It was always a strange feeling to come into a family unit that were already so close, you felt as if you didn't want to disturb that closeness.

When you had been brought to the Avengers Institute by Sam, you never thought that you would actually be there to stay or even a member of the team.

You were born with the ability to shapeshift, mimicking different humans or even animals and you had made yourself skilled with daggers and knives to use during hand to hand combat – Sam had noticed your agility and pure skill when he'd been in London, and convinced you to come back to the States with him.

Six months later you were officially an Avenger, Sam had become one of your closest friends and you were thankful to him for having introduced you to the people you now called your family.

"Hey Y/N," Steve spoke as he pushed your door open.

You looked up and smiled at him. "Everything okay?"

He nodded. "Yes, we've just got a meeting going on and you've not met the King of Wakanda yet."

"You mean the Black Panther?"

Steve chuckled as you got up and followed him to the meeting room.

The man who you knew as the Black Panther turned to you as the two of you walked through the door, he smiled at you in greeting.

"T'Challa, this is Y/N. She's our newest team member."

You sat down next to Wanda, and you felt T'Challa's eyes on you.

Soon enough the meeting ended so you headed back to your room, as soon as you sat down there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door opened and T'Challa walked in.

"How may I help you your highness?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Please, no formalities, my name is T'Challa."

"Still, how may I help you?"

"You are the newest member here, and I am still new to the whole idea of being what they call a superhero."

You giggled at his words. "Same here, I was never really part of a team back home and then I came here and they're family now – it also comes with everyone knowing who you are."

"When my father died, I took up the mantle of the Black Panther as well as being king of my people."

"I must say your skills are very impressive," you spoke the truth, but you could tell T'Challa was appreciative.

He smiled at you for the second time that day – you felt as if a friendship was forming.

A few months later you found yourself in Wakanda, after having taken T'Challa up on his offer to live there for a while.

No one at the institute had an issue with you moving out for a while. In fact, they were happy for you, it was an amazing thing to experience Wakanda once let alone live there.

You and T'Challa had grown extremely close but he was sometimes reserved with you.

Shuri had explained to you about his ex, Nakia, so you partially understood why he would take a step back every so often, but it was overly clear that you weren't her and he shouldn't treat you as if you were.

T'Challa had invited you on a walk through the mountains which had ended up with the both of you sitting at a cliff edge looking out over the beauty of Wakanda.

"I want to thank you for spending time with me today."

You smiled over at T'Challa. "Well thank you for asking me."

"What do you think of it here?"

"It's beautiful," you answered him even though he had asked you many times before.

"As are you."

A blush rose to your cheeks at his compliment. "I could see myself living here permanently."

T'Challa's eyes froze as he shook his head. "It wouldn't be wise to leave everything you already have if you do not know if you can be happy here."

You sighed. "T'Challa please stop acting as if I can't be happy here with you."

"She wasn't."

"I am not Nakia!" you exclaimed to him. "I will not just leave if I am not happy, at the very least I would talk it out with you and we could come to some form of solution," you explained before sighing. "Stop treating me like Nakia, I am not her nor will I ever be."

He looked at you for a few moments before turning his gaze out to the view.

As you sighed you got up from your spot. "I will meet you at the jet tomorrow morning."

He made no move to respond to you or stop you from leaving so you went back to your room.

You had developed feelings for T'Challa, and you knew that he was aware of them, but you also understood his apprehension for not wanting to be in a relationship so soon – it just didn't seem fair for him to subconsciously compare you to Nakia.

The next morning you suited up and made your way to meet T'Challa and Okoye at the jet in order for the three of you to head out on a mission.

"Good morning," you greeted the both of them before walking onto the jet.

Once the jet had taken off, Okoye began to explain the mission to you and T'Challa. "Stark sent over his plans for the new weapons earlier this month, however they were intercepted and taken into the wrong hands therefore we need to regain them and ensure that no copies have been made."

You nodded in acknowledgement before strapping your weapons into your belt and at your ankles, whilst T'Challa was staring into space.

Okoye announced that the jet was beginning to land so the two of you should be ready.

As soon as the jet opened, there was wilderness all around you, but you followed the noise of a camp and scaled a tree to get a better vantage point.

Glancing to your left you realised that T'Challa had done the same thing and he nodded his head as a signal storm the camp – taking out whoever you needed to as silently as you could.

Eventually you both reached what you presumed to be the main tent.

"T'Challa," you whispered as you motioned to the tube of blue prints that were marked with the Stark logo.

T'Challa grabbed the prints whilst you scanned the room to determine if there were any copies, but you shook your head to T'Challa when you found none.

The two of you began to make your way back into the wilderness but unfortunately you were spotted.

You both worked quickly and managed to take out the majority of the people who were shooting at you.

Before you realised it, you saw a knife heading for T'Challa's back, so you shifted into a wolf and leaped at T'Challa, pushing him out of the way but the knife became embedded in your stomach causing you to shift back.

T'Challa took out the man that had stabbed you before picking you up and running at full speed back to the jet.

As Okoye took off, T'Challa stared down at you with concern in his eyes.

"When you pull through from this, I promise you I will make sure we can pursue our feelings."

~*~

Written by Hannah.

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