass in the snow,” Tony gasped, horrified.
“Well it’s a good thing I did,” T’Challa said with good humor. “You looked so sad, I had to let you share my room.”
“If my partner ever hears about this, she’ll cut off my balls and make me eat them,” Tony said miserably. “We wanted to make a good impression. We really want to work with you and your sister on combining green energy. Me dragging you out in a blizzard because I’m too stubborn to admit the weather is better than me is not a good impression.”
“Tony,” T’Challa said.
Tony looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him. “You could have gotten hurt. And you said you hate it here and want to go home! I should have agreed to come to Africa to meet you instead!”
“It’s fine,” T’Challa said. “I was joking. Please calm down.”
“And now you’re letting me sleep in bed with you instead of on the floor after I was the worst person ever!” Tony wailed.
T’Challa had never been able to turn his back on a crying kitten. It was why his mother had threatened to kick him out when he brought home an entire box of them. “Tony,” he said again, but Tony was beginning to work himself into a frenzy, and he wasn’t quite sure how to break through his frantic rambling. So he just picked Tony up and put him on the bed.
Tony looked like he’d been struck by lightning. “What are you doing?”
“I’m cold. I’m tired. I just got off a plane two hours ago,” T’Challa explained, walking around to the other side of the bed. He pulled the blankets back and crawled under them. “I want to warm up and sleep. I’ll ignore you putting my life in danger if you let me put my toes on you.”
“Oh,” Tony said, doing that thing where he looked wondering and awed all at once.
T’Challa did not want to know why basic human kindness was foreign to him and so did not wait to put his toes on Tony’s leg. Tony made an adorable yelping noise, offended, but didn’t move.
.-.-.-.
Tony did not talk at one in the morning, but T’Challa did wake up to find Tony curled around him like the world’s clingiest koala. T’Challa went back to sleep and didn’t wake up until both of their phones started going off at nine. Tony didn’t move, curled up against his chest.
T’Challa silenced their phones, curled around Tony again, and went back to sleep.