Peter's eyes were big, and brown, and hopeful.

"Please…?"

"No. It's too dangerous. You'll fall off and land on your head."

"I'll be careful. Please, mom…"

Pepper tried very hard to ignore just how hopeful he was looking, just then.

"Honey, you're allergic to horses…"

Peter went to his knees in front of the throne she was sitting on, his eyes watching hers for any sign of a crack in the refusal. It was too amazing of as opportunity to give up on without a fight.

"It would only be for a little while. Please? I'll never ask you for anything, again. Ever."

She looked over at Tony, who shook his head, helplessly. He would have already given in, so she wasn't going to get any help from him.

"We only have one son," Pepper told Peter. "If you fell off, who would run the company when we're old?"

"I'm Spiderman," he reminded her, loving the fact that she mentioned him being her son – even though she was using it as an argument to keep him from doing what he was literally begging her to let him do. "I won't fall off. And if I did, I'd bounce back up. Honest. Please? I'll never have another chance at something like this…"

Pepper sighed, and was aware that she wasn't the only one involved in a similar conversation – with an equally hopeful teen.

"Please, brother?"

"No. It is too dangerous. If you fell off, Wakanda would lose an heir. And I would lose my only sister," he added, obviously hoping that would cushion the refusal.

It didn't.

"I will not fall off. I have ridden, before. Many times."

"Not a flying horse," Ramonda pointed out, listening to the conversation. "It doesn't even have a saddle."

"A princess does not beg," T'Challa said, trying to appeal to her pride, since she wasn't listening to anything else that he was telling her – and her expression plainly told him that she wasn't about to take no for an answer – even if it was the only answer she was getting, thus far.

"A princess should be allowed to experience everything that is put in front of her," Shuri told him, primly. "How else can I connect with the people?"

T'Challa rolled his eyes.

"That does not include something like this."

Thor smirked, watching as the adults were set on by the youngsters and well aware (but unconcerned) that it was his fault, since he'd offered both Peter and Shuri a chance to ride the Pegasus.

"It's perfectly safe," he assured Pepper and T'Challa, nonchalantly. "A Pegasus is a magical creature. As long as it allows the person to be on its back, they will stay in place, even without a saddle."

"We wouldn't dream of attempting to saddle the creature," the woman who had ridden the flying horse during the performance told them. She'd been introduced as Valkyrie and had bowed, politely, to everyone when she'd met them. "He'd leave and never return – and for good reason."

"After splattering our brains with those sharp hooves of his," Thor added.

Peter rolled his eyes. Thor wasn't helping his case, any.

"How do you get him to go where you want him to go, then?" T'Challa asked, clearly searching for another argument against his sister riding the flying horse. "Without reins."

"In battle I guide him with my legs, the way a rider would any battle steed. For your children? It would simply be a random flight; take off, fly around and then land."

Peter didn't even object to being called a child. He simply looked at Pepper, again.

"Please, mom?"

She signed.

"Fine. But Stephen's cloak rides with you."

Peter sprang to his feet, his entire being suffused with excitement.

"I'll go get it, right now."

The boy hopped off the slightly raised dais and trotted over to the edge of the building where tables had now been set up and people were sitting around, the Wakandans and the Asgardians all intermingling with the Avengers and their other allies. Stephen was sitting at a table with Natasha, and they were talking to M'Baku, Azoru and Gamora.

Shuri looked at her brother, and the King of Wakanda sighed, as well – although the sound was barely audible.

"Fine. You may ride the Pegasus, as well – but only if the cloak will ride with you, as well."

They all knew that Stephen's cloak was magical, and that it allowed someone to float. A good safety net for someone riding a flying horse. Shuri smiled, her eyes just as excited as Peter's – although she was a little more dignified when she nodded.

"I will go ask, as well."

They watched as she walked over to the tables to join Peter, who was already talking to Stephen, gesturing toward where the brightly shining steed was standing in the middle of the training field, grazing on the sweet grass and ignoring Jack – who was desperately trying to get it to make friends with him.

"I must be out of my mind…" Pepper muttered.

"Nah," Tony smiled, loving the concern – and the fact that Peter was so happy (and that Pepper was, too, despite her words). "You just want him to be happy."

"And when he falls off?"

"Then he'll still be happy," Thor told her with a shrug. "He won't, though. I assure you."

Pepper didn't look convinced – and really, T'Challa and Ramona didn't, either.

"Let's go watch," Tony suggested.

If something really did go south, and he was there, he could always go Ironman and pluck the plummeting youngster from the sky, after all.

"Yes. Good idea."

OOOOOOO

"I can't believe he talked Pepper into letting him ride that thing…"

Natasha smiled, watching as Peter and Shuri walked over with Valkyrie and Thor to where the Pegasus was standing. The Cloak of Levitation was draped over Peter's shoulder, now. The creature's head came up and he watched them approach, wings flaring, in greeting – or in nervousness. Romanoff wasn't close enough to tell which – and didn't read horses all that well, anyway, she'd be the first to admit.

"It's Peter…" Stephen said, shrugging. "As you know, it's incredibly hard to say no to him. He doesn't ask for things very often, after all."

"Still…"

"It should be interesting," Wong told them, smiling as he watched, too.

"To see if he falls off?" Clint asked.

"The Pegasus is magical," Wong said. "Alive, yes, and a living creature which can be injured or even killed. But very much imbued with magic – obviously."

"Wings that big would get an eagle off the ground," Stephen agreed. "But not something as heavy as a full grown horse. "It has to have magic involved."

"That's interesting," Gamora agreed.

"That is," Wong nodded. "But the interesting thing will be to see if the magical species has the same connection to Peter that other magical relics have."

"You mean if it falls in love with him?" Natasha asked.

"That too. It might just love up on him like the cloak."

Barton smirked.

"Tony would love that, wouldn't he?"

"That's why it's so interesting," Wong said, also smiling.

All of them watched from where they were sitting, waiting to see what happened – only now with more interest than before.