The White Wolf

XXX

"Is this a bad idea?"

Ava scoffed at Shuri, who was whispering to her from the other side of the naked mannequins stood in the back of the lab. "Yes, it's a bad idea." She whispered in response, not even one hundred percent sure why she was being quiet too. She could have just spoken at a normal level and blown Shuri's cover. 

"I'm getting mixed signals. Yes or no?" Again, Shuri whispered. 

"It's a definite no!" Ava was still at a whisper too, but her tone became much sharper, her eyes going wide. She could barely see Shuri on the other side of the mannequins all stood in a cluster. 

"I can't see your mouth through the plastic bodies."

"No!" Ava whispered, her tone going hoarse as she maintained a whisper, but strained to make it stern and loud. "No!"

"I think you said yes."

"No!" This was either going to go one of two ways. It either failed completely, or someone would end up getting hurt. Both options didn't seem very enjoyable. Of course, Shuri was full of caffeine and sugar, having stayed up for over 24 hours because she lost a bet with T'Challa. Now, Ava was practically a babysitter. Only, a babysitter than tended to become a child as well when spending too much time with the outragious princess.

"I'm going with yes."

Ava's breath hitched a little when she heard footsteps clamoring into the lab behind her and she stood in a beat, cheeks tinged pink as she turned. Walking in was the man she loved, hair dark and stringy with sweat from working the farm all morning, light-grey athletic shirt stained with dirt from the goats. "Bucky!" She smiled, clasping her hands together behind her back. She couldn't believe she was actually going through with this stupid idea Shuri had. "You're right on time."

Bucky looked up at her, his lips stretching into a small, humming smile. "Of course. Ayo said she was running just a few minutes behind, she had some... thing- to do- to get ready for tonight. I don't know. So, it's just me." He shrugged his shoulders a little bit. His eyes moved up and down Ava, and it was obvious something was not right. His head tilted a little, causing a strand from his dark hair to fall out of its place from behind his ear to dangle at his cheek. "What were you doing just now?" He asked, lips pressing together. 

"Nothing." Her smile became more forced. She was good at lying to anyone except for Bucky, and they both knew it. "Shuri is on her way. She said she has a gift for you for learning Xhosa so easily in the last few months."

Bucky strolled closer, his steps each prodding and slow, heel to toe, heel to toe. "Oh, really? Shuri got me a gift?" He questioned, his chin lifting as he got closer. Ava licked her lips, guessing he had already probably figured it out. She winked once before she nodded, humming an 'mhmm'. There was no point in keeping up the facade anymore. He smirked. "She doesn't seem like the type."

Ava shrugged, feigning innocence so Shuri wouldn't know of her betrayal. "Sometimes she surprises me, even."

He nodded slowly, his smirk increasing further as his eyes shifted to the mannequins behind Ava. "She's definitely going for a surprise, isn't she?"

"Absolutely." Ava nodded her head again in big, exaggerated motions. 

"You know, it's never a good idea to surprise a one-hundred-year-old war veteran-slash-psycho-assassin, right?" He said, shaking his head, keeping his eyes on Ava as he spoke with a light bit of laughter in his tone. "Even with only one arm, Shuri, I could probably kick your ass."

Shuri let out a puff as she shot up from behind the mannequins, her jaw agape. "You were supposed to help me scare him!" She scoffed at Ava. 

Ava turned around, shaking her head as she chuckled. "I told you it was a bad idea."