#de aged daniel

“He came to me, so I am of course taking care of him.” Max said defensively.

“If he’s little for so long, he should be with his mum, I think.” Vic pointed out, not unkindly.

“He came to me Vic. I can’t just ship him off– he’s expecting me to take care of him. And Grace, she is of course okay with it.”

“Yeah but… why did he come to you? Weren’t you guys broken up for so long?” she asked, it was a reasonable question and Max hated it. He hadn’t thought about the whys, not since the first week.

“What does it matter?” Max was not pouting. The look Vic gave him suggested otherwise.

“Well, for one– you forgot about this weekend. You never forget when we’re coming.”

“I had gotten sick last week and–” Max explained, he normally wouldn’t forget. Loved it when his family came to visit, but his mind had been elsewhere this week.

“When was the last time you spoke to Blue Jaye?” Vic narrowed her eyes.

“I called her for her birthday!” Max sputtered.

“That was months ago Max.”

Max didn’t like how Vic was making it seem like he was ignoring everyone. He hadn’t been.

“I’ll call her today.”

“That’s not the point, maybe.”

Max sighed into a groan and dropped his head into his palms. Mom Vic was super annoying sometimes.

Victoria took pity on him and hugged Max close, she loved her brother dearly and worried about him a lot. Especially since he and Daniel had broken up.

Max hadn’t been very open about what happened, just that it hadn’t worked out between them. Which Victoria had found odd, considering how annoying those two had been when it came to each other.

“Do you think that maybe Daniel would switch back if his soul was with his family?” she asked softly. Max made a sound of frustration.

“He came to me Vic. Of course I’m not going to ship him off to someone else because it’s hard– different. Grace says its fine, Daniel is happy.”

“This is really important to you.”

Max pressed his tongue behind his teeth. Why couldn’t Vic be happy about this for him. Couldn’t she see this was a good thing? This was his chance, his opportunity to do better than he did before.

“Daniel needs me Vic.”

She watched him for a long time and Max wondered what she saw, if she could see the horrible thing he had done.

“What really happened between you, Max?” she asked softly, as if to not spook him.

Max took a deep breath, listening out for Little Daniel’s laugh to make sure he was still ok, still having a good time.

“I didn’t see.” Max hesitated, Vic rubbed his shoulder. “I didn’t see how bad things had gotten. I didn’t pay attention. He was drowning and I didn’t see it. Of course, I was with him at home and on the plane. But I was too caught up with the title fight. He wasn’t saying anything y’know? So I of course thought everything was ok. That he was ok.”

Max took another deep breath, he’d been so stupid. So distracted.

“Then the news about his contract came out. I hadn’t known– he never told me. Of course, I don’t know how long he’d known before it came out. Too long, I think. But he never told me. And I never asked. We got into an argument– I don’t even remember what triggered it. But I got frustrated– I was angry at myself, of course. I was upset that I hadn’t known, upset that he hadn’t told me. Upset that I hadn’t noticed how sad he was always. Upset that I clearly was being a shit boyfriend. I told him- I told him that we should just break up. And he looked at me like I’d blamed Baku on him all over again and then’d just went ‘okay’.”

“Just okay?” Vic asked.

“He said of course, ‘if that’s what you want Max’. Of course it wasn’t what I wanted, but it was the only thing that made sense, I think. I had wanted him to push back, to fight me on it. And then he left.”

“Do you think you’re obsessing over taking care of him now to make up f–”

“I’m not obsessing. He, of course, came here– to me. I will take care of him until he is ready.”

“You’re not helping him by shirking your other responsibilities to everyone else in your life, y’know.” she said it plainly and Max wished she’d yelled at him instead. “You’re making the same mistake again, just over correcting in the other direction. You can’t do everything on your own and you can’t use this to go back in time and fix things. Back then you were focused on only driving and you missed Daniel. Now you’re focused on only Daniel and you’re missing everyone else.”

Max sighed, Vic was right. But he needed her to understand that he would do everything to make sure that Daniel knew how important he was.

“Maxshy all good?” Came a small voice to their left. They both looked over to see Little Daniel watching them with his fingers between his teeth in anxiety. Max gave Vic a last look to end the conversation before smiling over at Little Daniel and scooping him up into his arms.

