The Sound Of Silence
Relationships: Natasha Romanoff x T'Challa Udaku
Word Count: 524
Rating: General
Warnings: Major character death, grief, angst
It was rare for T'Challa to be the one awake while Natasha slept. Especially since Nat would only ever sleep properly if she was passed out from complete and total exhuastion.
T'Challa sighed softly and gently traced his fingers over Nat's cheek paying no mind to the dirt from the mission she had just returned from.
Tonight the only light that broke through the ringing silence was a halo of neon light from the street lamp outside their window. There were evenings when Nat would speak to that lamp like it was some neon god and it had the answers to everything.
T'Challa would say nothing in moments like those. He wanted to hold Nat and tell her everything would be okay, but he couldn’t when the darkness grew like a cancer and the silence was louder than ever.
T'Challa tore his gaze from Nat to look at his sock drawer that was hanging half open. Most likely a mess. T'Challa didn’t need to get up to know that in the center of his strewn socks there was a small black velvet box and in it a ring.
The ring he was going to propose to Nat with. It wasn’t anything complex or flashy. It was centimental as it had once belonged to a his mother, gifted to her on her 16th birthday by her grandmother. She had obtained it from her husband after he had been killed trying to keep the peace between two rival tribes while his family were at home safe from physical harm but not the emotional trauma.
T'Challa had always admired him even if he had been murdered decades before he was born. Maybe he was bias due to all the stories he was told about him as a young boy, maybe it was the truth. T'Challa didn’t really care if the man truly was a hero or not, because he knew the woman he intended to give the ring to most definitely was.
T'Challa looked back down at Nat when he noticed she seemed to have started dreaming. T'Challa already knew what she was going to say.
“I can’t...I can’t...because he said once..once I made something of myself he’d..he’d be there to take it all away. I can’t lose you...I...I know it’s selfish..but I..I can’t..wake...wake up Challa...please.”
The soft begging broke T'Challa’s heart more than any bullet or spear ever could. The way Natasha seemed so small, so helpless.
Gently T'Challa brushed his fingers through Nat's hair hoping to sooth her. “Shh..shh It’s okay Tasha.” He soothed softly even if he was talking without speaking.
T'Challa closed his eyes and pressed his lips to Nat's temple as the love of his life sobbed loudly and shouted for a medic. T'Challa knew what would happen next.
The darkness would cast him away, and with flick of the lights in his place would be Clint or Steve or Wanda or Yelena or all four kneeling at the edge of the bed trying to console their best friend.
Trying desperately to help her come to terms with T'Challa’s death.
