I don't own anything except any original character and/or any original plot

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Chapter Twenty-Nine: Under the Stars

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Friday, March 23

The last month was a whirlwind. It was the simplest way I could describe it. Harry still attempted to talk to me, MJ, and Ned, but avoided Peter like he had the plague. When they did have to be near each other, like during lunch, he would glare at him like no tomorrow. I could cut the tension in the air with a knife, but I didn't know what I expected. Any attempt to talk to Harry about forgiving Peter was dismissed with a wave of his hand.

I was just glad Harry hadn't tried to kill Peter yet, though I sensed something was bubbling. The way Harry would look through me, like he saw something I didn't, worried me. Whenever I tried to talk to him about it he did the same dismissive motion he did with Peter. On top of that, it would lead to me bringing up Harry's dad and that was like walking on glass.

Currently, I was working with Shuri on her newest ocean related project. It was the weekend, meaning I would spend that night and Saturday night in Wakanda, and be going back home Sunday morning in time for school and time with family and friends if I felt like socializing.

"What's this about a field trip next month?" Shuri questioned, ripping my phone out of my hands. I had just taken it out of my pocket to read a text I received.

"Do you have any idea what privacy means?" I snapped, snatching my phone back.

"I'm a princess. It's my job to know everyone's business. That includes yours. You may not be Wakandan but you have the tattoo," Shuri smirked triumphantly.

I rolled my eyes, "We have a field trip to the Museum of Modern Art next month. It sounds really boring but I don't know what I expected. It's school."

I glanced down at the text. It was Ned asking the original group chat about whether or not we needed to bring our own lunch to the field trip.

"What were we talking about?" I turned my phone off. Peter or MJ could answer Ned.

"Your suit upgrade."

"Right."

Shuri moved over to a mannequin where the only thing on it was the cuffs I used to support my wrists. It looked strangely bare and made me nervous. Why was she offering me a new suit when all she had was my cuffs?

"So I was talking to Stark. Very egotistical, classic white man," Shuri trailed off topic to go on one of her classic rants.

"Don't you know it," I cheered.

"And we worked together on this suit and another model," Shuri pulled the cuffs off the mannequin, holding them out, "Put them on, you'll understand soon."

Slipping on the cuffs, I waited patiently for further instruction. Nothing was happening. They were just ordinary cuffs.

"Wakanda forever," Shuri grinned.

Taking the hint, I crossed my arms over my chest. When the cuffs bumped each other, it enacted something inside them. My suit began to spread over my body and clothes. Something added extra weight to my belt. Plucking the foreign object, I smiled at my mask.

"Because you don't have a full face mask, I had to find a way to generate it," Shuri explained, walking circles around me, "But this way you can bring your suit everywhere without having to physically pull it on, and, you can communicate from space."

"You actually tested it from space?"

"Well, no," Shuri pulled a few data charts up on her computer. I couldn't understand most of them, but the ones I could mentioned sound wave range, "But I tested it against satellites that I hacked into and ran simulations. In any case, when am I ever wrong when it comes to technology?"

"That's true. But this is amazing! Thank you!"

"Yes, of course. You are my first friend outside of Wakanda, so it's a thank you."

"You convinced my parents to let me get a tattoo, you're a princess, and giving me this internship has allowed me access to any internship in the world. I should be on my knees bowing to you."

"I wouldn't mind that," Shuri shrugged with a giggle, "Though, bowing isn't something we do here, I'd make an exception."

"Makes sense. Modern country modern philosophies. Although, you guys are awesome when it comes to following tradition."

"We pride ourselves on it," Shuri brushed imaginary dust off her shoulders.

"Right," I looked down at my uniform, "How do I take it off?"

"Double tap your wrists like this," Shuri grabbed my hands and tapped my wrists together twice, "They're connected to each other in that spot so there's no chance of doing that accidentally."

"You're the best Shuri."

"Of course I am," Shuri smirked, "Now that you've received your gift, we have work we need to get to."

"Right, of course. We were discussing separating water and plastic particles?"

"Shuri, Captain America and his team are here for supplies."

"I'll be down in a minute brother," Shuri replied robotically, sighing and turning her computer off. Work would have to wait. Not like we ever really worked much, "Do you want to come with me (Y/n)?"

"Sure. I haven't seen them in person since the airport."

Shuri and I took a cruiser from the lab to the land near the city's border. From there, we took the path to Bucky's hut.

"Hello everyone, nice to see you're not dead yet," Shuri greeted cheerfully, "I brought you a friend."

The group bristled happily upon seeing me. I smiled and waved. Seeing them over Skype didn't compare to seeing them in person. They were so different. They had adapted to not being the Avengers anymore.

