Stephen didn't join Shuri and Peter when they left the tent to go watch Tony's Ironman demonstration. He didn't need to, he pointed out with a smile. Getting the cloak to stay with him was a bit trickier, as the relic was eager to hang out (literally) with Peter, acting as if it hadn't seen the boy in years. Shuri was clearly amused, and Peter assured the thing that he'd be back, later, and would see it, then. Grumbling in his mind, the cloak transferred to Stephen's shoulder, and Peter and Shuri left, with the girl now munching on a piece of the honeycomb while she carried the remainder in the bag.

A thought occurred to Peter as they crossed the river on the ferry, and he wondered if she knew about his problem. She was a medic, after all. At least, the technology that she had access to was designed to heal people, and she'd healed him on more than one occasion. What kind of scans had she done? Did she know? What if she did? What if she didn't? Should he tell her? Would it sound like some kind of ploy? Peter realized, then, that if he couldn't get her pregnant then they didn't have to worry about all the sex that Tony had been pointedly reminding him that he shouldn't be having. Of course, Tony hadn't known about his problem, then, had he? But did Shuri? Would she think that he was just saying it so she'd hop into his bed? Or the back of his car – or any number of places that he'd seen people in the movies have sex. "What-

"Don't work yourself up about this," Alec interrupted, cutting into his troubled thoughts to stop a potential panic attack before it could start. "It's not a big deal."

"Does Shuri know?"

He knew that Alec would know. Even if he didn't know just then, he could get into her thoughts – and probably already was, really, since it was as natural to his people to be in the minds of others as it was for Peter to breathe.

"I think that's a conversation that you should have with her," Alec said, seriously. "But not this moment. She-"

Yes.

The mind stone didn't care what Alec thought, or wanted, and it didn't have any more problem getting into Shuri's mind than the ancient sorcerer did – even less, really. It gave Peter the answer that Alec hesitated to provide, and Peter felt a little better.

If she knew, then she didn't care. She hadn't hesitated to want to be his friend – or his girlfriend, now had she? She probably-

"What are you thinking about?" Shuri asked, putting her hand over his, where it was on the railing of the ferry.

He was startled out of his thoughts, and looked over at her.

"What?"

"You look a million miles away, suddenly."

She was more amused than annoyed, he decided.

"I was thinking about you," he admitted, unable to think of anything clever.

"Oh?"

She smiled, clearly pleased at the response.

"Um… yeah. How's the honey?"

The princess smiled.

"It is delicious. Thank you."

"You're worth a sting or two," he told her, just as the bow of the ferry bumped the shore. "Come on," he said, taking her hand – the one that wasn't sticky from honey. "Let's go see if Tony crashes into a tree or something and ruins the Ironman myth in Wakanda, forever."

Shuri laughed her agreement, well aware – as Peter was – that Friday wouldn't allow anything to go wrong in the demonstration. That was the only reason the remark was funny.

"It should be fun to watch the others' reactions."

Shuri was used to Ironman, after all. She'd been in the compound many, many, times and had even seen Tony in action in a few other demonstrations. Not to mention she was familiar with her brother's Black Panther persona and what it could do. The average Wakandan hadn't seen Ironman in person – much less up close. Those who had joined the battle of the compound had seen Ironman, of course, but had been much too distracted by the fighting and keeping themselves alive than watching what was going on in the air above them.

It would – should – be a treat for them.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Well?" Tony asked, once the crowd of Wakandans had finally wandered off to their various camps to have dinner before the evening bonfires began. "How did it look from the outside?"

Peter shrugged, holding out his hand and waggling it sideways.

"It was okay."

Stark rolled his eyes, amused and not bothering to hide it from the boy – even as he turned to his wife.

"Pep? Tell me I was amazing."

"You were amazing," she repeated, dutifully, pleased at the way the two men in her life were teasing each other. "It was truly a riveting performance…"

"Thank you."

