Skinny Love ▷ T'Challa Udaku

2 - CLEAR ADORATION

2002

"WHERE'S THE BABY?"

T'Challa sighed, rolling his eyes fondly, catching wind of the familiar voice of his oldest friend, his stomach lurching at the sound of her voice and his heart rate picking up. A boy of fifteen, his mother assured him that his feelings towards his friend were completely natural, though she wished his first reaction to his feelings wasn't to hide himself away from her for an entire week, nearly sending the poor girl into hysterics, thinking she had done something wrong.

"Shuri is sleeping," he called out, rolling off his bed and opening his door, just in time to see Zarina running down the hall, vaulting onto his bed, bouncing lightly.

He couldn't help but laugh, though it sounded choked, his chest constricting as he looked at her, unsure of what to do with his hands or his entire body in general, falling into his default, hands behind his back, standing up straight.

Zarina giggled at his posture, moving to lie on her side, propping her head up onto her hand, and T'Challa could only stare at her. Over the years, the two had grown very close, their lessons intertwining as Elewa tutored T'Challa on the fundamentals, as well as what it meant to be king and the various tools and knowledge needed. Zarina often sat in with him on request of both T'Challa and her father, as the young prince found his lessons on diplomacy awful and most often lost interest.

While Zarina's presence had helped when he was first learning, still at the ripe age of twelve, she now became even more of a distraction. Better at him at the subject she didn't need to learn, he at first felt some need for competition, but now he was more than happy to just watch her listen to her father and answer the questions when she thought T'Challa didn't know them, softly explaining to him.

Though he would never admit it, he often pretended not to be paying attention—though most of the time he wasn't—just so she could reach out and touch his arm or shoulder to bring him back to focus, her touch sending sparks shooting through his body.

He wasn't lovesick, he wasn't. He just enjoyed having her around all the time, and the thought of her being out of his life angered him more than anything else.

So maybe he was. But only a little. Though it was bad enough that he was jealous of his baby sister, seldom even one year old, for taking all of Zarina's attention and interest.

So maybe it was more than a little.

"How was your lesson with Okoye?" he asked, realizing that he had spent far too much time just staring at his friend, forcing himself to look away from her, his cheeks warming.

"It was awful," she declared, falling back onto his sheets and sprawling out, body aching as her muscles remembered the warrior training she had been wrangled into, gasping in delight when she caught sight of one of his kitten crawling towards her, "Hello...oh, were they being mean again?"