"It's good to see you guys," I spotted a notepad on the table, "Oh, that reminds me. I wanted to give you the number for Xavier's. If you call and say I sent you, then Kurt will teleport you there. You mentioned you weren't staying in nice places, so this will be a nice step up from that."

Scribbling the number down, I handed the slip of paper to Nat. She stuffed it into one of her many pockets.

"Considering how they're already a secret mutant school you'll be safe. Wade visits on Tuesdays and Tony visits every once in a while, but they can hide you easily if and when they show up."

"We wouldn't be a bother to them?"

"Not at all. The teachers and students admire you guys. Mutants have been fighting for rights since the Cuban Missile Crisis, you guys standing up to them meant a lot."

"Well, it's good to hear that even when we're on the run we're still inspiring people," Sam chuckled genuinely.

"You shouldn't have done all this for me Steve," Bucky sighed, "If you would have let me turn myself in then you wouldn't have thrown your lives away."

"We don't trade lives Buck, you know that," Steve stated. His tone implying it was final.

"Yes, very sentimental, but," Shuri clapped her hands together, "My brother has me on a time limit because he has no idea how hard my job actually is. I should have fought him for the throne when I had the chance but that corset was awful. Anyway, we have your equipment ready up at the palace go get it when you want. Nice to see you."

Shuri left the home as if everything were normal. Steve and his team shared concerned looks. I chuckled. I was used to the weird side of Shuri at this point.

"You get used to it after a while."

Two Days Later- 8:57 PM

"Why don't we hear about Thor anymore?" I questioned, looking at the Instagram photo of two girls with Thor, Loki glowering in the background. It was on the explore page, Instagram famous within a day of posting, "According to this he was just in New York. I wonder what brought him back."

"Mr. Stark thinks he's doing space stuff. Looking for some magic stones or whatever," Peter explained, legs swinging over the side of my building. It was cute, reminding me of a child who couldn't touch their feet to the ground in a chair.

We weren't patrolling, instead; we were eating ice cream and looking up at the sky as a date. With everything that had been going on recently we hadn't had the chance to settle down for a nice date. Norman dying took up the beginning of the year, then winter exams took up February, the two of us only being able to celebrate by getting coffee together before patrol on Valentine's Day.

"Doing space stuff? It must be crazy important if he missed what happened with the Accords."

"Do you think Captain America and his team will ever come out of hiding?"

I thought of my talk with the team in Wakanda, "I think they'll come back when there's a big enough threat."

"Well, no offense but I hope nothing like that ever happens," Peter mumbled, chuckling after.

"You and me both," I agreed with a laugh, "I'm glad we did this. I feel like everything has been Spider-Man and Riptide lately, not Peter and (Y/n)."

"Yeah. We haven't been able to relax."

"It's nice," I sighed in content, "I missed being able to be like this with you without worrying about being attacked."

The two of us discarded our cups on the trash can on the roof- Jess added one in knowing how often we were there- and laid back. Our shoulders were touching, and after settling we grabbed each other's hands. All we were doing was enjoying each other's company.

"Would it be took cheesy if I started playing Ed Sheeran?" I asked, a small smirk playing across my lips.

"A little bit. But that's okay cause I love you, anyway."

My heart leaped at the statement. Something we said so casually, and yet it managed to fill me with warmth every time. Grabbing my phone I went to Spotify and pulled up Ed Sheeran. Soon enough, his smooth voice played through the speakers. Another few seconds of silence and Peter spoke again.

"Want to make it cheesier and dance?"

"Absolutely."

Peter stood and held out his hand to me. Taking it, I squealed when he pulled me up against his chest. We swayed slowly. Peter with his hands on my hips, and me with my head resting on his shoulder. Unlike our dance and re-do homecoming, there was no Shuri to tell us to stop being close together.

Peter's shoulders rose as he sucked in a deep breath. I glanced up at him, brow raised in interest. He was nervous about something.

"I love you," he whispered, so quietly I almost missed it. But I heard it and choked back a laugh.

"I know," I mumbled into his shirt, "Bug-Boy we've said I love you plenty of times before, you don't have to be nervous to say it to me."

"This time is different," Peter pulled back and pressed his forehead against mine, "Because I don't think I'll ever love anyone like I love you. I know that now."

"Shit," I whispered, shocked by the sincerity in his voice. He was dead serious. "I love you too Peter."

Three words that already held such significance, became another statement entirely. You always heard about ways to say "I love you" without actually saying it. This was how to say "I want to be with you forever" without actually saying it. Both implications life changing. Pulling me closer, Peter pressed a kiss to my temple.

We stayed there, enjoying the others' presence, thinking that everything would be okay as we lost ourselves to the music. Any outsider watching could easily compare it to tooth-rotting fluff from a romance movie. But that didn't matter, because it was our movie.

"Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars."