Work Text:
"Princess, I’m tellin’ you, you don’t want to go to this thing,” Bucky murmured as Shuri fussed over him, fluffing his hair and doing up his cufflinks, “You ain’t gonna like this party. I’m only going for a minute to say hi to Steve, but then I’m going straight back to the hotel.”
She let out an exasperated sigh as she smoothed out his lapel. It had been the same argument for the entire week prior to the event, and on the plane to New York, and upon their arrival at the hotel, “Ingcuka, I did not come all this way just to sit in a hotel room while you and T’Challa make nice with Stark. You know if anyone could do that, it would be me. He...how did he put it when we saw him last? Appreciates my know-how?”
“Please believe me when I say that the last thing on Stark’s mind at this thing is going to be anybody’s know-how,” he scoffed, taking a seat as she made her way over to the vanity to touch up her makeup, “Trust me, Doll. This party, it won’t be anything you haven’t seen before.”
“Well, I feel like dancing,” she said, her eyes hopeful as she applied her lip gloss and then turned to face him, “Buck, come on. I haven’t been out in so long. And it’s Christmas…” Seeing that her approach wasn’t working, clearly, she decided to change tact, “I’m ready to go! Don’t make me put all of this to waste.” With a grand spin, she struck a pose for his appraisal, “Don’t pretend like you don’t want to show me off; I know you do.”
She was the full package, he’d conceded to himself lamely. Decked out from head to foot in sparkling silver, hair situated into a tight updo, Shuri was truly a vision. If it had been any other event, Bucky would have been ecstatic to show up with her on his arm. But this...he just wouldn’t be able to stomach bringing his princess to what was sure to be one of the most classless evenings of the year.
“Let me have my fun tonight,” Shuri said, reaching out for his hand, “I’ve never gotten to go to a Stark party. I feel like I’m the only one left who hasn’t!”
“You’re lucky for it,” he insisted, letting out a sigh when she crossed her arms over her chest and planted her feet, “I’m not going to talk you out of this, am I?” Bucky asked reluctantly.
Her eyes lit up then at her apparent victory, “I’m glad you’ve seen reason.”
“Oh, I haven’t,” he let out a chuckle, “but I’m certain you’ll be ready to pull you own hair out in the first twenty minutes, so I’ll take solace in being able to say I told you so.”
A smile spread across her face then as she slipped into her shoes and let her hands fall to her hips, “How do I look?”
“Beautiful,” Bucky murmured, his own smile growing as he drew her hands into his own, “You better save a dance for me.”
*
“Oh, wow; looks like they got started without us,” Bucky murmured as the elevator opened to the top floor of the Stark compound. Remnants of an already-toppled wall lay at their feet, opening up a walkway to the common room, where the party was in full swing.
“You weren’t kidding,” Shuri chuckled as she watched the dozens of wildly dancing party-goers, in their varying levels of dress. Her senses were overwhelmed by the dim light and music thumping in her ears.
Shuri was swiftly brought to, however, by a hard jab in her side. There Natasha stood with a beer in hand for each of them and a look of concern on her face, “You two didn’t see Tony on the way up, did you?” she asked.
“No, we didn - should we have been looking?” Bucky asked in confusion.
Natasha let out an exasperated huff, rolling her eyes, “Apparently Stark and Rhodes pre-gamed a little too hard and decided that instead of attending the party they would rather race the fucking suits. Hence all of the...” she motioned furiously to what little remained of the crumbling entryway, “I found Rhodes out on the lawn half an hour ago, but we haven’t been able to find Stark, so...give us a shout if you happen to find him hiding anywhere and, uh, make yourselves at home.”
With that, she was tearing off back into the middle of the sea of people.
“Is it too early to say I told you so?” Bucky shouted over the music as the inched across the back wall, avoiding flailing limbs and waving to the few who noticed them making their rounds, “Because I did.”
“Hush,” she called with an amused smile, “This is fun. We’re having...fun.” Truthfully, she hadn’t even been able to convince herself that she had meant it, much less Bucky. After only a moment, a rush of relief came over her as she pointed through the crowd - a familiar face. “Look there’s Steve!”
Just across the way, Steve hobbled his way along the wall to the elevator with Tony’s entire drunken weight lain over his shoulders. He waved back, looking just as exhausted as Shuri felt. Mouthing be right back, Steve ducked into the elevator with Tony in tow, presumably to put him to bed for the night.
“If you think he needs help,” Shuri said, grabbing his half-finished beer from his hand, “you can go. I can manage on my own for a while.”
“No, no, no, Sugar,” he chuckled, grabbing both of their drinks from her hands and setting them on the nearby bartop, “You and I are gonna have that dance we talked about before anything else.”
Shuri couldn’t help but let out a laugh as he gave her a spin and she was forced into a jittering quickstep, “Bucky!” she cackled as he gave her a dip, “Buck, I don’t know how to do this dance!”
