When Max woke up, he was still little, and when he saw Brad looking down on him, leaning against the top bar of the crib, he cooed happily up at the man holding his arms up.
"Braddy, up," Max demanded, smiling happily when the caregiver lowered the bar and picked him up.
"Are we too small for walking again?" the man asked, amused, but Maxie shook his head.
"Like this," the little shyly confessed. Brad smiled and hugged him tightly before putting him on the bed to get his diaper changed.
"It's okay to like this," Brad said, poking Max's nose, which made the little go cross-eyed a little trying to catch the finger, but it was already long gone, "now let's see if we got a wet or a messy diaper,"
"Not messy," Maxie said, and Brad saw that it was true, but it was very wet. Wiping the area clean, Brad applied the usual salve, much to the protests of Max, and then put a new diaper on him, before closing the sleeper again.
They would need to leave in a couple of hours, and then Max needed to wear his red bull outfit, but Brad didn't want to risk getting it dirty. Besides, Max seemed more than comfortable in the sleeper.
Maxie was big enough to walk around, and that's what he did. Walking around the hotel room and following Brad as closely as he could, often bumping in the caregiver when he suddenly stopped and when the man looked at him, he always smiled, going in for a hug, squishing Bunny between the two.
Brad chuckled at the behaviour, and continued to set the table, doing his best to not stumble over Max, who was making it nearly impossible. Still, Brad didn't ask him to move or get out of the way, thinking that Max was being too cute and he didn't need someone telling him to get out of the way now.
Breakfast went well enough, Max old enough to feed himself, even if he was eating with his fingers, and Brad just cleaning him up afterwards. He gave the little some paper and pencils while he cleaned up the rest of the breakfast and was glad to see Max hesitantly reach for it.
"What are you drawing?" Brad asked when everything was cleaned up, hanging over Maxie, who looked up at him with big eyes, trying to hide his drawing.
"Nothing," Maxie hurriedly said, trying to put it on the underside of the pile of papers, making Brad frown.
"This doesn't look like nothing," Brad said, reaching out for the paper, and seeing Max nervous stare at him when he looked it over, "it's a race car,"
"It's a bad race car," Max said, "made it ugly,"
"No, it's very nicely drawn," Brad said, looking at the mishappen and uneven looking car that Max had drawn, "you even got the Red bull log on it,"
"It's ugly," Max said again, pulling it from Brad's hands and crumpled it in a ball before Brad could react.
"Oh, Maxie!" Brad said, panicked, pulling the ball back from his hands, "your pretty drawing,"
"Is not," Maxie said again, getting agitated, "shouldn't be drawing. Waste of time,"
"No, it isn't," Brad said, sitting himself down, and putting down a blank paper in front of Max and than himself, "let's both make a drawing,"
Max looked at him, his eyes wide, but Brad didn't react to the look. Instead, he grabbed a pencil and started to draw, and he was glad to see Max hesitantly reach out for one as well, following Brad's example. He did turn to look at Brad every so often, as if he needed to reassure himself that it was okay.
"Look at that," Brad said, looking over at Max's page, "such a pretty bunny,"
"Is my bunny," Maxie said shyly handing Brad the drawing, "I gave it a ribbon,"
"It's very good," Brad said, "let's hang it on the fridge now,"
"Really?" Max asked in surprise, following Brad, who nodded. A moment later the picture was proudly featured on the fridge, and Max was looking at it shyly. Brad let him stand there for a moment, before he gently tapped him on the shoulder.
"We need to leave for the track soon," Brad said, looking down at Maxie, who was looking up at him, still wearing the sleeper, and had his paci in his mouth.
"Maxie go big?" Max asked, and Brad nodded, patting his head.
"That would be best, yes," the trainer said, looking at Maxie while he closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could.
"Oh," Max said, swaying a little while he tore himself out of his headspace, his mind not entirely happy about leaving it already.
"You okay?" Brad asked, holding Max by the shoulders until he blinked a few times, getting the last vestiges of the dizzy feeling off.
"Yes, perfectly fine," the little said, looking down at himself with a frown, "need to get dressed for the track,"
"Yes, and changed," Brad said, having noticed the bulging crotch. Max shifted his legs, feeling a bit embarrassed about the thickness in between, but nodded none the less.
Brad took him to the bedroom, and made sure he was nice and dry and added a new layer of cream.
"It's healing nicely," Brad said, pleased with the progress.
"Does that mean we can leave the salve?" Max asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid we need to use it a little longer," Brad answered, seeing Max's face turn into distaste.
"It feels gross," Max said, and Brad smiled sympathetically at him while he closed the diaper, making sure it is snug.
"I know it does, but the pot almost empty, so a day or two more and then I think it should be okay," Brad said, seeing Max perk up a little, "come on, let's get you dressed, before we're late,"
"Can I take bunny?" Max asked, feeling silly for wanting to take his stuffy with him. Brad looked at the little and frowned, not knowing if he should say yes or no.
"Aren't you afraid of losing it?" Brad asked carefully, and he saw Max blanch.
"Oh, right. Uhm, best keep him safe here," Max said, taking the stuffy and putting it in his crib, Frowning at the two other stuffies. At least bunny wouldn't be lonely.
