#de-aged maxiel

[on-softs]

Clothing of Delight

Just posted the first chapter of my de-aged Maxiel fic here!

Danny bends down to gently pry the kid's hands off his legs, trying to get control over his expression because he’s pretty sure he looks like a psycho right now and doesn’t want to freak him out. “Hey, sweetheart–” He gets a good look at the little boy’s very blue eyes. His pale, round face. “What the fuck,” Danny says. “What the fuck.” — For twenty-four hours, Daniel Ricciardo's husband is changed.

[onboardsorasora]

Wanted some soft boys today. Also totally misread an anon ask from months ago lmao, this isn't what our bestie asked for but hopefully this is ok as well. Also, I haven't reread this so hopefully it reads well and there's no mistakes

Part 1 | Part 18

Max woke slowly, overwarm with hot breath puffing onto the crook of his neck. For a microsecond, in what felt like the time between all five red lights going out and the green lights illuminating, Max thought Adult Daniel had returned.

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.

They watched two episodes before Max felt Little Daniel go completely lax against him. His soft snores a welcome sound. Max slouched further onto the couch, careful not to jostle his precious cargo and let the background sounds of his childhood lull him to sleep as well.

[danthropologie]

Daniel stays on checos side because have we not seen what happens when he’s around max? Of course he’s relegated to the farthest point in the garage hahah

yeah if they let him on max's side of the garage, they'd probably just start humping each other and then they lose track of time, max misses quali, it's a whole thing

[fahatesyou]

De-aged!Max, short drabble. Non Explicit. (Maxiel)

The kid stares at him.

When Daniel looks down to the boy's hands he makes a pained noise and holds Daniel's helmet tighter to his chest; it's the one with the pink and glitter on it. Daniel remembers him, a vague memory inside his head that he couldn't really picture even if he tried. Daniel knows he met Max when Max was younger; they shook hands back in his torturous rookie days filled with thousands of other stupid promotions and awkward meetings. He saw the photos too, when they resurfaced from place in the bottom of the internet after Max was announced as his new team mate. 

Daniel is sure; this has to be Max. Kid Max. Boy Max. A chubby faced blonde boy standing in the middle of his living room caught red handed. 

"Hey," Daniel murmurs, not really sure if he's dreaming, or if he's dead. Or maybe Max is dead, maybe he crashed while Daniel was sleeping and his younger soul came to say goodbye. Maybe this is a visit from Max's wandering soul to say farewell to their little secret den. Maybe Max was thinking of Daniel as he lost control of his car and that's why he's stuck in this version of himself, the one Max was way before he grew up and became a man that liked women and won world championships.

"Max, a—are you, is, is it really you?" Daniel stutters. 

The boy, Max, looks at him with wild eyes after he hears Daniel say his name and drops the helmet to the floor. The loud crack of the material startles Daniel, he takes a step back, nervous and on his toes, not really knowing what the boy will do. 

"Don't tell my papa," Max whispers, pulling the end of his shirt and wiping his hands on it like he touched something dirty. "I was only looking." 

Daniel shakes his head quickly, raising both hands in truce.  

My papa. 

Shit.

If Max's father from another dimension comes out of Daniel's kitchen or something, then he may actually drop dead right in the spot. Or end up in jail. 

"It's okay, mate." Daniel soothes him. He tries smiling but boy Max doesn't smile back. "It's a pretty cool, right?, it's good, don't worry." 

Boy Max frowns, and then looks down at Daniel's helmet lying on the floor. Daniel thinks for a second that Max will pick it up, but the thought gets thrown out of the window soon as Max's shoe hits the visor and makes the helmet fly to the other side of the room.

"Well, shit." Daniel says, frowning back at the Max from a different timeline. "That was rude as fuck." 

"I want my papa," Boy Max grunts, crossing his arms over his chest, his face flushing pink. "Call my papa, now." He orders Daniel, like it's Daniel's fault he's here and not wherever he should be at. Or whenever. Shit.

It must be a sign from God or something, but as soon as the words leave the kid's mouth, Daniel's phone starts blasting the loud new stupid ringtone Michael installed on it as a joke a few days ago.

"Shit," Daniel curses. He stares back at mini Max trying to seem commanding and holds a warning finger towards him, "Don't move." 

Daniel runs to his room and rushes towards his phone resting on the bed; a bad habit that has cost him a few screens.

It's Max, his name written next to the tongue emoji that Max put on there when he saved his number on Daniel's phone years ago.

"Max?," Daniel whispers in panic, a weird feeling flooding his body as he considers he may be going crazy for real. It doesn't feel like a dream. The kid looked fucking real and alive. And Daniel hasn't been this awake since he was born, probably. 

"Daniel," Max says, sounding like he just saw a fucking ghost. "Daniel, you, you—you're never gonna believe me. Please, listen, ju—just, listen to me, please." 

Daniel feels a cold wind hit the back of his neck, some tingling sensation of a pair of eyes on him. He looks over his shoulder and almost faints when the kid is there, holding a small butter knife so tightly his knuckles are white. Max is shaking like a leaf, but so is Daniel, and he realizes the weapon of the boy he curses at his old self for being too lazy after eating those croissants.

"I want to go home," Boy Max says, and Daniel is so overwhelmed by the insanity of the situation it takes him a few seconds to realize the kid's face is wet with tears, "I want to go back, now." He growls at Daniel, shaking the silverware in his hand as a treat.

For fucks sake.

"I do, " Daniel sighs to the other side of the line. He presses the speaker button and holds the phone towards the Dutch murder baby in front of him. "so you better fucking believe me too. And put the fucking butter knife down." 

[magicalrocketships]

pretty much every day i just think abt small!max saying "daniel, my daniel" when he sees dan. it's with me forever!! ok that's all

Okay, this awakened something in me, and I've missed Go Small! Max. Thank you, anon!

All earlier parts can be found in this masterpost and on AO3 here.

Five times Max calls Daniel ‘my Daniel’ (and one other time)

One. 

"No," Max says politely but with zero room for negotiation. "I don't want that."

That is a plate of sandwiches that look decidedly soggy, oil softened vegetables leaking out of a thickly sliced sourdough. 

Daniel looks up at the waiter. "Could you do some sliced bread and butter instead?" he asks, moving Max's plate out from in front of him. He finds room for it on the table next to him and opens up the sandwiches, starting to scrape the vegetables out onto the plate. In hindsight, it was a bad order. He'd seen the tomatoes and thought that Max might like them. 

The waiter comes back over with two slices of bread and a pat of butter; Daniel makes yet more room on the table to butter the bread and cut it into halves, then deposits it in front of Max. He goes back to scraping the mediterranean vegetables out of the sandwich, dumps the bread on his plate, then starts to pull out the tomatoes so that they're separate from the rest of the vegetables. He offers the plate to Max, who stares at it dubiously. 