He spun her wildly around the common room floor, dodging partygoers, chairs, and the kitchen island as they went. As they maneuvered, the couple did not happen to notice the dozens of eyes that fell to them, “Here, try this,” she grinned as she spun free, linking an arm with him and quickly changing direction, “I’ll lead.”
Bucky stumbled with a laugh as she began to barrel in circles, dragging him along with her. They were both thrown off their balance by the drinks that coursed through their veins, “What dance is this?”
“Just something from back home!” she called as the loud, uptempo beat broke and gave way to a slow, smooth rhythm, “You’ve seen it before. At T’Challa’s wedding.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Bucky conceded, as he let both hands come to rest on her waist, pulling her in close as several other hastened to join in the slow dance, “You do know how to do this one, I take it?” he asked with an amused smile.
Shuri couldn’t help but roll her eyes in spite of her smile as she leaned into him, “Of course I know how to sway, Buck.”
The song continued in its steady cadence as the two swayed along. As the music faded into silence, Bucky gave her one final spin out before lifting her hand to his lips and laying a kiss there, “Princess.”
“That was really cute.”
Natasha’s voice drew them both from their reverie. They turned in tandem to find her smirking over her glass, an amused Steve watching on from just over her shoulder. Bucky’s ears flamed red as he turned away, running frenzied fingers through his hair, even as Shuri straightened herself to her full height. “Steve told me that you were keeping it quiet until after the holidays, but if that’s what you think keeping it quiet is-”
“You told her?” Bucky choked in an accusatory tone, throwing a hapless glare at Steve.
“You told him?” Shuri countered, elbowing Bucky in ribs.
“He said he wasn’t going to tell anyone,” Bucky said quickly before turning to Steve and, more pointedly this time, whispering, “You said you weren’t going to tell anyone.”
“Yeah. Anyone except my girl. I thought that went without saying,” Steve said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, “Look, I’m sure nobody else noticed anything out of the ordinary-”
“Oh, we have noticed,” a stern voice called from behind, causing Shuri to whip around in horror. In that instant, she could feel the heat rush into her own face as well, “We’ve known for months, Dada; you have been incredibly conspicuous,” T’Challa murmured, his hands tucked into his pockets and his head ducked low. It was clear, by the sparkle in his eye and the trembling of his chin as he pursed his lips together, that he was amused - trying his best not to laugh, even.
“It’s okay,” he insisted, breaking the tension between the small party that had accumulated, “I’m not mad. Though, I might suggest, Sergeant Barnes, that the next time you decide to go sneaking through the palace at three o’clock in the morning you remove your boots. You are very heavy-footed.”
They winced in tandem, matching murmurs of Dear God and Bast falling from both of them as those surrounding them broke into laughter.
“Well,” Natasha spoke once more, clapping her hands together, “Now that we’re all on the same page, there shouldn’t be anything keeping you two from coming to our New Year’s party. Steve and I booked out a few rooms on the top floor of the Knickerbocker. Should be fun.”
“Uh...yeah,” Bucky nodded hastily, eager to end this now, “Yeah, we...I’m sure we can find time to stop by. Thanks...I need a drink.”
With that, he shimmied past Steve and Natasha and dashed to the bar where one of the bots was puttering around clumsily. Leaning forward over the bar, he grabbed two beers, depositing one in front of Shuri as she slid in beside him on a barstool, “Sorry. I didn’t think Steve would-”
“It’s alright,” she chuckled, letting her head rest on his shoulder, “They had they’re fun. We’ll just...have another drink then head back to the hotel. And by the time we see them next they’ll have found more interesting things to talk about. Although...it does look like there’s somebody else in on the fun now as well,” she murmured, nodding in the direction of Dummy, who had stopped his clamoring on the opposite side of the bar, a mistletoe in-pincer suspended directly over Bucky.
He couldn’t help but let out an exasperated huff of a laugh, shaking his head as he set his beer off to the side, “Damn it, Dummy,” he groaned, burying his head in his hands as the machine gave an angered whir.
“Now, now, don’t hurt his feelings,” Shuri laughed, letting her hands come to rest on Bucky’s shoulders, “It’s bad luck to not kiss under the mistletoe,” she murmured as she slid off her stool and let her fingers run through his hair. He was tired; exhausted, even. She could see it in his eyes. He was ready to call it a night and frankly, she was too. But at that, she could see just the tiniest bit of light return to his eyes.
“Bad luck, huh?” he murmured, pulling her in until she was pressed firmly to his chest, “We wouldn’t want any more of that, would we?”
And that kiss, though quick and chaste was a freeing one. They didn’t have to worry about keeping quiet anymore; they could dance and kiss and be together and not worry about who would see them. They could be content with that.
“Merry Christmas,” Shuri muttered as she righted herself on her barstool, relieved to find that all eyes had not fallen to them. They were already old news, she’d realized with a stifled laugh.
Bucky reached out a hand then, interlinking her fingers with his, letting his lips contort into a tired smile, “Merry Christmas, Doll.”