Peter was excited.
Extremely excited.
All right, maybe he was practically bursting with excitement.
It honestly felt as though he had visited more places in the last few years than he had during the rest of his entire life.
Just look at the list: Alaska, Asgard, Germany, the Netherlands, and another twenty or so wildly different places Tony had occasionally ‘accidentally’ brought him along to.
And now Wakanda.
It was so unbelievably cool, and yes, he was having another fanboy episode.
Because this was Wakanda — a technologically advanced country that had spent centuries hidden beneath an invisibility dome.
No, he was genuinely going to cry.
The fact that the princess herself had invited him only pushed him deeper into delighted panic.
Seriously, show him another person who had both the king and the princess of Wakanda in their contacts.
What made it even better was that, after hearing Peter’s request — which he himself considered a little too bold—Shuri had allowed him to bring someone with him.
She had really only invited Peter so she could show him some new toy she had invented the day before while the ‘adults’ talked, so she did not mind much.
The bigger the audience, the better.
Tony would be flying with him, of course, because he had something or other to discuss with T’Challa, but Peter desperately wanted Shuri to meet MJ, so there was no way he could pass up the opportunity.
Michelle would definitely enjoy it and meeting a princess fit nicely into the research paper she was writing.
Peter thought it was something about feminism.
He would have brought Ned too, but his friend had chosen the worst possible time to catch a cold and was lying at home, mourning the fact that he had missed his one and only chance to visit Wakanda because of a stupid illness.
Peter did not tell him it was nowhere near his only chance.
If Peter could not persuade Shuri to let him bring his friends over during the holidays, then he was no Spider-Man.
Peter had been waiting patiently since the previous evening for a chance to talk to MJ.
As usual, he had planned to tell her about the trip in the cafeteria, since she hated being interrupted during class.
The plan failed when Betty distracted MJ and the two of them disappeared somewhere, leaving Peter alone.
Rude.
Their next two classes were separate, and they did not get a proper chance to talk until gym.
Peter decided he could survive Flash’s jokes about choosing a girl as his partner and gave Michelle a sly smile.
“MJ,” Peter began while trying not to hurt her during stretching.
Michelle had threatened to bite him if he did not stop pretending he was incapable of catching a ball.
“How would you feel about a little trip?” “Where?” There was clear interest in her voice, and she did not even try to wrench his arms off when, during sit-ups, he once again pressed down on her ankles too lightly because he was afraid of hurting her.
Seriously, Peter, stop it.
She was not made of glass.
“Africa,” Peter said with a wink, perfectly aware he did not need to name the country for Michelle to understand where he meant.
“Are you asking me on a date, Parker?” Michelle had been certain he would get flustered, turn red, and start stammering the way he usually did.
Instead, Peter nodded and gave an easy shrug.
Well, that was certainly unusual.
When it was his turn to do push-ups, MJ pressed down hard on his ankles to demonstrate how it was supposed to be done.
Hopefully he understood the hint.
“In a way.
It’s not exactly a date,” Peter admitted after a short pause.
“Basically, T’Challa and Shuri invited Tony and me to come look at some stuff.
While Tony talks to the king, the princess offered to show me her labs.
And I thought you might want to come with us, you know, because you’re obsessed with all of this.
Shuri is usually really busy, so I have no idea how long she’ll tolerate me in her scientific kingdom before feeding me to the lions.
Plus, I think it’s supposed to be beautiful there.
We could walk around or something.
So, what do you think?” MJ deliberately paused as if considering the offer, partly as revenge for Peter missing four of her passes during warm-up because of his ridiculous habit of hiding his abilities and making them lose to Flash.
And of course she wanted to go to Wakanda.
Who refused an offer like that?
“And when are we flying?” If he said right after school, she was going to kill him.
The world could survive without Spider-Man; this was getting ridiculous.
“We leave at dawn tomorrow,” Peter whispered theatrically, rolling his eyes.
At least he had not mentioned eagles.
“Which leads to another proposal.
I doubt there’s a Quinjet landing pad near your house, right?
How about staying at the Tower after school?
