"fall in love with her genius, but be warned, there is no brilliance without a touch of chaos"

PART ELEVEN:

Two pairs of footfalls could be distinguished in the mostly empty halls of T'Challa's palace. These footfalls belonged to Andrea Barton and the King himself as they walked in a comfortable silence.

They had just finished conversing with the younger Udaku, and the pair was now on their way to see the beautiful sunset which T'Challa had promised.

Starting up a conversation—they had somewhat detoured because Andrea insisted she wanted to see more of the palace—T'Challa questioned the girl beside him: "So, what do you think of the palace so far?" He asked this with a discreet, but prideful smirk on his lips.

Andrea looked over at the taller man beside her. She smiled to herself, noticing his small smirk hidden upon his plump lips. "It's truly astonishing. I don't really think there are proper words to describe the beauty of this place. It's like nothing I've ever seen before."

"Oh," T'Challa started with a big smile plastered upon his face, "just wait until you see the sunset, Andrea." Andrea perceived her name to be quite mediocre, just another name, nothing special about it. When T'Challa pronounced it, though, with that thick Wakandan accent which added an extra vowel he made it sound like her name was one of a kind. Andrea most definitely preferred him calling her by her first name rather than the formal 'Ms. Barton.'

The pair made it past a few more corridors of the palace when Andrea was suddenly hit, and caught off guard, by the natural aroma of the nature surrounding Wakanda. Andrea let her eyes assess what was before her.

They were not inside the palace anymore, not really. They were inside the mouth of the Black Panther head attached to the palace, leading the two to the cliff which overlooked the King's city.

Andrea came to a halt as she noticed the beautiful scenery before her. T'Challa just kept walking until he was almost at the edge of the cliff, expecting this reaction from the Barton girl. He sat down and waited patiently for her to approach him after recollecting herself.

It seemed as if Andrea's feet wouldn't move from their spot in that moment as she looked before her. The bright sun was perched above the mountain tops, about ten minutes up from official sundown time. Clouds were scattered here-and-there; oranges, pinks, yellows, greens bounced off of the fluffy, white, cotton ball-like figures in the sky. The light blues above the clouds and sun tapered off above into darker hues and from there into depths of the sky of what only the human imagination hoped to fathom.

Andrea's mouth hung slightly agape as she was still processing the scene. It didn't even look real because of how beautiful and perfect it was. The colors of the sky blended so neatly and smoothly together that it looked like a painting in which the artist had put forth so much effort, and care, and love into.

Andrea let her eyes fall towards the man in front of her. He was sitting down near the edge of the cliff. His legs were crossed as he enjoyed the sunset before him as well. It never got old, and he was happy enough to call this place his own.

Andrea willed herself to move her feet towards T'Challa, and he moved his head upwards to see the girl bending down to get into a seated position next to him.

T'Challa watched Andrea's fluid movements as she adjusted herself. She was beautiful to him no matter what she was doing. The natural light coming from the sunset bounced off of her flawless face, as the light had seemingly started to make her glow.

Her eyes were what amazed the King the most. The luminous colors of the sunset made her grey eyes burn bright with a fire behind them. Just as the sunset, T'Challa concluded Andrea's natural beauty would never get old to him.

Andrea was so fixated on the sight before her, that she didn't even notice the King's eyes on her. She knew the two of them didn't have to talk in this moment; they shared a comfortable silence which spoke for itself, and the two were both content with this.

Soon enough, though, the Barton girl steered her eyes to her right only to be met with T'Challa's glowing, golden ones. In this light, they had an almost amber hue to them.

Andrea breathed in, noticing the close proximity which was almost suffocating. She took note of T'Challa's wandering eyes, as they flicked down at some moments to look at her lips. She looked at his as well, and she knew what this meant, what it would lead to. But would she allow herself that?

Hell, she didn't know that for sure. Andrea knew she felt something for the man before her, but she couldn't decide if she was ready for that commitment. She'd been thinking lately and she knew she wasn't only here to just be fixed by Shuri Udaku because she was injured. Andrea knew T'Challa wanted her here long term, which Andrea knew really only led to one thing—T'Challa wanted to make Andrea his queen.

Andrea knew kissing the King would be the first step to all of this, although she knew he wouldn't rush her into anything. Regardless, the girl knew she wasn't ready for such great steps to be taken yet.

T'Challa noticed the uneasiness of Andrea, her eyes were still upon him, but not really. They were far off—she was thinking.

To lighten up the mood and not force Andrea into anything, T'Challa smiled as he thought of a cheesy pick-up line. "Andrea," her eyes came into focus as she heard her name. She noticed the boyish smile on the King's face and waited for him to continue, wondering what he had up his sleeve this time. T'Challa continued as he noticed he had her attention: "You may think the sunset is beautiful, but I think you're more beautiful." T'Challa grinned, proud of his words which in return got him a goofy smile from Andrea.

She started chuckling, "Wow, where'd you get that one?" Andrea asked jokingly, still in a fit of laughter.

T'Challa laughed himself, laughing at his own pick-up line and the goofy smile which Andrea wore. "To be completely honest, Shuri mentioned it to me when she insisted that I needed help with talking to beautiful, powerful women. I did not think it was very good, but I assumed now would be the perfect time to use it."

Their laughter started to die down, but they still had smiles on their faces. Andrea looked at the now set sun, admiring the darker colors of the sky now present. "You meet beautiful, powerful women a lot?" She questioned with the meaning to joke around, but there was something earnest behind the question.

T'Challa's gaze on the girl never once let down. Their eyes met again, and he became serious. "None like you, Andrea. You are one of a kind."

Andrea's smile had mostly faded away and she tried to hide her emotions after receiving T'Challa's compliment. She was never good with compliments. T'Challa knew better, though, he didn't miss the glimmer that flashed through her eyes at his utterance of words. He knew he had made her happy, and that itself made him all the more happy.

They continued the rest of their night in comfortable silence, and T'Challa had eventually led Andrea to her room she was given at the palace. They both left each other with a small, 'goodnight' and Andrea was then left with her thoughts.

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[a/n] FINALLY, i know. and i told you it was going to be a slow burn with these two. when it comes, though, it's gonna be great so be prepared. anyway, i am so sorry for not updating for so long, i just needed some extra time and motivation which i got today so i hope you guys enjoyed! <3