"You like tomatoes," Daniel says. 

"Hmm," Max says. 

Daniel doesn't force him. He sets the plate down and shows Max his fork in case he wants to try anything, then eats his own pesto chicken on toasted sourdough. 

Max picks at his bread and butter, then after eating a piece, he uses his fork to carefully eat two little roasted tomatoes. He clearly considers this enough vitamins and nutrients for this meal, and goes back to his bread and butter. He does, however, drink his apple juice. 

"Is the bread nice?" Daniel asks. His sandwich is decidedly mediocre. 

Max considers. "Yes," he says finally. "Thank you, my Daniel."

Something inside of Daniel's chest shifts. He's changed forever. 

"Good," he says, his voice catching. "I'm glad."

&&&

Two. 

Max hasn't wet the bed in weeks. The nightlights had finally managed to turn frequent into infrequent into barely ever. 

Barely ever isn't not ever, though. Daniel's woken up by an insistent little hand on his shoulder. "My Daniel," Max says, sniffling. 

Daniel blinks away sleep. "What's up?"

"The bed's wet," Max says. 

Daniel sits up. "That's okay, Maxy-Max," he says. "That's okay. Nobody's mad."

Max sucks in a ragged, tearful breath. 

Daniel kisses Max's flushed forehead. "Let's go get you cleaned up."

Max tucks his hand into Daniel's, sleepy and tearful, and holds on. 

&&&

Three. 

"I didn't know where you were," Max says reprovingly, once he's discovered Daniel face down on the sofa, snoring into a Pokemon cushion with the TV on low, and poked him awake. "There's no breakfast bowl."

That is a reprimand. The rule is, no TV before breakfast. TV is allowed with breakfast, but the new rule came into force last week when Max refused to eat anything because he wanted to watch Detective Pikachu through to the end even though his tummy was rumbling. So: no TV before breakfast. 

Daniel didn't go to sleep until after four, though, and he's only out here in the living room because he'd finally got bored of watching the time tick by on his sunrise alarm clock and had resigned himself to pulling an all-nighter. He'd come out here to drink coffee and watch whatever he could find on TV in the middle of the night, then had promptly passed out eight minutes into an old episode of Friends. 

"You have to turn the TV off," Max repeats. 

Daniel obliges. He still feels mostly asleep. He rubs his fists into his eyes. 

"Hmm," Max says. 

"I didn't sleep very well," Daniel says. He doesn't look at his watch but Max likes to be awake pretty early. As an adult Max likes to sleep late, but kid Max doesn't feel the same way. Consequently, Daniel's life has flipped to an early bird timetable. His body hasn't quite caught up, though, and there have always been nights where he's stared at the ceiling for far too many hours. "Might have to be careful with me today, champ." He does finger guns to try and make it cool, but he's just tired. 

Max blinks at him. "Okay, my Daniel." He turns on his heel and disappears out of the living room, before coming back in clutching Pikachu. "You can hug Pikachu," he says. There's a pause. "Can we have breakfast now?"

Daniel laughs. "Sure can," he says, wrapping an arm around Pikachu's round middle. "What are we having today? Would monsieur like a fish? An omelette?" He does his silliest French accent. It's very bad. Max laughs. He always has the exact same breakfast. Max likes cereal. Cereal, and his milk in his own special jug. He won't entertain anything else. "A croissant, Max? A fried egg? Un oeuf?"

"No, no, no," Max says. "Cereal, please."

"Coming right up, monsieur," Daniel says, and as Max pads into the kitchen in his pyjamas, Daniel's heart skips a little soft beat. 

&&&

Four. 

"Daniel, my Daniel," Max calls, barely even waiting for Daniel to get out of the car. Daniel's been into the village to get fresh bread for lunch, and he's come back with wine for him and his parents, a few bits and pieces his dad had wanted for their dinner that evening, and a new bat and ball game for if Max can be tempted out of the pool for any significant period of time. 

Daniel grabs the bags. "Maxy-Max," he calls back, finishing off with his best camel impression just to make him laugh. He wanders around to the back of the house to the pool, where his mum and dad are — predictably — in the water with Max. "Mum, Dad. Everyone present and correct, I see."

"Watch me," Max tells him, clambering out of the pool and getting water everywhere. "Look what I can do now!" 

"I'm watching," Daniel says. 

He watches Max sit down on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water. He puts his hands above his head, shaped like he's going to dive, and Daniel knows what he's going to see. This is how he got taught to go into the water face first. His parents taught him and now they're teaching Max. 

Max tilts forward and forward until he's going into the water in a little seated dive. He emerges from the water, beaming, to Daniel's mum and dad clapping him, and Daniel cheering. Max swims over to the steps, and Daniel's waiting for him at the top of them. He gets a very wet and very excited hug. 

"Did you see?" Max asks. 

"I saw," Daniel says. He blinks away tears. He doesn't know why he's crying. "I saw, and you were brilliant."

"Good," Max says solidly, and follows Daniel inside, little wet footprints all the way after him. 

&&&

Five. 

Max is three. He's sleepy and full, a solid little lump in Daniel's lap. He's demanded three stories already before bed tonight, and Daniel's accommodating because in the morning this little version of Max might be gone. Daniel might get his seven year old Max back, or he might wake up to an empty bed and two missing cats, and Max having left to pick his life back up. 

Daniel kisses the top of Max's head. "This is the last story," he says, but he'll probably stretch it out until Max falls asleep right where he's sitting. There's no rush, anyway. There's nothing for either of them to do with their days. He turns the pages in their little book about kittens.

"My Daniel," Max says sleepily, a little garbled around his thumb. He sucks his thumb when he's three, and Daniel hasn't any interest in stopping him. He'll let Max have anything he finds comforting. He deserves the little kindnesses. 

"My Max," Daniel says softly. Max is falling asleep in his arms, his eyes drooping. It's time to put him to bed. "Time for sleep, my little Max. Time for bed."

Max is asleep by the time Daniel's carried him through into the bedroom. He doesn't stir as Daniel tucks him in, as he makes sure the nightlights are all turned on and that Pikachu's in easy reach. 

He stands in the doorway for a long time before he turns away. 

&&&

(And Another Time)

Daniel is so, so tired. His body feels heavy. His mum had gone with him to the doctor's yesterday, and they'd stopped at a pharmacy on the way home to pick up his new pills. She'd brought him a glass of water and a plate of crackers to have with the first dose. He'd downed them all obediently. 

They're not magic. He's not woken up this morning feeling happy again, or like his chest is more than the black, sucking hole where his heart used to be. 

He doesn't open his eyes. A tear escapes without his permission. He hates this. He hates feeling like he does right now, hates the nothingness, the weight of his body against the earth. 