“All good Daniel. Thank you for checking.” Max could still hear Older Daniel’s voice in his head at the familiar check in question.

“Is not hot.” Little Daniel mumbled to himself. “Maxshy?” He called again, Max made a small groaning sound.

“Maxshy ouchie?” Little Daniel laid on his belly and rested his head on Maxshy’s chest, he could hear his heartbeat. A hand came to rest on Little Daniel’s head.

“Sorry Buddy, did I over slee–” Maxsh sneezed and it made Little Daniel jump.

“Maxshy sick?” Little Daniel clambered to touch Max’s cheek before climbing over Maxsh to grab his phone from the charger.

“Daniel?”

“Maxshy sick, call Mummy.”

“I’m not sick.”Max refuted but Little Daniel ignored him. Maxshy was sick! Mummy Wummy would know what to do! 

He stuck his little tongue out of the side of his mouth while he worked the phone. It was still new to him, Maxshy wouldn’t let him use it much. He found his Mummy’s picture and dialed it, waiting for her face to fill the screen.

“Hello Max, how– hey baby!” 

“Hi Mummy! Maxshy sick– see!” Little Daniel pointed the phone at Max who grumbled.

“Hi Max, are you ok dear?” Mummy asked with a smile.

“I’m–” Maxsh sneezed again and Mummy made that sound she did when she would hug him close and make him feel better. 

Little Daniel sat on his heels rocking and humming while the adult spoke, jumping in surprise every time Maxsh sneezed or coughed. Then he heard someone calling his name.

“Daniel, I’m going to call Charles to come over.”

“Shaaarrrllll.” Little Daniel bounced in his spot.

“Hello mate.” Sharl’s voice came from the phone.

“Shaaarrrllll Maxshy sick!” Little Daniel called out before Maxsh could.

“Oh no! Shall I come with some soup?” 

“Yes please! And and dino nuggets pweese!” 

Maxsh put down the phone and Little Daniel laid down beside him, petting Maxsh’s hair. He wanted him to feel good until Sharl came.

“Thank you Daniel.” Maxsh said with a smile and Little Daniel grinned at him happily.

“Maxshy I take care of you!” Little Daniel announced, “I read to you!” He scrambled off the bed to grab a book and his Maxsh pillow and settled back on the bed, herding the cats to rest on Maxsh.

Little Daniel read his book to Maxshy, trying to make the different voices like his Daddy does. Maxsh seemed to think he was doing ok. He continued until he heard a noise in the living room. He scrambled off of the bed and peeked down the hall to see Charles.

“Shaarrlll!” Little Daniel cried. He ran down the hallway. Sharl was here! He would make sure Maxshy got better.

“Hello Daniel.” Sharl smiled and ruffled Little Daniel’s hair. “Let’s take care of Max ok?”

Max looked around his empty living room. It was messy still, with Little Daniel's toys scattered about. Messy, but loved in. Lived in.

He didn't even want to clean up.

Little Daniel wasn't here. Blake had come to get him after Max had called, Vic's words ringing in his ear like an annoying alarm.

Little Daniel had cried when he had realized that Max wouldn't be leaving with them. He'd cried out for Max, looking over Blake's shoulder as they left the flat. Max felt each sob like spear to his heart. Sharp and quick like when the car was porpoising through the uneven surface at COTA.

It would be fine. Daniel would be fine, Max told himself. Grace was on her way and they all thought it best she stay with Little Daniel in his own flat. Max thought he saw the disappointment in her face when he had asked her to come. She had been confused, but he'd explained the conversation with Vic and Grace had simply agreed. Saying 'okay' as easily as her son had.

Max wondered if that was another moment to fight that he'd missed. Was this another grand over correction?

It didn't matter. It was already done. Little Daniel would be with his mother, where he should have been this whole time, and he would Exchange back in no time. Max would be here… picking up the pieces once more.

He bent to grab a toy car from the floor. Turning the painted plastic around in his fingers. Max felt his face heat and his chest hurt.

“What's wrong?”

