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It hasn't been easy for little Mischief. He used to be a "suave" and "roguish" international criminal with a cavalier attitude, and now here he is on another world of talking anthropomorphic animal people, as a baby that has just learned how to toddle, under the loving and ever watchful eyes of his new "Mommy" and "Daddy". He might have an easier time manipulating them, if they weren't fully aware of his previous life. So when he does things like escape from his crib and playpens, swipe wallets, set up a soda speak-easy at daycare, and even hotwired the family car; they weren't too surprised. Not believing in spanking, they have come up with more... "creative" methods for correcting his flagrant delinquent behavior. Like adorable and more "feminine" outfits, or leaving him at the mercy of his slightly older cousin, Emma, who excitedly views Mischief as a surrogate baby sister to dress up, have tea parties with, and even practice using make-up when her Mommy is distracted. (In my quest to better my arting, I drew some inspiration from Reva_the_Scarf 's style! I feel I am getting closer to making my own style something I feel more confident about!) I decided to go back and touch up my pic with my first ever attempt at cell shading! It's not perfect, but I'm feeling proud! ❤️

Hey everybody! So excited to bring this chapter to you all! This story was inspired by an RP that is just so much fun, I just had to share it! Please feel free to leave a comment or review! The Misadventures of Thunder Bunny (Chapter 1) by Panther Cub As Jessica zipped up her suit, she couldn't help but beam with excitement. She looked into her full body mirror to see a grey-furred bunny in a pink and black leather jumpsuit, complete with a pink and black domino mask. "Thunder Bunny is here to save the day!" She said with a giggle, before taking a second to compose herself. Not wanting to waste anymore time, she opened up the window to her apartment, and leapt out. She channeled her ability and fired off a sonic boom that propelled her towards her destination, Zeta City's First National Bank. With a soft thud, Jessica looked up, now standing in front of Zeta City's First National Bank. So far, she had arrived before any law enforcement, but she knew that they wouldn't be too far behind, what with the Hero Association having deployed her first to deal with the supervillain inside. Jessica had read the file on the individual known as Mother Goose. The villain was pretty new, with very scarce info on her. Just that she was a female white-feathered avian. So Jessica approached the front doors with caution. She entered, looking around with her guard up. She saw the hostages, what appeared to be all of them. They were all unconscious... and she noticed a few of the sleeping bankgoers sucking their thumbs. Jessica moved in further, smelling the faint scent of baby powder. Before she could do anything about them, she heard a voice behind her. "Well now, aren’t you the cutest little thing I’ve seen." Whipping around, Jessica saw Mother Goose, dressed in her iconic light green Victorian style dress, complete with a green felt hat and large white ribbon, and parasol, and a black domino mask. Standing next to the large goose was a rather short tan-furred mouse woman. She was dressed as a maid with a pair of glasses over her own domino mask. The mouse was checking her clipboard. "We have some time in the schedule to allow for some witty banter with the superheroine, around two minutes." The mouse then returned to grabbing the duffel bags, resuming stuffing stacks of cash into it. "Thank you very much," Mother Goose nodded to her apparent side-kick. She turned to face the rabbit. "Before we begin our 'witty banter', I believe we should introduce ourselves. I am Mother Goose, and this is my faithful associate, Nanny. And who may you be, young lady?" "I'm Thunder Bunny. Now, are you gunna give yourselves up, or are we gunna have to do this the hard way?" Jessica smirked as she cracked her knuckles. Mother Goose tut-tutted and wagged a feathery finger in Thunder Bunny's direction, before glancing to the mouse maid. "Think we can schedule giving her a lesson on proper etiquette?" "Absolutely, ma'am, but we'll have to make short work of her." "You can stop speaking like I'm not even here," Jessica said, placing a paw on her hip, "For someone speaking about proper etiquette and all that noise, that's pretty damn rude of the both of you." "Please don't interrupt, dear. The grown ups are talking." Furrowing her brow, always having hated it when people treated her like a child, especially prevalent due to her younger-looking appearance, Jessica huffed and said "The hard way it is then," before raising her left paw and firing off a sonic boom at the two. Getting knocked to the ground as it hit the wall, Mother Goose looked at her assistant and nodded, reaching into her outfit and pulling out a gas mask and tossing a canister to Nanny. With a nod, Nanny pressed a button on the side of the canister and lobbed it at Thunder Bunny, donning her own gas mask. Jessica was about to blast it back, when it went off in a massive white puff of smoke. Jessica started to sneeze and cough, squinting her watering eyes in the direction of the two. The goose stood back up, walking over to the bunny as the powder cloud did its work on her. "Well, this wasn't how I imagined tonight would end, but on the bright side..." She leaned in as Jessica began to get weak in the knees, her head starting to spin. "... I nabbed me a little cutie like you." Jessica mentally cursed herself for letting herself be caught off guard, feeling oddly weak in her limbs. She then had a sudden thought, and clapped her paws together, creating another boom, this one clearing the cloud around her. Shakily, she tried to stand up straighter, but her legs buckled and she sank to her knees. "That's the last of the money," Nanny said, carrying three duffle bags over her shoulder, stopping down and grabbing another two, not showing the least bit of strain. Mother Goose smiled while she removed the mask, as she saw the hero was struggling to stand. She knelt down to her level, looking the hero in her eyes as she put her wings on her shoulders. "Aww, is someone getting sleepy? Don't worry, we'll take good care of you from now on, Thunder Bun." Out of reflex, she tried to shake off the wing-hands and tried to fire another sonic boom, but was quickly blacking out, still coughing. Mother Goose chuckled and rummaged through the big pink purse she was carrying, pulling out a white rectangle, which she quickly unfolded. Thunder Bunny's eyes went wide as she saw that it was a diaper. "Just relax, sweetie. You don't have to worry, you're in good hands," She said as she began to unzip the superhero's suit, getting the bunny ready. Jessica tried, desperately, to remain conscious, especially when she felt her suit being removed, exposing her sports bra and white panties. She squeaked after her legs came free from the leather, and then felt her panties being pulled off. She certainly did NOT like where this was going. Mother Goose rubbed the bunny's back as she soothed her, gently making her lie down. "There, there, sweetie. Just let me handle this from now on," She said, putting the suit and underwear in a pile next to her, in front of the Nanny, who pulled out a blue vial that she quickly uncorked. She poured the liquid on the pile of clothes, blue smoke coming off it immediately. Soon, it had all melted as a hole started to burn through the floor. Jessica whined and tried to kick her legs free from the goose's grasp, but was far too weak. Just as she blacked out, she felt something being shoved into her mouth that she tried to spit out, but found she wasn't able to. Mother goose smiled, popping a pacifier in the rabbit's mouth as she finished taping the diaper around her waist. There were little cartoon money bags and dollar signs on the diaper. "There you go, honey. Now you're properly dressed," she said, rubbing the padded hero's tummy. She looked up to the mouse. "So, think we can make a schedule for her?" "Of course, Ma'am." Jessica heard the words as though they were coming from far away, as everything went dark. Please don't let the news get video of me in a diaper... she thought, before the darkness swallowed her. * * * Jessica slowly started to come to. There was something in her mouth, but she wasn't sure what. She opened her eyes and blinked, letting the darkened room she was in slowly come into focus. She looked around herself, seeing what looked like bars. She wondered if she was in some kind of a cage, but wondered what kind of cage doesn't have a top. And there was something dangling above her, slowly rotating. Jessica faintly recognized the object above as a mobile, with plush carrots, slowly rotating. Jessica sat up, it taking all of her effort to do so, still feeling out of it, and felt something squishy between her legs. Before thinking to investigate underneath the soft pink blanket that covered her lower half, she looked around the room. She saw what looked like a set of drawers with a large padded table on top. She spotted some kind of a night light in the corner, where there was a surprisingly large rocking horse. The walls were all a soft pink. This looks like some kind of giant nursery... Jessica thought to herself, unaware that she was absentmindedly sucking on the pacifier still in her mouth. She threw off the blanket to reveal that she was wearing a pink t-shirt with some writing on it, a pair of childish pink booties, some pink mittens that appeared to be locked on her paws, and of course, a large and soaked diaper. Not a medical adult diaper. No, her eyes started to go wide at the sight of the baby diaper with baby-block letters spelling out "Little Stinker" across the waistband. Before Jessica could properly react to anything that was going on, be it where she was, what she was wearing or even the fact she had apparently wet herself, her train of thought was cut off by the distinctive sound of a door opening. Jessica, wobbly, stood up in the crib, holding onto the top of the rail, and looked towards the sound of the door. She was still sucking her binky, completely unaware. The door creaked open all the way, and two figures, a familiar goose and a mouse, stepped in. "Aww, hello there, sleepy head. Did you have a nice nap?" The goose asked in a condescending voice. "Modew Goof!" Jessica lisped due to her binky, pointing an accusatory finger at the goose. Hearing herself, she crossed her eyes, saw what she was sucking on, and spit it out. "You are under arrest!" Unable to help giving off a chuckle, Mother Goose simply put her wing on her hip, a smile on her beak. "Oh? Miss puddle pants is taking me to jail?" She asked, pointing her free hand between Jessica’s legs. "Now, it's not playtime yet, sweetheart. We need to get you changed." Jessica looked down, and let out a squeak, seeing the yellowed front of the droopy diaper. She pulled up the blankie to try and hide it. Nanny entered, smirking, and with a dry tone asked "Would you like a diaper change, Thunder Bunny?" "That's it!" Jessica said, taking a fighting stance and summoning her power. "Ah, ah, ah," Mother Goose said, wagging a finger. "Aren't you forgetting something, Thunder Bunny?" At that, she glanced to her assistant, who grinned. Before Jessie's eyes, she reached into that bag hanging from her hip, and pulled out something, letting it hang from her index finger. After a few moments, Thunder Bunny realized what she was looking at. "M-my mask," Jessica said, falling back on her padded bottom with a light squish, stunned, and feeling her face flush. The goose nodded, and approached the crib, stopping at the gate and looking down at the padded hero. "That's right, Thunder Bunny. It's your mask. And you know what that means, right?" She said, giving a smile. "W-what?" Jessica asked, sounding small, unaware of the Nanny approaching from behind and quietly lowering the bars. Mother Goose just kept smiling. "Yes, sweetie pie..." She paused, just long enough for the Nanny to reach into the crib, grab Jessica under her arms and pick her up. "We need to get you a clean diaper right away!" Mother Goose finished with a cheerful smile, as Nanny turned her in her arms. Jessica let out another surprised squeak, amazed at how easily the Nanny could lift her up, like she was an actual toddler, and then immediately tried to resist and squirm out of her grip. The mouse simply shook her head. "Don't squirm." She turned to a large changing table in the corner. "All you'll do is make yourself more uncomfortable." Giving a small grin, she added. "And we don't wanna let Thunder Bunny get a diaper rash." "I don't need this diaper, you sicko! Now let me down before YOU make this arrest worse for YOURSELF!!!" "Oh my," Mother Goose interjected, following close behind the pair. "Seems like she's getting fussy." Smiling, she held up another pacifier similar to the one Jessie spat out earlier. "Don't worry, I have exactly what you need!" And before the bunny could say anything, the goose shoved the rubber into her mouth. Jessica's grunts were quickly silenced as some strange instinct kicked in. She instantly began suckling. Her struggles tapered off, and her body went limp, a sense of calm spreading through her body. "Awww." Mother Goose cooed, as Nanny placed the rabbit on the changing table. "There we go, don't you feel better sweetie?" Jessica knew that what was happening was wrong, but couldn't bring herself to fight against it. "I'm a big giwl." Giggling, the motherly villain booped Jessie's little pink nose. "Of course you are, honey." She reached down, and gently gripped her ankles. "But for now, just suck on your paci, Thunder Bunny." She lifted up her legs, and the Nanny reached up and gripped the tape on the front of the plastic. "You'll be clean before you know it." Jessica weakly tried to struggle as her diaper was opened and removed. She jumped a little at the feeling of the baby wipes, but could do nothing. She teared up a little as she smelled the baby powder, and felt herself being lowered on the fresh diaper. Mother Goose hummed as the new fresh diaper was brought up, the big baby bunny's fluffy white tail being brought through a tiny tail hole in the back, and finally taping the soft plastic in place, securing it to the hero's waist. "There we go, honey." She brought a feathered hand up, cupping it against Jessie's cheek, looking into her eyes. "Now was that so bad?" Jessica wanted to jerk her head away, but could only obediently shake her head no, confirming that it was not so bad, instead of what she really wanted to convey. Nanny gave a smile, and reached up to rub Jessie's tummy. "See, Thunder Bunny? A diaper change was exactly what you needed." "I down need diapews," Jessica insisted, sucking on her binky still. "No?" The nanny asked, standing next to Mother Goose while holding up the now balled up used diaper. Mother Goose was reaching down for the big baby. "Then why were you so soggy when we came in, hmm?" "You dwugged me!" Jessica said, struggling as she was scooped into the wings of Mother Goose, who carried her out of the nursery, beginning to bounce the distressed bunny. Walking down the hall with her charge firmly in her arms, Mother Goose looked down. "Sweetie, you needed to take your medicine, so that you could get all better." "Wiar!" Jessica said before spitting her binky back out, unaware that the Nanny deftly caught it, tucking it into her apron pocket. Mother Goose simply shrugged, opening the door into another room. "We can talk about that later. But for now." She brought Jessie up, looking her in the eyes. "Are you hungry, sweetie?" Jessica's stomach rumbled, just as she started to struggle. "This is humiliating! And you will let me go right now!" Ignoring her protests, Mother Goose sat the bunny down in a chair, which the Nanny swiftly brought a little table in, attaching it to the chair and locking Jessie's arms to her sides. "I heard your tummy rumbling, cutie pie. Let's get you some num-nums!" Jessica tried to summon her powers, but her humiliation kept throwing her off and preventing her from concentrating. She didn't notice the pink bib gently tied around her neck. Nanny smiled as the bib settled nicely against her shirt, and went to the cabinets as Mother Goose pulled up a chair in front of Jessie, sitting down so she was eye level with the bunny. "Now, be honest with me, honey," she said in a serious tone, before just as quickly shifting back to that friendly one. "What's your favorite food? Any flavor you like?" "I'll never talk!" Mother Goose tilted her head, glancing over at Nanny, who was returning the look, her hands over two green jars as she waited. She returned her gaze to the fussy rabbit. "Sweetie, it's a simple question. What do you like to eat?" Jessica bit her lip, loathe to tell her enemy anything. Weighing her options, she rolled her eyes and relented on this insignificant detail at least. "Strawberries." Nanny nodded, putting the green jars back and instead grabbing a soft red jar, closing the cabinet. Mother Goose smiled, and softly pat Thunder Bunny on the head. "There we go, was that so hard?" "Yes..." Jessica said, petulantly. The goose just giggled in response, as Nanny prepared the food, pouring it into a bowl. "Let's just get you a full tummy, okay sweetie?" "Let's just have you two surrender peacefully, and I will go easy on you!" Mother Goose once again ignored her comment, as a small bowl was placed on the high chair table. Mother Goose gave her assistant a smile as she took a spoon from the mouse. "Thank you, miss Nanny." The evil assistant simply nodded and curtsied as the motherly villain returned her attention to the hero, who was looking at her food. "No way am I eating that," Jessica said defiantly. "But it's strawberries, honey." She put the spoon into the mush, scooping it up and holding it up. "Nanny got this just for you." Jessica clamped her mouth shut, blushing at this infantile treatment. The spoonful of strawberry mush slowly began to approach her mouth, as Mother Goose said. "Open up, sweetie. The choo choo train needs to get through the tunnel!" Jessica turned her head away, determined not to give in... yet, when the spoon, smearing some of the mush on her cheek, touched her lip, her mouth opened up and accepted it. Her body quickly swallowed, much to her surprise. It was strawberry and tasty, but felt gross. Yet, she couldn't stop herself. "That's a good girl," the avian praised, as Nanny started making something behind her. The goose scooped up another spoonful of the mush, and playfully made more train noises as she once more approached the hungry bunny's mouth. Once again Jessica tried to resist, smearing some more on her face... and still accepted and swallowed the baby food. She was blushing as she started to accept spoonful after spoonful. This interaction continued for some time, Nanny watching with a bemused expression as she poured a warm substance into a bottle, and attaching a rubber nipple to the glass. Finally, after what seemed like forever to the bunny, the last scoop was made, and for what was hopefully the last time, it approached her mouth. Feeling oddly full, Jessica didn't try to resist, and obediently accepted the spoonful of mush, her body still automatically swallowing it. Mother Goose was practically beaming as Jessie swallowed the last of her baby food. "There's my sweet baby girl!" Setting the spoon and bowl on the actual table, she undid the latches, put the highchair table down and picked her up. "But you did get awfully messy... oh well, we can fix that soon. For now, I think you wanna wash down your yummy food with a nice drink, right?" she asked, taking the bottle from Nanny, who gave the bunny a smile and a wink. Feeling lethargic, Jessica turned her head away as the rubber nipple of the bottle approached. Once again, when it touched her lips, her mouth opened and accepted it. Her body latched down and started nursing it, while also relaxing, despite her trying to fight it. Both of her hands grabbed the bottle, but simply to hold it securely, not throw it away. Mother Goose beamed, cradling the bunny as she suckled on the bottle, gently grabbing the back of her head and rocking her back and forth. "That's it, sweetie..." she said in the gentlest voice possible. "Drink your baba. You love your baba." Jessica gulped down the liquid inside. It was creamy and sweet and, as much as she hated to admit it, it tasted pretty good. Soon, she suckled down the last drop, and felt herself being shifted in Mother Goose's arms. She was looking over the large goose's shoulder, noticing a folded hand towel over said shoulder. She felt a pressure in her stomach and lower stomach and groaned a little. Then came the gentle back pats. After a few pats, Jessica unleashed a massive burp, spitting up a few drops of the milk. Despite the humiliation of being burped like a baby, she was at least glad that the pressure was gone, completely unaware that she had simultaneously burped and filled her diaper. Both of the villains gave a knowing smile. Mother Goose gave the bunny a gentle back rub, from between her shoulders all the way down to just above her tail. "There we go, honey-bunny. Don't you feel better now that you had your num-nums?" "When I get free, I'm gunna take you both down," Jessica said, trying to sound as dignified as possible. "They're so cute when they commit so dearly to their pretend superhero games," Nanny said with a wink. "You may have dressed me like a baby, and be treating me like one, but I am still Thunder Bunny, and I will bring you both to just--OMPH!" Jessica started with her heroic speech, only to be silenced by the rubber nipple of a binky. Just like with the bottle, her body was working against her will, and sucking on it as well as physically relaxing. The Nanny made a faux expression of realization. "Oh, that's right! You're Thunder Bunny!" Her face eased into a more smug look as she pointed at their captor's rear. "That would explain why you've made such a big boom boom, after all!" "Huh?" Jessica said around her binky, only now becoming aware of the smell. She teared up in frustration, before noticing that she was being carried somewhere. She saw the bathtub... and started to piece together what was about to happen. She couldn't fight back or voice her displeasure, however, due to the relaxing binky in her mouth that she greedily sucked on. "There, there, sweetie pie..." Mother Goose's comforting voice returned, continuing to rub her back as the maid went to start the tub. "Mama will get you out of that stinky diapee, then we'll get you nice and squeaky clean," She said, approaching a countertop in the surprisingly large bathroom. "Mmmmrrrr, nomama," Jessica managed to mumble out around her binky as she was laid down on the countertop, the mushiness in her diaper making her whine. Soon, her shirt was removed, leaving her in just her full diaper. "Hush now, baby, let Mommy and Nanny get you all squeaky clean." Mother Goose then hummed as she undressed Jessie, who only managed to weakly struggle, while Nanny began filling the tub with soapy water. Jessica couldn't believe it, here she was, having her messy diaper opened and her bottom wiped, about to be given a bath like a baby. It went quicker than she was expecting, but it was still humiliating. Being set in the water, scrubbed all over with shampoo for little kits, praised for being such a good girl. "Yow can't dow dis! Imma awwest yow!" she said around her binky as she was thoroughly scrubbed. Both of the villains giggled as they continued to scrub away at her. "For what? Making you act your age? For doing what a mommy should do?" Asked the goose. Jessica then found herself being rinsed off as the tub was drained. "I'm notta baby!" "Hush sweetie, just let Mommy and Nanny work." Jessica tried to speak, but instead squeaked as she was wrapped up in big fluffy towels, being rubbed down all over. She was then scooped into Mother Goose's arms, cradled in the towel. "I think another nap is in order," she said, looking to Nanny who simply nodded. "I think you're right, Ma'am. Maybe some more time listening to her special lullabies will do Thunder Butt some good," Nanny giggled, reaching over to pat Jessie on her toweled bottom, making her growl. Jessica's fur floofed out and was as soft as a little kit's, probably from the shampoo. She was then laid down on the changing table in the bathroom, despite her struggling. The nanny held down her arms, while Mother Goose took out a diaper looking identical to the messy one Thunder Bunny was taken out of earlier. Unfolding it, she lifted up her legs as she said, "Now, let's get you padded up again before you have another accident." "I'm gunna make yow pay fow dis!" Jessie insisted, trying to struggle. The bird looked her in the eye as she slid the padding under her rear, and lowered her legs down on it. "Sweetie. There’s plenty of time for you to play hero in a bit. Let mommy dress you up." "I'm nowt pwawin'!" Jessica tried to struggle and managed to spit out the pacifier.The nanny deftly caught the pacifier, but oddly enough, refrained from giving it back to her. Mother Goose simply gave a sly grin as she pulled the diaper up between Jessica's legs. "Sure you aren't, honey." Jessica struggled some more, sneezing from the scent of the baby powder. She then found herself being lifted up, her arms and legs pinned, in a cradled position in the Nanny's arms, as she was carried back into the nursery. Giving the bunny a smile, the mouse lightly tickled her tummy as she said, "Let's get you dressed, and then you can go right back to dreamland." "You monsters better enjoy this minor victory while it lasts, because too soon, you'll be sitting behind bars!" They both ignored her words, as the Nanny gave her back to Mother Goose. The bird sat down on a chair, placing the hero on her lap, wings on her hips keeping her in place, as Nanny held up the shirt she was wearing before her bath. "Okay, Thunder Bunny. Arms up, please." "I can dress myself!" Jessica insisted, before suddenly giggling and lifting her arms in response to having her sides tickled. Holding out the shirt, she lowered it over the giggling bunny's head, her ears poking out of the small top hole before her head finally fit through. Keeping her still, the mouse guided her arms through their respective holes, before the tickling finally stopped. Now taking out the bonnet, the maid asked as she began to tie it around Jessica's head. "There we go. That wasn't so hard, was it?" "Knock it off!" Jessica said as Mother Goose ceased the tickling, immediately trying to take the bonnet off. The mouse reached forward, picking her back up off the motherly bird's lap as she asked. "Do we need to give you mittens, hmm?" Jessica growled and continued to struggle. Giving her a look, the mouse said. "Right, missy. You asked for these." Passing her back to Mother Goose again, the mouse reached into her bag, and pulled out two bright pink, fuzzy mitten-like gloves, each with a little strap at the wrists. Just as Jessica realized what was about to happen, the goose gently, but firmly, grabbed her wrists, and held them out for the Nanny. Jessica whined and tried to break free, but the goose was too strong, and soon, the mittens were slipped over her paws, and locked into place. "There. Now, Ma'am, I say that we put the fussy little princess down for another nap, at least until she calms down." Mother Goose nodded, looking a little sad. "You're right." Mother Goose, cradling the fussing Jessie, hugged her close as she stood and walked over to the crib. She planted a gentle kiss on Jessica's forehead, which like her binky, had an immediate calming effect. Jessie, now limp, was laid down and tucked in, the mobile above starting to slowly spin. "See you in an hour, princess," Mother Goose said, looking down over the rails with Nanny. The mouse reached in and popped Jessie's binky back into her mouth. Jessie didn't resist, instead just suckling. Jessica sniffled and wiped her teary eyes, hating the idea of being put down in her crib for a nap, she listened intently to them exiting the room and shutting the door behind them. Once she got herself back under control, she checked to make sure that she was truly alone. Now that she wasn't thrown off her guard, she could focus. Internally, she felt her powers, and smirked, still sucking her binky. She let her power build in between her padded paws. Pointing up at the ceiling, she let loose a massive sonic boom ball that ripped her mittens to shreds, and smashed the entire ceiling and roof outwards, revealing the afternoon sky. Without waiting, and hearing an alarm bell start blaring, Jessica focused, and leapt, each leap a sonic boom, until she was outside, in the air, and booming away. Mother Goose entered the now roofless nursery of the old abandoned warehouse and smiled while looking up. "Phase one complete. And now on to phase two." She chuckled as she exited out of the nursery, pressing a button by the door. A side of the pink wall opened revealing a giant digital clock, counting down. Mother Goose calmly walked out of the building and climbed into a black limo that had been idling out on the street. Once the door was shut, the limo started driving off, just before the building exploded in a fiery ball. Inside the limo, Mother Goose removed her domino mask and smiled into her hand mirror, beginning to apply some blue eyeshadow. "I just cannot wait to have my cute little bundle of booming fluff come home with me. She's going to have so much fun in her real nursery," she said with a chuckle that slowly morphed into a classic villainous laugh. WOOO! And that was chapter 1! I really hope that you folks enjoyed it, and tune in next time to see what next shall befall our courageous and adorable heroine!

Hi all! I'm Snazzy. I'm a long-time lurker on the story forums. I recently wrote a story that I posted onto my FurAffinity page. I figured that I would share it here in case anyone was interested. I have also attached the PDF of the story since I know this is kind of long (67 pages on Google Docs). The Retrain System By: Snazzy It was that idle chatter between gossip. Casual conversation between friends about this and that. Carmella could check out a little bit when the topics retread old ground or didn’t involve her. But there was always something new and thoughtful. Or at least something fun to hear. Something to pique interest. She sipped her latte. It was too sweet. But it wasn’t worth harassing the barista about it. She liked to think that she only pulled out the “Karen” card when it actually mattered. The book club was nominally about books, but in reality was more of an excuse to have a girl’s afternoon. Yes she read the books. Or tried, anyway. Who has time to read a 450-page novel? Carmella tried her best to split the time between her work and her kids and her husband and her own attempt at a novel, but… Thinking too hard about how one spends their finite time on the planet never ends well. And that’s too much for a cafe conversation. “And what about Jake? Noah mentioned he had some trouble with…” That’s it. That’s the good stuff. Carmella got out of her own world, her wolf ears twitching. Having friends with kids around your own kids’ age had its benefits. Kamille, the fox of the group (both literally and physically), always seemed to be armed with the most interesting bits to chew on. “Oh well, it’s a little embarrassing. He was butting heads with one of the players on the soccer team and things got… It’s a bit sore. Jake’s a good boy but he’s at that age where he likes to make decisions without thinking. He’s suspended for the week.” Saundra, a middle-aged raven, rubbed her temples. There was more than enough empathy from the group. Every mother here knew the struggles. This was different from hot gossip; this was relatable gossip. The kind where bonds are formed rather than broken. “You know, I get it.” Daria, the bear who looked far too good for her age, chimed in first. “I remember back when I played volleyball there was this girl who just wouldn’t shut up about my serve. I wanted to serve it straight into the back of her head some games. There’s so much stress when you grow up. I can’t imagine all that time spent online helps with it.” ~STRESS~ That word… Carmella focused. Why does that word have so much meaning? Something about it resonates with her… “You blame everything on the internet, Daria.” “Well I’m just saying it can’t be good for you to grow up with-” “You’re literally scrolling through ChikChok right now!” That got an unexpected laugh out of Carmella, which then bled to the rest of the group. It’s nice when the mood is able to shift like that. The group conversation continued on discussing the difficulty of modern child-rearing. Jake’s unexpected outburst had Carmella a little introspective. Her own son, Lucas, was in his grade. They were both about to graduate middle school. Carmella thought she had done a decent job raising him. They were decently close. He had decent grades. He was even in a few advanced classes and was doing decently! But Daria was right about the stress of growing up. When she talked to Lucas it felt like he was being pulled in a million different directions. Once Carmella felt like she had a finger on the pulse of her child’s life, but now Lucas seemed so busy all the time. The homework, the school politics, the puberty, the clubs, the hobbies, the… everything. It was all so much. Maybe that was normal, but it didn’t feel good to see her child barraged and bothered. It was clear that he was frequently stressed and his stress filtered their relationship. There had been shouting matches where Lucas and his father, Ron, had just… Well, Saundra put it best: they butted heads. As a parent, Carmella felt like she was letting Lucas down by allowing that stress to get to him. It was clear that his mood was in constant flux. It used to be so much simpler. Carmella’s thoughts were interrupted by Kamille’s voice. “You know my sister tried out something odd recently.” The conversation had clearly taken a left-turn while Carmella was again thinking a little too deeply. “I’m curious if any of you have heard of it. My niece was part of a study that was recently published. My sister allowed her daughter to be put back into uh… diapers as part of it. Like the whole way. What? Don’t give me that look, I told you it was odd!” “Are you saying your niece was… what, just wearing diapers as part of a study?” “No, I mean, she was UNpotty trained. As in they followed some method that put her back into Pampers. It was part of some psychological study by the university.” “I have seen some posts about that,” Daria chimed in. “I thought it was a sex thing, but it’s been on some parenting blogs and a couple of family ChikChok accounts mentioned it. It’s supposed to be for stress-relief.” “I have a hard time believing that going back to diapers would somehow be less stressful,” Saundra concluded. “Well… Does it work?” Carmella felt the twinge of awkwardness as she realized this was her first actual contribution to the conversation in the last few minutes. “I mean, what did the study show? Hopefully it wasn’t all for nothing. That poor girl must be mortified.” “That’s what has me curious,” Kamille leaned in, setting her coffee on the table and eying the group. “According to the study, after the initial shock settled, every single participant saw an increase in test scores, socialization skills, and happiness indexes.” “Get the fuck out of here.” “Kamille is right. That’s what I read from the parenting sites. It’s some kind of counter-intuitive thing. Like, by removing a physical stressor from them, you allow their minds to cope with their environment, reducing their overall stress. I’m not sold on it,” Daria seemed smug in her ability to always know a little bit about everything thanks to being glued to her phone. ~STRESS~ There was that word again. Carmella was thoroughly bought into the conversation. “I wasn’t sold on it either until we had them over for a cookout over Memorial Day. That girl was like a changed person. She was so polite and well-spoken and seemed to have so much energy. I’ve known her all her life and she could be a real handful. It was wild. She was in three AP courses as a sophomore because of how improved her grades were last year. The girl had to repeat 6th grade and suddenly she’s interested in school!” “Do you think they could have replaced her with a robot? Or a clone? Did you ask to see her belly button?” Saundra gave a cheeky grin over to Daria. Some sort of inside joke Carmella wasn’t privy to, apparently. “Maybe! Who knows! Gods, it was so bizarre seeing her with a diaperbag. I almost walked in on her changing herself in the bathroom.” Kamille seemed bewildered, an emotion quite unlike her. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with all of the teen-sized diapers I’ve seen at the store, would it?” The group turned to Carmella. “I mean, I just noticed that the Farris Peeter had some actual diapers that look like they’re for older kids when I was buying groceries the other day. Maybe this is some kind of legitimate marketing push.” “Goodness. Well good luck to them, I suppose. Noah seemed pretty shaken when he found out his cousin was back in diapers. I can’t imagine many kids actually want something like that to happen to them.” “My Jakey would absolutely lose it if I tried that with him. How on earth are you supposed to tell your kids you’re just going to unpotty train them?” “I don’t think you do,” Daria had been looking at her phone and seemed to have found something. She shared the screen with the group. “Look, this is the page that was linked on the Pinstagram post. It’s some kind of auditory thing. The program is called ‘The Retrain System’. It’s like a tape that you listen to at first and then there’s steps after that. It’s a whole package.” Saundra cocked her head to the side as she looked at the, seemingly legitimate, webpage. Carmella saw her eyes scanning the screen, reading. The phone rotated around, revealing the site. It was an FAQ page about the process and based on the scroll-bar it seemed in-depth. Carmella spied one of the questions. How Invasive is the Process? The Retrain System has been specifically engineered to minimize obstruction in sleep schedule and daily activities among participants. The instruction course details tips and techniques to maximize the enjoyment and psychological well-being of participants. Participants will find the audio files relaxing and therapeutic. The reduction in stress has been shown[4][5][6] to outweigh any potential disruption caused by the physical elements of the system. The process is also easily reversible, allowing for participants to return to their base state upon removal of the environmental stressors. Studies[7][8] have found that- The page continued on but the phone was snatched away by Daria before Carmella could continue. ~STRESS~ So much emphasis on that word in that page… “Hey Kamille, didn’t you try something like this for smoking back in college?” Carmella was fascinated by this entire situation. “Ugh don’t remind me. I still get the stupid narrator voice stuck in my head like an earworm. ‘Place both feet firmly on the floor…’” The fox imitated the monotone voice from the file. “I mean, I don’t smoke cigarettes anymore, but I feel like that was different. You can’t out-willpower a fox!” “You certainly could if you needed your fix at a party…” Saundra side-eyed the fox with a smirk. “Oh hush, that was a totally different me. But yes, I did use something like this back in the day. I’m just flabbergasted that,” the fox lowered her voice, “diapers,” her voice returned to the normal volume, “are somehow the solution to teenage angst. I would be wholly against this entire thing if I hadn’t witnessed the results myself.” Carmella knew that Kamille was a reliable friend. She wouldn’t bring this sort of thing up with ulterior motives or without feeling strongly on the subject. It was clear that she was trying to get the room’s opinion before solidifying her own. “I know what you mean. It’s so odd, but the science seems to back it up.” Carmella pursed her lips in thought. “Maybe it’s worth considering. I mean, I know Lucas is doing alright but… he just seems so… stressed. Plus we’re going to have to start thinking about college soon. I want him to have the best possible chance he can have in high school. We all want that. I know you feel that way about Jake.” “Of course I do!” The raven put her winged hand against her chest. “It just feels a little extreme. What if I make his situation worse? What if… I don’t know, I can’t imagine the boys on the soccer team will respond well to it. I mean, goodness, can you imagine him running around on the field in a big diaper? Shaking his tail feathers?” The phone-obsessed bear had been glued to the screen, scrolling up and down, clicking on things as she found new links. “It says here that several diaper companies are expanding their lines for teens and young adults. Where was it… oh uh… active-flex? Active-fit?” Daria was squinting at the screen. “I can’t see, it’s in the background of this announcement photo. I guess they thought of that problem before you did, Saundra.” “How convenient.” “Sorry to bring all this weird stuff up, everyone.” Kamille raised her hands, signaling for the halt of the conversation. “I promise I’m not trying to pull you all into another referral marketing scheme. I still have too many vials of essential oils at my house for my comfort.” “I have NO idea how you talked me into that. You are such a saleswoman, Kamille!” “I thought for sure that it would take off. I mean I refer my friends and then you refer your friends and… anyways! Did you all happen to read the book this week? I finished chapter 35 two nights ago and WOW did it pick up!” Carmella appreciated the change in direction. It was clear that this wasn’t a cut-and-dry development and that the group wasn’t of a strong consensus. Something about this whole affair really resonated with her, however. Her lingering worries and concerns seemed perfectly solved by this Retrain System. And unlike Kamille’s pyramid scheme there was actual scientific evidence backing the whole thing up. Surely it couldn’t be that simple? Just put your kid back in diapers and all their problems go away? She would have to talk with Ron. -- Lucas exhaled as he disembarked from the bus and made his way to his house. He tugged on his shoulder straps and shifted the contents of his bookbag. It had been his last day of eighth grade. The last day of middle school. He should have been thrilled about it, but he felt like he was lucky to be graduating at all. The last few weeks had exposed a major issue: despite his claims otherwise, he had been extremely close to flunking his science class. When his teacher contacted his parents directly to alert them, his dad flipped out and made him redo all the tardy homework assignments. It wasn’t like he was intentionally trying to fail, it just felt like he was barely keeping his head above water with all of the homework he had already! And that teacher was kind of a bitch, honestly. Like, was it standard protocol at all to call up parents directly? That had to be some kind of violation of privacy or something. It really wasn’t such a big deal: Lucas was able to get the homework done in time and it was no harm, no foul. He would have done it without the shouting match with his parents. Probably. You know what makes you really productive when you’re trying to remember the periodic table of elements? Having your fuming dad over your shoulder every five minutes. Wow! What a fantastic study method. Definitely not scarred for life from the stress of doing a year’s worth of homework in three days. So here he was, definitely going to high school next year, but JUST barely. His friend Jake had it worse, for sure. His suspension a few weeks ago had put him way behind and it had really messed up the vibes in the friend group. At least all that garbage was behind them and they could spend the summer focusing on doing absolutely nothing. Lucas noticed that both his parents’ cars were in the driveway when he made it home. That’s odd. Normally Lucas was the first to arrive home since both his parents had jobs. Of course, his little brother prevented him from having the alone-time that he craved. But at the very least he could avoid conflicts with Mom and Dad for a couple of hours. Which seemed like they were becoming more frequent. “Lucas, wait up!” The gray wolf teen rolled his eyes as he heard his little brother Martin call out to him. He put his hands on his hips and turned in place. The little guy was running from his bus stop and boy he really just chose to wear all that Pikachu bling, huh? Pikachu shirt, Pikachu pants, Pikachu shoes, a Pikachu hat, and a Pikachu backpack. Lucas was no stranger to video games but he liked to think that he was at least minimally tactful in how he dressed himself. Martin, on the other hand, seemed determined to share his obsession with the world. It was almost, ALMOST endearing. “Wait up? I’m not going anywhere. We live together, lightning-butt.” “Don’t call me lightning-butt!” The little wolf screeched to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk. “Mom said it’s not nice to call me names!” “Your pants literally have a lightning bolt symbol on them. I can’t help that!” The two boys completed the rest of the journey together. Lucas didn’t mind being an older brother. But it just isn’t acceptable to give your little bro an easy time when they’re being a turbo dork. And what could possibly be more dorky than that PokeManiac outfit? The door was unlocked. Not too unusual if parents are home. What was a little unusual was that they weren’t out around the house. If Mom came home early she liked cooking dinner. Dad had a model-painting station that he liked to spend his time at. Yet neither Mom nor Dad were there. Actually, their bedroom door was closed. Lucas’ tail lowered and squinted as he set his bookbag by the front door. “Hey Martin, go grab me a water from the fridge.” “Why can’t you do it?” “Just go before I like vine whip you or whatever.” The teen wolf was overwhelmed with curiosity. Maybe Mom and Dad came home to have sex? No, that can’t be right. Lucas had caught them only once, but he was pretty sure they waited until after bedtime to do that kind of stuff. They weren’t getting a divorce were they? Like, why else would you want to talk with your spouse in the early afternoon? He quietly made his way to the bedroom. “-sure about this?” “The guidebook says it’s fully reversible if we’re unhappy with how it turns out.” “A month ago and I would have fought you on this, but I think you’re right. It’s so much-” “Here’s your water, catch!” Lucas had almost no time to react to the water bottle hurling at his face. Yet, if there was one thing a canine was good at, it was playing catch. With impressive speed the teen lifted his paw and intercepted the projectile. It felt pretty cool, which was outwardly obvious by his involuntary tail-wagging. When Lucas regained his focus, he realized that the conversation had quieted significantly. His cover had clearly been blown. Curiosity made way for concern. As mature as Lucas liked to style himself (he WAS about to be a high schooler, after all), he still had that childlike concern when something unknown was happening with his family. “Mom? Dad?” He put himself sideways and leaned, as if facing the door was