"Hey, Daniel, my Daniel." It's Max, sleeping next to him for the fourth night in a row. He's big but he hasn't left. He always leaves but this time he hasn't. He's still here. He strokes Daniel's hair. "It is okay. I am here and your mum's here. We will make it all all right again. I promise, Daniel. You don't need to cry." He strokes his thumb under Daniel's eye, catching Daniel's stray tears. He wipes his thumb on the sheets then curls his hand into Daniel's. He laces their fingers together. "We've got you."

And Daniel, desperate, holds on. 

&&&

(thank you to Lin @andwegogreen for reading these as I wrote them tonight 🧡🧡🧡)

[on-softs]

i love your fic so much and you are such a good writer and this line made me crazy: “A small part of Danny has always been prepared for this, at the ready; he’s been waiting for a bad Max Verstappen crash since he first saw Max climb into a car as a teenager, fear for his life a latent twin carried inside Danny next to the love for him, the way a gold-medal throw is stored inside a future Olympic shot-putter from birth” and the way that worry and care daniel has for max carries over to little max as well makes me!! crazy!!! i could read 100k words of it

Ahh thank you so much! The Olympic part of that quote was inspired by something similar I read in Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides (VERY GOOD BOOK) which I thought was such a fascinating way of capturing the idea of the potential stored inside every person. And that Danny’s potential to love Max had also always been there since long before they’d even met. SAPPY.

I am trying to stick the landing of this fic in the next part. Thanks for reading what I have so far!

[on-softs]

omg so excited about your new fic. I always love your fics bc they’re always unique spins of fandom tropes and this one is so good already😭😭 we can never have enough deaged max in this world imo❤️❤️❤️ Also they’re husbands! baby Max instantly recognizing daniel 🥹

Thank you so much for the sweet words! I was really interested in exploring like….. the edge of horror there is to a character being de-aged, and also what it would be like if a character held onto some semblance of their memories— how would this change the dynamics they have with others, etc. and I really wanted them to be husbands to set up that their happy ending, or as happy of an ending as they can get, has already happened, and then this insane curveball gets thrown their way. All just a bonkers thought experiment!

[onboardsorasora]

Very random idea I had, based on a silly conversation with @chaosinstigator and @mael-bloggy 🤣🤣🤣🤣 but I managed to make it fluffy (I'll do the rest of the proper linking and tagging tomorrow) not edited.

Part 16

Max placed the plastic plate of food on the breakfast table and chuckled when Little Daniel barely looked over from where he’d been staring at the television for the last half hour. They were back in Monaco, back at Max’s home– well it was also Daniel’s too. Max still felt that way.

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.

And Max was determined that they would be again.

[onboardsorasora]

It's been crazy few days and we all need a little bit of just distraction and some happiness. For @chaosinstigator, I wanted to write a longer scene than I normally do. I hope you like it😘

Part 1 | Part 15

Part 16

“Charles, where is Daniel?” Max stretched and bit back a yawn. The first day of preseason was always the longest. What with all the engineering meetings and marketing squeezed in-between.

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.

On their walk from the hospitality to the car, Little Daniel rested his head on Max's shoulder and clutched his hands around Max's neck. His soft breaths told Max he was asleep, tuckered out from his exciting day.

[onboardsorasora]

De Aged Daniel Part 15

Did I manage to take a cute moment and make it angsty? have you met me????? As usual... I have not read this over lool

De-Aged Daniel | De-Aged Daniel Part 14

By the time Max got out of debrief, it was lunch time and he was antsy. Of course, Charles hadn’t texted him at all with updates, so by the third hour of meetings, Max was completely over it and wanted to find Little Daniel.

He walked towards the Ferrari hospitality, expecting to see a trio of dark hair. Nothing. Grunting, he took out his phone.

“Where are you?” Max asked as soon as the call connected.

“Hello to you too Max.” Charles said to annoy him.

Max rolled his eyes and stepped in the middle of the paddock walkway, “Hello Charles, where are you and Daniel?”

“I am in debrief, Lewis and Fernando are watching Daniel.”

“Together?” Max was surprised.

“Nando looked very happy to watch him, and Daniel was laughing with Lewis. They are probably at Mercedes.”

“Lovely. Thank you Charles.” Max hung up with a sigh and turned in the direction of the Mercedes hospitality. Stepping through the doors, he was immediately greeted with Little Daniel’s loud laugh. 

He felt his shoulders sag in relief, not at all realizing that they’d been tight in the first place.

Little Daniel was in a teal 44 shirt, George’s helmet on his head, sat on George’s shoulders grinning down at an equally grinning Alonso. Max felt like he stepped into a different dimension.

Lewis walked around the corner with a tray in hand, a large pizza slice took up the plate. “Hey Man, they finally release you?” Lewis grinned at him while placing the tray on the table. 

“Maxsh!” Little Daniel yelled excitedly. He wiggled on George's shoulder enough for him to get the idea to let the toddler down. Little Daniel grinned up at Max, his exuberant face showing through the visor.

“Hey Daniel, did you have fun?” Max knelt to his level while Little Daniel's head bobbled.

“I did! I got to sit in Lewis' car! And it went brrmmmm!” He excitedly imitated the sound of the engine starting up. “And I got to- I got to scoot- on the on the–” here he mimed a scooter poorly, it made Max grin while he nodded for Little Daniel to keep going. “And then we went wooosh! On the road! And it was so cool! And then Ferdando he threw me in the air like wow! And then George gaved me the helmet and it was like yours!”

“They did?” He asked in awe, looking up to see the guys watching them fondly, Lewis whispering something to George. Max rolled his eyes at them and refocused on Little Daniel whose head bobbled while he nodded, little hands holding the bright blue helmet to stabilize it.

“That's amazing, you had a lovely time. Are you hungry? Lewis got you pizza.” Max scooped his little body in his arms and Little Daniel's skinny arms tried to stretch around his neck. Max snorted his mirth at the press of George's helmet into the side of his head while Little Daniel tried to get closer

“You can't eat with George's helmet on, he needs it to drive. Do you want to take it off?” Max removed the helmet when Little Daniel nodded. His curls were all over the place, some flattened to his head and others wild and wiry. Max combed his fingers through them all the same.

He sat Little Daniel down at the table while Lewis finished cutting the slice into more manageable bits. Little Daniel took the first slice and munch happily, his little body wiggling while he ate.

“Could you be any more whipped?” George teased, watching as Max kept a hand on Little Daniel’s head.

“Someone needs to take care of him until he decides he wants to switch back.” Max argued with a shrug.

“Blake could.” Lewis pointed out and Max barely held his recoil. Daniel came to him, it meant something and he wasn’t going to pass him off to someone else.

“I think I am doing a good job.” He said instead. To which he received nods of agreement. 

“He wouldn’t stop talking about you and the cats.” Fernando pointed out, “you are doing a good job of taking care of his soul while he takes his time elsewhere.” And Max could only nod while his chest warmed.

