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Prologue. The Making of the Protocol
This is it! Peter finally gets to stay at Stark Tower for the first time. He hugs his backpack as he enters the elevator to go to the penthouse.
"Penthouse, please!" Peter said excitedly.
"Certainly, Peter." FRIDAY's voice enters the room and the elevator moves to the penthouse floor.
Peter walks out of the elevator as soon as the doors open. Tony was there to greet him before hugging the boy.
"There's my Petey-Pie! How have you been?" Tony chuckles.
"Been doing okay, Mr. Stark!" Peter hugs back.
"For the last time, it's Tony. Anyway, let's go to the lab. We have fun things to do. Or better yet, start unpacking in the guest room so you don't have to do it later. Take your time." Tony pulls away and lets Peter enter the guest room to unpack.
Peter enters the guest room and unpacks his clothes. After that, he pulls out a small Iron Man plush, the one that he's been hugging even before his parents died. He still hugs it to this day, but is too embarrassed to show.
"Boss would like you to know that Real Boss is coming home for lunch and would like you to come as well." FRIDAY chimed in, making Peter look up.
"Okay, FRI. Also, do you keep secrets?"
"Certainly. I keep most of the Boss's confidential files for work purposes. May I ask why?"
"Umm.. So, you've probably seen this Iron Man plush, and I want you to make a super duper secret protocol so Mr. Stark wouldn't know, okay? Override code MrStarkIsCoolBeanzzzz."
"Affirmative. What protocol would you like to create?"
Peter thinks. "Hide The Iron Plush Protocol. Every time this Iron Man Plush I'm holding is on screen in my room or anywhere else, you save the part of the recordings to a super secret folder. Also, you should notify me whenever Mr. Stark is coming towards me so I would have time to hide it!"
"Affirmative. Now coding Hide The Iron Plush Protocol."
"Thanks, FRI!" Peter puts the Iron Plush back in his bag before coming out of the room for lunch.
After lunch, he tinkers with Tony in the lab, watches movies after, and tinkers some more.
1. Under the Bed
Peter is happy that the protocol is on, and FRIDAY followed the rules of the protocol which lets Peter know who is coming so he could hide his Iron Plush. Tonight is no different.
He goes to the dinner table along with Tony and Pepper, and he sits in the chair that's reserved.
Tony places a bowl of Mac and cheese on Peter's table, and it looks like it was instant. "Didn't have time to make an actual dinner, sorry kiddo."
Peter nods. "It's okay Mister—"
"Tony." Tony corrects.
"Yes, Tony.. It's okay, yeah." Peter said as he chewed on his Mac and cheese.
After dinner, Peter opens the door to his room. "I'm going to do homework."
Peter hugs the Iron Plush close as he does his homework in the guest room. When all of a sudden, FRIDAY chimes in.
"Boss is on the way to the guest room."
Peter panics, he immediately looks around for a spot to hide it before sliding the plush under the bed before rushing back to his chair.
Tony opens the door. "Hey, bambino. Struggling with calculus?"
"Heeeeeey... Mister— Tony." Peter nervously spun his chair.
"Mr. Tony? That's a new one, but I'll take it. Do you need any help?" Tony sits on Peter's bed, and the boy realises the plush's butt is obvious under the bed.
"No! I promise. There's nothing wrong."
Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, fine. Number three is hard."
"Wonderful!" Tony perks up and immediately leans in on the table to teach the boy. Peter listened intently as the equations got easier and easier in the process.
After an hour, Peter places his homework in his backpack. "Thanks, Tony."
Tony's eyes softened when Peter called him that. He smiles and pats the boy's head. "You're welcome, kiddo."
Tony then tucked Peter into bed, and couldn't help but kiss the boy's head before leaving him to sleep.
Peter opens one eye, looks around before rushes to get his Iron Plush and hug it tightly. Sleep envelops him in minutes.
Tony quietly opened the door and entered. He sees Peter holding the Iron Plush tightly, and he smiles. Tony remembers the time he sold Iron Man merchandise, and the plush is one of them. Looks like Peter loves him even from years ago.
2. Nat's Secret
Peter forgot something. Natasha is very, very observant. As a former Russian spy, she is used to being aware of things around her.
