"What did you say to them, Peter?" Ned asked, curiously, as soon as they were away from the crowd and on the balcony. "That was pretty badass."

Peter smiled, sheepishly, but it was Shuri who replied. She repeated the dire threat verbatim and smiled, as well.

"It was perfect, really, because you would have every right to do just that – although I have never heard anyone threaten to do so, before."

"I just didn't want them to cause any trouble. It would have ruined the night."

"You were amazing," she assured him.

"Should have done it sooner," Ned told him. "They were all being pretty pushy…"

Shuri smiled.

"It is a very rare chance for so many young noblemen to get together. They are using the opportunity to try and impress me."

"I didn't like it," Ned said.

"I didn't, either," Peter agreed.

The princess' smile broadened as she looked at the two boys.

"You were jealous."

Ned rolled his eyes.

"No. Of course not," he scoffed. "But you're a princess. Not some bag of beans for them to squabble over."

Shuri's giggle made Peter smile, and she touched Ned's arm.

"I will bear that in mind. Thank you." Then she looked at Peter, expectantly. "Were you jealous?"

Peter shook his head, automatically, but he remembered his conversation with Alec and wondered if he really had been. It wasn't an emotion that he was really all that familiar with, so not one that he could recognize in himself.

"What? No. Of course I wasn't." he tried to affect nonchalance, but he didn't really feel it. "I don't need to be, right?" he added. "I already have your promise to marry me if no one else catches your eye."

Shuri shrugged, her eyes amused, but another expression there, as well, that Peter didn't understand.

"That is true. However, we may want to move up the time frame. I would not want to become an old maid waiting for you."

"You guys made a marriage pact?" Ned asked, grinning.

Peter nodded, rolling his eyes but in a much better mood, now, than he had been all evening.

"We did. If Shuri doesn't get married by the time she's thirty, she has to marry me."

"You should make it younger than that," Ned said to his friend, looking at Shuri, suddenly speculatively. "I mean, she's a princess, right? They can't wait that long to get married."

"How long do we wait?" Shuri asked, curiously. "And when did you become an expert on royalty and their relationships?"

"I see the news, and watched all about Harry and Meghan."

Peter rolled his eyes, again.

"This is Wakanda."

"Same thing. Probably ought to not wait too long. Twenty-five. Plus, you have to do the whole dating thing, and the engagement once the question gets popped."

Shuri caught Peter's hand as they listened to Ned rattle off all kinds of timelines and the various things that would have to be recognized in order for them to have a wedding. And then he shrugged, looking at them.,

"Of course, that's only if Peter doesn't find a girl, and decide to get married, first, though, right? I mean, if he gets married, then the pact is off?"

Shuri lost her smile, but Peter was watching Ned, trying to figure out how the conversation had moved to him getting married, when he was still trying to figure out whether he'd been jealous, or not. Then he shrugged; he was enjoying the conversation, because she was – and he knew Ned was.

"Shuri's a pretty good catch. I'll probably hold out and wait and see if I can get lucky."

"A Wakandan princess may only marry a nobleman," Shuri told them both, squeezing Peter's hand, lightly. "It is the law."

"Pffft." Ned didn't look concerned. "The king makes the law, and your brother's the king. If you want to marry Peter, you could make him change the law."

She looked at Peter speculatively, and he shook his head with a smile.

"If you two are finished changing the course of Wakandan society just so I can avoid growing old alone, I'm going to go to bed."

"We can carry on without you," Ned told him, smirking. Then he straightened a little and ran his hand along his jaw in an imitation of Tony that was a good one – and only one that someone who spent a lot of time with the billionaire could pull off. "Go to bed, son. You look tired and I don't want you to be a zombie in the morning."

"Yes, dad." Peter was still smiling when he turned to Shuri. "Good night, my dear princess," he said with a formal bow as he kissed her hand, lightly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Her eyes sparkled with humor.

"Good night, my love."

Peter turned to Ned.

"Keep an eye on her, okay?"

"Yeah. Sure. Goodnight."

They both watched as Peter left to go find the others and say goodnight to them, and then Ned looked at Shuri – and his expression was a little sly.

"You two make a cute couple…"

She smiled.

"Because we are cute."

Ned nodded, and then switched the topic to the events of the next day. It wasn't as much fun to tease Peter when he wasn't there, after all.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Tony was still standing near T'Challa when Peter walked into the room, now alone. His appearance didn't go unnoticed, of course – not the fact that he wasn't with Shuri. It was a sign that maybe there had been a little intimidation when none of the boys who were still in the room went toward the balcony to have another go at impressing him.

Peter greeted anyone that spoke to him as he crossed the room, but he was clearly heading for Tony and T'Challa and looked around when he arrived beside them.

"Mom was invited to go look at some new artwork with Ramonda," Tony told him, well aware who he was looking for. "She said if she missed you that I'm to tell you she loves you. Steve and Carol went with them. Natasha and Stephen haven't made an appearance, yet, this evening and are probably out running amok among the marketplace."

T'Challa was clearly amused.

"Shuri is with Ned?" he asked the boy.

"On the balcony planning my future, yes."

"Do I even want to know?" Tony asked.

"Probably not." He smiled to make sure the man knew he wasn't stressed and had only been joking. "I'm going to go to bed."

"Need anything?"

"No. But if I do, I know how to get in touch with you," he added before Stark could.

Tony ruffled his hair, affectionately, but didn't hug him. Not with so many people huis own age in the room. There was a time to embarrass him and a time to play it cool – even though he wanted to.

"We'll see you at breakfast – in our suite."

"Okay." Peter turned to T'Challa. "I'm sorry I threatened those two men. It was probably a little extreme."

"It was efficient. And you were well within your right to do so." Proving to the boy that he'd been told what had been said. "Besides, it stopped them from arguing and kept me from being forced to make an official scene out of it. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He turned and left, then, and T'Challa glanced toward the door that led to the balcony, noticing that Ned and Shuri were making their own entrance, now. Several of the boys remaining in the room started converging on them, but the King of Wakanda wasn't about to risk another possible spectacle that evening.

"Come, Tony," he said to his friend. "I feel the need to stand near my sister and scowl at her many suitors. Perhaps you would care to join me?"

Stark smirked.

"I could be convinced."