too direct. “Oh! Just a moment sweetie, your father and I were discussing…” Muttering sounds, totally normal muttering sounds. “The mortgage!” “...is the mortgage ok?” “Yes! Better than ever! Uh, we’ll be out in a moment, just have to wrap up this paperwork.” A reversible… mortgage? Was that like that thing that happened to grandma’s house? Dad seemed pretty upset about it when he heard whatever that actually was was actually happening. So why would they want something like that? Something wasn’t adding up, but it was clear that Lucas wasn’t going to learn anything standing at the doorway. He could ask about it over dinner. -- “So you’re sure you don’t have anything outstanding that would keep you from passing?” Dad said between bites of pizza. This would normally be a celebratory pizza dinner for making it through another school year, but clearly Dad was skeptical after the science class mix-up. Previously, this kind of dinner would be in front of the TV while watching a movie or a show, but in the interest of “family bonding” Mom had declared that no screens were to be viewed while eating dinner. It led to a lot of awkward silence during dinner. “Yes Dad. I promise. You can call up Mrs. Macintosh again if you want her to tell you.” Lucas still wasn’t happy that she called his parents directly. “Ok. You cut it really close this year, kiddo. You’re headed to high school. That’s a big step up. A lot of your teachers won’t accept that kind of late work. They’re expecting you to stay on top of things and be responsible.” Lucas ate his pizza in silence. This wasn’t the first “oh things will be different in high school” speech he’d had lately. “Your mother and I… we just want what is best for you. We want you to be happy and not have so many… problems.” “Ron, let's talk about that after dinner. So, Martin, how was your last day? Any surprises?” “Yeah! We had a big pizza party and then watched a bunch of ChikChok videos that Mrs. Franklin pulled up. Mom, what does ‘we are running out the clock’ mean?” -- Lucas was on his way to his room when he heard his Dad behind him. “Hey, champ, let’s have a quick talk.” He turned, attempting to give his most neutral expression possible. His parents were quickly getting annoying with their constant lecturing and lesson-making. But it was better to endure them now and have a peaceful summer vacation. “C’mon, in your room.” Lucas ascended the stairs and opened the door. His room was not quite yet how he wanted it to be. It was still in that transitory phase between a child’s room and a proper teen’s room. He had slowly accumulated some items of interest. Posters for bands and games he liked. A TV with a Ycube Series R. A desk with a refurbished laptop. His twin bed was in generic blue sheets. Two years prior and it would have probably had something childish like Double Week on it. There was also the accumulation of laundry on the floor. However, his dresser was the same one that he had as a kid, with primary color knobs against the white paint scheme, giving it an immature tone. His old toy chest was under the windowsill, with several Lego sets stacked on top (that he still enjoyed from time to time). Small items that had been added to the room from past years still lingered, like his old metal little league baseball bat and glove that was no longer his size, or some of the art he had made in elementary school. It was a room that showed a young wolf with one foot in the mature future and one foot in the immature past. There was also a cardboard box on top of the bed, which had not been there previously. “Sweetie, we wanted to have a talk with you.” Lucas wasn’t expecting for his Mom to also be up here. But alright, fine, if they wanted to have another group talk, fine, lets get it over with. His Mom and Dad stepped in and closed the door behind them. His Mom sat at the foot of the bed and his Dad sat in his computer chair. Lucas joined his Mom on the bed. “We know this has been a tough time for you, these last few weeks. And we know that you worked very hard to make up those missing assignments. Your father and I are proud of you for doing that and you know that we love you very much. We want to make sure that when you go to high school, that things are a little bit easier for you.” “Easier?” Lucas cocked his head to the side, then looked from Mom to Dad. His Dad had a neutral expression, looking straight at him. It was difficult to read. “Yes, easier. We found a program that will help you to relax and unwind while you’re asleep. There have been a lot of… studies that show that this program is very effective in reducing stress in young adults.” “Oh. So… what, like meditation stuff? Is that what the box is for?” Lucas turned to the nondescript box with no markings on it. “Yes, exactly, that’s exactly right. It’s to help you maintain a better mental state and… There’s some other things that happen down the road that make it a whole experience. Like I said, it’s a full program. But it starts with something like nighttime meditation.” Lucas wasn’t against meditation. He had picked up a book on spirituality last year when the family took a mountain trip. It talked about that kind of thing. But it also talked about communicating with trees. And despite several attempts sitting at the base of trees, the young wolf never got that to work. Maybe being guided by a program could actually make something like that possible. Not the tree-talking stuff; the meditation. His father chimed in. “The whole point of this is for you to have fewer issues when you’re in high school. It’s… for your own good.” Huh. That certainly wasn’t ominous. Lucas quirked an eyebrow as he continued staring at the box. When parents say things like that, it’s normally a sign that something you’re not about to like is going to happen, he pondered. But if his parents seemed set on having him meditate while sleeping, that probably wasn’t the most painful experience in the world. “What is in the box?” “It’s a special white-noise emitter that helps you fall asleep quickly and stay asleep while the… uh… meditation system is running. It’s specially designed to be responsive to changes in the environment so you don’t get woken up. And you don’t need to fiddle with it like a stereo system. We’d like to set it up and get it working tonight, if you’re ok with it.” Both parents were looking expectantly at Lucas. It was a strange position to be in, and one that caused him to pause and reflect. His parents were proposing this thing that they clearly had spent money on, but they were waiting for his approval. Huh. Maybe they actually were respecting his autonomy after all. They weren’t forcing him into some agreement that he didn’t want. While Lucas wasn’t convinced this would be any different than his attempts at talking with trees, there wasn’t any harm in trying it! If it works, he gets a relaxing sleep. And if it doesn’t work, they return it back to Nile or whatever place they bought it from. “Alright. Sure! Let’s try it out.” -- Lucas laid in bed, taking in his surroundings. He had stayed up watching TV downstairs while his parents worked to install the new sound system for him. Apparently it wasn’t quite as out-of-the box as they were hoping. He heard a fair bit of discussion coming from the room and his parents stomping around in his territory. He’d helped Noah set up a speaker system for an old vinyl record player and it had been a lot more complicated than either of them initially expected. So maybe speakers just weren’t easy to get working in general. When the grand tour finally occurred it was somewhat underwhelming. Speakers in the four corners of the room pointed in the direction of the bed, plus some cylindrical device next to his bed that everything was plugged into. Lucas’ parents had wanted to get it under the bed, but it was just a tad too tall to fit. It wasn’t a huge deal. So long as he didn’t jump into bed backwards or something it would stay out of his way. The device was set to a timer. His Dad mentioned that there were some versions of the device that tracked whether you were in bed or not and shut off as soon as you got up. Maybe that was more immersive or something, but the system seemed fine as it was. And since they didn’t even know if this would be a permanent addition to his sleep routine, it didn’t make sense to splurge on the deluxe versions. As he was in bed, Lucas heard the speakers crackle to life, emitting a white noise. Thanks to the direction of the speakers, it was an astonishing experience. The white noise seemed to surround and envelop him. Like, it was different than just having a stereo on or headphones in. It was a three-dimensional sound that was difficult to describe. He could hear and feel subtle shifting of the white noise as it played around him. It was surprisingly entertaining. The dull static ebbed and flowed, like waves, crashing against him. There was a comfortable rhythm to the changing of the sounds. It felt safe and secure. A reliable, easy, sound that maintained his attention while not asking too much from him. It was really an incredible experience. He felt as if he was gently resting on a pool of water, his body shifting and drifting with the whims of the waves. A reassuring tranquility that varied just enough to keep him interested and invested in the sounds, but never strayed far from the simple, contemplative hum. Without any effort or resistance, he was asleep. And The Retrain System began. -- The first day of summer vacation was always the best. The stagnation of repeated free and lazy days had yet to set in. Daytime TV was a fun novelty rather than complete misery (although not that it mattered much, since streaming solved the problem of being stuck watching soap operas and weird talk shows). The pressures of homework and testing were behind and the anxiety of a new school year had yet to rear its head. As Lucas awoke and made his way to the bathroom to relieve himself, none of these thoughts were in his head. In fact, his mind was void of anything of note. Perhaps this was the mental freedom of waking up with absolutely nothing needed. Perhaps it was the meditation system his parents had installed actually doing its work. Perhaps it was the single-minded nature of the body declaring its needs to someone with a full bladder. No matter the reason, Lucas was unburdened by mental notions this morning. The teen wolf stood in front of the toilet and relieved himself. He relieved himself right into his boxers. The wolf's eyes shot open as he felt the heat blossoming into the crotch of his underwear, rivulets of warm pee dribbling onto the tile beneath him. He clinched his bladder shut and stemmed the tide, preventing this accident from growing. He had only been peeing for a few seconds but it was more time than he generally spent pissing himself. He cursed and examined the damage. The boxers didn’t do much to actually prevent streams of liquid from passing through them. The staining and wetness on his boxers came more from when the stream stopped and slowed and was allowed to run down his thighs. The light grey underwear was undeniably darkened at the crotch and clung to him with damp stickiness. What on earth had happened? Lucas sighed and shook his head, stripped from his stained clothes, and used them to mop up the liquid beneath him. It was a bizarre incident, but that’s all. This was no different than when you dribble after using the urinal. Just a temporary lapse in judgment following a good night’s rest. He threw the undies into the hamper and finished relieving himself as he intended. -- Lucas grabbed the milk from the fridge and started the assembly of his cereal. The key was to pour the milk INTO the bowl. Not a lot of people really understood that proper technique, but it made all the difference. He was the first one up, which was pretty surprising. Normally he was a late-sleeper on the weekends. It was pretty common for Martin to be down here playing one of the many, many, many pokemon games that he had access to. As much as it was frustrating to have him constantly up in his business, Lucas genuinely appreciated his little brother. And if that kid could figure out a way to monetize his love of those collectable creatures he’d be set for life… “How’d you sleep last night?” Lucas’ Dad was dressed in an old shirt from some bank fundraiser and gym-shorts, his hair still a muddled mess. The classic early lawn mowing outfit. His earbuds were in his paws, ready to begin jamming out to Big Spicy Capsicums. Dad was a textbook Pepper Man. “Pretty good! I kind of just passed out. I don’t know if the sleep system thing really helped or not.” Lucas finished pouring the milk and started devouring the cereal, leaving the carton on the countertop. “Well, hopefully it helps. Make sure you tell your mom and me how you’re feeling, ok? If it starts making you feel bad we can always get Nile to take it back.” He started walking towards the back door, placing his earbuds in. “Oh, milk goes in the fridge, bud. We talked about this.” The young wolf sighed out a “Yes Dad.” It’s such a victimless crime, like, the cows have the milk in them for how long? And that’s like room temperature, before it even gets pasteurized, which he learned from science class last year actually warms it up further… Grumble. Grumble grumble grumble. Door open, milk in, door shut. Grumble grumble. “Good man.” -- The rest of the day was basically perfect. Lucas played far more rounds of Summit Luminaries than he even wanted. Like the indulgence of playing a game so many times that he became sick of it somehow made it even better. It was probably what those Roman orgies were like. Just doing something pleasurable so many times that you get bored and disinterested, which then spurs you on because the taboo of becoming fatigued by things you crave feels so delicious. That is to say, having the time and freedom to completely waste a day on video games was the absolute best. He even got the chance to play some matches with his friends in his squad. “Any plans for the summer?” Noah, a fox and Lucas’ best friend, inquired. True to his nature he was always asking questions and snooping around. Lucas had previously heard his Mom get upset with Noah’s mom because she liked to gossip. Noah wasn’t quite so open with what he learned, which made him more like the group’s confidant. “I plan on doing literally nothing. Usually Mom and Dad do a beach trip, so that might happen. Uhhhh I’ll probably end up babysitting Martin. Dude dude dude behind you! NICE!” “Mom’s letting me do a soccer camp. No no no ahhhh dang it. I’m downed. But yeah like I was expecting Mom to have me on lockdown after I kicked Scott’s ass, but she’s been really chill.” “You did not ‘kick Scott’s ass,’” Noah chided. “You shoved each other and rolled around on the ground for a bit.” “No, no, I distinctly remember that he was crying afterwards because I beat the heck out of him.” “You were both crying!” Lucas chimed in and Noah laughed. Jake, a raven, clearly wasn’t happy with his side of the story being disputed. “Ok like, I don’t know why you guys are being shitty about this.” “It’s ok man, you run circles around Scott anyways. You shouldn’t waste your time on him.” Lucas was genuinely impressed with Jake’s talent, which was obvious even back when they used to play rec league soccer together. “Are you excited about the soccer camp? You’re trying out for the JV team right?” “That’s the plan! I don’t really know what to expect. Everyone makes it seem like high school is the big… ahhh damn it. Good try y’all. Yeah it’s like such a big deal to play high school sports. It’s exciting but… I hope this camp gets me an edge or something.” Lucas was about to speak up when he realized something. The conversation must have been so engaging or maybe he had been distracted by the game, but now that he was in the lobby loading a new match, he had to pee. Like he REALLY had to pee! “One sec, brb!” He heard talking on the other side of the headset but paid it absolutely no attention as he dashed over to the bathroom near his room. The door was closed and the sound of rushing water (just a great thing to hear when you have to pee) echoed from the other side. Shit. Martin must be in there. “Hey Martin, you almost done?” “Huh?” The water turned off and the younger wolf poked his head out. He was wearing a beanie with some fiery cat Pokemon that Lucas didn’t recognize. Lucas really hoped that Pokemon merch wasn’t coming out of his college fund. The teen wolf's hands were shoved involuntarily between his legs. “Are you almost done in the bathroom?” Lucas tried to ask as calmly as possible. “Y-Um…” Martin looked down just a little, noticing his brother’s legs contorting and his paws wedged into his crotch. He gave the biggest, toothiest, shit-eating grin back up to his brother. “Noooo, sorry, I was just washing my hands before I went-” Lucas bolted down the stairs, not even waiting for his brother to finish. He knew this game. Lucas knew that the door would shut and a series of unfortunate events would play out resulting in him never being able to use the bathroom. That little twerp. You do that to your little brother ONE TIME and suddenly the tables turn at the worst moment. It was almost, ALMOST something to be proud of him for doing. If it wasn’t happening to Lucas specifically, that was. The hallway bathroom was little brother-free and unobstructed by any other bizarre incidents, thankfully. The relief of emptying a full bladder can never be replicated through other means. It is an entirely unique experience resulting in a sublime mixture of relief and ache. The muscles themselves contract and pulse, yielding to the demands of the body. Their overinflated state gives them a sheer tension that upon release is almost too great. The body knows what must happen, and it must happen in a precisely controlled fashion. The endorphins flow through the body, rewarding the accomplishment of successful navigation of this hardship. It is like a runner’s high, if that high could come from flying too close to the sun with liquid intake. Lucas was too busy pissing to contemplate such things, but they were all still true. -- The next few days went by in a blur for Lucas. The nice thing about having a vacation was being able to do nothing, but the downside was that doing nothing causes time to fly by. The meditation system that had been installed was doing a great job at giving the teen some of the best sleep he’d ever experienced. It was actually a little bizarre that he was excited to go to bed thanks to the calming effects of the white noise. He wasn’t spending all day thinking about sleeping or anything weird like that. He just found himself yawning well-before midnight and made the responsible decision to head to bed rather than stay up. In return, he had been waking with the most fabulous restfulness. The catch, however, was that this restfulness came at the expense of his morning bladder. It was normal to wake up needing to use the restroom, but the intensity of the morning urge was notable. When he awoke, it was a mad dash to the toilet that resulted in some extremely close calls. The incident with his underwear at the start of vacation was enough to get him to take care before peeing. He would center himself and run through the checklist of things to do. He’d pull the seat up. Then pull down his boxers. Then aim carefully. Then go. He was adamant about not repeating that embarrassment from earlier. The daytime urgency was also a continued event. It seemed like he was constantly getting so absorbed by whatever task he was focusing on that he would have to sprint down the hall to barely make it in time. The strangest thing about all of this was that Lucas found himself unable to view this change as odd. Yes, he was going to the bathroom with an aching bladder and it always seemed to be resolved just barely in the knick of time. But he was still making it to the bathroom. Nothing bizarre about that. He was just getting wound up with his attention sighted on other things. That’s fine, it happened to everyone. At no point did he even begin to make any connection between the newly installed speaker system and his potty urgency. Why would those two things be related in any way? -- “Why are you staring at me like that?” Lucas noticed that his brother was giving him an odd look. They were next to each other in the booth of a local chain dining restaurant, Diamond Thursdays. It was pretty fantastic, at least to him and his brother. For some reason his parents always seemed reluctant to eat here. Lucas didn’t get it. They had great chicken tenders and mozzarella sticks. That was the complete food package. “You’re squirming in your seat. It looks like you’re potty dancing,” Martin said in between bites of appetizers. “Martin, don’t talk with your mouth full,” his mother admonished. “He’s right though. Do you have to use the restroom, Lucas?” Lucas was genuinely confused. He hadn’t noticed that he was shifting in his seat, moving back and forth, with his legs intertwined. It was like he completely glossed over the physical state of his body. But now that he was made aware of his condition it was plainly obvious that he really, really, REALLY had to pee! “Yes! Oh crap, yes. Martin, move please!” His brother was taken aback by the sudden urgency. He wasn’t expecting to have to move so soon and was just curious about why Lucas was moving around in his seat. But he complied and stepped out of the booth. The whole time being pressured by Lucas to “move move move move!” The teen wolf scrambled into the dining room and nearly connected with one of the waitresses, who had to make an emergency rotation to avoid having her tray of drinks upended. There was a shout from behind him as he located the restroom hallway. It was one of those situations where the interior decorator made the strange decision to mark the rooms with non-descriptive terms in an attempt to be cutesy. One sign was a fish. The other sign was a sandal. What the fuck was that supposed to indicate? Lucas picked the one his muscle memory led him to, hoping that he wasn’t about to awkwardly barge in on a bunch of ladies. Thankfully he picked correctly, as an empty bathroom with a row of urinals greeted him. He staggered over and let loose. It was such an extreme release of pressure that he was actually whimpering as the pee flowed out of him. He could feel the physical relief washing over him. A tangible warmth, spreading out from his groin and draining downwards. His eyes were closed as he shuddered and placed a hand against the wall, bracing for this monumental effort. It felt so, so, so ridiculously good to get it all out. It was like he was being rewarded with a matching sensation of glow on the outside to match the pleasure of allowing his bladder to finally empty. Lucas was panting. That felt incredible. It was totally worth being called out by his little brother about doing the potty dance in the booth. He opened his eyes and lowered his hand onto the urinal handle and flushed. The wolf went to wash his hands, eager to return to devouring mozzarella sticks. As he spied the mirror, his reflection seemed off. Something wasn’t right here. He checked his hair, his fangs, his shirt. All fine, nothing noteworthy. His pants, on the other hand, were magnificently stained, glistening with wetness. The denim had darkened in a patch that originated from his crotch and spread down both pant legs. Down into his socks. He studied the mirror in disbelief, then looked down at himself, placing a paw over the stained crotch and tracing it along the inside seam. He pulled his paw back and confirmed that it was really, truly wet. He looked back at the urinal, perhaps expecting some freak plumbing issue to explain the situation, but was shocked to find a puddle beneath where he once stood. This couldn’t be happening. He had been so careful before. He always followed the rules. Check the seat, pull down your pants, aim, go. He… he hadn’t even bothered to pull down his pants. At all. He had totally missed one of the most critical steps and had somehow remained oblivious to it! The last time this sort of thing happened he was immediately woken from his stupor by the feeling of wet warmth on his body. But this time he had completely emptied his entire bladder into his pants and hadn’t even noticed until well after the fact! It was unbelievable. Something… something must be wrong. He must be feeling sick or something. That’s the only explanation. Lucas wouldn’t just go around wetting his pants for no good reason. He’s had eleven years of experience making it to the potty without any incident! Wait… wasn’t that… good? Lucas ran his hands along the inside of his jeans, attempting to rationalize this incident. He had such a long, unbroken streak of making it to the potty every single day, multiple times a day without any problem. Hundreds, thousands of times executed perfectly. This was a singular incident. If you compared this accident to the sheer volume of successes, this would be so inconsequential that it would be some kind of anomaly. That’s it. It’s an anomaly. Just a random blip that could happen to anyone. Sometimes basketball players miss free throws despite practicing them over and over and over again, and no one bats an eye when that happens. Sure, people want you to make it to the basket, but if you don’t, it’s not the end of the world. Wetting his pants was JUST like that! It was so minor and meaningless that it was barely even worth worrying about. So what he had peed his pants without even noticing? That was no reason to make a big deal out of it! “Hey buddy, everything ok in here?” The voice of a concerned father was one of the most disarming tones. The uncertainty and apprehension from a familiar voice that normally was confident and authoritative somehow made the situation less stable. “Y-yes!” Lucas was spiraling. He was barely able to rationalize what had just happened in any context that didn’t eviscerate his maturing ego. He hadn’t even begun to imagine what he would do to somehow make this acceptable to his family. He looked in the mirror, seeing his dad in the doorway behind him. He looked at himself. He was crying. “N-no it’s not ok. I… I pissed my pants, Dad!” It was a quick step-turn and he was straight into the arms of the older wolf, gripping him in a hug as tears of shame and humiliation streamed down his face. His Dad embraced him in an instant, rubbing his back and quietly saying things that Lucas was far too distraught to hear. What was going on? Why did this happen? How could he have done this after so many years of perfectly understanding his body’s functions? The two held onto each other for long enough that the soaked jeans began to cool and adhere to his legs. The warming comfort that had previously relished the accident faded and made way for awkward, unwelcome wet pants. Lucas’ Dad gave him a few more rubs on the back and then spoke plainly and clearly. “How about we get you home and get you cleaned up? We can get you in some dry clothes and not worry about this. It’s just an accident. It’s ok to have accidents. Everyone has accidents.” He held onto Lucas’ shoulders and forced Lucas back by a step. His Dad looked straight into his eyes. There was genuine concern in that gaze. And there was also love and acceptance. Dad was right. It was just an accident. No need to make a big deal about it. He could just get changed into new clothes and be good as new. -- It was an awkward trip home. Lucas and his Dad took the car back to the house, leaving his Mom and brother at the restaurant (with the intent to return shortly). The two didn’t speak and instead opted to listen to Big Spicy Capsicums, each song fading into each other as the percussive yet nonsensical lyrics filled the void. There was something exceptionally humbling about having help stripping the soaked jeans from his body. It was the implication that Lucas was incapable of managing that task on his own. Or maybe he would somehow find some way to screw it up further. But even so, the help was greatly appreciated and made the feat possible. There was no point in fighting for his autonomy here. He was just happy to have help. The teen felt his short fur, still slick with urine and decided to take a shower. He opted to stay behind when his dad returned to the restaurant. His appetite was diminished following the incident and he couldn’t bear to think of showing his face in the Diamond Thursdays after leaving with soaked pants. That place was officially off-limits for the rest of eternity, plus longer. Without much interest in anything, and especially without wanting to see his younger brother, Lucas shut himself into his room and went to bed early. -- “Well, we knew this would happen. It’s roughly right on schedule too.” Carmella looked over the guidebook that the Retrain System provided. They had laid everything out in the bedroom to make sure they had all of the components ready and accounted for so they weren’t caught off-guard. “It says that we should expect for the accidents to increase in frequency and that this is the most critical part of the program.” “I just feel terrible. He was shaking in my arms and… You know Lucas doesn’t cry much. I hadn’t seen him like that since he was a kid.” Ron paced around the room, his tail tucked between his legs. “We knew this would happen. It’s going to be the biggest speedbump to get over and then all the benefits should start building.” Carmella placed the book down and looked at her husband. She really appreciated Ron’s caring side. It was one of the things that made him so endearing. When they had met at a Capsicum concert ages ago he was helping a friend who was having a bad trip. They bonded over orange slices and overly-expensive festival water. That side had been slowly replaced with a much firmer, authoritative side as the boys aged. Seeing him like this brought back memories of their struggles as new parents, when every decision seemed hyper-important and worth overthinking. “Carmella…” Ron leaned against the dresser and sighed. It was clear that he was scared. Scared that he was making a mistake. She had seen him like this years and years ago. “I… Just don’t want our son to suffer because we made a choice without his consent.” “We did the research. We did our homework. The Retrain System is overwhelmingly positive. It comes up over and over. We saw it in that news segment the other night, remember?” Carmella was still getting used to being the authority figure in this scenario. She had to believe in herself. “This is for his own good. We have one shot to give him the best possible life he can have while he’s still under our roof.” “You’re right.” Ron looked down and then back again. “You’re right.” “You know I would never do this without you here with me. We’re in this together. We both want Lucas to be happy. I think this will work.” “I love you babe. You’ll always be my lil’ pepita.” Carmella smiled despite herself. It was one of the dumbest pet-names you could have and it came from a night when the drunken wolf didn’t know how to say “little pepper”. She was his lil’ pumpkin seed. Ron stepped away from the dresser and straightened up. “So what’s the next step?” -- Lucas woke up as he had the previous few days. The intensity of the strain on his bladder alerted him that he was in danger of losing control at any moment. Unlike the past several nights, where he had drifted off into a void of deep sleep without any memory or attachment to the physical world, his dreams that night were more active. He dreamt of his incident at the restaurant and what went wrong. There was a bizarre sense of comfort surrounding it, however. As he made his way to the bathroom, he briefly recalled feeling calmed about his accident. Instead of being judged or ridiculed or laughed at, he felt that he was not to worry, that everyone understood his predicament. That there was nothing to be ashamed of. Where he expected leering faces judging him and laughing at his failures, he was met with warm faces forgiving his accident and accepting his status. It gave him a bizarre amount of confidence as he prepared himself to pee. He shouldn’t be ashamed of having an accident. It was fine. It was normal. It happened to everyone. The toilet looked… bizarre. Nothing had been done to it. There were no obvious changes to it. But something about it felt uneasy, unnatural. Lucas stared at the porcelain fixture and it was uncanny. His heart was racing. Why? It was just the toilet. He had intimate familiarity with it and a hundred others just like it. But when he looked at this it felt so wrong. The shape was off putting. The geometry offended his perception. His vision swam as he tried to analyze it. Lucas reached out his paw to raise the seat and recoiled as he touched the cold lid. It was like an icicle had pierced his hand. He inhaled and grabbed it again, pulling it up in one swift motion. It felt like a monumental task and his body surged with adrenaline. It was the same feeling he experienced after a big scare in a horror movie. The tension had faded and was replaced with nervous calm. He stood there, staring at the water rippling in the bowl as he completely flooded his undies. The magnitude of relief was indescribable. It felt good to let his bladder relax and to pee straight into his boxers. There wasn’t a single ounce of remorse or panic. He listened to the pitter patter of the droplets of urine splash onto the tile beneath him. It sounded musical and soothing. It was alright. He wasn’t doing a bad thing. He had made it to the bathroom. He had made it to the toilet. He had overcome whatever that strange sensation was. And now he was wetting himself and there was nothing negative happening from it. It was perfectly fine. These things happened and when they happened it wasn’t a big deal. He felt the stream slow and taper and finally finish. He placed his paw against his sodden boxers and a faint smile. It felt… good. It felt… better than when he had gone peepee in the morning previously. There was something forbidden about the act previously and it felt like the shackles had been removed from him. The pool of urine was spreading from his feet and becoming dangerously close to the rugs near the sink. He roused himself from his moment of enjoyment and removed his underwear, using it to mop up as much of the liquid as he could. The accident was substantial and there wasn’t much dry left to the boxers for absorption. So he had to grab fistfuls of toilet paper to soak up the rest. As Lucas cleaned, he felt the swirl of emotions. Cleaning any mess you caused rarely felt good. Whether it was a spilled drink or peed pants. There was the annoyance of having to take the time to fix it combined with the frustration of using insufficient tools. The toilet paper felt insubstantial for absorbing so much liquid and he ended up using most of the roll on this one task. Yet, he didn’t feel ashamed of the act itself. Perhaps it was because he was alone and able to take care of it in private. But something deep inside made him recognize the accident as nothing to worry about. No big deal. It was a neutrality towards wetting himself that he was trying to wrap his mind around. He had to admit that for the brief moment that it was happening it even felt kind of good. The last of the puddle was mopped up and the toilet now had the remains of the spent roll inside of it. His soiled underwear was unceremoniously dumped into the laundry basket. Lucas eyed the handle on the toilet with suspicion. He could do this. It was just flushing the toilet. Why was he so anxious about this? What was the big deal? Why was he raising such a fuss about an action that was so mundane and easy and normal and… Still, he noticed that his paw was shaking as he brought it forward. He wasn’t scared of the toilet! That was ridiculous! He pressed down on the handle and the sound of the infernal machine roared with an intensity that shocked the wolf. He took a step back. Then another. He braced himself against the sink. The gurgle of rushing water pouring through the maze of pipes clashed in his ears. The toilet paper spun in place as the water level rose. He felt his chest heaving up and down. He was drowning. He needed air, yet despite his attempts to breathe, none arrived. He couldn’t bear to look at the source of this frightful sound. The pitch increased as more and more water flowed in, filling the bowl, never emptying, ceaseless and endless and uncontrollable. Lucas stumbled back another step, shimmying along the sink, using it as support. He was trapped in here with this monster. He would be devoured whole. This hideous creature would consume him and no one would ever be the wiser. He cowered, curling into a ball at the base of the sink cabinet. He held his knees to his chest and tried to bring himself comfort in these tragic few moments at the end of his life. And, unceremoniously, a slurping vacuum sound arose from the toilet as the liquid finally flowed down the pipes. There were some sloppy, undignified moments as everything was processed and then the sound of the water in the basin being refilled. It was over in a short time that to the teen felt like an eternity. He rocked back and forth, bawling and yelping as the intensity of what he had just experienced absorbed him. -- Carmella knocked at the bathroom door. She was wearing a robe, something she had gotten for Christmas several years ago that she rarely got the chance to wear. The idea of wearing a robe while puttering around the house in the morning or evening felt quaint and harkened back to a time in history when every moment of the day wasn’t completely accounted for with demands. But when she was woken by her youngest child complaining that her oldest child was crying in the bathroom, it was the appropriate thing to wear. “Sweetie? Are you in there? Are you hurt?” The soft sounds of whimpering from the other side of the door were the only answers she received. She steeled herself and twisted the knob, inching the door forward to peer in. She was not expecting to find her teenage son naked on a bathmat, curled up in a fetal position. Her protective instincts completely overwhelmed her. She threw open the door and rushed in, sliding to the ground in a composed but serious way. She grabbed her child and brought him up, into her embrace. She scanned over his body, desperately needing confirmation that he was physically uninjured. Satisfied, she turned her attention towards her son’s mewling. She slowly rocked back and forth, bringing her son into her rhythm, speaking calming words and low, steady tones. This was a practiced motherly skill. The number of times her boys had managed to superficially injure themselves in the most ridiculous ways was remarkable. So in turn, she had lots of time to refine her technique of assuring someone that they were not in danger and that she was there for them. The one constant that she had yet to be used to was seeing the other sibling observing this delicate act. Too many variables and the process was unmanageable and unpredictable. So she raised her head and shot a glance at Martin, who stood stunned at the doorway. It was a look that somehow conveyed an entire dialogue’s worth of information. The shaken child closed the door, apparently completely understanding the message. “Sweetie… What happened?” Carmella asked in the most tender tone she could muster. “I need you to talk to me sweetheart.” There was that arhythmic intake of air. The body slowly attempting to stabilize itself. That was good. That was normal and part of the process. No matter how dire things seemed, as long as she could get the boys talking, they could calm down. After a few moments, her son had regained enough of his composure to speak. It was shaky and lacked confidence. “The… pot… the toilet. It was… so loud. I don’t know. I don’t know. It was just… I’m so sorry Mom.” He squeezed her tight. This was an interesting development. The Retrain System had mentioned that there was the possibility of the development of a toilet phobia as a result of the course. But it was described as a temporary thing that resulted from the psyche rearranging itself. One of the papers Carmella had looked into listed it as a condition that affected some members of the study. But the authors had described it with such clinical sterility. Seeing the actual outcome of such an episode was difficult for a parent. Still, the research was clear that this was a passing thing. That it was within the expected parameters. She and Ron had talked about this and agreed that it was fine. If their son ended up unpotty trained anyways, it clearly wouldn’t matter in the long run. “Oh honey… Shh, shh, it’s ok. It’s ok. It’s alright to be frightened of the potty every now and then.” She continued to rock her naked child, concerned mostly with making sure he was stable and able to recover from this. The fact that this was a white lie or a massive lie was less important than getting Lucas calmed down. “It is? I… I don’t remember… It was just so big and loud and cold and-” Carmella cut him off, not wanting him to spiral into these bad memories. “It’s alright sweetie, Mommy’s here for you. You don’t have to worry, it’s all over. There’s nothing to be scared of now that I’m here.” She stroked his fur. He smelled faintly of urine, but was completely nude. He must have had another accident and disposed of the evidence. She decided to help him by telling him a true story. “You know, when we were first potty training you, you had a lot of trouble flushing the potty. You always used to make us do it.” “What? Really?” Lucas was blushing beneath his fur. It was embarrassing to think about being so young and vulnerable. “It’s true. Whenever you’d go, you would run out and find your father or me and you’d take us by the hand to the bathroom. You’d hold onto our legs and ask that we flush the potty for you.” “Nuh-uh! No way! That… oh man… That’s so dumb.” Lucas eyed the toilet. Carmella followed his gaze. “You’d say that you were worried about the ‘potty monster’ getting you. Oh you poor thing, I hated seeing you so scared, so it took a long time before you started flushing it on your own. I think we only started having you flush the potty when you were starting to get ready for preschool. Since we wouldn’t be around we were worried you would ask one of the teachers to do it.” “Oh my gods… I can’t believe I was scared of the potty monster like that.” “Well, it wasn’t easy to get you potty trained in the first place. So I think we might have just been happy you were making it to the potty at all. But yes, you used to be terrified of flushing that dang thing. I get it though. You can’t see where the sounds are coming from and when you’re so small it probably looks like a lot of water.” Carmella looked her son in the eyes. “Sweetie, this was a tough year for you. And you’re going through a lot of changes. There’s a lot that’s happening and going to happen to you that will be awkward and maybe even scary. If you think something is going to upset you as much as this, you can always ask for help, ok? No matter how weird it is, your father and I will be there for you.” Lucas silently nodded, seeming to understand her words, or at least the tone of her words. He hugged his mom tightly. He really needed a bath. -- It had been a difficult twenty-four hours for Lucas. He tried his best to maintain his composure following The Incident, however it’s always awkward being around people after having a breakdown. Especially when that breakdown was related to the inability to flush the toilet. His Dad had a talk with him after he got out of the shower and it was a lot more of the same. It was deeply embarrassing to have to keep bringing these things up. He mainly just stayed in his room and played Summit Luminaries. It was nice being able to distract himself. Maybe if enough hours passed, everyone would forget what happened and they could all go back to having things as they were previously. The door to his room opened. With his headset on, normally Lucas wouldn’t have noticed. But it was accompanied by the sound of fictional animal sounds and music. Lucas turned around and rolled his eyes. Martin was dressed in a Charmander shirt and the brightest red shorts pigment science could create. He was carrying his Switch, which had the volume all the way up. He made his way to the bed and sat on it, facing Lucas and the TV, but keeping his focus on his portable game. “Whatcha doing?” “I’m playing some Summit. We’re in the top four right now, so we’re doing good. This rando I’m with is cracked.” “Cool, cool.” There was an awkward pause as the conflicting sounds of two totally different games played out. “So uh… did you wet your pants last night?” That was a great question to get in the heat of a firefight when the ring was closing around you. Lucas chose to ignore it in favor of paying attention to the match. He also wasn’t sure how to answer. It was true. He was oddly unashamed of the accident. Accidents happened. Everyone had accidents. Going peepee in your pants was nothing to worry about. But he couldn’t word the response in a way that he felt comfortable with. “It’s ok if you did. Mom told me when you and Dad left last night.” Someone got the flank on their team. It was a three-way firefight. Not a good situation. It required discipline, skill, luck, and focus to win these difficult encounters. “A kid in class had an accident in the last week of school and it was really gross. I felt bad because he’s always been nice to me but people made fun of him. I promise not to make fun of you.” Thou Art the Luminary of the Summit. Lucas sat his controller down as a friend request popped up on his Ycube. He’d answer that later. He put his head in his hands. “Yeah. I wet my pants at the restaurant. And then again this morning. That’s why I was crying. Well… sort of. It’s complicated.” “I get it! I don’t get all of it but I get that you were upset. I know Mom and Dad talked to you about it. Is everything ok?” “They’re… just accidents.” This felt rehearsed somehow. Like he was repeating something that he had heard or said previously. “Everyone has accidents. It’s no big deal to go peepee in your pants. It’s better to go in your pants than…. To hold it.” That last bit felt off. Like his mind wasn’t syncing up with what his words were saying. It wasn’t wrong. It didn’t feel wrong. It just felt less polished. “Oh. Uh… Really?” “Yeah. I think so. I mean, accidents happen. We can’t get upset about them.” “You were uh… pretty upset.” Lucas looked over his shoulder with a pleading expression. “I said it was complicated. I just feel weird about all this happening at once. Please don’t be a jerk about this.” “I’m not a jerk! I’m sorry that I was worried about my hecking brother hecking crying on the hecking floor. Geez!” Martin normally didn’t take a sarcastic tone with Lucas. He’d only recently figured it out and hadn’t perfected how to use it. “Ughhhhh… no, no, it’s… fine. I’ll be ok.” There was another pause filled with the sounds of Martin clicking away at the buttons on his console, presumably issuing commands for his miniature monsters to murder his opponent’s minions. “Can I stay and play games in here with you for a while?” “Sure. Yeah. That sounds good.” -- It was actually nice having Martin in the room with him. Ever since they got two rooms a couple years ago, they had kept apart from each other. Not out of animosity (most of the time) but just out of preference of having their own spaces to be in. Lucas remembered his Dad being bummed that he had to give up his hobby room for Martin’s bedroom. There were still spots on