“Das a big spider.” Little Daniel whispered and Max looked behind him again, trying to switch between looking at the road and finding this spider. He knew Daniel was afraid of them, and assumed Little Daniel would be terrified. He wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of them either, but he would fight his own fear to ensure Little Daniel’s safety.

“Where is it?” Max looked around again before locating the arachnid walking along the moonroof. It wasn't very big, tiny in comparison to the spiders on Daniel's farm in Australia. And it looked to be on the outside of the glass at least. “Oh that is a big spider friend.” 

“He's holdin’ on!” Little Daniel pointed up to where the spider was clearly bothered by the speed of Max's driving.

“Are you afraid of it Daniel?” Max kept glancing in the rearview mirror, attempting to anticipate a potential freak out.

“He's outside can't hurt. Mummy says it's fine if they're outside!” Little Daniel recited happily, shaking his head.

Max nodded to himself, already thinking of the best plan of action when they got home and needed to actually exit the car. He could manage a squirmy body. At least, Little Daniel liked to cling so he could maybe have a hand free to grab their things.

Little Daniel started narrating the spider’s journey to keep clinging to the car, complete with action wind sounds. Max nodded along, asking question after question and by the time they got home the spider had an entire backstory as a movie star practising his stunts that go ‘booooom’ and ‘wooooossshhhhh’

Max parked and took a moment to steel himself. The spider was still on the ceiling, clinging on it seemed, by its own web. Max felt bad about wishing it would have blown off a few turns ago.

“Alright Daniel, we’re home. Do you think you’ll be ok with the spider being outside while we’re outside?” Max turned in his seat to look at the bright honey eyes of his passenger. Little Daniel’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t thought that far. He looked back up at the ceiling to see the spider walking around in a small circle.

Little Daniel looked back at Max with a determined clench to his little jaw. Max helplessly thought of his older self, having that same focused look– the hard set to his strong jaw– while he went over data or agreed to his rehab plan.

“Yesh, we will be fine Maxshy. Jeff won’t hurt us.” Little Daniel said confidently. Max blinked, when did he even have time to name the spider?

“He won’t? Well If you’re sure.” Max waited for Little Daniel to nod once more before he exited the car and walked around to Daniel’s door. He quickly unclipped him from his car seat and lifted him from the car. “Do you want a piggyback ride while I get our bags? You can wave bye to Jeff.” He asked.

Little Daniel grinned before clambering onto Max’s broad back and clutching his small arms around Max’s neck. He always loved a piggyback ride. Max closed the door and opened the trunk, ducking in to collect the totes that held their purchases and pressed the button for the hatch to close on its own. All the while, he kept an eye on the spider still on the roof.

“You ready? Say bye bye to Jeff. The next time we go for a drive, he’ll probably be gone to film his movie.”

Max felt when Little Daniel’s mouth opened in excitement at the thought, he heaved himself up a little higher and started waving on arm excitedly. Max tilted forward to keep him steady, along with a hand on his bottom.

Because Daniel always ran warm, especially since he liked to bundle himself as a burrito in his sheets. But the face pressed into his skin was still small, delicate. It was still Little Daniel.

Max smiled fondly and reached a hand to stroke through wild curls. He frowned however, when he found them to be flattened, soaked with sweat. Max bolted awake, taking in the flush on Little Daniel’s skin and how uncomfortable he looked even while asleep. He pressed his palm to Little Daniel’s forehead and recoiled when his skin felt almost searing. Little Daniel whimpered a little.

Max realized instantly that he was running a fever and he felt the fright bubble up within him. 

Grabbing his phone, he did the first thing that came to his mind, call Grace.

She picked up after 3 rings, Max didn’t know what time it was in Perth. To be honest, he didn’t know what time it was right now in Monaco. But he knew that Grace had his number saved as important, so she would always answer his call. Especially now.

Her fond, soft smile melted into worry when she saw his scared face.

“Max what’s wrong?” She asked immediately.

“Daniel has a fever, I think.” Max rushed out, immediately turning his camera to show the miserable ball of child on the bed. Grace cooed.

“Have you taken his temperature? How high is it?” She asked and Max scratched his head sheepishly, he honestly hadn’t thought of that.

“My first thought was to call you, to be honest.”

