Work Text:
Riri Williams shoved her boxing gloves as deep into her gym back as she could. Her teeth ground together as she clenched her jaw tighter. Every muscle shivered with fatigue but screamed with the need for release. She wanted to have another go on the mats but the gym is closing and Yelena Belova is most definitely hovering in the locker room to make sure she gets out.
"What's up, Belova? See anything you like?" Riri snaps without much bite. The boxing coach just smiles. They've been friends for a long time.
"No, but it is date night with my wife, so can you pack, I don't know, faster?"
"Fuck you."
"What's up with you though, Williams? You don't normally stay for three sessions. Long day at work?"
She chuckles weakly. "You could say that."
"What, Virginia drag your ass or something?" She closes Riri's locker for her, takes the shorter woman's elbow to pull her out of the locker room.
"Mrs. Potts told me just as I was leaving that she gave half of my projects on someone else."
"Oookay? So you are mad about your boss giving you less work?" Yelena's focused on turning the lights off and turning the security system on.
"I'm mad because I was doing just fine with the amount of work! She's giving them to a new hire!"
"Would you rather she have a new employee act as an office ornament?"
"You are impossible to vent to."
"Kate Bishop tells me that all the time, too."
"Fuck you, Belova."
"Love you, too, Williams."
Riri drives too fast. She can't help it, though, she loves the way the wind rushes through her curls. Music blares over the speakers and she lets the bass rattle deep in her chest as she steers the car too sharp to the left. The driveway to the Stark & Potts Tech company stretches in front of her, and she tries to gun it until the last minute.
Right up to a woman standing at the end. She comes out of nowhere, and Riri curses for what seems like an eternity as she slams on the breaks. But her car is extremely responsive, and she comes to a complete stop inches away. The woman doesn't flinch at all. Her heart is hammering in her ears as she cuts the engine, and she lets out a yelp when the valet knocks on her window.
"Ms. Williams?" Peter Parker is waiting for her.
"Fuck," she breathes, and as Peter opens the door, she swears she can hear the woman laughing.
"Sorry, Ms. Williams, I didn't mean to startle you." He holds out his hand to help her but she waves it away, getting out in shaky legs, pulse thready.
"I just have a lot on my mind." She hands him the key and they switch places. "And you can still call me Riri!" She shouts after the valet. Finally she turns to the woman.
"Good morning," the woman says, hand outstretched, "I'm Shuri. The fresh meat, so to speak." The accent takes her breath away, it's deep and familiar but definitely not Caribbean like the rest of her family. A smile stretches slow over Shuri's face as Riri takes her hand; it puts her entirely at ease and completely on edge.
"No last name?" is the first thing she can think to say.
"Not important."
"Oh. I'm Riri, then. Last name Williams but not... It's weird when people call me that.
"It's very nice to meet you, Riri Williams." Shuri's eyes stare into hers and she realizes too late that they've been holding hands for far longer than a handshake that she pulls her hand away.
"You shouldn't stand in the driveway," Riri finally manages, "I'm not the fastest driver here."
Shuri laughs, adjusts a ring on her pointer finger. "Thank you for your concern, I'll keep that in mind. Shall we get started?"
"On?"
"The projects Mrs. Potts gave me. I hear they were yours, I'd like your opinion on where to get started."
"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Shuri doesn't move and she kicks herself to lead the way, trying not to be disappointed at missing out on discrete admiration.
Their offices are right next to each other, because of course they are. Riri spends a very tense 11 hours next to a very relaxed Shuri as they discuss the original parameters of the assignments and projects. The new hire doesn't offer anything personal, and after the third try, Riri gives up completely and they just discuss work. They works through lunch, and several breaks. Shuri doesn't seem to mind. Riri’s too nervous to think about food, anyway.
As soon as 8 o'clock rolls around, she feels so wound up she could burst.
"Let's get food," she squeaks, jumping to her feet. Shuri doesn't even blink. "You do dinner, right?"
Shuri smiles up at her. "We can do dinner."