the wall from where his airbrush had oversprayed. They kept saying they would paint the room but it was a chore. Martin covered just about everything up with Pokemon stickers and posters, so clearly he didn’t mind. Being next to each other in a parallel play setting was surprisingly easy. Even though the music was a little distracting. They had done it a lot back when they shared a bedroom. Maybe it was the novelty of doing a pleasant activity that he hadn’t done in a while, but it really did cheer Lucas up. It was unfortunate that he was in the middle of a match when the urge to pee struck. He was so focused, so determined, so poised and ready to win that he completely neglected to think about how full his bladder had become. His water jug had been drained over the course of several rounds and now it had run its course. He sat forward in his seat. He could hold out. Now that he knew what was going on he could make it. He just had to last through this tense… legs crossed… round and he… lips bitten… could go potty… squirming, dancing, rocking back and forth… “Hey do you have to pee? Go do it, I’ve got it!” “Huh?” “Give me the controller, go pee!” Lucas was very unaccustomed to being talked to like that by his younger brother, but he was absolutely right. He really had to go and it was a reasonable offer. So he got behind cover and handed the Ybox controller off, awkwardly jutting out of the chair and towards the restroom. The toilet was still there from where he had previously left it. Still ominously waiting. Still emitting strange vibes and negativity and suspense. But Lucas wasn’t going to let the potty monster win. Or the fictional potty monster of his youth, more correctly. He was going to walk straight up to that toilet and use it and NOT get any pee into his pants. It was a good plan. A great plan, even. But no plan survives first contact with the enemy. At the worst possible time, the plumbing refreshed, turning on to refill some of the water within the tank. It might as well have been the roar of a great beast, as Lucas froze in his tracks. The hold on his bladder released and he felt the warm trickle blossom from his board shorts. No no no! Not after all this build up and discussion. It was just a dumb toilet. Lucas straightened up and constricted his muscles, stemming the flow and stopping this from becoming a complete disaster. He was going to use the potty, darn it! Lucas unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, not caring that the front of his pants were stained and soaked. He could deal with that later. Not wanting to risk anything interfering with this at all, he dropped his pants and underwear onto the floor, allowing them to pool around his feet. Finally, he took aim, and relaxed. When he finished, he was pleased with himself. Yes, he had just wet himself and technically had another accident. But as he had verbally acknowledged just recently, accidents happened. And it was ok to have accidents in your pants. The important thing was that he had made it to the potty and had used it. It was a partial victory, but a victory nonetheless. A problem arose as his body attempted to go through the practiced motions of completing the deed. He paused as his hand was en route to the handle. He had just spent a not insignificant amount of time crying in the bathroom earlier today thanks to the shockingly disturbing sounds this contraption could make. He had to flush. That was proper procedure. It was part of using the toilet. If he used the toilet, he had to flush. Yet his hand went no further. He could not bring himself to press down on the lever in front of him. The wolf frowned and pulled up his damp clothes. They weren’t too badly sodden. It wasn’t that uncomfortable to wear them. It was no big deal to have peepee pants. Accidents happened to everyone. He didn’t need to worry about his pants if he went potty in them. Still, he felt the compulsion to finish his task with the toilet, so he poked his head out from the doorway in the bathroom. “Hey Martin…” “One sec! Just… we… heck!” Martin got up from the gaming chair and headed over. “Ok well you got second place. I downed two guys but I didn’t like the gun you had. What’s up?” “Um… Could you do me a favor?” Martin squinted from behind his glasses. “That depends.” “Can you… flush the potty?” Martin’s eyes widened. And then narrowed. “You’re joking with me. I thought we were cool and you were being honest with me and now you’re just messing around.” “No, dude… I… Remember when I said it was complicated earlier? Well… This is what I meant. Please. I’m not trying to mess with you. I’m trying my best to be real.” Lucas couldn’t make eye-contact. This was difficult for him and it was impossible to hide how raw this made him feel. “Wow. Uh… Ok. But this better not be a prank or a trick or whatever.” Lucas showed his brother in and led him to the scene of his defeat. Martin looked at Lucas, who was trembling just the smallest bit, then looked at the stained pants, then looked at the toilet. He seemed unsure, but he followed through with his agreement and pushed the handle down, flushing the toilet. To Lucas, the rush of water sounded like a flood ready to crash into the house, threatening to wash away the very foundations of his life. He acted on pure impulse and grabbed ahold of his younger brother’s side, sheltering in his embrace. Lucas’s mind had no concept of the world around him as the primal terror ripped through him a second time in the same day. All he cared about was that he had someone there with him to protect him from the awful, awful, terrible potty monster. “Wow. You really weren’t kidding.” -- Things did not get easier for Lucas after that point. In fact, the potty monster became a central concern throughout his days following that breakdown. It was difficult for him to look at it for too long, causing him to become sloppy with his aim. And it seemed as if every several attempts to use the bathroom resulted in soaky pants. It was always a little distraction or a little surprise or a little forgotten step. It was like the checklist that normally ran through his head when ensuring he was going to use the bathroom correctly, sometimes jumbled up at random. One time he removed his pants and underwear entirely and pissed right onto the closed lid of the toilet. It was disheartening that somehow he was unable to go peepee how he wanted and expected to. But it was simultaneously not a big deal at all when he let loose in his shorts. It was a strange juxtaposition of disappointment and contentment to end up with wet pants. The wet pants weren’t an issue in the slightest to him. Accidents happened to everyone. It was normal to have accidents. It was normal to go peepee in his pants. It was perfectly fine if he piddled in his pants all the time. It was no big deal at all if he soaked himself. It was just an accident and that was ok. But he would have preferred to use the potty as he wanted. It was just so difficult! The steps involved made the process complicated. He was fighting against unreliable signals from his body. It felt like he could not trust when he actually needed to go! It was a real pain to dash over to the bathroom, interrupting his task, totally throwing off whatever he was doing, only to find out that apparently he didn’t have to go at all! The worst part was the foreboding sense of dread when he looked at the toilet. In his eyes, the potty monster was real and it was growing in power. It gave him genuine anxiety to attempt to focus on it. And the sounds it made were abysmal and arcane. It was a machine designed to haunt him and torture him. And the nature of going potty meant that Lucas was alone with this beast the whole time. Thankfully, his family had been extremely understanding of him. His parents reinforced and agreed that it was perfectly normal to have accidents. He never felt ashamed when he emerged from the bathroom absolutely drenched with a puddle trailing behind him. The only thing his mother asked was that he clean up his messes and put down a towel on his chair. So keeping a roll of paper towels in the bathroom became standard, and his chair was draped in a bath towel at all times. Beyond just the accidents, his relationship with his Mom and Dad was better than ever, at least as far as he could remember. In Lucas’ eyes it must have just been because of the distance between previous school issues and the summer break. But the reality was that he found himself able to see their point of view more easily and he felt like he could trust them more. He was also contributing to the chores, having become especially proficient at running the laundry. It was possibly the least amount of tension the house had since Lucas started puberty. Martin was surprisingly supportive. Lucas was most appreciative of that. It was an unsettling amount of changes in his life. Having his parents tell him that he was doing fine and not to worry was nice. But having his brother help him flush and clean up his accidents and remind him to make it to the potty at all was exceptionally reassuring. The two brothers found themselves around each other a lot, especially during the summer when their parents were at work. Most of the time it was just playing their separate games near each other. But they also watched cartoons and just talked. They had the house to themselves frequently and for Lucas, having Martin around was a blessing. It wasn’t perfect, obviously. Martin wasn’t always thrilled that he was suddenly his brother’s toilet coach. And there was a little friction when he wasn’t paying attention and Lucas had an accident without even making it to the toilet at all. And it was gross cleaning that stuff up. But despite that, they really seemed to connect and bond more in the first two weeks of summer vacation than any of the last school year. The nighttime meditation program was the biggest win for Lucas, in his opinion. He was sleeping soundly and restfully every single night. He would go to sleep and the white noise would fill his ears and he would drift away into a realm of relaxation and soothing peace. His parents were absolutely right about the stress-relieving properties of the system. He wouldn’t dare dream of having it shipped back to Nile. He was a firm believer in the helpful properties of sleep meditation now. Lucas missed his friends. They talked a lot while playing games together (their attention had drifted from Summit Luminaries to Tumble Bros in the last week). But being physically around them would be nice. He decided to message Noah to see what he was up to. Normally he would include Jake, but he was off at his big fancy soccer camp by then. [ayyyyyy] [sup son] [whatre you doing today] [laundry uhhhhh chillin kinda bored] [same] Lucas omitted that the reason why he was doing laundry was because he had several pee-soaked undies and shorts he needed cleaned. [well thanks for the important info lmao] [bruh shut up lol. Wanna hang out?] [Sure, come on otter.] [*other] [*over ducking autocorrect] Lucas was giddy. Even though the two of them lived in the same neighborhood and saw each other constantly, plus all the time spent together at school, it was always great to hang out with Noah. Plus it was the weekend so he didn’t have to worry about leaving his kid brother at home alone or being forced to have him tag along. “Hey Mom, I’m going over to Noah’s house.” “Ok sounds good sweetie… Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” Lucas paused, his backpack over one shoulder. Did he forget something? The laundry was in the dryer and he could always pull it out when he got home. He didn’t think there was anything else going on today. “Huh? What?” He heard shuffling around from the other room as his mom stopped writing on her laptop, having to put away papers and books scattered around her. She was working on a novel in her spare time and had gotten to the “constant fact-checking and referencing” stage of the process, apparently. His mother looked a little apprehensive. “Are you sure that you want to go over to visit Noah?” “...yes?” “Well, it’s just that… uh… sweetie, with all the potty problems you’ve been having I think that… Um…” “Mooommmmm! Ohmygods I know how to use the potty! Those were just little accidents! Accidents happen to everyone! It’s no big deal to have peepee accidents in my pants, DUH!” Lucas stated this in a way that felt like he was describing a part of his identity. He could have been defending the color of his fur or how he could ride a bicycle or any other number of complete facts and truths about himself. In his mind, there was legitimately no reason to question his ability to use the bathroom, nor was there any reason to be concerned with the quantity and severity of his failures to use said bathroom. His Mom pursed her lips, thinking very carefully before speaking. Her words were slow as she attempted to pick the correct words. “Right, yes, AND that’s good. But, I think, how about you bring a spare set of clothes with you to Noah’s house? Just in case you have a big accident and need to change.” Lucas hadn’t thought of that. He had been taking for granted that he could just throw his soaked clothes into the hamper and grab a fresh set whenever he wanted. Although “fresh set” was starting to become a loaded term, as his lighter pairs of underwear had started taking on a yellow-tinged appearance, even after being cleaned. He hadn’t considered that he might need to prepare himself in case he had an accident outside of the house. He was only just now realizing that he was pretty home-bound the last week or so. It just hadn’t come up! “Oh! Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m definitely going to make it to the potty for sure, but just in case I go peepee in my pants a little bit it would be nice to have clean pants.” The wolf was smiling as he was agreeing with his Mom’s plan. It felt good to declare that he was going to ABSOLUTELY make it to the potty. And it felt even better to have a back-up plan just in case anything happened. Something about saying it out loud made him swell with pride over being thoughtful and responsible. “There we go, sweetie. I’m sure you will.” Lucas’ Mom gave him a big hug. It felt kind of sentimental. Lucas had gone over to Noah’s house countless times. It was never a big deal before. But this was the same kind of hug that Lucas got on the first day of school or if he left for a big trip or had an event coming up. It was a special hug that indicated that his Mom was rooting for him. Which, again, was a little bit too soppy for just visiting one of his best friends a couple houses down. But whatever, the hug felt nice! “I’ll call up Noah’s mom while you get the clothes so she’ll know you’re coming.” -- Noah greeted Lucas at the door with an upturned nod and an “Ayyyy!”, letting him inside. Noah’s house was similar to Lucas’ since they were part of the same development. But there were enough small differences and customizations that it felt more like an alternate universe house instead of a copycat. Like, the organization of the rooms were slightly different. And the location of the bathroom downstairs was reversed. And their back porch was covered, which always seemed nice except for every time Noah’s dad hosted a cookout, where it seemed surprisingly inconvenient. Noah flopped onto the couch and Lucas followed. “Wanna chill down here?” “Oh! Sure!” Lucas was surprised. Normally they made a direct line for his bedroom. The den had a nice TV but that was about it. “What’ve you been up to? It feels weird that we haven’t seen each other lately.” The fox looked off to the side, biting his lip, and then reverted to a happier expression. “Oh just doing nothing! I mean we’ve been on Tumult like every day. I guess just destressing you know? Like uh relaxing during summer you know haha!” Lucas pulled back his head and raised an eyebrow, giving his friend a skeptical look. “Yeah, no, I… know what summer is.” Noah nodded. And there was an awkward pause. The fox rubbed his left leg, which was covered in a mottled pattern thanks to his summer shedding. His distinctive red coat making way for a duller, shorter brown. “Want to watch a movie?” “Yeah! Sure! I haven’t seen the new Wonder movie. Doctor Unusual and the Peril Portals or whatever it’s called.” Lucas felt like he couldn’t just rattle off geeky movie titles. There had to be some diffusion to make sure that he wasn’t TOO into his interests. A simple “or whatever” deflected all evidence that he was, in fact, some kind of geek. “I haven’t either. Let’s see if we have it available.” -- The movie was a CGI-fest continuing the interwoven narrative of all the Wonder-brand superhero movies. For the two teens, it was custom-built entertainment made specifically to enthrall them. They laughed at the cheesy jokes and recoiled at the occasional bizarre and frightful scene. They both had large glasses of water next to them that they slammed down. Lucas had noticed that for some reason he felt parched more often during the day. Maybe it was the summer heat. He had gotten accustomed to refilling his large bottle that he kept in his room frequently. About halfway through the runtime, Lucas ran his paws along his legs, squirming in his seat on the sofa. He wasn’t sure why he did it. But he did it again and he felt himself sit upright. Something was informing him that something was happening. He was very focused on the movie and having his body warn him about a mysterious sensation was not what he expected or wanted. He lifted up off his seat to readjust. Both hands were wedged in between his legs now. The wolf had no idea what could possibly be causing this kind of response. Was he adapting to the pace of the movie? It was a strange movie, after all. These subconscious questions were instantly answered as his paws suddenly warmed and became drenched. Even while sitting down, his body trying its very best to defend against this, he could not stop himself from wetting his pants. Lucas clenched, trying his very best to stop himself, although it was really not a good effort. Instead of having absolute certainty that his wetting was abated, he found it turned off briefly and then resumed briefly, only to turn off again. Basically he had to go potty right now and it was so bad that he was having trouble stopping it entirely. Lucas awkwardly stood, hunched over and hands cupped to hide his crotch from his best friend. “Hey uh pause the movie one sec.” It wasn’t a request, it was a desperate plea at a normal response for this situation. He shuffled, back facing his friend the entire time, and jetted towards Noah’s bathroom. As he moved his control shattered and he could feel the pressure welling inside and then releasing into his pants. He scooped up his backpack in a manner that would have been very fluid and cool in literally any other context. Noah was bizarrely quiet during this whole incident. But Lucas didn’t care. That didn’t matter. Maybe it mattered for future Lucas, but present Lucas had his own problems. The primary problem, it turns out, was that Noah’s family casually chose to keep a complete nightmare creature in their bathroom. Their toilet might as well have been a blood-sucking, infant-devouring, sharp-fanged, deadly beast intent for vengeance and carnage. The moment Lucas turned on the light and looked in its direction, he froze. And all control that he had previously maintained vanished. Piss gushed down his legs and onto the bathmat beneath him. He was paralyzed so long as that awful, awful THING was even in the same room as him. He felt his muscles tense and constrict. He could feel the sensation of terror and overwhelming despair wash over him as it had previously. The potty monster was real and it was living in the bathrooms of families around the globe. “Hey uh, you ok?” Lucas wheeled around as he found Noah behind him, looking uncomfortable and out of place in his own home. With the line of sight broken and replaced with his best friend, and with his bladder now fully emptied into his shorts, the wolf felt worlds better. He took a moment, inhaled, held it, and exhaled. “Y-yeah. Yeah. I just… saw something that frightened me.” “Was it the potty monster?” Lucas cocked his head and blinked. It sounded somewhat normal for him to say it. And he certainly had no issues thinking it. But to hear his best friend, who, to his knowledge, had no problems with the potty, refer to it that way… It was shocking and unexpected. “You… know about the potty monster?” Noah looked sheepish and retreated into his shell a little. It was so unlike him. He was always talking. Always asking questions. Always interacting. To see the fox act bashful was extremely out of character. “I have… um… been having trouble making it…. To the potty.” Noah looked down and moved his hands, which had been previously obscuring his crotch. Lucas was shocked to find a similar wet-patch to the one gracing his pants. Except Noah’s was far less pronounced, mainly forming crescent rings along the inner thighs. “Mainly because I’ve been really scared of the potty monster lately. And so um… My… mom she… uh…” “Your mother decided that maybe you weren’t ready for the potty right now.” Noah’s mother appeared, completing the group. “I heard some stomping around down here and figured I should check. Oh Lucas, you poor thing, did you have an accident?” Lucas was like an animal in blinding headlights. Behind him, a destruction-crazed brute waited ominously to swallow him whole. And in front of him, his best friend in the world had pee pants and his mom was just casually seeing both of their accidents. It was surreal. Yet at the core of the situation, Lucas knew in his heart of hearts that having an accident was perfectly fine. It was no big deal to have an accident. Accidents happened all the time and to many people. And it was ok to tell people if he had an accident. “Yes Mrs. Seong. I went peepee in my pants because I was scared by the potty monster.” It all came out remarkably naturally. Unlike Noah, he did not have to force the words out. It came out practiced and natural. There was almost a fun element to admitting he had gone potty in his pants to an adult. It felt rewarding to admit. It wasn’t the entire truth, as he was wetting himself when sitting on their couch (a fact he hoped would not be an issue). But it was so much of the truth in his heart that it was what mattered to him. “Lucas, goodness, and Noah too! You both don’t need to worry one bit. It’s perfectly fine. These accidents happen. Come on, let's get you boys upstairs and we can get you changed into dry clothes.” It was nice being guided through this by an adult. Much nicer than Lucas expected. Mrs. Seong guided the pair up to Noah’s room and ushered them both inside. Lucas immediately understood why Noah wanted to remain downstairs. On the wall, next to his dresser, was a chart showing the days of the week. And on that chart were a series of smiley faces and frowny faces. The chart was even labeled. It was a Potty Chart. Lucas glanced over at Noah, who was hiding his head in his hands out of embarrassment. “Noah, can you tell me what happened?” His mother was stooping to his level. Noah had only just started having his growth spurts. “Noah, I need you to tell me, baby.” “I… wet my pants. I thought I could hold it… but I couldn’t. And I’m not a baby, mom.” “You’re MY baby, and I’m very proud of you for telling me the truth. Go put a smiley face on the chart.” Lucas could see the leaden legs just barely doing their jobs, stomping over to the board with reluctance. Mrs. Seong leaned towards Lucas as he watched. “He’s just a little grumpy. He’ll cheer up once he’s in clean undies.” “MOOOMMM!” Noah turned, his face flush, the pout on his lips possibly being the worst blend of serious and precious possible. He huffed and grabbed a bright yellow smiley face from a pouch and attached it to the middle part of the chart for the day. Something about this was… appealing to Lucas. Noah was making a big deal about it but… It must have felt nice to have confirmation that you did a good job even if that means you didn’t fully (or at all) make it to the potty. “Now Lucas, your mom called me when you came over. I have some grocery bags here that you can put your wet clothes in. She said you brought a change of pants and undies? Good, good. Do you need help getting dressed?” “N-no, I think I can do it.” “Good boy.” The secret weapon used for ages against canines of all sorts to keep them in check. Lucas was a SUCKER for being called a good boy. It had minimal effect when another canine used it, but when another species acknowledged it, boy it hit the spot. His tail was wagging proudly and loudly. “I’m going to help Noah get cleaned up and then you boys can get back to your movie.” By this point, the teen wolf was an expert at undressing and redressing from stained clothes to fresh clothes. Noah’s mom even gave him wipes so he could clean off and still smell nice. He would have to ask his mom for something like that the next time they went grocery shopping. The interesting part was Noah’s outfit. The fox wasn’t wearing normal underwear. He was wearing briefs that were thick. Massively thick. And swollen like a sponge! “C’mon, go get your fresh training pants. There we go. One leg in, and now the other…” Training pants? Training for… what? The novelty of being rewarded on a chart on the wall had made him gloss over the purpose for it. Those kinds of charts tracked reactions towards accidents. And the training pants were supposed to be for training to do what exactly with accidents? Mrs. Seong must have caught him staring, because she answered the very question on his mind. “Noah is wearing special training pants so if he has a little accident he can keep playing and not have to worry. Isn’t that right?” Noah grumbled something as he pulled up his cargo pants. Lucas was insanely, intensely jealous of those training pants. -- Noah and Lucas had a difficult time finishing the movie together. Noah seemed uncomfortable during the whole thing. He would get up, pat himself down, then sit back down. It was like he wasn’t sure if he left his phone in his mom’s car or something. Lucas, on the other hand, had the mental image of the training pants burned into his mind. As Doctor Unusual interacted with characters from different dimensions, the wolf just couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to have undies that were so thick that he didn’t need to worry about accidents. It would give him so much more freedom and comfort. He put zero energy into thinking about the potty chart in his best friend’s room. Something about it made it almost fade from memory. Like his mind was instructing him to put no thought into it. By the time the movie was over, its runtime of well-over two hours plus five post-credit sequences, it was nearing dinner time. The two teens were scrolling on their phones next to each other. Lucas got the impression that Noah wasn’t feeling particularly extroverted today. The two spent some time scrolling through the endless content void of ChikChok. Noah would occasionally lean over and show off something funny or weird, and Lucas would show off some of the cool dances he saw. “So Lucas, will you be staying for dinner?” The wolf looked up, startled at how absorbed he was into browsing his device. “Uhhh… No thank you, Mrs. Seong! I should probably get going.” Lucas had made the mistake of inviting himself over to a friend’s house when they clearly wanted him to leave before. He was just an oblivious kid so he didn’t know it was rude to invite himself to stay. His parents seemed mortified when he told them later and spent a long time reinforcing the proper etiquette in those situations. “Are you sure? Mr. Seong is still on his business trip and we have enough food for you if you’d like.” The exception seemed to be that Noah’s mom had infinite patience with Lucas being around. Maybe it was the duration of their friendship or maybe it was some cultural thing. This was part of the “dance” as mom liked to put it. He had to figure out if this was a legitimate offer or just a nicety that was intended to be rejected. He always messed that part up. Lucas looked at his friend on the couch, still browsing the app. Noah felt pretty distant today. That was fine, not every day had to be a slam dunk. But this was beyond normal recharge rates. He was in a funk. It was really weird trying to analyze the situation, however. In Lucas’ eyes, there was nothing obvious that could result in such disinterest. Noah was on summer vacation, could play games and hang out as much as he wanted, he wasn’t grounded, and he hadn’t mentioned any big problems looming over him. Sure he was scared of the potty monster, but Lucas had already accepted into his heart that the potty monster was real and dangerous. If Noah felt the same way then they should have been bonding over it. Was it the accident? Or changing in front of Lucas? They had seen each other naked during the brief period when the school required showering after gym class (which was quickly abandoned due to a variety of issues). Nothing came to mind that seemed like a big deal. “I appreciate it, Mrs. Seong, but Mom had some special dinner she was working on for tonight. I should go find out what it is. Thank you, though!” Lucas decided that his presence probably wouldn’t make the situation any better here. Maybe after a good night’s sleep Noah would feel better. -- Dinner was an experiment. And like some experiments, it was subject to statistical interpretation. Much to his Dad’s credit, the liver sticks, two-and-a-half-bean salad, spinach cookies, and onion juice were all consumed. Whether they remained consumed would be up for scholarly debate for decades to come. Lucas wondered if perhaps it would have been better to endure an awkward social situation to score free food from Mrs. Seong. Similar thoughts became common for Lucas later in his life. Still, he ate enough to withstand the judgment of his Mom. He learned extremely fast in life that “Do you like it?” coming from his mother was not a question with multiple answers. “Did you have a fun time at Noah’s?” His Mom asked, before daintily sipping at her squeezed allium. “Yeah, uh, sort of. Noah had a big accident while I was there. Oh heck, uh, yeah sorry I also had an accident too. I kind of forgot, I need to take the wet clothes out of my bag.” Lucas moved a piece of liver from one side of the plate to the other, as if it might transform into pizza with some encouragement. “But yeah Noah was just kind of off after he changed into fresh training pants. I was hoping to hang out but he seemed really bummed. I don’t get it.” Lucas caught his Dad looking up from his food out of the corner of his eye. When the teen turned, in anticipation that he might say something, his Dad’s head was lowered again. “Well, sweetie, sometimes people feel things that they don’t always understand. Noah is your friend and I’m sure that this will pass. Just make sure that you’re there for him. That means listening to him when he needs it.” Lucas was pretty sure he understood what his Mom meant. Maybe not all of it, but at least the part about being there for his friend. He took a drink of onion juice, its sharp initial kick giving way for a surprisingly mellow sweetness on the after- “No it’s fine, nobody needs to ask me about the THREE shinies that I caught today.” The onion juice was snorted back out into the cup. It was less pleasant when it ran through his nostrils. -- That night was notable. The sleep meditation had so far been exceptional, producing fantastic rest and mostly unremarkable dreams. This time, as Lucas dreamt, it was not just the waves of static crashing against him, the binaural rhythm shifting him back and forth, back and forth, rocking endlessly. It was accompanied by a sense of warmth. A sense of relief. A sense of fulfillment. Lucas floated atop an endless sea, its currents so subtle that the water appeared as glass. His arms outstretched, his legs spread wide. They were somehow doubled. His arms at his side and his legs together. He felt encircled. Measured. Perfect. Not for perfection’s sake but perfect in self. He could be in any place he wished, in any way he wished. But to float along felt best. The stars drifted overhead, whirling and dancing in their unified course. Rotating as one. Like scattered jewels upon a pall of velvet, they glistened. Their age was meaningless. Their isolation, trivial. Their intent could never be understood. These beacons of distant eons traveled across the unfathomable distance of space. They cared not. They wanted not. Their existence revealed the true scale to those who observed. The stars showed the way things were. The way things are. The way things will be. And these stars moved in the darkened sky above Lucas. It was impossible to take in and impossible to look away. They, somehow, found their way from the most remote of places to him. So that he could bask in their Being. It was overwhelming to take in. The water beneath him was warm. It was inviting. It beckoned him. The beauty above must be mirrored by the beauty below. He felt himself sink. The water rushed around him, obscuring the vision of the cosmos. It should have been terrifying to descend. It should have been terrible to witness the world of the breathing rise further and further away. Out of arm’s grasp. Shimmering as a barrier. The crushing depths of the ocean’s deepest, darkest places should have been horrific. But they were not. And so Lucas found himself once more resting. The shining sand of the sea floor beneath him. His legs, crossed, soles to the sky. His hands, placed, palms to the sky. The darkness that surrounded him gave him clarity. Clarity to see what was beyond the means of perception. The mysteries of the deep did not unravel themselves so easily, but he had no want for time. He was not pressed for answers. He basked in the warmth. The relief. The comforting embrace of the pleasant waters. -- Lucas yawned and raised his arms in bed, blinking. He stretched them out and arched his back. He had the most beautiful and meaningful dream. It was incredible and he left him feeling almost sad that he had to leave it. He couldn’t remember it exactly, just that he had greatly enjoyed it. He felt like he understood things a little better. What that meant, he didn’t know. It was just a sense that he came out of that dream better than when he entered. He gave a great big stretch and lowered himself back on the bed, intending to check his phone to see if he had slept through his alarm. The sun had risen but in the summer that could have meant any time in the day. His back touched cool, wet sheets. If he wasn’t awake before, he was certainly awake now. He brought his arms down and slid them under the comforter. His paws touched the same wetness. He felt around, finding that this wet sensation spread all around him. And given the sensation on this back, it went all the way up to his shoulders. He frowned and blinked, his morning brain working through the problem like a single hamster running in a wheel. He leaned forward, the sheets clinging to him in a very familiar way, and rotated his body ninety degrees, swinging his legs out. He sighed, really not happy that there was something going on with the bed that he just spent all night sleeping in. He hopped out and in one quick motion, as if he could catch something in the act of fleeing, he threw off the comforter, revealing his bedsheets beneath. His bed was drenched, a dark stain spread from where his body had been positioned. Based on the tide marks around the edges of where it had begun to dry, this had been even bigger at one point. It had spread from around his knees all the way up to his back. Lucas leaned over and examined it, trying to wrap his mind around what had happened. He stopped himself. It was prudent for him to try to make it to the potty as soon as he woke up, THEN try to see what was going on. Except, he didn’t have to go. At all. His bladder was totally empty. There was no rush at all. Lucas was not so far gone that he was unable to tell when he had to go peepee in the big boy potty. And his body was telling him that there was absolutely no need to even try. This was around when he noticed that his boxers were totally drenched and that there was a distinct smell of stale urine around him. The wolf’s fur bristled. He felt the heat of embarrassment rise to his cheeks and firmly take hold. He had wet the bed. He had completely soaked his sheets and he slept through the entire thing. Of course he didn’t have to go potty. He had already spent all night going potty in his bed! This was a tough thing to handle by himself. He had two options. He could take the sheets down to the laundry room and shove them in and hope that nobody would ask him why he was running the wash first thing in the morning. That made sense. That would probably work and let him get away with this. Or he could tell his parents that he had wet the bed. Some unknown, unexplainable compulsion made that the obvious solution to this problem. If he told his parents then it would be a good idea. If he told his parents that he wet the bed, they would be able to help. It was important that boys who wet the bed tell their parents right away. Why was it important to fill them in? That wasn’t a question with an answer. It was just some kind of deep truth within the teen that resonated with his sense of self. It was ok to wet the bed! Lots of people wet the bed! Wetting the bed was no problem at all. And because it was perfectly natural and normal and healthy and good to wet the bed, that meant that it was also a good idea to let his parents know. Lucas pondered this for a lot longer than he probably realized. The choice of keeping his accidents a secret had never appeared in his mind, really. For some reason, he was always very open about them. In fact, it felt good to tell his Mom and Dad that he had gone peepee in his pants a whole lot. It even felt good to tell Martin about it, even if he seemed less thrilled with this information than his parents did. It was odd to even contemplate keeping this event from anyone. What was the point in hiding it? Why would Lucas even want to hide it? If anything, the choice between attempting to keep his bedwetting a secret and admitting it outright became less and less of a choice the more he thought about it. It was really silly to bother hiding these sorts of things. He wouldn’t get in trouble for being honest, but who knew if he would get in trouble for being deceptive. Why had he even wanted to keep it a secret in the first place? What a weird thing to have pop up in his mind. Maybe it was like when he looked over the ledge of a tall building and imagined dropping his phone several stories. Or when he imagined what it would be like to ram his shopping cart into another cart at the store. Some kind of strange hypothetical situation that the mind ran through whenever presented with possibilities. Yes, clearly there was no argument or validity to keeping this from his family. Lucas had wet the bed and he wanted to make sure everyone knew about it! -- Carmella was not expecting to have her bedroom door knocked on at 7:30 in the morning. Or any time before she had her coffee. She tried her best to be a morning person, but no matter how many years she devoted to the task, she wished she could stay up late and wake up late. Sadly that wasn’t her life. She did have the ability to make the characters in her passion project novel night owls. But she found that sleeping pattern discussion never really fit in with ranch romance plots. Yes, ranch romance. She was very happy with Ron but… she couldn’t help that she loved a man in denim. It was possible to write a romance story while being happily married, thankyouverymuch! “Sweetie, what is it?” Carmella asked, fighting back a yawn. Her kid was lucky she was already out of the shower. “Mom! Mom! You have to come see!” “Can you tell Mommy? I still have to get ready for work, sweetheart. Is everything ok?” Her son was surprisingly chipper. “It’s fine! I wet my bed! I was sleeping and I didn’t wake up and I needed to pee I guess and I just went in my bed and now my bed is really soaky and wet and there’s a big puddle in it.” Through still unfocused morning vision she looked down at Lucas, noting that his boxers were positively drenched and he stank of stale urine. So, it’s finally happened, she thought. I’ll have to text Ron to let him know we’re moving to the next stage. “Ok sweetie. That’s very good that you told me. Go upstairs and grab all the sheets off the bed. We’re going to have to wash them.” Carmella lost out to the yawn. She hid it behind her paw. “Don’t you want to come see it?” Lucas tilted his head. This kind of interest in showing off bodily waste was a male phenomena that Carmella had never grown accustomed to. She had changed far too many blowouts and trainwrecked diapers when the boys were little to even be dazed by it anymore. “No, no, I believe you. I just have to get ready for work….” The sheer disappointment in the eyes of her teenage son when she denied his request to see evidence that he was a bedwetter was not something she expected. He was about to enter the next stage of the Retrain System so… Sigh. She hated disappointing her kids. “But… Ok c’mon, get up there. I’m coming. You better not be fibbing!” “I’m not, I promise! I really wet the bed!” -- That evening, after dinner, Lucas had a meeting with his parents. They wanted a progress update on how he’d been feeling lately. It was nearly three weeks after the meditation machine had been installed and he was extremely pleased with how well it worked. He was sleeping great and that was impacting his mood in a positive way! They met in his bedroom, much like how they had done at the start of this. This was unlike the last time, where Lucas had been dreading the constant discussions and disappointment from his parents and all the hassles. This time he was excited to share the progress he had made! He sat on his bed, which still lacked sheets. A mass of towels laid on the spot he previously slept in. He was told to keep them there until the mattress dried, which was bound to happen eventually, he assumed. “So, Lucas, um… Have you been feeling well?” His Dad looked almost timid. It would have been a concerning question to start off with if it wasn’t the whole point of the meeting. “Yep! I’ve been feeling great. I really like the sleep meditation stuff. It feels really nice to fall asleep and stay asleep. I can feel it helping me.” The young wolf smiled. He was proud that he had made the mature decision to accept his parents’ offer. It was the kind of thing that some teens probably would have fought back against and not taken seriously. “I see that you’ve been hanging out a lot with your brother. Are you two getting along?” His Mom had her hands on her knees and was gripping them, as if bracing for something. “Uh-huh! Martin is a pain sometimes but it’s been cool playing games with him. And he’s helped me with um… the potty monster.” The less said about the potty monster, the better. “He’s told me that he’s been helping you flush the toilet.” “Y-yeah. It’s not so bad when he’s there to keep me safe from the potty monster. But it’s still really scary.” He really hoped they weren’t about to start grilling him on this. They knew that this was a sore subject! “That’s good that you two are talking and working together. Your father and I have been talking too. We have noticed that you’ve had a lot of accidents lately and now you’ve started wetting the bed.” Lucas had to admit that he was having more accidents than he normally had. Which wasn’t a bad thing! It was normal to have lots and lots of accidents! “And we think that you might not be ready for the big boy potty.” “HUH?” Lucas was stunned! That was outrageous! He was SO ready for the big boy potty!! “What your mother is saying is that, er, it’s not that we don’t trust you to be a big boy about lots of things. We’re very proud of how mature and well-behaved you’ve been. And we’re so excited for you to go into high school after the summer. But we think it would be a lot of stress for you to have these kinds of accidents at school around all your new friends.” Lucas tried to puzzle out what on earth they were talking about. They could talk as much as they wanted about him being mature and responsible and all that but this was his big boy potty privileges! He earned those years and years ago! They can’t just get revoked like that! He was totally qualified to make it to the potty on time whenever he wanted! “What are you… I! Am! Potty! Trained! I know how to use the potty!” He was standing, his fists balled at his sides. “Sweetie, sweetie, we aren’t saying you aren’t potty trained. Sit down sweetie, we have to talk about this like mature adults.” His Mom was still seated, her hand now resting to where Lucas previously was. He was fuming! Talking about things like mature adults is easy to say when you’re not about to have one of the foundational elements of being a big kid taken away from you! “Lucas, we love you very much. We always want what is best for you. Look, we aren’t trying to take this away from you overnight.” His Mom shot his Dad a look. “Er, rather, what I mean to say, is that we aren’t trying to surprise you with this. That’s why we’re having this meeting. So we can talk.” Lucas looked from parent to parent. He crossed his arms and backed away from them, leaning against his old dresser. He would listen to them, but he was guarded. He was frowning and he felt tears welling in his eyes, but he kept his composure. Now was not the time for a temper tantrum. Now was the time to be the most mature person in the room. “O-ok.” This throat caught on the first word out of his mouth. Keep it together, keep it together. “Fine. Explain this to me.” The tension in the room was clear. These kinds of situations went from being just talking to just shouting in an instant, in his experience. His Mom spoke first. “We want to see if some positive reinforcement might help you with your accidents. I know it’s hard to keep track during the day when you’re going to the bathroom, so we have a chart that will help everyone monitor the situation, ok? Adults use charts like this all the time when they want to track things and they can’t remember them very well.” “So you wanna… have a chart for when I go to the potty? What’s that gonna do?” “Do you remember when I went on that diet last year?” His Dad explained. “I kept that app on my phone that tracked all the food I ate.” Lucas definitely remembered. It looked like a pain to do. “Well, it helped me watch what I was eating. I figured out that I was snacking between meals without even thinking about it. By writing it down, I was forced to remember what happened during the day. And it held me accountable.” “It’s exactly like that, sweetie. By keeping track of when you go to use the bathroom, you won’t forget about it. And it will make it easier to monitor your accidents.” Lucas had to admit that while he didn’t mind having peepee accidents in his pants, he could imagine it being inconvenient or inappropriate sometimes. And to his knowledge, most high schoolers didn’t have issues with wetting their pants in front of the potty. And their plan sounded fair. Dad definitely used that app and tracked his diet for a couple of months last year and that seemed to help. Although that did raise an obvious question. “Ok, well, if that system works so well, how come you aren’t using that app to track your food anymore, Dad?” His father’s eyes widened and he gave an awkward smirk. “That’s