"You cleaned," Brad stated after he had closed the door to the bedroom. He still kept his voice soft, not wanting to wake up Max now that he was asleep.
"Yeah, I did," Charles said, looking up at the taller man, "Max is taking a nap?"
"Yes, he is," Brad said with a grin, "he was sure that he wouldn't, but the bottle made him fall asleep like nothing,"
"That's good," Charles said, happy, shifting his shoulders a bit as if he was trying to get a certain tenseness out of them.
"You okay there?" Brad asked with a frown, before approaching Charles, and putting his hands on the nape of his neck, "a stiff neck or something?"
"No, not really," Charles answered, flushing a little before wincing when Brad started to massage his shoulders a bit and immediate found a hard muscle, "just, I don't know, less tense,"
"This is less tense?" Brad asked, his eyes widening a little while he continued the massage, used to working out the stiff muscles in Max and knowing what the driver's needed. Charles gave a small groan while he worked on loosening them.
"Yeah, it is," Charles said, not commenting on the stress he had been feeling from his last few races, with all the bad luck just seemingly coming his way, "being here with you and Max made it a bit better,"
"Ah, well that's the effect of littles," Brad said with a grin, stopping the massage and patting his back, "you don't have any in Ferrari?"
"No," Charles said, feeling slightly disappointed with the lack of contact, "all bases or caregivers,"
"That's too bad. It helps to have littles near you when you're traveling. And at home? You have someone there? Or a family member who's a little?" Brad asked, but Charles just shook his head.
"No, no one. My family are all base," Charles said.
"Oh, well no wonder you're so tense. You should spend some more time with me and Max," Brad said, making Charles look at him wide-eyed.
"With you and Max," the caregiver asked, and Brad nodded.
"Yes. It's not just littles that need caregivers, but caregivers need littles as well. If we don't have an outlet for our own instincts, we start to falter," Brad explained, "most caregivers have someone near them who is little, even though a lot of them don't have a little of themselves,"
"Oh, right," Charles said, "so, you wouldn't mind me tagging along every now and then?"
"No, I would love to have you come. Max does adore you when he's in headspace," Brad said.
"Well, I guess I can come over a few times," Charles said, suddenly feeling a little shy for some reason. Brad smiled at him, and he felt a little tingle in his stomach.
"That's great," Brad said, "and you'll see, everything will feel better when you stay over with a little a bit more,"
Max blinked in the darkness, wondering where he was for a moment. He rubbed his eyes with a groan and turned around, feeling the bar of the crib against his back. It took him a few more moments before he realised that it was the middle of the day, and that he in fact had napped.
Now in his big headspace, he groaned while he put his hands to his face, only noticing the paci still in his mouth. He pulled it out and put it the side, frowning a little in the darkness of the room.
"Guess I better can get up," he muttered to himself, thinking that he wasted enough time already.
Sitting up, Max opened the side of the crib and climbed out of the bed, and taking of the sleeping clothes Brad had bothered to put him in. The diaper was still dry, so he didn't bother changing it and just threw some shorts over it.
Taking in a deep breath, Max opened the door, and was relieved to just spot Brad on his own. He remembered how he acted near Charles, and he hoped that the man wouldn't think less of him. It had been fun, playing with the other caregiver, and Max had to admit that he had like the tag a lot.
Of course, Charles wasn't a little, so he guessed that the other man wasn't enjoying it as much as he pretended, he had.
"Max, you woke up," Brad stated, making Max nod.
"Yeah. And I'm big now," Max said, seeing the caregiver nod.
"That's good. Want to do something on your own now?" the trainer asked, and Max nodded, wanting to give the other man the opportunity to have some privacy as well.
"Okay, that's fine. I'll leave you to it than and I'll be back in the evening for some little time," Brad said, getting up from where he was seated, "Christian called when you were sleeping. You're scheduled for an interview tomorrow afternoon,"
"Ah, right," Max said with a frown, knowing that with his little status revealed what exactly the subject would be of the interview, "who else is going to be there?"
"Lewis and Fernando," Brad answered, glad that at least those two would be there to support Max.
"That's fine, I guess," Max said, nodding to himself, "best get it out of the way,"
"It is," Brad said, "see you tonight, and if you feel like going small again, don't feel afraid to call, okay?"
"Yeah, sure," Max said, and even though Brad nodded with a smile, both occupants knew that Max wasn't going to call, but sometimes it was best to keep up pretences.
Brad left the room, leaving Max to his own devices, who kept busy with his sim races schedule and other engagements, seeing the many messages he had received from his team.
It was an awkward conversation he had with them, and he was glad that by the end of it, they all gave their support and told him to just try and be himself and not listen to his dad.
Once the conversation was over, he wandered a bit in the apartment, finally going to the bedroom and finding bunny lying in the crib, next to the other stuffies, looking cozy.
