"Where's Ned?"

Peter smiled, leaning over to hug Pepper good morning before he sat down at the table in the suite that Pepper and Tony had to themselves, this time.

"He's still in bed."

"Had trouble waking up this morning?" Tony asked, also smiling a greeting to his son as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah."

Of course, Peter did, too, and he'd gone to bed much earlier than Ned had – although he'd woken when the other boy came into the room the night before. Ned had had a pretty good time, he told Peter, still pretty stoked about his evening. Apparently after Peter had left, Tony and T'Challa had both hung out near Shuri – and Ned had been smirking when he told Peter about all of the looks the king of Wakanda gave every noble son of any tribe when they moved closer to Shuri than he liked.

"I was the exception," Ned had told Peter, smugly, as he'd changed for bed. "And Shuri didn't seem to be enjoying the attention as much, so she was holding onto my arm while we hung out with the others and talked about what the activities are for tomorrow."

"What are they?" Peter had asked, having some idea of the fact that the evening would culminate with a ceremony he had to attend, but beyond that having heard very little. "Anything we didn't already know?"

Ned, of course, knew everything that Peter had known.

"Nothing you didn't already mention. She wants to do some shopping – something about her mom's birthday coming up and wanting to see if the Jabari have anything interesting she might buy."

"Sounds good."

"This ceremony sounds like it's going to be a snoozer," Ned had complained. "Just a lot of nobles telling you how great you are, or something."

Peter grinned.

"And we already know how great I am. No sense wasting an entire night hearing all about it."

His friend rolled his eyes, amused, since Peter never really put himself forward. Not like Ned would, if he could do all the crazy cool things Peter could, so he knew the boasting wasn't sincere.

"Exactly my thoughts." He'd seated himself on the edge of Peter's bed, and his expression turned a little speculative – and maybe a little sly. "You're not very smart, though. You know that, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"You should totally ask Shuri out."

Peter was tired, and had just woken up. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't keeping up with the conversation.

"Ask her out, where?"

"Not a where, Peter," Ned had rolled his eyes and graced his friend with one of his patented how dumb can you be looks. "Ask her to be your girlfriend."

"What? I can't do that."

"Why not? The noble thing? You're not some bum off the street, even if you're not really nobility. You guys are really a good couple if you think about it. She's smarter than hell, and so are you, and you already get along."

"What about MJ?"

"She'd probably agree with me."

Peter had his doubts. He shook his head; he was really too groggy to have that particular conversation, just then.

"Maybe."

"You should ask her."

"MJ?"

Another scornful look.

"Shuri. Jesus, Peter, I don't know why I try to talk to you when you're half asleep." It was good-natured, though, and Ned was smiling when he stood up. "Think about it, okay?"

"She'd probably laugh at me if I brought it up," Peter said.

"Won't know if you don't try. Just remember that it was my idea…" he paused as he sat down on his bed. "Unless it turns out bad. Then I didn't have anything to do with it."

Peter threw his pillow at him and Ned laughed and turned out the lights then climbed under the blankets.

Ned was snoring long before Peter was able to get back to sleep, though.

OOOOOOOO

"You look tired, too," Pepper pointed out, looking him over.

Peter didn't mind; he was used to her and Tony – and pretty much everyone else – checking in on his health.

"I am, a little," he admitted. "I'm glad I went to bed early, or I'd really be dragging."

"T'Challa said there'll be some time, later, for you to nap," Tony told him with a smirk. "Something about not wanting the guest of honor to fall asleep in the middle of the ceremony, just because he's too dumb to sleep."

"He didn't say that," Peter replied, smiling.

"Not in so many words… I was paraphrasing." He looked at his watch. "I'm going to go rouse Ned and get breakfast sent up to us. If the others show up and want to go wandering off to the market or something, tell them to be in the main throne room by 8pm."

"We will," Pepper assured him. She offered her cheek to him for a kiss and he left, and she turned her attention back to her son. "How did you sleep?"

"Okay. Ned woke me up when he came in, and I had trouble getting back to sleep."

"You woke up in your bed, this morning?"

They didn't have Friday wired in to the palace's systems, so they only had some observation capabilities. You didn't spy on palaces that belonged to allies, after all.

Peter nodded, fiddling with a fork that was on the place setting in front of him.

"Yes. I'm not stressing, or anything. Not really."

Which told her that he was, though.

"Anything bothering you?" she asked. "You didn't lose your money in some gambling den, yesterday, and you're just afraid to tell us?"

The boy smiled.

"No. Nothing like that." He hesitated, and looked at the fork for a long moment, while she waited him out, patiently. Finally he looked up at her. "Can I ask you something…? But you can't tease me? Or maybe tell anyone else…?"

She smiled, gently.

"Of course."

"Say… hypothetically… that you broke up with someone that you're pretty sure was your girlfriend – or boyfriend – even though you never really called it that, officially…"

"Yes…?"

"How long are you supposed to wait to try, again?"

"With the same person?" she asked.

"No. I mean with someone else. What if someone told you – someone who you knew was a lot smarter than you were, and a lot better judge of the people around you – what if that someone told you that you should ask someone else out, instead? Is there a rule about how long you should wait…?"

She forced herself not to smile. He looked so awkward.

"Are you thinking about asking someone else out?"

"I didn't say it was me," he pointed out.

"Right. Sorry."

"But, if it was me…" he added. "How long do you think I should wait to see if this other person is interested in being my girlfriend? Is there a set time?"

"No. It depends on you," Pepper replied. "And on this other person."

"Oh."

"Is this other person someone I know?" she asked, unable to help herself as she racked her mind trying to think of any girls that he could be interested in. The ones his own age were all just friends, though, as near as she knew. "Hypothetically, that is?"

"Yeah." He sighed. "I was thinking… I mean, Ned said that… well… he thought that maybe Shuri and I could make a decent couple. I mean, I know she's a princess, and I'm not talking about marrying her, or anything, but I like her – and I think she likes me. We get along pretty good, anyway."

"Pretty well," Pepper corrected, automatically, somewhat surprised. "Shuri, huh?"

Peter shrugged, blushing, now.

"You can't tell anyone."

"I won't."

"Especially T'Challa – or Tony. Or Steve… or Natasha. Or Shuri. And not-"

"I won't tell anyone," Pepper promised, smiling. "Ned brought it up?"

"Yeah. He was talking about it. We-"

The door opened, though, interrupting Peter's explanation, and Tony and Ned walked in.

"Look who I found just down the hall," Stark said, walking into the main room of the suite with Ned beside him, looking sleepy but awake enough to hold a conversation. "Breakfast is on the way, too."

Peter looked at Pepper, and his eyes were just a little concerned, but she winked at him, reassuring him that his secret was safe with her.

At least for a little while.

It was pretty juicy gossip, after all, and she'd have to check to parent handbook and see if this was something that mom and dad were both supposed to know.