Summary: Bucky's arm needs a fix.

"Look, if my arm needs a repair, she's the one to go to," Bucky said firmly, watching as the familiar Wakanda landscape came into view in the window. Home. This was his home. He couldn't wait to stay in it more permanently.

"Ok, man, I'm not going to change your mind," Sam sighed, nervously piloting the aircraft, "It's your arm." Bucky's arm was on the fritz, and he found himself unable to move his fingers or bend his elbow sometimes. He'd put it off, not having the chance to see the one person he trusted with the arm. His fingers, his arm... no, they weren't his. He was just borrowing it. This thing was one of Shuri's babies and she was going to give him an earful for harming it. She'd made the vibranium, gold-lined appendage that had protected him in many fights and made him feel just a little bit... normal. He found himself absently tracing the gold lining as the ship began to land.

He took a deep breath as the hanger opened, the guards nodding to him as they recognized him. It still felt weird, to be so accepted in such a powerhouse of a country. Sam seemed somewhat taken aback in just how well they were taking an aircraft landing in front of the palace and the presence of the Winter Soldier. Bucky nodded to the guards in acknowledgment.

"So you're like... famous here or something?" Sam asks. He knew Bucky lived in Wakanda for a few years, but he didn't know the details. Bucky looked at him, shrugging. He heard rapid footsteps and his eyes snapped to the opening palace doors. He barely had time to brace himself, let alone stop the stupid smile from spreading over his face as the Queen of Wakanda tackled him. He wrapped his arms around her, using her momentum to spin them around a few times. There was no way to describe the surge of emotions that flooded him as he looked upon the intelligent features of Shuri. His heart practically skipped a beat as she moved a hand to brush aside his hair.

"What is Bucky Barnes doing in my country? Don't you have important American things to do?" She asked, her voice teasing. He loved that about her. She didn't take him seriously unless he wanted her to. Honestly? He rarely wanted her to. And then he remembered that Sam was there. He realized that her hand was brushing along his jawline and his hands were on her hips. He cleared his throat, ignoring the what is happening look on Sam's face. He pulled away, wiped the smile off his face, let his hands fall to his sides. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer, not pulling away.

"My arm's been weird."

"Weird how?" She asked, stepping back and crossing her arms. He internally winced at the sharp tone of her voice.

"Can't move it sometimes," he explained simply. He barely got the words out before she grabbed him around the wrist of his good arm and was dragging him into the palace. He looked to Sam, silently telling him to follow. The new Captain America shook his head, a small smile of amusement on his lips. He followed, unsure exactly how to process his surroundings. Bucky was used to them, but the kid from 1940's Brooklyn came out sometimes to be amazed at his surroundings. Now was not one of those, as he was being dragged by a petite wakandan woman who was chewing him out in a language he wasn't completely fluent in. He suppressed the smile that turned the corners of his lips.

She let go of him the moment they entered the lab, going through some drawers to find the tool she needed. Bucky sat on the counter he usually did. It's almost like Shuri kept that spot clean specifically for him. She did small things like that on occasion. Bucky worked on rolling up his t-shirt sleeve to the shoulder where the vibranium arm connected to his skin.

"So... You're close?" Sam started awkwardly.

"Ya. You could say that." That was underselling it by a country mile. She was his best friend. The reason he could live without the paralyzing fear of being under someone else's control. The reason he had somewhere to go back to when he needed it. The reason he... the reason he learned to smile again. Calling her his best friend was like saying Steve used to be small and then he got big. He couldn't help but get a kick out of the taken aback expression Sam made at his vague answer.

"How long has this been happening?" Shuri asked, some weird tool in her hands as she approached him. Bucky tilted his head, thinking. She held her wrist by his face, kimoyo beads undoing his bond to the prosthetic.

"'Bout a week."

"You went a week without contacting me!" Shuri gasped, "James Buchanan Barnes, I gave you a piece of my soul and you go and don't take care of it!" She protectively held the arm to her chest.

"Don't put the wagon before the horse, I did everything you ever told me to do to take care of it. Things happen. And before you ask, no, I don't know what I did to it." Shuri tsked at him, setting the arm on her desk and focusing on the fingers. She'd be deaf to the world until she found the problem. That dumb smile snuck its way back onto his face as he watched her. He wasn't even aware of it as Sam cleared his throat, catching Bucky's attention again.

"Should I go?" He asked, a weird combination of uncomfortable and amused.

"No, why?" Bucky asked, dragging his gaze from Shuri and her work.

"I'm just saying I get it if you want to be alone." Bucky silently wondered how long he could keep up the oblivious act. He and Shuri weren't a thing. They'd never talked about being a thing. As far as he knew she didn't see him that way. Friends, best friends even, yes. Any weird attraction between them was one sided. He hadn't spent sleepless nights trying to decode things she said or did, not at all. He wasn't some lovesick schoolboy. He was Bucky fricking Barnes.

"I don't know why we'd want to be," He said absently. Shuri always had music playing in her lab. It wasn't usually the kind of thing he liked, but he'd grown to enjoy it just because he associated it with Shuri. But now something new was playing. He couldn't help but pay attention, his gaze focusing on nothing in particular as he listened. It was more... pop than the usual aggressive melodies she played. Something about running away together.

"Did you come here a lot?" Sam asks, trying to make some sort of conversation.

"My name is practically on this desk," Bucky deadpanned. That caused Sam to glance over and see Shuri's name scribbled on a few papers scattered on the surface.

"He has no idea what anything means, but he's very helpful," Shuri chimed in. She put the arm back onto his person, the mesh rubbing against his skin for a second. She reactivated the arm with her bracelet and he felt a slight prick on his skin. "Flex your fingers for me." Bucky obliged, something swelling in his chest at her slight praise. He'd barely looked at his arm since he stepped foot in the lab, and he wasn't used to seeing the wiring on the inside. He flexed his fingers without issue. "Now your elbow." He twisted it a little more, no problems. "Alright then."

"So he's fine?" Sam asked for confirmation.

"He'll have to stay to make sure everything is working right, but yes. At this moment, he is fine." There was a very small part of Bucky that hoped this was just a ploy to keep him around.

Bucky felt at home in the palace. He could never put his finger on why as he watched Shuri work, occasionally answering a question from Sam. Shuri's normal taste in music came from a speaker somewhere, leaving him oddly relaxed. He loved watching Shuri work. She was interrupted more often since she was queen, but... actually that's a thought that still filled him with pride. Shuri was the queen of Wakanda after the unfortunate passing of her brother. He wasn't allowed to be there when she earned that title, but he was proud of her nonetheless. Being the black panther wasn't easy for anyone, but she handled it gracefully alongside her other duties.

"Ya... I'm gonna go back to the ship," Sam says, awkwardly dismissing himself.

"Feel free to look around," Shuri said absently, "it was lovely seeing you again."

"Uh ya, you too, your highness," Sam says, unsure as he turns and leaves the lab, muttering under his breath, "If I gotta watch another second of the goo-goo eyes I'm gonna vomit...." If Shuri hears, she doesn't comment. Bucky is content where he is. That's where he spends the rest of his visit, watching her do her thing.

Bucky finds himself tracing the gold along his arm. He liked this arm. It was like he had a bit of her on him at all times.

"You don't have to tell me," Sam's voice makes Bucky look up, "but how did... all that happen?"