One day, the Avengers came home to the Tower from another mission. It involved another HYDRA base invasion (and Peter, once again, wasn't allowed to join), and the Avengers were tired as soon as they entered.
Currently, Wanda and Vision are cooking in the penthouse kitchen, Natasha, Clint, and Steve are training in the gym (it helps them blow off some steam), Bucky and Sam are playing Mario Kart on Tony's brand new Nintendo Switch connected to the TV, Bruce is in his lab, and Tony is (forced) in a meeting with Pepper.
Peter, however, is still sulking because of it, but he couldn't help but get a snack in the kitchen.
He pulls out the granola bar in the refrigerator, shoving it in his mouth out of anger.
"Whoa, little spider. Don't eat too much or you choke." Natasha enters the room along with Bruce and Steve, wiping the sweat off her forehead with a SI towel.
"Thanks, Nat," Peter grumbled as he chewed on the granola bar.
Peter enters his room and slams the door closed.
Minutes later, Peter holds his Iron Plush, helping him ground himself. He grumbles about not going on the mission just like everyone else, until Natasha opens the door and Peter hides his Iron Plush.
"FRIDAY, why didn't you notify me about Nat??" Peter looks at the ceiling embarrassed.
"Unfortunately, you have told me to notify you when the Boss enters the room, not anyone else," FRIDAY replies and Peter groans.
"... What are you hiding, little spider?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing! Nothing at all... yeah.." Peter said nervously.
"Come on, show it to me. I won't tell." Natasha coaxed Peter, and it worked. He shows his Iron Plush and she smiles.
"That's cute. Did you have this as a kid?"
"Yeah... it keeps me safe." Peter smiles too. "Could you not tell Tony about this, please? I don't want him to know."
Natasha nods. "Sure. It's late now. Sleep well, baby spider." Natasha tucked Peter to bed and he fell asleep, hugging the Iron Plush close.
She closes the door outside of Peter's room and walks to Tony at the balcony, who had just returned from a meeting.
"Is Pete asleep?" Tony sips some iced tea from a wine glass.
"Yeah," Natasha replies, leaning into the edge.
"... You saw Pete's plush?"
Natasha looks at Tony. "How did you know?"
"I've known it since the first night of his stay, he's not good at hiding things."
Natasha chuckles. "Knew it."
The two sat there on the balcony talking about Peter and his Iron Plush.
3. Bucky and Sam's curiosity
"Okay, today is a Sunday. So, today is cleaning day." Steve stoically announced, and the Avengers groaned, including Peter.
"You know I have janitors to clean the penthouse, right?" Tony glares at Steve.
"I know. I prefer the Avengers do it so they can learn how to be domestic." Steve looks away from Tony.
"Just because you didn't get to marry someone in the 1940s doesn't mean that you should go full-traditional mode on us." Peter protested (He is still mad about the whole Civil War thing). "Also, Tony is right. Some janitors can do the job for us, so why should we clean if— mmhmhmhmmmhhhmmhm!!"
Clint covers his mouth as soon as he notices Steve's glare at the boy. "Yeah, we can... We can clean, yeah! Right, guys??"
The other reluctantly went to the janitor's room and started cleaning.
Clint lets go of Peter's mouth, and the boy reluctantly takes a mop and starts mopping. After mopping, he goes to the guest room to clean, only to find Bucky and Sam already inside the guest room and about to pull the blankets.
"No!" Peter charges, but it's already too late. They pulled the blankets up to see Iron Plush sitting on the pillows neatly.
Sam stifled his laugh. Peter looks as Bucky picks it up like it's a dirty rag.
"Whose is this?" Bucky scans the plush.
"That's my.. Iron Plush." Peter said sheepishly.
Bucky and Sam looked at each other, then Sam laughed. Bucky could only chuckle.
"Spider-Man.. has a plush.. of Iron Man?!? This is insane!" Sam laughs hysterically.
Peter blushes out of embarrassment, and he snatched the plush. "Please don't tell Tony."
Bucky chuckles even more. "Alright, alright. Fine. But, you clean the room."
Bucky drags a still laughing Sam by the legs before leaving the room, and Peter cleans the room.
Sam, however, couldn't help but just tell Tony about it. "Hey, hey, hey. Guess what??"
Tony looks at Sam before continuing to clean. "What?"
