Brad had been sleeping deeply when he suddenly startled awake. It took him a moment to realise it was just the door to their hospital room opening and a moment after his realisation, the dimmed lights were put on. Not really alert yet, he turned over to see a nurse entering the room.
"Need to come and check if Mr. Verstappen is still coherent," the woman said apologetically when she noticed that he was awake. Brad nodded, rubbing his hand over his face to try and wake up a little more.
He tried to move, but Maxie was still lying curled up against Brad's chest, his bunny held loosely in his arms and the paci barely moving in the mouth.
A glance towards the other bed showed that Charles was still asleep as well, and Brad felt a wave of affection overcome him when he saw the softly rising chest of Ferrari driver. They had talked for a few minutes after Max had fallen asleep and he had crawled in the crib with him.
Even though the caregiver had almost no experiences with littles, the man had been very gentle with Max, and it had quickly became clear that Charles had no idea how to properly hold a little while he fed them a bottle.
Brad was glad he hadn't been angry at the help offered, and just had let him guide Charles his arms to hold Max securely.
Their conversation had been rather brief, seeing that they all were exhausted after a long race and the events afterwards, and they soon had fallen asleep, Charles turning off the light seeing that Brad was in the crib and Max had plastered himself to his side.
Now, he was looking at the nurse lowering the bar, and gently shaking Max, who moaned and tried to snuggle closer to Brad.
"He's still in headspace," Brad said apologetically.
"That's to be expected," the nurse said, looking almost amused at the caregiver lying with Maxie in the crib, "can you turn him over a little, I just need to check his pupil dilation,"
Brad nodded, turning Maxie on his back, which made the little wriggle a little, but it was only when the nurse lifted an eyelid and shone light in there that he truly woke up.
It had taken Charles a little while to fall asleep, even though he was dead tired. At least he felt a bit better, his body getting its necessary dose of hormones after finally letting himself take care of a little.
The feeling of Max lying in his arms had been special, and even though he was insecure, and slightly distracted by Brad sitting so close to him, the moment that Max had drunk from the bottle, his stomach had squeezed and he had almost felt tears prick in his eyes.
And when they had all settled in bed, and he had turned off the lights, he couldn't help but stare at the crib, just visible in all the light that still filtered through. Taking care of Max had been lovely, and even now, he felt a warm feeling overcome him when he saw the little asleep.
And then there was Brad.
It was difficult for Charles to admit, even to himself, what exactly he had felt when Brad touched him so tenderly, even if it was just to help Max out.
The big man was funny and gentle, and Charles actually barely knew him. So why did his heart beat just that little quicker when he saw Brad smile at him, or hold him.
The fact that he knew that Brad was bi wasn't helping the thoughts that ran into his head and it took a while before they all calmed down and he managed to settle in a fitful rest.
Only to have it interrupted just a half an hour later.
He must have jumped up quite high when the sudden wail filled the room. Even now, he barely managed to stay on the bed while he tried to locate the source of it, only to see someone bending over Max.
Without thinking, Charles surged forward from the bed.
"Stop hurting Maxie," he slurred out, his voice a bit harsh from sleep and his movements not very coordinated. The nurse looked startled when he pushed her a little out of the way and went to stand in between her and a sobbing Maxie, who wanted nothing else but to sleep.
Charles startled when he felt a hand touch his wrist, and he looked back to see Brad look up at him, already having gathered Maxie in his arms.
"Charles, it's okay," Brad said, "she's just making sure that Max is alright,"
"Oh," Charles said, looking at the woman hesitantly standing a little further. His cheeks flushed, "I'm sorry. I thought you were hurting him,"
"No harm done," the woman said, approaching cautiously, while Charles stepped away. He did keep on hovering around while she checked the rest of a crying Maxie's parameters, the little struggling against her the whole time.
"Nooo," Maxie wailed when he felt the touch on him, still trying to keep on curling into Brad. A sob sounded again, and the paci fell from Max's mouth.
"Just a few moments," the nurse said, before standing up and taking some notes on the tablet she had with her, "well, everything seems to be in order. I'll return in three hours time to check his parameters again,"
"Thank you," Brad said, picking up the paci and pressing it in Max's mouth the little struggling hard against it, not realising what exactly it was.
As soon as he managed to calm down enough to feel the paci in his mouth, he sucked it wildly and nearly immediately fell into a slumber again.
"Are you okay?" Brad asked Charles, who kept on standing next to the crib, looking a little lost.