"Great!" Riri's moving towards the door as fast as she can. A hand on her shoulder stops her, turns her so Shuri can stare down at her.
"On one condition."
"Uh-?" Riri tries to get her brain cells to rub together and make one single thought.
"I can drive your Benz."
And that's how Riri ends up in the passenger seat with Shuri driving at least 30 over the speed limit. One hand on the wheel, the other leaned casually against the open window. Riri clutches the seat, watching the trees blur behind Shuri’s silhouette. Not watching Shuri, no. Not noticing how pretty she looks, driving in her Benz.
Not thinking about the fact that she has no idea where they are. Definitely not staring at the curl of Shuri’s smile.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Shuri says, jolting her out of her study, “I just need to make a quick detour.”
“That’s fine.” Her voice is hoarse and she wishes she had a water bottle. Or wine bottle. Shuri’s smile grows and she pulls off at the next exit, slowing from 90 to 40 so fast Riri jerks against the seatbelt.
“Sorry, hon,” Shuri apologizes, and her cheeks go red. Shuri pulls over to a gas station, oblivious to her effect or simply choosing to ignore it. “I’ll just be a moment.” Riri watches the way the woman gets out of the car, so fluid it’s like a dance. Watches her walk until she’s out of her eye sight. Then she slumps back into her seat and types into google. There it is, first result, ‘Crown Princess of Wakanda, Shuri, Temporarily Partners with Potts of Stark & Potts Tech’.
Riri is in the middle of an article on the royal family when the drivers door opens again.
“Thanks for waiting,” Shuri sighs as she climbs back in.
“I didn’t think princesses made drug deals,” Riri pokes, trying to be nonchalant. Shuri is silent for so long she’s think she’s upset her, so she looks up and their gazes lock. Shuri’s lips are crimson. Riri’s heart knocks against her ribs and Shuri smiles like she can hear it, lips pulling back to reveal perfectly straight teeth, with gold incisors so sharp they could cut glass.
“You’re funny, Riri Williams,” the woman says, “I like you.”
And Riri is utterly, completely, fucked.
Riri watches Shuri after that first night. It’s silly, because when she blinks, she can see Shuri’s teeth flashing in the streetlights, can feel the flash of fear in her veins. But then they’ll lock eyes across the lab and she’s relaxed all over again. Shuri does that to her, spill morphine into her bloodstream with just a look, or a brush on her low back when they pass each other in the halls. How crazy it was to have hated her at first.
They get dinner after work a lot. Or rather, Riri gets dinner and Shuri sits with her, nursing a drink. Sometimes Shuri makes a detour. Sometimes she doesn’t. But she always looks over at Riri from the driver’s side and gives her that full smile, teeth and all. Riri gets hooked on the shiver it sends down her spine each time.
They get closer, and closer, sharing stories and fears and long drives out of the city. Sometimes they hold hands. They don't talk about it, anything but that.
She almost invites Shuri over countless times. Shuri almost says yes.
“Where the fuck have you been, Williams?” Kate Bishop snaps at her when she walks into the boxing gym a month later, “I know you’ve been ignoring my messages, don’t even try to deny it.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve been-“
“Busy with your new girlfriend,” Yelena offers, walking out of the back office. Riri flushes. Kate’s eyes go wide, doesn’t even acknowledge her wife wrapping herself around her like a scarf.
“She is not my girlfriend!”
"But you want her to be," Yelena scoffs, pressing a kiss to Kate's cheek.
"And how come I haven't heard about this new girl, yet?" Kate protests, melting at the blonde's affection.
"I was going to tell you about it tonight over drinks, so slow your roll, Bishop."
Kate huffs. "Fine, but you're paying and don't expect me to take it easy on you in sparring session."
The bar is getting packed by the time their burgers are set down in front of them. Riri sinks her teeth into the soft potato bun and nearly cries. Boxing practice left her so hungry she couldn't think, and they'd gotten in right before the kitchen closed.
