Little Maxie

Chapter 5

Maxie felt himself wake up slowly, his mind half still in dreamland, but getting more and more aware of his surroundings. He snuggled a bit more in his blankies, and held Bunny close to his face, pressing his nose against the stuffed animal.

His bed felt nice and soft and warm, as if it was giving him a warm hug, and he was almost reluctant to wake up. He stayed lying like this for a few more minutes before he had to admit that he couldn't stay asleep anymore, his stomach telling him it was dinnertime.

He opened his eyes, momentarily confused to see the bars in front of them, but then realising he was in his crib, the crib that dad had ordered for him. Grinning with the happiness he had felt when he thought about his dad caring after all, he lowered the bars himself, needing to fiddle around a bit before he got the system to wark.

He stepped out of the bed, careful with his knee, which still heard. His foot did get tangled in a sheet and when he put it back, Maxie heard something drop to the floor, immediate seeing that it was the paci he had taken from Lando.

Impulsively, Maxie put it in his mouth, and he was about to go down for dinner when he realised that he was in his headspace. Indecisively, he stood in the middle of the room, sucking the paci and feeling the small hole in there squelch a little with his saliva.

His stomach growled, and he was hungry and wanted to eat, but if his dad found out he went down like this, he would be very cross. Max shifted, still feeling how sore his behind was from the hits from before, realising at the same time that he might be getting a rash as well, the telltale itch starting to spread where the very wet diaper was stuck to his skin.

With a huff and a sigh, he stepped away from the door, knowing that he was too little for everything right now to hide from everyone. He was too little to go downstairs, too little to eat cleanly anyway as well, and too little to change out of his wet diaper. His dad would be angry at him if he went out now, so he stayed in.

He gave a small whine, annoyed and bored, pacing in front of the door before Maxie had an idea, running to his baggage and pulling out his toy cars, hidden away underneath his clothes. At least now he could keep busy until he grew big again. And dad wouldn't grow angry at him either. He could always eat later, even though his stomach was growling now.

Charles Leclerc was sitting at the table, going over to the different strategies they had used in the race, and how they had worked out, going over half their plans, until they reached halfway through the alphabet. He was frustrated by it all, the season having started out so nice and now rapidly worsening.

Normally dinner was his quite time, his zen moment, and he hated to have that time invaded by more and more strategy.

"I'll be leaving you then," the Ferrari planner said, probably recognizing the cross look. Charles nodded, and thanked him for his time, but glad to be alone for a moment and focus on his dinner. He glanced around the hall, and saw Daniel just come down with a rosy cheeked Lando, who probably had just woken up from his nap.

The rest of the drivers were there as well, except the current lead in the championship. Frowning, Charles looked around a bit more focused, wondering if had just missed Max, but no, he wasn't there.

Going up the buffet, he saw the box with Max's name on still standing ready for the red bull driver to come and get it, so he wasn't just eating in his room either.

"Something wrong?" Daniel asked, while he and Lando got their dinner boxes. Lando was looking at him curiously, his thumb slipping in his mouth, revealing his obvious headspace.

"No, just wondering where Max is," he said, "thought to talk to him a bit about last race,"

"He's probably in his room. We've seen him earlier, and he had banged up his knee," Daniel said, and Lando nodded.