#man back when i first watched the rising i was soooo sure hes gonna be an aussie until i saw him in that weirdly specific milan backdrop

[doggosta]

Embrace your Italian heritage

[stvrdrops]

star like you pt 1 | pt 2 ☆ shuri x fem!reader (fame au)

you’re a superstar and she’s your producer. when you collide together again for the first time in a while since your listening party the two of you feel a spark. 

warnings : i don’t think there are any!

word count : 2.9k+

note : hi !! this is basically my return to tumblr. i took such a long break because honestly my fixation on shuri ended and i lost a lot of my motivation. i also was figuring out a lot of college stuff and working on larger projects for my career. i didn’t want to push out mediocre content just to keep up with my posting, y'all don’t deserve that! this will be a series i plan on completing. it has a playlist attached in my masterlist but the song popular by the weeknd kinda sets up for how the story is gonna play out. so i would suggest listening to that one as you read. i hope you enjoy this ! ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

“so.. what’s your name?” the man who approached you says with a nervous grin spreading across his face. it had been covered in sweat which made you guess two things. either he felt really hot in his navy blue suit, or he was entirely too nervous to be approaching you right now. you presumed it was the second option. this was only because just a few moments earlier you saw him chatting with his friends and how they would always look back at you.

you chuckle, “i’d rather you just ask me for the picture already, rather than play dumb about not knowing who i am.”

you turn your body to him, giving him your full attention. you watch as his eyes grow wide and he begins to play with his collar, as if it’s suffocating him. his sweat droplets glide down his forehead and absorb into his full eyebrows. you think it’s amusing, because you know he doesn’t just want a photo. he wants something much more.

“i’m sorry.”

“it’s fine.” you set your glass down, “so do you want the picture or not?”

“uh, yeah sure. i guess.” he says while fumbling to pull out his phone. you glance over to his buddies to see them with wide grins, so you decide to play along. you take his phone, brushing ever so slightly against his rough hands with your soft fingers. it leaves a trail of goosebumps rising against his skin that is hidden underneath the suit. 

“get in the frame.” you say as you focus the camera mainly on you. that was just how you liked it, having all the attention on you. you weren’t sure how you would’ve lived any other lifestyle than the one you’re living right now. best selling new album, grammy nomination number three with one win already under your belt, sold out tour for next year, and all while you were just twenty. should you have been drinking a martini? not legally. however, the bartender was more than willing to move around the rules a little bit if he heard who track seven was written about.

he shuffles closer to you, the only thing keeping him from moving any closer is the aura you omit. he knew you weren’t on his level, especially because he was just some niche internet celebrity that only the incels of twitter knew about. you weren’t even sure how he made it into this exclusive bar.

the camera from the phone clicks and your toothy smile turns into one that shows annoyance. you hand the phone back and watch as his face is stuck in embarrassment. you soooo got off on that.

“hope you have a nice night.”

“y-yeah, you too...”

he shuffles away and you watch as he keeps his head held down low. he passes by his friends who all try to congratulate him upon his arrival back, thinking something entirely different took place during the interaction. he just walks right past them and towards the exit of the bar. 

you turn your body back towards the bar and look back down at your glass. your acrylic nails play around with the olives at the bottom of the near empty drink. you hadn’t had a real motive for going to the bar. really you just wanted to escape your manager for a second and have a night out to yourself for once. living the socialite lifestyle meant you were hardly ever alone. your assistant stayed up your ass constantly and even lived in your guest house back at home in L.A.. you had to go out to places almost every night whether it be restaurants or brand launches with friends to keep up with the life that young girls only dreamt of. which, you loved it, but you also liked your own company a lot more than anyone else’s.

“here you are.” the bartender says, winking as he slides you another martini.

“who bought me this one?” you ask, considering you’ve been receiving drinks all night. to be specific, this was your seventh one. usually guys would send over fruity shots, which is what they expected you to drink. luckily you had a group of girls celebrating a bachelorette party right beside you. you had been giving them all of your drinks which they greatly appreciated. 

this time the drink had been a martini. the exact same way you had been getting them all night. how thoughtful.