Little Daniel shifted to his knees on the chair so he could try and reach for a miniature Aston Martin on the table that Max had missed. Max handed over the toy while encouraging Little Daniel to eat another piece of pizza. He started making vroom noises while driving the car on the tabletop. Lewis knelt to be closer, offering obstacles for the car to drive around.

Max watched them with a soft smile. George and Fernando watched him.

“Why did you two break up anyway?” George asked it quietly, it was something Max knew everyone wanted to know. He and Daniel being together was a no brainer, and everyone was confused when they broke up. They’d offered no explanations, and everyone could see the distance between them. Things looked different when Daniel went back to RedBull.

He didn’t answer for a long time, content to watch as Lewis eventually took over feeding Little Daniel as he became more interested in the car and his made up game than eating anymore. Max figured, they no longer expected him to answer, as Alonso eventually left with a clap to Max’s back. George stayed silent the entire time, alternating between texting and offering more random obstacles for Little Daniel’s destruction. 

Max wasn’t exactly sure how to answer the question. How do you admit that you’re broken up with the love of your life because you couldn’t be there for them? That they needed more than you could have given and you hadn’t been able to see past yourself to give it?

Daniel needed him, and Max hadn’t seen it. 

He knew this now and he was determined to not fail this time around. 

Little Daniel needed him and Max would take care of him.

[onboardsorasora]

can we ask how big daniel ks doing?👀 is he still in perth in the 90s with his parents?

We caannnnn. I wrote this today Bestie, just for you. I feel badly that we haven't been focusing on Adult Daniel. But I have to warn you, it gets a big angsty.

Part 1 | Part 17

Daniel knew he was breaking at least a bunch of rules around Exchanging, but he couldn’t exactly leave his dad to struggle with a half dead earthmoving machine when he knew how to fix it. So what if this was knowledge Joe (and ultimately) Daniel learned when he was a teenager? The knowledge was going to be gained anyway was his overall thoughts.

Plus it was amazing to spend this quality time with Joe while they were roughly the same age.

“So, tell me about this Max guy.” Joe said just as they’d both taken the weight of the engine part they were fixing. He grinned a Ricciardo grin at Daniel who scowled because he couldn’t run away. 

He’d been doing that a lot. His mother was relentless when it came to juicy gossip, Daniel should have known his father would be the same. To be honest, he did know that his father was also an unrepentant gossip, he and Joe traded fun stories all the time in the future. He just failed to anticipate that maybe Joe was always a gossip girl, and not just assumed that he’d gotten it from proximity with Grace.

He really should have known better.

“That’s not fair.” Daniel huffed as they brought the part to the table laid out to rest it.

“Life isn’t fair, now stop keeping me in suspense. Is he your boyfriend?”

“He isn’t” Daniel muttered, rubbing his hands together to get the creases of the metal out. “If he was, would you have a problem with it?” He looked into warm brown eyes, taking note– as became his routine– to take in the changes in Joe’s face before it became the face Daniel knew by heart.

“Did we have a problem with it before?” Joe asked kindly.

“No.” Daniel bit his lip, he didn’t know how to explain that it was a different time.

“Good, cause it wouldn’t be a problem now.” Joe shrugged, digging around in the toolkit. “So is he, really?”

“He isn’t,” Daniel insisted, biting back the ‘not anymore’ that wanted to slide through. Joe seemed to hear it either way.

“That bad huh?” Joe frowned. The worked for a little in silence, Daniel throwing himself in the mechanics of it all. 

He didn’t want to think about how he hadn’t been good enough for Max. That as much as he loved him, it apparently hadn’t been enough. His life had gone to shit in his hands and he’d been so focused on picking up the pieces that he hadn’t focused on Max, on them.

He hadn’t fought Max when he’d broken up with him, Daniel hadn’t had the fight in him at that point. And it wasn’t like he was even providing anything to their relationship, he’d already been fired and had to suffer through the team and media dragging his name in the mud. Max didn’t want to be together anymore, so Daniel had pushed past the clench in his heart and agreed to the breakup. It was for the best.

He loved Max and would give him the world. Even if it didn’t include him.

“Y’know, when Grace and I–” Joe started, Daniel had noticed early on that he never said ‘your mother and I’ not like he did in the future. He figured it was a quirk to remind himself that this Daniel wasn’t his son. Not yet at least. 

“Grace and I broke up twice.” And well, that was new information. By the way they always talked about it, Grace and Joe had been together forever– always.

Daniel’s eyes widened in surprise and Joe laughed. “I guess you’ve heard the stories. I asked her not to tell the truest version. It uh, doesn’t paint me in the best light.”

Daniel raised a brow, telling him to continue. Joe did just that, working on the part as he did.

“We broke up the first time because we were long distance, she went off to school in Melbourne and I stayed here. She came back and we were madly in love. Dated for maybe two years before I started getting cold feet, started feeling like I wasn’t good enough. I wanted to race and she supported me, helped me get odd jobs to pay for it all. She was always proud of me and my achievements and I started to feel like I wasn’t doing enough– wasn’t being more. In my head, she gave so much and I wasn’t equally reciprocating. So we broke up, for about a year.”

“And then what happened?” Daniel took the corroded metal that they were replacing and held the new gleaming piece in its place.

“Well, a friend of ours passed away. And we saw each other at the vigil. It was heartbreaking, but we took the time to talk and remember. Reminisce. We promised each other that we’d still be close because there was genuine love there. We were friends again, close and supportive of each other. She was teaching at the time and was gunning for a big promotion, and I was trying to get the business off the ground. And well, we were more open and honest this time around so when she eventually asked why we broke up– I told her.”

“What did she say?” Daniel felt like he was hanging onto every word, he’d never heard this part of his parent’s lives before. He wondered if Michelle even knew.

“She slapped me in the head and called me an idiot.” Joe snorted and Daniel barked out a laugh.

“I mean, looking back at it. I was.” Joe continued, a grin on his face. 

“She set you straight.” Daniel giggled, thinking of the powerhouse that was Grace Ricciardo.

“That she did. She loved me through it all, even though she admitted that maybe she could have pushed back more. Pushed back against the breakup, against some of my more harebrained ideas. Let me know that there were other options available.” 

Daniel stared at Joe as he continued working, greasing the part and tightening the nuts. “Thanks for telling me.”  he murmured and Joe looked at him appraisingly, as if he could see into his soul.

“It sounds like you adore this Max, would it be so hard to think that maybe he feels the same? And just made a mistake?”

“Max didn’t break up with me because he was scared. I just… wasn’t– good.. Enough. I guess.” Daniel shrugged like it didn’t matter, like it wasn’t still eating him up inside.

“I don’t think that’s true.” Joe put a dirty hand on Daniel’s shoulder. He figured it was fine, this was Joe’s shirt after all.