a good question, Ron. Why DID you stop using that app?” “I uh… well, it was quarter end and uh… There were some… Well you see, what had happened was…” “Lucas, you have raised an excellent point. It isn’t fair to you if we use a method that we can’t use ourselves.” His Mom was looking straight at his Dad while she spoke. “I think to prove that we are being open and equitable, while you are keeping track of your bathroom record, your father can keep track of the food he eats.” His Dad looked like he wanted to say something, but he elected not to. He just nodded in agreement, instead. Lucas supposed that their compromise was fair. If it turned out that this was going to be not worthwhile, at least he wouldn’t have to suffer alone. Much like making things even with his little brother, it was fair as long as everyone was inconvenienced. “Fine. I guess that makes sense.” He still wasn’t happy that this was being tracked. He was a big boy and he could go potty all on his own without having to record it. But, if they were going to record it, he would make sure it was a record of victory and success! “Good then, I’m glad we’re in agreement. Let me show you what we have.” His Mom went out to the doorway of the room and grabbed a box with a few items in it. She produced a vinyl chart with segments and spaces to put stickers and… at the top it said Potty Chart! This was identical to the potty training chart he saw on Noah’s wall yesterday! “So this is the chart. It will help you to-” “Yeah! I saw that! Mrs. Seong had Noah put a smiley sticker on it when he wet his training pants!” He paused. He blinked. Something didn’t click. Why would you put a smiley sticker on a potty training chart if you didn’t make it to the potty? “Wh… Why did… But Noah… went peepee…” His head swam. Something wasn’t connecting in his mind. It made sense to put a smiley face sticker on a potty training chart. It would feel good to put a smiley face sticker on a potty training chart. Smiley faces were good and showed that you did the right thing. That made sense. He wanted smiley face stickers on his potty training chart. But why would the good stickers go on when Noah had a big peepee accident? Wouldn’t he… get a frowny sticker? Yet, that logic was like a gear grinding without lubrication. It was barely turning and overheating. “I think you might be getting swept up in the details, champ.” His Dad’s hand was on his shoulder. When did he stand up? Lucas must have been so caught up in his own head that he spiraled out for a moment. “There’s a system that we’re supposed to follow. It sounds like Mrs. Seong is using the same one that we’re using. I promise, it’s not complicated.” It felt good to have his Dad there to reassure him. Lucas nodded and composed himself. His mother explained the system. Whenever Lucas had an accident in his pants, at all, he would put a smiley face on the chart in the part of the day when it happened. The smiley face was supposed to represent that it was alright and to stay positive. And if you made it to the potty on time and with no accident, you put a frowny face sticker on the chart. This represented that you overcame your fears of the potty monster and did the responsible thing. Apparently the frowny face was supposed to be more like a fearsome face. Lucas wasn’t sure he understood the logic of the way this worked. But it was just two stickers! He knew what they meant and that was the important part! He could keep track of them no problem. “See? Not hard at all. We all know what this means and we can keep track of it easily.” His Dad rubbed his shoulder and pulled him in for a big hug. Lucas hated to admit it, but he really needed that hug. The emotions in the last few minutes had been a lot more real than he was anticipating. “There’s a few more things, right Mom?” “Let’s see… Ah, just let me get this out and…” His mother pulled out a package containing some kind of folded up object. It was pretty big. She presented the front to him. “These are plastic sheets. I know that you just had a single bedwetting incident this morning, but we figured that if we were going to do this, we were going to do it right. Plus, look at how long it’s taken for your mattress to dry out.” She pulled off some of the towels. There was a faded yellow stain underneath, easily revealing where he had allowed his accident to soak in overnight. “This is purely so if anything happens, we don’t have to replace your mattress.” Lucas nodded. That made sense. If it took his mattress a long time to dry out, then it might still be wet when he went to bed. And that would be uncomfortable. He didn’t intend to wet the bed anymore, but… now that it was at the forefront of his mind, he realized that he didn’t have much control over whether he wet the bed or not. He could take steps to make sure he used the potty on time and remembered to pull down his pants and all that. But if he was asleep, he was pretty limited in what he could reasonably do. Plus, as he had experienced recently, he was sleeping extremely deeply. The mattress protector was a reasonable choice and didn’t threaten his ego at all. “Oh? No questions? Good!” His Mom placed the package down on the bed, presumably with the intent of getting it installed once the family meeting was over. “Now, the final thing we wanted to talk about. I think the surprise on this might have already been spoiled a bit thanks to Noah…” “WAIT. Oh my god! You… You got me training pants???” Lucas gasped, a great big smile forming on his face. As his mom raised up one of the pairs of padded undies, he was grinning from ear to ear. The training pants had blue trim and were covered with a pattern of airplanes doing loop-de-loops. The center flap was absent, which prevented it from being mistaken for cartoonish briefs. Instead, the center seemed to bulge out, clearly padded and thickened with layers of fabric meant to help absorb piddle. Lucas couldn’t help himself. He quickly stepped forward and put out his paws, his eyes wide with excitement. The training pants were handed to him and he lifted them up as if they were a sacred object, examining all their details and feeling the fabric. He pressed into the crotch and found it sprung back like a sponge. He let out a squeal of delight. He couldn’t put words to it, but when he saw Noah in undies just like these he wanted them so incredibly badly. He didn’t know how to describe it to his parents. In fact, in his mind he really hadn’t untangled the knot of desire himself. All he knew is that this was something he desperately wanted and now he had it. There was the sound of a cleared throat. Lucas looked up, his tail wagging behind him. Next to the mattress protector was a half-dozen other similar training pants. He gasped and looked at his Mom and then at his Dad. This felt like Christmas. Except on Christmas normally receiving underwear was one of the low points. “Really? Really? These are for me? I get to wear training pants? Oh my gosh oh my gosh…” Lucas heard his Dad say something as his wagging tail slapped into his father’s thigh at extreme speeds. “Oof. Yes. These are for you. We wanted you to feel confident while using the potty chart so we decided that…” His Dad didn’t have time to explain the rationale behind giving his fourteen year old son undies that were easier to pee in. Lucas gripped him in a big hug. Then his Mom. All the while he held onto the training pants with a death grip. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!” “You’re very welcome, sweetie.” Lucas’ Mom spoke as her air was being squeezed out from the hug. He let up so he could examine the other training pants available to him. “If I knew you’d like them that much, we would have saved the potty chart for last.” “We had that whole big speech prepared and everything.” “At least he likes them.” Lucas was busy trying to figure out which one he was going to wear first. They were all great. There was one with little puppies and bones, one with baseball accessories, one with stars, one with whales, one with race cars, and one with fire trucks, cement mixers, and dump trucks. He immediately pulled down his pants and took his undies with them. His undies were a little damp. He had no clue and didn’t care at all. He picked up the training pants with baseball bats and gloves and stepped into them, sliding them up with relish. He threaded his tail through the hole in the back (which took effort thanks to his tail wagging) and felt his handiwork. He could not stop his body from involuntarily shuddering. The thickness of the cloth cradled his groin and kept him snug and secure. It was a noticeable amount of bulk but that wasn’t unpleasant. It was nice. It was a constant reminder of what he was wearing. He twisted and turned and examined himself. He padded over to the mirror and took a look. The teen wolf in front of the mirror was wearing an Envision Wyverns shirt and baseball training undies. And he had the biggest grin on his face. He felt good and right and at peace and happy. It was like he belonged in these. -- Martin didn’t look up from his game. He was in the middle of a special replay of the latest Pokemon game where he would discard any Pokemon of his that fainted. There were a couple of other rules surrounding this particular playthrough but the end result was that he cared a lot more about the health and survivability of his Pokemon. And it resulted in a couple weird situations where he ended up with a rag-tag band of Pokemon following a brutal fight. He liked taking notes about these kinds of things and posting them to Pokemon-dedicated message boards. “So uh, just in case you notice some changes with your brother, that is completely normal and is part of the process. It’s a stress-relief system and it’s going to help him excel in high school.” His Dad was standing awkwardly by him as his parents explained the situation with Lucas. It was pretty obvious what was going on. “Right, yeah, so he’s being unpotty trained?” His Dad bit his lip and paused for a moment before answering affirmatively. “Well, yes. It’s going to take a little bit longer but that’s the end goal. Did he talk to you about that?” “Oh, no, I don’t think he knows. I have a couple friends on the PokeForum who were unpotty trained recently. They talked about it and it sounded like what Lucas is going through.” Martin clicked his tongue as his Pokemon was struck with a critical hit at the worst possible time. It was annoying to lose a Pokemon that he had spent a lot of time leveling up and getting trained how he wanted. But that was part of the challenge. Without extra rules, these games could sometimes become too mindless. “PokeForum? Honey, we have talked about the dangers of talking to strangers online,” his Mom chidded. “You are really too young to be doing that.” Martin looked up from his game, gave his mother a side-eyed stare, blinked a few times, and then returned to his Switch. He wasn’t the one who had taken his Mom’s credit card to buy G-Bucks for Double Week. Or the one who had gotten a virus on his Dad’s laptop. Or the one who had been caught posting “skit” videos on ChikChok. Martin was firmly in his lane in the digital landscape and his parents knew it. Plus, he was going into the 7th grade next year. Lucas wasn’t the only “big boy” in the house. “Anyways, you have some… acquaintances who have gone through this?” His Dad changed the direction of the conversation. His parents were acting weird about all this. It was like they were asking for his approval or something. “Yeah. They seemed to like it. I guess they’re in diapers now.” He made his way back to the PokeCenter to reconfigure his team. “And… You don’t have a problem with it?” His Dad really was being timid. “They’re just diapers! You know, Huggies makes Pokemon diapers? They have Pokeballs and Pikachus on them. I don’t see what the big deal is.” He tossed out the retired Pokemon and replaced it with one of the recently caught monsters that he kept as a backup. Thankfully it was near the level of the defeated one. “Sweetie, if your brother ends up in diapers, would that be an issue? We want to make sure that this wouldn’t hurt your relationship.” Martin actually put the Switch down and looked up at his parents. They were standing over him. He was bad at reading faces. He took a moment to think about how he felt about Lucas. He loved his brother, at times. But he had also been turning into a real jerk. And it seemed like they had been growing distant ever since they each got their own rooms. Martin liked the privacy and he wasn’t begging for his brother to move back in with him or anything. But they lived together and it was nice when they got along. So far, since his parents started this unpotty training program, they had gotten along great. It was weird to flush the toilet after this brother used it, but it felt kind of powerful to have that amount of impact over someone else’s life. Lucas needed him for something really embarrassing and intimate and Martin felt like he was obligated to help. And when they were just hanging out they actually talked and weren’t arguing as much. It was nice. If Lucas would remain like that after being put back in diapers, then there was very little to lose. “Yeah, I think it’ll be fine. I don’t mind if Lucas gets unpotty trained.” He noticed the tension in the air dissipate and he was finally able to return to his game. -- The following day was a curveball for Lucas. He awoke in completely drenched sheets. The plastic mattress protector had done its job and kept the pee from soaking into the mattress, but they had also prevented the liquid from pooling. Instead, it spread out, resulting in basically his entire bed being stained from head to toe. Mattresses, it seemed, were better at absorbing moisture than bedsheets. The training pants put up a valiant effort, clearly having gained significant weight from the amount they had soaked up. They clung to his crotch in a way that was surprisingly pleasant. Unlike his normal undies, they seemed to retain some of his body heat, resulting in a tepid sensation that was more comfortable than how wet boxers felt. Putting the first smiley face on the potty chart was something of a challenge as well. Lucas knew from the discussion the previous night that the smiling stickers represented a can-do attitude and were supposed to motivate him to make it to the bathroom on time. It still felt bizarre to put a happy, positive indicator on a sheet that effectively showed that he failed in the task at hand. Yet, as he stood there in his soaked training pants, looking at the potty chart area marked “Nighttime”, it felt really good to have a nice smiling image in front of him. In fact, it made him smile. It felt good to have a happy sticker on the board! And as he examined himself in the mirror, noting how his drooping training pants looked on him, he could not stop his tail from wagging. He knew, logically, that he was supposed to be making it to the potty and NOT just going in his pants whenever he wanted. But the raw physical and emotional appeal was difficult to argue with. He spent a lot of the day hanging out with Martin. They had found a game that they could both play together: Quarryconstruct. The cube-based building and survival game could be played at the same time cooperatively. And the two of them set to work making an epic base out of a mountain, complete with lava flows behind glass and numerous entrances to underground shafts and even monster-filled areas. Lucas was primarily interested in exploring and linking routes and mapping things out, while Martin cared about refining the designs and creating efficient pathways and expanding the technology available. The day had gone by in a flash. And by the time their parents had come home, the mountain lair was taking shape and becoming a proper base of operations for their endeavors. Lucas invited Noah to come play with them, but he said he wasn’t feeling well. Unfortunately for Lucas’ plans to conquer his potty problems, he ended up having two big accidents before dinner, resulting in two new smiling stickers joining the one from that morning. The teen wolf hadn’t even managed to try to make it in either case. He was so engrossed playing his games that his body just gave up and let loose. Whatever signal his bladder had given his brain that an accident was incoming was completely ignored. It was a real shock for the wolf when he felt the warmth spreading out under him in his chair. He would whine and huff and, for some reason, complain out loud. “Uh-oh! I’m going peepee in my pants! I’m having a big accident and I can’t hold it!” He would shove his hands down, as if that could possibly affect the torrent of pee flowing into his training pants and shorts. After a few moments, his bladder would finally empty and he would sigh in relief. He barely even registered that he said anything out loud. It was an automatic response to the phenomena of his body releasing without his knowledge and his ears were mute to the words. That kind of reflexive action was becoming common for Lucas and whatever part of him that governed self-awareness was clearly on summer vacation as well. This happened to him twice. The most bizarre part about it all was that Martin would have to be the one to press Lucas about the accident. Previously, Lucas was very proactive about changing his clothes and making sure that he had the proper help needed or told someone that the potty needed to be flushed. But these new accidents came with a kind of mental blank following them. Lucas would go back to doing whatever it was that he was previously doing like nothing happened, like he wasn’t sitting in pee-soaked training pants on a drenched towel. It would take his brother to ask him if he had just wet his pants to jog his memory of the event. Lucas was grateful that Martin was so attentive about these things. For some reason, it felt like peeing his pants was just a normal event. He knew that accidents were normal. That everyone had accidents. That it was no big deal to have a big accident in his pants. That it was good to tell everyone when he had accidents. That it was fun to wet his pants. That good boys wet their pants and hated the potty. But even with all of those baseline, concrete mental establishments, it was odd to get used to this new normal. It helped a lot having his brother around to make sure that he was paying attention and not getting carried away. The oddest, most out of character part, was how proud he was to show off his potty chart to his parents that evening. Despite the enormous fuss over having it put into his room, despite the explanation that he was potty trained and didn’t need this, despite the angst over the implications it brought with it. Despite all of that, when he saw those smiling stickers that he put on there from earlier that day, he could not help himself from smiling along with them. His parents seemed understanding, happy even, about this. Clearly they were just impressed with the teen’s maturity and honesty. -- “C’mon Lucas, let’s go grocery shopping.” Carmella had made grocery shopping an evening task. She found that she was less likely to buy junkfood (or to be convinced by her boys, husband included, to buy junkfood) if everyone’s stomach was full from dinner. It also helped her with her busy schedule. Having to get dinner on the table for her family in a reasonable time meant that she didn’t have the luxury of picking things up on the way back from work. And finding the energy to go shopping for basic necessities on the weekend was not always possible. “Huh?” Her teen son clearly heard her. He had such selective hearing sometimes. He knew she was calling for him. His door was right there. All he had to do was pause his game and walk ten feet and he could have a normal conversation. But no, she’d have to do this the hard way. “I said, we’re going grocery shopping!” “What?” For the love of… That boy was leaving his room, whether he liked it or not. Carmella cared deeply about her children but sometimes they could be real recluses. Oh all their friends are online, yes, she was well-aware. Her friends were online too. But food wasn’t online! Out of all the possible things, it was the one physical connection that could never be replaced with virtual reality. She made her way up the stairs. She wasn’t upset, she just wanted her son to come with her. “Lucas, sweetie, I said that we are going to the grocery store. You and me. C’mon, pause it and let’s go.” Her son groaned and was clearly moments away from complaining that it was impossible to pause online games. “You will have plenty of time to fix your score when you get back.” She sniffed the air. There was a strong scent of stale urine. His room basically had that smell all the time now. They were four days into the potty chart and there wasn’t a single frowny face on it. Lucas had been using his pants exclusively, which meant he also had some poopy training pants incidents. That had been a new development, but not unexpected. Any frustration and fussiness over the much more substantial accident faded as soon as the sticker was placed on the chart. That was clearly working as-intended. She would have to invest in some air fresheners for his room. And hopefully an odor-resistant diaper pail in a short time. “Sweetie,” she tried a different tactic. “Does your potty chart need a new sticker?” That seemed to give her teen pause. She saw his character stop moving as he took one paw off the control stick and placed it on his crotch. He quickly apologized to his teammates that he would have to leave early. There were some sounds of complaints on the other end as he exited to the home screen of his console. “Mom! I went peepee in my pants like a LOT! I totally forgot to tell you about it. Can I please put a sticker on my chart?” He had hopped up and was obviously in saturated pants. And they clearly had been this way for a while, as the edges had begun to dry, staining the outside with obviously discolored tide marks. “Did you already put a sticker on the chart for this accident?” Carmella asked, hand on her hip. Yes, she had to go grocery shopping. But her dang son was just so endearing this way. If she wasn’t going to enjoy interacting with her kid, what was the point of being a parent? “No! I promise! I didn’t realize I had to go and I kinda just forgot until you mentioned it!” His tail was tucked between his legs. It was tough for a wolf to lie about their emotions when they had an indicator that was highly visible and totally out of their control. “Ok, go put your sticker on and get changed into clean pants. I’m grabbing my purse. I want you in the minivan in just a few minutes, ok?” The grin from her son as he was carefully aligning the new sticker on his chart, the wagging of his tail, the sheer joy he was getting from such a simple task, was all too much for Carmella. It reminded her of when she initially potty trained Lucas. Except this time was far, far, far easier. That child had been absolutely terrified of the toilet and convincing him to get out of diapers was no small feat. Maybe, in a way, she had actually forced him out of diapers too soon. Maybe this was an opportunity to correct that mistake and allow Lucas to regain that agency over himself. It was such a basic mark of maturity that perhaps wasn’t healthy to impose. She had heard of other cultures where they breastfed their children into their teens. She had heard of all sorts of unique methods for child-rearing. Maybe she had given into societal pressures for her own sake rather than for the sake of her… She was getting way too carried away in her head again. Carmella exited her son’s room, noting that his “fresh” training pants were already yellowed from repeated use. -- Lucas trudged alongside the cart, weary of this necessary process. He had agreed to come with his Mom, but he hadn’t agreed to exist in this space doing the most boring things imaginable. Lucas was no chef, and as such, he had no way to comprehend what all the random ingredients he was picking up were to be used for. Did the brand of artichoke hearts really matter? According to his Mom it did. She had a checklist on her phone and would also be struck with random moments of inspiration, requiring the wolf to trek all over the store to find some highly-specific ingredient. Far too often, he picked the wrong thing or the wrong version of the thing or the wrong size of the thing. Meaning he would have to make the return trip through the labyrinthine grocery store to find where he even initially located it in the first place. One such trip to pick up paper towels (“No, sweetie, I want the one with the burly bear lumberjack”) had taken him to the mysterious non-food aisles of the grocery store. These poorly-understood rows always housed the most random assortment of household goods available on the market. Was there really a need for two dozen shelves of clothing detergent? What about the forty-pound bags of birdseed? Did… Jake find that weird? He was a raven after all and… Lucas turned the corner and caught a glimpse of a wall of products that halted him in his tracks. In front of him were stacks and stacks and stacks of diaper packages. These were huge, boxy, plastic-coated containers, showing the faint outline of their folded contents as the taut packaging contoured around the edges. Huggies Ultra-Supremes for Teens? Teen Pampers SuperCruisers? Luvs Teens Leakguard Pro Series? Lucas was entranced. These large cases of diapers were all marketed for teens and young adults. They had pictures of other people his age proudly showing off their diapered status. They were smiling and posing and happy to be swaddled in these thick diapers that they were obviously wearing. It was incredible. They all boasted that they had the maximum absorbency, that they were perfect for teens who needed extra protection, that they fit just his size. He set the rolls of paper towels on the epoxy-coated floor and walked over to the display. There were dozens of these diaper bags all lined up perfectly on the shelves. Their own section marked “Young Adult Incontinence Supplies”. Right next to the diapers meant for babies and children. It was wild to see and also somewhat normal. Like they weren’t stacked up with some kind of fanfare or giant signage or other things that made them stick out. It was just like any other section of the grocery store; products being sold and marketed towards people interested in them. He saw the outlines of the diapers bulging the plastic of the packages. They were clearly lined up tightly inside, perfectly aligned. They were huge compared to the baby diapers. The teen stepped forward and studied the designs. They were all so similar and yet each had their own specific color and marketing style. He reached out and grabbed at the Huggies package, sliding it out and rotating it. It was heavy, at least several pounds. The diapers inside must have been weighty and bulky, because the coating around them was extremely thin. Easy to open. Easy to just rip open and take a look. Lucas studied the sides. They were much like the front, showing off a teenage sabertooth cat in a different pose than the front. On the front he was confident and smiling. On the sides he was leaning against an invisible wall and looking content. The back was filled out with more information about the diapers, showing them unfolded with arrows pointing to the various features. Elastic backing for extra fitted comfort, triple-reinforced leak-guards for maximum protection for leaks, a layered central core for quick absorption, 10,000ml liquid capacity, reinforced diaperfront for enhanced playtime comfort, high-strength tapes to prevent sagging. It was incredible the amount of engineering that had gone into this. The blurb on the back talked about how Huggies Ultra-Supremes for Teens was the premier diaper for teens and young adults, using state-of-the-art technology to ensure convenience and comfort for today’s on-the-go youth. That these diapers were designed to be extremely comfortable to wear while sacrificing none of the patented Huggies Leak-Lock features that parents have known and valued. The wolf’s heart was racing as he read all about this. His breathing was quickened. He had no idea why this was all so fascinating to him. A few weeks ago and he would have walked past without even noticing. Or if he had noticed he would have assumed it was meant for some other demographic than himself. But reading all of this and feeling the dense package filled to the brim with diapers was beyond engrossing to him. He had to know what they looked like. Were they really like what the back of the packaging showed? Did they really look like how they looked on that sabertooth cat on the front? He had to know. The teen looked up and down the aisle. He checked up at the ceiling for cameras. If there were any he couldn’t see them. He was alone in this spot and no one would be the wiser if he decided to take a peek inside the box. He just wanted to look, that was all. He slid the box off the shelf. It really was heavy for its size, at least a foot and a half on all sides and several pounds. There was a handle at the top that he could hold onto. It would make it so much easier to carry this around the store. Assuming, of course, that he had any reason to do so. He didn’t want to take these diapers to his Mom and have her purchase them and then wear them. No, that was… That wasn’t what he… He held the box awkwardly positioned against the shelf, holding it in both arms, just staring at it. The boy on the front looked so happy. He looked so cool and confident in diapers. He looked normal in diapers. He was wearing them between his legs as if they were underwear and he wasn’t making a big deal about them. They were just what he wore instead of undies. He wore diapers. He wasn’t potty trained and he needed diapers so of course he wore diapers. That’s why these diapers even existed. They existed because it was perfectly fine for teens like this cat and like Lucas to wear diapers. They wouldn’t make diapers this big and designed exactly for people like him if it wasn’t perfectly natural to wear them instead of undies. Instead of training pants. He slowly placed the box on the floor and took another look around the aisle. He pulled at the corner flap where the handle was, unsealing it. He then tugged again and again, making an opening at the end of the package. The smell that greeted him was unreal. These diapers were pleasantly scented with lavender. It was a clean, simple smell that was noticeable but not overpowering. It gave the product a luxurious quality in his eyes (or nose). Like they didn’t need to make the diapers smell this enjoyable, this… welcoming. His paws were shaking as he reached for one of the diapers in the package. He couldn’t explain himself. Why was he so anxious and excited about this? Why was this such a big deal? Why was he even doing this in the first place? What could have possibly spurred on this total random fascination that would warrant opening a package of… Before his mind could race to the next thought his fingers were around the edge of the white diaper. The plastic outer layer felt smooth and had a satisfying give to it. He pulled it out, taking care as it was lodged in the package. These were clearly pressed together and were given no room to breathe or expand. The loud rustling of the plastic bag followed his movements. After some wiggling he finally produced it. He was holding the folded up, rectangular form of a diaper exactly in his size. Lucas studied it, feeling the length of the material. The thin layer of plastic encasing the thick absorbent layer of padding underneath. The tactile experience was unlike anything else he could remember. It was both supple and strong, clearly engineered so that it did not feel fragile or rough. The sound it made as he rotated it and felt it up was exquisite. A subtle crinkle and rustle that was intoxicating to listen to. All along it were patterns, showing space ships and moons and astronauts, with a panel of a smiling sun with smiling planets orbiting on the front panel. It reminded Lucas of the smiling stickers on his potty chart. It was inviting and friendly and it really reinforced to him that it was perfectly fine to wear diapers. Just like the smiling stickers made him feel good about going potty in his pants, the smiling planets on this diaper made him feel less wary about his decision to open up the package and take a look. “Sweetie, would you like to tell me what you’re doing?” Lucas felt his body tense up and in one instinctive motion, his hands chucked the diaper away from him. It thudded across the grocery store, landing in the open refrigerated dairy products aisle. Lucas’ heart was pounding in his chest. What the FUCK was he doing? What WAS he doing? He was just looking at DIAPERS and what the actual fuck. How was he supposed to explain that? That wasn’t something that he was known for or that he could just handwave away. He had a big package of Huggies right in front of him and it was open and his Mom probably saw him fondling this thing and wow he was basically dead. Maybe he could just pass away right here and they would ignore this part of his life in his obituary. Like they can’t just put in “died of embarrassment because he was caught opening DIAPERS” in the memorial of you right??? “Sweetie, c’mon, I’m right here. Mommy’s right here. It’s ok, you can tell me what’s going on.” He caught the glimpse of his Mom out of the corner of his eye, leaning down next to him. “Oh, are these some of those teen diapers? I’ve been seeing those around.” Lucas was frozen stiff. “Hm. Lucas, did you open this package of diapers?” Air escaped from his chest as he vainly attempted to form words. “Sweetie, it’s ok if you did, but you have to tell me.” Lucas was at the point where there were so many thoughts in his mind all competing for attention that he felt no dominant thought. It was like having a blank mind, except it resulted from having hundreds of thoughts all trying to bust through the door at the same time, jamming it in place. One of those thoughts happened to be that Lucas needed to go potty. “Lucas, it’s alright if you opened these diapers. It’s perfectly normal to be curious about diapers, especially since it sounds like a lot of teens are wearing them and… Oh. Uh-oh. Oh sweetie…” Lucas looked at his Mom with a dumb expression and then looked down. From his squatting position he could see in full view that a puddle was forming on the ground beneath him. Piss was streaming down his shorts in rivulets, dripping onto the floor and pooling around his feet. His training pants were trying their very best to keep the accident contained but there was a serious limit to their ability to stop such a massive flood. Worse still, his tail flagged. His eyes closed and he felt his stomach tighten. He was in the perfect position to completely lose control over himself. The back of his training pants bulged and sagged as he pushed out a massive mess into their seat. When he opened his eyes, he saw his Mom looking down at him, her face a gentle mask showing concern and affection in equal measures. He had seen that face a lot recently. He frowned as he looked up to her. “Mom, I had a big accident in my pants. I went potty lots and lots in my pants.” He was on the verge of breaking down. He had just had an extremely public and humiliating accident. There was no way to hide this. They still had an entire store to walk through. Everyone could easily see and smell that he had just peed and pooped in his pants and there was nothing he could do about that. His Mom smiled with a practiced gentle grace. “That’s right. You sure did sweetie. And you know what that means, right?” She crouched down to his level and looked him in the eyes. “It means that when we get home, you get to put a big, smiley sticker on your potty chart! Won’t that be fun? Won’t that be nice to have a happy face on your potty chart?” Lucas genuinely could not help himself. His tail moved of its own accord and the doom and gloom and misery he was just beginning to wallow in was instantly replaced with the sheer joy and excitement associated with putting a big happy sticker on his chart showing off how many accidents he was having. It felt really, really good to put those stickers on to mark his progress! And that meant that having a big accident in his pants was a good thing! It wasn’t a bad thing to go potty in his pants because he was supposed to have lots and lots of accidents in his pants! The stickers were smiling and happy and that meant that HE should be smiling and happy when he used them! “Really?? I get to put a sticker on it???” His Mom nodded and that was all it took to bring the teen up to his feet despite his sodden pants. “Now, sweetie, I’m going to ask you to do me a big favor. Can you do that for me, big boy?” Lucas eagerly nodded his head. He could absolutely help out! “I want you to go grab that diaper you tossed over there and bring it back. We need to clean up your accident before we leave.” The teen carefully stepped out of the puddle and squeaked his way over to the open dairy aisle. He didn’t mind that it was painfully obvious that his pants were completely ruined by this accident or that he desperately needed to get changed. He had been put into a remarkably good mood despite all of that and he was doing a task for his Mom. That kind of one-mindedness really helped ensure that he stayed on target. He grabbed the Huggies diaper that he had flung onto some yogurt containers. It had flopped open. He brought it back in both hands, awkwardly waddling thanks to his accident. With an expertise that implied that cleaning up random spills with spare diapers was not infrequent, Lucas’ Mom mopped up the puddle to the best of her ability. She balled the diaper up and stuffed it into her purse. She looked at Lucas, then back down to the Huggies on the ground. “Alright sweetie, go put the Huggies in the cart.” “Huh? But I-” “Sweetie, you know that if you open something in the store, you have to pay for it. C’mon, no arguing, we have to finish shopping.” The teen sighed in a way indicated a kind of defeat unique to teens. A huffy, resigned, annoyed sigh. But he did as she asked. Thankfully there were precious few items left to purchase on their trip. Lucas spent the entirety of the time side-eying the diapers that were now in the bottom of the shopping cart. He just couldn’t take his eyes off them for some reason. When it came time to check out, Lucas’ Mom sent him off ahead so he wouldn’t bother any of the customers in line. He waited out by the minivan, casually browsing on his phone. It was really interesting how once he distracted himself, he barely even noticed that he had pottied in his pants big time. He messaged Noah on Tumult. Noah responded quickly and seemed much more talkative than he had been in previous days. That was nice. Lucas would have to see if they could hang out later, not that he was in better spirits. When Lucas’ Mom arrived with the cart, he noticed that she had the Huggies box completely open and on display for anyone who looked. He blushed as he saw that there was nothing to hide these embarrassing things. It almost made it look like these were for him! Lucas was also surprised to find that he was instructed to help load the car into the back passenger seats, rather than the spacious minivan trunk. It wasn’t that crazy or unusual, just kind of odd. “Ok sweetie, go put the cart away.” Lucas waddled off, his pants now cold and clammy against his legs and decidedly less comfortable to walk around in than they had been earlier. When he returned, the trunk door was open and the seats had been laid down. The Huggies from earlier were sitting there, along with several empty trash bags and a few other items Lucas couldn’t make out. “Good boy. Alright sweetie, I was thinking about this while I was in line. I don’t want you sitting on the upholstery in poopy pants. And I don’t think YOU want to sit there in poopy pants, do you?” Lucas shook his head. This was getting pretty frustrating and weird to be in. “So I’m going to change you.” The teen’s eyes went wide as he realized why the diapers were out in the open in the back of the car. Lucas went to speak up, to defend his maturity, to vehemently deny that he needed to be put back into diapers. Before he could even get a word out his Mom held up a finger, giving him a dead-serious face. “You opened this package of diapers in the store. You made me purchase them by doing so. I didn’t want to buy these. So, mister, since I happened to do something exceptionally nice for a boy who was prepared to ruin property that wasn’t his, YOU have to do something nice for me.” Lucas hung on her words. He was ashamed. It was true. He had totally just taken something that didn’t belong to him and opened it without even asking for permission and without thinking of the consequences. He wasn’t quite a thief, but he was certainly not acting like the kind of good boy who got smiley face stickers. “I’m getting you changed into these for the ride home and that’s final, understood?” The teen looked down, feeling just awful about himself. He had really messed this whole thing up and he was extremely fortunate that he was only being subjected to this, rather than a more intense punishment. He followed his mother’s instructions and undid his pants, taking them off awkwardly with his shoes still on. He shivered nervously as he stood there in the parking lot. The sun was setting late. Thankfully most people did not do their shopping this late, but it was an awfully public space to be standing in poopy underwear. His Mom bagged up the pants and motioned for him to lay down in the back of the minivan. It was a pretty strange experience having his dirty undies changed this way. His mother was so casual about it. She moved with practiced precision and quickly cleaned him, using some baby wipes previously hidden behind the package of diapers. Lucas had his face covered the entire time with his hands. He felt the ordeal and the ordeal was cold and odd and also comforting and personal. He heard a diaper being removed from the package, the loud rustling of the plastic coating immediately giving it away. He whimpered as he was instructed to lift his tush up, and was greeted with the smell of fresh baby powder, a unique and pleasant smell that made him oddly nostalgic. Before he even realized, his thigh was lightly slapped by his Mom a few times and she told him to get up. Lucas moved the hands from his face and blinked. The sky was a lot darker and the lights from the parking lot were the primary source of illumination now. He jumped up and looked down at himself. He twisted around, examining how he looked from every angle. He was so emotionally frazzled from the events of tonight that he wasn’t sure how to feel. On the one hand, he was wearing a diaper, which was the ultimate sign of potty failure, and certainly something he was hoping to avoid. It was too unbelievably embarrassing and ego destructive to even think about the possibility of ending up back in diapers. And yet, as he inspected himself, he couldn’t help but feel somehow, improbably, complete. Like this was some sort of missing piece of himself that he was totally unaware of. And now that he was wearing the diaper, which fit snugly and comfortably around him, he was a total person, a complete package. Lucas grabbed his Mom into a great, big, hug, and she returned it with the same intensity. Lucas wasn’t sure why he felt this way. And he couldn’t possibly begin to untangle his feelings in this parking lot. But it felt good to hug his Mom and it felt good to be in clean undies, even if those undies happened to be diapers. -- The car ride home was quiet. Lucas stared out of the window, letting his mind wander as the streetlights passed by. He was trying to think, trying to center his thoughts and form a concrete mental chain, but he found himself drifting from idea to idea. Never anything substantial, just thoughts that came and passed with little fanfare. He noted that the diaper hugged his bottom in a pleasing way. He would have figured it would be uncomfortable to sit in since it lifted up part of him, but instead it was a very comfortable and familiar feeling, remarkably similar to the sensation of sitting in his training pants. He was still concerned that his Mom was mad at him for opening the diapers and causing a fuss for her at the store. But it wasn’t the right time to have that discussion. When they pulled into the driveway, Lucas didn’t even think twice about hopping out and helping with the groceries. He paid no mind to his pantsless state. It genuinely didn’t even cross his thoughts that he was showing off his diapered butt to the entire neighborhood. Maybe it was just his desire to assist his Mom following the events of the grocery store. Maybe it was something else. But he barely even noticed that he was thickly padded in his Huggies, totally exposed. The slight waddle in his step as he carried armfuls of reusable grocery bags was the only thing that came to mind. He walked a little bow-legged, wiggling his butt as he moved. It was taking a little bit to get used to. Not that he wanted to get used to walking around in diapers. “Lucas, sweetie, thank you for helping me put the groceries away.” It had gone by in such a flash and Lucas was so busy in his own head that he felt like he had no memories of even unpacking the groceries. “There you two are! Do you need any help with… Oh. Uh. I see that we’re going without pants tonight, huh?” Lucas’ Dad always seemed to miss out on putting away the food. Just barely missing or arriving just in time to help with the final and most minor of items. It had become a running joke in the family and it seemed he was perfectly happy with those minimal expectations. He leaned against one of the door frames into the kitchen. “Lucas had a ‘big accident’”-his Mom made air quotes with her fingers-”at the grocery store. And he also opened up a package of Huggies without telling me. So I decided to change him in the backseat.” His Mom sounded tired, done. Lucas looked down with shame. “I see. Well, that explains what he’s wearing… Lucas, it sounds like you owe your mother an apology. You know that you have to ask permission before you take things at the store.” His Dad sounded abnormally calm about the situation. But he was still correct. “I’m sorry Mom. I… didn’t mean to cause you any trouble. I don’t know why I opened them up.” “Sweetie, it’s perfectly normal for teens to be curious about diapers.” The teen wolf looked up at his Mom. She had a smile on her face that reminded him of the gentle look she gave him at the store. It was a warm and understanding look. “W-what? It is?” Lucas wasn’t sure how to take this information. His brain still felt fuzzy and clouded. Things were happening and he wasn’t sure how to process them. “Your mother is right. There’s a lot of research showing that teens can be more successful at school if they are diapered. Plus I’m sure you’ve seen all those commercials. It’s only natural that you would be curious.” Lucas blinked as he looked from parent to parent. It was true that he had seen commercials showing off teens wearing diapers. But… wait, he had? Yes, he absolutely had. They popped up a lot when he watched WeChannel. And they showed up on the television in commercial breaks between shows. Over the past several weeks he had seen them and had, for some reason, just totally ignored them. It was like his mind glossed over the fact that he had witnessed dozens of these advertisements showing off people his age perfectly happy in diapers. Wearing diapers and explaining that diapers helped them. Making it seem totally normal and pedestrian to wear Pampers or Huggies. It was so weird that he had completely missed the purpose of these commercials. It was like he blanked when they came on. But now that his Dad mentioned it, he really had seen a lot of things lately indicating that it was perfectly natural for teens to wear diapers. It all rushed into his head at once, unpacking so many memories and fitting them onto a timeline that had previously been empty. He swayed in place, losing his footing for a moment as his mind caught up with the sudden explosion of recent memories he had completely taken for granted. He stumbled and caught himself against the door to the pantry. Both parents stepped forward but Lucas shook his head and steadied himself. His Dad was right! He really had seen a lot of commercials about wearing diapers lately. That must be why he was so curious about the package of Huggies from the store! He had seen a lot of ChikChoks talking about how commercials and media influenced consumers (ironically often coming from “influencers”). He had totally believed that he was unaffected by such things, but clearly that wasn’t true. “Wow… Gosh yeah. You’re right. I really have been seeing a lot of stuff about diapers lately.” He spoke with a newly gained confidence, with self-realization. “Yeah, I’m really sorry Mom. I should have talked with you about it. I shouldn’t have just opened up the box of diapers like that. That wasn’t right for me to do.” “Well, apology accepted.” There was an awkward pause as no one seemed certain of the next step to take. After a beat his Mom filled the void. “Go upstairs and put a sticker on your chart, big boy. And Lucas, how about you keep the diaper on for bedtime tonight.” Lucas had turned to rush up the stairs. He stopped, took a breath to say something, and thought better of it. He had gotten off extremely leniently from his parents and just had some really bizarre realizations about the kinds of media he had been consuming. Now wasn’t the time to push back. Besides, it was just a diaper. It wasn’t so bad being diapered. It was, really, kind of nice. -- Dreams. Dreams of nothing. Dreams of everything. Intense visions of infinite vast expanses perceived by insignificance. The stars above circled, their twinkling lights away in a distance so vast that it could not be comprehended. Multi-colored strips of brilliant illumination danced overhead. The aurora was its own mystery. Perhaps solved by someone, but its solution was less important than what it represented. The drive to solve that mystery, the drive to seek out the beautiful things of the world and understand them, commune with them, exist with them, preserve them. It wasn’t so much about the answer as it was about the journey to find the answer. Lucas sat, legs crossed on the edge of a cliff. Mountains in the distance broke up the vista. Their jagged and snow capped peaks seemed small from his vantage, but he knew that if he was closer that they would tower over him. So many things in the universe above and below. So many things to see and do, to learn and know. It was exciting. The new possibilities. He looked down. Vast primordial forests covered swaths of land that could never be crossed on foot. Winding rivers broke them apart into their own sections, creating natural divides of the landscape. The trees could grow for hundreds of years, hundreds of feet tall, carrying with them the wisdom of the ages. Their roots spread deep and wide, forming a tangled network of interconnections between all living things just beneath the surface of perception. The wisdom was not with age but with the community and relationships formed. Rocks crumbled to dust in the wake of their slow, relentless assault. Nothing could stop the solid foundation of those who existed together in harmony. He watched as the sun rose and set, a hundred times. A million times. The trees, they grew as tall as they could and eventually reached their end, collapsing onto the forest floor, only to disappear as they were consumed by the invisible mycorrhizal network that formed a symbioting web, its own community of hyphae and mycelium strands joining together just as the roots of the trees did. And from this death emerged new trees that grew to the same gargantuan, towering heights. As time passed the cyclical nature of all things bore truth. But the unity of the forest stood in defiance. Although one tree fell, the forest remained. And the forest could grow, no matter the changes. It filled Lucas with a deep contentment. The permanence of impermanent things. And he was a part of it. -- It might have actually been the best night of sleep Lucas had ever experienced. He opened his eyes, feeling refreshed and fulfilled in a profound way. He felt no tension in his body and his bed was the perfect temperature; just warm enough to be toasty. He stretched and yawned and opened his eyes and turned over to turn off his alarm. His plastic sheets rustled underneath. He grabbed the phone and scrolled through it casually, checking up on how social media had developed overnight. It was just really nice, lying there. In the back of his mind, he felt like he needed to do something. He felt like he was missing something. Something he had checked in the morning recently. Something that made him feel a mixture of emotions. Oh! He had to check to see if he could put on a smiley sticker on his potty chart for wetting the bed! That was so silly of him! The last several mornings it had been painfully obvious as he woke up in sopping wet sheets that reminded him of his condition the moment that he gained consciousness. Maybe he had just gotten used to waking up like that. Oh! Or maybe he actually had held it while he was sleeping and he could make it to the potty! That would be exciting! Lucas sat up and threw off his sheets, fully expecting to find them heavy and wet. They were dry. They were bone dry. They were completely unused and unstained. Instead, he found that the diaper he went to bed in was absolutely soaked and swollen from having absorbed an incredible amount of his overnight accidents. The teen gasped. