The dinner went well with Bradley slowly feeding Max, guiding the food bite by bite towards his mouth and patiently waiting until Max finished chewing, even though it was slowly and seemingly with some difficulty. Sometimes, a bit managed to leak out of the corners of his mouth, but the bib managed to catch most of the spillage.
Max really was trying his best, but with George and Lewis talking next to him, his attention often slipped and he turned his head towards the two Mercedes driver's just when Brad was about to give him a forkful, which often ended on his cheeks or chin instead of his mouth.
Everyone at the table pretended not to notice the flinch Max gave, or the way he glanced at Bradley, afraid that he was going to get angry.
But Brad never got mad at all.
"Oopsie," he would say, nothing more, and to Max's surprise, the man would do nothing more than to gently wipe away the food on his chin and offer him another bite.
The caregivers stayed so calm that Maxie was starting to feel more and more at ease and stopped overthinking the fact that he was little in public, letting his headspace take over.
At the beginning of the dinner, when Maxie was still feeling nervous, he would duck away in Brad's chest every time someone passed their table, trying to huddle against the caregiver in a bid to not be seen. By now, he was just shyly ignoring every 'hi' aimed at him, and only ducked away when the person talking didn't immediately move away.
"Nearly finished bunny," Maxie said when he noticed his plate was almost empty. Bradley smiled at him and put the forkful in his mouth. By now, Brad was mushing up what was in his plate, making it easier for Maxie to eat.
He waved shyly at Bunny while he was chewing his food, wanting to keep it close to him and hug it, but at least it was within view.
Maxie felt very glad that he could see bunny, even though he still wanted to hug the stuffy, it was nice to know it was nearby. Chewing his food slowly, he put his hands on the little pouch, which was covered by the end of the bib. Swallowing his food, he turned back toward the Mercedes drivers, interrupting their conversation.
"George fix bunny?" Max asked for the third time during the dinner , making the caregivers smile at him, and George pat his head.
"Of course. First you need to be a good boy and finish your plate," George said, his voice trying to sound strict, but the smile on his face betraying his good intentions.
Maxie though, nodded seriously, opening his mouth once again for Brad, who put another forkful in his mouth, and with a big smile, Maxie opened his mouth for the last time, glad that his plate was finally empty.
Now George could get his stuff to fix bunny.
"Well, I'm going to get the stuffing. I don't think it should be more than an hour," George said, sliding his chair backwards, Maxie also standing up, the dirty bib still hanging from his neck.
"Promise?" Maxie said, "George come to fix bunny, promise?"
"I will," George said, "why don't you help keep Lewis company while I'm gone, okay?"
"I will," Maxie said, looking at Lewis and hesitantly going to stand next to Lewis, who was still sitting down. A shy tap on the shoulder, and Lewis looked up at the little.
"Yes?"
"Come play?" Maxie asked, "please?"
"Of course I will," Lewis said, "I quickly have to fetch something from my room, but I'll come over right after,"
"I'll give you our room number," Bradley said, and Max's his attention slid away from the conversation, looking at George leaving.
Suddenly, he felt nervous, scared that George had been lying and he wouldn't return to fix Bunny at all. Grabbing his bunny, Maxie hugged it close.
"Oh, just a moment," Bradley said, quickly grabbing the bib, and hoping that no spillage had come on Bunny. Max looked at him wide-eyed, his muscles tense and frozen.
"Sorry," Maxie said, if possible grabbing the stuffy even closer.
"It's nothing. But let's get the bib off and than we'll go to our room, and before you know it, Lewis will be there as well," Bradley said and Max shyly nodded.
"George come back?" Maxie asked, almost ignoring Lewis his presence.
"He will," Brad said, looking apologetically at Lewis, who smiled in affection to Max, understanding that his bunny was more important than Lewis right now, "so, let's go to our room,"
"I'll be going to," Lewis said, standing up, and Max suddenly looked at him, as if he just noticed the other man was there.
"Lewis go?" Maxie asked with a frown. Wasn't Lewis coming over to play with him? Had Maxie said something wrong.
"Yes. I need to go get something in my room. I'll come after," Lewis answered, "at least if you want me to?"
"Yes," Maxie said, nodding, "we play?"
"Sure," Lewis answered easily enough, ruffling Max's hair before leaving the little with his trainer.
He was quiet sure that Brad would manage to get Maxie back to their room, even with the limited attention span that Max was currently showing.
Lewis was going to get the pacifiers he had bought for Maxie, glad for this opportune moment to give them to the little. At least now Maxie would even be able to use them when he was going to bed.
"Come on, buddy, let's go back to our room," Brad said, taking Max's hand in his and guiding the little along.
"Will George take long?" Max asked, looking down at his stuffy, which was hanging from his elbow, "bunny is owie,"
"I know bunny is," Brad said looking amused at Maxie, "it might take a little while, but George will return before it's bedtime,"
"Okay," Maxie said, still holding bunny close by, "you hear bunny, you be okay soon,"
Brad smiled at the little, glad that Max let someone fix the stuffy. Even though Brad had wanted to do it himself, it had been clear that there had been too many misunderstandings and it was actually better that someone else was going to fix it to be sure that it would get fixed.
Closing the door to their hotel room, he let go of Maxie's hand and turned towards the little, looking down at Maxie.
