Max was happy now, cuddling with Brad on the couch. He had really missed the man and even though it was hard to really think things through, he just knew that he wanted to stay with him right now.
There was a lot of talking going on, but the words were difficult to follow for him, and he just settled against Braddy, smiling while he sucked his fingers and occasionally poked a cheek with a wet finger and getting a smile in return.
Then Daniel gave a bottle to Brad, which Maxie was very happy for, because he was still a bit hungry, but the food had been so complex and too difficult for him.
And now Braddy was here, he didn't even need to hold his own bottle! Instead, the big man shifted him enough, so he was half lying, supported by an arm and the other offered him the bottle.
By now, Maxie knew how he had to suck the bottle, and even though it was still a bit clumsy, he got a good rhythm of sucking swallowing and breathing going, not even stopping when he felt himself pee, knowing that the diaper would soak it all up.
Lando kept on tickling his feet though, even when Maxie pulled them away and complained with a low whine, managing to spill some of the milk that had still been in his mout over himself when he tried to move his feet away from Lando again. Luckily, he was still wearing the bib and it wasn't a lot of spillage.
"Lando, leave Max alone," Brad said strictly, feeling the little in his arms stiffen up and look at him with big eyes. Brad's eyes widened and he quickly making some soothing noises and offered the bottle again, swearing at himself for causing the distress.
But Maxie didn't take the bottle, instead he gazed at Brad with wide eyes and let out a small whine, seemingly too little to form words.
"What's wrong with him?" Lando asked in concern, shifting and looking at Maxie.
"He's just a little scared I think," Brad said, rocking Maxie as good as he could, and keeping his voice soft and calm, "hey there, it's okay. I just wanted Lando to stop bothering you,"
Soft words continued and when he offered the bottle again, Maxie opened his mouth warily, still keeping his gaze fixed to Brad, as if he was unsure that the man would stay nice, but he when nothing happened, he settled again, drinking the rest of the bottle.
Maxie gave a few slow sucks, but kept his eyes fixed on Brad. The raised voice just when he had spilled the milk had startled him, and Maxie had been so sure that Brad had been angry at him, but when only soft words followed and he wasn't being pushed from the lap, Maxie started to calm down again.
He finished off the bottle, and was then shifted until he was straddling Brad's lap, his head lying on the broad shoulder and the legs under his diapered bum softly bouncing. Max giggled at the feeling, startled by a suddenburp coming up.
"What a good boy you are," Brad said, pleased to feel the little snuggle into him after the burp, "now where is your paci?"
"Got it right here," Daniel said, gently putting it in Max's mouth. He had been studying the scene in front of him, and it was easy to see how the two of them fitted each other. It seemed like Maxie was indeed lucky with his trainer, "me and Lando need to get going soon,"
"Ah, that's okay," Brad said, "me and Maxie are ready to go as well, aren't we sweetheart?"
A few sounds came from Max, but nothing that really could be discerned. Brad gathered up Max's stuff, and left with Max held firmly in his hand. Trying to put him on his feet had only resulted in Maxie falling down.
But Brad caught him before he could hit the floor and they bid goodbye to the other two. Well, Brad said bye. Max tried to hide his face in Brad's neck, suddenly feeling a little shy.
"So, are we going to get big now, or do I need to do your diaper first?" Daniel asked once they were alone, looking at Lando, who flushed a little, his hands grabbing his crotch where he felt the swollen up diaper.
"It's okay," Lando muttered, taking a deep breath and letting his headspace slide away, "I'm big now. I can handle it myself,"
"That's nice," Daniel said, only slightly disappointed. He had known Lando was going to be big for their meeting, "best wear a pullup though, you know how it is after you've gone this deep,"
"Yeah, yeah," Lando said, trying to ignore Daniel's words, but taking out a pullup none the less.
It was true that it was difficult to gain the control again after he had been this small, and with a sigh he resigned himself to a few accidents in the near future. And they wondered why he rarely regressed this small.
Charles tried not to stare when he saw Brad pass with Maxie in his arms. His race engineer was walking next to him and talking strategies, so he couldn't stop and begin a conversation, even though his whole body so desperately wanted to go and join the two.
Brad saw him and smiled, giving him a nod and Maxie looked at him curiously, the paci in his mouth and pointing at Charles until Brad took the pointed finger in his hand and held it close to him, shaking his head to Maxie.