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His Huggies, previously with a variety of space-themed decals, were stained a light yellow, and the pictures all along the inner core were completely gone. Trace amounts of the ink faded around the edges as if it was being slowly washed away. Lucas put his paw onto the diaper and felt it squish under this touch. The diaper felt substantial. It felt like it had grown and expanded and swollen. The sensation of pressing against it was electric. It had a give to it. It flexed as he pressed into it. The absorbent material around his sensitive parts was unlike anything else he had ever felt. It was exciting and soothing in equal parts. And the sound that the plastic of the diaper made. It was even better than when he had held the diaper in his hands at the store. It responded to his touch with a subtle but noticeable crinkle. The plastic of his sheets along with it. It was like the ultimate physical stimulant. He couldn’t get enough. Both his hands were soon gripping his diaper. Groping and cupping and rubbing and squishing and feeling all over. He was laying in bed feeling his big soggy nighttime diaper and he really couldn’t have told anyone how long he was doing it for. It was like he was in his own world as he explored the Huggies diaper, wanting to experience every inch of it, wanting to learn as much as he could. Of course, the door to his bedroom opened in the middle of this fondling session. Lucas quickly grabbed one of the sheets and hastily covered himself as his Dad stood at the entrance to his room. “Hey champ, Mom made breakfast for the family. She’s got these little toast things with eggs in the center. They’re delicious.” “Th-thanks!” Lucas’ voice cracked. “I’ll… I’ll be down in just a minute.” “Oh, how did last night go? How was it sleeping in your Huggies?” “It… uh…” Should Lucas be honest that this was the most incredible experience of his life to wake up to? Would that be weird? Would it be weird to just blurt out that he really really really REALLY loved waking up in super soaky diapers and he loved rubbing and touching them? “I…er…” His Dad raised an eyebrow as Lucas struggled to come up with words to accurately explain how he felt without coming off way too strong. “Hm… Not easy to talk about, huh? How about this,” his Dad walked across the room (with unusual ease thanks to all of the laundry that Lucas had been doing lately) to the potty chart. He grabbed two stickers from the container and held them up. “If you didn’t like it, we can put a frowny face on the chart. And if you did like it, we can put a smiley face on the chart. No need to make this all complicated.” Before his Dad could even finish his sentence, Lucas, still clutching his sheet, pointed at the smiley face sticker. “This one?” The teen nodded. “So sleeping in a diaper felt good?” Lucas nodded again. “Good. Then we can put this up on your chart.” And with that the sticker was secured. Lucas didn’t know why but this whole experience made him feel small. He had, without realizing it, curled up with his knees to his chest and was holding his sheets tight against his chest. “Wanna come give me a big hug for your big sticker?” That was all it took to get Lucas hopping out of bed, his tail frantically fluttering behind him. He didn’t even notice how droopy his nighttime diaper had gotten. At the very least the Huggies promise for the tapes to remain secure seemed completely accurate. -- The next few days were weird for Lucas. He had made the switch to being diapered at night after a discussion with his parents. That discussion went far more calmly than the previous several potty-related ones. But he was still in his training undies during the day. It was under the guise of making it to the potty on time and trying to use the potty and yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah. Lucas found himself really just not caring in the slightest about that stated goal. If someone had asked him, he would have absolutely said that he was definitely interested in maintaining his potty trained status. But on the inside he was just daydreaming about diapers. He found himself loitering about in the house before taking his morning shower. Finding random things to do so he could justify staying in his nighttime diaper. It was soul-crushing to take off his Huggies and tug up his training pants. For whatever reason, that excitement and fun that the training pants had previously brought him was just gone and nowhere to be found. He found his accidents just as frequent as before, his potty chart now exclusively full of smiling stickers all indicating that it had been almost two weeks since the last time he actually went potty anywhere other than his pants. And these accidents seemed even more random and totally caught Lucas by surprise every time. When he did notice, usually because someone else in the family mentioned to him that he had soaky or stinky pants, internally he lamented that he had gone potty in his pants instead of his Huggies. HIS Huggies. That package from the store was HIS. He had diapers. He needed diapers. At night at least. But… maybe he really did need diapers? Maybe he was one of those teens that totally needed to be in super thick diapers all the time and who weren’t potty trained. Maybe… Thoughts like that wormed their way into his daily life and remained nestled in his head long after he had changed into clean, albeit stained, pants. It was a pleasant change of pace when Noah messaged him asking if he wanted to come over on Tumult. Lucas really missed being around his friends and despite how much he enjoyed lazing around playing video games with his brother, he desperately wanted to see his good friends again. Noah had really brightened up as they had been talking over the past several days. That angsty, moody spell that had awkwardly interrupted their last hangout seemed to have passed. In fact, Noah wanted Lucas to come over for a sleepover! Jake was also supposed to be coming back from his soccer camp and the three of them could actually be around each other again. It was exciting news! Lucas had everything packed up. He was within walking distance of his house, but it was always a drag to have to come back to grab something, especially if they planned on staying up late. He had clothes for the day (which in his case meant he had five pairs of training pants and shorts and one shirt), he had his Huggies Ultra-Supremes for Teens diaper for the night, he had baby powder, his phone charger, some baby wipes, his Ycube controller, some snacks, and his sleeping bag. It was enough to fill a book bag and duffle bag. This wasn’t his first sleepover at Noah’s house. They did it all the time as kids. It had become less common recently so this was a fun throwback to prepare everything. Lucas’ Mom was surprisingly fussy about the whole thing. She made sure his phone was charged and he had his parents’ numbers on it. She went over the time he was expected back home the following day. She grilled him to make sure no girls were invited and that they wouldn’t be sneaking out to any parties. She asked him three times if he had packed his nighttime diaper and even made him bring a second one just in case! She also apparently had talked with Noah’s mom about his situation. It should have been ridiculously embarrassing to have his Mom casually talking with other people about his need for protection at night. It should have riled him and caused his cheeks to blush. It should have caused the teen to bristle and push back against an obvious intrusion into a very private and delicate matter. Instead, Lucas felt nothing of the sort. It didn’t even cross his mind that it would be odd to tell someone he needed diapers at night. It was so matter-of-fact and sensible that it was just part of the normal conversation. The only reason why Lucas even noticed was because his Mom mentioned it several times, highlighting that when he needed to get changed into his diaper, he should talk with Mrs. Seong. Otherwise, it would have totally flown under his radar. Thankfully the grilling and over-parenting didn’t take too much time, and he made his way out to his friend’s house. The note about Mrs. Seong changing him was an important bit of information that the teen wolf had completely overlooked. So far, he had not changed his diapers on his own. His Mom and his Dad had been the ones putting him in the diaper. He could take it off, no problem. That was simple. But he really had not yet learned any of the strategies for getting padded himself. He wasn’t opposed to learning, but it took a lot of burden off of him to have help. Plus it seemed like a lot of the awkward measuring and positioning was easier when being done by a third party. So as long as they continued to offer it, Lucas saw no issue in continuing to remain ignorant. Noah answered the door with a big smile and a surprising hug. Lucas had hugged his friend in the past, but not normally for just arriving at the front door. Plus with his bags in his hands it wasn’t the best position for a hug. But it was still nice! Nothing wrong with a good hug among friends. “Dude I’m so glad to see you! I’ve really missed you!” Noah stepped aside and let Lucas in. “Haha, yeah I missed you too man. I wasn’t expecting the warm welcome, but I’ll take it.” Lucas set his bag down at the foot of the stairs and looked up, in the direction of Noah’s room. “Yeahhhh sorry I was such a downer before. I was going through some weird feelings and like you saw how everything was. It was just a tough time for me but I’m really feeling a lot better now!” “That’s really good to hear. I was worried I had made things awkward before when I was here…” “Nah dude you’re fine. It was totally on me. It actually means a lot that you showed up. I like talking on Tumult but it’s really different being in person, you know?” “Totally! I feel like I haven’t left the house in ages. I needed a change of scenery.” “Yeah I was pretty cooped up myself. Mom’s had me coming out with her for chores and stuff which is-” Noah closed his eyes and sighed. That wasn’t quite what Lucas was expecting from that sentence. “Um… which is nice. I mean they’re chores but it’s nice to get out and see things. I dunno why but it just feels kind of nice to be hanging out with my mom and seeing eye-to-eye on things for once.” “I feel you. I’m not trying to be weird about it, my parents are still my parents but it feels like we’re doing a lot better now than we were when I almost flunked science. Fuck I can’t believe I did that! It feels like forever ago.” Lucas tugged at his duffel bag straps. “Yeah I-Oh, yeah, lets get your stuff upstairs haha! Sorry we just haven’t talked in a while and I was getting carried away and uh, yeah!” Noah led the way up to his room. Lucas looked down to make sure he had everything, then looked up. He did a double-take. The seat of Noah’s pants were outlined with an extremely obvious bulge that was unmistakable. Noah was wearing something thick under his pants. And from the foot of the stairs, the wolf could easily pick up that whatever he was wearing was rustling and crinkling as he moved. He rushed up the stairs, his chest thumping like mad. There was no way. There was no way! Lucas had been in Noah’s room hundreds of times. He was intimately familiar with the layout. Multiple layouts even, as he had gone through various changes in decor over the years. Lucas was not expecting to find, next to the door, a waist-height wooden storage unit covered with a plastic-wrapped foam mat. The inside of the storage unit was filled with stacks and stacks of teen-sized diapers, baby powder, and baby wipes. Next to this changing table was a kind of garbage can that was propped open, which revealed a balled up diaper poking out of it. It was a diaper pail and it was so full of diapers that it couldn’t even close! Lucas sniffed the air. The room had an unmistakable nursery scent of dirty diapers, lotions, and baby powder. “Uhhhh hello?” Noah waved at the stunned wolf and gave him a quizzical expression. “DUDE!!! Are you… Are you back in diapers???” Lucas could barely get the words out. He was having so much difficulty processing what was going on. He knew cognitively that his friend was in training pants and was having lots of accidents and was scared of the potty monster. But he couldn’t have imagined that it was anything more than that! It was just a coincidence that the two teens were having the same kinds of issues at the same time. And it never would have occurred to Lucas to expect his best friend to be in diapers full-time. “Oh duh yeah, sorry I probably should have told you. Mom decided that I should be back in diapers.” Noah spoke like it was the most normal thing in the world to have his potty training taken away like that. “She… what?” “Dude, honestly it’s for the best. I’ve been spending so long playing pretend that I’m potty trained and ready for big boy undies and stuff and like, ugh it just was wearing on me. It’s really a lot better being back in diapers.” The fox untied the string holding up his shorts and slid them down, revealing a yellowed and swollen diaper. Lucas recognized them as Pampers SuperCruisers from the store! “Y… But…. Wh…. Wait, pretending? What do you mean you were pretending to be potty trained?” It was a ton of information for Lucas to take in at once and he was having difficulty absorbing it all. “Yeah, like, saying that I should be using the potty and going to the toilet and making a big deal about it. It was just pretending. I wasn’t REALLY ready for potty training. All the accidents that I was having was like… I dunno it felt like I was rejecting all the time I spent being in denial. That’s why I was so huffy and flustered last week.” Noah groped at the front of his diaper for a few seconds, then pulled his pants back up. “I was trying to fight myself and keep on pretending that I was really potty trained. I feel so much better now that I’m being honest about being unpotty trained.” Lucas was trying to piece things together. Some of what his friend said made sense. It was true that he was upset about his accidents and that clearly was affecting his mood. But pretending to be potty trained? Was that even possible? Surely if you were able to use the potty in time, you were potty trained, right? But all of those thoughts of confusion just melted away as he took a deep breath and inhaled that pervasive nursery scent of the room. The sweet scent of the talcum powder. The heavy, musty aroma of the used padding that leaked out of the diaper pail. The residue of leaks that had been allowed to dry and air out. The medical smells of creams and lotions. It all blended together in a beautiful, nostalgic, magical way. It was like a great, big reset on his thoughts. He was focusing on… something… that was confusing and upsetting him. And now, looking around his friend’s room, now modified to accommodate his unpotty trained state, it felt just as familiar and welcoming as it ever did in the past. Really, Lucas wanted this. He wanted THIS. He wanted his room to be like this. He was jealous! He was jealous that Noah was back in diapers! Lucas was having just as many accidents as his fox friend! His potty chart was full of happy, positive, smiling faces all indicating that he had totally failed to make it to the bathroom time and time and time again! That was absolute proof that Lucas was clearly not ready to be considered potty trained either! If Noah could be put back into diapers and never have to worry about that scary, terrible, awful potty monster, why couldn’t Lucas? “Helloooo? Earth to Lucas?” The wolf was snapped out of his thought spiral. “Dude you’re going peepee in your pants. Did you leak?” Lucas looked down and saw that a dark spot had formed along his thighs, dribbling down the insides of his pants before dripping onto the carpet. His training pants were doing an admirable job keeping the majority of the accident contained, but they had just not been enough to keep his pants dry. If he were at home, he wouldn’t have even bothered changing his pants from this accident, since it was so relatively minor compared to the absolute floods that he used to mark his potty chart with smiley faces. He would have stayed in his soaky training pants because it would have been so much easier than changing into a fresh pair. “Oh, geez, yeah, I was just doing some thinking and I guess I got distracted and had an accident in my pants.” “Wait… I thought you wore diapers too?” Noah looked confused, maybe even bearing a hint of betrayal. “Mom mentioned that she talked with your mom. I thought you were back in diapers like me.” “I-um,” Lucas blushed and finally set his bags down, “I mean… I am, but only at night. I’m like a serious bedwetter and so it’s been a lot easier to go to sleep in my Huggies.” Lucas knelt down and unzipped his bag, pulling out one of the Huggies Ultra-Supremes for Teens that he brought with him for the sleepover. “I’m still uh… In undies. Or, training pants, really.” “Why?” “W… huh? What?” “I mean, why bother with that? Like, wouldn’t it be easier to just go back to diapers instead?” Lucas was going to defend his potty training. He was going to defend his desire to remain in thin, miserable, tragically unabsorbent, awful cloth underwear. But Noah had struck right to the heart of the matter. Which was SO like Noah. He always knew how to ask questions that really dug into the truth of the situation. Maybe it was a fox thing. “I… I….” Lucas looked at his friend, who had a warm smile. He looked down at the Huggies in his paw. He thought about the accidents. The constant failure to make it to the restroom. The load after load after load of laundry. The creeping stains that had become burned onto all of his pants. It was so much trouble. It was so difficult. He thought about how freeing it felt to wake up in his Huggies, waddling around the house without having to worry about if he would make it to the toilet or not. He thought about how if he genuinely, honestly tried to make it to the potty that he would be completely consumed with fear and terror. Noah was right, as he tended to be. “I really don’t wanna be potty trained anymore. I hate the potty. I hate leaking all the time. I hate leaving puddles everywhere. I really, really, really hate the potty. I wanna be back in diapers.” He felt tears well up in his eyes as he looked up to his friend. Why was he getting so emotional? It was just something silly that he wore. It was just clothes. It was just accidents. Everyone had accidents. It was no big deal to have lots and lots of accidents in his pants. But even so, the waterworks flowed. “Awww, dude, it’s ok man.” Noah kneeled down next to Lucas and put his arm around his shoulder. Lucas didn’t know how to react. He wasn’t used to crying like this around his friends. He tried to form words to express how he was feeling and excuse himself from this outburst of passion, but all that came out were sobs and muttering incoherency. “It’s alright, Lucas, I’m here for you.” The two friends hugged each other for a while as Lucas was swept away by the tide of grief, futility, sorrow, happiness, comradery, and embarrassment. He would have never opened himself up like this to his friends before. But now that he was, he was glad it was with a friend who understood him and cared about him. -- “Is everything alright, boys? I thought I heard a commotion.” Mrs. Seong slowly opened the door, moving it from being ajar to being wide enough to fit her muzzle into. “Yeah, yeah, it’s ok. Lucas and I were just talking about like, you know, unpotty training and stuff.” “Oh dear. Lucas? Lucas sweetie, is everything alright?” Mrs. Seong opened the door and stepped in, joining her son next to the teen wolf, who had spent the past several minutes sobbing and attempting to settle himself. “Oh Lucas, you poor dear, we’re all here for you. This is a safe place for you to be yourself.” Lucas inhaled and exhaled with shaky breathing. He had learned from recent volatile incidents that when he got like this that he had difficulty talking for a while. So it was better to just focus on his breathing until he could get that stable. “Noah, sweetie, would you mind getting some tissues and hm… a hot towel. I think that would be best.” Mrs. Seong kneeled, replacing her son as being the closest to the teen wolf on the floor. “Lucas, I know you have been through an awful lot in the last few weeks. A lot of big changes have happened for you. You mean a lot to this family. I’ve known you since you were in… ahem, I’ve known you for a long time. You’re growing up to become a fine young man. And you’re a good friend to my Noah.” Lucas looked up with bleary, red eyes. This was not the first time he had been consoled by the older fox. Helping the wolf out was just in the Seong family or something. “Would you like to go home? It’s alright if you do. I can call your mother and have her here in two shakes of your tail.” Lucas shook his head. He wanted to be here. I wanted to be around his friends. He breathed in and out. He breathed in and out. He breathed in and out. The trembles were slowing and he was regaining his composure. “Well then, if you’re going to stay here then I’m going to insist that we get you into some clean pants. I can’t imagine that’s helping you right now!” The older fox helped lift Lucas up to his feet. He wiped away at his eyes and wiped away at his leaky nose. Noah came in with a box of tissues and a hand towel that had steam coming off of it. “Thank you sweetie. Ok Lucas, go ahead and put this on your face. That always makes me feel better after I’ve had a cry.” The wolf took the hot towel and held it against him. The warmth of the cloth was nourishing. It was just hot enough to shock his system without scalding him. It was a tranquility that helped to calm him and transition him from his emotional outburst to a state where he felt ready to be around people again. When he took the towel off, he felt like a new man. A new man who needed to blow his nose. -- “Alright Lucas, pants off. Do you have spare undies with you?” “Um… yes but… Mrs. Seong… Could, I mean, would, you um… would it be ok if…” Lucas knew exactly what he wanted. He knew to his core what his desire was. But it wasn’t the kind of thing he could just ask! Saying it out loud was difficult. The fox stepped back, her hands on her hips. Lucas had his pants around his ankles and was in sopping wet training pants, which by this point had been thoroughly yellowed and discolored. He must have looked quite the sight. Noah discretely pointed to the underside of the changing table. Mrs. Seong’s eyebrows raised. “Lucas, you know full well that in this household we use our words when we want something. If you are trying to ask me something, I am going to need for you to say it.” The wolf paused. Collected himself. He had just cried over this. He could do this. He wanted this. Deep down he needed this. It was bubbling up and now it was ready. He had been building up to this moment for weeks. “I… would like to wear diapers instead of undies tonight.” For some reason he expected the worst. Maybe he would be laughed at or slapped or they would call his parents and find some way for him to get in trouble. Instead he got a chuckle and a good-natured shake of the head, Mrs. Seong’s hands raised up in an exasperated pose. “Is that it? That’s what’s got you all worked up tonight? Lucas, of course you can. Goodness child, you’d think this was an interrogation.” Mrs. Seong bent over and picked up the Huggies diaper that was laying atop the duffel bag. “C’mon, let’s get you up on the changing table before I change my mind! I’m joking! Goodness, these kids, so serious.” Lucas could not for the life of him control his tail, which wagged with a ferocity that was never before seen. It wagged so hard that he was worried it would fly off. He stripped down and hopped up onto the changing table. It was firm, but the padded mat kept it from being uncomfortable. He was used to being changed on his bed. It wasn’t too different of an experience logistically, but in terms of how he felt and what this piece of furniture signified, it was worlds apart. The change went by in a blur. Clearly helping Noah in recent days had removed any rust that had accumulated in his mother’s abilities. Within a few short minutes, the diaper was snuggly taped on and Lucas found himself standing again. He had the biggest, dopiest grin on his face as he stood pantsless in his friend’s room. Just as he had done previously, he examined himself, checking the fit and feel of his padding. HIS diaper. This diaper was his and it was for him. He belonged in diapers. It was right and normal and good for him to be in diapers. He wasn’t ready for undies at all! Noah was absolutely and completely right: he was playing pretend when he said he was potty trained. He was fooling the world and himself into thinking he was actually ready for the potty. The truth was that he was UNpotty trained and it had taken far too long for him to accept this fact. “No ‘Thank you Mrs. Seong’ for my backbreaking work?” The fox was in a jovial mood and was clearly being ironic for the sake of levity. Lucas wasn’t having any of it. The teen launched into a great big hug, nearly knocking her off her feet. “Thank you so much. Thank you so so so so SO much.” “Alright, alright, goodness,” the hug separated and the fox regained her composure, “you boys really are growing up fast. Alright, you two play nice. If you need anything, let me know ok? I’ll be downstairs. Try to keep the noise level to a dull roar.” -- With both friends now openly diapered, happily diapered, they launched into serious hangout time. They talked and lazed around and played games. Noah had been practicing up in Culpable Cog: Endeavor and kicked Lucas’ butt again and again and again. It was great. They were regaining the lost time that they had missed for the past several weeks. The best part was that it was so easy. It was like they could be their full selves without any hiding or shame. The barriers that sometimes formed in adolescence in an attempt to shield against vulnerable honesty has been eradicated. In talking, they both learned that they were on the same overnight meditation system. In their minds, it was a surprising thing to share. Noah had looked it up on Nile and had found it was called the “Retrain System.” It was highly reviewed and worked extremely well at helping people overcome developmental and academic issues. Noah mentioned that one of the effects was supposed to be a reversal of potty training ability. “Does that bother you? Like do you think this was the intended effect?” Lucas hadn’t looked any of this up so he was unsure how to feel. “You know, I dunno. I know how I feel right now. I really, genuinely, honestly feel that I wasn’t ready for potty training. I don’t think I should have been potty trained. And I feel like I was pretending this whole time.” Noah was flipping through Spasm streams for Summit Luminaries. “I really prefer being back in diapers.” “Me too. I wonder if like, I don’t know, maybe it turns out that people have potty issues because lots of people shouldn’t have been potty trained in the first place.” Lucas’ crotch warmed as he involuntarily flooded his Huggies. The liquid soaked into the core and the diaper swelled in a pleasing way. “Yeah, I’ll talk to my mom about it at some point. But really, I feel good. I… Mmmffff….” The fox leaned forward in his seat, his tail raised up. Lucas heard the obvious sounds of his friend’s diaper filling. The crackling of the plastic diaper material combined with the heavy fragrance to create an unmistakable experience. He sat back down with an audible squelch as if nothing had happened at all. “Mfff I made big poopies… Um but yeah, I feel good and I think I’m really a lot happier like this.” The teens barely reacted at all to either event; the loaded diaper or the revelation about the special meditation system. In fact, there was a kind of normality to the two being able to go potty in their pants without any concerns at all that was refreshing. It contrasted to how prior to wearing diapers, the two had struggled with all sorts of embarrassments and logistical problems. Instead, they felt free to be themselves around each other in a setting where things were far more convenient. -- The doorbell rang. Noah got up with an excited expression. Lucas joined him. Jake was here! The pair scrambled out of the room, not even bothering to put their pants on, and clambered towards the stairs. Mrs. Seong was already at the door, talking to someone. “Saundra it’s so good to see you! Please, come in. Would you like some coffee? I have a lovely new roast that I ordered online. I think you’d like it!” “I appreciate it Kamille… I was just here to drop off Jake but… You know what, sure, I’ll take you up on that offer!” The adult raven stepped inside. Behind her, stepped in an adolescent raven wearing a baggy hoodie and baggy cargo shorts. The tips of his feathers had been dyed a light teal, which faded pleasantly inward, giving him a wave of head-dressing that was quite stylish. “Jake!!” Lucas and Noah cried out in unison from the top of the stairs. The raven looked up and his expression was like he had been shined on by a spotlight. He retreated a step, his hands raised defensively. Then he narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. His shoulders slouched and his hands fell by his side. “BRUH. You fucking shitheads didn’t tell me you were back in diapers too!!” Jake lifted up his hoodie, revealing the unmistakable purple and white waistband of Teen Luvs diapers. “AYYYY!” “Jake, remember what I said about watching your language,” came a voice out of the adjacent room. “Sorry Mommy!” Jake called out and looked at his friends who were barreling down the stairs. The three embraced in a group hug, having not seen each other since the end of 8th grade, where they all left on awkward terms. “Oh my gods, I missed you guys so much.” “It’s been too long! Gosh I’m so glad you could make it Jake,” Noah responded. “Me too, ugh it’s been a crazy couple of weeks and…” He sniffed at the air, then paused and reached out behind him, giving his butt a few hefty squeezes. “Sorry I think I need a change. I must have gone poopy.” “No, that’s just Noah. He went poopy before you got here. You should see his room, his diaper pail is like SUPER full.” “You WOULD have an overflowing diaper pail!” “What’s that supposed to mean!” “You know exactly what it means!” “I don’t get what it means.” “That’s because it doesn’t mean anything!” “Ya-huh it does!” “Oh my gods you’re such a hecking bully.” “Shut up stinkybutt.” The baseless teasing and posturing whenever a group of teens got together clearly held true regardless of their continence and choice of underwear. “Ok you boys, go on upstairs and… Noahhh. Come here sweetie.” Mrs. Seong walked into the foyer carrying a small bag of fancy coffee beans. The teen sheepishly broke away from the group as Lucas and Jake snickered with each other. The waistband of Noah’s Pampers was pulled back and he was given a quick swat on the butt. “Upstairs young man, you need a change, pronto. Sorry Saundra, I’ll just be a moment. I need to get my boy cleaned up.” “I know how that is. It seems like Jakey is practically always one wetting away from leaking these days.” The raven casually scrolled on her phone as the foxes headed upstairs. “Mooommmm!” Lucas was giddy with excitement. He hadn’t seen this kind of fun teasing around his friends in ages. It was really nice to just have fun with his friends again. -- “So like, what happened at soccer camp dude? I don’t think you were unpotty trained before, unless I seriously missed some details!” The three teens were lounging around in Noah’s room, resting on the bed, the floor, and a folding chair stolen from the garage. Jake had taken off his baggy clothes, revealing an FC Carba jersey and his drooping Luvs diaper. Lucas noted that he was drinking heavily from a large water jug. It was the size of one of those big soda bottles! The mystery of why he was always close to leaking seemed solved without much difficulty. “Oh geez, yeah, it was fucking wild. I got switched from the original camp I was supposed to go to for a different one. But it was fine. Like it was a really dope training camp. I learned a lot and I got some seriously incredible coaching. They had some of the staff from Barkdale College there. The drills and stuff were brutal but I feel so much more comfortable around the ball.” Jake took a huge swig of his water. “But, uh, yeah like I started wetting the bed pretty early on. A lot of people were having that problem. It was weird because like the staff was totally prepared for it. I mean that made it way less embarrassing and not a hassle but like they had plastic sheets and stuff just ready to go.” “Wow! How many people were wetting the bed?” Lucas leaned forward on the folding chair. “Uhhhhh… shit I don’t know. I mean I didn’t like go up to people and ask if they pissed their sheets!” Jake giggled. It was a little bit unlike him but at the same time it wasn’t too out of place. It was more that he had become such a negative and argumentative person in the last year. Hearing him laughing was something out of the ordinary in general. Lucas was happy to hear it, still. “But I will say just about everyone had big-time potty problems. They got us drinking a lot of fluids since we were exercising so much. By the end of the first week most people weren’t even bothering to head out to the portapotties. They were just going in their pants and getting on with training.” “It must be really uncomfortable to run around in peepee pants like that…” Noah had his hand on his chin. “Wouldn’t it chafe?” Jake pointed at Noah and gave an over-exaggerated nod. “You figured it out! Running around in wet pants fucking sucks. They ended up having a big meeting in the dining hall where the camp director basically told everyone that we would be training in diapers for the rest of the session. I don’t know why but we all just kinda went along with it. You know, I’m really glad that happened because it was getting dicey trying to figure out when to go potty.” “What, everyone at the camp was just cool with being put back in diapers?” Lucas tilted his head. Even with his own experience, it had taken some serious emotional and mental wrangling to admit to himself that he wasn’t ready to be in big kid undies. It was difficult to believe that an entire camp of volatile teens would be perfectly fine with that plan. “Oh fuck no dude. It was wild. I thought it would be a riot. We went along with it but not at the beginning. But they made it so it was a staggered program. Like one cabin got their diapers at a time. It was weird.” The raven paused and looked down, trying to figure out the best way to phrase the next part. “ It was like… I was SOOO fucking jealous when I saw the first cabin all padded up. Like I don’t know why. I just saw them running around in diapers and it looked so easy and fun. They were so happy. I really wanted that. I guess everyone else felt the same way because all the pushback died as soon as we got the chance to wear them.” “I was like that when I saw Noah wearing training pants instead of undies. I wanted them SO bad.” Lucas blushed, realizing that he hadn’t revealed that kind of detail before to anyone. “Ooooo Lucas was jealous of my soaky-woaky peepee pants,” Noah reprimanded in an exaggerated voice. He got up and turned around, smacking the seat of his diaper, wiggling his butt for good measure. “And you were so jealous of my diaperbutt that you gave up undies for good!” Noah always seemed to have a talent for accompanying his teasing with a smuggest of expressions. “Shut uuuuup!” Lucas threw a pillow at him. “I’m sorry that I was trying to relate MY experience to my FRIEND’S experience, poopypants.” “And I’m sorry that your shorts are all stained from you pissing your pants all the time!” Noah was barely able to get that sentence out from laughing through it. “Wow, real mature guys. Super glad to find that I came home to all my friends being turned into big babies.” Jake rolled his eyes and then looked down, putting his hand against his inner thigh and then against the carpet beneath him. “Uhhhh… Hold on, I just have to uh… go ask Mommy for a diaper change real quick.” The raven stormed out to the sounds of his two friends heckling him. Jake’s mother left shortly after he returned in clean Luvs. The rest of the evening went by in a blur. It was fantastic finding no time lost between friends. They spent most of their time talking, sorting through all of the notable events that had occurred since the start of summer break. Noah got more information out of Jake about the soccer camp over the course of the evening. It turns out they were using a very similar nighttime meditation system to help manage everyone’s sleep schedules and maximize their time spent training. Jake hadn’t done any research into it but he specifically remembered that it was brought up during the onboarding seminar. He hadn’t put the pieces together about it being the root cause of his unpotty training until Noah filled him in. According to Jake, it was surprisingly easy to get used to running around playing soccer in diapers. The athletic variety of the diapers he wore while training were quite comfortable, even with all the movement. The oddest thing was, none of the boys felt negatively about the situation. They could have been outraged at being duped by their parents and coaches into having no potty control. They could have been furious at the company selling the Retrain System for daring to put such a product on the market. They could have felt self-hatred for being affected by such a life-changing event. But none of them felt that way at all. If anything, they all seemed happy to be back in diapers. Happy to no longer worry about the potty. Happy that the major transformation was over with. Happy that now they could reap the benefits of having quelled tempers and great sleep. They each liked how things had turned out for them. Whether that was a result of the system affecting their perception and reactions or genuine satisfaction with the outcome was unclear. Perhaps it was a mixture of both and had become impossible to untangle. It was clear that their parents had made the decision to use the Retrain System without consulting them. And that was obviously a life-changing event. Still, they harbored no ill-will for the choice their parents made on their behalf. It was like they were able to look back with an unusually nuanced and mature perspective, despite it being a recent development. It was like an adult reflecting on good parenting choices that had been made decades prior. It was more complicated for Noah, who had the most difficulty while undergoing the process. It was during all this discussion that Noah revealed that he had a cousin who had gone through this program as part of a trial a year earlier. The reason why he had an interest in figuring out the mystery was because he knew the end result ahead of time. As he was losing control over his bladder and bowels he knew that he would end up being in diapers just like his cousin, which severely impacted his mood. That was, until he ended up on the other side of things, at which point everything clicked. Noah compared it to jumping into a pool: the shock of the cold water left him shivering and defenseless, but then he acclimated to it and it became comfortable. The open and frank discussions between friends was sorely needed. But it wasn’t quite as important as playing games and dicking around. Which was the entire point of the sleepover. “Lucas, did you screen-look?” Jake had just been flushed out from his favorite sniper spot. He had narrowly avoided a grenade intended to take him out. “Uh… no! You’re too obvious, man!” Lucas HAD been looking at Jake’s section of the television, but he knew for a fact that Jake had been looking at HIS little square, so it was really fair. “You always like to… Mffff… perch…” Lucas’ power-suited character paused in place as the wolf shifted in his seat. His diaper crinkled and rustled as he did so. The plastic had loosened from the heat of the numerous wettings and occasional rubs and gropes from the teen. The tapes were still on tight and thankfully he hadn’t leaked, unlike his raven friend. His tummy felt a little bit tight and there was an urgency that he body attempted to convey to him. Lucas had no idea what it meant and was far too invested in the game to really care. He leaned forward from his floor position, getting himself on his knees. He got his character moving again. “Yeah and you’re such a cheater and-HEY!” Jake’s armored future warrior collapsed to the ground as a barrage of automatic fire riddled his body. “No fair dude, you know the assault rifle is busted.” “Yeah and you had the chance to pick one up but you ALWAYS have to pick the sniper rifle and pretend like you’re super cool.” Noah sounded so casual. He had clearly been practicing over the last few weeks. Lucas tried his best to circle around the small map, trying to find a good angle on Noah. He had an idea of where the gunfire came from, but he had to be careful in approaching or he would end up right in the line of sight. He was turning the corner around one of the pillars on the vaguely industrial map, when he felt the tightness inside him increase. He held onto