Tony was surprised to receive an invite from T'Challa, as far as he knew the King didn't really like him all that much and he was inclined to return that disinterest. But then he saw it.
In tiny print down at the bottom of the RSVP was "Bring the Spider with you" in Princess Shuri's neat script and suddenly it made a lot of sense.
So in reality, T'Challa didn't know they were coming, and Tony found it hilarious because surprising the Black Panther was a rare treat, so he ticked off the "Yes" check box and had Pepper send the confirmation of their attendance, and just as an extra treat, he invited Natasha as his extra.
Hey... she never specified which spider he was supposed to bring.
T'Challa knows his sister is up to something, he can see it in her smile. A little too wide, wider than when he announced his engagement to Ororo to the court and the people, like she knew it was coming. So of course, T'Challa is concerned. Although Shuri is by no means overly nefarious, she is a little brat when she thinks she's being funny.
So he waits for the other shoe to drop, for Shuri's prank to finally reveal itself, but it never does, and so with T'Challa's fears at bay he continues on with his life only slightly less paranoid.
He should have known to never let his guard down when it comes to his sister.
It's the day that the guests are set to arrive. Ororo is waiting by the palace helipad as to greet her friends and family, her soon-to-be-husband is stood to her side with a prideful smile on his face, his hand in hers as the quin-jets land.
Charles, Jean and Logan are the first ones to come down and Ororo has them both in her arms almost instantly. "Logan, Jean, it's been too long. Is that a gray hair?" She teases Logan and the man swats her hand away with a wry chuckle and a hug. "It's good to see you too, Ororo." Suddenly, Kitty, Kurt, Evan, and Scott all pop out of thin air a few feet behind Charles and it isn't even a second later that she has her arms full again and is being regaled tales of college drama and pranks.
She talks, more jubilant and open as she has felt in months with her family around. It isn't until the doors open and Ororo is beginning to mingle with Charles and Jean as they all start to make their way into the palace that a third, much smaller quin-jet comes in from the distance.
Ororo looks to T'Challa who shrugs. It's then that Shuri makes her first appearance of the day as she sprints across the runway and Ororo is genuinely surprised when Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff step out of the back of a quin-jet along with a boy she has never seen before.
Her pale eyebrows slowly creep up her forehead, she looks at T'Challa again hoping he'll have an answer but he looks as lost as she feels so she turns her gaze back to the trio plus Shuri as the princess is waving her arms about. "I told you to bring the spider, not a woman as well!" Natasha looks rather nonplussed about being refereed to as just "woman", but Stark looks smug as he says. "Welp, Princess, my predicament was that I know two spiders, you never specified one or the other so I decided to bring them both," Tony smiles and Shuri throws her head back with a groan.
"I should have known you would pull something like this," she sighs, "but nevertheless thank you for this one." She grabs the boy in question by the arm and starts tugging him towards the palace as she grumbles about asshole billionaires. "Hey be careful with "that one", he has a boyfriend and a mildly terrifying girlfriend who want him home in one piece!" Tony shouts, but it's more a teasing jab than warning.
The boy's eyes are glued to the palace, his face slack in awe, but as Shuri drags him closer Ororo notes that he's not that much younger than Evan, maybe a year or so. He has dark crimson hair that is nearly identical to the Black Widow's iconic shade and his eyes are a dark honey color that is shines a deep amber in the afternoon sun of Wakanda.
But it's when the boy's black honey eyes meet her sky blue ones that the world freezes and she sees the translucent figure of a woman that hangs over the boys shoulder. Her skin is a eerie shade of blue and her hair is made out of spiderwebs that flow down to her mid-back and covers her face from the front like a veil from the nose up, her clothes are spun out of golden spider-silk and she has a Redback and Black Widow dangling from her ears, but she has a gentle aura.
Her smile is... familial, almost motherly.
It's then that Ororo realizes she must be the boys spirit guardian, and she only knows that those exist because sometimes she can see the faint outline of a panther hovering over T'Challa's shoulder as well. It is yet another power that she didn't know she had until only a few years ago, and one that she often forgets about...
She blinks, and just like that the world resumes, the boy waves at her and she smiles back as Shuri drags him into the palace, probably to not be seen again until the ritual and following ceremony. "Sorry if we disturbed the reunion," Tony pipes up, "we all know how important family bonding is, right honey?" Stark throws an arm around Natasha's shoulders none too gently and the woman moves so fast even T'Challa has a tough time processing what happened until Tony yelps in pain as the Black Widow pins him to the ground in a complicated hold that looks painful.
"I'll make sure to keep him in check," Natasha sighs from her spot on Tony's back and T'Challa smiles, delighted as Stark squeaks in pain yet again.
"Come right in," The king extends his arm.