Shuri and Natasha were sitting with Steve and Carol at the corner table when Tony walked in with his little family.

"He looks exhausted," Steve said, softly, watching as the three walked across the room and a slow pace – clearly matching Peter's rate of movement, and proving Steve correct.

Peter was wan and pale, and looked worried – as usual – but he was on his feet, and that was a step in the right direction. Natasha smiled when she saw that the boy had Nutmeg tucked into the space in his sling, and the kitten looked fine with that arrangement.

"Did Stephen check you out?" she asked as he sat down beside her with a tired sigh, smiling a greeting to them all.

"He just did."

She reached over and fished Nutmeg out of the little den made by Peter's sling, cooing the kitten and smoothing down his fur before she looked at Tony.

"Well?"

"We had a look at the hand. Stephen and Dr. Thompson are both pleased with the progress he's making."

"Does it hurt, Peter?" Shuri asked.

"Not too much," he replied. "The bandages and the sling help me keep it from banging into anything. How are you doing?"

He hadn't had much contact with her, and it was nice to chat with someone his own age, after all. Not that he didn't love the others, but they were all older than he was – and parental figures in one form or the other. Shuri wasn't.

"I am well, thank you."

"You guys ate?" Tony asked.

"Early," Steve replied. He looked at Peter. "We're going to Clint's for the weekend."

"You and Carol?"

Danvers smiled.

"It's been a long time since I've been on a farm," she told the boy. "And Clint invited me out. Said I'd get a chance to meet Peter Pony – and Nick Furry."

It was obvious that the name amused her, and that made Peter's smile broaden. He looked at Steve.

"Are you taking Jack?"

"Yes. Need anything before we leave?"

"No. Tell Lila I said hello."

"I'll give her a kiss from you," Rogers told him.

Which made Peter roll his eyes, but he nodded, amused. They all loved Lila Barton, but she loved Peter.

"Do that. If someone brought me a piece of paper and something to write with, I'd write her a letter to send with you."

Tony offered to, since he wanted to go get himself and Pepper some coffee. When he got up, Shuri looked at Peter, confused. It was Natasha who answered the unspoken question, however.

"It's a new thing that Peter has going with Lila," the superspy told the princess as she cuddled Nutmeg, who was on his back, now, presenting his belly for rubbing. "She had a school assignment to write a letter – not an email – to someone, and of course she sent hers to Peter."

"Who then had to reply, of course," Steve added.

Shuri smiled.

"Of course."

"And now it's their thing," Pepper said, as Tony returned, juggling two cups of coffee, a piece of plain white paper and holding a pen in his mouth.

"It's drooled on," Peter protested, reaching for the pen when Tony handed it to him after setting down the coffee.

That made Tony smile; he'd been concerned about his boy – especially the breakdown about Nutmeg. Not so much the concern about having the kitten taken away, but the billionaire hadn't missed the similarities between the kitten and Peter's situation, either. He didn't like Peter referring to himself as a weirdo.

"The bar's right there if you think you can find a drier one…"

Peter smirked, made a show of drying the pen off on his pajama bottoms and awkwardly started writing the letter left-handed while they waited for their breakfast.

OOOOOOOO

"What are you going to do today?" Shuri asked a while later.

Steve and Carol had left, taking Peter's letter with them. A letter that looked like Peter was the nine-year-old if you were basing it on the handwriting. He'd taken the teasing all of them gave him good-naturedly, though, and had only rolled his eyes a little when Natasha cut his pancakes and his ham for him before allowing him near his breakfast.

"Not a lot," Peter told her. He didn't want to admit that he was tired, but he really was. "How long are you staying?"

Shuri looked at Tony and Pepper.

"Until the bandages come off," she replied. "T'Challa knows I am curious to see how the technology in the immersion chamber worked, so he has allowed me to remain, as long as I am not a nuisance."

Which made all of them smile.

"It probably saved his hand," Stark told her, seriously. "But you'd be welcomed here, regardless. You know that."

"I count on it," Shuri told him, looking pleased.

"Why don't you and Peter spend some time hanging out together?" Pepper suggested. She could see that he was tired, and Shuri was a restful visitor, so he would probably fall asleep in her company. "He's probably ready to get away from us grownups for a while."

Peter started to shake his head to deny that; but he realized from her amused expression that she didn't think they were bothering him. She was just giving him a chance to spend time with Shuri – or giving the princess a chance to have him to herself for a while. Either way, it was nice of her – especially since Peter was certainly aware of the fact that she could cuddle with him all day if he'd let her.

He nodded, instead.

"What are you guys doing?"

So much time in bed left him feeling disjointed and apart from what was going on in the compound.

"I'm going in to the tower for a while," Pepper told him. "We have a few meetings I need to handle before the weekend really gets started."

"And I am going to be lazy and stick close to the compound, taking care of some administrative details that Steve and Nick don't care to handle," Tony said, smiling.

Peter looked at Romanoff, who shrugged.

"I'm going to start my weekend early. I'm driving Pepper into the city and then will be at the sanctum – where you can reach me if you need anything."

"He won't need anything," Tony assured her, reaching out and taking Nutmeg from Natasha's hold. The kitten was asleep, now, and showing every sign of staying that way for a while. "He has Shuri to take care of him – and me to back her up if he becomes difficult about getting plenty of sleep and not doing anything crazy."

"How are you getting home?" Shuri asked, curiously.

"Happy. He wants to check on Peter, anyway – and he hasn't met the guardians, yet. So we can't let them leave until he does."

"They're leaving?" Peter asked, looking around the room, suddenly, and realizing that he hadn't seen any of them the entire time that they'd been eating.

"Not yet," Pepper assured him. "Definitely not without letting you know ahead of time. I know Peter – Quill, that is – doesn't want to leave until you're well enough to run him to the gas station a few more times so he can stock up on junk food."

Which made the boy smile.

"We should take him to Costco."

"His spaceship isn't that big," Tony pointed out. "He looked at Shuri and Peter. "Are you guys good?"

Which was his way of asking if they minded if the adults abandoned them.

"Yeah. We're fine…" Peter looked at Shuri, who nodded, as well.

"I will walk with Peter back to his quarters."

"Four inches of space," Tony reminded his son, standing up, still holding Nutmeg and smirking when Peter rolled his eyes. "Have Karen call Friday if you need me."

Natasha brushed a kiss against his temple as she got to her feet, as well, but she didn't say anything. She really didn't need to. Peter knew where she was going to be – and who she was going to be with. If anything happened, and he needed her, Stephen would have them there in less than a heartbeat.

Pepper kissed him, too, but she added a hug from behind, careful not to jar his injured side.

"Have fun, today," she told him. "I'll bring you back a surprise."

Which made Peter smile.

"Thank you. Have a good day."

It was a sign that they all acknowledged that he was getting better that they were willing to leave him alone for a while. Not completely alone, but only because Shuri wanted to spend time with him. If she wasn't there, he would probably have had someone walking with him to make sure he made it to his rooms, but then would have been left to his own devices for a while.

Tony was still carrying Nutmeg when he left with the two women, and Peter was sure that Natasha was about to find out about the kitten's nocturnal activities. Shuri's hand found his.

"What did Tony mean by four inches?" she asked, curiously, as they got up, as well.

"It's an old-fashioned rule for formal dancing," Peter told her, amused. "There had to be four inches of space between the dancers – to make sure they weren't getting too chummy with each other, I think."

The princess smirked and slid her arm around Peter, ostensibly to support him and help him keep his balance, but mainly because she knew she could and that he wouldn't mind.

"We are breaking the rule, then?"

He chuckled, squeezing her, lightly.

"Yeah."