the controller and tried to fight through the discomfort. He circled around, managing to sneak up on Noah. He lined up his shot, intent on taking him out from behind. A stray cramp ran through his gut. He got a few shots off that actually hit, but his aim was totally thrown. Noah’s Galatian spun around and a couple of quick taps on his controller got him another kill on the scoreboard. “Dude, c’mon, I though-MFFF… I… I… I gotta make big poopies in my Huggies!” He closed his eyes and gripped his controller. His tail flagged as his body tensed, flexing his muscles as his body coaxed itself to void. His diaperseat expanded, sagging down and filling out. Even over the sounds of gunfire from the video game, it was audible that the wolf was messing his diaper. Lucas had no control over the situation. He couldn’t have stopped himself even if he wanted to. His ability to hold back was totally removed and resulted in his poopy diaper ballooning out with warm mush. The elastic legguards held tight against his body, keeping the mess perfectly contained. The space designs on the rear of his Huggies became stained as he pushed and pushed and filled his diaper to its limit. Lucas powered through the tense, high-pressure sensations. He rode them as they settled, has his body finally became satisfied that he had totally emptied himself. His tail lowered and he went from grunting in exertion to panting in completion. Without a second thought, he lowered himself on his tush, getting back into his comfortable position. He felt the muck spread along his sensitive parts, the diaper squelching and squishing under him. The teen felt relieved and accomplished. He had just overcome some great difficulty and now it was done with. He wiggled in place, appreciating this new and unique sensation. His breathing settled as the smell of his massive accident mingled with the smells of his two friends, who were each also sitting in their own poopy diapers. Over the course of the evening, each of the boys had managed to loudly and unashamedly pack their diapers with huge messes. And now that Lucas had joined them, they were each just casually sitting in Noah’s bedroom, playing Aura: Eternal deathmatches. None of them brought up the fact that they were sitting in smushy, stinky diapers and that the nursery smell had become overwhelming. It was like they were totally blind to it and in their minds, there was nothing unusual about lazing around in heavy, sagging, stained diapers; puffed out and completely full. “Ok boys, it’s getting late, it’s time for… WHEW!” Mrs. Seong had entered, presumably with a knock, but the teens were so distracted by their gaming session that they didn’t acknowledge it. The fox was fanning her nose in an exaggerated display. By this time the game had been paused and everyone was looking at her. “Oh my gosh, why am I not surprised that teenage boys would just want to sit around in poopy diapers. Ok, you boys need changes, pronto. C’mon, everyone up.” She clapped her hands and Noah and Jake reluctantly rose up. Lucas got up after spending a few seconds gawking at the diapers of his best friends. They had become undeniably discolored and drooped from excessive weight. Lucas had no idea why but they were just fascinating to look at. He had to tear himself away from the sight of his friends’ rears, otherwise he could spend all evening looking at them. “Ok Jake, c’mon, up on the changing table. We need to get your in your nightnight pants. Your mother told me exactly how you like it done. So no fussing, alright?” The raven was quickly up on the table, his arms crossed. He bashfully looked away from his friends as his overdue diaper change began. “Oh… oh boy. Ahem. Boys, this might take a while. Noah, I see you have some balled up diapers on the floor by the pail. Please take it out.” Noah sighed and began picking up the stray diapers that had accumulated around the overflowing diaper pail, holding them in his arms like he was carrying grocery bags. He sighed more and toddled out of his room. He was clearly huffy that he was forced to interrupt his play time with chores, even if those chores were his own fault. “Lucas, be a dear and help Noah take out the rest of them.” The wolf jumped up and waddled over to the pail. Mrs. Seong, not missing a beat, instructed him on how to remove the bag and replace it, all while cleaning up Jake. The trip to the garbage bin was arduous. The burden of the bag combined with his own compromised walk made it far more difficult than he would have figured. Lucas remembered the promise made by the Huggies packaging, assuring him that he would remain leak-free. He was grateful for it, but that didn’t help him when his legs were being forced apart by the bulk around his crotch. By the time he returned, Jake had been changed and Noah was on the table being cleaned. Jake was guzzling down water from his bottle, standing bow-legged, wearing the most ridiculous looking diaper imaginable. Lucas let out a guffaw, unable to help himself. Jake lowered the now-emptied water bottle and shot him a look. “Dude what are you wearing!!” “Look, Mommy says that I have to be double-diapered at night with extra boosters! I’m a heavy bedwetter and it’s for YOUR safety, unless you really like waking up in a puddle of my pee!” Jake pouted, placed his hands on his diaperfront and diaperseat, and gave them a heft, as if he needed to demonstrate their thickness. His empty water bottle dangled between his legs as it was looped around his thumb. Lucas held up his hands in a mock sign of surrender. “Ok, ok, sorry! I just wasn’t expecting that when I came up the stairs. I’ve had enough experience waking up wet recently. I’d rather it stay in our diapers.” “Speaking of which,” Mrs. Seong was putting the finishing touches on Noah’s change. It was only then that Lucas noticed the second diaper being folded on top. “I decided it would be best for each of you to be like this. I’m sure you’ll stay up even though I’m specifically telling you it’s bedtime, and I’m not going to be waking up at 3am because you boys are leaky.” Her normally gentle and diplomatic tone was gone, presumably thanks to the hard work it took to change two excessively dirty diapers in a row (soon to be three). “Yes, Mrs. Seong. Sorry Jake, I wasn’t trying to make fun of you.” Lucas’ tail was between his legs. “It’s ok, poopybutt.” He got a mischievous grin, his competitive side immediately showing. “Besides, it’s not like you could ever actually soak one of these through all the way like I can.” Lucas was instantly goaded. “Uhhhh first of all, yes I absolutely can. And second of all, I’ll have you know that I’m like a super serious bedwetter too. I just happen to limit myself before bed as a COURTESY so I don’t flood my sheets.” There was no sense of strangeness to gloating over his need for diapers at night. There was no need to hide his ability to completely drench his mattress in a single evening. All the wolf felt was the embers of rivalry that this smug bird was always provoking. “Oh yeah? Wow, look at you! Gosh, would you look at that, I’m ALREADY pissing my Luvs. Gosh puppy, are you SURE you can keep up?” “DUDE no fair! You got changed before me AND you already… Grrr…” Lucas furrowed his brow. He was being completely suckered into Jake’s challenge. He yelped and jumped as a squelching SLAP echoed. Noah was off the changing table and had given his diaperbutt a serious smack. “Your turn, buddy.” -- Lucas was vulnerable in a way he had never before experienced. He was holding his legs aloft, a bottle of water upturned in his lips. His bottom was being wiped and wiped and wiped and wiped again and wiped some more and then again wiped. Mrs. Seong was humming some song softly to herself while Jake and Noah were starting another round of games. It wasn’t exactly humiliating to be in his position; having his big poopy diaper changed. It was more like he was exposing a very private and difficult part of himself to someone else. He wasn’t hiding his true self and pretending to be someone else. And that wasn’t easy. He didn’t have much of a choice in the matter: his diaper desperately needed to be changed. And in order to do so, he had to undergo an intensive cleaning like this. But while it was happening he couldn’t help but feel like layers of mental defensive coating were being stripped away. Like being cleaned by someone was somehow able to reflect a stronger bond. That because of this tender action, he could trust the person changing him more. The bottle of water was handed to him by Noah, who had a matching bottle with him. It was smaller than the bottle that Jake was drinking from, but it was still sizable. It had a sport cap on it, allowing him to drink the water with the container totally upended without spilling on him or drowning him. He suckled at the tip of the bottle, happy to have something to occupy his hands while the thorough change happened. It was a practiced action from a far older time in his life. But it felt natural to return to it. Importantly, it wasn’t immature. It wasn’t a baby bottle. It was a normal sports bottle that normal teens used and despite him drinking it while having a big poopy diaper changed, he did not feel that it impacted his maturity. That sense of maturity and self-ownership had never really disappeared throughout the whole untraining process. Lucas knew that he was still going into high school next year. He was excited to be growing up and advancing. He was proud of himself for the way he composed himself and he wanted to really excel when he arrived in high school. He hadn’t worked out exactly what that would mean for him in reality. All he had were the depictions of high school in the media and what his teachers and parents had told him. But no matter what, he was going to try really hard to do a good job. His diapered state did not impact that view and desire in the slightest. If anything, it made him feel more comfortable with himself, especially since he had friends who were just like him. Before he even knew it, his thigh was being tapped and a hand was being extended to help upright him from the changing table. He gave Mrs. Seong a big hug and thanked her for cleaning him up. “No problem, Lucas.” She was clearly spent from her considerable effort. He didn’t get the sense that he had inconvenienced her, however. She seemed content with the activity. Like she was getting some kind of reward out of her actions. She addressed the room. “Alright you stinkers, I’m going to bed. If you need anything, you know where to find it. Unless it’s another change, in which case it won’t be until the morning, understood?” The boys all acknowledged and said good night. It was only then that Lucas realized the sheer bulk of the diaper that he was put in. His last diaper made him waddle with a considerable gait before, but that was only after it had been filled to its limit. This diaper was even more of a physical impediment even while dry. How Jake could possibly ever max out the capacity on this double-diaper monstrosity was beyond Lucas. Be he was darn sure going to try his best! He had been challenged and that was NOT going to be left unacknowledged! He downed the rest of his bottle and headed to the bathroom to refill, fully intent on out-soaking his friend. -- The following morning was much like any sleepover. One person woke up before everyone else, then someone joined them, and the remaining sleepers had to put up with giggling and talking and the corresponding sounds of kids having fun. Lucas was always the last to wake up in these events. He yawned and stretched in his sleeping bag. Blinking in the morning light once, then twice, then a few more times for good measure. Noah’s room had begun playing the meditative sounds of the Retrain System far later than Lucas was used to. Presumably Noah had the version of the system that could detect when activity was occurring in the room. And they were active until almost one in the morning. Still, it allowed for a comfortable night’s rest and a familiar ambiance as his own room. Lucas unzipped his sleeping bag and threw off the flap, leaning forward on his elbows as he examined his diaper. He pushed himself upright and took both his paws to inspect the state. He was pleased to find that his outer diaper was in-fact a little bit damp! Ha! Lucas leaned over to declare his victory over Jake, ready to show him how he had won their stupid contest. He was greeted with Jake standing right next to him, his padding drooping down to face-level, completely and totally swollen and stained yellow, the fade-when-wet designs having been long obliterated. “Awww gosh Lucas, you talk a big talk but,” Jake mock-shined his nails against his chest (which looked comical thanks to his feathered hands), “I guess you just can’t keep up with a real super soaker like me!” “Dude you totally cheated by drinking water before me!” “You could have been drinking water the whole time!” “Oh yeah, of course, I’m going to just chug down water on the OFF CHANCE that I get challenged to a peepee pants competition by my friends. That makes sense!” “Thank you, I’m glad you acknowledge that I’m right.” “You’re such a butthead oh my gods!” -- The morning turned into early afternoon and the teens finally returned to their homes. Lucas was in the final Huggie that he had brought to Noah’s house. He had such a transformational experience at his friend’s house that he really didn’t pay any mind to it as he walked home. He felt like a fresh and new person. When he arrived home, his Dad was waiting for him. “Did you have a good time?” He was sitting in the living room, hunched over the coffee table, a pair of snippers in his paw as he undid plastic bits from pieces of sprue. There was a chemical scent to the air as he was using dabs of glue to fasten his models together. Normally he did this at his workspace he set up for these things. He must have been waiting for Lucas to arrive home. “Uh, yeah, it was great. Jake was back from his summer soccer camp.” Lucas set down the bags in the living room since his Dad seemed interested in talking. “Oh interesting! I hope he had a good time there. He’s a good kid. I hope he is able to keep that temper in check.” Lucas’ Dad set down the part he was working on. It was some fantasy figure from a media series Lucas wasn’t interested in (much to his father’s dismay). “Lucas, your mother and I had a talk with Mrs. Seong last night, and again this morning.” Lucas looked left and up, thinking back to last night. A lot of things happened last night. He certainly hoped he didn’t cause any trouble for Noah’s mom. She was a really nice person and had always been a gracious host. He didn’t like knowing that he might have done something rude or disruptive while there. “Uh….” He tried his best to think about anything that he might have done that would warrant a parent-to-parent call. “About what? I promise I was on good behavior!” His Dad chuckled and shook his head. “No, no, nothing negative. The opposite, in fact. She mentioned that you had decided to wear diapers after having an accident at their house. And it sounded like you went through a bunch of them while you were there.” Lucas was confused. He was unsure if he should be feeling relief at his Dad’s gentle tone or dread over deciding to give up on his potty training altogether. Was that ok? He hadn’t even consulted his parents! Like yeah, they were the ones that put him on this Retrain Program in the first place but surely they would want some input before he went declaring that he wanted to be put back in diapers and never use the potty again! “Uhhh… Y-yeah. I went through all my Huggies and uh… Mrs. Seong did a good job changing me and… yeah…” Lucas felt the same apprehension and tension as he did the prior night when he admitted how he felt to his friends. But he steadied himself. His hands balled into fists at his sides. He stood up straight and looked his father in the eyes. “Dad. I… I don’t want to wear undies anymore. I don’t want to use the potty. I hate the potty. I want to go back to wearing diapers. I’m happy in diapers.” His father smiled and nodded a few times, before slapping his knees and then standing. He walked over to Lucas and embraced him. “Good boy. I’m proud of you for telling me that. And I’m glad that you’re happy this way.” He pulled back, both hands on the teen’s shoulders. “I have to be honest with you. The meditation system that we installed-” “I know Dad. Noah found out about the Retrain System. He told me everything.” Lucas smiled, finally happy to have everything out on the table, without any worries. “Oh, I see. And… are you… mad with us?” “No!” The teen laughed and gave another quick hug before backing away. “No, not at all. I’m really happy with how I’m feeling and… I had a really good time with my friends last night. It was all so easy and normal for us to be around each other. I’ve missed that so much.” His father’s shoulders slumped as he let out a sigh from deep in his soul. The relief was palpable. “Although, uh, next time you want to like unpotty train me or whatever, you can always ask me first!” Lucas laughed and his Dad chuckled. It was clear that his Dad had been dwelling on the decision to put Lucas through this whole process. And Lucas was very pleased that he could relieve him of those concerns. -- Carmella sipped her coffee. It was black. It was bitter. It was perfect. The warm liquid flowed through her and invigorated her. Lines of energy crisscrossing within her like a chakra network, all aligning as they were rejuvenated with fresh caffeine. Carmella had learned that she didn’t actually need to order a big fancy drink at a cafe just because they offered it. And just because her friends always got complicated orders. She could just let the coffee speak for itself. The book club had become a parental gossiping forum in recent weeks, however it appeared to be back to its usual goal. There were only so many permutations of discussing strategy to encourage your child to wet their pants that someone could realistically go through. Still, it was nice having a support network while actually going through the Retrain System. “So, Saundra, did you have a chance to read the book?” Kamille took out the hardback from her purse, setting it down on the table that all of the women were seated around. If the bookmark was to be believed, Kamille was almost finished with the 500 page slog that everyone had agreed to read. “You know what, I actually found some time to get stuck in! I don’t know how you actually managed to find a decent page-turner for once Kamille! I was beginning to doubt your choice in literature for a bit.” The raven held up her book as if raising her hand for a class. She had a dog-eared paperback. “I have to agree with Saundra!” Carmella interjected into the conversation. She quickly followed up, realizing if she didn’t clarify that it might be taken as her not trusting her friend’s book recommendations. “Not the uh, literature choice stuff haha! I found myself engrossed with this one. I might actually pick up some other things from this author when we finish.” “That means a lot. Honestly, I was beginning to worry about my book selection myself. I was trying to go with more artistic or classical choices, but really it just feels good to actually want to finish a damn story for once! I don’t need to open up VoltSummary to find out what the author meant with their stupid symbolism.” Everyone laughed. It had kind of become an unspoken truth that the women were all looking up synopses and commentary online rather than actually reading the assignment. Carmella hoped that meant more fun reads were coming in the future. “Say, was Daria supposed to show up? I didn’t see if she messaged the group.” Saundra looked around, cup of coffee in hand, scanning the cafe. As if Daria accidentally sat at the wrong table and didn’t notice her friends. “Oh! There she is!” The group turned to watch Daria walk from the entrance to their table. Normally they wouldn’t have bothered watching this totally mundane activity, but Daria had a particular movement to her. Her legs swung out slightly, as if something was forcing them apart. She nearly bumped into someone. That part was normal. She was a bear and tended to be on the larger side. But her walk, or rather, her waddle, was immediately picked-up on by every one of the women sitting there. “Sorry I’m late!” The bear sat down with unmistakable rustling and crinkling sounds, even over the din of the establishment. She adjusted her shirt, an instantly recognizable waistband peeking over her jeans. Daria immediately checked her phone, typing away at something. The women were all looking, staring, gawking. Carmella’s mouth was agape. Was… she wearing a diaper? Daria finished her message, smiling the whole time, and locked her screen. She set the phone down on the table and looked around at the group. After a moment of silence she finally spoke, total innocence in her voice. “What?” The Retrain System.pdf

Oh my goodness, hi there everyone! I'm so excited to bring to you all this little side story that takes place in the world of A Mother's Love. Now, this will be a mini-series, but it will still be a fun ride! At least it feels like one to write! I hope you enjoy it! Mother's Little Magicians (Chapter 1) by Panther Cub "And now, for my final act," the jackrabbit in the splendid azure blue pinstripe suit and matching fedora and domino mask said, standing atop the brightly lit stage before the audience. Once more, the theater had been packed to the max, his fans eagerly awaiting his final illusion. "The Flaming Swordsman!"With a snap of his fingers, his lovely assistant, the buxom blonde wearing her stunning red sequin dress, began wheeling out the tank filled with the deadly piranhas. Jayce the Astounding began to ascend the steps leading to the top of the open tank. He snapped his fingers, an elegant jeweled rapier appearing in his hands. With a twirl, the blade became wreathed in blue flames. He opened his mouth to speak when his lovely assistant looked up to him and spoke instead."Jayce!""Not now, sweetheart," Jayce whispered with a wink. Usually his assistant should be giggling right about now, but instead she furrowed her brow and planted her hands on her hips, the audience begging to chuckle."Jayce! Get up already!" she said, her voice sounding annoyingly like Melissa's. Wait, wasn't she a human? And wasn't she twenty? Now she looks just like Melissa, a red panda who, like him, was in her thirties."M-Melissa?! Where's Tiffany?" Jayce said, the audience now laughing hysterically."GET UP, JAYCE, YOU DUMMY!!!" Melissa shouted, making Jayce angry. Suddenly he blinked and he was laying on his couch, with the annoyed red panda standing over him, paws on her hips, wearing her sequin red pantsuit. Realizing it had all been a dream, Jayce sat up, the jack rabbit man was now agitated."Oh, why'd you have to go and wake me up! I was having a great dream!" Jayce said, throwing his paws up and sighed. He looked between his and Melissa's stage outfits. Both were very worn, having been torn and sewed, and in some areas patched over. Why, there were spots on Melissa's coat where teh sequin had been rubbed away. She flicked her big bushy tail in annoyance."How can you sleep at a time like this?" she asked, incredulous."Well, I was tired, and so I slept," Jayce said with a roll of his eyes. Getting up, he groaned and stretched, heading straight for the coffee pot."Jayce, the venue cancelled on us! What're we going to do for money?!" Melissa asked, her tail flicking again. Jayce exhaled, not having a good answer to her question. He looked over at his business partner and felt a pang of guilt for dragging her into debt with him. Even though she was a year younger than him, she had somehow become the older sister he'd never had, or asked for really. But he still cared for her. Ten years ago, they had met in community college. Jayce had just been starting out when Melissa had approached him after one of his little campus shows. She'd been learning stage magic too and the two had decided to partner up.Unfortunately, striking out in Las Vegas as a pair of magicians hadn't been Jayce's brightest idea. The market was already saturated with magicians. The fact that Jayce and Melissa were actually talented only got them so far, when it came to securing work. So, despite Melissa's objections, Jayce had taken out a loan in order to help with their brand. Securing merchandise, which hardly sold, obtaining props and items for bigger and better tricks, where the audience tended to be so small that it made little difference, and even paying someone to help set up an official website, which didn't pan out as the guy that Jayce had approached without Melissa's approval or knowledge had simply taken the money and ran.To make matters worse, Jayce hadn't been able to get a loan from a bank. Instead, he had gone to a "friend"... said friend actually being a loan shark. So now they were in debt to a group of people known for breaking legs when payments tended to be late. It is putting it mildly that Melissa was not happy when Jayce finally told her the truth. But, to her credit, she didn't simply leave him holding the bag all by himself. Still, as far as Jayce was concerned, she didn't have to be so bossy about it."Well... we could do some street magic out by the bus station, at least before the cops tell us to move along again," Jayce offered, pouring himself a mug and slurping it up."Jayce... we're in trouble here, and I don't know how to fix it," Melissa said, pinching the bridge of her nose. Jayce had become her little brother over the years they'd been together, the annoying reckless kind."We can try running," Jayce said, though not sounding too sure of himself there."With no money, we won't get far," Melissa countered, noticing Jayce's ears perking up and twitching, a serious look on his face as he moved to gently peek through the blinds of a nearby window. "What is it?""... We've got company..." Jayce said it, a note of fear in his voice. Melissa hugged her tail to her chest, a habit she had developed when she was little, and stood there, frozen in fear. They didn't have to wait long before there was a pounding on the apartment that they shared's door."Open up, Jayce," called a gruff voice. "We gotta talk about the money you owe." Not responding, the pounding became harder, and both Jayce and Melissa were wondering how long the door would hold up when the collector knocking decided to try kicking it in. They doubted very long. A whimper escaping her muzzle, Melissa spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Turning, she saw a plain white door that hadn't been there before. The wall it was set in had nothing but open air three stories up behind it. On it was a sticky note that the red panda lady walked over and grabbed.Hi there, sweeties! I normally don't like to get involved without being invited first, but I'm afraid time constraints have forced my hand. Please, please hurry through the door as soon as possible! I cannot stand the idea of any of my babies getting hurt! There's a whole world of love and care waiting for the both of you on the other side, I promise! With love, Mother (i.e. Mommy)The pounding had gotten even worse, and Jayce was still just standing there, dumbstruck. Confused, Melissa then had a spark of memory. The entity in Chicago. It referred to itself as 'Mother' and actually regressed a whole group of people, and claimed to have its own realm."Could it really be?" Melissa asked out loud. Shocked by a sudden cracking sound, she looked to the door to see a large crack near the bottom. Without any further hesitation, she grabbed Jayce by the arm, shocking the surprised jackrabbit out of his stupor. She dragged him to the door and threw it open, leaping through and pulling Jayce behind her. The door slammed shut behind them and winked out of existence just before the apartment door was kicked in."Melissa!" Jayce called out in sheer terror. The jackrabbit was tumbling alongside the red panda in the darkness. There was light coming from somewhere, bright enough for the two of them to be perfectly illuminated, but otherwise there was just blackness. They both felt an odd pressure pushing down on them. Closing her eyes, Melissa hugged Jayce close to her, and he hugged her back, tears in both their eyes."Just hold on, Jayce!" Melissa called out, she could feel their descent slowing. There was a scent in the air, it smelled familiar like... baby powder. "It's all going to be alright, I promise!""What is this?" Jayce asked, his eyes tightly shut too. Suddenly, the pressure abated... but he felt a wave of fatigue wash over him. Melissa felt it too and, when their feet touched down on a soft carpeting, their knees buckled. Opening their eyes and looking around, the two blinked, their movements sluggish. Eyelids heavy and drooping, they took in the sight of some kind of... pastel-colored reception hall. There were murals of smiling suns and clouds and rainbows on the wall. In front of them was a brand new, polished mahogany desk, with a sign hanging from it that read Welcome!Blinking, and finding it harder and harder to remain awake, Jayce slipped unconscious first, his ears twitching at the sounds of hurrying footsteps. Melissa wasn't far behind. Before her eyes shut and stayed that way, she saw a very tall bear woman running over with a look of concern on her face. Eyes closed, she felt a pair of strong, yet gentle arms, scoop them up."Phew! We weren't sure just where you two would be ending up. We've never pulled mortals in like this without establishing contact first." Melissa felt a gentle kiss on her forehead, and the gentle swaying of whomever this was carrying them suggesting she was carrying them somewhere."But that's not for either of you to be concerned about, sweeties. Now, I think a nap will do you both some good. Then I'll see about fixing up those cute little outfits of yours. Oh, but first we'll have to get you into some cute jammies..." Melissa nodded off completely and fell into a dreamless slumber.One restful nap later...Melissa stood there on stage in front of the packed audience. She smiled, her red pinstripe sequin pantsuit and matching fedora twinkling in the light. Through her red domino mask, she winked. With a twirl of her magician wand, it burst in a shower of red and gold sparks, allowing Jayce behind her to finish setting up the illusion. She always loved how like a well-oiled machine their act was."And for our final feat... The Slaughter Saw!" The red panda snapped her black gloved fingers and from above, a giant gleaming circular saw descended. The had she had tucked behind her back she motioned for Jayce, who was quick to activate the saw. Above, with a roar, the circular blade wirled, flames erupting around the serrations. The audience ooh-ed and ahh-ed Jayce, with a flair, wheeled out the large metal table with the arm and leg restraints out. It was a simple table like a gourney, with the underside completely exposed... or so the angled mirror and false legs would make it seem."My lovely partner shall strap me down to the table, and ensure that my arms and legs are completely secure. Then, the blade shall descend!" Melissa twirled, flicking her tail. "And, while most magicians would attempt to escape from such a predicament... I shall be doing no such thing!" She sauntered over to the table and proceeded to lay down on it. As Jayce went to her arm restraints, he smiled down at her. He was wearing his matching blue sequin pinstripe suit and domino mask."Hey, Melissa, wake up!" he said, his voice sounding frustrated, despite his warm and happy smile."Huh? What're you talking about Jayce?" Melissa asked."Melissa WAAAAAKE UP! We gotta figure a way out of this!" Jayce said, now looking cross at her as he finished putting on the restraint."Jayce," Melissa whispered, "there is no way out! There's just the hidden panel for my legs to go into that will cover my lower half and replace it with the fake lower half before the blade touches down! Remember?""Melissaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Jayce whined, pushing on her. The stage and the world around them seemed to melt and become distorted. And then the red panda girl opened her eyes and sat up, blinking.Looking around, she saw that she and Jayce were both in a crib built for giants, with alternating red and blue bars. Above them was a mobile with plush bunnies and top hats slowly spinning. Looking around, the room was some kind of nursery, built for some kind of gargantuan children. The walls were a light blue, with the ceiling being a dark navy. There were red glow-in-the-dark stars. Looking at the floor, which was some kind of red and blue puzzle piece-theme, all with bright colored numbers or letters of the alphabet on each piece. There was a red and blue wardrobe next to a changing table with a half red and half blue padded top, stocked full of diapers and changing supplies. There was a toy chest and a dresser and a rocking chair in the corner, next to a bookshelf. And then Melissa looked within the crib.There was a soft and warm fleece red and blue checkered blanket around her legs, that she quickly kicked off. She started when she noticed she was wearing a bright red footed sleeper with crescent moons patterning it. She blushed when she took notice of the bulge around her waist. A squish from the diaper she had been put in suggested that it had been thoroughly soaked. Looking over at Jayce, the red panda girl saw that he was dressed the same, but his sleeper was a bright blue with stars all over it, and a very noticeable bulge around his own waist. The tan-furred jackrabbit was frowning, his arms crossed, looking at her."About time you got up, sleeping beauty!" Jayce snarked. He sifted as he sat, wincing, and the sound of a squish when he moved suggested that he too may have wet in his sleep."Where are we?" Melissa asked sleepily, making Jayce throw his hands up in the air in exasperation."That's what I wanted YOU to tell me! You're the one who dragged me through that stupid door with you! I figured that you knew!""Well, there was a note... from Mother...""I thought your mom died when you were a little kit?" Jayce asked without any thought. Melissa winced but ignored it."She did! It was a note from Mother!" she noticed the lack of recognition on Jayce's face and rolled her eyes. "You know, Mother! The entity that appeared in Chicago not too long ago and regressed the age of a bunch of people? Claiming to be an entity with their own Realm? It was all over the news."Jayce looked at her blankly for a few moments, before he shrugged, causing Melissa to facepalm. "Ugh, of course you never watch the news.""Why would I want to be depressed?!" Jayce asked, annoyed. "But fine, okay, so we've been abducted by what, some kind of baby goddess or baby obsessed alien?""More like a goddess of motherhood it seemed. But... yeah... but what would you have had me do?! That guy was kicking the door in and we couldn't have run anywhere!""Well... we would have thought of something! Something that didn't involve being dressed like toddlers, complete with diapers! That we were clearly forced to wet from some chemical or something!" Jayce then paused and, putting both of his paws on Melissa's cheeks, he started turning her head up and down and from side to side, looking curious. "Woah... did you get younger?""Huh?" Melissa asked, suddenly looking at Jayce in a new light. He didn't have the worry lines that were starting to form around his eyes, or the early greying on the sides of his headfur. Even the cute little puff of a tail sticking out the back of his padded butt looked fluffier and fuller. He even seemed to have lost some weight... and maybe height? All in all, she would guess his age to be around... seventeen? "Did you?"They then started examining themselves and both came to the conclusion that they had been regressed. Spying a mirror facing them from next to the wardrobe, Melissa stood up, needing to grab the bars of the crib to help her due to the very thick bulk around her waist. Steadying herself, her legs feeling a little weak still, she used the bars, the top of which were still a foot over her head. She looked into the mirror and saw a face she hadn't seen since high school. She smiled a little, using her free hand to grab her even bushier and soft tail, to hug it close to her chest."Okay... we're younger now... but not young enough to warrant diapers!" Jayce complained, trying to stand, and instead fell onto his bottom with a squish. He blushed and started to move to stand again. As he did so, he let out a reflexive grunt without noticing, and managed to stand. Shortly after, Melissa sniffed and started to smell something... icky."Uh... Jayce... did you just... take a poopie?" Melissa asked without thinking, pausing as she realized what she had said, and knowing that that had not been the word she was going to say."Don't be ridiculous, Melissa," Jayce said, puffing out his now scrawnier chest. "If someone here made a big stinky, it was you!""Now, now, no bickering you two," a voice filled with warmth and love cooed at them from the open doorway. Jayce and Melissa simultaneously turned their heads to see the female bear giant from before. She was wearing a yellow apron, a pair of khaki slacks, a red and white striped turtleneck sweater, and a happy smile. "We'll get you changed and ready for a fun day of playing in no time!" She walked over to teh crib, towering over it and its occupants. Despite the two instinctively cringing back, she reached in and scooped them both up, nuzzling the tops of their heads as she carried them over to the changing table."Wh-while we appreciate the help, we can take care of ourselves... uh... Miss!" Jayce said, trying to sound tough."Awww, it's just so cute how often you silly mortals say that!" Sarah said with a lighthearted giggle. She laid the two of them down on the padded surface. With expertise, Sarah whisked the sleepers off of them in what seemed to the shocked duo like the blink of an eye, despite how much Jayce was trying to struggle. Sarah blushed and covered her, admittedly, small chest. A gentle brown paw pushed her down into a laying position and pulled a soft but secure strap across her tummy. She repeated the process with Jayce, who was whining like a real toddler."No! We're not babies! We don't need diapers!" he said, a red pacifier pushed between his lips silencing him. His eyes went wide in surprise, and he moved to pull it out, but his movements slowed. Then he began to suck on it, calming down."There we go, would you like a binky too, Melly-welly?" Sarah asked, holding up a blue one. Melissa bit her lip but, looking over at how relaxed Jayce was, she gave the slightest of nods and opened her muzzle for the rubber nipple that she almost instantly began to suckle on, feeling a sense of warmth spread through her. "Such a good girl!" Sarah praised, taking a moment to rub both of their bellies. She hummed as she reached under the changing table and pulled out a canister of baby powder, a tub of wipes, and two diapers. One was a simple white with red trim around the waistband and leg gathers, the other similar, but with blue around the waistband and leg gathers."Now, I know that this must all seem scary, being in a new place and in a new situation... or rather, an old situation in your cases. But you have nothing to worry about. You are where you shall be loved and cared for, forever more!" Sarah then set about opening up Jayce's fully loaded moon-themed night-time diaper. He whined a little at the feeling of the baby wipes cleaning him, but didn't struggle. Sarah hummed as she cleaned him with no qualms about it. Soon, the used diaper was balled up with the wipes in it and dropped into the diaper pail by the changing table. Soon, Jayce's diaper area was thoroughly powdered, and the blue diaper was laid beneath him and pulled up between his legs, finally being taped on, nice and snug."There, one messy jackrabbit all sorted. Now for the soggy red panda!" Melissa blushed just a little, no longer covering her chest. As her diaper was opened, she thought back to when she was this age the first time around, and how she had been so self-conscious about the size of her chest, and how she had been made fun of by the more "developed" girls back in school. Now, after all she had seen and experienced she lay there, sucking her pacifier and having her diaper changed, she couldn't be bothered enough to care. Although, she recognized that that might be from the possibly enchanted pacifier. Smiling at the scent of the baby powder, she found that she wasn't afraid or angry. The diapers were embarrassing but... it had been a long time since someone had fussed over her, and care for her like this."And done! My, what a couple of little angels I have here!" Sarah said, unbuckling the two of them and pulling them into a hug. "Now, I've got a special surprise!" Sarah said in a sing-song voice as she sat them both back down in sitting positions on the padded surface. Melissa poked her white and red diaper, Snuggies brand it appeared, and looked up as Sarah pulled from within the wardrobe something that caught her eye. In Sarah's left, massive, paw was what looked like Melissa's red pinstripe jacket and vest with the white undershirt and red sequin tie, with her red fedora on the tip of the hanger. Jayce was being held in the right paw, and Melissa noticed that neither outfit seemed to include the pants. With the same care and speed as before, Sarah dressed them in their outfits, leaving their diapers on full display. She then finished off their outfits by putting their red and blue domino masks on them, clasping her paws together as she looked them over."Awww, you two are just so cute!" Sarah practically squealed, pulling out two simple purple lanyards and attached them to the binkies, clipping the other ends to their shirts. "Now, let's go introduce you to your new Mommy! And then we'll get you two something to eat, and then you can play with your new brothers and sisters!"Cuddling the two close, she carried them out of the nursery and out into the brightly colored hall. They passed by other rooms with cribs, everything looking brand new and clean. Jayce and Melissa both spotted other occupants sleeping in some. Some seemed to be actual children and toddlers, others seemed to be around their current ages. Some were sleeping, some were sulking, some were happily playing with the toys in the chests or reading books or even exploring, even wandering out into the hall and waddling in their juvenile outfits to and fro. And not one of them was human."What is this place?" Jayce asked, absentmindedly, his binky having fallen out from his mouth hanging open in shock."Your new home! Loving Paws Daycare!" Sarah said, the giant motherly grizzly leaning down to nuzzle the cute jackrabbit boy again, making him blush. Rounding a corner, they entered a bright white kitchen that seemed massive to the two. There were multiple fridges, ovens with stovetops, pantries, and rows and rows of colorful highchairs, with different 'children' milling about, some in the chairs enjoying their meals, others walking out with bottles. Humming as she moved about, Mother was seeing to the hungry little ones, looking overjoyed.Jayce and Melissa's eyes went wide as they looked upon the mysterious figure. Melissa saw a giant happy pink red panda, while Jayce saw a giant pink jackrabbit. Whatever doubts that may have been in his mind winked out of existence. He was in the presence of a deity. He was in the presence of something he had been searching for his entire life... REAL magic! Mother then turned and saw them, freezing where she stood. Her paws shot to her face and she let out a squeal."Oh my goodness! They are just too precious!" Practically leaping over, she took the two from Sarah and cuddled them in her arms. Both Melissa and Jayce felt a warmth emanating from the giant pink goddess, and visibly relaxed. "I'm so happy that you two were able to come before something bad happened!" She said, before raining down kiss after kiss after kiss on the two, both squirming a little at the fawning. When it finally let up, the two were both surprised to find that they'd been securely buckled into two high chairs. A red one for Melissa, and a blue one for Jayce."Now, let's get some food in your little tummies!" Mother said with glee, her glowing pink eyes twinkling."This is humiliating!" Jayce said, blushing furiously, while Melissa simply took her binky out, still not speaking."Oh, Jayce, honey-bunny, it's okay," Mother said after securing the trays to their seats, and slipping red and blue bibs around their necks. "Now, what's your favorite food in the whole wide world?""Well, a pepperoni and olive four cheese pizza, but I don't see what that has to do with anything!" Jayce said, crossing his arms and trying to glare, but only managing to look pouty."And you, Melly?" Mother asked, looking at the nervous red panda girl, who was swinging her legs a little."Uhm... cheese ravioli?" she said, blushing under the loving gaze."Coming right up, sweeties!" Mother turned away and went over to the nearest fridge and rummaged around in it. Sarah was busy seeing to the other little ones, especially a wolf boy around sixteen who had decided to wear his mashed potatoes like a hat."Oh Toby, that goes in your tummy, not on your head!" she said with a giggle, going to a sink and getting a washcloth."It's more fun to eat it this way!" Toby said in excitement. The entire time this was happening, Jayce was trying to undo the buckle, but it just wasn't responding to his paws."Jayce, calm down. We're safe here," Melissa said, chewing on her thumb absentmindedly."Mel, it doesn't matter if we're safe or not! This is humiliating! Also, there's ACTUAL magic here, and I'm gunna go and find out how to use it myself!" Jayce finally gave up trying to open his buckle and sat there, pouting some more. Melissa could only giggle at how cute he looked. He looked over and stuck his tongue out, which a giggly red panda returned."Alright you two, enough of that," Mother giggled as she walked over, carrying two plates of food. Both Jayce and Melissa's eyes went wide. The whole pizza that was set on Jayce's tray looked so perfect and delicious, like it was the very essence of what pizza should be. The smell that hit his nostrils had the jackrabbit salivating. Melissa's plate of cheese ravioli drew her attention. Each flawless ravioli looked hand made, and fit to bursting with flavor.She didn't object when Mother speared one with a fork and held it up to her mouth. She simply opened up and accepted the sauce-dripping ravioli, not hearing the praise from Mother for being so good. The taste that exploded in her mouth could only be described as blissful, spreading a warmth throughout her entire body. She didn't even notice when some of that warmth went into her diaper, nor would she have cared in that moment. While Melissa was being fed, Jayce, without any hesitation, dug into his pizza. Cheese and sauce and chunks of pepperoni and olive lined his lips and cheeks from the speed at which he wanted the tasty goodness in his mouth and tummy. His reaction was similar to Melissa's, the glorious taste taking him to realms of flavor he never knew could be experienced.Okay... I can search for magic later! he thought to himself as he smiled and munched down on the crust, that was just as good as the rest of the slice. And he was already reaching for another. That's all folks! Please consider leaving a comment or review, as they are just so lovely to read!