"Are you wet?" Brad asked. It had been a while since he had changed Max, and with the rash that was still going on, he needed to keep Maxie in dry diapers, and got the salve on him regularly. Max shrugged and looked down at his feet, not really answering the question, "here, let me check,"
Brad was glad when Max didn't pull back, but stayed standing there passively with bunny in his hands. He did look to the side, as if he didn't notice the way that Brad softly touched the front of his crotch.
"I'm small," Maxie said, clearly knowing that he was quite wet already. He was still looking away, and was nervously fiddling with the one ear still attached to bunny.
Maxie knew that Brad had told him that he was okay with changing the diapers, and this one was just wet and not messy, but it still made him feel insecure.
Perhaps the caregiver might change his mind, or he would decide to not do it all. Afterall, Max had been changing his own diapers for years, so Brad knew that he was capable to do it himself.
"I noticed," Brad said back with a smile, "let's get you into a dry diaper before Lewis or George returns. We don't want your rash to get worse,"
"Okay," Max easily agreed, following Brad to the bedroom. Apparently the man didn't mind it. He looked at his trainer lay down a towel on the bed, and grab the wipes and a clean diaper. Than the pot of salve was put to the side, and Max felt useless, just standing there and watching.
But he hadn't realized how much stuff Bradley was going to take. After all, Max was just wet. He had changed his own diaper and never took that much stuff.
Most of the time, his diaper changes needed to go fast. If he was at the paddock, or if he needed to be somewhere, he couldn't exactly take his time, and he gotten used to just take off the wet diaper and immediately putting on a new one. Nothing much to it, even though he generally was bothered with rashes.
But instead of quickly pulling down his pants and changing the diaper standing, Brad made Max lay down on the towel.
His shorts were completely pulled down, and then removed and set to the side, so they weren't in the way. It just left him in the wet diaper, and Max suddenly felt very shy to lay down like this in front of the man.
Grasping the bottom of his shirt with one hand, the other still holding on to bunny, Max fought the impulse to pull it up so it was covering his face. He wanted to suck his thumb, but he fought against that desire as well, instead ending up with biting his lip.
"Shhh, it's okay. Let Brad take care of you," Bradley said softly, keeping up soft encouraging words.
The caregivers opened the tabs on the side of the diaper, folding back the heavy front, and pulling the rest of the diaper away from under Max, leaving him naked from the waist down.
Then, to Max's surprise, the man still didn't put a new diaper on him. Instead, he took a wipe, and even though the diaper had soaked up all his pee, Brad still took the time to gently wipe his entire diaper area, making sure it was all clean.
Finally, a fresh diaper was put under his bum, soft and fluffy and secure, making sure that Max wouldn't make any messes anywhere.
"Icky," Maxie said, scrunching up his nose when he saw Bradley undoing the top of the pot of salve.
"I know you don't like it," Brad said patiently, "just until you are all healed, I promise,"
Max still didn't like it though, but the sticky salve soon covered every inch of his diaper area. And even though he tried to lay still while Brad was putting it on, Max hadn't been able to, instead squirming the whole time, his legs twitching while he made whining sounds whenever Brad would go over a particular sensitive spot.
It surprised him that Brad hadn't given him a quick slap and ordered him to stay still. But Brad hadn't, instead the man had continued to patiently apply the salve, making soothing and encouraging sounds.
"Did I get all the painful spots?" Brad asked, looking at Maxie, who looked surprised back at Bradley, not having expected to be asked his opinion.
"You got *everything*," Max said, gesturing with his hands, and Brad smiled at him.
Folding the front of the diaper over Max's genitals, he carefully closed the tabs, making sure that it was all aligned perfectly and the leakguards were up.
Just grabbing Max's shorts again, the bell went, signaling that someone was at the door. Brad just managed to pull his head to the side quick enough to avoid Max when he shot up to a sitting position.
"Georgie," Maxie shouted, getting up from the bed and running to the door, leaving Brad with the shorts in his hands, looking stupefied for a second.
"Maxie, wait a moment," Brad called when he managed to gather his wits, running behind Max, not wanting the little to open the door on his own when he was in headspace.
Of course, he was already too late, Max having already thrown the door open, and Brad hoped that there wouldn't be a dent in the wall where the handle was.
"Hi there," Lewis said, trailing off when Max ignored him and stepped past him in the hallway. A frown was on Lewis his face when he saw that Max was just wearing a shirt and a diaper, and nothing else.
"No Georgie?" Maxie asked, suddenly sounding sad.
"No, he'll be a bit longer," Lewis said, patting Max's shoulder, "and how about we go back in, and find your pants. I think you might have lost it somewhere on the way,"
"Pants?" Maxie asked, looking down at himself, his eyes widening when he realized that he was indeed just wearing a diaper without any covering. Shyly, he took the hem of his shirt and tried to pull it downward, trying to hide the diaper from view.
"Yeah, you ran off," Bradley said, now standing beside Maxie in the hallway. Maxie looked up at the caregiver, feeling a little apprehensive. Bradley had never said that he could go, so perhaps he was going to be mad at Maxie again.
But no shouting was forthcoming. Just a big hand on the small on his back and he was gently pushed back to the apartment, Lewis following behind him and Brad, holding a small bag in his hand.