Charles watched Brad lumber off, the man yawning when he walked in the bedroom. The door was kept ajar, and Charles flushed a little when he saw Brad take his shirt off through the crack, revealing a sculped back.
Quickly, he turned his head, and aimed his attention to the two littles, who seemed to be playing nicely, even though they bot seemed to look exhausted as well. Secretly, Charles suspected that they both would benefit from a nap, but he could already guess what that suggestion would give.
Max was playing one handedly with a car, the other hand holding tight on bunny's ear, chewing it and wetting the fabric, while Lando was sitting on hands and knees, looking through Max's toys while the diaper bulge stood out.
"Maxie, you should use a paci," Charles said, making the little look at him.
"Paci?" Maxie asked, feeling very small all of the sudden.
"Yeah, this thing," Charles said, going to Brad's bag and glad that he managed to fish one out pretty quickly.
"Oh, look, our colours match," Lando said enthusiastically, showing his own off, both of the orange, even though the shade was slightly different.
"Oranje," Maxie said, and Charles frowned at the weird pronunciation, not realising that Max had slipped into Dutch for a moment.
"Yeah," Lando said, not caring for it, "come, let's play with your blocks,"
"No," Maxie said, pointing at another toy, and excitedly bouncing, and looking surprised when he fell over.
"You want this thing?" Lando asked, frowning at the rattler he was holding up. Max made a small noise, and with a big smile reached out, managing to lay down on the floor.
Hesitantly Lando gave it to Max, who turned a little sidewards and shook it hard, giggling at the noise.
"Clickity clack," Maxie said, his pronunciation thick. A moment later the paci was spit out and the rattler ended in his mouth.
"Oh, I think he's a little baby now," Lando said, looking at Maxie, who was happily mouthing the rattler, then took it out of his mouth and shook it, wanting it to make noise. Lando pulled a face when some of the spit ended up on him.
"Shh, Maxie, Brad is trying to sleep," Charles said, making the little stop and look startled. He craned his head, looking at the door.
"Braddy sleepy?" Maxie asked, and Charles nodded.
"Yes, he is, so we must be silent," he explained, even when the little turned to his tummy and looked at the door with a frown.
"Miss Braddy," Maxie said, and before Charles could answer, Lando was already talking.
"He's not far, so that's okay," Lando said, "sometimes caregivers need naps more than littles,"
"Oh," Maxie said, looking in surprise at Lando, not ever really having thought about it, "Braddy nap time,"
Charles smiled at the little, who seemed to be reassured now. He took the paci and held it up to Max's mouth, who took it in, and discarded the rattler in favour of crawling closer to Lando and seeing what he was doing.
The two of them started to clumsily build a tower, and Charles sat back watching them. A yawn escaped him, and he had to admit that he was more tired than he let up. Looking at the littles play, he felt his eyes start to close on their own volition.
The next moment, a loud crash sounded, and the two littles started to cry when their tower had collapsed. Panicking Charles jumped out of the couch and quickly tried to hush them.
"Shh, it's okay," he said, his voice slightly slurred from the sudden wake-up, "shh, don't wake up Brad,"
"Sorry," Maxie said, clamping his hands in front of his mouth and silently cry in them, making Charles feel bad for saying it. Lando sat, sniffling, and wiping his eyes.
"Was a big tower," Lando said, "and it hit my foot,"
"Oh, did it now?" Charles asked, unsure how to handle Maxie for the moment, "how about you let me see the foot?"
"Okay," Lando said, sitting down and taking off his sock, while Max stayed seated, tears falling from his eyes and his hands pressed tightly against his mouth. Charles took the foot on his lap, seeing the small red spot where a block must have hit it.
"Maxie, can you come and look as well? In case I miss something?" Charles asked, feeling uncomfortable with letting Max stay like that. The little nodded, and crawled to his side, before sitting up and clamping his hand for his mouth again.
"Maxie, why are you being weird?" Lando asked, a frown on his face. The other little just shook his head, glancing at the door of the bedroom.
"Oh, are you scared to wake up Brad?" Charles asked, and Maxie nodded, new tears starting to leak from his eyes.
"Sorry," the little said, the word muffled behind his hands.
"No, it's nothing to be sorry about," Charles said, "but you can talk, it's fine. I was overreacting,"
"Maxie be very quiet," Maxie said, hesitantly putting his hands in his lap, and looking at Lando's foot, "owie there,"
"Yes, I see. What can we do about it?" Charles asked, looking at the two littles, who looked back at him with wide eyes.
"Kissy?" Maxie asked, but Lando pulled a face.
"On my foot? Gross," he said, "you're not going to do that, right?"
"No, I'm not going to kiss your feet," Charles said, laughing a little, "does it still hurt a lot?"
"No, not really," Lando said, and Charles softly stroked the red area and moved the foot to be sure nothing was really hurt, but the blocks weren't that heavy and shouldn't really do any damage.
"Then I think we can just put the sock back on," Charles said, suppressing a yawn, "do you want to play some more?"
"No," Maxie said, before Lando could even think about the question, and Charles wondered how much in that answer was not wanting to wake up Brad.
"So, what do you want to do now?" Charles asked, not really knowing how he was going to keep the two of them busy if they didn't want to play.
"I'm hungry," Lando said, looking at Charles, "didn't really eat breakfast,"
"What? You didn't?" Charles asked, looking a bit shocked at Lando, "well, then we can prepare something. Let's see if there is anything in the fridge,"
They moved to the small dining area, and Charles was glad that they always got apartment like rooms, so they could cook something if needed. Opening the fridge, he saw some clearly labelled meals which Brad had prepared for Max's diet.
