He didn't make it all the way back to his quarters, immediately.

With a sigh, he stopped at one of the chairs that were spaced at intervals along the corridors of the compound, now. Chairs that were there just in case he needed to sit down because he was just too tired to make it to wherever he was going at the time.

"Sorry," he told Shuri. "Just give me a minute to catch my breath."

It was more like his legs felt weak and like they were made of jell-o, but good enough. She didn't mind. Instead, she watched him, concerned but not worried. She'd been warned by Strange that Peter wasn't anywhere close to as healthy as he probably thought he was, and that he'd need to take frequent rests. She'd been told not to make a big deal out of it, if she could, simply to avoid allowing him a chance to stress something that should be less of a concern in only a few days to a week.

"Take your time," the princess told him. "Or… I could carry you, if you would like?"

Peter's smile was tired, but definitely amused.

"You'd drop me – and undo all the good this walking is doing me."

"I am very strong, and you are rather scrawny."

"Hey…" He pretended to be annoyed. "We slender guys prefer the word lithe, or lissome."

"Is that even a word?" she asked, sitting on the arm of the chair, careful to make sure it was the left side – just in case. "Lissome?"

"Look it up."

"Do not think that I won't."

He smiled and was ready to keep going in just a few minutes. She moved out of the way to allow him to stand, but she couldn't help the hand that hovered close – just in case he needed the support.

"I'm good," he assured her. "Thanks."

Proving he hadn't missed the gesture.

She masked it by tucking her hand into the crook of his left arm, companionably.

"You are doing very well," she told him, approvingly. "I am pleased at the results from the chamber, so far."

"You sound surprised."

"You are the first trial. It is very new technology."

He frowned.

"You experimented on me?"

"Tony approved it." She didn't sound at all contrite. Amused more than anything. "But I knew it was sound, or we never would have applied it."

"Huh."

His huff was disapproving, but she knew that he didn't mean it.

"I will give you credit if I choose to write up the results," she offered, unable to keep from egging him on. He was hard to tease, sometimes. "You can be P. Parker. Case Study number one."

"Ooooo…" the sound was sarcastic, and they both were smiling when they reached his quarters.

"Sit down," Shuri told him, pushing him toward the sofa. "I will bring you something to drink."

He did as he was told – mainly because he really needed to sit down – and tucked the injured side against the soft leather of a couch pillow, leaving her a space on his left. He had barely settled when she returned with a bottle of cola from his fridge. One for him and another for herself.

"A princess waiting on me," Peter said, taking it with a smile of thanks. "That's heady stuff for a kid from Queens."

Shuri smirked, sitting beside him, her body turned toward him, and her foot tucked under her rear.

"Do not get used to it. I can be very demanding. We princesses are like that, sometimes."

"How many other princesses do you know?" he asked, curiously.

"None," she was forced to admit. "But I have seen your Disney cartoons. Not very accurate – no bird has ever come and helped me design a dress – but entertaining."

"Karen? A Disney princess movie, please…" Peter requested, making Shuri roll her eyes.

"I did not come from Wakanda to watch cartoons, Peter."

"You came to spend time with me, right?"

"Exactly."

He shrugged one shoulder.

"Well, I'm going to watch a Disney movie… so where does that leave you?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Fine. But not Cinderella."

"Karen?"

The lights were already off, since the room was well lit by the sunlight coming through the part of the window that wasn't blocked by Nutmeg's sunroom. The TV turned on and the opening credits to the Little Mermaid came on. Shuri sighed; a sound of great suffering, and then she set her drink on Peter's coffee table and settled in, getting more comfortable.

"Only one," she told him. "And then I choose the next movie."

"Fair."

OOOOOO

"Have you two been drinking?"

Pepper smirked, amused, and shook her head.

"That's exactly what Peter said."

"I know it sounds crazy," Tony told her, running a hand along Nutmeg's furry head. "But it happened, I shit you not."

"Tony…" Pepper chided.

He rolled his eyes, not mentioning her reaction to Nutmeg's parlor trick.

"It happened," he repeated.

"Tentacles?"

"Yup. Right out of a mariner's nightmare."

Natasha took Nutmeg from him, then, and held the kitten up with one hand, turning him around and looking at him from all directions. The furry creature simply looked back at her, clearly wondering what she was doing, but willing to put up with it.

He liked Natasha, after all.

"Where did they go?" she asked, pointedly. "I don't see any tentacle-shaped bumps coming from inside him."

"Stephen checked him, too," Pepper said. "But it happened. Ask him."

Natasha would have thought they were messing with her, but they both looked serious. She shrugged, though.

"If he saw it, then he's probably already trying to figure it out." Which explained why he was at the sanctum instead of hovering over his patient. "I'll see what he knows, when I talk to him."

"And you'll believe us the next time we tell you something…" Tony added.

"And the next time you tell me something equally crazy, I will still look at you, oddly," she assured him. "We'd better get going."

She handed Nutmeg back to Stark, who tucked him into his arm.

"Drive safe."

He kissed Pepper, softly, and she smiled.

"Call me if Peter needs anything. And don't forget to make sure everything is ready for this evening."

"I'll take care of it."

Pepper rubbed Nutmeg's head.

"And keep an eye on him, please?"

"Peter? Or the kitten?"

"I meant Peter. But watch Nutmeg, too."

He smirked, kissed her, again, and then turned to Romanoff.

"Tell Stephen to call me if he found anything. Or to come by."

"No dissecting the kitten, though," Pepper added. "I'm not going to have another scene like we had earlier."

"I know, honey." He did, too. It had upset him to see Peter so broken just as much as it had her. "We'll be fine."

"What happened earlier?" Natasha asked.

"I'll tell you on the way," she promised, moving to the other side of the assassin's Corvette.

Tony watched them until they'd driven off, and then he looked down at the kitten in his arm.

"Let's go check on Peter, shall we?" he asked. "Then I will hand you over to him and go spend some time with my pig. I mean, Peter's pig."

Nutmeg didn't look convinced, either, but the kitten didn't complain when Tony carried him back through the corridors and toward Peter's rooms. He let himself into the boy's quarters, and was surprised to see that Peter and Shuri were on the couch. That wasn't so surprising, really, but they were watching a cartoon.

Shuri glanced over when the door opened, and rolled her eyes at the confusion on his expression. Tony walked over to the back of the sofa and saw that Peter was asleep.

"Little Mermaid?" the billionaire asked, amused. "Really?"

"He thought he was being funny," she said – smiling. "But then he fell asleep, and now I am stuck watching it. Alone."

"Here," Tony told her, handing her Nutmeg. "Now you have some company."

She took the kitten and pressed her nose into his soft fur.

"Kittens are so much cuddlier than puppies," she said, quietly, to keep from waking Peter.

"I don't know; Tony puppy is pretty soft…" he said, referring to the puppy that Peter had bought for her.

"He is," she agreed. "But he will not hold still long enough to cuddle like this."

"He's a boy," Tony reminded the princess. "We're more restless."

"I have noticed."

He smiled.

"Have Karen call me if you need anything."

"Thank you."

He left and she turned back to the movie, now distracted by the kitten she was holding.