“Yeah well, he was pretty clear on it all I guess. Hey– we should pop this baby in and see if she starts up smoother now.” Daniel clapped and cleared away the old damage part from the table. He didn’t need to look up to know Joe was watching him, best not find out if there’s pity in his eyes.  It was something Daniel accepted over the last few years, he wasn’t good enough. Not at driving and not in his relationships. It was something he was attempting to make peace with. Clearly he hadn’t gotten very far yet since he was here– in the past– but it was a work in progress. He was a work in progress.

[onboardsorasora]

For de aged Daniel, max has a stream with red line that he can’t get out of so he sets Daniel up with a coloring station and Daniel draws the two of them racing or on the podium. So obvs he has to show max and he does so during the stream which is how the Max Verstappen secret kid rumors start

And since the kid is wearing so much Ferrari people assume that it’s a secret Lestappen baby which max hates because he loves Daniel and Charles is just laughing at all of the tweets/chaotically liking them to add to the rumors

De-Aged Daniel | De-Aged Daniel Pt2 | De-Aged Daniel Pt3 | De-Aged Daniel Pt 4 | De- Aged Daniel Pt 5 | De-Aged Daniel Part 6 | De-Aged Daniel Part 7 | De-Aged Daniel Part 8 | De-Aged Daniel Part 9

“Mate, when are you gonna be able to get here?” Max asked over the phone, keeping an eye at the coffee table where Little Daniel was colouring with his tongue sticking out adorably while he concentrated.

“Mate, I told you I'm gonna be late. I am helping maman with something, then I will be there.” Charles' voice was distant on the phone and Max sighed explosively.

“Ok, the door code is the same. I have to jump on.”

“It will be fine, Max.” Charles tried to soothe before they hung up. Max looked towards Little Daniel. “Daniel, Charles will be here soon. Are you ok out here while I go into a meeting?”

“Shaarrllll.” Little Daniel drawled, not looking up from choosing his next colour.

“Daniel? Did you hear me?” Max asked again softly.

“Yeah Maxy. I'll shtay here.” Little Daniel nodded up at Max, brown eyes bright.

“Pinky promise?” Max asked sticking out his finger.

Little Daniel looked at him consideringly before hooking his pinky with a grin. “I'm gonna draw you a picture Maxy!” He declared.

“I'd love one thank you, Daniel.” 

Max went into his sim room after taking a long look at Little Daniel who took a new sheet of paper and started colouring again. He settled himself in his rig and joined the stream, apologizing for being late.

“Everything ok, Mate?” Crane asked. Max glanced up at the camera and waved before straightening his shirt across his chest while he watched them play a round.

“Yeah, I just had to deal with something. Of course, I would never miss staring into your eyes Crane.” Max laughed when his friends snorted.

They set up for iRacing, Max letting the chatter wash over him while he slowly tried to relax and stop listening out for Little Daniel in the other room. Little Daniel had snacks, he had his crayons, paper and a colouring book. The TV was also on, playing another race, and Jimmy and Sassy were around to distract him. He only needed to last at most a half an hour before Charles came.

After the first race– that Max won, he begged off a minute and turned off his camera. He got up and peaked out of the room to see Little Daniel where he left him, looking up at the TV attentively and nibbling his finger.

Max sighed and relaxed further before climbing back in the rig. He came back to chaos as Bennett and Gianni were arguing about whether iguanas truly fell asleep if it got too cold. Max joined in, stating a few animal facts he learned while looking up information for Little Daniel.

They're going through qualifying again when the door to the sim room busts open. It wasn't fully closed in the first place so Little Daniel met little resistance when he barrelled in like the koolaid man.

“Maxy! I finished it!” He's waving his drawing around like a flag. Max's eyes widen and he lunged for his camera, fumbling to turn it off. 

“Fu–sorry mate! He's really fast.” Charles charged in and scooped up Little Daniel in his arms. Max yanked off his headphones and turned to look at Little Daniel who is smiling broadly at him before frowning at Charles. 

“Shaarrllll I wanna show Maxy!” Little Daniel whined, his body going toddler tantrum tense.

“How about we make him another one then put it on the fridge so he'll see it as soon as he's finished his meeting?” Charles tried to bargain, walking out of the room. Max heard the first sounds of Daniel's unhappy cries and followed them out of the room.

Little Daniel looked up at Max with wide, wet, unhappy eyes and Max reached for him. He pressed his face in Max's neck unhappily and Max rubbed his little back, underneath his red Ferrari shirt.

Max took the crumpled picture that Little Daniel still clutched and looked at it while small hands squeezed around his neck. It was a picture of Max and Little Daniel in their race suits in front of a race car. 

“Thank you for the drawing Daniel. It is lovely.” Max said softly, soothingly. Little Daniel sniffed loudly and scrubbed at his eyes 

“You like it?” He sniffled.

“I do! Can you and Charles make me another one?”

Little Daniel nodded against Max's neck and Max thought he must have been very upset to forgo his usual “Sharl” vocal stim.

Max looked over to see Charles watching him with an unreadable expression. Max ignored him and put Little Daniel safely in his arms.

“I'm going to beg off the rest of the stream. I'll be back in five I think.”

“Of course. Sorry.” Charles looked contrite but Max waved it off. 

He got back in his rig and put on his headphones, listening in as the guys gained control over the stream again after his very abrupt departure. The chat was going wild based on what Max could see. He turned on his camera and Crane visibly relaxed.

“Everything ok over there Maxy Max?”

“Yeah mate. But I've got to go, something's come up.”

“Would that something happen to be toddler shaped?” Gianni asked

“Was that Charles??” Bennett jumped in.

“I'll talk to you guys later. Bye!” Max turned off his camera and mic quickly, before shutting everything down and quitting the room. He found Charles and Little Daniel exactly where he left them and Little Daniel raised his hands immediately when he saw Max, wanting to be lifted. Max obliged without hesitation. 

Both Max and Charles’ phone went off at the same time– denoting a group chat message. Max watched curiously as Charles' eyes widened.

“Oh no.” 

“What's happened?”

“Apparently we have a love child.” Charles raised his phone to show the looping gif of Little Daniel running up to Max and Charles coming to scoop him up before Max turns off his camera.

“Well, crap.” Max muttered.

“Shaarrllll….crap.” Little Daniel mumbled tiredly against Max's skin.

“No, Daniel we don’t need to repeat that.” Max mumbled, narrowing his eyes at Charles who was giggling at his phone. “What are you doing?”

“Mate, the internet works so fast, theres already theories about which one of us got pregnant.” Charles snickered into his palm and Max rolled his eyes, knowing he was on twitter liking tweets. Well there went his hope that this would blow over quickly.

“Why would I even want to have a baby with you?” Max groused, not wanting Daniel to be seen as he and Charles’ anything. 

“I would be a good mommy, no?” Charles rubbed his belly before giggling again. “I am going to call Lando to sort this all out.”

