The Engineer (Bucky Barnes x OC)

Chapter 3- Shuri and I have dinner in the lab of awesomeness

A couple of hours later

I set down my pencil and wiped my brow. I'd been working in my combined lab with Shuri, figuring out how all of our stuff works. I'd never seen anything more intuitive and amazing.

The tools and materials were all shiny and new, and the programs couldn't have run faster.

"Hey, Nico," Shuri called from across the room, "Guess what time it is?"

"...time for me to get a watch?" I asked, not looking up from my paper.

Shuri laughed. "No, it's supper time, dimwit,"

"That makes sense," I replied, beginning to grab some more paper and picked up my pencil again.

"That means 'stop working'," she said in a joking flat tone.

I sighed and finally looked up.

"Much better. Supper will be here any second now," she informed me, walking over to the sink and washing her hands. I followed after, doing the same.

"I really love this lab," I commented. "How many more of these do you have?"

"Oh, I don't know..." she paused a moment, scrunching her brow together. "I'd estimate around at least ten thousand,"

"WHAT?!"

"Well, yes, we have one similar to this in every elementary school," she replied simply, as though it should've been obvious.

"I-"

The door to the lab clicked, and in walked a Wakandan holding a tray of food. 

"Here is your supper," she said, setting it down on a table.

"Thank you," Shuri replied. They exchanged nods of thanks before the woman left. 

"We decided to have some different food prepared because of your arrival. Well, I told them to prepare burritos and tacos. It was less because you were here and more because I really like spicy foods,"

I laughed. "You know, we have a bigger diet than tacos in Mexico," 

"I never knew," Shuri joked, beginning to nibble on a burrito.

"Yeah, we have some other good stuff, too. A few of my personal favorites are Chiltomate, a type of salsa, tres leches cake, which is, in my favor, the best cake there is, Caldo de queso, or a cheese soup-"

"I've never tried any of those, though they sound delicious," Shuri interjected. "How about you start eating? You look hungry,"

She was right about that- I was starving. So I grabbed a taco and began to savor it. It tasted different than I usually remembered- not only was it a soft shell, but they seemed to have made it a bit differently than my mother did. It was much spicier. I was fine with that, though. I'd had my share of foods that were known to burn your tongue off.

"Is King T'Challa your only family?" I asked.

"No, my mother is still around," Shuri replied. "How about you? Do you have any family?"

"Well, yes," I responded. "My mother and my sister,"

"Who's your sister?"

"Rosaline Edwards. I call her Rosa. She's married, in case you were wondering,"

Shuri raised her eyebrows. "How old is she?!"

"Ah, 35 or something. I'm 29. So is my best friend, Bryce Russell-St- er... Potts,"

Shuri raised an eyebrow. "She's not around to yell at you for calling her Russell-Stark,"

"Maybe not, but I like to be respectful anyway," I replied simply.

Shuri shrugged, taking another bite of her burrito. 

Once I demolished the first taco, I came back for a second. They were pretty amazing, as far as tacos go.

Not as good as my mother's, though.

"I noticed you didn't mention your dad," Shuri said. "Why not? Did he leave?"

"He... he's dead," I answered softly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she apologized.

"It's alright," I replied.

"If it's any consolation, my dad is dead, too,"

We locked gazes.

"Really?" I asked. "How?!"

"Did you hear what happened back in Vienna?"

"Yeah, Bryce was telling me about that,"

"Well... my father, King T'Chaka, was there," she explained, "And when the bomb hit..." 

She trailed off.

"I get it," I said softly. "My dad was ripped away from me when I was ten. He was a piolet,"

Shuri nodded, a silent gesture telling me to continue.

"And... during a test run, he was attacked. They shot him down," I finished.

"Because he was Mexican?"

"Because he was white,"

Shuri gave me a confused look.

"My dad was white and married a Mexican woman," I explained. "Obviously, there are some people who don't agree with that sort of stuff, and..." 

I sighed, forcing the tears that were springing to my eyes back.

A moment of silence grasped us before the door to the lab creaked.

"Shuri, I need you to step out,"

I looked up to see King T'Challa standing in the doorway.

"What? Why?" she demanded.

"I need to speak with Nico," T'Challa replied calmly.

"You can't kick me out of my own lab!" she argued.

"Yes, I can," he smirked. "It will only be for a minute,"

"Fine," Shuri growled and slammed down her food, jokingly. She then pretended to storm from the room. The door closed behind her.

T'Challa turned to me. "Have a seat," he advised. "This will take more than a minute,"