“cutie at the end of the bar. she said she knew you.”

your eyes glance over in the direction of where the bartender’s hand subtly points to. sure enough you saw the girl he had been referring to. she knew you, and you did know her. she was one of the producers on your new album. she’s up and coming and you knew you had to be one of the first to brag about working with her. sure enough the song was a hit and even one of the tracks off the album being put up for grammy nominations. 

despite all that, you two had never actually met until your album release party. every conversation before that had been done on the phone since she wasn’t living in the U.S. at the time. it was safe to say you were surprised she was here in new york. even more surprised that she ended up at the same bar as you, on the same night, at the same time. you would say it’s fate. she would say she saw the paparazzi pictures of you entering the bar and she just happened to be in a hotel a couple blocks down. nothing an uber ride couldn’t fix.

she waves to you and flashes a smile. her pearly white teeth sparkle against her darker skin. you smile back, giving a little wave as well. she looked cute in her sleeveless shirt and dark green dress pants. Which you only saw due to her standing against the wall near the bar. the rest of the seats were taken, so she waited the long game and decided to stand until she made her move. her hair had been freshly faded and she had added a few more tattoos onto herself since the last time you two were together. you were unsure how you saw them despite the dim lighting, but you were just staring too hard to not notice. 

you felt a bit overdressed in your vivienne westwood dress that accentuated your chest and sat high on your thighs. it wasn’t anything too fancy, but the black kiki marc jacobs boots you were wearing were anything but casual. 

“oh yeah? tell her to come over.” you say back to him, and he gives you a look. “don’t worry i’ll tip you well.”

he smiles and walks away from you to the other side of the bar. you can’t see his lips moving, but you can tell they are because now she’s looking at him instead of you. then she looks at you, as if wanting you to say the words yourself. so you do, in a glance and a quick nod. her white teeth flash again when she smiles. she grabs her glass from the counter, filled with some type of expensive scotch. she had actually been old enough to drink, her being two years your senior.

your eyes trailed her as she made her way around. people crowded your vision of her every so often as they conversed with those around them, swiveling in their bar chairs. 

“hi.” she finally says when she’s standing in front of you, looking even better up close.

“hi.” you say back as you take her in.

“mind if i sit?”

“not at all.”

share slides so easily into the seat with this energy that makes your stomach suddenly feel fuzzy.

“how’ve you been?” she asks.

“good, yourself?” you ask in return, your fingers trailing themselves around the rim of her glass. she glances at the action out of the corner of her eye.

“i mean, a lot has changed. good change though, all thanks to your album. let’s just say i won't be out of a job anytime soon.”

you laugh, “so is this drink a thank you?”

“you could say that. it’s also just a kind gesture. i saw that guy bothering you earlier.”

“bothering isn’t the right word choice. he was harmless really.” you take a sip of the martini, “besides, i know how to handle myself.”

shuri stares at you for a moment, entranced by your being. her hands are resting on her lap but they ache to reach out for your exposed skin. ever since the album party she couldn’t help but think about you. work crushes were extremely unprofessional and she prided herself on never mixing pleasure with business. you were just that one exception for her and it made her head spin.

that night at the party you had barely even talked to her, but she watched everything you did. which, she would be surprised if anyone had not been watching you that night. the party was all about you. granted, it was partly about shuri too considering she had collaborated on it. she was nice to the people who came up to her and congratulated her work. she watched as you did the same thing.

she barely got the chance to talk to you, so the fact she was talking to you now made her feel like it may be one of the last convenient chances she gets. 

“do you turn down everyone who tries to flirt with you?”

“i’m not turning you down am i?” you ask her, moving your eyes from your glass to her. “why do you ask?”

shuri felt like she was caught, “i saw you do it at the party. i saw you do it tonight. i never see any media covering any dating stories with you so i’m just tryna see what the deal is.”

you raise your eyebrow, “so you’re trying to see if i’m fair game.”

shuri smiles again, this time it looks shy and innocent. it makes you swoon a little.

“yeah i guess you could say that.”

you can’t help but cling onto every word that she says because of her wakandan accent. it was so sexy the way she made every word sound so much more special than it really was. it had been sexy when you heard it over the phone and at the party, but it felt somewhat different this time. 

“what time is it?” you ask her, which catches shuri by surprise.

