There was no way the dinner was going to be a private one. Not with so many tribes converged and so many tribal leaders available to talk to their king and to each other. It was an opportunity that wasn't to be wasted, really.

Nor was the rare chance for many of the sons of those nobles to have a chance to gain the attention of the princess.

Peter was seated at the high table. It was his weekend, technically, so of course he was. Not surprisingly, Tony and Pepper were as well – of course – given their status, and Ned was by default. With Ned on his right and Tony on his left Peter had good company, but he also had a good view of the steady flow of young noblemen who were clearly paying court to Shuri. Complimenting her, flattering her and touching her hand with each polite greeting, the young men were all muscular and well-built and wearing their tribal best in an effort to impress.

He toyed with his food, despite the fact that it was excellent, and cast sidelong glances toward the other side of the table. She didn't seem to be annoyed by the attention. Shuri was smiling, cheerfully, responding to each word of greeting, or flattery, and even small presents that some of the wealthier were offering her. She was attentive and lively, and Peter found that he'd echo her smile when she smiled, only to scowl a moment later when he realized what he was doing.

"Are you alright?"

The boy was so startled he actually dropped his fork with a clatter, and he blushed when he looked over at Tony, even as he reached down to pick it up. It was replaced, immediately, with another by a helpful palace servant.

"Yeah."

"You sure?" Stark hadn't missed the lack of appetite, even though he and Pepper were in an interesting conversation with Ramonda, who was also paying close attention to the suitors and their mostly clumsy efforts to gain her daughter's attention. "You look upset."

"No. I'm okay. Sorry."

Tony didn't look convinced, but to his credit, he didn't even reach for Peter's forehead to check for fever, taking his word for it.

"Eat something, alright? Then get some sleep."

"I will."

He didn't, though. Instead, he turned his focus back to Shuri, trying to decide if she was really enjoying all the attention, or just being polite. She was a princess, after all, and had to be polite. If Peter had his way, they'd all just go find someone else to pester. Like any of them would be a good match for her? She was too great for some stupid jock – even if he was nobility. That didn't really mean that much.

"Careful…" Alec warn, his tone a mixture of amused and an undercurrent of concerned. "It's fine to be jealous – a little – but your dark thoughts could lead to something more sinister."

Peter dropped his fork, again.

"What? I'm not jealous."

Tony wasn't the only one to look at him, this time, and Ned actually snorted in amusement, leaning over and picking up the fork and handing it to the palace servant, who politely exchanged it – again. Peter took it with an embarrassed thank you, and an exasperated smile, which made the servant smile, too.

"Sorry."

The young woman bowed, her eyes amused, and brushed her hand against his, reassuringly, before she left to take the soiled fork back to the kitchens.

"They're going to run out of cutlery," Ned told his friend, also amused. "Do your Spiderman trick and try to hold onto this one, okay?"

"Yeah." He glanced over at Tony, apologetically, and received a worried frown from his adoptive father – and mother – and rolled his eyes, affecting good-natured annoyance with himself. "I'm fine."

"Ignore it," Alec told him. "They're posturing. It's expected from them in their society."

"So they're not really interested in her?"

How could they not be? Shuri was brilliant. And amazing.

"Of course they are. Absolutely. If she favors one more than another, that one will be invited back here, to any and all functions where he might have another opportunity to spend time with her to court her. He will bring gifts, and will do everything that he can to impress her and gain her approval."

"That's a stupid way to do things."

Alec was amused, and didn't bother to hide it.

"They're all wasting their time. They just don't know it."

"Oh?"

"She's already made her choice."

The fork went clattering to the floor.

"What?"

This was spoken aloud – although, luckily for Peter, it was more of a hiss than anything, and only Tony and Ned heard him over all of the other conversations that were going on around the table and at the other ones. Peter blushed, brilliantly, and reached for the fork, but waved the ever-present servant away with a shake of his head as he set it on the table. He wasn't hungry, and there wasn't any reason for them to have to keep trading the thing out just because he couldn't pay attention to what he was doing.

"Jesus, Peter," Ned whispered, before Tony could say anything from the other side. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. I'm just distracted."

Tony had his hand on the back of Peter's chair, now, and he leaned over, as well.

"Are you and Alec talking about something we need to know about?" he asked his son, softly. "Do we need to excuse ourselves?"

Proving he'd figured out for himself what had the boy so distracted – although that didn't mean all was well with Peter's world, of course. They could be discussing the end of the universe, or the scores from the football game the evening before. Which was the whole point of asking.

Peter shook his head.

"No. It's not important."

Only to him.

Tony didn't look completely convinced, but he nodded, and now he did brush his hand along the boy's forehead, but it was accompanied by a smile that was filled with love and affection.

"Can you finish it, later?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Don't be." Christ only knew how distracting it had to be for Peter to have a voice in his head all the time. Tony dealt with Friday in his ear when he was Ironman – and at a few other times – so he had an idea of how it could feel. And he was a lot more used to it than his sixteen-year-old son. "How do you feel? Health-wise, that is? Hand okay? Head?"

"Yeah. No. I'm okay." It was a convenient excuse, however, for his clumsiness. "Just a little numb, maybe."

He held up his right hand, but wiggled all the fingers, easily, to reassure.

It worked, too, because Tony nodded, ruffled his hair, lightly, and turned back to Pepper to tell her what he knew and try to get the concern out of her expression, too.

"Hand hurts?" Ned asked.

"Only a little," Peter replied. "I'm good."

"Well, stay away from the soup," his friend told him. "I don't want you spilling it all over me."

"Yeah."

Peter turned his attention inward, but Alec was quiet, now, clearly not willing to finish their conversation and distract him. The boy suppressed a sigh of annoyance and started watching Shuri, again, and checking out each of the young men as they approached, wondering which one of them she'd chosen.

OOOOOO

"Is he alright?"

Pepper and Ramonda were both looking his way, and Tony nodded with a wry smile.

"He's fine. A little distracted by trying to get his hand to cooperate."

"Is it hurting him?" Ramonda asked, solicitously. "We have healers here…"

"No," the billionaire assured her. "It's a bit numb, is all. He's doing very well. Just the finer things like utensils can be a bit daunting, at times. He'll probably stick to bread and finger foods, now."

Pepper smiled, glancing over at Peter who was talking to Ned, but also looking across the table toward Shuri. Probably, she decided, he'd rather be sitting between her and Ned rather than stuck with his parents. As if he felt her eyes on him, however, he turned her way, and smiled when he saw her watching him. He held up his hand, as if to apologize for the distraction and blushed when she blew him a kiss in response.

Pleased that she'd made her boy smile, Pepper turned back to the conversation they'd been having, and to the meal – which was delicious. She'd check in with him before he went to bed – just to be sure that he was fine.