“You made the right decision Max.” Grace smiled softly at the phone, even though the camera was still pointed towards Little Daniel. Max could see her in the little screen. “Now, do you have a thermometer? They normally put one in those first aid kits you buy in the grocery store.”

Max got to work, following her instruction on how to take Little Daniel’s temperature and what the numbers meant. He was running a fever, but it wasn’t high. Not enough to warrant a hospital visit. Max never felt more relieved.

With Grace’s help, got Little Daniel in more comfortable clothing, and helped him drink some juice while he waited for his rush grocery delivery order to arrive. He might have ordered all of the children’s electrolyte drinks the store had in stock, but that was no one's business.

“Maxshy, I’m tired.” Little Daniel mumbled. He’d been miserable all day but Max counted it as a win that he was alert and seeking comfort. He’d spent some time talking to Grace, letting her know that he didn’t feel nice. Max’s heart clenched the whole time.

Grace let them go when Little Daniel promised to try and take a nap. He had put the phone down and immediately climbed his little body onto the couch and sprawled himself over Max who was definitely not proud of the cooing noise he’d involuntarily let out. 

“I know Bub, do you want to watch a race and then take a nap?” Max pressed some hair back from Little Daniel’s forehead and watched as the curls sprung back into place. Little Daniel shook his head and Max raised a brow in surprised confusion. Little Daniel was always asking to watch races, he never declined an opportunity.

“Want to watch da show. Maxshy Show.” Little Daniel clarified and Max’s heart clenched. Recently Max had shown Little Daniel one of the Dutch cartoons he’d grown up with and he’d watched it intently even though Max knew for a fact he didn’t know what they were saying. It was probably clear enough by their actions.

“Ok Bub, we can watch it. Do you want to watch any specific episode?” He reached for the tv remote. Little Daniel shook his head into Max’s chest and watched as Max found the show in question.

Testing had gone on without any hitches and Little Daniel had enjoyed his extended time in the paddock. He was one of the mechanic crew now, ‘helping’ them do a practice pitstop and everything. His grin had been so large when he’d helped Calum use the wheel gun and he’d bounced around giddy, for hours.

“Daniel, you should eat your apples before they turn brown.” Max prompted, brushing wild curls backwards.

“Yucky brown.” Little Daniel declared, reaching blindly for a slice and chewing loudly. “Yum Maxy!”

“You like it? Thank you for telling me.”

Little Daniel grinned at him before his attention was arrested by the TV again. Max watched his familiar profile, once again fondly noting how it was achingly the same as when he was grown up. Even the mole in his hairline was the same.

They watched TV together while Little Daniel ate his snack. The documentary was focused on farms and agriculture, Little Daniel had surprisingly been hooked.

“Maxy! Look at the-the sheeps!” Little Daniel pointed as the sheepdog herded the fluffy animals.

“They're sheep, not sheeps.” Max corrected gently, “look at them go!”

Little Daniel looked over at Max quizzically, Max could see the gears turning in his head.

“But it's prulal- plural!” he insisted and Max bit back his smile.

“Yeah, but sheep is plural. So we don't add the S at the end.”

Little Daniel nodded, accepting Max's answer and turned back to the screen. He ate two more apple slices before “Maxy look at the baby shoop! He's naked! They tooked all his wool!” Little Daniel pointed to the screen, watching to see if Max was looking.

“They did! But it's not cold anymore so they did it to make sure he doesn't get too hot. Then he'll be an overheated sheep.”

“He's one! No plural Maxshy. He's a shoop!” Little Daniel corrected, waving an apple slice.

Max smiled fondly. “No he's a sheep. Sheep is singular and plural. It's weird I know.” He chuckled at Little Daniel's disbelieving face. It was the same face older Daniel gave when he thought Max gave him dubious information and thought he was fucking with him.

It felt like a punch to the gut, the ache. With how painfully familiar it was.

“No Maxshy. Teeth is with tooth so sheep is with shoop.” Little Daniel nodded at his own logic.

“You are a smarty pants aren't you?” Max grinned, thinking of a way to explain it. It was reminiscent of a similar conversation they'd had previously on Daniel's farm. When Daniel had laughingly told him that it'd taken him forever to accept the explanation about why sheep was singular and plural.