I think we can talk Happy into stopping by your place for your things.” “If it were anyone but you, Peter,” Michelle said with a smile, “I’d think some rich kid was trying to bribe me.
But I’m still saying yes.” Peter beamed and quickly kissed the tip of her nose.
“On one condition,” Michelle added suddenly, making Peter raise an interested eyebrow.
“We win basketball today.” Peter laughed, nodded, and lightly tickled MJ.
Of course they were reprimanded for inappropriate behavior in class, but who cared?
The coach probably would not even remember it, especially after Peter fulfilled Michelle’s request and completely demolished Flash’s team.
*** Happy agreed—though not without a little grumbling—to drive them to MJ’s house and wait ‘a couple of minutes’ while she packed and Peter used all his charm to persuade her mother to let her daughter go God only knew where.
On Happy’s part, this was an incredible sacrifice.
Besides the usual task of taking Peter to school and back, he was extremely busy doing absolutely nothing today.
All right, Peter was exaggerating.
He liked Happy.
Happy was genuinely cool; it was simply very entertaining to tease him sometimes.
“Hello, Mrs.
Jones,” Peter said cheerfully when Michelle’s mother opened the door.
“Oh, hello, kids.” Peter knew she liked him.
Because he was cool.
“I didn’t expect you today.
Or for you to be home this early.” “Happy drove us,” Michelle said, waving vaguely toward the door.
“Mom, Peter invited me over.
Can I go?” Mrs.
Jones narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, then nodded.
Michelle immediately ran to her room, calling that she would be right back.
The moment they were alone, Mrs.
Jones focused entirely on Peter and scanned him with her gaze.
Peter could have sworn the woman had never met Tony, so where had she learned that very familiar squint?
“What have you come up with this time?” Right.
She knew about the surprise Peter had arranged for Ned and MJ before.
“We’re flying to Wakanda,” Peter said with a shrug, as though this were completely ordinary.
Mrs.
Jones’s face stretched in surprise.
“You don’t need to worry.
Tony will be with us, and I doubt we’ll go far from the royal palace.
I’ll bring her back tomorrow evening, or maybe the day after.
She’ll definitely be home before Monday.” “Sounds fun.” Sometimes Mrs.
Jones was almost jealous of how eventful her daughter’s life had become.
“Is there anything I ought to know that might affect my opinion of this weekend?” “Michelle might leave me for some Wakandan and stay there to rule the country,” Peter said with another casual shrug, smiling and hoping that would not actually happen.
“Oh, and I wanted to ask about the holidays.
I’m planning a small trip around the world, just stopping in a few different cities.
And Wakanda.
And Asgard.” Peter said the last word very quickly and broke into a grin.
Asking Michelle’s mother for permission to take her daughter to yet another bizarre destination was admittedly pretty funny.
Mrs.
Jones stared at him.
For a moment, she wanted to ask something normal.
Something like whether one needed a visa to enter Asgard.
Instead, she only sighed wearily.
She could not even refuse on the grounds that she was worried.
Her daughter would have Spider-Man with her everywhere, and it was difficult to imagine better protection.
MJ had clearly inherited her powers of observation from her mother.
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about.
Asgard’s pretty nice,” Peter assured her.
“I dropped by a few weeks ago to scout it out, so to speak.
Everything’s calm.
No wars.” Honestly, Mrs.
Jones was surprised they still asked her permission for any of this.
She nodded again, wondering at what point she had gone from refusing to let her daughter attend late-night movie screenings to allowing her to fly to another planet with her boyfriend.
MJ returned already changed and carrying a backpack.
She kissed her mother goodbye and hurried out, telling Peter to move because Happy was sick of waiting.
Peter said goodbye too and ran after her.
Mrs.
Jones merely shut the door and sighed.
It would be nice if someone took her to Wakanda.
Or at least to the beach.
*** Peter and Michelle spent the rest of the day wandering through shops within a mile of the Tower.
First, they needed to find MJ a cool summer outfit for meeting Wakanda’s royal family.
Second, Tony had asked them to buy His Majesty some horribly strange present.