“You do that, Daniel and I are going to order pizza.” He rolled his eye before looking down at Little Daniel who seemed to perk up a little. “Would you like to choose the pizza?” 

Little Daniel nodded against his chest before covering his face. Max frowned. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m schowy.” He mumbled while biting his palm.

“What for?”

“I-” Little Daniel frowned and looked at the floor sadly.

“Daniel?”

“I broke the pinky pwomise.” He whispered morosely. “‘Shell says it's bad. I didn’t mean to Maxy.”

Max felt that cuteness aggression that he’d become very accustomed to feeling. He stopped himself from squeezing Daniel’s little body to his chest and stroked his hair instead.

“It's ok bud, you didn’t mean to. You were just excited.”

“I won’t do it again. Pwomise!” Little Daniel vowed.

“I believe you, let's get some juice. Do you want juice?” Little Daniel nodded and Max walked them into the kitchen, ignoring Charles’ heart eyes and the phone trained in their direction.

[onboardsorasora]

omg deaged daniel has my heart:(( he’ll feel so much more comfortable I bet once he gets to talk to his mom:((((

he does!! ok this is literally spiralling lmao!

De-Aged Daniel | De-Aged Daniel Pt2 | Part 4

Max watched as Little Daniel watched him through his lashes as he made his calls. His sticky red ring pop was always close to his lips and Max could see how stained his tongue already was.

“Do you like ring pops?” Max asked kindly, Little Daniel makes eye contact for a moment before looking at Max’s shoulder again and nods. “I like them too, I love the green flavour.”

“‘Shell likes the green one.” Little Daniel offered softly. 

“All the more red ones for you!” Max smiled when Little Daniel grinned. 

“Ok so I ordered the pizza, would you like to play with the cats while I make another phonecall?”

“Your phone’s weird like the one’s in the movies.” Little Daniel mumbled. And Max figured that must be true, an iphone wasn’t exactly the current tech in 1994.

“It is, I’m still learning it too. May I lift you up Daniel?” 

Little Daniel nodded softly and Max lifted him onto his hip. He walked the few steps into the living room and placed the boy gently on the couch. Jimmy was the first to be curious. Little Daniel looked at him dubiously before reaching his hand out slowly to pet the cat.

Max watched them out of the corner of his eyes while he scrolled through his contacts. Grace picked up after three rings, and Max hoped it wasn’t very late in Perth.

“Max, lovely to hear from you!” Grace’s voice was a balm, Max felt completely out of his depth.

“Hey Grace, unfortunately this isn’t a social call.”

“What’s happened?” Her voice was immediately tense and Max kicked himself, he could have handled that better.

“Nothing terrible. I’m gonna show you.” After hearing her noise of agreement he changed the call to a facetime. She looked at him with worried brown eyes, Max flipped the camera to show Little Daniel stiltedly petting Jimmy’s head. His ring pop clutched tightly in his other fist.

“Oh.” Her gasp was sharp. Max watched her eyes grow soft and yearning. 

“Blake said he’s been stressed lately, it happened not twenty minutes ago.”

“So its temporary then.” She spoke to herself, eyes still staring at the little boy who was her miniature in every way. “He likes the show Lamb Chops, and The Wiggles. Don’t let him choose the pizza, he likes the pictures but he doesn’t like the peppers or olives. He’ll eat pepperoni or hawaiian.” 

Max groaned because Little Daniel absolutely chose the pizza and there were all sorts of peppers and olives. 

“Do you still have the epi pen?” She asked quietly.

“I do.” 

“Good. You may need it.”

“Pistachios, hazelnuts, peanuts. I remember.” Max smiled. 

Grace made that ‘oh honey’ face that Daniel sometimes did when he thought Max was going to be in over his head a little. “Some kinds of grass, milk, ice cream, air fresheners, may make him puke–”

“How did you let him move to Italy on his own??” Max laughed when Grace snorted. He had no idea Daniel had been allergic to so many things.

“He grew out of most of it. And he was very convincing.” She smiled, before biting her lip. “Can I talk to him?”

“Of course!” Max crossed the room quickly and flipped the camera back to the front facing one. “Daniel, I have someone who would like to speak with you, is this ok?”

Little Daniel looked up from where Jimmy was trying to climb onto his small lap and nodded softly. Max sat beside him and brought his phone to Daniel’s face.

“Mum!” Little Daniel screamed, scaring Jimmy a little. He scooted forward on the couch to get closer to the phone, Max brought to phone to him. “That's my Mummy!”

“Danny my baby, are you being good for Max?”

Little Daniel gasped, his mouth dropping open. He nodded quickly, his head bobbled like a toy. “Uh huh! Mum are you coming to get me?”

Grace sniffled and covered her mouth with a palm. “Soon my baby. It’ll take a little bit so be good for Max ok? He’ll take care of you until we get there.”

“Ok! I promise!” Little Daniel chirped, he nodded again like a bobble head. 

“That’s my baby. I love you Danny Wanny.”

“I love you more Mummy Wummy!” Little Daniel grinned and looked up at Max when the screen when dark. Max bit his lip, not expecting the cute aggression that took hold of him.

“Do you want to watch The Wiggles?” Max asked instead, smiling with Little Daniel nodded happily.

[onboardsorasora]

De-Aged Daniel | De-Aged Daniel Part 11 | De-Aged Daniel Part 12

This one is a comment prompt from ao3:

Suggestion: You know that scene of "The Game Plan" that the girl (Peyton) accidentally eats, a dessert that contained nuts, only she was extremely allergic and starts to get sick? Would be very cool the kid version! daniel with allergy to nuts (real)!!

“Maxy tongue itchy.” 

It was an innocuous statement that immediately put Max on alert. Little Daniel knelt in front of the coffee table, staring up at the TV– watching a race with rapt attention. He had his spoon and a small toy car in one hand and the other was idly scratching at his neck.

Max walked over from the kitchen, drying his palms on the thighs of his sweatpants. He picked up the plate of Little Daniel's half eaten snack, looking at the fruit left– some cantaloupe, pineapples and a half bitten kiwi slice.

“Daniel, is it just your tongue or your throat as well?”

“Ish fine now. No more scratchy.” Little Daniel shook his head, eyes not leaving the TV.

“Are you sure?” Max asked warily, he didn't necessarily believe him. He brought the plate into the kitchen and dug out the unopened bottle of Benadryl from his cupboard. “lets just drink a little Benadryl just in case I think.”

Little Daniel didn't argue, accepting the small shot glass like serving cup and drank it, clearly used to this with his mother. He smacked his little lips when he handed it back to Max before taking up his cup of juice and drinking it. Max watched him for a bit before leaving him to continue watching his race.

— - —

A few days later they were at Charles' for lunch, Little Daniel was staring at Charles' new puppy from his perch on Max's lap. His wide eyes followed the little brown pup as it snuffled around and curled in a ball on the couch.