He was probably telling the little that Charles couldn't be disturbed, and the Ferrari driver did understand that, he did, but when they walked away without any exchange of words, he could feel his mouth grew dry and a shiver travel up his spine.
How much he wanted to run after them, wanting to talk to Brad, wanting to make sure that Max was alright and steal a smile for himself. A pain formed in his chest, and he absentmindedly rubbed it.
"Charles, are you listening?" the engineer asked, and he turned towards the man.
"Ah, sorry, what were you saying?" Charles asked, ignoring the faintly nauseous feeling that rose within him when he walked further away from the caregiver and the little, and he tried to reason with himself that he would see Max soon.
After the race was more likely, because now they would be swept in the next race and he knew that even though Max would need to have time to go in headspace, Charles would be absolutely swamped and the team would frown upon him searching out contact with the rival team.
Turning his attention back to his race engineer, he tried to ignore the tiredness of his mind and body. Perhaps this time he would be luckier with his races. Perhaps he would feel better then.
Brad and Maxie spend the morning continuing to play with his toys, Max finally getting the change to explore his new stuff.
With Max being so tiny that he couldn't walk on his own, training was limited. Brad still wanted to get some exercise in, knowing that it was important for his driving, and he managed to keep a part of the play active, the two of them crawling through the room and clumsily climbing over obstacles.
Once they were done, and Max had gotten a small snack, he held his hands for Max, and the little soon was laughing, trying to pull himself to his feet as hard as he could, Brad pretending to topple over every so often, receiving loud laughter from Maxie.
It wasn't ideal in terms of a work-out, but it would do for now, and at least they did get some exercise in. The little seemed to be happy for the most part, laughing when Brad always showed him what to do, apparently finding it hilarious when the other man also was crawling on the floor.
Only when Brad needed to step away to the toilet for a moment did he start to cry again, loud and scared, clearly not liking the fact that he was being left on his own for even a moment, and the shrill panicky sound almost broke Brad's heart.
"Hey, it's okay, I'm back already," Brad said, zipping up his pants while he came back out of the living room, "hey, there, don't cry,"
Max sniffled a little more, but a hug from Brad seemed to calm him down. It was just, Max had missed Brad so much the evening before. Now the caregiver was back, he just wanted to be near him and Maxie was a bit unsure if he was going to be left on his own again.
He had been so alone when he had been in his headspace for so often, that it was becoming a difficult thought to bear. And when Brad suddenly disappeared, he had been scared that he had done something wrong, but now, snuggled up in those arms, Max felt happy again.
"Braddy stay," Maxie said, his voice a little lisped with the paci in his mouth. He squeezed Brad's waist and was glad to feel the arms around him squeeze back.
"I will stay," Brad answered with a smile, "now let's build a big tower, and then we can eat, nap and after it's time to be big again. You got an interview,"
"Braddy," Max answered with a smile, not having understood even half of what has been said, but that was okay. Brad smiled at him, and then they went to sit near the blocks. Max tried to build, but he was very uncoordinated, and it all came tumbling down.
Smiling, Brad helped him build a tower, and when it was lunch, he made sure to make a smooth puree, and easily fed Max, holding the little on his lap.
"Next hotel, we'll need to make sure they have a chair for you as well," Brad said, holding up a spoonful for Max, who opened his mouth and managed to keep the most of it in, just his cheeks and his chin ending up a little messy, but nothing a washing cloth couldn't fix.
The nap was still a bit of a challenge, the little making his displeasure known, even if he couldn't put words on it.
"I know you don't like it," Brad said, frowning when Maxie tried to crawl off the bed, his pants already discarded to the side and his diaper once again wet, "but let's just try, okay? A clean diaper, a bottle and a story,"
"Story?" Maxie asked, stopping with struggling and looking at the caregiver with wide eyes.
"Yes, story," Brad said, leaning over Max, "but only if you cooperate and try to take a nap. So, Maxie be nice and take nap?"
Max frowned up at him, clearly considering his options. The little eventually huffed, and put his thumb in his mouth while he let himself fall on his back. Brad grinned, going to the diaper and opening the tabs.
"That's a good boy," Brad praised immediately, "so good of you Maxie, I'm proud of you,"
Maxie grumbled a little, but his eyes were wide and surprised, and kept on staring at Brad, as if he had said something weird, which to Max the praise probably was.
