"Did you have fun last night?"

Peter nodded, seating himself at the table that they were all using for their meals – when they would be eating them together.

"Yeah."

The 'dining room' was adjacent to the kitchen, so it was a simple thing for Peter to poke her head through the unzipped entrance. She and Stephen had started breakfast, but the coffee had been on long enough for the place to smell amazing.

"What did you do?" she asked. "I know you were at the bonfire, because that's where T'Challa said Shuri was going to take you. What else?"

The boy smiled.

"We did the bonfire until it got pretty late, and then we went for a walk."

"All of you?" Natasha asked, pointedly.

She was seated at the table, too, with a cup of coffee in front of her. Tony and Wong were also listening to the story, but Carol hadn't made an appearance, yet, that morning, and Steve was out for his usual morning run – with Jack.

"No. Me, Shuri and Tony."

"He means Shuri's dog," Stark reminded them all. "You must not have gone too far, or been out too late," he added.

"Why do you say that?" Stephen asked, curiously.

"I didn't have T'Challa pounding on my front door demanding I return his sister.

Peter shook his head.

"We didn't go far. It was late, and there is a lot of stuff happening today that I want to see, so I didn't want to be too tired. I walked her to her tent and then came back here and went to bed."

"Did you kiss her goodnight?" Natasha asked, smiling, because she knew he'd blush – which he did.

"Yeah. But nothing serious," he added, quickly. "Her guards were there."

Peter was pretty shy at public displays, really. At least when it came to his relationship with Shuri. He'd been the same way with MJ, after all, so it wasn't anything new to any of them.

"What are you going to watch today?" Wong asked, curiously.

No doubt wondering if it were something that he'd want to watch, as well.

"There's a lot of competitions, today," Peter replied. "spears – throwing and fighting – and archery. Wrestling, and some of the Jabari men are going to be carving those hangings like the ones we have back home. I'd like to see how it's done."

"They allow other tribes to see them do it?" Pepper asked, surprised. "Wouldn't that hurt their business if other tribes find out how it's done?"

Tony shrugged. He'd been invited by M'Baku to watch that particular demonstration the night before as he'd been seated around the fire talking to the Jabari and others about the upcoming day. He was looking forward to it, really.

"I think they're pretty confident in their abilities. The Jabari have been crafting those carvings for generations, and it would probably take other tribes at least that long to become any kind of competition."

"Huh." She shrugged, too, though. "That makes sense."

"Besides," Peter added. "It's a way to show how good they are to someone who hasn't seen it before. Like activating an Ironman suit to someone who hasn't seen it done a million times, already."

His father rolled his eyes, well aware that that particular comment was aimed at himself.

"It was a gaggle of little kids, son," he said – again. "And they asked me to show them."

"Uh huh…"

"I mean… it isn't like I walked over to where they were sitting and told them I was Ironman, and asked if they wanted me to prove it."

"Of course, not."

Tony scowled at the boy, pretending to be annoyed at the way Peter's brown eyes were lit up with amusement.

"You know… there are dishes to wash…"

"Not, yet, there aren't," Peter pointed out, with a grin. "Right, mom?"

"Not yet," she agreed, enjoying the way the two were sparring. She loved watching them when they were both in the mood to annoy the other. The others did, too, she knew. "But we could probably find something messy that needs cleaning."

"We've been here twelve hours," Peter reminded her. "How messy could it be?"

Good point.

OOOOOOOOO

"Do you need anything?"

Peter shook his head.

"Do you want me to go with you guys?" he asked, looking at Tony and Pepper. "You won't feel like I'm avoiding you?"

Pepper smiled. They were done eating, and ready to start the first day exploring their first tribal gathering. Tony and Pepper were going to go meet with T'Challa and the other tribal leaders and spokespersons. Peter wasn't interested in that at all, and had planned to walk around the gathering.

"No," Tony assured him. "Go have fun. Just stay out of trouble."

"I will."

Wong was going to accompany Tony and Pepper because he wanted to see what happened during one of those meetings, and was more than willing to take advantage of his membership in the new tribe to be allowed to do just that. The others were just going to look around, and Peter knew that with them with him, there was very little chance that he'd run into something that would get him into trouble.

If Captain America, Black Widow, the Sorcerer Supreme, and Carol Danvers with her glowy hands of force pulsers doom couldn't keep him out of trouble in the middle of a grouping of his own adopted people with their forcefields and their battle rhinos, then the Parker bad luck was really working overtime, now wasn't it?

