𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴 , shuri udaku - discontinued

TRUTH HURTS

CITY OF STARS.
49. ❛ truth hurts. ❜

STEPPING INTO SHURI'S LAB, Aria placed her shoes from the beach down on an empty table. The sun was barely rising yet Shuri could be spotted behind a blue screen.

Fresh from the fight on the rig, Aria's hair was a blue mess and the golden spear was strapped across her back diagonally. Her face might've looked peaceful, but Aria was one moment away from calling Shuri out on her shit.

"Hey." Shuri briefly acknowledged Aria before turning back to her work, though the smell of seawater flooded her senses more than usual.

"Hi." Aria pursed her lips and clenched her jaw at the introduction she got. "It's nice to see you haven't died yet."

"Mm." Shuri hummed, not even paying attention as she swiped and clicked on some holograms.

Aria chuckled and nodded, her hand rubbing over her mouth to prevent a remark from escaping, "You know I talked to my father. It was nice. Is your mother back from the United Nations meeting yet or is that tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I slept." Shuri shrugged off Aria's conversation, not even knowing what she said and kept her eyes glued to the screen in front of her.

Aria exhaled sharply and walked forward, standing on the other side of the hologram her girlfriend was so busy with. At first, she was fine with Shuri being in the lab, Aria thought she wanted space but now it was starting to really get onto her nerves.

"No, no." Aria shook her head and moved the hologram away with her hand, finally face to face with the Wakandan princess. "You haven't left the lab in who knows how long and you need to stop this moping shit. You need to eat, rest, take a shower."

"Move, I have work to do," Shuri answered dully and brought the hologram back in front of her.

"Not right now, you don't." Aria stated and moved the hologram away again before addressing the few workers in the lab, "Everyone get out!"

Nobody hesitated and when the room was cleared, Shuri rolled her eyes with a scoff, "What was that for?"

"Don't roll your eyes at me," Aria spoke lowly, not in the mood for her girlfriend's bitchy attitude.

Shuri just pursed her lips and stared at her girlfriend, "Why are you here? I'm working."

"'Why am I here?' Are you joking?" Aria almost laughed, "Shuri, I've been trying to talk to you for the past month and all I've gotten in response is you ignoring me! I'm so fed up with your bullshit already and I-"

"My bullshit?!" Shuri scoffed with disbelief and shook her head, "Oh, I'm sorry, excuse me for trying to cope with my feelings as you do what exactly? Suck up to my mother and Okoye?"

"That's not what I've been doing. In fact, if you weren't so invested in your goddamn inventions, you would've noticed that I'd been gone for a whole day! Oh, and let's not forget the fact that I'm literally bleeding!"

When Shuri stayed silent, Aria's face fell, "Oh my god. You didn't even notice I left, did you? Look I don't know if you've forgotten but this," Aria motioned between the two of them, "This is supposed to be a relationship. We're both supposed to put in the effort, so far it's been one-sided and I'm sick of it."

"Why are you here, Aria? Did you come just to yell at me? What do you want?" Shuri threw her hands up, "Hmm? What?"

"You!" Aria jabbed a finger in Shuri's chest, which made Shuri stumble back slightly, "I want you! I want some time with you, maybe affection, a fucking glance in the hall would do!"

"My god, Shuri, every time I see you I just feel more and more alone!" Aria's frustration thickened her accent and brought hot tears, "I just had the worst week of my life." Aria breathed out, her chest heaving up and down, "And I needed you."

"Every time I wake up, I'm reaching for you but you're never there. When they told me you were gone I screamed. I wailed, I cried, and I screamed as loud as I could. I halfway hoped that if you could hear me screaming then you would come back to me. And you did, but now it feels like I'm losing you all over again. It hurts watching you fade away. It hurts to see you just remain stoic and avoid when things get hard; you avoid and avoid and avoid until you even avoid yourself. I mean, did you just forget about me or something?"

Shuri stayed silent as one tear ran down her cheek. It hadn't hit her what she'd been doing for the past month. She thought that if she avoided everyone then it might be easier to ignore her emotions but she struggled. She had wanted to be with Aria but every time she was around the Talokanil princess, she felt vulnerable, she felt sad, she felt tired, she felt secure, she felt safe. That's why she had ignored Aria the most because if she was with her, then it would make everything so real and she hated reality.

"I-" Shuri couldn't even speak as she realized the product of her avoidance so instead she reached to grab Aria's hand.

"Don't touch me," Aria whispered harshly and pulled her hand away as tears ran down her cheeks, she was just so frustrated and fed up that she couldn't be bothered to soften to her girlfriend. "I gave you everything I had and you're just standing there. You can't even say anything."

Shuri stayed silent and just stared into Aria's fuming brown eyes. Aria nodded and chuckled before walking backward then in the direction of the exit, "Don't talk to me if you're just gonna give some bullshit excuse like every other time. You could go back to whatever work was more important than your girlfriend, I'm done."

Shuri sighed and dragged her hands down her face before swiping a bunch of tools off a table in frustration.

When the elevator door dinged open, Shuri turned and hoped it was Aria but instead she saw Ayo, a Dora Milaje warrior, walk out.

Ayo's eyebrows rose when she saw the tools on the floor then softened when she saw Shuri's tear-stained cheeks, "That was harsh on both of you. And yes, I heard you. You two weren't exactly quiet. Look, Princess, I've been where you are and all I could say is let Princess Aquaria cool off before you talk to her. You're both in the wrong but I think she needs to hear the apology from you first before she says something."

"When she was yelling at me..." Shuri sighed and sat on a stool, recalling the argument that just happened. "I can't describe what it felt like. Knowing I hurt her like that- Bast, the pain in her face made me want to break down. My heart was screaming and yet, there was complete silence. Ayo... I didn't even know she left."

Ayo gave a sympathetic smile and nodded, "Now you do. As I said, just wait. Tonight go talk to her and maybe get some proper sleep, hmm? You've been here all week."

"Yeah." Shuri pursed her lips and nodded watching as Ayo left and let her sit with her thoughts.