"Peter has a plush of you!" Sam starts laughing.
"... and?" Tony raised an eyebrow.
Sam stops laughing. "Y-You're okay with it?"
"Of course I am, at least I know that the kid loves me very much. What's wrong with that?"
Sam gulps, then awkwardly walks away.
4. Inside the Drawers of Pepper's desk
Peter has been helping Pepper around when it comes to sorting files in her office. Add Tony's mess inside the files and Peter seems to get invested in every file inside.
Pepper is currently in a meeting, and Tony is in the lab. So Peter freely brings his Iron Plush inside while sorting the files. What he didn't know is that...
"Real Boss and Boss are entering the office, Peter." FRIDAY chimes in, and Peter panics.
After the Natasha incident, Peter codes the protocol into FRIDAY notifying him whenever anyone gets close and Iron Plush is with him. Same rules but with a new major modification, just how he wants it to be.
So, he scans places to hide the plush, he finds a drawer and he shoves the plush inside of it. He closes the door to the office and opens it just in time. Pepper and Tony entered.
"Oh, you're already done with files. Thanks, Peter." Pepper smiles.
"Oh, it's uhh.. no problem." Peter sheepishly said.
Tony pulls Peter by the shoulders and drags him to the lab. "Time for lab tinkering."
Peter glances at Pepper's desk where the plush is, and plans to get it for later.
That night, Tony tucked him in good the night, and Peter waited while he was out.
"FRI, is Tony asleep?" Peter mutters.
"Boss and Real Boss are currently asleep, Peter," FRIDAY replies and Peter sneaks out of bed.
He tiptoes to the elevator. "FRI, to Pepper's office, please."
"Affirmative." FRIDAY complies and moves the elevator to the office.
Peter enters and opens the drawer to see his Iron Plush. He hugs it and returns to the penthouse.
5. Hotel Vacation, where FRIDAY can't notify him
Peter was so excited for the vacation that he was a part of with the Avengers. Which means he gets to stay in one of the 5-star hotels in Japan. Apparently, Spider-Man is needed on a mission in Tokyo. Peter immediately agrees because he's never been to Tokyo before.
Peter unpacks his clothes and pulls out his Iron Plush. Luckily, he gets to have his own room while the other Avengers get paired, which takes up an entire floor of the hotel.
Consequences are that he can't know when anyone enters his room so he won't have time to hide his Iron Plush.
After unpacking, he explores the hotel. He sees a casino, an arcade, the dining hall, chandeliers, how clean the bathrooms are, the swimming pool that he couldn't swim on for hero purposes, etc. He also brings Iron Plush with him and shows it around as if it's alive.
"Peter—" Someone pats his back.
"OH CRACKNUGGETS—" Peter yelped, looking behind him to see Bucky.
"Whoa, you okay?" Bucky raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, yeah." Peter sheepishly nodded.
Bucky chuckles. "Looks like I found a new swear word."
"What?"
"Cracknuggets." Bucky grins.
Peter blushed hard. "Oh, come on!"
Bucky becomes serious for a moment. "So, about the dinner, Tony wants us to be there."
"Uh—! One sec! I'll put Iron Plush back!" Peter runs off.
"Kid, wait! Tony already—and he's gone." Bucky's arm slumped.
Peter immediately rushes into the room and shoves the plush inside his duffel before kicking it under the bed. He rushes out and bumps into Tony.
"Whoa, kiddo. You in a hurry?" Tony glances at Peter.
"Uh, no! Sorry, Mr. Stark." Peter looks at the ground.
"No worries. Let's walk in the dining area together. The Avengers are waiting." Tony wraps an arm on Peter's shoulder, pats it twice then walks alongside him.
As they arrive, Tony seems to have rented the place because only the Avengers were there. Peter sat down between Natasha and Tony, and they all ate their meals respectively.
"Everyone, meet up outside the hotel, 6 AM sharp," Steve announced.
"Yes, captain." The Avengers said in unison.
After dinner, Peter goes to his room, pulls out his Iron Plush, and sets it on the bed.
+1. A Confession During A Critical Situation
Peter joyfully puts his suit on before a mission. He puts his mask on excitedly.
"Good morning, Karen!" Peter exclaimed.
"Good morning, Peter. Would you like to send coordinates for your next crime?" Karen replies.