"At least you made some friends," Max said out loud, feeling a little silly to act as if his stuffy was alive and had feelings, but it was stronger than him to not do it, "they're probably better friends than me,"
Giving a sigh, he resisted an urge to hug the stuffy close to him and instead left the room. Max was just feeling to agitated to stay in the room now that he was big again. The nervousness of the interview was pressing down on him, and once again he wished he could just race and skip all the political games.
"Hi, Maxy," Daniel said when they nearly bumped into each other, "big Maxy, or little Maxie?"
"Big," Max said, flushing a little, "isn't it obvious,"
"Just wanted to make sure," the Australian said with a big smile, "so, where are you going to in such a hurry?"
"Me?" Max said, shrugging helplessly, "nowhere really. Just wanted to be out,"
"Oh, okay," Daniel said, "do you want to go to me and Lando? The two of you could beat me at games?"
"That does sound tempting," Max said with a smile, happy that Daniel was close by.
"Well, come along than," Daniel said, slinging his arm around Max's shoulder and guiding him towards their room. Max felt himself calm down again, thinking it was the presence of a friendly face who clearly had his best intentions in mind.
Of course, it was that and also the caregivers' vibes that Daniel exuded, calming his more baser instincts.
For Daniel, it had been a couple of difficult days. Things with the team weren't going well, and he had been in talks with several other teams, exploring his options. His emotions had been tense and over the edge.
He had contemplated going to Lando earlier, but with all that was going on with McLaren, he had been afraid that he would be saying something wrong without a buffer in the neighbourhood.
Having a second little near would give him something to put his focus on and would at least make his mind be able to clear out the unnecessary things and make a level-headed decision about his future.
"Max, hi," Lando said in surprise when Daniel pushed Max first in the room, "what are you doing here?"
"Daniel wanted to get a trashing in video games," Max said with a grin, bounding up to Lando, "so, I volunteered,"
"Oh, not only you. Come along Daniel, let's give you an experience you won't forget," Lando said eagerly, a gleam in his eyes. And so, Daniel's afternoon of being trashed by the two littles began.
Halfway through, Max started to shift a little, his foot nervously bobbing up and down. His comments were less frequent, and his focus shifted, but his playstyle stayed without any mercy.
"Okay, that's it, I'm tired of playing," Daniel said, losing once again while Lando laughed manically on the background, Max looking pleased, "how about we watch a movie?"
"I'm supposed to be back with Brad for dinner," Max said, frowning at the hour.
"Are you going to be little then?" Daniel asked, and Max nodded, a small flush on his face. He had been starting to slip already during the game, but he hadn't let himself fall completely yet.
It had been a bit tricky when he had wetted his diaper in between the two, but he had wetted on more awkward occasions that this. Somehow, tucked between the two, it had made his mind go fuzzy just that little bit.
"Yeah. He said it was better for me to be little as often as possible," Max said.
"You can be little with us," Lando said, smiling, "we can have a sleepover! I can be little as well,"
"But wouldn't that be too much work for Daniel?" Max asked, looking at the caregiver with concern, "I'm much younger than you when I'm little,"
"Not that much," Lando said with a grin, "come on, it'll be fun,"
"I have to tell Brad," Max said hesitantly, thinking that the other man would probably be grateful for having the evening off. It felt a bit selfish of him to not want the other man to be happy because Max stayed away for an evening, but it would be better for their relationship.
This way, Brad was aware that he could have times without Max, and that way, he would probably keep up taking care of him much longer.
"Sure, tell him," Daniel said, and Max took out his phone, fumbling a bit over the code and then doing his best to find the correct number. It was difficult with his mind already going fuzzy, but he managed.
"Maxie? Something wrong?" Brad asked when he answered the phone.
"No, nothing wrong," Maxie said, "uhm, Daniel and Lando want me to have a sleepover,"
"That sounds nice," Brad said, already calming down now he knew that Maxie was alright, "do you have all your stuff with you?"
"Oh, no, not yet. I wanted to be sure you were okay with it," Maxie said, feeling a little silly to ask permission.
"Of course, I am," Brad said, "I just want you to be healthy and happy Max. You're going in headspace?"
"Yeah," Max said, nodding at the phone, even though Brad couldn't see it, "Lando as well,"
"Then it will be double fun. You know, how about I go get you your stuff, and bring it to their room. That way you can already go in headspace," Brad easily proposed.
"Oh, isn't it bothersome?" Max asked, a bit hesitant to rely on the other man even for things like that.
"Of course not," Brad said, and Max gave him the room number. The caregiver ended the conversation, and the smile on his face turned to a frown, unhappy to have Max already separated from him.
At least he could check in on the little while he brought the stuff and give Daniel some instructions for nighttime when Maxie needed to be put to bed.