“Would you like some juice Daniel? It's orange pineapple.” Charles asked.

“Shaarrllll, you have a puppy?!” Little Daniel asked instead, standing in Max's lap to stare over his shoulder.

“Yes, his name is Leo. Would you like to meet him?” 

Little Daniel bit his palm and shook his head no, looking over at Charles at he stood in the kitchen. Max gently tugged his hand out of his mouth like Seb had shown him and Little Daniel started playing with his fingers instead.

Charles poured a cup of juice and put it on the table.

“Thank you!” Little Daniel chirped before grabbing the cup of yellow liquid with both hands. Leo moved on the couch, startling Little Daniel and he put the cup down hastily to grab back on to Max. Max grimaced at his wet sticky fingers from where the juice had spilled over the side of the cup but said nothing.

Leo trodded into one of the rooms and Little Daniel settled himself onto Max's lap again.

“Do you want to sit in the chair?” Max asked and Little Daniel rubbed his own forearms for a second– thinking– before nodding quietly. Max settled him into the chair beside him and put his cup within reach.

Charles put on the TV to one of the shows Max said Little Daniel liked and his attention was immediately arrested. He took a small sip of his juice before climbing off the chair and going to stand closer to the TV.

“Not so close Daniel.” Max called out and Little Daniel bit his fingers and nodded, backing up a little.

Two things happened at the same time, Leo came padding out of the room again which scared Little Daniel to running back to Max who noticed that his hands and arms were red and blotchy in a rash.

“Maxy itchy.” Little Daniel rasped and Max could see the same rash on his face. His eyes widened in alarm and he stood, scooping Little Daniel in his arms.

“Fuck! Fuck fuck!” Max scrambled over to his backpack, the one he'd started carrying when they left the house now. And with a shaking hand started digging around one of the sections. Charles ran over, taking the bag and dumping the contents out on the couch.

“Hey Daniel, hey hey, look at me.” Max stroked his forehead when Little Daniel looked at him, he'd tensed in Max's arms. His eyes were red and watering. “Shhh shh, it's fine it's fine.” He glanced down at Charles still going through all the little bags Max insisted on packing things in to ‘make life easier’.

“Mate where did you pack it?” Charles' voice was a little more frantic. More how Max was feeling. 

“Just– check the sides!” Max clutched Little Daniel closer when he started wheezing, making shushing noises. 

“Found it!” Charles screamed, lifting the epipen like a torch. Max laid Little Daniel on the couch and stabbed the small needle into his thigh. They watched frantically as his breathing evened out and became less laboured.

“Holy fuck.” Max collapsed onto his knees, he'd never seen Daniel have such an allergic reaction to anything before, nothing so severe. His hands were shaking as he rubbed his little tummy. He fought the urge to pull Little Daniel's body close and try to protect him from the world. 

Charles got up behind him and walked to the table, he eyed Little Daniel's cup warily before grabbing it and dumping the contents.

“We have to take him to the hospital.” Charles washed his hands and grabbed his keys. He felt like the information was drilled into his head the amount of times Daniel had told him this previously. He'd had the unfortunate experience to watch Daniel need to stab himself, to stave off a reaction after he'd inhaled some peanut dust. Daniel had been clear that the epipen was just temporary, just enough to get him to the hospital.

“Ok.” Max whispered, giving into the urge to cuddle Little Daniel’s lax body closer.

“Maxy, hurts.” Little Daniel mumbled, his rashes were raised– a little swollen– but not getting any worse. Max never wanted to hear him say those words ever again.

The drive to the hospital was tense, there was extra paperwork because he'd been exchanged and Max had to call Grace for her help in filling them out. He didn't get to see Little Daniel for at least 45 minutes. Way too long in his opinion. He was tiny on the child size bed and Max hated himself.

“Pineapples. They did an allergy test and it came back as pineapples.” Charles mumbled, looking down at his fingers guiltily.

“We didn't know.” Max sat down heavily beside him on the bench. He hadn't known that Daniel was allergic to pineapples. He'd had no issues eating them when they were on his pizza. He mumbled as much and Charles shrugged.

“It is science. Probably it is the enzymes in the fresh pineapple that gets destroyed when you cook it. It is the same for mango I think.” 

Max dragged his hand down his face, cursing unintelligibly. He felt guilty and so angry with himself that he didn't notice it the first time. He'd thought it was the kiwi since Little Daniel had clearly bitten that.

Little Daniel shifted on the bed, asleep after all the drama and Max stood closer to the bed, brushing a finger down the back Little Daniels still red but no longer inflamed fingers. He promised himself he'd be more vigilant, this wouldn't happen again

[onboardsorasora]

De aged Daniel looking at the Red Bull shirt max is offering like it offended him. He wants a Ferrari shirt so Charles has to be called

I fully believe that max is taking all the pictures to share with Grace

He loves his red vroom vroom team!

De-Aged Daniel | De-Aged Daniel Pt2 | De-Aged Daniel Pt3 | De-Aged Daniel Pt 4 | Part 6

“No no Daniel, we shouldn’t climb!” Max rushed to lift the little body that was already halfway up his bookcase. To be fair, it did look like a ladder and Little Daniel had already shown a penchant for climbing things. 

Grace had laughed at him when Max had complained to her. Apparently Daniel used to climb the trellises in her garden all the time and then cry when he got to the top because it was so high up.

Little Daniel giggled when Max playfully threw him over his shoulder, his high pitched laughter rang around the house. Max threw him into the couch and tickled his little tummy, grinning happily as Little Daniel screamed and squirmed out of his reach.

“Maxy! No climb! No climb!” Little Daniel screeched breathlessly, his accent eating half of his words.

“Thank you Daniel. I don’t want you to get hurt, ok?” Max looked at him imploringly, he’s never normally this scared around his nephews and he knew that kids were resilient. His sister told him all the time. But there was something about this being a younger version of his favourite person in the world that made him want to protect him at all costs. He also didn’t want something to happen to this Daniel that could impact the Daniel he knew.

“Otay!” Little Daniel patted Max’s cheeks.

“Ok I got some racing shirts for you, do you want to see?”

Little Daniel’s eyes widened, he loved watching his Dad race. He was the fastest racer ever!

Daniel bounced on the couch while Max took up a little gift bag that was delivered this morning. He opened the bag and brandished the kid sized navy Red Bull polo with a grin, only to bite back his laugh when Little Daniel frowned. 

“What’s wrong? I thought you liked blue?” Max looked at the shirt then back to Little Daniel who was nibbling his palm, his brows were furrowed deeply.

“Ish not wed.” Little Daniel mumbled shyly.

“No it’s Red Bull.” 

“What’s dat?”

“They’re the fastest racing team.” Max said matter of factly, he fought the urge to point to the trophies Little Daniel had been trying to grab at just this morning.