Planets and Pacifiers By Horatio Husky Ion engines engines efficiency at 87% Cooling system: normal Internal atmospheric composition: normal Navigation system: active Radiation shield: active Cargo Hold temperature: 282.9 degrees kelvin Cockpit temperature: 293.9 degrees kelvin Bridge temperature: 293.4 degrees kelvin Exterior temperature 2.7 degrees kelvin Complete system diagnosis: nominal Current Coordinates: 14.22524 tesseracts, 1532.24642 leths, 35.99946 endons Nebula Location Adjacency: Iago’s nebula “Yeah yeah yeah, stuff it.” A light orange fox lounged in a pilot’s seat, designed to be sat in in an upright, rigid position in order to maximize alertness in its user. Apollo did not seem to be so keen on respecting the design of the chair, for his posture gave off every impression except one of attention. He rolled his eyes and twirled a finger in his thick, yellow-dyed headfur. Did the machine really have to recite the information out loud every hour he thought to himself, as he yawned and stretched his arms and legs lethargically. A little shorter and light furred than most orange foxes his age, the 20 year old pilot was bored of his freight mission. “Work in the space fleet they said. It’ll be an adventure they said. You’ll rise through the ranks quickly they said.” he spoke aloud in a mocking tone, scrunching his face up and bringing his lip back, wagging his head in mock chipperness. The fox once again rolled his eyes, and glanced up at the various monitors in front of him, his well trained eyes picking out the pertinent pieces of information before him amongst the myriad of pointless stats and figures. The fox was driving a standard issue military freighter, loaded with food rations, armor supplies, energy cells, hygiene products, and other various necessities required by the military. A crucial job to keep the military sane, but still a very boring one. Apollo wished he wasn’t still such a low ranking pilot, and getting assigned a two month mission of just going from system to system had been taking a serious toll on his mind. He had grown tired of video games, movies, and even the virtual reality simulator, which unfortunately for him, had only demo access on the ship model he’d been stuck with. Cheap bastards. A notification appeared on one of the 9 monitors displayed on the glass in front of him, behind the glass a dual star system was fast approaching, the twin suns each radiating their light, as if to welcome the pilot to their system. The ship itself was shaped like the tip of an arrow, with a larger cylindrical portion hitched to its back, containing the various supplies. The dragon sperm was the nickname Apollo had unaffectionately dubbed his ship which he was more and more beginning to see as a prison of little stimulation. He waved a paw lazily, the dashboard registered his lackadaisical movement and opened the notification. A green x-ray image of what looked to be an abandoned station appeared in front of him, along with coordinates. His eyes glanced to them, and then excitedly sat up in his seat, boredom and self-pity forgotten. “It’s in the upcoming system, along the way!” he said aloud, ecstatic at finding such a relic. Running a quick diagnosis he was told that the station’s power system was in sleep mode as well as the on board AI, for how long it had been deactivated wasn’t specified, but the exterior looked as if it had taken a few decades of being beaten by the radiation pouring out by the sister stars only around 19 million kilometers away. Its primary objective for construction was also stated as infant care, which took him aback for a second. Recovering quickly, Apollo stuck his tongue out to the side of his maw, and excitedly concentrated at overriding the ship’s commands to continue on its passage, just for a quick stop to explore this obviously very important case of spatial exploration. He scratched at his white chest fur with a paw absentmindedly as he flipped a few switches, and pressing a button a semi-circle attached to a bar appeared, grasping the steering wheel he began to gently guide his ship towards the abandoned space station. “Haha!” he grinned to himself,”Finally I can actually use this piece of ship!” Grinning at his stupid pun, he approached the station. As he grew closer he noticed that it was larger than he expected, with a wide array of solar panels that seemed mostly intact, and surprisingly large ship loading and unloading docks. It’s gravitational anchor was a small, red looking planet which Apollo knew from his space class was probably due to oxidation of iron with the soil. Ignoring the planet he synced up his speed to the velocity of the station and chose a smaller landing area that seemed best sheltered from the radiation pouring from the center of the solar system. “Easy does it, come on you’ve done this dozens of times, YES!” exclaimed Apollo, as with a resounding noise the ship docked with the docking area, and the all too familiar hiss of an airlock engaged, connecting with the station. The scrawny fox giddily hopped out of his pilot’s seat and scampered his tail swishing excitedly over to his space suit. Almost shaking with glee, he quickly stepped into his space boots and allowed the system to place the rest of the suit on him. It couldn’t do it quick enough, however after a minute his helmet had set in place, and, clicking his heels together, the static adhesive pads activated on his boots and he stepped into the airlock. More hissing followed and the sounds of heavy metals moving was heard, and with a shudder, the airlock opened to reveal a more colorful spectacle than he had expected. A green light appearing on his helmet as he entered, he clicked a latch on the side of his space suit neck while also pressing a button on a wrist terminal on his left arm. With a sharp hiss, the helmet came off, and Apollo breathed in deeply. A strange yet oddly nostalgic smell entered his sensitive nostrils, and he frowned sniffing further, trying to identify the smell. “Is that… talcum powder?” he mused to himself, as he took a step further into the station. Along the walls were various infantile patterns of little cubs, kittens, puppies, and other children, some of them wearing little space suits and diapers, while others slept on crescent moons or floated through space, attached by a lifeline on a spacewalk exploring the galaxy. Cute, thought Apollo to himself, as he tapped his shoulder to activate a flashlight on it and after moving his eyes up and down and side to side, its beam synchronized with his own focused vision. He continued to walk through the facility, which was only lit by some of the twin star’s lights coming through windows that appeared every once in a while spanning from floor to ceiling, the red gravity anchor planet also reflecting the starlight into the station, giving it a soft, almost pinkish atmospheric light. On his way he passed a particularly sophisticated looking synthetic arm, hanging from the ceiling presumably via magnetism, for there seemed no obvious mechanic for it to be able to move from its spot as it hung dejectedly from the ceiling. “Aww man, is there going to be any loot in here? I really want to be able to show off to the others that I had an actual adventure!” Apollo complained, as he rounded into a corridor with several entrances. Picking the closest one to his left, the door opened automatically when he stepped in front of it to his great surprise, and revealed to him what looked like a room to change an infant’s diapers. A changing table with a menagerie of baby products stood as the centerpiece in the room, along with more depressed looking yet highly futuristic mechanical arms hanging above it, their skin a shiny white color and their exposed wire and machinery parts a glistening black. He noticed that the floor he’d been walking on was a rather soft looking blue carpet, and looking back the way he came he also observed that everything seemed to be designed with comfort in mind, for the safety of the children being taken care of here presumably. Clicking his wrist terminal, he tapped around until he found a locator, and followed the instructions on his monitor through a series of doors and corridors. Seeing much more of the cutesy tyke space exploration mosaic, he finally arrived at a hallway where he saw what looked like a terminal at the end. Striding over to it, he tapped experimentally on the large black screen. To his delight the screen illuminated, and he tapped through various windows until he arrived at an inventory and functionality list. His trained mind perusing quickly behind the boring details, he arrived at the description of the station’s purpose. “The primary objective of this institution is the cultivation and upbringing of infants through the first few stages of development; giving them an opportunity to develop stronger immune systems through systematic control of inoculation as well as stimulated development via exposure to an environment such as this space station, where the air, food, and lifestyle are all designed with the healthy and happy development of the child in mind. After the period of post-birth incubation is over, the children are then shipped out using a state of the art long-term space travel system to arrive at their final destination with highly stimulated beginnings and a matured immune system. As of this past century, the entire system has undergone a success in complete automation.” “Huh, a retro-nursery. Sure wish my parents stuck me in one of these before I turned 2, maybe then I could have become a cyborg engineer,” the fox muttered to himself sarcastically. He tabbed through more information screens, which just displayed various shipment records of supplies as well as a few analytics on the function of the energy system. Apollo was a little confused why the station was in a state of hibernation, for as he clicked through he realized that all of the systems in the place were running smoothly with no need for any major repairs. He frowned, and tried accessing an administrative tab to see if he could see if the station had been turned off intentionally. Something squeezed his shoulder and Apollo yelped loudly, ”BWAH!” His helmet which he’d been toting with him under his arm fell from his grasp, and landed softly on the carpet. Whirling around he found that one of the mechanical arms was firmly grasping his shoulder, tapping its index finger expectantly. He brushed away at it, but before he could try and get away from it it released him and pointed down the hallway to the right of the terminal, as if saying,”Come on bub, this way.” The fox blinked, then leaned down to pick up his fallen helmet, cocking his head to the side curiously,”I thought this place was in the hibernation mode.” As if to directly prove him wrong, the hall he was on became illuminated with cheery yellow lights, and he could hear whirring and clanging, as well as what sounded like a generator firing up somewhere in the institution. He looked around, bewildered but a little excited to see the station coming alive again. His excitement turned to a startled feeling however as the arm, seemingly rather impatient, grabbed his wrist and began tugging him down the hall at which it had pointed. Apollo protested, and tried yanking his way out of the arm’s grasp, but found himself comfortably yet firmly trapped in its vice, and all he could do was keep up with wherever it was leading him. His heart rate increased and he tried getting to his wrist terminal, but found that the jostling rate of the arm’s tugging didn’t allow him to punch in the code for a distress signal back to his ship. “Let go you piece of scrap! I’m the captain of a ship! Even though it’s a one man ship… Still a ship!” The arm utterly ignored his indignance as they rounded around a bend and the fox found himself back at the familiar hall with multiple entrances on the left and right. He was half lead half dragged into an entrance to the left, where he found himself faced with five more arms all expectantly holding various physician’s items and forms of measurement. Apollo was seriously starting to panic as the arm that lead him in released him only to immediately click a button on a panel next to the entrance and shut the door behind him. Two more arms descended from the ceiling and grabbed him by the upper arms, he thrashed and kicked, dropping his helmet once again and flailed, trying to get away from the metal captors. The arms began to assail their poor victim with the various instruments, looking inside his ears, forcing his jaw open to inspect his teeth with the instruments, grabbing at various muscles and one arm even had the gaul to gently squeeze his unspeakables. He yelped and twitched a little bit when that happened, yipping at an arm as it passed his head, furious with being manhandled without any consent. The arm that he had snapped at stopped moving, and quickly reversed direction back upwards into a surprisingly high ceiling. Noting that it seemed to reach for something high above him, it quickly descended back towards him and before he could react popped some sort of rubber bulb in his mouth. He tried spitting it out, but found that another arm was fastening something behind the back of his head which pulled on his cheeks, and with a muffled gasp he realized he was being gagged. Not just any gag though, as he moved the alien structure around in his mouth and attempted to suck on it, he realized the arm had stuck a pacifier in his mouth. “Em nawt a ba-MMM!” the bulb in the pacifier suddenly inflated in his mouth substantially, and Apollo found to his dismay that he was not longer able to open his mouth enough to even attempt to say words. He huffed into his pacifier, but before he could further reflect on his situation a panel appeared in the wall in front of him approximately a yard wide and tall, and looking closer he saw that a conveyor belt appeared to be moving inside of the panel opening. Jostling him the arms pushed him towards the conveyor belt and then lifted him onto it, he thrashed and flailed but to no avail, as he was deposited on the conveyor belt the panel shut behind him, and the only illumination was the flashlight on his space suit, which still followed wherever he gazed. The company which had designed the clever device warned strongly to never have it synced with in total darkness, for only seeing light in one’s central vision but never in their peripheral vision could cause bad paranoia and even hallucinations. Given the situation the fox seemed to have landed himself into, his paranoia was already sky high. He got himself up to his knees on the moving belt, only to have something thump him on the back back onto his stomach. He growled into his pacifier gag with frustration, and then began to panic as he felt something unzipping his space suit and grabbing the wrist with his personal terminal on it. The flashlight switched off, and the poor vulpine was thrown into complete darkness as the suit registered it was being taken off. Helpless and blind, the fox soon was being completely stripped of all clothing he wore. He shivered, terrified as his naked body continued to progress on the belt. He felt more things touching him, the machine examining every nook and cranny of his body, leaving him feeling completely helpless. Suddenly another panel opened, and he found himself being thrust unceremoniously into a pool of bubbly water. He spluttered, his thick yellow hair in his face. He tried to clear his eyes of hair but once again found his arms restrained and felt several brushes assault various parts of his body. Surprisingly pleasant, he was able to see past a break in his sopping wet hair that he was being scrubbed head to toe by more mechanical arms in what he guessed was a large bath. Unable to do much but allow himself to be cleaned, Apollo cursed his stupidity at not being more careful. “Still,” he thought,”once the system does whatever this integration protocol is or whatever, I’m sure when it’s satisfied I’ll be able to get back to my ship.” Confident in this assumption, he reluctantly allowed the arms to finish cleaning him, lifting him out of the tub and blasting him with air from vents below where they had deposited him. As the air shut off, his hair fluffed out. He groaned, he must really looked like a little kid with all his fur all over the place. He reached back to try and unfasten his pacifier gag, but wasn’t quick enough for once again an arm grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him out of the room, down the soft carpet, which the still naked Apollo now appreciated, and into the room he had first seen. Before him stood a changing table. “That is a big no from me,” thought Apollo, as to his dismay he was lifted up onto the table and had his wrists and ankles strapped to the corners. The poor fox whimpered, unhappy that he seemingly had lost all freedom and trust to do anything for himself. He winced and tried moving away from an arm that began to spread a white cream into his fur around his groin, on his bottom, and, tensing, around his sensitive bits. Another arm gently slid a hand under his lower back, and lifted him upwards. The fox looked down at himself, and saw that one arm was rising up clutching a thick, dark blue diaper with constellation patterns adorning it. The solar sailor squirmed and moaned in objection as the diaper was unfolded and slid gently under his quivering bottom. As he settled down on it he was surprised at the incredibly softness of the material against him. Another mechanical arm began applying generous amounts of baby powder in his diaper area, causing him to sneeze and shiver. Putting away the various infantile cosmetical supplies, the arms folded the front of the diaper over Apollo’s front, and snugly taped it in place, three tapes on each side. Apollo flexed his thighs and his buttcheeks, realizing that the soft padding was firmly in place. The corner restraints released, but before he could attempt to escape where previously the restraints held his wrists and ankles arms grasped him, lifting him out off of the changing table and unceremoniously carrying him out of the room, much to his displeasure. Trying to thrash and twist out of their grasp, the fox suckled nervously on his pacifier gag as he was carried into yet another room, inside of which were various mirrors and cabinets from the floor high up into the tall ceiling. The arms carried him to the center of the room, where he was able to see his pathetic state in one of the mirrors. His cheeks reddened, the fox was already a little bit on the small size, but the pacifier and the diaper did little to make him look like the adult he was. The poor pilot had gone from commanding his own ship to looking like he able to do little else than use his own diapers and suckle his pacifier. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed some more arms that had appeared from above shuffling through the cabinets. The four arms that had carried him in still firmly holding him in the air, and the arms that had been searching through cabinets soon descended on him with various items. He felt a pressure on his ankle, and looked down to see a slim black bracelet placed above his footpaw. A small red light appeared on it, which turned to green and quickly vanished. His tail curled around his thigh, right under his diaper. “I’ve just been tagged! Am I going to be imprisoned here? Why would they need to track me?!” he thought apprehensively. Something went over his ears and onto his head, then fastened underneath his chin. He looked up into the mirror to see what was being put on him but was blinded by yet another thing being pulled over his head. The arms meandered their way into releasing and grasping his limbs once again as he was forced into a piece of clothing. His head emerging, he saw in the mirror that he was garbed in a thick, and rather heavy infant gown with a bonnet fastened over his hair. Feeling incredibly humiliated and infantile, his indignance was further increased as the arms thrust his hands into blue rounded mittens, and locked them in place with a touch of a finger on the wrist cloth, a lock symbol glowing briefly, telling Apollo he was not getting out of them any time soon. “Blasted station! How on earth is such a sophisticated looking system mistake an adult for a newborn infant?!” he once again thought to himself in frustration and panic. He moaned desperately into his pacifier, realizing that he may not be able to get of his situation as soon as the machine was done babying him. He’d have to wait until the machine left him alone with some time and he could figure out somehow how to get his gag and mittens off. Seeing how his clothes and wrist communicator had been confiscated by the machine, he’d have to do some exploring through the facility to voice activate it. In an all too familiar motion the arms grabbed his limbs and raised him up once more, parading him out of the room and down the hallway. They traveled for a longer period than previously, and Apollo was able to marvel at the true size and infantile design the station sported. It really made him feel as if he were inside a giant nursery, designed to make the environment as soothing and babyish as possible with the patterns on the wall, soft curves of the corners, and the ever persistent smell of baby powder lingering in the air. Or maybe that was just him,”Ugh…” thought the fox to himself,”Where on earth are these things taking me?” After a minute more of being carried through the various passageways they arrived at a large arch, above which was written ”Incubation Pods.” Apollo’s pacifier would have dropped from his agape mouth had it not been snuggly strapped in. The room they entered was gigantic, several hundred meters from wall to wall, ceiling to ceiling, with wide pathways in the center allowing access to both mechanical arms and any bipeds or quadrupeds wanting to admire the space and walk through it. Between tall, narrow windows revealing the gorgeous outer space outside were several spacious pods, around three meters long and two meters wide. Apollo’s question of what was inside of the pods lining the walls was soon answered as the arms magnetic rail connection clipped onto a vertical rail line and he began to ascend upwards. Although a pilot, Apollo still was rather uncomfortable with large heights and with no titanium and carbon fiber vessel to hold him securely in place he tensed with apprehension as the arms carried him upwards. Maneuvering towards a pod in the center of the room, a few pods away from the nearest vertical window the fox saw that the interior was lined with soft, blue padding, a thick fleece blanket covered the middle, and several large fluffy pillows and a few choice large stuffed animals were contained within the pods. The upper half was made of a clear substance, and one of the pods lifted this translucent lid slightly with as hiss as the arms approached with their prey: the poor, rather babyishly garbed fox pilot. Presuming that he’d be put in one of the pods Apollo once again resumed his struggles, now in bigger earnest than before. He kicked and thrashed, yelling into his gag in anger as he exerted himself. His elbow connected with something hard, and he felt a rather nasty pain coming from his arm but realized with delight he must have succeeded in causing some damage. He glanced down, just in time to see one of the arms shattering into a million pieces on the walkway below. Looking up, he saw the end of what remained of the arm, sparking with electricity. Using his now freed arm he reached to attack the others that held him, but almost wet his newly acquired padding instead. Two dozen arms were now surging towards him, they grabbed his arms, legs, torso, and head, with the firmness increasing more and more as he attempted to resist them. They deposited him into the pod, pulling back the heavy looking blanket several arms pulled out several straps and folds hidden within the seams of the internal bedding. A harness with straps thick enough to almost constitute as clothing were drawn across his torso and crotch, tightly fastening them by what looked like velcro the fox. He tried moving and pawing at the restraints with his mittens, but found that it held him tightly in place in the center of the pod. He threw his head back and harrumphed in frustration as the arms retreated from the pod, the glass covering sealing back into place leaving the pilot to his own thoughts. He squirmed, pathetically tring to his use mittened paws to grasp at his secured torso, his pacifier, and the bonnet on his head tied under his chin. “This is humiliating,” he thought to himself,”I’ll never be able to live this down if anybody finds out, but how the hell am I supposed to escape if every time I do anything I get swarmed by those wretched arms!” He gasped slightly, and suckled on his pacifier a few times before consciously stopping himself when he realized what he was doing. “That’s it! I just have to do exactly what the system wants me to do and behave like a baby, then pull a fast one at the last minute!” Had he not been limited in his mobility, Apollo would have patted himself on the back for such an ingenious idea. Before he could further congratulate himself on being the smartest space pilot in the entire galaxy he jumped with surprise as a panel in the side of the bedding of the pod appeared out of nowhere, and more arms appeared. Gods above he was getting really sick of him he thought, as he wearily watched them approach him. Unstrapping the pacifier gag behind his head, the fox had hardly an opportunity to say anything until another rubber stopper was deposited firmly in place. He frowned, biting down on it. A squirt of sweet liquid came into contact with his tongue, and he looking down he saw a large baby bottle had been placed into his maw, patterns of stars, comets, and planets adorning it. The liquid inside of the container was a slight pink color, and as the fox took an experimental suckle on the thing, realized it was flavored strawberry. Apollo loved strawberries, and against his better judgement listened to the anguished growl that arose from his stomach as he realized he had not eaten in quite a while. Mentally shrugging, he allowed himself to be fed from the bottle, the contents tasted like a creamy strawberry milkshake, one of his favorite treats as a young kit back on his home planet. His eyelids drooped, and the interval between each suckle on his baba lengthened. A soothing female voice suddenly began to filter into the little crib pod, whispering little nothings into his ear, cooing and admiring on how incredibly cute and sweet he was. Apollo’s ear twitched and and a drol smile spread across his face, feeling surprisingly content albeit the situation. He wondered why he’d been so worked up just a few minutes ago. Why fuss? He was snuggly secured in his little crib, and his belly was full of delicious strawberry flavored milkshake! He wriggled comfortably, feeling almost fuzzy with coziness. He hardly noticed as the arms withdrew the bottle from his milk stained lips to be once again replaced with the pacifier gag, pulled the heavy blanket onto him, moved a pillow under his head, and placed a large, red dragon plushie in his arms, which he sleepily hugged tightly to himself with both arms. The little pilot’s consciousness dripped, then ebbed, and then slowly sank into a deep sleep, his breath slowing and his mind set at an ease he hadn’t experienced since he had been a little kit oh so many years ago. Apollo would barely remember this occurring later, but after what must have been only a few hours he woke up, but still felt incredibly sleepy from his deep sleep. He squirmed uncomfortably, and found that his surroundings were dark. His mind still in the clouds of hypnos, he tried to get up to empty his bladder. For some reason he wasn’t able to, and his still incredibly sleepy mind didn’t want to put forth more effort than it had to. He settled back down, and as he drifted back to sleep he felt a warm dampness spreading near the front of his crotch. His previously very full bladder now relieved, Apollo snuggled his cheek against the dragon plushie he hugged tightly, his padding now a little bigger and more tightly pressed against him than it had been previously. Apollo let out a sigh, and went back to sleep. ~ ~ ~ His vision was blurry and the light too harsh for his dark-accustomed eyes. He raised a paw to shield them from the brightness, and as his eyes went back into focus he saw the locked mitten still fixed on his hand. The events that had recently happened to him came flooding back, and suddenly he was wide awake. Shifting around to check if he was still secured in the straps, he felt something damp in his diaper. A feeling of shock and slight dread filled him, as he moved around further. “Did I wet myself when I slept?!” his mind screamed, as he brought his thighs together. To his dismay the absorbent material inside his diaper squished and crinkled, confirming his suspicions. His stomach gurgled, and his anxiety intensified as he realized that he had not used the toilet in a very long time. A pressure began to form on his lower abdomen, building up and pressing on his furry behind. Groaning he covered his face with his mittened paws and unconsciously suckled on his pacifier, he clenched his cheeks together, refusing to give up this aspect of his adulthood. The battle was waged for several minutes, but Apollo saw how it would eventually end. He whimpered, the pain beginning to register a higher intensity as he tried not to mess himself. A tear welled up in his right eye, and with a defeated cry muffled from his pacifier the contents of his bowels thundered into the backseat of his padding. He leaned forward slightly, bringing his legs up only to be hindered by the heavy blanket still weighing down upon him. The warm messed ballooned into his diapers, spreading out slightly into the front of his diaper. His release had been complete, for along with the back he had also wet the front even more. Apollo, military space pilot, captain of the ‘dragon sperm,’ had helpless used his diapers like a baby. No readjustment or movement allowed him to get away from the mess in his pants, the crinkling was muffled by the blanket as he shifted, the restrictive straps further pressing the padding onto his body as the material had swelled with his multiple instances of wetting. He lay there for what felt like an hour, during which he once again wet his diapers. “I must have been drugged, why would my body be reacting like this just because I’m dressed in baby clothes?” He shook his head, cursing himself for being so stupid as the puzzle pieces fell into place. They must have given him quite the cocktail to have completely incapacitated him to the point of being unable to keep his pants clean. “Good morning piddlepants!” a voice rang through the pod, jumping Apollo out of his revery. He looked around confused, the voice behind the exclamation was the same as the AI announcer voice he had heard before his rather lengthy nap, and it surprised him to be hearing it addressing him so directly. “How’s our little baby boy today! Did we use our diapers last night? Good little babies use their diapers and let their mommies and daddies love them for it!” Blushing at the infantile talk, Apollo saw through the glass that several arms were approaching his pod, clutching various changing supplies they approached, reaching into it as with another hiss the upper dome opened. Moving the blanket off of the little pilot they worked at unstrapping him out of the bundle and unclothed him until only his used diaper was open to the air. The smell hit his nostrils and he whimpered, a feeling of complete helplessness coursing through his mind as the arms held his own above his head and untapped his diaper. Cool, soothing baby wipes began wiping his messed fur, and he was slightly relieved that the arms were doing a good job at cleaning his accident from his body. The diaper was wrapped up, and a cream and powder was once again generously applied to his diaper area, his boy parts and cheeks rubbed with the substance to ensure maximum coverage. Cringing at the infantility of it all, he was both glad and dismayed when another, even thicker, diaper was placed beneath his raised behind, and he was securely fastened back into thick padding, the tapes snuggly ensuring he was nice and comfy inside of his thick underpants. The arms did what they did best and grabbed and lifted him up, his heart falling somewhere into his thick padding as he was retrieved from inside of the pod and carried back down onto the walkways in the middle of the vast space. At the bottom he saw what looked like a carriage, and found himself being placed into a thick, cushy bag of sorts. His arms were wrapped around himself and his knees were brought up to his chest. The fox squirmed, not uncomfortable but confined in what the fox took to be an oversized bunting bag. The arms placed and secured him into the carriage, strapping the bunting bag in over his chest and legs. Apollo could only suckle on his pacifier still lodged in his mouth and squirm as he was lead out of the giant room and further into the station. Something about the structure of the station where he was traveling through rang a bell, and he realized that they must be heading towards the main docking station he had spotted earlier when looking for an appropriate entrance. One of the arms delicately pushed the carriage through the station, and after what seemed like the longest hallway in the entire facility they emerged into another open space, smaller than where the pods were kept but still impressively large. The docks overlooked the vastness of space and were separating the bubble of air that Apollo relied on by a pink force field which buzzed quietly. Apollo was lifted out of his carriage and saw out of the corner of the force field window about half of his ship, still docked where he had left it. His heart leaped up in excitement, as he began to struggle even more against his bonds, hoping the ship would register his distress through the force field and send a signal for help. Help arrived at that very instant, but not the kind that the pilot expected. Another military freighter arrived, decelerating as it approached his docked ship, and Apollo whooped into his pacifier as he saw it approach his ship. His vision was blocked as the arms placed him into a small ship he hadn’t noticed. Seeing his reflection in one of the arm’s shiny white limbs he saw a picture of a stork in a spacesuit flying a ship with the words, ”Baby on board” written across its side. A glass seal then slid in front of him as arms located inside of the little space vessel secured him into a small baby seat, like the carseats he had seen kits being placed in when going on car trips. His pacifier gag was removed, and a bottle was thrust in instead, he bit down on the nipple of the bottle clenching it shut, he refused to be drugged again, he refused to be babied, he wanted release! A sweet, tinkling melody began playing from the speakers in the ship, and the voice of the AI once again began to coo at him, reassuring him that everything was going to be alright, that he was just a little helpless infant, and that he was well loved and comfortable. The ship rumbled, and the engines fired. As the little vessel rocketed out of the station, he saw way off in the distance the new freighter that had arrived, towing his old ship behind it as the ion engines reached maximum velocity. Apollo looked up in dismay and frustration at realizing that the new ship had not noticed his plight, and saw that a mirror was placed above him. He gawked at his appearance. The pilot was small for his age true, but now he looked even fluffier, shorter, and younger than he had before. With a bit of effort, he pulled his arms out of the bunting bag and examined his mittened paws. It was true, they seemed stubbier and shorter for some reason. The arm holding the bottle in his mouth squeezed it, and the fox found he was no longer able to contain the liquid from entering his mouth. As the liquid poured into his mouth the effect was almost immediate, he relaxed, his arms laying down by his sides as the babyseat began to rock forwards and backwards slightly, a slight vibration starting at the front and back seat of his diaper as the seat worked away at his tense nerves. The stars outside of his window twinkled, and the voice informed him that he should be excited for the future. His new mommy and daddy were waiting for their new baby. Apollo felt a release happen, and uncontrollably wet the front of his diaper. The sweet, strawberry solution tasted rich and creamy as allowed himself to be fed. His mind felt once again at ease, why should he care about his freighter? He was only a little kit! Piloting ships was something big furs did, not little baby ones! His eyelids grew heavy, and the fox began to doze contentedly; the ship cruised through the ethers of space, gently rocking the little fox to a pleasant sleep. The last thing his eyes saw before they dropped were the twin suns, their bright light still warmly radiating into space, now as if to wish him a farewell. ~ ~ ~ Do you enjoy reading my content? Check out my other stories on my page or follow me on Twitter or FA! Twitter: https://twitter.com/horatiohusky FA: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/horatiohusky/

This is a cute little story based off an amazing short that came out from a certain animation company that begins with a P. I absolutely loved that short and so wanted more of that story. And then my creative mind kicked in and said "But what if... diapers?" Sorry, I couldn't resist! Just something I wanted to share with the lovely members of Daily Diapers forum. I hope you enjoy the resulting wholesome tale of community, caring, and crinkles. You can download a PDF of this story free now on Patreon, where all stories and chapters are released to patrons a month early! Story Link: KABLAM! By Champ (Patreon.com/ChampTehOtter) Our story begins with a young rabbit holding a hammer in a field. A rabbit who had just finished putting the final touches on his new home with the help of his neighbors. It was a momentous occasion moving into his own burrow, and the project had really come together thanks to a whole network of critters who made up his underground community, especially the mole and field mouse who had first greeted him as he began digging his new home. He had been nervous and shy at first, but the neighbors were there to help. "Stronger together!" they had exclaimed as they set to work. Soon what had been a humble one-room plan now branched out into multiple rooms including a bathroom/disco, a bedroom, and a nursery. "Why do you need a nursery? Are you planning on starting a family soon?" the field mouse had asked, once they finally got a look at the reluctant rabbit's plans. "Yeah, something like that," the rabbit had said, not wanting to give the real reason for his interest in the infantile room. Now it was all done, and the rabbit's friendly neighbors were putting away the last of his items. Excitement, and the smell of Mrs. Hedgehog's' fresh-baked cookies were in the air because it was nearly time for the burrow warming to begin. "I don't know why I was so nervous," said the rabbit, coming back down into his burrow after fixing the always-askew mailbox one last time. "They didn't make fun of my crude diagram or my ideas of what I wanted. Not even the disco ball. They've been so nice to me..." The rabbit's thoughts trailed off when he walked into his bedroom where the mouse and the mole were. When he saw the mouse unzipping his backpack to put away the last of his things, his heart skipped a beat. "Hey! D-don't open that!" "No worries, it's not a problem... Lemme just..." the mouse's eyes went wide as he realized what he had pulled from the rabbit's bag. It was a diaper. A diaper too big for a baby. The mouse and the mole blinked a couple of times, too stunned to react. The rabbit's face went crimson. He quickly dashed forward and grabbed the diaper and the backpack. "Th-that's really not necessary," he said, stuffing the diaper inside and zipping up the backpack. He scooted off to the nursery and closed the door before they could respond. He would say they were for a baby if they asked. Maybe they would drop it. "Yeah, that's what I'll tell them," he said, as he stashed the diapers in his backpack on the shelf under the changing table. "Tell us what?" asked the mole, who had tunneled in and was now right behind the rabbit. The rabbit jumped and hit his head on the ceiling. "Guh! Owwwwww.... darn my legs..." "Careful, bud," said the field mouse, coming in through the new hole the mole had made. "We didn't build the ceiling in this room too high. If you want your rooms taller it's gonna take another few hours. "N-no thanks," said the rabbit, not sure whether to be more embarrassed about what his neighbors had seen or how he'd just knocked himself flat on his butt. "What'sa matter? You look like you seen a ghost," said the mole, bending down to help the rabbit to his feet. "Nah, he's just a jumpy little critter," said the field mouse with a little grin. "I think he must just like to hide things." "You should talk, small fry," said the rabbit, dusting himself off. "And thanks for the hand," he said addressing the mole as he tried to recover from his adrenaline rush. "Small?! I never talked about your size," said the mouse, crossing his arms and turning his head, but he looked back at the rabbit with a smile and one eye open to let him know he wasn't really mad. "Okay okay," said the rabbit. "I am a bit jumpy... and I guess I am a bit secretive. I'm just embarrassed is all. You all are so knowledgeable and experienced. You have so many talents, and I'm just a dumb ol' bunny." "Hey now," said the field mouse, giving the rabbit a pat on the back. "Don't think of it like that. We're all helping each other. Stronger together, right?" he said, turning to the mole for confirmation. "That's right," said the mole, "stronger together!" Thanks guys, said the rabbit, "but can we move it to the living room?" "Hold up," said the mole, grabbing the rabbit's wrist as he made for the door. The rabbit felt the tug and stopped, his heart thundering in his chest once more. Were they going to say something about the diapers? Did they know? Did they not like him now? Was he too weird? Would they talk about him behind his... "You've got a little schmutz on your..." The rabbit crossed his eyes to see what the mole was reaching at, but the mole stepped forward and his paws went right past the rabbit's little nose to come around his back and envelop him in a big hug. The field mouse soon joined in. "What was that for?" the rabbit asked, as the two of them let go with a final comforting squeeze. "You looked like you needed it," said the mole. And to the rabbit's surprise, he was right. He had needed that hug. The three of them went back to the living room to find it occupied by the great mass of creatures who had pitched in to help. From badgers to wood-mice, animals occupied every piece of furniture, doorway, and nearly every room of the rabbit's humble home save the nursery and bedroom. Momma Mouse was running around frantically trying to gather up all the squealing younglings from underfoot and she was quite thankful to be pointed to the nursery, which was just past the rabbit's bedroom. "Announcement, announcement," said the rabbit, doing his best to get everyone's attention, but no one seemed to hear him above the excited chattering of their peers. The large badger, who was standing nearby, saw what was happening and let out his famous roar, which effectively caught the attention of everyone in the burrow. The bunny nearly hit his head on the ceiling again at the unexpected outburst but was fortunately held back by the mole. All eyes were now on the badger as critters from all the other rooms peeped their heads in to see what was up. "Proceed," said the badger, leading all eyes to rest on the rabbit with a sweep of his paw. It seemed like the whole neighborhood was watching. "Uh... th-thank you," said the rabbit, his heart still hammering in his chest from the sudden scare. He took a deep breath and thought of his friends. Then, he spoke. "I just wanted to say thank you, everyone. You made my dreams come true. And... well, I'd like to invite all of you to pitch in one more time to celebrate this new chapter of my life." "Hear, hear!" said the badger. "You heard the rabbit! Let's all make this the best burrow warming yet!" The animals were quite animated by this speech and clamored to contribute in whatever way they could. "I'll bring cookies," said Mr. Hedgehog. "We've got a boom box," said one of the fitness fanatic moles who lived next-burrow. "We've got plenty of nuts to share," said the chipmunks, who lived two burrows down. "And I've got towels," said the bath-loving lizard, who stood there in nothing but a towel. "Eh... I think we can skip the towels for now," said the rabbit, with an awkward smile. "Thank you, everyone, for your generosity!" Before long, the party was underway, and every room of the house was once more taken up by animals chatting, snacking, and having a good time. "Hey, what's with the nursery?" asked one of the fitness moles. "Hush," said the rabbit's mole friend, cuffing his nosy boyfriend on the back of his head while the rabbit's face went bright red. "What did I do?" asked the fitness-loving mole, rubbing his sweatband. "Heyyy! Look what I found," said the lizard, sauntering into the room in nothing but a diaper. "This is much better than a towel!" "H-hey! Take that off!" said the rabbit, who was about ready to have a heart attack as he saw his deepest secret paraded around in front of everyone. "Those look great! Where'd you get those?" asked Mr. Hedgehog. "Oh, I just found 'em in the nursery," the lizard said, holding up a couple more. "I don't know where they came from, you'll have to ask him." The lizard pointed a finger squarely at the bunny. Everyone's eyes turned to the rabbit, who went wide eyed, suddenly the center of attention. "Eh, uh... hehe, I dunno. The store? Th-they're not for me!" he added quickly. He looked around for some escape route, but there was none. He was stuck here while his neighbors judged him. "Hey, you okay?" Asked the field mouse, grabbing a paper bag he had thoughtfully stashed by the couch in case the bunny had another of his rather frequent panic attacks. "Here, breathe into this." The mole rubbed the rabbit's back as he sat down on the floor and breathed into the bag. "You're ok, buddy. Just breathe." The music stopped and animals gathered around with concerned faces, but that just made the bunny more nervous. "I think I know what's going on here," said Mr. Badger, stepping in. "Everybody back away, give the little guy some space." He got down to the rabbit's level and put a hand on his shoulder. "I want you to tell the truth. You don't have to say anything. Just nod for yes and shake your head for no." The rabbit looked up to the badger with wide eyes as he blew a final few breaths into the bag. Then, he slowly lowered the bag, gulped, and nodded. "Are these for you?" The rabbit nodded. "Do you have a medical issue we should be concerned about?" The rabbit shook his head. "So, you just wear them because you like them? For comfort?" The rabbit nodded yes to both questions. The badger looked around to the neighbors and nodded, like he knew exactly what was going on. "Tell me, little bunny. Does this help calm you down?" Asked the badger as he held up one of the diapers. The bunny squeezed his eyes shut and nodded vigorously. "Would a diaper help right now?" The bunny's eyes shot open at the unexpected query. For several breaths, he didn't move, but the badger was patient. Eventually, the bunny gave the most imperceptible of nods. "Okay then," said the badger, grabbing the rabbit by one paw and holding a diaper in the other. "As you were, everyone. Everything's fine. I'm just going to help the bunny calm down. Be right back." His authoritative tone reassured everyone but also let them know that it was not an invitation for an audience. "So, who wants cookies?" asked Mrs. Hedgehog, breaking the silence. Everyone resumed their merrymaking, and the mole's boyfriend started his workout mix back up on the boombox. Meanwhile, Mr. Badger slipped out of the room with the rabbit in tow. Mr. Badger nodded to the mole and field mouse to join him and the three of them made their way to the nursery. A couple of the moms were already there watching all the neighbors' children. There was certainly enough room for it since the nursery was especially large. That was not unusual for a rabbit warren. "Excuse me, coming through," said the Badger, walking up to the big changing table and lifting the rabbit to set him gently on the soft padding. "What... what are you-" "I think you know very well what I'm doing," said Mr. Badger, flapping the diaper open, and fluffing it. "And I think it's exactly what you need, don't you, little bunny?" The rabbit covered his face and nodded, blushing brightly under his fur. Soon, Mr. Badger was grabbing the rabbit's ankles and lifting his tush up in the air to set it on the fresh fluffy undergarment "You two better pay attention," said the badger. "I'm not coming up here every time the baby bunny needs a change. "Ch-change?" squeaked the rabbit. "I don't actually use them..." "I never said you had to use them," said the badger in an even tone. "But you better believe you're taking a trip right back here next time your little bunny heart starts pounding. If this is how you relax then this is what we'll do. It's for your health, you understand. Everyone deserves to feel safe and comfortable in their own burrow, Isn't that right, boys?" The field mouse and the mole looked to each other, then back to the badger and nodded, wide eyed. Admittedly they had never changed a diaper themselves. That was usually their mom's job. "Well, come on," said the Badger. "You can't see what's happening from there." The bunny covered his face with his hands as he lay there on the diaper with his two closest neighbors pressing up against the changing table. "Here," said momma mouse, handing the badger a mouse plush. "These tend to help keep the little ones distracted while you take care of 'em." The badger nodded and handed the plush over to the bunny, who immediately squeezed it tight and closed his eyes. He used the plush as a shield between himself and the three furs as he tried to imagine he really was a baby bunny and not an embarrassed, supposedly independent young rabbit. He only felt the cool powder, and then the bulk of the diaper as it enclosed him, crinkling all the while. "And that's all there is to it," said the badger, sitting the rabbit up and giving him a pat on the back of his diaper. "How do you feel?" The bunny looked down between his legs to squeeze them against the fluffy padding, looked back at his poofy butt to wiggle his tail with a *crink* *crink* *crink*. "I... I feel good," he said, giving a shy little smile as he looked back at his companions. "Good. Then you can keep it on for the rest of the party," said the badger. "And don't even think about arguing with me. You deserve to be healthy and happy, got it?" "Y-you don't think they'll make fun of me?" asked the bunny, with worry on his face. "Not a chance," said the badger, making a fist. "Not on my watch." "No fighting," said momma mouse. "you'll set a bad example for the little ones. Speaking of little ones, this nursery would make a wonderful daycare for all the pups, kits, and hatchies... would you think of sharing this wonderful space, bunny?" The bunny nodded reluctantly. "Yeah... It's kind of a private thing for me but... I suppose I can share." He felt guilty saying no right off the bat, but he was still getting used to the idea of other people even knowing about his biggest secret, much less being in his space for what had always been a solitary indulgence. "I might just think about it a bit." Mr. Badger picked up the bunny on one arm and carried him out of the nursery, patting his butt and praising him for being such a good little bunny. Soon, the four of them appeared in the living room once more, the bunny clinging to Mr. Badger and hiding his face in his shoulder. The badger set the understandably nervous bunny down and patted his butt. "There we are. Much better. Now go play, little bunny friend." "Hey, broski!" said the lizard, who was still in a diaper. "We're twins! How about that? These diapers are great!" The bunny looked up from his fidgeting paws as he heard murmurs of agreement around the room and saw that many of the other animals were diapered as well. His jaw dropped. He was speechless for a minute, then he began to tear up. "Th-thank you!" said the bunny, and he hugged the bigger lizard around the waist. "Was it something I said?" asked the lizard, shrugging. But of course, he understood what the rabbit meant. He patted the bunny's back and stroked his fur. "To our new neighbor. Happy burrow warming!" There was applause and cheers from all his neighbors. "And guess what?" added the field mouse. "He's agreed to let us use the nursery as our daycare!" This drew an excited response as the moms and dads were only too happy for the respite daycare offered. The bunny stood up a little straighter after that, feeling a little proud that he could help out after everything everyone had done for him. "So," said the field mouse turning back to the bunny. "No more secrets, okay? We help each other, and that means being open and honest with each other. Stronger together, right everyone?" "Stronger together," the other animals called in response to hearing their favorite motto. The bunny nodded meekly. "I understand. No more secrets." After that day, the bunny no longer hid his drawing skills or his diapers from the rest of the burrow denizens. In fact, it made such a difference in his anxiety, his neighbors took turns making sure he was diapered all the time. Like Mr. Badger said, it took a village to raise a pup, and luckily, this one had a daycare that was just perfect for him.

