Max could barely stand still while Brad was putting the cloth in the waist of his shorts, eager to continue playing.
"I'm going to win," Maxie informed the caregiver confidently, a big smile on his face, "I'll run as fast as I can,"
"Good," Brad said with a smile, finishing up with the cloth, and patting Max's bum, "go, I'll count to five,"
Max didn't need telling twice, and he ran off, stopping a little away and giggling excitedly while Brad counted. The moment the caregiver started to run, the little started to react turning fast corners and jumping over the obstacles Brad had put ready before.
Brad had to admit that it was difficult to keep up, but he was managing, and Max seemed to understand. There was still a smile on his face when he ducked away and ran, and Brad grinned.
"Going to get you soon," he singsonged at Max, who laughed.
"No, Maxie run," the little said, his breath a little ragged but still full of energy.
Brad chased him, and to his surprise, the little managed to slide right in between his legs and suddenly he opened the door and was running off into the hallway of the complex.
"Max, stop," Brad called out in panic and started to chase Maxie, who thought it was all part of the game they were playing and ran even faster laughing loudly.
He saw the little look behind him to see if Brad was still following, just when Charles turned the corner, his gaze fixed on the screen of his phone.
"Maxie, watch out," Brad said, but it was too late. By the time the little looked in front of him, he already crashed into the startled Ferrari driver, sending the two of them on the ground, the momentum carrying Maxie into a wall with a thud.
For a moment it was all stunned silence.
And than Maxie started to cry loudly.
"Oh, Maxie," Brad said, falling to his knees next to the little, looking in concern at him.
"Is he okay?" Charles asked, having gotten up and limping to them.
"I don't know," Brad said, looking a little lost, "where does it hurt sweetheart?"
"Owie," Maxie said, "owie,"
"Oh, you poor thing," Brad said, "can you sit up?"
"Here, let me help," Charles said, and together with Brad, he managed to get Max seated upright, the sobs already getting a little softer, but he was still sniffling, snot running from his nose.
"Here, let me help you with that dirty nose," Charles said, taking a tissue from his pocket and holding it to Max's nose. The little blew hard in it, emptying out his snot, "so, what happened here? Why were you running away from Brad?"
"Wasn't running 'way," Maxie said, pouting, and wiping his eye with the back of his hand, "was training,"
"Oh, you were?" Charles asked, looking with a lifted eyebrow at Brad, who nodded.
"Yes, we were training our condition with play flag tag," Brad explained, seeing understanding appear on Charles face.
"Aah, and you were winning, right Max?" Charles asked, smiling at the little who was nodding.
"Yes. I caught to flag once and Brad zero times," Max explained, forgetting his tears, "I ran like this and I ducked away,"
Charles nodded at Max's animated explanation, the little gesturing wildly with his hands to make sure the meaning of his words was clear to Charles who was playing the perfect audience. It was clear that the pain of his crash was forgotten and relieved, Brad got on his feet.
He extended his hand to Max, who looked at in surprise but took it and before Charles could climb on his feet, Brad held out his hand. Charles took it hesitantly, and let himself be pulled up by the taller man, stumbling slightly.
"You seem to have hurt yourself?" Brad rumbled, making Charles blush and look down at his legs. It was true that his knee had somehow managed to slam itself to the ground, but he hadn't wanted to put any attention on it.
Max had slammed the ground much harder than he had, and still the little didn't seem harmed at all.
"It's fine," Charles evaded, taking a step back and picking up his phone where he had dropped it, relieved that the screen hadn't cracked.
"Brad can fix you," Maxie said, taking Charles his hand, "come,"
Charles tried to protest, but Maxie wasn't having any of it, just dragged the slightly resisting Ferrari driver along.
"You shouldn't struggle," Brad said with a chuckle, "he's quite stubborn",
"I believe," Charles said with a laugh, giving in and letting Max pull him back to the gym they had been using. The area was empty, and Charles was quite sure that Red Bull had rented out the area for privacy reasons.
"Take of your pants," Maxie said, making Charles blink at the little.
"What?" he squecked back.
"Braddy, Charles not listening," Maxie whined at Brad when Charles was staring at him wide-eyed.
"I think he needs a little more explanation, sweetheart," Brad muttered softly to Max, who looked at him with big eyes.
"Oh?" Maxie said, looking doubtful at Braddy, who nodded at him encouragingly.
"Yes, he does," Bradley said, smiling apolegtically at Charles. He could have intervened and just told Max that it was fine and he should back off, but the little wasn't doing anything wrong, and he just wanted to help out.
Brad was quite sure that Max just wanted to check out the banged knee of Charles, and that once Charles got it, he would just lift up his pants leg.
"Okay," Max said, nodding determined, looking at Charles with a frown, "untie pants and pull it down,"
Brad let out a snort, surprised at the added detail of Max, who was still looking at Charles with a frown. By now the Ferrari driver was looking open-mouthed at Maxie, but when he heart Brad laughing he turned his gaze over to the trainer to glare at him.
"I'm sorry," Brad said, holding up his hands in apology, "I just thought the explanation would go a little different. You just want to make sure Charles' knee is alright, right Maxie?"
"Yes," Maxie said, looking confused at the two caregivers, "of course,"
"Ah," Charles said, pulling up his pantleg, "see, just a bit red,"
"Braddy? Charles okay?" Maxie asked, tugging Brad's arm to come look.
"I think it's fine," Brad said, but Max frowned, tugging him again.
"Sure?" Maxie asked, biting his lip.