He didn't say that aloud, of course – no sense tossing that particular challenge out at the universe, after all – but he smiled all the same to find himself in the company that he was keeping when they all walked out of the main tent only a few minutes after Tony had left with Wong and Pepper.

"Wise man…"

Peter smiled at that, and walked with the others toward the ferry, with Steve keeping Jack close at hand to avoid the young lab jumping into the water for the sheer joy of being wet.

"What do we want to look at, first?" he asked the others, knowing that they had all done their own reconnoitering the day before and knew what was going to be offered that day for activities.

"I'm in the mood to shop," Natasha replied, hooking her arm through Peter's, cheerfully. "Why don't we go look at the marketplace, first?" she suggested. "Then we can go from there."

"Sounds good."

Since no one had anything that they had to do, and no one had a burning desire to do anything else, just then, they all agreed and headed for the area that had been laid out as a place for all of the gathered tribes to sell the more exquisite of their tribe's products. This wasn't a regular tribal bazaar, after all; this was a meeting of the nobles, who – presumably – represented the wealthiest of their own people and could definitely afford to bring back the best of the bounty of Wakanda.

Peter was good with the idea of shopping, since he'd promised Ned and MJ both that he'd bring them back something to commemorate the trip.

And Tony had reminded him that Ned's mom wouldn't allow him to bring his friend a rhino.

OOOOOOOO

They were still in the marketplace when Tony and Pepper came to find him.

"Where's Wong?" Natasha asked, as the two walked over to the jeweler's stall that the others were gathered around.

It was doing a lot of business, and it wasn't just the Avengers that were shopping there. Representatives from all the tribes were asking the craftsmen about various items that were for sale, and clearly this was one of the more popular items that nobles sought out when looking for gifts for their loved ones. Obviously buying something shiny was universally enjoyed.

"He stopped at the campsite to drop off some notes."

Pepper smiled, looking around.

"I think he might be thinking about sneaking back to the sanctum to get more notebooks." She realized that none of them were carrying any souvenirs in their hands. "None of you have found anything that you want?"

Peter shook his head.

"We did. But we don't have to carry it around with us. The merchants keep track of what we buy, and what the agreed on cost is, and then they will deliver the items to the tents at the end of the day – and collect their money."

"And how much money have you spent?" Tony asked, curiously.

"Seventeen goats and three cows," Natasha told them, smirking.

"And where are you going to find seventeen goats and three cows?" Pepper asked, smiling.

She already knew the answer, of course.

"I'll go buy them," Peter replied. He pulled out a wad of Wakandan currency, as well. It was all well and good for the mountain folk and the small villagers to deal in livestock and barter, but the Wakandans did have money, too, of course, and Peter had managed to get his hands on a lot of it in preparation for the gathering. "I don't have to bring them back to the campsite," he added, quickly, before they could worry about the mess and the smell. "I just tell them who they go to, and the merchants can come collect them, later, with the bill of sale."

"It's a sound way to do business," Strange added – and Pepper decided that he probably had to go make a visit to the herders on the far edge of the gathering, as well. "Luckily, they do more cash transactions here than they do the older bartering. Peter just happened to be the one who keeps finding those merchants who prefer the old-fashioned way of doing things."

"What did you buy?" Pepper asked her son, looking around at all of the offerings at the stall they were looking through. "A nose ring?"

Peter grinned, amused and happy. He was having a great time and it was fun seeing the others enjoying themselves, as well.

"We just got here," he told her.

"He bought a boat," Steve said, also smiling. He was having a good time, too. Captain America was known to the Wakandans, and they all knew who he was, but among the adults, at least, there wasn't a lot of pushing and shoving to get his autograph or a picture with him. Instead, they were treating him as simply a visiting tribal member, and he was enjoying the relaxed pace of the shopping and the exploring. "A huge boat."

Peter rolled his eyes – especially when Pepper looked just a little worried. The others were also grinning at the reaction. They'd been with Peter when he'd bartered for the boat, after all.

"It isn't a huge boat," he assured her. "It's more like a river yacht. And it isn't put together."

"You bought a yacht?" Tony repeated, frowning. "What are you going to do with it?"

"It's a model," Peter told them. "But it has to be put together. I got it for Ned."

The worried expression faded a bit, and Tony shrugged as if he hadn't been concerned, at all.

"Is he putting it together? Or are you?"

"The fun is in the building," the boy pointed out. Tony knew that better than most, after all. "He'll want to put it together."

"It was a model boat or a blowgun with poisoned darts," Natasha added. "We assumed you two would prefer the boat."

"Absolutely."