“um,” she quickly pulls her phone out of her back pocket and opens it, “eleven fifty-six.”

you sit and think for a moment. you had to be back up at five in the morning for a photoshoot but you figured it was still early enough in the night to have some fun. lucky shuri.

“okay. let’s go to wherever you’re staying at.”

shuri was shocked by your response. she knew she was attractive and had some game. however, you were a task she couldn’t even begin to imagine tackling. you were on this pedestal to the entire world that almost made it impossible to see you as a fellow human being. with your millions of followers and “i’m the shit” mentality it made you intimidating. you were the prize and shuri had her eyes on you.

“okay, yeah. i’ll get us an uber.” shuri says while searching through her phone for the app. “it says it will be here in ten minutes.” 

“cool, we can wait by the entrance.”

you get up from your chair and throw down a couple fifties. your drinks didn’t cost much but you did say you’d tip well.

shuri follows behind you like a lost puppy which makes her feel some kind of way. she wasn’t used to being the follower or the less dominant one. all you ever oozed was dominance and control. she was desperate to break that wall down and see what you were really like beneath it all. no one is ever that composed. 

“so,” shuri starts as she leans against the wall next to the entrance, “what have you been up to since the album release?”

you can’t help but laugh, “everything i’ve been up to is posted on my socials.”

“oh, i know.” shuri checks her phone, “aren’t you going to ask what i’ve been up to?”

you hum, “shuri, what have you been up to?”

“nothing much. just done a lot of work producing wise. i’ve been attending a lot of events of my own recently.”

 “i saw on your insta. i’m glad you were able to find a free night.” you stare into her dark brown eyes.

“yeah, me too.”

a silence consumes the two of you despite all the talking and low music filling the room. you’d never quite felt like this with anyone before. this feeling of being okay with being around someone other than yourself. shuri could sense you weren’t a person who let their exterior down easily. not your real one anyway. the wakandan knew she had a huge task ahead of her, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to do it all in one night. however, she knew you were feeling her, and that was good enough.

everything was going great as she continued to get closer to you with every slight step. she figured it was good for her to get closer since you weren’t telling her to stop. it wasn’t like she made the distance closing unobvious. then, of course, her phone went off.

“the uber is here.” shuri says while turning her phone off and looking back up at you.

“are you ready?” you ask her.

“yeah?” shuri says with curiosity. why wouldn’t she be?

“no, i mean are you ready?” you ask again while looking outside of the window closest to you both. shuri follows your gaze and notices all of the people outside readying their large cameras. now she knows what you meant. once pictures hit the media of you two in date outfits and getting into the same car meant all hell would break loose. 

“are you ready?” shuri can’t help but ask. she was concerned about how much you’d have to deal with when the morning came. you were the shooting star and she was simply the sky that surrounded you. the attention would be on you, not her.

“i’m always ready.” you say while smiling and grabbing her hand. it made her eyes widen and she could feel the heat spreading across her soft face.

your feet pick up sooner than her own, so for the first couple steps you’re practically dragging her along. shuri eventually picks up the pace at the right time. she can see the paparazzi positioning their cameras on you and her before you’ve even exited the building. 

“open the door for me.” you say under your breath as you finally make it to the big glass doors. shuri very quickly follows your command and it makes you smile.

voices begin to flood the entire entrance area, and they're all shouting for you. 

“put your arm around my waist.”

shuri nods and does just that, confused by your motives.

you both begin walking down the sidewalk to the uber that seemingly couldn’t park any closer. clicks and flashes of light cloud your vision and ears but you were used to it. you hardly ever blinked anymore when one of them went right off in your face. however, shuri was struggling to make her way through it all. she wasn’t used to so many photos begin taken of her at once. she was someone who stayed in the background, never front and center.

“y/n, are you two an item?”

“maybe!” you answer with a soft, girl next door smile. you had been practicing it since you first got big.

“shuri! was this a date?” one of them asks as they shove a camera into her face. it was none other than tmz.

“well, um...” she fumbles to find the right words, afraid she may say the wrong thing and ruin her chances with you.