The diaper was changed, and he was put in pyjamas before he got the bottle. Drinking it slowly, Maxie tried to fight falling asleep, wanting to be awake for the story.
"Shh, it's fine," Brad said, the second time he startled awake again during drinking, "bottle is gone now, so we can read,"
Grabbing the book, Brad shifted Max a little so he could see the pictures and still rest on Brad's lap while he read.
Brad smiled at the small sounds of surprise and approval that Maxie made throughout the story, never stopping the little from reaching out towards the different pictures, even if he did need to pause in reading.
Once the story was done, he gently laid Maxie in the bed, putting the blankets nicely around him and handing him bunny and his paci, and putting the other two stuffies in the corner of the bed, close but not in snuggle distance.
"Sleep tight," he said, giving a kiss, before putting the bars of the crib up. Maxie looked at him go, feeling a little insecure about being left on his own, but so far Brad had been there when he woke up.
Deciding to keep his promise, Max yawned, and snuggled in his pillow. A nap did sound nice right about now.
Brad was glad when he checked in with Max after a half an hour and saw the little fast asleep. It seemed like the struggling against the nap was going to be a common occurrence, but at least Max did try in the end.
And the fact that he actually fell asleep so easily, meant that he really did need them, no matter what he said.
Putting the door ajar, he left Maxie and nearly jumped out of his skin when his phone suddenly went. Brad hurried to pick it up, not wanting the noise to wake up Max prematurely. He didn't know how the little would react to an interrupted nap, and he did need Max to be big after for his interview.
"Christian, is there anything wrong?" Brad asked, seeing the ID of the caller.
"Brad, I'm trying to reach Max," Christian said, "his interview changed hour,"
"He's asleep now," Brad said, going over to cabinet where Max's phone laid, and seeing a few missed calls, "he's got his phone on do not disturb,"
"Asleep?" Christian said, swearing silently on the background, "look, his interview is in half an hour already, and with the recent news of him being a little, we don't want to suddenly cancel it. You know what kind of stories those journalist might come up with,"
"No, I understand," Brad said, feeling a little worried, "I guess I can try to wake him up now. He should be big,"
"That would be great," Christian said, a little bit of worry in his voice.
Hanging up the phone Brad looked at the door to Max's room, heaving a sigh. He would definitely have words with the PR team after this. They probably didn't realise about Max's his new schedule and had agreed to the time change, but they should learn to clear it with him first.
Going in the room, he lowered the bars of the crib, feeling bad when he softly shook Max's shoulder in an attempt to wake him up.
"Mmmhrgh," Max murmured, trying to snuggle more into the pillow, the tip of bunny's ear in his mouth, nice and wet.
"Max, sweetheart, we need to wake up now," Brad softly said, "the interview got put earlier,"
"Am 'wake," Max said, his voice sounding slightly gravelly when he blinked up at Brad, and the trainer saw the eyes starting to fall close again.
"That's good," Brad said, taking Max's hands and lifting him to a sitting position, "you're big?"
"Yeah, totally," Max answered, yawning and trying his best not to fall over, "let's go,"
"Let's first check your diaper and get you into some clothes," Brad said, slightly amused by Max's behaviour, and worried for the upcoming interview. The little nodded, and leaned against Brad, managing to fall asleep again for a moment until he was lifted by the caregiver.
A quick check of the diaper revealed him to be still dry, and Brad just helped him into his sponsored gear, before putting him on his feet.
"Come on Maxie, the interview is in the hotel," Brad said when Max almost fell over his feet, "you think you can be big for this?"
"Yeah, sure," Max said, yawning and trying to wake up a little more. Brad still frowned, and quickly pulled him to the bathroom, where Max suddenly got a wet washcloth in his face, waking him up a little more.
"You're mean," Max said, glaring at Brad, who dried his face.
"Yes, and you are going to be late," Brad said, laying the towel to the side, and taking Max's hand in his, pulling him along until they reached the meeting room for the interview.
"Are we still on time?" Max yawned, only then noticing he was still holding his paci in his mouth. He took it out and with a frown, quickly hid it in his pocket.
"I think so. Fernando and Lewis are already there," Brad said.
"Goody," Max answered, rubbing his eye and willing it to stay open, even if he did feel tired. How much he had complained about taking a nap earlier, now there wasn't a lot more that he wanted but to go back and finish it.
"Good luck," Brad whispered when Max went to join the two other drivers, hoping he would be able to hold his wits about him.