The outfit had also been Tony’s idea because, as he had put it, “If I have to walk through the Wakandan palace with two children dressed in all of that, my heart is definitely going to give out.” The gift was easy enough.
They found fluffy, glittery, hot-pink cat ears within half an hour.
Finding a dress for MJ took considerably longer.
For one thing, she was just a tiny bit self-conscious.
For another, the area around the Tower contained some of the most expensive stores in the city, and they both felt uncomfortable when strangers stared at them.
Because surely two kids could not have enough money to shop there.
Eventually Michelle found a dress she liked, which was strange because she was not normally so insistent about clothes.
Peter only persuaded her to try it on after explaining that, technically, he was not buying it—Michelle herself was, since she was in the will, which made everything fine.
It still felt very strange.
Peter froze for a second when Michelle stepped uncertainly out of the fitting room, because she was officially going to be the prettiest girl in all of Wakanda.
No offense to Shuri.
“Peter, this costs two and a half thousand dollars,” MJ said, staring suspiciously at the dress and the sandals that matched it perfectly.
“They’re cool, sure, but together they cost more than my entire wardrobe.” “Familiar problem,” Peter muttered.
“And if it makes you feel better, let’s call it an early birthday present from Stark Industries.” “My birthday is five months away!” Michelle was starting to find the whole thing funny.
“I know,” Peter said brightly, dragging her toward the register.
“Hi, we’d like to buy these.
And that thing over there.” He pointed at a snake-shaped bracelet.
The saleswoman looked at them skeptically, but Peter nodded with such determination that Michelle laughed, leaving the woman no choice but to ring everything up.
“Three thousand two hundred and eighty dollars.” Michelle made a small sound of alarm, and the saleswoman gave them a suspicious look.
“I’m sorry, but are you sure you have that amount?” “I’d be surprised if I didn’t,” Peter said with a laugh, tapping his phone against the terminal.
Tony normally told stores to charge all purchases to his account, but Peter preferred paying this way.
It led to fewer questions.
Though it was strange that there were still people who did not recognize him.
The saleswoman, surprised that they did indeed have the money, carefully packed everything and handed the bag to Michelle.
Peter smiled and pulled her out of the store before Tony could start calling and complaining that they had not spent enough.
*** That evening at the Tower, Michelle examined the snake bracelet with interest while playing with Darkness.
She scolded Peter only a little for referring to a bracelet with a real emerald as ‘that thing,’ trying not to dwell on it too much.
When Pepper and Tony came back from a meeting Tony described as ‘horrifically boring,’ they all sat down to eat.
Peter spent about five minutes bouncing around the Tower and chanting, “Food, my precious food!” “And yet you continue to astonish me,” Tony drawled suddenly.
“I put several hundred thousand dollars into your account hoping that one day F.R.I.D.A.Y.
would tell me you’d accidentally bought a car, and I could throw a party.
But instead, you behave like an idiot.” “I behave like a normal person,” Peter objected.
“And we fulfilled your stupid request and bought MJ a cool dress, so tomorrow she’ll be the prettiest person on the entire Quinjet.
What more do you want?” “Seriously, Tony, leave the children alone,” Pepper immediately sided with Peter, smiling at Michelle.
“Kids, the next time he bothers you, buy a mountain of bizarre Captain America merchandise and fill the entire Tower with it.
That’s the only way he’ll leave you alone.” “Don’t give them ideas!” Peter and MJ spent the rest of the evening laughing at Tony’s outrage while he hopelessly lost an argument with Pepper.
Then both adults suddenly remembered that all of them should have gone to bed ages ago if they were traveling to Wakanda.
Not that anyone at the Tower actually intended to sleep yet.
A regular plane took around fifteen hours to reach Wakanda.
The Quinjet cut perhaps five hours off that, but it did not make much difference.
*** They did not actually leave at dawn.
They left about an hour after dinner.
Pepper ordered—strongly recommended—that they sleep during the flight, and no one objected.
When it was nearly five in the morning New York time, F.R.I.D.A.Y.
woke them and announced they would land in an hour.