He slid his arm around her, turning toward their own camp – and the dinner that Stephen had started preparing while Tony had been giving one of his better demonstrations of the less dangerous abilities of the newest incarnation of the Ironman suit. He hadn't actually blown anything up – there was too much chance that a stray piece of shrapnel might injure someone, despite the forcefield shielding that T'Challa had had placed for the spectators to stand behind as Tony had flown, twisted, turned, and dived in the suit, even going so far as to swoop over the crowd and catch Peter up in his grasp to pretend to rescue him from a mountain top, or something.

He'd set the boy back down, easily, and Peter had grinned – always excited to fly with Tony, even when it was only for a few moments and not really that high off the ground, or going that fast – and waved to the crowd to make sure none were concerned that he'd been injured. It had been impromptu, but Tony had warned Peter over his comm so that Peter could get a little away from Shuri and the others.

"Incredible," Natasha agreed, rolling her eyes at the way Stark was fishing for compliments. She was used to it, though, and knew him well enough to know that he wasn't serious – not much, anyway. "Truly a maestro of flight."

Tony shook his head, more than able to recognize that she was amused.

"The Wakandans enjoyed it, though, right?"

He knew they weren't going to be as impressed. They lived with him, after all.

"Shuri said it was great," Peter told him, honestly. She'd had to head back to her camp, but had promised to meet him at the Jabari bonfire, later. "And the people I spoke to were pretty impressed."

The little kids had been excited, practically jumping up and down in their eagerness to talk to Tony, although most had been led away, as it was getting late and there were still evening meals to prepare and bonfires to light.

"Then it was a success," Tony said, looking pleased with himself.

"Better than getting beat up," Carol added.

"I wouldn't have gotten beat up," Stark objected. "Just… sweatier than I really would want to be."

Besides, Steve – and even Stephen and Wong – were trained fighters, and Tony just used what he'd picked up as he went along, mostly. They would have made his inexperience show. This way, he still had the reputation of Ironman, and the Wakandans could see what skills he brought to their alliance. That was the whole idea of the gatherings, right? To showcase the abilities and skills of each tribe to the others?

"It really did look good," Peter assured him, walking backward so he could watch all of them as they headed back to the ferry, and then their camp. "It's always exciting," he added. "And I'm used to it. They enjoyed it."

"Yeah." Tony had lost his smug look, now. "Are you planning on attending the Jabari bonfire, still?"

"Yes. Azoru's talking, tonight, and I told him that I'd be there."

"With Shuri?" Natasha asked, smiling.

"She said she was going to meet me there – after dinner, and everything." He looked at Tony. "Did you need me, instead?"

"Nope." Stark was pleased that their son could hang out with everyone here in Wakanda like he couldn't always do back home. For one thing, the Wakandans knew everyone who was supposed to be at the gathering, so there was zero chance someone could infiltrate the Wakandan safety shield, and then the nobles at the gathering to attempt any kind of grab at Peter. If someone did, somehow, manage to be there, there were plenty of people who would be standing between that person and any kind of exit that they may make. Peter was safer in Wakanda than he was anywhere – except, maybe, the compound with Friday watching out for him, nonstop. "I just wanted to make sure I knew where you were going to be."

"I'll check in with you if anything comes up and I'm late coming back," he promised.

He was pretty good about doing that, anyway, knowing that the others – and not just Tony and Pepper – worried about him, sometimes.

"Make sure you record Azoru's tale," Wong said. "I want to put it with the others."

The sorcerer would be at T'Challa's campfire listening to Ramonda, while Tony and Pepper had been invited to the Merchants' bonfire that evening. Natasha was going to their own – not so surprising since Stephen was their speaker, and Steve and Carol were being hosted by the Border tribe.

"I will," Peter promised.

He wouldn't tell Azoru that he was recording him, though, so he didn't make his friend nervous, but he was definitely going to pay attention, since Azoru was closest to his own age – aside from Shuri (and she was a princess so that didn't count) – and he wanted to make sure that teens didn't do anything differently than the adults during their storytelling.

Besides, he wanted to show Ned and MJ.