“it was a catch up. shuri produced one of the singles on my new album. you should def go and stream it!” you say, quickly recovering the conversation and making sure the camera grabs your good side. shuri is impressed by how good you were at giving the media not what they want, but just what they need.

“is her arm not around your waist? seems pretty romantic to me.”

“she’s making sure i don’t get lost in the crowds. besides, i don’t mind a cute girl on my hip.”

that part made her catch her breath a little. it was as if her heart stopped beating for a second and then continued on. especially when you looked up at her with sparkling eyes.

“sorry guys, we’ve gotta go.” shuri says when she realizes that you’ve both finally reached the car.

the paparazzi continued to take photos of the two of you as you hop into the car together. the driver doesn’t say a word. living in new york as an uber driver meant you picked quite a few celebrities. the less you talked meant a better tip.

shuri simply puts her hand on your leg, wanting to squeeze the skin beneath her fingertips. you lay your head on her shoulder, content with the touching. this was sure to be an interesting night as the two of you ached to touch one another in other ways. 

˖⁺｡˚⋆˙✧⋆｡°✩☼⋆｡°✩☽︎

[the-official-account]

♦️Episode 23 ♦️

Gonna skip mseto's clovenheart and come back around in my pass for the extras

[Felix is spar's ran, androgynous, willowy, Luna sibling &therefore elven light-medium brown skin VERY curly hair, which Spar also has when not slicked back, but brown eyes, sweet smile "between them and tars, they are obviously the more delicate one"]

[Josepha has green skin]

[Merim² is Felix's sibling, spar's Om (om is an ungendered word for aunt of uncle that has become my default for that usage but which I have seen used by other peope exactly once. But I like it. So.)]

The dreams sequence was uhhhh fucked up, methinks!

[Spar's restless & withdrawn when he's angry] hough....HOUGH.

Vellum making sure Spar's all healed up...ugh. ugh. Knife through my heart.

Yk how like there's that circle of distance animals tend to keep from sitting humans and how like dogs will come up really close to like any person but cats tend to stay further away?

Sometimes I think about that in situations like this, and what vellum's doing. Being visible, being available, helping keep watch but...letting someone take their time. Giving space at the same time.

I love that Vellum and Anya get along the are SO ♥️♥️♥️

Omg 🥰carnation🥰

Ah, I'm really glad they went to get her if they were gonna give up Anya........ [Vellum expresses that while he prefers to trust people it's often best to err on the side of assuming dishonesty—mostly at work]

OOOOHHHHHHHH ANYA'S DAD BEING IN CRYSTALLIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE

Oh my god Anya is so sweet I love her!!!!

Spar if you don't fucking open up your goddamn heart and stop shielding and self isolating every time something sucks I will kick your ass!!!! I KNOW. it's hard, but fuck!

ANYA CALLS HIM KAOLIN VELLUM THEY HAD THE NAME MOMENT RHEY HAD!!!!!! THE NAME MOMENT IM SCREAMING. YAYYYYYY OH MY GOD!!!!!!!! >:DDDDD

They have such sibling-in-law energy. They have such "gossip over tea as the run rises before making sure everyone's up and ready for the family event" energy. Your honor I love them.

OPE spars up.

The hurt/comfort ideas this episode is implanting into my brain.

JACKS LETTER. HOLY SHIT

SEVENTEY TWO HOURS WAS......TOO LONG AGO, HUH? FUCKING HELL

"it's on the list" I'm gonna strangle spar.

Narratively? I love this. Narratively, spars doing so good. Narratively, gimme gimme gimme those good good flaws

Personally? Spar what the FUCK. Spar FUCK OFF. BITCH.

IPSWITCH'S "AHEM" UFKSGSKAGSKDG

"who should even be in charge of this?" technically Vellum, right? He's the one that gives final approval on use of force?

OH SPAR FEELS HELPLESS, THAT'S WHAT'S HAPPENING. Makes sense, checks out, mhm

"QCS LIKE WHY WOULD YOU KILL A POPSTAR" FOSVSOSGSKS FUCK LMAO

Vellum trying to pull Spar's bear hug move.

Oh, goddamn, this scene is....hooooo.

"greggins is gaining a new appreciation for spar's style of communication" spar communicates???