"-And yeah, that's pretty much it." The only part she's left out are the five minute detours they take. All the other things that are just slightly off kilter. "It's so... weird. Like it feels like we're basically dating, but I know we aren't. We just-"
"Get dinner 5 nights a week," Yelena cuts her off, pushing a fry into her mouth, "Stay late giving each other goo goo eyes. Get high together even though she's literal royalty."
Riri rolls her eyes, "She doesn't smoke. I've offered but no, never."
"Huh. Straight laced then? Good, you need someone to balance out your chaotic energy when you're high."
"I know a certain someone who turns into a wood carver when she's high and leaves piles of shavings in the bathtub for her wife to find," Kate teases, twisting the wooden bow and arrow necklace Yelena had gifted her three christmases ago.
Yelena throws up her hands. "Guilty as charged." The wives smile at her. "We're both really happy for you, Riri. You should make a move soon. At least find out if she's single."
Riri nods down to her burger, says, "Okay, well catch me up on you two."
They eat, tip their waitress $100 for the inconvenience, and head to the bar for drinks. The bass is making the whole room vibrate. Riri swallows the first shot placed in front of her, trying to hide her grimace. Yelena, ever the Russian, has already finished all three. Kate waits for Riri to catch up before clinking their third glass together. The third dose of vodka hits the back of her throat smooth.
"Thank god it's Friday!" Yelena yells, and the crowd around them whoops in agreement. She grabs Riri and Kate's hands and pulls them into the throng.
After an hour, and another shot later, the three of them step outside for some fresh air. Kate pulls out a joint, puts it between her lips. Yelena lights it, their hands touching as they cup the flame. Riri watches, still squarely drunk, as Kate inhales deep, and pulls Yelena in to a deep kiss, exhaling into her wife's mouth.
It makes Riri's stomach do somersaults, and she wishes Shuri were here. God, these days she wishes Shuri was everywhere she was. But because she's their friend, she gags mockingly,
"Okay, I'm gonna go get some candy at the bodega we passed on the way over, so I don't puke watching you."
The couple break apart, but Kate's fully fixated on Yelena as the blonde takes a drag and the whole process begins to repeat itself. Riri turns in her heels and wanders down the street. She's almost at her destination two blocks down when she hears a scuffle down a dark alley.
She stops, peers into it, vision still foggy from drink. It's the epitome of cliché but she's too intoxicated to care.
"No, please," comes a man's hoarse whimper, "I didn't - I didn't mean it, I swear-"
Riri tilts forward onto her toes, still struggling to see into the dark.
"Oh, no? Just like she didn't mean it when she said 'stop'?" another voice responds, harsh and grating. But Riri knows that voice. Her entire being knows that voice. She would follow it like a siren song.
"What do you want?"
"Me?"
"You want money? How much?" The man's voice is steeped in terror, it's pathetic. "Just name a price and- What the fu-" and then it stops.
Riri can't help but wince when the voice gets cut off with a gurgle. She stands there, silhouetted by the faintest edge of a street light.
"You aren't the only one who gets to take what he wants," the remaining voice chuckles after a few minutes, low and breathy, "What do Americans call it?"
"Karma." Riri says it before she can stop herself, because she may be drunk but that means the pieces are able to fit together irrationally. There's a pause at the end of the alley, and now she can finally see. The faintest shadow of the woman, turning slow, so slow. Riri takes a step, then another, and another until the two of them are face to face. She locks their gazes and her bloodstream roils, full of metaphorical morphine and terrifying desire.
"We call it 'karma', Shuri."
Shuri's face is so close, they're closer than they've ever been, and she can see it now. The crimson on Shuri's lips. It's blood. It's always been blood. Shuri notices her noticing and licks her lips. Riri's chest hums. All her life, she shied away from danger, until she met Shuri. Now she wants to drown in it.
"What are you doing here?" Shuri finally asks, accent deep and rich like the day they met a month ago.
"I heard your voice," is all she can say. They stare at each other for a long time in the dark, one infatuated and one calculating.
She hears her name being called, from millions of miles away. She turns, sees Kate and Yelena waving at her from the top of the alley.
