Little Maxie

Chapter 51

"That's good. Do you want to check in on Max real quick?" Brad asked, and he saw Lando's eyes widen.

"If I can? I don't want to wake him up or anything," Lando said.

"I don't think that's a problem. Christian, do you mind me going with Lando for a bit?" Brad asked, turning to his conversation partner, who had been looking at the conversation with slight amusement.

"No, be my guest. Just don't wake up my star driver too soon. We already got a few tenths improvement since our last race out of him, wouldn't mind a few more," Christian said with a grin, while Lando made a chagrined face.

"I guess it's an easy bet to say who'll win the championship this year," Lando muttered, and Brad patted him in comfort on the back.

They soon were at the room where Max was asleep and Brad carefully opened the door, revealing Max fast asleep in the crib, lying diagonally, one foot supported halfway up on of the bars and one hand gripping the bar. The paci in his mouth was moving slowly and the soft sucks were heard in the room.

"Cute little baby," Lando mutter while Brad closed the door again.

"Yeah, he is," the caregiver said, oozing affection.

"Well, glad that I saw him," Lando said, "say hi from me when he wakes up,"

"I will," Brad assured, waving to Lando while he walked away before he returned to Christian to continue their talk. He had been glad though, that Lando wanted to check up on Max. It was always nice to see littles getting along.

Max stretched while he woke up, turning around and for a moment wondering where he was, before he remembered. He was still sticky from the sweat from the first free practice, and the warm sleeper hadn't helped with that, but since they would still need to do the FP2, it would be okay.

He ruffled with his hand through his hair, wondering if he should call Brad or not when the door opened from itself, and Max squinted at the influx of light.

"You're awake just in time," a smiling Brad said, lowering the bar of the crib.

"Yeah?" Max said, his voice still a bit gravely from sleep.

"Yes. Just enough time to get you out of your wet diaper, and into your gear and start our prep," Brad said, and Max nodded, all business.

It didn't take long before he felt alert again, and when Brad told him Lando had come to visit him, he felt a bit warm inside. It felt good to know that the other little cared so much about him.

"Ready?" Brad asked when it was time to get in the car.

"Always," Max said with a grin.

Christian watched from the pit wall, pleased by Max progress in such a short time. They knew they had a good car, and they knew Max was a good driver, but it seemed as if he was surpassing himself.

A part of him wondered what would have happened if he had interfered earlier. Perhaps last season would have been a bit cleaner, perhaps Max would have been a world champion earlier.

Perhaps he would have been happier. Christian frowned a bit at that. Max never had seemed unhappy, not really. But there were these moments that winning seemed to consume him, and often after Jos had been with him for a while.

Everyone knew about Max's upbringing, the strict rules and the way the driver sometimes started to trauma dump during interviews. But everyone thought he was overreacting a little and Max often just laughed at those story, as if they were nothing more than a funny anecdote and not borderline abuse.

It made Christian wonder about the things Max wasn't telling. About the things that couldn't be written of as just another anecdote.

Well, the way Sebastian had discovered the father and son did reveal a little about what had gone on behind closed doors.

Keeping his focus on the drive, Christian filed the thoughts away. He was a practical man. These things had happened and now he couldn't change them anymore. So, he wouldn't wallow in the past.

Instead, he would look to the future and make sure that Max's his little side was nurtured as well. Another lap finished, even better than the last one, and Christian nodded to himself. Yes, Brad was doing good in nurturing Max. He would make sure that it could last.

Charles felt frustrated. It seemed that no matter what he did, he always fell behind. Every time he made the best lap, Max was there to take it from him, and even during the drive he had trouble focussing on what his engineer was saying.

Wanting to hide, Charles did his best to put his mask on, walking to the debriefing room and hoping that no one had noticed his absentminded behavior. He was so lost in thought that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, bumping into Brad and Max.

"Oh, steady there," Brad said, taking him by the arm. Charles looked up at him, blinking before blushing a little.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention," Charles said, turning his face into a grin, "need to go to a debrief,"

"We just finished," Maxie said, energetically shifting on his feet, "Brad said I could go little now,"

"And did you?" Charles asked, even though the answer was obvious.

"I did," Max said, "Brad said we could play with the blocks. You want to play too?"

"I need to go to my debrief," Charles repeated, even though every fibre of his being shouted to just skip the debrief.

"Oh, right," Max said with a frown.

"Well, we won't keep you long than," Brad said with a warm smile, "Perhaps you can come play another time,"

"Yeah, sure," Charles answered, and watched the two go, Max holding Brad's arm and swinging it wildly while he was gesturing broadly, probably talking about the free practice. Charles chuckled at the tendency of the little to always talk so animatedly about his car.

A sudden twinge in his chest made him wince, and he softly rubbed it while he continued to walk towards the debrief, vaguely worried about himself, but like usual, he pushed it to the back of his mind.

He needed to focus on the qualifications and the upcoming race. Nothing more. No time for imaginary hurts.

"I hope Charles wants to play with me again," Max said, looking back at the other driver while they walked away.

"Do you now?" Brad asked, amused by the enthusiastic little, who was still a bit hyperactive after the drive with the car. The debrief hadn't been very long, and Brad was happy that Max immediately took his suggestion to slip in headspace.

"Yeah. He's fun. Perhaps he can join in training again," Max said, already thinking ahead.

"He can," Brad said, "I didn't mind having him over,"

"Of course you don't," Max said with a big smile, "no on minds Charles. He's always been good looking and charming,"

"Ah, that's good to know," Brad said, "so, any fun stories?"

"Loads," Max said with a grin, starting to tell about their karting days. Most of it went like a waterfall, words easily falling from Max's mouth, until they came to the subject of Jos. Than Max would fall silent for a moment, before skipping the rest of the scene and telling another story.

Brad did feel for him. It must have been hard growing up like that. It made Brad want to pamper Max even more.

"So, what do you say, first a bath?" Brad asked when they arrived back in the apartment, putting their bags to the side.

"I already showered," Max said with a frown.

"Yes, you did. But nothing like a deep clean in a bath tub," the man said, before leaning a little closer to Max "and I got bubbles,"

"Bubbles!" Maxie said, jumping up and down in enthusiasm, "oh, I want. Can I Brad, can I have a bath?"

"Of course you can," the big man said.

"You too? We can play in the water?" Max asked, and Brad nodded, easily agreeing. He took the enthusiastic little by the hand and guided him to the bathroom.