"You hungry too, Maxie?" Charles asked, already grabbing a container, and seeing the little nod, grabbing a second one as well.
In hindsight, he shouldn't really have given them the containers to eat themselves, but by the time he realised he should have given them a bib and, in Max's case, helped him eat, the damage was done.
The faces were sticky will the food, and their clothes were stained in a way Charles hadn't thought was possible from the food they had eaten. Somehow, there was even a smear of mushed advocado in Max's hair, the green standing out.
"Bath," Charles ordered, looking a little grumpy. He was too tired to deal with this, but at the same time, Brad did need the sleep, but it brought him to an idea, "and then naptime. Both are you are small enough to nap and had a bad night,"
"But first bath," Lando said with a grin, already off to the bathroom, leaving Charles to take Max's hand, the little just a bit unsteady on his feet. Slowly they walked to the bathroom, while Lando impatiently stuck his head out.
"Here, I help," Lando said, taking Maxie's other hand and guiding him to the bathroom.
"Can you undress yourself, Lando?" Charles asked while he opened the water already, knowing that Maxie would need the help but not so sure of Lando, who seemed to be just that little bit older.
"I thinks so," Lando said, already pushing his pants down, and Charles did notice that the diaper had been slightly wetted, but not enough to suggest that Lando had lost total control.
Concentrating on Maxie for the moment, he took of the shirt, and smiled at Maxie.
"See, that's half the dirt gone already," Charles said, making Maxie giggle.
"Was icky," Maxie said, and Charles nodded, looking over to Lando to see the little stuck in his own shirt.
"Here Lando, I'll help," Charles said, tugging the shirt off and leaving him in only the diaper, which the little managed to push down, "can you try and go potty before we go in the bath,"
"Oh, right," Lando said, his eyes widening when he went to sit on the toilet, straining a little. Charles turned around to give him a little privacy and took Max's pants off, revealing a much wetter diaper than Lando's.
Undoing the tabs, he heard the sound of Lando peeing in the background, and he was glad the little managed to go.
"Can I try to?" Maxie asked, looking curiously over Charles' shoulder at Lando, who was just dabbing a bit of toilet paper to make sure he wouldn't leak the last drop.
"Uhm, yeah sure," Charles said, knowing that Max was actually completely incontinent, but if the little showed some curiosity towards it, there was no harm trying.
Maxie went to sit on the toilet and looked unsure about what needed to happen now.
"You have to push a little," Lando said, mimicking pulling in his stomach and pressing his bladder with his hand.
Max tried as well, making a big groaning noise and when three drops fell out, he looked surprised and proud.
"Maxie went potty too," the little said with a big smile, and Lando grinned back while Charles patted his head.
"That's good, Maxie. Now just take a bit of toilet paper and do like Lando did," Charles instructed, seeing Max carefully mimic the actions he had seen.
Soon, the two littles were in the bath, sitting opposite each other. It was a bit of a tight fit, but this way they could play a little in the water and Charles was glad when he had found some bubbles in Brad's toiletries.
Lando was making a beard on himself, pretending to be super old while Max was laughing at him. Charles sneakily put a whole mountain of bubbles on Max's head, and whenever the little looked at him, he pretended to not have done a thing.
Lando soon got what he was doing, and grinned, but kept quiet. Of course, it didn't take long before it started to droop down, making Max notice it.
"Hey," he whined, wiping it off his head, and trying to get in Charles, sloshing the water high.
"Oh no, not on me," Charles said back with a laugh, trying to avoid Maxie, but Lando was grinning and had a handful of foam as well.
It ended up with Charles wet as well, and in the end, he discarded his clothes as well, making the three of them, just dressed in towels, sneak into the bedroom.
A finger to his mouth signalled them to keep quiet while he searched for some clothes for all three of them and some diapers for the littles.
"Let's get dressed in the living room," he whispered to them, and they soon moved there, giggling slightly at the way they were being sneaky.
"You can start with Maxie, he's the smallest," Lando said, always glad to point out that he wasn't the littlest.
"That's nice of you," Charles said, "come on Maxie, on the couch, first the diaper and then the sleeper,"
"Okay," Maxie said, and let Charles get him in the diaper. By now, he was a lot better at getting it on, even without Brad checking if he did a good job.
Soon, Max was seated on the floor in a sleeper, while Lando was getting a diaper on and Max's pyjama's, and Charles just had stolen some shorts and a shirt for himself. His hips were a bit slimmer than Max's though, and they were on the verge of sliding down, but just managed to cling on.
"You want a bottle?" Charles asked, and Maxie nodded, and Lando shook his head in distaste, "how about a sippy cup with some warm milk,"
"Yes, that sounds great," Lando said with a grin, and Charles went to the kitchen to prepare the two drinks.
It felt nice to calmly sit with Max on his lap, leaning against him while he slowly drank the milk. By now, Lando was sleepily leaning against them as well, the sippy cup in his mouth and by sheer will keeping his eyes open.
"Come, silently to the room and in the crib with you two," Charles said, shaking the two of them awake a little more. Soon they were tucked in the crib, each their paci and snuggling with Max's three stuffies, but bunny was firmly held in Max's arms.
Charles yawned at the sight, and then looked over the bed where Brad was sleeping. It was a master sized bed, and he did feel tired. Closing the door completely, he went to lie besides the personal trainer, hoping that he wouldn't mind sharing the bed.
In less than five minutes time, Charles was as asleep as Max and Lando were, exhaustion making it easy to fall asleep.