"Yo, Williams, you better not be down there. You're gonna get yourself murdered one of these days, dumbass, come on!" Yelena shouts, because okay- she does do stupid shit when she's drunk. Riri knows they don't mention Shuri because the woman is already gone.
"Sorry, I thought I heard a cat!" Riri returns, walking back out of the dark to meet them.
"We were about to head back in, but you didn't come back," Kate pouts, leaning heavily against Yelena.
"Thanks for checking on me, but I think I'm gonna-"
Tires screech to a stop at the curb and the three of them jump.
"Isn't that your car?" Yelena asks. She nods, watching as Shuri gets out of the drivers seat, leans over the top of the car,
"Taxi for Riri Williams?"
Oh, she's good.
"Holy shit, she's real!" Kate yelps, jabbing Yelena with her elbow.
"I gotta go," Riri tells them, and Shuri's opening her door at that exact moment.
"Text us when you get home!" Yelena is shouting after her as Shuri helps her in.
"Have fun! Be safe you two!" Kate adds, and Shuri nods as she walks around to the driver's side,
"She's in good hands, I can assure you."
And then they're off, driving into the night.
It's silent for a long while, just the sound of the engine purring and Shuri's fingertips drumming on the steering wheel. Riri studies, like she always does, the curves of Shuri's face, the bunching of arm muscle under skin. They're far from the city. It isn't that different from any other night together.
Except now she knows.
Shuri clears her throat. Riri sits up straighter.
"How much did you hear back there?" the woman asks, jaw muscle working.
"All of it." She doesn't lie. She wouldn't.
Shuri exhales slow. "Fuck, Riri."
"I'm not going to say anything!" she promises, "From what it sounds like, that man, he- he did something really bad...," swallows, looks out the window, asks "So, are you a vampire or something?" She tries to laugh it off but when Shuri doesn't say anything, she turns back to the woman. "Holy fucking shit, are you a vampire?"
Shuri looks away from the road and so deep into her she's confident the woman can see her individual cells. "Does that scare you?"
There's a million ways to answer the question, Riri tries her hardest, but the adrenaline is keeping her buzz going longer than expected, so she just shakes her head no.
"Is that why you didn't... is that why we aren't... together?"
"Forgive me for wanting to spare you," the woman sighs. Then Shuri smiles, teeth and all. Riri feels that jolt to her system, the shiver run down her spine.
"I love the way your heart sounds when I smile," the woman chuckles, low, "It's flattering, the effect I have on you." Shuri looks back at the road. Her eyes stay on her, the bridge of her nose, the tug of her lips. "You must have questions."
Riri shakes her head again, trying to calm her heart now that she knows Shuri can hear. "Just one."
Shuri looks back at her, eyes searching. Riri tries to be as open as possible, a book eager to be devoured by those eyes. Shuri sets her jaw when she finds what she's looking for,
"Are you sure, Riri Williams?"
"I want to stop bad guys," she answers weakly. Shuri shakes her head and pulls over. Instead of a normal detour, it's just a small parking lot on a cliff, looking out over the ocean.
"There are many other ways to do what I do," the other woman snaps, getting out of the car. Riri scrambles to follow suit. The night is on that in between of summer and autumn, ocean breeze delightfully cool on on her exposed skin. Shuri leans against the hood of the car, still as a statue.
She takes a deep breath. Admits, "Then I want to be with you."
Shuri closes her eyes, inhales and exhales slow.
Riri sits next to her, studies her hands. Wonders if she'll recognize herself, if she lets danger and the supernatural consume her. Then a soft hand cups her chin, turns her head. Shuri leans down and Riri leans in. Their first kiss tastes like blood and the last dregs of vodka. It floods all of Riri's senses, the animalistic need for the woman kissing her so hard her lips will bruise. Her heart slams against her ribs and when they break apart to breathe, she knows the woman can hear.
"Do you trust me?" Shuri asks, locking their gazes together, "You can't take this back."
Riri doesn't hesitate. Tilts her head to the side to reveal the tender expanse of her neck. "Yes."
Gold incisors sink into her skin, and she surrenders to the transformation.