"He'll be here when we get back," Brad said, seeing Max hesitate to leave the stuffy alone, "no one has the key to the hotel room, just us,"
"Yeah," Max said, turning to Brad, "I'm being stupid, that's all,"
"No, you're not. It's a reaction to what happened," Brad said, patting his back, "and now we really need to leave,"
They ended up being nicely on time for the preparation for the free practice, Brad doing some reaction exercises with Max before he got ready for the drive.
"I'm going to take of my diaper, and then I'm ready," max whispered to Brad, who nodded, knowing that the heat and the diaper would be too much. And if Max had an accident during the drive, well, he wouldn't be the first driver to pee while racing.
Brad went to stand somewhere in the back of the paddock, watching Max perform on the screen, smiling when he saw him improve with each lap, really at the top of his game. Keeping an eye on the rivals, he did notice that Charles seemed to be underperforming a bit, and a small bit of worry came to the forefront of his mind.
Trying to not let it bother him too much, he focused back on Max, smiling with each lap he took, and happy when the time was over and he came out of the car, all sweaty.
"Here, drink this, and then it's time for your nap," Brad said, handing him a water bottle with Red bull logo, interrupting Max's conversation with GP, who raised an eyebrow.
"I was still busy," Max said, drying his face with a towel, pointing at his race engineer. Brad looked at the man, who shrugged.
"I think we got everything discussed," GP said, smiling at Max, "you go take a nap Max, get yourself ready for the next free practice,"
"I don't know if we have enough time," Max tried, even when Brad had already taken his hand and was guiding him to the extra room Red Bull had foreseen. Opening the door and turning on the light, the first thing that Max noticed was the crib standing ready.
"Of course, there is enough time," Brad said, ruffling through a bag that was already standing there. A diaper and a set of sleeping clothes was fished out, and even though Max was frowning, he did succumb to the diapering and changing of clothes.
Brad noticed that Max's driver clothes seemed relatively dry still, just sticky from the sweat, but probably not peed in. That meant that the diaper was probably going to be needed indeed during the nap.
He put them to the side and continued to change Max completely, until he was standing in the footed sleeper, shifting awkwardly.
"Brad?" Max asked hesitantly, feeling weird to be standing in his sleeping clothes at the paddock in the middle of the day.
"Mmh?" Brad asked, again busy with searching something in the bag.
"Doesn't Lando take a nap?" Max asked in a small voice, not feeling very comfortable and hoping that the other little could join him.
"Not in between free practices," Brad said, looking up at Max, "don't you worry, I'll be near as well, okay. I'll wake you up in time for the next free practice,"
"Or I can just not take a nap," Max offered, but Brad shook his head.
"No, I think it's best that you do," Brad said, "I can already see you grow tired, and I don't want your performance to suffer,"
"Alright then," Max said, looking at the crib and then at Brad again, "I just crawl in there?"
"I got you your bottle," Brad said, holding up the item he had just gotten out of the bag. Max flushed when he saw it.
"I'm big," he immediately said, and Brad smiled at him approaching.
"I know you are, but it's filled with nutrients, and it'll help hydrate you again," he said, taking Max's wrist and pulling him closer to the small couch, until he was seated, "and you 'll calm down enough to fall asleep,"
"When you say it like that, it seems like a good idea," Max muttered, and let Brad tug him until he was seated on the caregiver's lap. It did feel a bit more embarrassing now that he was big, but Brad supported his back probably and Max couldn't resist snuggling closer to the other man, already letting out a yawn before he took the nipple of the bottle in between his lips.
Starting to suck it, he did feel himself start to calm down, and his eyes were soon falling closed. He startled for a second when he felt himself pee, but Brad made a small soothing noise and Max felt himself nod off again, just leaving a bottom of milk in the bottle when he had fallen asleep completely.
Brad smiled, and carefully put him in the crib, tucking the blankies around him, and quickly grabbing a paci out of his bag, he held it up to Max's mouth and a moment later he was able to slip it in.
"See you soon, Maxie," Brad whispered to the room, putting a baby monitor nearby before leaving the room to let Max sleep on his own.
He entered the garage again, sitting to the side so he could see the screen again, curious about the commentators and also about Charles his lap. A quick view of him revealed at the man looked tired, and a small twitch to his hand made Brad feel bad for some reason.
"Max asleep?" Christian asked from behind him, making Brad jump when he was taken by surprise.
"Max?" he asked, and Christian looked at him in amusement.
"Yes, you know him. Max Verstappen, Red bull race driver," Christian said with a laugh.
"He's asleep, yes," Brad said, flushing a little, "he should be awake in time for the next practice,"
"That's good," Christian said, "I saw the interview from yesterday,"
"Ah," Brad said, shifting a little uncomfortably, knowing that Max wasn't supposed to speak with journalists when he was in headspace, not yet at least, "it's because his nap was interrupted,"
"Don't worry about it. It was good PR," Christian said, "apparently a lot of people like seeing the other side of Max Verstappen,"
"Other side?" Brad asked, "Max has always been like that, it's just less filtered when he's in headspace,"
"I know that, and you know that, but to the outside world he seemed a bit different," Christian said, smiling, "being in headspace is good for him too,"
"Yeah, he's already looking a little better, even after only a couple of days," Brad said, smiling fondly.
"Yeah, he is. And he got some very good lap times as well, better than expected," Christian said, looking like the cat who has gotten the cream.