Chapter Text
Mark knows people find Oscar annoying, they avoid taking care of little Oscar because he is too big responsibility. They prefer Lando because Lando can feed himself, he can play on his own and wears only pull-ups, Lando is simply less handful. On the other hand, when Oscar regresses, he falls deep, so deep that he is a baby. A needy and helpless baby who cries when daddy leaves him alone for a minute and Mark still loves every second of the time they spend together. He doesn’t mind changing messy diapers or getting up in the middle of the night because the baby needs another bottle of formula. No, because when Oscar looks at him with his innocent eyes full of love, Mark feels like the luckiest man alive.
Little Oscar doesn’t like baths, but because today they did a little craft project involving finger painting, a bath is mandatory. Mark takes Oscar’s dirty T-shirt off and soaks it in the sink, he will wash it later. The fabric is covered with colorful prints of Oscar’s short fingers, but it’s an old T-shirt so it doesn’t matter if it’s ruined. He cleaned Oscar with couple of wet wipes, he got the worst mess off of his hands and now the baby sits on the thick bathroom mat wearing only a diaper. Oscar sucks on his pacifier, it’s his favorite one - white with a red firetruck on the shield - and patiently watches daddy running a bath. Oscar curls his sticky fingers and whines. Daddy is taking too long!
Mark stops the faucets and drops a bath bomb in the warm water. The bathroom is filling with the scent of oranges and Mark leans down. Oscar’s diaper is mostly dry and Mark rolls it up before picking the baby up. Oscar kicks his legs and water splashes everywhere, but Mark is happy to seeing his baby so cheerful. The race in Baku didn’t go well for Oscar, he was sad and called himself stupid and useless so Mark did everything to cheer him up and now look at him. Little Oscar is laughing while pushing a few rubber ducks around the bathtub. Mark grabs a washcloth while Oscar splashes around. Mark is gentle, only slow moves are allowed around baby Oscar because he gets spooked very easily.
“Splish splash. You like this? Are you my happy baby?”
Oscar smiles behind his pacifier and looks up at daddy. The biggest problem with little Oscar is easy - he is nonverbal. Is he cold, thirsty, wet, hungry or bored? Mark has to guess if he doesn’t want the little one to cry.
Their hotel room is set, a crib is standing only two steps away from Mark’s bed and he already unfolded a changing mat on the bed. Once Mark deems Oscar squeaky clean, he drains the bathtub and wraps a big towel around the boy.
Oscar is becoming sleepy. He had so much fun today, daddy spent the whole day with him and he even had an ice cream. Oscar burrows in the warm towel and tries to cling to daddy like a baby koala, but Mark knows better. If he doesn’t diaper Oscar very soon, he will end up soaked in pee. Oscar whines when daddy lies him down on the bed, he reaches his arms toward his caregiver, but Mark only hands him his big teddy bear. Oscar starts whining and soon he sobs as if Mark is hurting him. Mark hurries, he smooths the diaper across Oscar’s tummy and closes the tabs before grabbing a long sleeved onesie. Oscar is feeling wriggly but Mark knows how to work with a restless baby so he is soon closing the snap buttons on the crotch and finally picks Oscar up. The little quickly wraps one arm around Mark’s neck and clings to him as if Mark left him alone for hours. He quickly bounces Oscar in his arms, the crying slows down and Oscar whimpers.
“I know, daddy is so bad for diapering you.”
Oscar sniffles as if agreeing with him and Mark chuckles. A bottle of warm milk is already sitting in the bottle warmer and Mark grabs it before sitting down on the bed. He makes himself comfy - feeding Oscar can take everything between 10 to 40 minutes - and then pulls Oscar in his lap. The baby grips his teddy bear and allows daddy to place his head in the crook of his arm. Oscar wriggles in Mark’s lap to make himself comfy and squirms his legs until daddy gets the message and covers his legs with a blanket. Only then he lets go of his pacifier which dangles on the pacifier clip and opens his mouth. Oscar immediately latches on the bottle, he sucks and bites on the rubber nipple so hard that Mark has to pull it away from his mouth a few times, otherwise Oscar would give himself a serious tummy ache. Once Oscar dries the bottle, Mark carefully sits him up and pats his back until the little one burps. Oscar is quickly falling asleep, the warm bath and a bottle of milk always help.
Mark slowly lies him down in the crib, Oscar whines a bit but then the pacifier is slipped back between his lips and he settles down again. Mark tucks him under a blanket while Oscar hugs his teddy bear close to his chest. The sleepy baby is watching his daddy who silently moves to close the curtains and then comes back to massage his tummy. Oscar softly gurgles behind the pacifier, as if he is saying thank you to daddy for taking care of him and Mark ruffles the boy’s soft hair before pressing a soft kiss on his forehead.