"What? Oh, yeah I am," Charles asked, feeling a little embarrassed about all that had just happened, "guess I'm a little high-strung,"
"That's normal," Brad said, "do you want to talk?"
"Uhm, sure," Charles said, and Brad patted the edge of the crib. Charles went to sit there, and then moved a little, so he was lying on Max's other side.
Brad moved forward, and Charles felt the big arm graze him while the man pulled the side of the crib a little higher.
"Just making sure no one falls out. The space is a little cramped," Brad said, making Charles nod, "are you feeling a little better already?"
"Yeah, I am," Charles answered with a yawn, not having slept much, "I didn't expect it to get better so quickly,"
"It does get better quickly, as long as you stay close to littles," Brad said, feeling Max turn around on his back, forcing both Charles and Brad closer to the edges of the crib to accommodate him, but both caregivers didn't mind, even though they were pressed hard against the bar.
"And if I don't stay?" Charles asked, wondering about the consequences.
"Mmh, hard to say," Brad said, "I heard that it'll be okay for a little while, but it quickly will get worse again. It's the same with littles, you know, if they don't regress near caregivers they will start to feel bad physically and mentally until they crash,"
"Oh," Charles said, even though he kind of knew that it could happen. He just never thought it would happen to him.
"Don't worry. I'm sure Maxie won't mind you near us, and seeing that he needs to stay in headspace a lot, it's a good combination," Brad said, trying to assure Charles.
"You sure about that?" Charles asked, "you guys seem to have figured it out perfectly with just the two of you. I don't want to interfere with that,"
"We'll just figure it out again," Brad said, a yawn escaping him, "so, tell me a little about you Charles, as a caregiver between bases, you must have noticed being a little different,"
Charles nodded, and started to talk about how he was always a little more concerned about other people, a little more caring. He started to talk about his career move to Ferrari and how happy it made him even if it wasn't 100% what he had thought it would be.
It was easy to talk to Brad, and the way the man listened to him and asked more questions made him want to talk more, even when words stopped coming out of his mouth when he started to doze off.
The nurse came in one more time, and Charles tried to not feel embarrassed about lying in the bed with another man, using Max and his deprivation as an excuse even though he had liked to be there with Brad.
Maxie cried out again, and nearly bit the poor woman in a bid to be left alone. It was only Brad sacrificing his hand that saved her.
"Here, let me see," Charles said when they were on their own again, seeing the indentures in the hand and wincing, "Max really doesn't do anything half-assed,"
"No, he doesn't," Brad said with a wince, when Charles massaged the marks, trying to ease them out again. Brad closed his hand around Charles' and tugged Charles back in the crib with them, "we're both tired, and need our sleep. No blood and nothing is broken, so it'll be fine,"
"If you say so," Charles said, settling against Max's back again. They exchanged a few more words, but soon they were falling asleep, by now dead tired.
And when Maxie turned again and laid his head on Charles his shoulder, the caregiver woke a little for a moment, smiling at the little against him before he fell asleep, making sure to hug Maxie closely.
Maxie tried to turn over, but there was a leg over his own, and an arm around his waist. Wiggling a little, he opened his eyes and frowned when he was looking at Brad's back, wondering how the man achieved lying like that and still hug Maxie.
A moment later, Maxie quickly turned around, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Charles.
For a moment he had been afraid it was someone else.
He yawned, and slowly sucked his paci a few times before he decided that he didn't want to stay where he was lying now. Wiggling out of Charles lock hold proofed to be challenging, but Maxie succeeded.
Now though, he was just standing at the foot end of the crib with bunny in his arms, trying to not stand on any legs. Frowning, he realised that the bars were rather high and he could try climbing over them, but he was little enough to not feel agile enough to try.
Charles grumbled, and Max looked down at the man, who was moving a little until he was lying spooned against Brad, his leg quickly thrown over the bigger man's.
But Maxie was distracted again, wanting to get out of the crib because he was getting bored.
"Oh no, Charlie!" Max cried out suddenly when he spotted the bed in front of him. Both caregivers startled awake, and after a moment Charles moved back quickly, hitting the bars hard with his back.
"Maxie? What's wrong?" Brad asked, even while Charles was looking at him wide-eyed and in shock, but Brad was too sleep addled from lack of sleep and the much too early wake-up call now to ask what it was about, even though the lingering heat from the other body against his back did betray a possible explanation for Charles his look.
"Charlie, forgot Bit and Lion. Oh no, no, they'll be all lonely," Maxie shouted out, looking as if he were to cry any moment.