"No thanks. On a mission with the Avengers."
"Sure. Communication services activated."
The comms turned on, and the Avengers were already talking.
"Testing, testing." Peter mutters.
"Hey, kiddo. We can hear you." Tony chimed in.
"Thanks, Tony! I'll listen in for this one. Karen, mute." Peter mutes his comms.
Throughout the mission, everything went smoothly. He was on the easier side of the mission, saving civilians from their demise from a random HYDRA employee.
Peter manages to save most of the civilians alongside Wanda. Until...
"I detect a heat signature by the 31st floor of the building. It seems to be the last heat signature around the area." Karen chimes in.
"On it, Karen!" Peter immediately swings to the 31st floor, and he enters by the window.
He finds an old lady who is stuck, a bookshelf on her legs and wheelchair.
"Don't worry, I'm on it!" Peter rushes and pushes the bookshelf back. He carries the old lady on his shoulder and the wheelchair. "Hold tight!"
Peter swings into an evacuation area. He gently placed the wheelchair and placed the old lady there. He looks at the volunteers. "Get her inside, quick! Karen, any heat signatures?"
"Fortunately not." Karen replies. Peter sighs in relief.
Peter was about to get to the Avengers to help around, but the employee spotted him and drops a very large rock on him to crush him.
"PETER!" Tony shouts. But it was too late.
Peter kneels because of it, trying to push the rock upwards with his back. His conditions started to get critical, and he's trying his best to carry this kind of weight. Unfortunately, the Avengers are still defeating the employee. Peter unmutes.
"Tony!" Peter's voice is hoarse.
"Hang on, kiddo. We're coming down there!" Tony shouted in a worried tone. Peter could hear the repulsors coming.
Peter tries to lift it up, and so did the other Avengers. It was too heavy even for a super soldier.
"Tony—! I have.. a secret to tell you!" Peter shouted.
"Not now, kid! We're getting you out of there!" Tony's tone was desperate.
"I... I keep an old plush of you from my childhood and I still hug it to this day!!!" Peter then faints from exhaustion of lifting it up.
"Pete!" Tony exclaims, and then the rock was lifted up and the man picked Peter up. "Oh, kiddo. I already know."
Epilogue: Tony Already Knew?!?
Peter wakes up with a groan. His eyes fluttered as he scans the white ceiling and walls. He sees Tony beside him sitting on a chair, arms crossed, head down as he snored. Peter finds himself in the medbay.
Tony wakes up and immediately leans over to Peter. "Hey, bambino. You're okay now. The rock the guy threw was over 100 tons, no wonder you fainted from exhaustion. Do you feel sore anywhere?"
Peter shook his head and slurred. "No... just tired."
Tony nods. "Also, about the secret you said," He chuckles, "I already knew about it."
Peter sits up. "Wait what?!? How?!?"
Tony chuckles even more. "Well, I remember, it was the day you stayed at the tower and you were watching movies after lunch, that I was looking for security footages of the rooms in the lab. I started to notice that there are cuts of recordings that may be removed. I started digging, until I find a folder named "Super Secret Folder" by you. It wouldn't allow me to go in so I override the codes and I saw the missing parts of the footages."
Peter looks away shamefully.
"And then I realized, you were trying to hide a plush you have of me. It seemed pretty old and I knew it was one of my merchandise when I revealed myself as Iron Man. Then, I saw the protocol, "Hide The Iron Plush" was it?" Tony continues. "So, I had to confirm it. When you fell asleep that night, the way you held the plush confirmed my suspicions. That made me feel like the happiest man alive."
"Y-You're not mad?" Peter looks up.
"There's no reason for me to be mad. Steve has a plush of his shield and he still sleeps with it. I also once bought Pepper an alpaca plush and she sleeps with that, too. There's nothing wrong with sleeping with plushing, it's normal and I know it calms you down." Tony pats the boy's head. "I mean, at least you have me even when I'm not around.
Peter smiles. "Thanks, Tony."
Tony then frowns. "But why hug that plush when the real deal is right in front of you?"
Peter's eyes widened. "Oh yeah, why didn't I think of that?"
Tony huffs in amusement. "Come here."
Peter hugs Tony tightly, and Tony hugs back just as tight.
fin.