"Is it okay, Charles?" Brad asked, and Charles nodded, bending his leg a few time to let Max see that everything was fine.
"See, all okay," Charles said, smiling at Max and patting his head. It was nice to see the concern towards him. Max smiled again.
"Come, train with us," Maxie said, tugging the cloth out of his pants and shoving one side into Charles, who looked surprised at him, "run,"
"What?" Charles asked surprised.
"one, two," Max started to count, smiling widely.
"We're playing flag tag. Come on, run," Brad said.
"three," Max said, and Charles looked surprised, but a split second later, he was off, hearing the four and five coming from Max, and then they were running.
"And stay in the room this time, Maxie," Brad called out when Max set off after the Ferrari driver.
"Okay," Maxie shouted loudly, chasing Charles, who managed to evade him quite well in the beginning.
Soon, Max started to recognize Charles favorite routes, and getting closer and closer to catching the cloth, both man breathing heavily until Max finally managed to get his hands on the cloth, and triumphantically held it up, before letting himself fall to the ground, sweat dripping from his face. Charles joined him, recovering his breath as well.
"Yeah, I would say the knee is alright," Brad said, approaching the two and crouching down in front of them, "you did really well Max,"
"I did?" Max asked with wide-eyes and a smile on his face.
"Yeah, you did. How about some lunch and naptime?" Bradley asked, and Maxie scrunched up his nose, looking sideways at Charles with a blush on his face.
"Don't need naps," the little said with a pout. He didn't want anyone to think he suddenly started to NEED naps. It was true what he said before to Brad. He never took naps before. They just seemed like a loss of time.
"Well, let's try it anyway," Brad said gently, knowing that if he could persuade Max to just lie still long enough, naps weren't going to be a problem, "let's get some food first,"
"Charles come too?" Maxie asked, looking at his friend with a smile. It was nice to have someone come along with him. Charles was a good friend, and he played with Maxie before, even when he was in a smaller headspace than he was now.
"Me? Sure, why not," Charles said, looking slightly taken aback even when Max started to cheer. It had been a quite surprising morning, with first running into Max, suddenly training with him, and apparently sharing a lunch. Not that he minded.
He was still a young caregiver, and he had some littles in his friend group and his family to settle the urge, but it was nice to spend some closer time with littles as well, and Max seemed to easily accept him.
The Ferrari driver was once again taken by surprise when they got up and Max immediately slid his hand in Charles's, clenching it tightly and talking all about how George managed to fix his bunny.
"Bunny is back?" Charles asked in surprise. The last he had heard was that the stuffy had been stolen by Max's dad, "Alonso brought it back?"
"Yeah, he did. And Georgie fixed the ear. Bunny all better now," Maxie said, "need to be gentle though. Still healing,"
"Is he now?" Charles asked, and Maxie nodded.
"You want to visit bunny?" Max asked, stopping suddenly, "perhaps I need to buy bunny a present?"
"A present?" Bradley asked in amusement, seeing the little thinking seriously, "what do you think bunny would like?"
"I...I don't know," Maxie said, shuffling his feet uncomfortably, "but he's sick. We need to buy a present,"
"Perhaps a fruit basket?" Charles offered, "it's a traditional gift,"
"But, he's a stuffy?" Maxie said, looking hesitant. Brad looked at Max, and pondered the problem himself. He could just tell Max that it wasn't necessary to buy his stuffy a present, but the little looked so earnest in wanting to buy something for bunny.
"Then we buy toy fruit," Charles said as solution, hoping that Max would like the solution. What else could you buy for a stuffed animal who was apparently recovering from an operation.
"Oh, right," Max said, looking in admiration at Charles, as if he just said the best solution in the world. Charles tried to not look too surprised when it was taken like that.
"Good job," Brad said, giving him an encouraging slap on the back.
"Oof," Charles said, stumbling a little forward at the sudden force, but Max already grabbed his hand, and Brad's as well.
"Come, need to go shopping now," the little said, "hurry, bunny is waiting,"
"It's fine Max, calm down," Brad said with a smile, holding the tugging little back, "perhaps Charles is too busy to come shopping,"
"But, is Charles his idea," Max said with a frown, "right Charles?"
"Uhm, yeah, I guess," the caregivers said, smiling unsurely, "we can go shopping for a moment. There's a toy shop right on the street,"
"Okay, let's go," Maxie said again, pulling the two caregivers with him, but stopping at the door.
"Something wrong?" Brad asked, seeing the sad look on Max's face.
"Need to be big," Maxie said.
"Now, why would you need to be big?" Brad asked, crouching down a little so he could look Max in the eye.
"Going out," Maxie said, "can't be small in public,"
"You can," Brad said, "you just need to stick close to me or Charles, okay?"
"You sure?" Maxie asked, still looking hesitant, "I'm small,"
"You aren't that small that you can't listen to me, right?" Brad asked, and Maxie shrugged.
"Can listen," Maxie said.
"Than we can just go," Brad said with a smile, taking Max's hand again in his, "let's find the most decadent toy fruit basket we can for bunny"
"yes!" Maxie said, "for bunny,"
"For bunny it is," Charles said with an indulgent smile, squeezing Max's hand softly.
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So, I've been wondering what the thought is about a caregiver/caregiver pairing in this story?
I was perhaps thinking (and I know, it's probably weird, but the thought appeared in my head one day) about daddy Brad/papa Charles and little Maxie forming the family?
If you have any opinions, either pro or con, please give them. It's just a vague thought for now, and I haven't committed to it yet.
Charles can also be like a big brother type to max.