“Nuh uh.” Little Daniel shook his head, contorting on the couch as only toddlers could.

“What do you mean nuh uh?” Max argued.

“Fewawi are de fashtesh.” Little Daniel was still biting at his hand but Max could hear his smile. He sighed, defeated. He couldn’t believe he just lost an argument with a five year old.

“Fine, I’ll get you a Ferrari shirt if you want.” Max rolled his eyes and reached for his phone when Little Daniel cheered. He texted Charles his request then sighed long suffering when Charles immediately face timed him.

“What is going on? Do I need to call the police? Was that one of those ‘I’ve been kidnapped and the kidnappers told me to react normally so you’re texting a code that I should know that its not you things’?” Charles squinted his eyes and Max could tell he was trying to assess his background.

“No, I haven't been kidnapped. I really do want a ferrari shirt. Kid sized if you can find it.”

“Where am I going to just get a children’s shirt from Max? Do you think I just have ferrari t shirts in children’s sizes in my closet?” Charles furrowed his brow.

“Can’t you like go into the Ferrari store and ask for one? Aren’t you like their predestinato or whatever they call you? Of course that should give you special privileges.” Max argued.

“Privileges that don’t include getting children’s clothes?” 

“Charles, look. I need a shirt. Can you get me a shirt?”

“Why are you needing a–”

“No no Daniel! You promised! No climbing buddy!” Max put his phone down to scoop up the child that was giggling away and attempting to climb onto the credenza that held his playstation controller. After this was done, Max promised himself to babyproof his house. He didn’t realize he had so much climbable furniture.

“Ok, that's enough climbing, I thought you promised!” Max put Little Daniel on his hip, watching as the little boy pressed his face into his shoulder, contrite.

“No pinky promise.” Max could hear the grin in his voice, he gasped theatrically.

“You tricked me!” He shook his head and Little Daniel’s laugh and picked up his phone again to a wide eyed Charles.

“Max, why do you have a child… and why does he look like Daniel– is he kidnapped? Do I need to call the police?”

“Charles! Calm down. No, we don't need to involve the police. This is Daniel. Just….small. Daniel, do you wanna say hi to Charles?”

“Poollleeeeeeece” Little Daniel’s mouth widened as he extended the word then he waved at the phone. “Shaaaarrrllllll.”

“Hello mate.” Charles smiled in wonder, “I hear you like Ferrari?”

“Fewawi go vrrooooooooommmmmmm!” Little Daniel mimicked a car driving off with his hand. Charles laughed.

“Seb was right, everyone’s a Ferrari fan.” Charles said smugly and Max stuck his tongue out at him.

[onboardsorasora]

De aged Daniel is just like his older self wanting to eat things that he shouldn’t

I think it was the p1 podcast where Daniel said he falls asleep to true crime podcasts or something like that, so de aged Daniel needs max to tell him a story until he falls asleep. And Max either tells him a story of Daniel’s Red Bull years or Monza 2021

this one was fun to write

De-Aged Daniel | De-Aged Daniel Pt2 | De-Aged Daniel Pt3 | De-Aged Daniel Pt 4 | De- Aged Daniel Pt 5

Max watched fondly as Little Daniel climbed onto the bed in the guest room, his new red Ferrari pjs were vibrant even in the low light. Charles had come through with all sorts of branded merch and Daniel was in heaven while Max was in hell. It was alright though, Max knew he had loads of time to make a Red Bull fan out of him yet.

Little Daniel threw himself onto the bed, starfishing atop the blankets before giggling and scurrying away from Max’s tickling fingers. 

“Did you brush your teeth?” Max asked, Little Daniel bore his teeth at him, a miniature version of a face Daniel made all the time. Max couldn’t hold back his own grin.

“All clean! See!” Little Daniel confirmed.

“Do you want a plushie?” Max looked over to the pile of plushies that his nephews favored that he unearthed from storage. Little Daniel looked at the offerings and pouted, his eyes turned sad.

“Where Maxy? Want Maxy.” Daniel bit his finger and looked up at Max beneath his lashes. 

“I’m right here.” Max pointed to himself and Little Daniel’s face grew upset.

“Want Maxy.” he folded his arms to his chest and Max rolled his eyes and sighed.

“I’ll get Maxy.” He left the room to grab the cushion he’d tried to hide while Little Daniel was brushing his teeth. The cushion that marketing had given him as a gag gift and he’d kept hidden away until Little Daniel saw it and fell in love.

He looked at the silver sequins and brushed them all in an upwards direction to see his own face staring back at him. He couldn’t lie, he felt a little happy that Daniel had wanted his likeness to make him feel safe while he slept. Daniel in every version was his favourite person, he hoped the inverse was true. 

He walked back into the guest room brandishing the cushion, melting at how Little Daniel’s face quite literally cracked open with joy and Max felt that warmth in his chest that people always talk about. Something something his heart outside of his body.

Little Daniel hugged the pillow close, uncaring about the sequins then looked up at Max with his wide adorable honey eyes.

“Can you read me a story?” Daniel nibbled the corner of the cushion. “Pweese. Mummy always does.”

“Of course, what kind of story?” Max sat on the edge of the bed, Little Daniel scootched over then looked pointedly at the adult sized space beside him. Max shook his head fondly at how demanding Daniel was for affection in every form, and leaned against the head of the bed. 

“A racing story!” Little Daniel cuddled up to Max’s side under his arm.

“Of course.” Max tickled Little Daniel’s side and the boy giggled loudly. “Ahmm.” Max looked to the ceiling for a moment.

“Ok, I’ll tell you the story about how a honey badger won a race.”

“What's dat?” Little Daniel looked up at him with curious eyes. Max ran a hand through his hair.

“It's a lovely animal that isn’t scared of anything. It's cute and cuddly but then it's fast and protective.”

“Like you?” Max felt that cute aggression again, warring with the puddle he wanted to melt into. 

“Like you!” Max announced, enjoying Little Daniel’s shock.

“What aminal is Maxy?” Little Daniel fingered a few of the sequins.

“I’m a lion.”

“Lions go rawr!” Little Daniel offered sagely.

“Lewis is a panther, I think.” Max said.

“What sounds do they make?”

“I think they go rawr too.”

“What aminal is Shaarrllll?”

Max thought for a second. “I dunno, maybe a mouse.” He tickled Little Daniel and he shrieked a laugh. 

They eventually settled and Max started telling Little Daniel the story about how the Honey Badger won the race. He kept his voice soft and even and ran his hand steadily through the little boy’s hair.

“And then the panther and the lion crashed just as the honey badger drove past them to cross the finish line.” Max looked down to see Little Daniel’s face slack with sleep, tucked into Max’s waist. With a fond smile, he tucked Little Daniel into the sheets, making sure the pillows he placed to line the edge of the bed were still secure. He left the bedroom, pulling the door almost closed leaving just enough space to let in the light from the hallway.