A sleepy atmosphere hung over the Quinjet.
Tony reclined in his seat, playing with F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s holograms.
Peter was not certain, but it looked as though he was designing a prototype of his Iron Man gauntlet modified for Spider-Man’s suit.
Peter was telling MJ about T’Challa and Shuri, but he did not know them well enough for the story to last long.
Michelle, unlike him, had the sense to ask how she should address them.
For some reason Peter had never thought about it, but they seemed perfectly comfortable being called by their first names.
When the jet landed, several warriors led by Okoye were waiting for them.
She greeted them sternly and escorted them toward the palace.
Though Peter was not certain she was actually stern.
It was entirely possible that, like Happy, this was simply her natural emotional state.
He was too distracted to think about it.
Peter and Michelle stared delightedly at everything around them and tried not to notice Tony’s proud, delighted expression when he saw them holding hands.
Peter knew they probably looked adorable from the outside.
But seriously, Tony?
Could you at least try to hide how pleased you are?
Thanks.
Peter noticed they were taking the long way.
Usually Quinjets landed right beside the palace, but apparently an exception had been made for them.
He could not tell whether it was meant to show them the city or simply to torment Tony a little.
Who knew?
Peter and Michelle stopped dead when the palace came fully into view.
They were close enough to make out all the smallest details.
Peter nearly choked on his excitement.
It was a real palace, yet it looked impossibly advanced, and God, he loved all of it.
Tony watched the children’s reactions with a smile and gently pushed them forward.
He could already make out the silhouettes of Black Panther, Shuri, and their mother, Queen Ramonda.
The royal family was attempting to receive them with the dignity and formality expected of monarchs, but the moment Shuri spotted the visitors, she waved enthusiastically at Peter and began chattering and gesturing while explaining something to her brother.
The spider-kid probably did not even notice, too busy whispering something to a quietly laughing MJ.
Why was Tony not surprised?
“Hello,” Peter said as soon as they drew close, greeting the queen and T’Challa before smiling at Shuri.
“It’s so beautiful here!
And your palace is incredible.
I mean, it’s a palace, but it also looks so technologically advanced, and yes, I’m talking too much again.
Sorry.” “Your Majesty, may I steal Mr.
Stark’s companions?” Shuri asked with exaggerated politeness, grinning broadly and giving her brother a sly look.
At least she did not bow.
“Yes, Shuri,” her brother said, rolling his eyes and ignoring her laughter.
Before she could lead them away, Tony abruptly presented T’Challa with the cat-ear headband and savored the king’s startled expression.
Even Queen Ramonda laughed.
All right, the joke had worked.
Hopefully Tony would not be executed for it.
It was probably for the best that the children were already gone by the time T’Challa calmly put the ears on.
Peter and Michelle hurried into the palace after Shuri, who immediately started talking about how she definitely needed to spend more time with Tony.
“I understand you had a long flight and all that,” Shuri said while walking backward so she could move, talk, and look directly at Peter and MJ at the same time, “but I’ve been waiting two days for you to arrive so I could show you my babies.
By the way, nice to meet you, Peter’s girlfriend.
I’m Shuri.” “Michelle, but you can call me MJ.” She ignored being called Peter’s girlfriend because, well, it was true.
The important thing was that Peter did not freeze in panic.
He seemed to be holding together.
“She only let me call her MJ after seven years of knowing her,” Peter grumbled, mildly offended.
“So what are these babies?” Shuri smirked meaningfully and threw open the laboratory door.
She let them look around while speaking in Wakandan and activating several devices.
Hundreds of tiny objects crawled out of a container.
Peter recognized them as smaller versions of the nanoparticles he and Shuri had worked on during her last visit to Tony’s lab.
Shuri watched with a brilliant smile as the particles assembled themselves into a large robot that looked a little like EVE from WALL-E.
“A nanoparticle robot,” Shuri announced grandly.
“It is the perfect spy, a police decoy, a household assistant, and I’m still deciding how to use it in medicine.
Every nanoparticle is an individual miniature robot with the same set of functions.
Together they can take any shape and any size.
