Shuri was playing video games when Peter woke, next.

She smiled when she saw him sitting up out of the corner of her eye, but never turned her attention from the TV, and her hands were both on the game controller.

"Good morning."

"It's morning?" he asked, sleepily, yawning but only able to stretch his left arm.

"It is early afternoon," she told him. "Tony has been in to check on you twice. I believe Pepper has called him, but he did not want to wake you. How do you feel?"

"I'm good." He sat and watched her playing the game, noticing that she was getting pretty good at it/ A benefit to spending any amount of time with Ned, after all. "Did you have lunch?"

"I was waiting for you – although it would almost be an early dinner, now. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah."

Before he could suggest anything, Karen interrupted.

"Incoming call from Ned."

Shuri paused her game, and Peter smiled.

"Bring him onto the TV, will you, Karen?"

A moment later his friend was looking out at him from the display. Ned was obviously at home, to judge by the background, and his eyes grew even happier when he saw Shuri sitting beside Peter.

"Hey. What are you two doing?"

"Playing video games."

"One-handed?"

He clearly hadn't missed the sling.

"Shuri's playing. I'm watching. What are you doing?"

"Calling to check on you. Getting ready for tonight. Sort of."

"What is happening tonight?" Shuri asked, curiously.

"Homecoming dance. Peter didn't tell you?"

"I heard about it, yes," she told him. "I did not realize it was this evening."

"Yeah. I told Peter I didn't have to go. It's not fair to him, since he can't come."

"But it's dumb for him to stay away just because I can't go. Besides, he'd just be sitting home alone, since I'm not well enough for a lot of company, yet."

"He is right. I will keep him company." She smiled. "Do you have a date?"

Ned grinned.

"Of course I do. I'm a ladies' man. You know that."

Which made the princess roll her eyes.

"Tell me about her."

Peter excused himself to go to the bathroom while Ned began describing his date for the dance. By the time he returned, they had changed subjects over to the video game that Shuri had been playing and Ned was giving her some tips on secret ways to defeat the boss at the end of the level.

"Ask if I can come out next weekend, Peter," Ned told his friend. "You should be better by then, right?"

"I think so, yeah." He definitely planned to be. "I'll ask Tony about it."

"Do that. I need to go. Mom says hi."

"Tell her hi back."

Ned's image faded, leaving the video game on the screen once more, and Shuri turned to her friend.

"Tony asked that I call him when you wake. Are you going to stay awake?"

"Yeah. I'm good." He felt pretty good, really, after getting some sleep. "Karen? Will you tell Friday I'm awake?"

He smirked when she rolled her eyes at the show of tech – or laziness, she wasn't sure which. It was only a few minutes later, however, when Tony Stark walked into the room with Ironpig under his arm. The piglet was wearing a green Incredible Hulk sweater, and Shuri reached for him as soon as the billionaire was close.

"How do you feel?" Tony asked his son, relinquishing the pig to the princess.

"I'm good. Did you eat?"

"I did," Stark confirmed. "But I'll keep you company while you and Shuri have something."

"Where's Nutmeg?"

"Wandering around, somewhere… he woke up from his nap, hopped off my lap while I was working on a concept design, and wandered off. Karen? Where's Peter's cat?"

"In the control room. Asleep on one of the keyboards."

There were cameras in that room, and it was a simple matter to bring the image up on the display. Sure enough, one of the SHIELD agents was trying to toggle through various video feeds, while also trying to ignore the kitten that was sprawled on his keyboard in front of him. It was a common enough sight, really, and a problem Peter had discovered with Nutmeg, too. He liked being in the way.

"Feel up to going to the lounge?"

"Yeah."

OOOOOOOO

Bruce was in the lounge sitting at a table with Gamora, Quill and Sirah. The young woman's eyes widened when she saw Peter enter the room, and she got to her feet.

"They said you were here," she told him. "But that you had been injured." Her gaze looked him over; not just the sling and the bandages on his arm and hand, but he felt like she was giving him a thorough examination – and the frank stare made him blush, unaccountably. "You are much younger than I thought."

Probably because she'd been so afraid when she'd first met him.

"Oh." Peter shrugged as well as he could. "Yeah. I mean; I know. How are you doing?"

"I am trying to make myself useful, but no one has anything for me to do for them."

"She's a servant, Tony," Bruce said, clearly displeased. "Did you know that?"

Stark shook his head.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to her. We've been a bit distracted."

"Steve debriefed her before he and Carol left, this morning," Quill said as Peter sat down at the table. He sat beside Gamora, who gave him a welcoming smile, but before Shuri or Tony could take the other side of him, Sirah took that chair, pushing it a little closer. "He wanted her account of what happened – and how she met Peter."

"He saved me," the girl said, reaching her hand out and touching Peter's cheek, lightly. There wasn't anything subtle about the caress and Peter blushed even hotter. "I was all alone and he came and rescued me."

Obviously she'd forgotten that Peter had tried to leave her on the planet.

Shuri didn't look amused at the intimate contact, and Tony smiled, politely, but was well aware that Pepper wouldn't approve of the girl being so familiar with their son. Sirah was young, and beautiful, and seemed smitten with Peter. Who looked uncomfortable, but didn't pull away from the touch.

"I didn't do anything that anyone else wouldn't have done," he assured her.

Gamora tossed the girl a pointed look, and Sirah dropped her hand, looking away, almost nervously.

"What are you planning on doing with her?" Bruce asked.

"What do you mean?" Tony replied, curiously. "Nothing. Send her back wherever she belongs."

"I belong to my master," Sirah told him. "He will be very angry with me and will beat me – perhaps – for losing the treasure he entrusted to me."

"She's owned," Bruce stated, looking annoyed. "You can't send her back to someplace where she's going to be treated like property."

"She isn't Tony's property," Gamora pointed out. "It's not his call to make what happens to her."

The girl looked upset by that, but she also looked resigned.

"She is correct."

"Don't worry about it, Bruce," Stark told his friend. "We'll figure it out."

"Perhaps I could stay here," Sirah offered up, looking hopeful. "I could make myself useful."

She fluttered her eyelashes at Peter, who looked over at Tony for some help, definitely not ready to deal with being in Sirah's crosshairs, just then.

"We'll figure it out," he said, again. "Peter? I need you to help me get drinks at the bar."

The boy got up, immediately, and excused himself, looking relieved, and Sirah looked at Shuri, not missing the princess's expression.

"Did I offend?" she asked, curiously.

"You did not," Shuri replied, unable to be less than graceful and reassuring at her confusion. It was in her upbringing and her training to put people at ease. Even people who were poaching territories that were better left to others. "Peter is just out of his sickbed, and not ready for such shenanigans."

"He is very handsome. Is he taken?"

Gamora snorted, amused, but Shuri ignored her – and the look Peter Quill exchanged with Bruce.

"Yes."

OOOOOOOO

"We don't need to have another talk, do we?" Tony asked Peter, softly, as they reached the bar.

The billionaire was amused, but Peter flushed further, and could feel Alec's amusement in his head, as well.

"It's not funny," he told Tony in a whisper, looking over his shoulder at the table that they'd abandoned. "What do I do?"

"We'll have Gamora keep an eye on her while she's here. Relax, okay? I don't want you stressing – and we don't need to mention this to mom, either. Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean, no. Please."

Tony smiled.

"Come on; you need to eat. I want you looking well-fed and rested before she gets home."