VELLUM PULLED NO FUCKING PUNCHES ON THAT PHONE CALL LMAO

"I need to hyperventilate for a minute and then I'll get back to you" first of all, mood—

"spar has never willingly taken a vacation...usually his loved ones trick him into it" spar is SUCH a hot mess, and I love Tatiana but girl....

VELLUMS BEING A LITTLE ARCHEOLOGIST IS SOOOO CUTE

LUNAVELLA AND BRUNHILDE HI!!!!!! I hope they kick his ass (not literally just give him a good talking to because spar what the fuck)

Spar...Spar speaking to them like that is WILD to me...

"he pats her as if he's comforting her" I am going to run spar a nice hot bath with lavender Epsom salt and fucking bolt him down into it will this man let himself be comforted ONCE?

"the more important thing is that they're here now and I can't keep everyone safe." D:

Spar? Asking for help? Of course not, unheard of.

Bestie those are elven war vets who killed a puppet-master-(functionally)demigod PLEASE let someone help you.

Musician...musicia—DIAMOND. FUCK.

Also NOBODY made diamond a scapegoat in ANYTHING I love them (sincerely) but they are so annoying (derogatory)

RESIST DIAMONDS MIND CONTROL?

YEAH!!! YEAH I WOULD NOT LIKE THAT JOKER FLY CAUSE FUCK.

So diamond had contact with Grey....and wait grey was coming to sindershore? I'm wondering if diamond can mind control on the phone

HEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHE vellum said fuck

(not that he hasn't before? I havemt kaot track. But that was a DAMN well delivered line)

"OHHH! YOUR SPARKLINESS" FUEKGSKDGD

"looks like you've collected more of them!"

"which means over been watching them EXTREMELY carefully!"

Ipswitch is annoying in the best way. Ipswitch is annoying like I hope they never stop talking I have my chin in my hands, tell me all about how deductibles are a metaphor for justice.

Diamond is annoying like when I even hear the name I'm like "oh this bitch again"

WHY DID THEY CALL QC A MINION? MOTHERFUCKER—

""""""""the other one""""""""

"JEALOUS"

"it's seems that you (pointing at vellum) have joined the list of my suitors" hhhh diamond is sooooo lucky to not be real because if we existed on the same physical plane I would be stepping on the back of their heels when they walk at every opportunity. I would mix toner into their hair mousse. I would straighten the backs of all their hanging earrings and bend the backs of all their studs. I would put olive oil in a spray bottle and go ham on their closet.

"I'm being cute" that's a word for it.

BITCH "WHY?" AFTER YOU WERE FOUND WITH THE FUCK WERELION DRUGS THE PERSON YOU INVITES WENT ALL WERELION AND THEN YOU JIST FUCKING LEFT WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING AND DIDNT UPDATE THE PROGRAMME ABOUT YOUR ABSENCE YOU HAVE GOOOOOT FO SEE HOW THAT IS SUSPICIOUS "WHY" MY ASS. """""WHY""""".

bitchass motherfucker. God.

AND OH YEAH YOUR PROBABLY MIND CONTROLLED KURT

"how is sekitan? :)" I don't trust that question at all.

"I didn't want them to be a fatality in all this" HHHHHHHHHRRNGHHH (wrathful)

[Kurt? May be green-skinned]

I loved this episode so much there are so many feelings in my heart. I was affectionately exasperated with spar, and then diamond came in and I was just exasperated. But ipswitch, Anya and Vellum are balancing it out for me. And also the scene between Spar and auntsssss that. That was so. SO. WAH. —AND END NOTES LUNA AND HILDE WERE GOING TO THE COUPLES DANCE THAT'S SOOO CUUUUTE!!!!

And ohhhhh diamond from from the plot card!! Huh!! They wove into the story so well I assumed they were, like, in the premise of the show!

But anyways I'm still bonking spar over the head with a wrapping paper roll and yelling "YOU. MUST. TRUST. YOUR. PEERS. TO-BE-STRONG-ENOUGH. TO CARRY. THE BURDEN. THAT IS. YOUR HEART. BECAUSE-THEY-CANT. KNOW YOU. WITHOUT. THAT. TRUST. SO. HELP. ME. GOD!!!!!!!!"

@threeheartscast