I tried making a rhinoceros out of them the other day.
I also built tiny projectors into them so they can create the illusion of something real—change color and things like that—and I installed one of your AIs so they can recognize commands and speak.
Tell me that isn’t amazing.” Peter examined the robot in awe while Shuri approached Michelle with the expression of a proud parent.
“Could you put them inside a person to perform surgery?” MJ asked thoughtfully, studying the machine.
“There are microscopic tumors people sometimes can’t remove.
Could this thing do it?” Shuri exchanged an excited look with Peter as though the idea had never occurred to her before.
It probably had not.
“I like her,” Shuri told Peter confidentially, smiling at him.
“All right, darling, come here.
I have to show you everything.
You may join us too.
God, where did all these clever people come from?” Shuri led them around the laboratory for nearly two hours, showing them every invention she had made.
Peter had joked earlier that MJ might leave him for a Wakandan, but now it looked as though the princess of Wakanda herself was trying to steal Michelle away.
Fortunately, she failed—probably only because she was called away to a meeting in her role as head of research and development.
Before leaving, she gave them a rapid but detailed explanation of where to go and what to do if strange people started bothering them.
She also gave them each a bead bracelet and said they could call her through it if they got into trouble.
When Peter asked why they would get into trouble, Shuri only laughed.
“Seriously, Peter?
You’re a white boy.
We don’t have many of those.
And don’t laugh, beautiful—you won’t pass for one of us either.
Neither of you has a tattoo under your lip.
No chance.” Despite Shuri’s colorful explanation of what unpleasant people might do to them, neither Peter nor MJ lost their desire to explore Wakanda.
Peter suggested they begin with everything near the palace.
Asgard, for example, had a garden.
Perhaps they wandered a little farther from the palace than planned.
About four kilometers farther.
But it was worth it.
Michelle and Peter walked through the city, found a souvenir shop and bought three identical keychains, tried Wakandan ice cream—coconut with pepper—and received a huge wreath of flowers Peter had never seen before from an elderly woman.
By the time they returned to the palace because Tony had flooded them with messages, Michelle wore the wreath on her head, and by an amazing coincidence it matched her dress perfectly.
Peter had already taken several photos so she would have something to show her mother.
Then he took a few more with Shuri, Ramonda, T’Challa, Tony, and himself, because Peter could be very resourceful.
Tony said it was time to leave.
They had already spent nearly eight hours in Wakanda and still had a long trip home.
If they waited any longer, they might not return at a reasonable time.
Tony refused to say what he had done for eight hours and suggested the children tell him about their day instead.
“You complained that animals are always drawn to me,” Peter said after he and MJ had already spent two hours describing everything.
“The birds thought she was a Disney princess and came at her in an entire flock.
I didn’t even know they could be so unafraid of people that they’d land on someone.” “A Disney princess?” MJ raised an amused eyebrow.
She had only just stopped laughing at his story about ‘gigantic butterfly that definitely should not exist in nature’ and was calm enough to be sarcastic again.
“Peter, are you five?” “Oh, come on, everyone loves Disney princesses.
Besides, you really do look like one.” Peter waved the subject away, completely failing to notice Michelle’s faint blush or Tony’s sly smile at his child’s stupidity.
No, he definitely got that from his father.
Tony also failed to notice whenever he said something unexpectedly sweet to other people.
*** As they neared Michelle’s house, Peter suddenly smiled, remembering something he wanted to ask.
“Disney princess, may I ask a favor?” Michelle nodded with interest.
“Wear it to school.
Please.” “I agree, but only as part of a mutually beneficial exchange,” she said.
Now it was Peter’s turn to listen carefully to her terms.
“First, you stop pretending to be an idiot in gym class.
Second, you stop calling me that.” “Of course, Your Highness.” Peter laughed while trying to dodge her blows, though it was difficult inside the cramped car.
Besides, they both knew perfectly well that Peter would not stop calling her that even under threat of death.
Once she was home, Michelle privately admitted that yes, it had definitely been a date.
A very impressive one, too.
She should have told Peter, just to watch him turn bright red in panic.