Max drew from Daniel's own explanation to him. He pulled Little Daniel into his lap, smiling down at trusting honey eyes.

“English is really silly but it's ooolllddd–”

“Like Helmut?” Little Daniel chirped around some apple and Max snorted.

“Like Helmut. And because it's old it was really really simple. Farmers had their herds and they referred to the herd as one unit instead of multiple animals within the herd. So it's a herd of sheep rather than a bunch of individual sheep. Liiikkee a bouquet of flowers instead of a couple flowers.” Max floundered for more examples while Little Daniel watched him consideringly.

“Like Maxshy and Daniel?” He asked and Max wanted to melt into a puddle, maybe.

“Yeah like us.” Max's voice wobbled and Daniel grinned at him before turning back to the TV that was now showing a herd of what looked like antelope.

Max stared at the slope of Little Daniel's nose and his wide curious eyes. They were a unit, a ‘them’. Max and Daniel, Daniel and Max.

Charles looked up from his conversation with Pierre– eyes wide. He looked around before smiling to himself. “Over there. With Esteban.” He said pointing into a crowd.

“How do you know?” Max asked skeptically even as Esteban laughed down at something. A bright red balloon bobbed in his eyeline, Max sighed long-sufferingly. “Nevermind.” He muttered.

“It's a great idea!” Charles called at his back as he walked away. Max trudged through the small crowd of people, lips pulling in an involuntary smile as Daniel's shriek of happiness pierced the air.

He came upon the all crowd of media people and drivers, and in the middle was a grinning kid with a balloon clipped to his trousers. He was giggling and wiggling his little body while looking up to see if the balloon wiggled as well.

“Hello Daniel, who gave you a balloon?”

“Max!!” Little Daniel screeched and ran to hug Max's legs. “Look! A ballwoon!” Little Daniel wiggled himself and looked up at Max to see if he was watching, honey eyes large and happy.

“Look at it go!” Max praised, running his fingers through Little Daniel's hair. Little Daniel made a soft happy sound and leaned into Max's touch.

“Was it Charles’ idea?” Max asked Esteban.

“Shaaaarrrrlllll.” Little Daniel hummed.

Esteban quirked a brow at the stim, having never experienced it before. “Does Charles know he does that?”

“Shaaaarrrrlllll.” Came the squeaky voice again.

Max shrugged, “probably. But the balloon?”

“It's Naomi's birthday, he'd started following her– well the balloon and she gave it to him.” Estie explained. “It was my idea to clip it to him so he can't get lost– he had zoomies.”

“Did you go zooming today again Daniel? Did you go the fastest?” Max looked down as Little Daniel looked up with stars in his eyes.

“I went so fasht Maxy!” He promised earnestly.

“That's so good! Do you want to choose dinner tonight?”

“Can we get mummy gnocchi?” Little Daniel bit the side of his palm shyly, twisting his little body. Max froze, he knew the hotel would be able to figure out gnocchi but he needed to call Grace to find out what he'd need to do with it. Not a problem.

“Of course! And we can call mummy too.” Max offered and Little Daniel bounced in excitement. He raised his arms to be lifted and Max obliged easily, lifting Little Daniel and his balloon into his arms.

“Maxy we go home now?” Little Daniel asked, patting Max's cheek with a wet palm. Max nodded.

“Do you want to watch a race tonight or cartoons?” Max asked and Little Daniel thought for a second, holding his smooth chin.

“Race pweese! The one-the one that we was da fastest?” He asked as if Max didn't know which race he spoke about. As if their double podiums weren't Little Daniel's favourite races to watch.

“We'll watch that one.” Max promised and Little Daniel grinned happily. He twisted around to wave at Esteban who Max had completely forgotten about. Estie waved at Little Daniel with a grin and Max nodded his goodbye. They just needed to grab their bags and then they'd be on their way, their balloon trailing behind them.

“Look Maxy! Balloon!!” Little Daniel squealed, pointing upwards at their beacon. He was excited to see it flying in the sky and Max watched him happily and stroked a hand up and down Little Daniel's spine in a comforting cadence.