Thursday was the first time since CJ arrived that Tony wore one of his shirts with a hole for the reactor. It wasn't even something he actively noticed; it just made certain shirts more comfortable to wear. He didn't think about it until he came into the kitchen for breakfast, and CJ stopped and stared at his chest.
"Daddy," he signed. Tony had learned that the sign for dad was spreading out his hand and tapping his thumb against his forehead. Wiggling his fingers made it daddy. He wasn't going to forget that particular sign. "You have a shiny thing stuck in your chest." The poor little guy looked terrified.
"Aw, CJ..." Tony sighed. "You didn't know about my Arc reactor, did you?"
"Is it dangerous?" the little boy asked.
Tony pulled the little boy into his lap. "No, buddy, it keeps me alive. See, I have some metal pieces around my heart that shouldn't be there, and the reactor has a magnet that keeps it away from my heart and helps it keep beating even though the metal damaged it."
"What would happen if you didn't have it?"
Tony was careful to phrase his response hypothetically. The little boy didn't need to know about the incident with Stane. "The shrapnel would still have a while to get to my heart, but without the pacemaker-like side to it I would start losing energy really fast and need to get a new reactor quickly because soon I wouldn't even be able to walk."
"I like your reactor, then," CJ replied, "because I like when you can walk and play baseball." Tony chuckled. "Does it hurt?"
Tony nodded. "Yeah, but it's something I'm used to. It doesn't bother me." CJ put his hand against the light, and it was all Tony could do to stay calm and not push him away. "Please don't touch it," he said firmly. "That freaks me out because it's pretty important." The little boy nodded and pulled his hand away. They finished their breakfast and then CJ went off to play with LEGOs.
When the little boy was gone, Bruce came over to him. "I didn't know it hurt you. How deep does it go?"
"'Bout five inches. Don't worry about it, doc."
Bruce nodded reluctantly. Knowing his friend, Tony had probably never willingly let a doctor look at it, and there are plenty of important things in the human chest.
That afternoon, CJ was bouncing off the walls with excitement. He had his duffel bag with his baseball stuff slung over his shoulder, and signed "Ready? Ready?" over and over again. The sign had him cross his fingers on both hands, put them together and then spread them apart.
"Just a minute, kiddo," Tony laughed, putting on his shoes. Then they headed out the door and walked to the park. When they got there, the only people who were already there were Coach Will Howell and his son, Brandon Howell.
"Hey, guys," Coach Will called as they approached. He turned to his son. "Brandon, this is our new assistant coach, Coach Tony, and our new teammate, CJ. CJ uses sign language, but he can understand what you say."
Brandon shook Tony's hand. "Nice to meet you, Coach Tony." Then he turned to CJ. "Do you like space ships?" he asked excitedly. CJ nodded, and they ran off to play catch until the other kids arrived, while Will walked Tony through the plan for the day's practice.
Once all the kids arrived (eight other boys and three girls), Coach Will called them back for warm-ups. He introduced CJ and Tony the same way he did with Brandon, and then lead stretches and had the kids run a lap around the bases.
"Now let's do throwing and catching," Coach Will said. "We're doing one-knee form throwing. Luke, do you want to demonstrate with me?"
A tall, redheaded boy came up to the front and helped the coach demonstrate the techniques. Then everyone got a partner. "Luke, you can be with Eric, Brandon with Jonathan, Katie with Sean, Amelia with Robbie, David with Maddie and CJ with Tyler."
CJ found his assigned partner, a dark-haired, freckled boy. They started throwing back and forth. While CJ tried to concentrate on his technique, Tyler talked at him. "You know, new kid, I don't know if you have what it takes to be on a team like ours. We're too tough for tiny, bookwormy losers. Just because your dad is Iron Man doesn't mean we all have to worship you, you know. I bet you're mad you can't say anything back. I bet it's good you can't talk, because every word that came out of your mouth would be so stupid we'd all die."
At that last comment, CJ put his hands up to sign something back, even though he knew Tyler wouldn't understand, and the bully took aim and threw the ball, knocking the glasses off of CJ's face and into the grass. CJ started to cry.
When the coaches came running over, Tyler played the perfect angel. "I was just throwing and catching with him like you said, and since he's new and all I guess he couldn't catch a simple toss, but I didn't mean to hit him."
Thankfully, Coach Will saw what really happened and made Tyler sit on the bleachers with his mom for the rest of practice. CJ tried to look tough, but was holding back tears. He found his glasses, which luckily weren't broken, and put them on. The coach had him join Brandon and Jonathan's group to finish the drill. Then they did base running, fielding and hitting practice, and finished off with a relay race where each kid who got to the finish line had to throw the ball to the next member of their group. By the end of practice, CJ felt like a member of the team and Tony felt like a real coach.
At the end they found out that Tyler O'Connor had hit his last warning and was off the team for what he did during throwing. Mrs. O'Connor stormed over to defend her little angel while Tyler stood behind him and smirked at CJ, but the coaches held firm. "Your son wanted to play baseball," Will said. "Three strikes, he's out."
Then he apologized for partnering CJ with the bully, having just slotted him into the moved-away boy's spot in the rotation. CJ made the universal "Okay" sign.
Coach Will grinned. "See, I understand some sign language," he joked. They laughed, and CJ didn't point out that technically that wasn't real sign language. He got his blue team hat and t-shirt and Coach Will told them about a game at three o'clock that Saturday. They all said goodbye.
On the way back, they stopped at an ice cream stand. Its tables were fairly crowded, being mid-August, so they sat a ways away on a park bench. Halfway through his black raspberry chocolate swirl, CJ signed one-handedly to Tony, "Tyler said I'm stupid because I'm mute, or I'm mute because I'm stupid... or something. He wasn't making much sense, but I'm not stupid, am I?"
Tony pulled him into a hug. "Aw, CJ, you're the smartest six-year-old I know. Bullies just aren't very creative, but that's his problem, okay?" CJ nodded and Tony went on. "If someone makes fun of you for being mute again, remember that it's just an excuse. Bullies will pick on anyone they think will react the way they want and if you weren't mute they'd find something else. There's nothing wrong with you, buddy."
CJ nodded, smiling. After they finished their ice cream, they went home and Tony got CJ ready for bed. He still wasn't comfortable trying to sing a lullaby, so this time he got Bruce to do it. Bruce still wasn't comfortable being alone with CJ, so Tony stayed in the room Bruce began to sing:
Christopher Robin and I walked along
Under branches lit up by the moon
Posing our questions to Owl and Eeyore
As our days disappeared all too soon
But I've wandered much further today than I should
And I can't seem to find my way back to the Wood
So help me if you can
I've got to get back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
You'd be surprised
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh
Bruce sang the other two verses, too, and when he finished the both hugged CJ good night and the little boy fell asleep.
