So Spring Break is done here, obviously, since it's summer time, but I hinted at it in the Valentine's story and my slower pace just got me behind, so I'm still going to write a spring break story.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was amazing how big eyes could get, Pepper decided, forced to look away from Peter, who was sitting across from her at the table. How big and hopeful and excited, she added, silently, glancing at Ned, who looked just as eager – and his brown eyes were just as big. She looked over at Tony, who didn't seem to have any problem watching both boys as they laid out their beginning argument to the discussion about where they thought they should spend their spring break.

"So let me get this straight…" he said when they'd wound down. "You guys want to go to Wakanda for Spring Break…"

"Yeah."

"Alone."

"Right. I mean, not completely alone, of course," Peter added. "But without anyone from SHIELD watching us."

Tony looked over at Pepper.

"Are you listening to this?" he asked, and she knew that he wasn't quite as shocked or incredulous as he seemed. "He wants us to send him off to a foreign land for a week with just Ned to watch out for him."

She smiled, but it was Ned who answered.

"It's Wakanda, though," the boy reminded him. "It's not like we're asking to go to California, or someplace like that. No one in Wakanda wants to kidnap Peter. He's a member of the tribe, right? They're pretty much required to protect him – and us, since we're members, too."

"That's a fair point," Pepper said, knowing that the boys would have gathered all of their arguments before seeking her and Tony out to have the discussion they were having. Neither were on the debate team, but both were intelligent, and both had spent enough time around her and Tony, now, to be able to read their expressions fairly well. That would help in their negotiations. "They'd be safer going to Wakanda than Shuri is when she comes here."

"Right?" Tony scowled at Peter, whose eyes widened, innocently. Uncowed by the look, he shrugged. "It is," The boy said, reasonably. "We do a good job of making sure there's security, but there's always a chance something could happen with so many total strangers out and about with us when we're not in the compound. There aren't many strangers in Wakanda, and all of us are members of the Avenger tribe, so we're going to be treated as guests no matter where we go. That means the whole country is going to be looking out for our safety."

It was clear he'd already considered all of that, and it made Tony frown, because T'Challa had pointed out the same thing during the short conversation he'd just had with the Tony and Pepper. A conversation that had been cut shorter by the fact that the young king had a council meeting that he'd needed to attend.

"I am not against the idea of them coming here, Tony," he'd assured them. "It would be a pleasant change to allow Shuri to be the host rather than the guest – and I know she would like to show Wakanda to Ned and MJ."

"Three teenagers…?" Tony had reminded him with a slight smile, proving that he wasn't concerned about Peter's wellbeing. Well, he was, but that was automatic, really. He trusted T'Challa – and his security. "They can be a lot to deal with. Pepper and I wouldn't mind-"

"You do not trust me with your son?" the king of Wakanda had asked, pointedly, interrupting him.

He had a meeting to go to, after all, and was friends with Tony which allowed him to be more abrupt than he would have to be with someone he didn't know as well.

"You know I do."

"Then we will finish this discussion, later, and you can tell me what concerns you have."

"Alright."

T'Challa had bowed, slightly, to Pepper, and had ended the call with a slight smile, clearly amused but unable to spare the time, just then, to have a chance to continue the conversation while he had the upper hand.

It didn't happen that often with Tony and Pepper, after all.

"Ugh."

Pepper had simply smiled, resting her hand, lightly, on Tony's arm.

"He's pretty smooth, isn't he?" she asked, more amused than anything – even though she knew she'd just been out negotiated before the negotiations had really had a chance to start.

"Too smooth."

"Because everything he said was true," she'd pointed out.

"I guess."

Now he was looking at his son, though, and was reminded just how much he loved him and how much he wanted to keep him safe. He might have let T'Challa talk him into the visit, but he needed more than a king to convince him it was a good idea.

"We could go to Hawaii," he said. "We could bring Ned and MJ – even your mom," he added, looking at Peter's best friend.

Ned shook his head.

"She's going to Florida to see my grandma."

"Does she know you're planning on going to Wakanda instead of spending your vacation with her?"

Peter rolled his eyes at the obvious ploy to guilt trip Ned, but Ned was ready for it.

"She was going to ask you to keep me over the break," he told him – and Pepper. "They're going on a casino cruise. A lot of old people playing slot machines and card games. I'm not even invited."

His tone made it clear that he didn't really want to go, anyway. A week with the Avengers would have been much more fun – but a week in Wakanda would be interesting, too, obviously.

"What are you planning on doing in Wakanda?" Pepper asked, curiously, turning her attention to both boys. "Spending time at the orphanage? Touring the city?"

"Going on a safari," Ned replied before Peter could speak up. "Lions and crocodiles, and hopefully panthers, and-"

"And zebras, giraffes, and some birds, or something," Peter interrupted, throwing his friend a look that told him to stop talking. "I mean… there's no sense in bringing them to Africa to visit a modern city like the one around the palace, right? We thought it'd be fun to see the sights like you guys and I did on your honeymoon."

"There's no way T'Challa is going to turn Shuri loose in the African wilderness," Tony said. Unneeded was the fact that he wasn't going to turn Peter loose there, either.

"We'd have guides," Peter said. "The experienced ones, like the ones we had when we went. And I thought we could maybe visit Jad's village, if the Jabari said it was alright."

"The tribal meeting is coming up," Ned added. "We could go scout for a good place to host it."

"The next tribal meeting is going to be on Jabari land," Pepper pointed out. "The one after that isn't for another year and more."

"You can't be too prepared…"

Neither adult looked impressed.

"We'd have plenty of guides," Peter assured them. "They'd be with us all the time to show us the animals in an exciting – and totally safe – way. T'Challa could make sure of it."

"We won't ask for anything else, ever again…" Ned said, hopefully.

Pepper smiled at the use of one of the oldest promises in the world – and one used by every kid to ever get what they wanted but it was Tony who spoke up, next.

"You're going to fly to Wakanda?" he asked Ned, pointedly. "You threw up on an elevator – and don't even get me started on the flight to Montana."

"We aren't planning on flying," Peter replied. "We're going to see if Stephen or Wong will portal us."

"And before you ask," Ned said, speaking up. "No, MJ doesn't know about portals, but Shuri figures that she should. She keeps my Spiderman secret and she already knows about Stephen's cloak, so she'll probably just shrug off the portals, too."

"Shuri does," Peter pointed out. "Even if MJ doesn't believe in magic we can just tell her that it's alien technology. That's what Shuri thinks it is."

"Flying would take too long,' Ned said, and there was no mistaking the fact that the boys were speaking quickly, trying to make sure they got all their points out before anyone could shoot the idea down, completely. "And we'd get jet-lagged, or something. This way it's instant and we get to spend more of our time having fun."

"And you're going to explain the portals to her folks?" Pepper asked, pointedly.

Peter hesitated and shook his head.

"I hadn't planned on it."

"But MJ can know," Ned said, confidently. "She's not going to freak out about it. Please?"

Tony looked over at Peter, but he was looking just as hopeful.

"Please?"

He rolled his eyes, knowing he wasn't going to be able to say no.

"Let us think about it."

"Yes!"

That earned both boys a scowl.

"I said we were going to think about it," he reminded them. "Don't get too excited. If one parent says no, then that's it – and T'Challa needs to be completely on board."

"I know."

"And so does SHIELD."

"Okay."

"And Natasha."

"Right."

"Go get me a cup of coffee."

Peter and Ned both scrambled to their feet and headed to the bar. Stark shook his head.

"I must be out of my mind…"

Pepper smiled, but didn't disagree.