Here is chapter one of a new project. This is a shared project from me and Sky Hooves, based on an RP! We both hope that you'll enjoy it! Climbing the Corporate Ladder by Panther Cub & Sky Hooves The city of Sanoto, the gleaming silver jeweled capitol of Lushuin. Population roughly 8,000,000. When I was a little kit, I always used to dream of coming to the big city and making it big. After college, when I was finally able to move into an apartment of my very own… well… let’s just say that those dreams are on hold… The fact that I’m a twenty-seven-year-old jackrabbit suffering from Youngston’s Disease, rendering me fully incontinent certainly not helping. My name is Melody Cooper. I have yellow eyes, a pink nose, and tan fur. After many years of humiliation, I have become very adept at discretion. Still, though, I live every day in fear that my secret will get out. It's why I changed my name after graduating high school. Gunna be late! I think to myself, frantically, as I sprint down the sidewalk. There is a slight waddle to my gait, but I push on. After getting ready for work, I had suddenly found myself with a very messy diaper, which I of course had to take care of, thus eating up so many precious minutes to get to work on time. I ignore the bulge of my padding as I make the next crosswalk in record time. I check my watch, feeling a slight stitch in my side, surprised that I might just make it. It's going to be a close one. I can see the building, Bushel Inc. coming into view. I reach into my purse and pull out my i.d. badge, and practically hurtle through the revolving doors at the front desk, and leap up to flash it to the security guard, as is required of all employees. The bored-looking male polar bear takes it and scans it. I hop from foot to foot as I wait for the o.k. to enter. Then there's a beep, and he hands it back to me, and I dart off. My cubicle is on the twenty-seventh floor, so when I make it to the elevator, my heart soars as I'm the only one, and jump up to hit button 27, taking some time to catch my breath and smooth out my clothes, a simple navy skirt-suit. Linda’s POV: I look down at the bunny that just ran into the elevator at high speed, trying to get her breath under control. It was one of my employees, Melody Cooper. Seems like, she made it just in time. She is a really hard working mammal, but a tad on the shy side. I'm actually a little worried for her, since she doesn't seem to have many friends outside of work from what I heard. My name is Linda Moon. I'm a 31 year-old lioness. I have green eyes and a black nose, and very light beige fur. I also have a daughter named Kira. She is also a lioness, like me. Her father, a loving and wonderful hyena named Jonas, died before she was born in an accident, and I have raised her since then. It wasn't easy, but I managed to have time for her and my company. Melody’s POV: Satisfied, I take a deep breath and smile, certain I‘m gunna make it before I was officially counted as late. It was then that I heard the noise of someone clearing their throat, and I turned, jumping a little at the sight of my boss, Mrs. Moon. "OH! Mrs. Moon," I say to the lioness towering over me, "g-good morning." Linda: I smile down at her, making sure to look as non-threatening as possible. "Good morning Ms. Cooper. Seems like that was a close call this time." Melody: I blush a little and nod, I can't let her think that I'm lazy or something. "Uh... I h-had a minor emergency to deal with this morning." Linda: I look a bit worried. "Is everything alright? I hope nothing bad happened." Melody: "Oh no, nothing terrible. Just an... inconvenience I had to deal with, is all..." Linda: "Alright then. As long as you still make it on time, It's no problem. But try to keep these inconveniences to a minimum. You are a hard worker." The Elevator dinged at the 20th floor, signaling that I had reached my destination. "And here is my exit. I wish you a nice day, Ms Cooper." I say and wave to her as I leave for my office. Melody: "Y-yes Mrs. Moon. Y-you too!" I say, putting on a smile, despite my nervousness, and wave back. I sigh as I ride the rest of the way up, feeling good to hear someone as important as Linda Moon telling me how important I am. Still though, I'll have to wake up even earlier from now on, just in case I start messing myself in the morning again. Linda: I make my way to my office. I couldn't help but worry a bit about Ms Cooper. I meant what I said that she is a great worker and the others really like her, even with the little interaction she has with them. She seems pretty skittish around others... or it is just my size that is intimidating her. "Or maybe, it's just my motherly instincts taking over again..." I say to myself under my breath. It is a well-documented fact that lionesses have overactive mothering instincts, myself being no exception. Melody: I find my cubicle, with just two minutes to spare, and quickly turn on my computer, logging in. I sigh once more, before smiling, getting to work. It may not be glamorous, but I do find the monotonous work to be relaxing. Linda: I sit at my desk and go through some new contracts and other paperwork. Nothing much was happening and soon, after a few calls, I feel the need to use the restroom. I log off my computer, and head out my office door, making my way to the elevator. Melody: I type away at the keyboard, checking each shipment and double-checking, making sure everything is going where it's supposed to. Not the most exciting job in the world, but it's certainly an important one. I just finished another batch, when I smell a sickly-sweet perfume, like rotten bananas, and my stomach tightened. "Almost came in late, Miss Cooper," came a voice just as sickly sweet as the perfume of its owner. I gulp and turn in my chair, which is several sizes too big for me, to look up at the leering face of my manager, Amanda Winter. For some reason, the snow leopardess has always seemed to have it out for me. "Y-yes, Miss Winter. But I got in before I was," I say in my own defense. The primly dressed feline clicked her tongue dismissively. She was wearing a lavender pinstripe skirt-suit, her claws painted a matching color, with two big dangly gold rings in her ears. "Just make sure to be at your desk, on time, in the future." She said, implying that I was late, when I have never been late to work, not once. "Y-yes, Miss Winter," I say, blushing as I feel like a small child who had just been scolded for being bad. The padding I can feel warming between my legs not helping. I wait for her to continue on her rounds before I grab my purse and hop down to take a bathroom break... to change my diaper. I remember getting a memo about how all the restrooms are being worked on on various floors, so I picked the closest floor to go, on the 20th. Linda: After a bit more work, I had to go to the ladies’ room. I sat down in one of the stalls to do my "personal business" as I heard the door open again and little paws tapping around on the tile. Melody: I blush from the extra waddle that's been added to my walk, before I enter the stall. I sigh once more as I am confronted by toilet stalls and toilets meant for much larger animals. Still, I don't suppose I could easily use the toilets in here due to my size. Silver lining, I suppose. I close the door behind me, unable to reach the latch, and instead take off my skirt. I fold it up and put it into my purse, before I untape my wet diaper, letting it fall to the ground with a wet plop. Linda: I sit still in my box and hear a ripping sound and something wet hitting the ground next to my stall. The sound is familiar, and as a mother, it takes me only a few moments to realize that it’s the sound of a wet diaper. Had someone brought their cub to work? Why not leave them at the daycare here at the company? Maybe I need to better advertise to my employees about the free childcare on level fifteen. Melody: I pull out the tub of wipes and start cleaning myself, tossing two used ones into the used diaper, which I then fold and tape up into a ball. Then I pull out a fresh diaper and, not wanting to lay down on the bathroom tile, put it on while standing up, the tapes being the trickiest part. Once finished, I pull out the canister of baby powder, and open it. After I pull open the front waistband of my diaper and powder myself, I repeat the process in the back. Then I double-check the tape just above my tail, brushing off some of the powder that had lightly dusted it. I finish off by putting my skirt back on, double-checking to make sure it's on correctly, before I grab the used diaper and my purse, and walk back out, heading first for the trash can, thankful to have the bathroom to myself. Linda: From my stall, I could hear the familiar sound of a diaper change going on right next to my box. But something was off. It was the lacking sound of a child moving around or making any kind of noise. Also, they aren’t using the diaper change station. I heard the stall opening and the occupant leaving and the lid of the trash can being opened and closed. I finished my business and left to wash my paws. There was a faint smell of baby powder in the air. I don't know why I did what I did next, maybe just out of curiosity, or motherly instincts, but I took a peek inside the trash can. There I saw a rolled up, used diaper. It was a small diaper, like the ones my own little cub used, but the markings on it didn’t look like a child’s diaper at all. Actually, it looked more like a very tiny adult diaper... But who was small enough... my eyes widened a bit as I made a connection as to who the other mammal potentially is. But I wasn't 100% sure. For now, I would just continue work and think about this later. After all, it wasn't really any of my business. Melody: I make my way back to my desk and get right back to it. Amanda stopped by a few more times, just to let me know that she was watching me, I suppose. Soon enough, lunch rolled around, and I logged out before hopping up and making my way down to the cafeteria. Linda: After some more hours of paperwork, lunchtime comes by and I make my way to the cafeteria. But before that, I take another stop at the company's daycare centre to get my own little cub from there. As I entered the daycare, I find a little light beige ball of fluff leaping into my arms. "MOMMY!" Kira shouted gleefully. "Hello, my little princess. Mommy missed you. Have you been a good girl?" I ask her, hugging her close. "Mhm! I have been super good! I colored this for you!" She said, holding out her paws with a piece of paper in them. It’s a crayon picture of us together, holding hands, with a big smiling sun in one corner. "Such a cute picture! I'll make sure to put it right in my office so I can see it everyday! Now, how about we get some lunch together?" I offer, folding up the picture and putting it into my purse. "YAY!" Kira cheered. I first had to sign her out, but then we made our way to the elevator, my little cub in my arms. Melody: I’m in the elevator, lost in my own thoughts, only vaguely aware of the door opening, not paying attention as to who just entered. Linda: I see Ms. Cooper is already in the elevator, lost in her own thoughts. My little girl looks down at her and tilts her head. She motioned for me to let her down, to which I comply. She walks over to Ms Cooper and taps her shoulder. “Hi there! I'm Kira! Who are you?" She says, sounding bubbly and excited. Melody: I jump a little and turn to face the childish voice, to see a lion cub looking at me with a big smile on her face. She's wearing a bright white sundress, which I realize looks very similar to one I have back at home. I blush a little, and then my eyes go a little wider when I recognize Mrs. Moon, towering over us. I realize that this must be her daughter, so I compose myself and give the little girl a smile. "H-hi. I'm Melody. I-it's nice to meet you, Kira." Linda: I smile down at the two interacting, looking like two children becoming friends. My little Kira always loves to make new friends. "Hi! You have a cute name! I like you!" Without a warning, Kira hugged my little bunny employee. There was a ding, and the door opening signaled our arrival at the cafeteria. Kira grabbed Ms. Coopers paw in her own and my left in her other. "We can have lunch together! Can we mommy? Can we?" Kira asks, bouncing on her feet. Kira looked at me with her best, puppy eyes and I just couldn't resist. "Well, if Ms. Cooper is ok with that," I say, turning to look at Melody. Kira looked now to Ms. Cooper with the same puppy eyes. "You want to have lunch with us, don't you, Melody?" Melody: "U-uh..." I look from my boss to her daughter before nodding, making what I feel is a smart decision, at least to keep my job, "s-sure." Linda: "YAY! My new friend and I are having lunch together!" Kira shouts, starting to skip as we walk along. A few employees looked our way at the outburst of my little girl, but they didn't think much of it, since most of them already knowing how excitale she can be. The crinkling sound of her diaper made me think back to the events from the bathroom... But a tug on my paw got me back to the here and now. "Come on, mommy! Me and Melody are hungry!" Kira says, tugging again. "Alright, alright. I'm coming." I say with a laugh. Me and Ms. Cooper are led by my little girl to the line of people waiting for their turn. There’s numerous stations, each with dishes catering to the variety of different dietary needs for my employees. Kira, meanwhile, starts talking with her new friend about this and that. "What is your favorite color? Mine is pink! I also like to play dress up and have tea parties! What do you like to play?" Her words came out practically in a rush. Melody: I blush as I'm sure all eyes are on my holding hands with Mrs. Moon's daughter, but I continue on, wanting to keep the child, and therefore her mother, happy. "O-oh! I've always been p-partial to g-green myself. A-and... uh... I enjoy p-playing games o-on my Z-box." We get in line, and I have to hop up a little to grab a fresh tray. Linda: "You have a Z-Box? That's so cool! My mommy won't allow me one until I'm older." She says, looking up at me with a small blast of her puppy-eye look. I listen to the two talking while grabbing myself a tray. I noticed how Ms. Cooper had to jump up a bit, but didn't comment on it, now realizing that we seemed to have overlooked species of smaller statures, something that’s going to need to be amended. We walked along the line and I grabbed a few things for myself and my daughter. "When you see something you want, sweetie, just point it out." I say to her. "Ok mommy. You hear, Melody? Just point something out and mommy will get it for us." I had to hold back a laugh at that. Melody: "U-uh, th-that's very nice. But I d-don't w-want to be r-rude," I say, hopping up a little to try and grab a carrot and berry smoothie from the nearest station. I had already managed to snag a salad, but this cup was just a little too out of my reach. Linda: Kira giggled at the cute scene of the bunny hopping up and down to try and grab the smoothie. I hear again the familiar crinkle of a diaper but don't think much about it. I smile at the cute scene between these two and just grab the smoothie for Ms Cooper and give it to her. "Here you are. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I actually think we should make a few changes to fit the cafeteria for smaller species." Melody: "O-oh! Th-thank y-you, Mrs. Moon," I say, accepting the smoothie with a blush, "that would actually be wonderful." Linda: We walk over to an empty table and Kira leads Ms. Moon to an empty chair, which is big enough for them both. "Come Melody! We can sit together!" Melody: "U-uh..." I say, unable to think of a reason why we couldn't sit together, but then find myself being tugged up into the chair next to the toddler. My ears twitch at the sounds of what I take to be her crinkling diaper, and hope that I'm not also hearing my own. Linda: Kira got Ms. Cooper up in the chair and cuddled close to her while I set the trays on the table. "Now, Kira. Do you want me to feed you or do you want to eat on your own?" "Feed me, please?. What about you, Melody? Do you want to be fed as well until your mommy comes?" Oh my goodness, that is just too precious! As Kira asked that, I understood why she was so friendly with Ms Cooper. She thought the little bunny was also a toddler. I decided to not say anything and let it play out. It was just too cute. Melody: I blush even more now. "U-uh... I can f-feed myself, b-but thank y-you for offering, th-that is v-very polite. A-also, I-I'm an adult." Linda: Kira tilts her head, clearly not understanding how this mammal, that was the same size as her, could be a grown-up. Then she looked down at the outfit of her new friend. It was rather adult like... “Ooooh… YOU LIKE TO PLAY DRESS UP TOO!” Kira shouts excitedly, bouncing in her seat, while Ms. Cooper seems to be blushing even more underneath her fur. "Maybe we can play something else after lunch?" I couldn't help myself but giggle at the cute little scene. Kira is still very young and hasn't met any adults her own size, so it makes sense that she is confused. "How about we first eat and then talk about playtime later? Don't want to let the food get cold." I say. "Okay, mommy!" Kira says. I start to cut up Kira’s food for her into small bites, feeding it to her, while taking bites from my own food between her chewing. Melody: I feel as though my face is as red as a tomato, yet all I can think to do is instead start drinking my smoothie, and start in on my salad. Linda: As we continue to eat, Kira keeps looking and smiling at Melody, occasionally asking a question between bites. "My Favorite TV-Show is The Lion Guard! Guardians protecting Prideland City from criminals! My favorite character is Officer Kion! He is really cute and silly! Who is your favorite character?" Melody: "I, ahem, I haven't actually s-seen that show." Linda: "Really? Doesn't your mommy let you watch it?" Kira says before gasping. "Maybe you could come over for a playdate! I have every episode on DVD! We can watch them together!" Kira smiled brightly and jumped a little on her seat, making her diaper crinkle and giving Ms. Cooper another hug. I smiled at how well Ms Cooper is behaving for my little girl’s sake. Melody: "W-woah now. I'm a-actually a grown-up, and therefore h-have a lot of responsibilities." I say, looking panicked at Mrs. Moon, whom I'm certain would not at all be comfortable with some strange adult coming over to watch a tv show with her daughter. Linda: I keep watching the whole interaction between the two and couldn't help but find it extremely adorable. But Ms Cooper is right. I pet my little girl's head and lift her into my lap... but since she was still holding onto Ms. Cooper, I also lifted her into my lap. "Sorry, sweetie, but Ms Cooper is right. She still has a lot of work to do here." Melody: I squeak, and quickly scoot off of my boss' lap, her daughter somehow still clinging to me. My ears twitch as I hear a certain rustling as I scoot, but I ignore it and hope she just assumes it's her cub. Linda: I hear again the rustling of a diaper but first assumed it was Kira, until I heard it again as Melody began moving. I was interrupted from my thoughts by the sound of my watch beeping, signaling the end of my lunch break. And sure enough, people in the cafeteria are also already putting away their trays and heading out to the elevators. "Alright, sweetie. Lunchtime is over. Let's get you back to daycare." I say to Kira. I stand up and take Kira’s paw in my own again, while she grabs Melody’s paw and we make our way to the elevator. Kira giggled in excitement and looked to the still blushing jackrabbit while hopping from one paw to the other. "I can't wait to show you all the toys they have there! They even have lots of cute outfits to play dress up in!" Melody: "I-I'm s-sorry, miss Kira, b-but I have to get back to work now." I say now looking with pleading eyes at Mrs. Moon. Linda: Kira tilted her head in confusion. "Why would you want to work? Work is boring. Bah!" Kira sticks her tongue out for emphasis. I decided to step in and help Ms. Cooper. "Sorry Kira. But Ms. Cooper has a job to get back to, before she can play anywhere." I hit the button for the fifteenth floor first, to drop Kira off at the daycare. Melody: My eyes widen as I'm still being dragged along due to the little girl's surprisingly iron-like grip. "Uhm... M-Mrs. Moon?" Linda: "Yes, sweetie? ...I mean, Ms. Cooper?" My saying sweetie just felt so natural to say to Ms. Cooper, her little voice really sounded like that of a little cub. Melody: I blush as I point to my paw still in her daughter's. Linda: I giggle at the sight and bend down a little. "Kira, sweetie? Melody needs her paw back." Kira looks sadly up at me and lets go of my paw to give Ms Cooper a big, kinda protective, hug. "But I want to play with her! She’s my new friend!" Kira whined, giving me the full blast of her puppy eyes. I look apologetically to Ms. Cooper, then back to my daughter. "Maybe when you behave, she can play with you another time?” Melody: "U-uh... m-maybe?" I say, unsure of how to go about proceeding. I'm not really looking to sign on for any babysitting duties, but Mrs. Moon is my boss after all... Linda: Kira smiled brightly and started jumping again, with Ms. Cooper still in her arms. "YAY! We can have a playdate! I can show you all of my toys and drawings!" I giggle at her excitement, but I’m unsure if Melody would be willing to play with a four-year-old girl. The door to the elevator opened and Kira again held my paw and Ms. Coopers as we entered the daycare. Melody: I blush as we enter and I get the chance to look around. Once more I am reminded of my size, seeing all of the young children sitting on furniture and playing in play sets that would fit me more or less perfectly. There are some larger ones for children of larger species, but still. Linda: A warm and happy voice came greeting the group. "Hello Mrs. Moon! I see that you’re bringing little Kira back to us today!" A cheetah woman in a yellow dress and pink apron came over to the group. "Hello Mrs. Spot! Yep, I’m bringing back this little wildcat for some more playtime." Melody: I nod and politely wave to the daycare worker, waiting for Mrs. Moon to help me get Kira to let go. Linda: Mrs. Spot looks down and sees Kira holding the paw of another little mammal. This one may be small, but it only takes a moment for it to register for her that the little jackrabbit is clearly an adult. "Hello Kira! Welcome back. And who is your little friend here?" Mrs. Spot gives the bunny a wink. "This is Melody! She’s my new friend and we’re gunna have a playdate soon!" Kira announced excitedly. "Is that so? That sounds like fun! Now, why don't you go along and play with your other friends, while I talk with your mommy and Melody?" "Okay! Bye Mommy! Bye Melody! See you soon!" Kira said, giving both hugs before finally releasing Melody and running off. I took a second to sign her back in. Melody: I blush, now worried, and look up at the two taller ladies. Linda: Mrs. Spot sees the worried look on Ms. Cooper's face and bends down to get on eye level with her. "Don't worry. I know you are an adult. But sometimes, kids from bigger mammals have a problem seeing the difference." Mrs. Moon looked a bit guilty and scratched the back of her head, as she explained "I'm sorry for that whole thing. I should have stopped it from the beginning, but, to be honest, it was just too cute to see you two interacting. I'm sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable, Ms. Cooper. But I also have to thank you, for being so patient with my little girl and playing along." Melody: I smile nervously and rub the back of my head as well. "N-no problem, Mrs. Moon. Well, I need to get back to work, before my manager starts to wonder where I am." Linda: "Alright. Don't let me stop you. And when your manager asks, tell her to ask me for an explanation." I say. Melody: I sputter an embarrassed goodbye as I jog back to the elevator, crinkling as I did so. Linda: As the elevator closed, with a red faced bunny inside, I turned to Mrs. Spot. "Thank you again for taking care of my little one and all the other children here." "No problem. I love taking care of them. So, Ms. Cooper seems to be a nice person. If a bit on the shy side." "Oh yes. But that's probably because she was talked to like a toddler by my daughter." I say, feeling a small pang of guilt. "I can see how she could make this mistake. With them both being the same size… why, if Ms. Cooper were dressed in something more childish, I could see how she could easily be confused for a toddler, or even an infant, even by most adults!" I think back to earlier today in the ladies’ room, as well as to all the times I heard Melody crinkling when she moved. I then started to imagine what Melody would look like, dressed in just a shirt and diaper, and almost let out a coo at the thought, it being just too cute for words. Melody: I hop up to hit the button for the 27th floor again, and take the time to compose myself on the way up. The door opens and I step out, only to immediately bump into the leg of Amanda, as she leered down at me. "Get lost on your way back from lunch?" She asked in that sickly-sweet voice of hers. "S-sorry, Ms. Winter," I say, my ears drooping, "I got a little caught up with Mrs. Moon and her daughter." Amanda's eyes narrow at that. "Oh? Nice to see you finally taking the initiative and begin sucking up to the boss herself, but I would recommend learning to walk before trying to run." "H-huh?" I ask, bewildered. "I mean, you already have a boss immediately over you..." she trails off before turning with a swish of her white spotted tail and stalking off. Still confused, I make my way back to my cubicle, hop up into my chair, and log back onto my computer. Linda: I head back to my office and continue with work. But I'm a bit distracted as I think about what happened today. Especially at lunch. From the outside, it must have looked like a mother lion eating lunch with her two cubs. I remember how... cute... Ms. Cooper looked when she was so embarrassed sitting next to my Kira. Melody: Amanda walked by my cubicle a few more times, before she had to take a call. I wasted no time signing off and finishing up making sure my work space is cleaned, before I head to the elevator. I ride amongst several different people, some I've seen around that I make polite conversation with. I panic a little as I realize that I'm wet again, but I decide to tough it out and wait until I get back to my apartment before I change. Linda: After finally finishing my work, I prepare to leave. Signing off and making my way to the daycare to get my cub. I saw Ms. Cooper in the elevator among other employees, but we didn't get a chance to talk with each other. I left the elevator and entered the daycare, and again, a little fluffy lion jumps in my arms. "MOMMY!" "Hey there, Kitten. What are you doing? Waiting in a ready position to jump into my arms?" I ask with a chuckle. "Uhu!" Kira responds with a giggle. We thanked Mrs Spot once more, with me signing Kira out again for the day, and started for the elevator. Kira looked a bit upset and I asked what was wrong. "What's wrong, Sweetie Pie?" "Well, I didn't see my new friend Melody. I wanted to show her all the pictures I drew. I even made a picture for her!" She showed me a drawing of herself and Melody, both wearing pink dresses, standing on a green line with flowers and a smiling sun in the sky. It was really cute how attached she already got to her new friend, despite only meeting her for half an hour at lunch. "Could you give it to her when you see her? Please?" I smiled at my little princess and took the drawing from her paws, ruffling her head fur. "When I see her next time, I will let her know you miss her and show her the picture." We got to the parking garage and I got Kira all buckled up in her carseat in the back, before getting in myself. It didn’t take long for us to arrive at home and, after a quick change of my little girl's diaper, I prepared our dinner. We both hope that you enjoyed this first chapter! Please leave a review!

MEET THE GRAYSONS (An Episodic Novelization of the Ground-Breaking Animated Sitcom) Season 1 Episode 2- “Making the Baby is the Best Part.” Original Airdate, April 12th Bo Grayson ached. Not just his back, or his neck, or the joints in his legs, or even the digits in his forepaws; everything ached. Even his muzzled ached. Bo ached. “AAaaaaaahyeeee….” He let out a long half-groan, half-yawn, before sitting down at the breakfast table; the creaking of the chair echoing the creaking of his bones. Damn, he wasn’t even thirty yet. How was it that he felt so old? Across from the table sat Melinda, his loving bride. She was an elephant, he was a wolf, but in this crazy mixed up world you loved who you loved. Besides, in Bo’s mind, the correct response to the Jeopardy clue “A skinny girl can do this for you,” was “What is ‘Not a damn thing.’” Adorned in her flowing yellow dress and pearls, looking every bit the domestic goddess from a bygone era (save perhaps for her smartphone), Melinda sat at the breakfast table, looking at Bo expectantly. “Morning, dear.” A veritable mountain of food sat between them. “Eat up”. Scrambled eggs, muffins, bagels, hot buttered pancakes, and heaps of bacon (mmmmm…bacon….) covered the table, just as it had every day since they came back from their honeymoon. But the honeymoon was over, and Bo couldn’t afford anymore time off at the lumber mill. As was quickly becoming routine, he took a sip of coffee, crammed the bacon into his mouth, and rose up from his seat. “Thish looksh great, but I gotta run. Full day at da mill.” The butter on the pancakes hadn’t even melted, his coffee was still hot, and his seat was still cold. Such was life. “It’s Saturday…” Bo froze. Bits of bacon crumbled out of his mouth, dusting his work shirt with fried brown meat crumbs. “Shadurday?” He swallowed. “Saturday? That means I’m off.” Melinda didn’t even look up from her phone. “Mmmmmhmmmm….” The timber wolf knew what that tone meant. Gingerly he sat back down, making the old hand-me-down chair creak against his weight. “Huh…I finally have time to enjoy all this.” “Mmmmmhmmmm…..” “Neat.” Careful not to appear too ravenous as to not be appreciative, nor too slow as to seem picky, Bo filled up his plate. “Are there little diced onions in the scrambled eggs?” The young Mrs. Grayson put down her phone and daintily took a bite of her pancakes. “Yep.” “I love those!” “I know.” “And is that a plate of hash browns?” Melinda took another bite. “Yep.” “With melted cheese?” “Every day this week…” “Those are my favorite!” Melinda put down her fork and gazed oh so lovingly across the table at her husband. “Gee, Bo, it’s almost like I’M YOUR WIFE!” A tense silence engulfed the kitchen… “Heh…” “Heh-heh…” “Heee-heee-heee-heee!” And just as quickly it was broken as the two lovers laughed together. Maybe the honeymoon wasn’t quite over after all. Bo kept filling his plate up, unable to stop himself from sampling a bit of everything before he put the rest on his plate. “Good one, hon.” “Thanks, babe.” Melinda was back to her phone, obviously pleased with herself. Once again, Bo couldn’t help but marvel at the heaps and heaps of food. “Wow, this is a lot…!” That didn’t stop him from shoveling more eggs, pancakes, and cheesy hash browns into his muzzle. “How can we afford all this? Is this like…leftovers from the check my dad wrote us?” “Nope.” Melinda took another bite of pancake. “I learned how to coupon clip and shop in bulk.” “Cuz you’re an elephant?” Melinda Grayson rolled her eyes. “Yes dear, I’m frugal and good with money because I’m an elephant.” Bo swallowed and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “No, I mean all the-“ “I’m frugal and good with money…” Time for another swig of coffee. “Yup, frugal and good with money. That’s what I meant, all right.” Another forkful of syrup and butter soaked pancakes found its way to Bo’s mouth. “Even so, we can’t keep THIS kind of breakfast routine up. How many times have you made this stuff this week?” “Just one.” “One?” Bo’s wife was still looking at her phone. “Tupperware and heat lamps, babe. Tupperware and heat lamps. Our new fridge has gotten a heckuva workout.” Bo’s fork landed on the table with a clank of finality. Melinda didn’t take her eyes off of her phone. “What? Did you think I made the same spread every day this week?” “Um…yeah…” “And what do you think I did when you just dashed off to the mill every morning? Threw it all out?” “No…” “Then what?” “I…thought you ate it…?” If Bo’s reflexes had been just a little bit duller or the distance across the table just an inch or so shorter, he would have received a Grade-A concussion via an angry wife’s trunk. “Yipe!” Ears full back and only the chair preventing his tail from going straight between his legs, the timber wolf was bracing himself for a second attack when- “OH MY GOSH!” Melinda’s gaze was now dead set on the screen of her phone; her eyes wide with shock. Bo untensed. “What is it?” Slowly, he unclenched his eyes and shuffled around the table so that he could try and look over Melinda’s shoulder. His wife was just shaking her head in disbelief. “It’s…it’s my Uncle Kent.” Her voice was trembling. “The Colonel?” “Yes.” “The peanut oil baron of the South?” “That one….” “The obscenely rich relative with no direct heirs that you’ve managed to stay in good graces with since before we started dating?” “The same…!” “The one that has been in such poor health these last few years that he didn’t even make it to our wedding?” “YES!” Bo saw the tears in his wife’s eyes, and wagged his tail a little bit. “Is he dead?” Melinda hung her head. “Worse. He’s made a full recovery, and he’s coming to visit. TODAY!” The wolf’s ears shot up in surprise. “THAT’S….THAT’S….that’s not so bad, actually.” He looked around. “I mean, the house could use a little sprucing up, I guess, but it’s not that bad, if we’re looking to entertain.” “NOOOOO-O-O-O.” Melinda was on the verge of sobbing. Her trunk was already moving for the nearest case of tissues. The giant flaps of her ears were already trying to hide her face. “THIS IS TERR-I-BLE.” Bo tried to comfort his wife, leaning into her and nuzzling her shoulder. “No honey, it’ll be fine. We’ll go to the grocery store, splurge on a couple of steaks…or maybe a recipe that involves peanut oil…rich people like it when you use their product ri-?” “HE’S EXPECTING A BABY!” Another sudden silence filled the air. Bo could only blink, dumbfounded, as Melinda blew her nose with a resounding HONK. “A what now?” Melinda brushed her tears away and sniffed, regaining some of her composure. “A baby. I told him I was having a baby, and that I was naming it after him. It was one of the ways I was able to keep on his good side.” Confused, Bo cocked his head a bit. “Wait…we’re not, are we…? “No!” A gray elbow almost knocked the wind out of Bo. “And starting now wouldn’t help anything! Elephant pregnancies take two years!” “Two years?” Bo frowned. “How long ago did you tell him this little fib?” “Three years ago…” “Three…three…?” The timber wolf was so surprised that his ears were almost touching the back of his neck. “Three years ago?! But we’ve only been in a relationship for two years, AND WE JUST GOT MARRIED!” A fresh wave of tears poured down Melinda’s face, trickling down to the edge of her trunk. “IT WAS BEFORE I MET YOU! I WAS HOPING HE’D HAVE KICKED THE BUCKET BY NOWOW-OW-OW!” “But now he’s planning to show up today-?” “And he’s expecting a one year old ‘Lil’ Kent…!’” Incredibly, an entire box’s worth of tissues lay used on the floor beneath Melinda’s feet. “We’re gonna get cut out of the WI-I-I-IIILL!” A rough, determined growl rumbled up from Bo’s throat. “No, we’re not.” He smacked his fist into his open palm. “We’ve got this.” Melinda was already opening up a fresh box of tissues. “We do?” “We’ll wine him and dine him and make sure he has such a good visit, he won’t even think about asking about a ‘Lil’ Kent’.” Melinda didn’t say anything to that. “How long is he staying?” Floppy, leathery ears brushed away the last of the tears. “Just for the night.” Bo smiled. “Great! We just gotta keep this act up for one night, and keep him occupied till we put him back on the plane.” There was hope in her eyes. “Do you think we could maybe start working on a Lil’ Kent after? Just in case he wants to visit again in a couple of years?” Bo’s snout crinkled up involuntarily. “Yeah…but then we’d have a baby to take care of, and the Colonel might leave us a fortune before then. So there’d be all that work for nothing…” He saw the look of hope and disappointment in his wife’s eyes. “I mean…one thing at a time, honey. First let’s get through tonight, and then we can talk about making a baby.” “Okay…” “First thing’s first. I bet I can find a good recipe for peanut chicken. It’ll probably be cheaper than steak, anyways. What time is he due to arrive?” Melinda looked at her phone. “The email said seven o’clock.” “That gives us plenty of time! To the grocery store!” And just like that, Melinda was her old self again. “To the grocery store!” ****************************************************************************** As usual, the air was uncomfortably chilly at the WALRUS-MART. The constant thrumming of massive fans and air conditioners nearly drowned out the ever-buzzing announcements over the loudspeakers. “Ink Spill In Aisle 8: Cephalopod Needs and Stationery. Ink Spill In Aisle 8.” Bo’s head was on a swivel, his eyes darting from place to place, his nose constantly sniffing, trying to find a trail. “I hate this place. I can never figure out how the layout works. Like, they’ve got Skunk and Polecat Hygiene right next to the Koala Products. It makes no sense!” He sniffed again. “And all the free samples they keep giving out are driving me crazy!” “I know, I know.” Melinda gave her hubby a pat on the head. “But if we’re going to cook a meal fit for the Colonel we’ve got to-.” “Buy in bulk.” Bo rolled his eyes. “I just don’t see why we can’t buy in bulk at Winn-Dixie.” Now it was Melinda’s turn to scoff and roll her eyes. “You talk about things smelling weird to you and then you want to go to Winn-Dixie? The entire store smells like the seafood aisle!” “Yeah, but Winn-Dixie is special to me. That’s where we met, remember? We met-“ “Because of Winn-Dixie; I know I know.” The pair kept walking, looking for the right ingredients. “But we’re here now and there’s a greater selection available, plus I have more coupons.” She started scanning the aisles, reading each aloud. “Let’s see. Aisle 219 -Vegan substitutes for meat- nope. Aisle 220 -Carnivorous substitutes for vegetables- nuh-uh. Aisle 221- greeting cards, birth through burial- not unless there’s a “Sorry I’ve Lied To You For Years card. Aisle 222- Baby supplies; sizes Kangaroo through Killer Whale. Aisle 223, Décor and hooooold on.” Already several steps ahead of his wife, Bo had to back up to Aisle 222 where Melinda had firmly planted her feet and was now gazing down it as though she were at the gates of Heaven itself. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?” “It’s here.” Melinda’s pupils were shrunken, a dumb, almost awestruck smile spread across her face. “The answer to all our problems. It’s here.” Bo snorted a bit and let out a huff from his nostrils. “I don’t think the Colonel will appreciate chicken with a baby food peanut glaze, Melinda.” “No Bo, you don’t understand.” Melinda’s tone was almost dreamy as she pulled her husband closer to her, as some minor change in positioning would change his perspective. “We don’t have to admit that there’s no baby. We can make one.” “But you said elephant pregnancies last 2 years. Even if we split the difference of a timber wolf pregnancy lasting 9 weeks, it’d still take-“ Melinda put her hand over Bo’s snout and squeezed it closed to keep him from talking. “I didn’t say anything about getting pregnant. I said we could make a baby.” She gave her husband a look he’d become all too familiar with. The timber wolf swatted away his wife’s hand. “What do you mea-?” He stopped as the lightbulb over her head fizzled and exploded above his. “Oooooh no. No, no, no. We are not doing that! There is no way that we’re gonna do that. Absolutely no way!” ************************************************************************************ “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Bo was beside himself with indignation in the living room as Melinda finished the last touches of the disguise she’d made. Unfortunately, it was hard to look intimidating wearing a diaper. Bo could only pout and cross his blue mitten encased hands over his baby-bibbed chest while Melinda adjusted the matching bonnet over the fake ears and trunk she’d whipped up. He glanced down at his feet, paws cleverly concealed in matching blue baby booties, and wiggled his toes to make sure they were still there. Beside him, was a package of Calfies- the baby diaper sized specifically for bovines and pachyderms- ripped open with the next diaper poking out. It was all Bo could do to not kick the darn thing across the floor. Melinda finished fastening the disguise and favored him with a chaste smooch on the cheek. “Just be glad your fur is the right color. Do you know how much dye it would take, otherwise?” Trying to soothe himself and bring down the blush in his cheeks, the young wolf grabbed the pacifier dangling from around his neck and put it in his mouth. “So, explain the plan to me again.” “When the Colonel comes, you’ll be wearing this. You’ll just hop in bed, and pretend to be asleep. Colonel Kent will peak in, go ‘D’aaaaaw, isn’t he cute?’, and then I’ll have dinner with him, send him on his way, and then this whole thing will be over.” Melinda punctuated her idea by giving her husband a light swat on the butt. Wincing, Bo started looking for a way out. “Won’t he be wondering where your husband is?” A dry, almost knowing chuckle came from Melinda as she stepped back and looked Bo up and down. “Naw. The Colonel is old school. Even married men don’t have much to do with child rearing. As far as he knows you’re a lumberjack who wires money every few weeks. ” “I work at a mill!” “He doesn’t know that! We’ll be lucky if he remembers you work with wood at all! Now, all you have to do is pretend to be asleep…or just be asleep for real.” She shrugged. “At seven?” Bo was incredulous; he fancied himself the man of the house. All of Bo’s attempts at protest were waved off. “Seven is a perfectly reasonable bedtime for a baby. And it’ll keep you out of the way so you don’t have to talk. Can’t get caught in a lie if you don’t talk.” “But you’re the one who’s lying.” She nodded. “That’s right, so let me do the talking.” “Ugh…this is so ridiculous. He’s not gonna fall for this.” Furry shoulders slumped a bit in worry and exasperation. This was such a bad plan! Melinda had her hands on her hips. “And why not?” Why couldn’t she see the flaws in this? “Our house isn’t even set up for a baby. Shouldn’t I be sleeping in a crib or something?” “You think we have the money for a crib? I’ll just say we co-sleep. It’s a perfectly hip and trendy modern Mommy thing.” Her foot was tapping. She was getting impatient, for some reason. “Won’t he notice the complete lack of baby furniture?” Bo gestured around the room as if proving a point. “Like what?” “High chair?” “I feed you in my lap.” Melinda cocked her head to the side, almost daring Bo to continue. He obliged. “Playpen?” “The whole living room is your playpen. It’s not like we have anything valuable for you to break.” “Changing table?” “Who needs one of those? I can change you anywhere there’s a flat and clean surface.” Something in Melinda’s tone clicked for Bo. “Would you stop talking about me as if I’m an actual pup?! Err…calf? Err…baby?!” “Oh, you know what I mean.” She leaned over and looked at Bo’s backside, noticing the particularly canine appendage poking out the back of the diaper. “Hmmm…your tail is awfully fluffy. What can we do about-?” “Why do I have to wear this, anyways? Like, I get the head gear, but if I’m just going to be pretending to sleep, can’t I just hide under the covers au natural?” Bo normally didn’t mind his wife thoughtfully staring at his backside, but this was decidedly a major exception. Melinda didn’t seem to take notice of her husband’s rising blush, or the building anxiety in his voice. “Because then the Colonel would know you weren’t wearing a diaper.” “How?” “He wouldn’t hear the crinkle. One move, and it’d be all over.” Bo’s ears flattened as he frowned. “The Colonel would be able to hear me crinkle? From across our bedroom? With me laying down? Pretending to sleep? HOW?” Melinda pointed to her ears. “HELLO?!” “Point taken.” Instant emotional deflation, punctuated by a sigh. “You could have at least let me put the diaper on myself…” “Then it wouldn’t fit right, silly. You’d leak.” “LEAK?!” Melinda chuckled. “I’m kidding…I’m kidding.” Her husband was not amused. He let the pacifier drop out of his mouth and dangle on the little ribbon around his neck. “Why are you making me put this getup on now, anyhow? It’s not even 4 o’clock yet.” “I just wanted to make sure everything fits juuuuust right. It’s like a dress rehearsal before the main perfor-“ THUNK THUNK THUNK! Both heads whipped around in shock as the door took another pounding. “MELINDA! MELINDA DARLIN’! OPEN, I SAY, OPEN UP! THIS IS, I SAY, THIS IS YOUR UNCLE KENT!” Melinda peeked through the gap in the curtains and saw a bushy-browed old elephant, the white on his eyebrows almost perfectly matching the color of his all white suit; his eyes squinting behind a rounded pair of almost too small spectacles. She let out a gasp. “It’s the Colonel!” Her voice was a low whisper. “The Colonel? You said he’s not supposed to be here until seven!” “ I know….!” THUNK THUNK THUNK! “MELINDA, I SAY, MELLY! I KNOW YOUR MAMA DIDN’T RAISE YOU TO BE A POOR HOSTESS! I SAID, I SAY, I SAID THAT I’D BE HERE BY SEVEN AND MY OL’ POCKET WATCH SAYS IT IS SEVEN ON THE DOT!” The last three words were punctuated with a brisk but thunderous tapping on the door. With a whoosh, Melinda closed the curtains completely shut. “His pocket watch!” “What about it?” Bo was so confused. “The Colonel lives on the East Coast.” “So?” “He doesn’t understand time zones!” “HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND TIME ZO-?” The pacifier was popped back into Bo’s mouth before his whiny yelp of a question could even be finished. Holding the rubber bulb in place with her trunk, Melinda held up a finger to her lips. Her voice was now a tense hiss of a whisper. “Will you be quiet?” “NOW, I KNOW, I SAY I KNOW I HEARD SOMETHIN’!” His fingers restricted by big baby blue mittens, Bo started pawing at the front of the diaper. Alas, he couldn’t so much as grip the tapes. Melinda glanced down at her husband’s waist. “What are you doing?” “I takin off da diafer.” Another round of pounding on the doors punctuated Melinda’s confused look. Bo let the pacifier drop. “I’m taking off the diaper. We need a new plan.” Again, the pacifier was shoved back into the wolf’s mouth. “We do not need a new plan. This is a good plan. We’re sticking to it.” Melinda stared, unblinkingly, into her husband’s eyes. Bo whined a little, but looked away. Tail between his legs, he started waddling towards their bedroom. He hadn’t realized just how hard it would be to walk in one of these things. “I DIDN’T, I SAY, I DIDN’T WANT TO DO THIS, MELLY. BUT IF YOU DON’T, I SAY IF YOU DON’T LET ME IN BY THE TIME I COUNT TO THREE, I’M A CUTTIN’ YOU OUT OF THE WILL!” A hand yanked Bo backwards by the arm, and whirled him back around. “Where do you think you’re going?” “To the bedroom. I’m supposed to be sleeping, remember?” “ONE!” “You can’t be in bed! It’s only four! That’s way too early, even for a one-year-old!” “He thinks it’s seven!” “TWO!” Melinda’s eyes narrowed. “Just because Colonel Kent doesn’t understand time zones, doesn’t mean we don’t!” “Then where am I supposed to be? This wasn’t the plan!” “THR-!“ The door opened to Colonel Kent just then. Waiting on the other side of the threshold was, of course his darling niece, Melinda. Riding on her hip, legs wrapped almost all the way around her waist, was a rather bashful and embarrassed looking baby ‘elephant’, sucking on his pacifier. The Colonel stepped in. “Well, well, well, now that’s more like it!” He and Melinda entwined trunks in greeting. “Melinda, darlin’ how are, I say, how are you?” “I’m fine. Sorry about the wait. I was just getting the baby up from his nap. ” Melinda was all big toothy, nervous smiles, her eyes looking nervously to her so-called-baby. Bo was all reproachful stares and resentment. “How are you, Uncle Kent?” “Oh, ‘Uncle Kent’, is so formal, Melly. Please, call me ‘Colonel’!” The older elephant laughed at his own joke. “Besides, you don’t, I say you don’t want the baby to get confused about who you’re talkin’ to, do ya?” He laid eyes on Bo and adjusted his glasses. “Speakin’ of which…” Bo felt a kind of panic rising in his chest. “This must be ‘lil Kent!” Bo felt a sigh of relief as his wife exhaled. Pacifier still in his mouth, he smiled as The Colonel reached over and jostled the fake ear flap tied to Bo’s baby bonnet. “Oh he’s such a big boy! Yes he is! Yes he is!” The hat started to wiggle uncomfortably, and without thinking, the wolf swatted away his in-law’s hand. Melinda’s trunk smacked Bo’s thigh just hard enough to make him wince. “Lil’ Kent! Bad baby! No hit the Colonel! You know better!” He started to growl, but a warning look from his ‘Mommy’ made him think better of it. The Colonel just chuckled. “Oh it’s all, I say, it’s all right, Melinda m’dear. Just means the boy’s a fighter. Ain’t ya, Lil’ Kent?” A big gray hand reached out to pinch “Lil’ Kent’s” cheeks; this time he did not flinch or swat at it. “You gonna join the army when you grow up? You gonna be a fighter just like your ol’ Uncle? You gonna join the army? You gonna be a ‘Lil Colonel’ too?” It was all Bo could do to grit his teeth as his check was flapped around. “A WUJIE-WUJIE! A WUJIE-WUJIE-WOO!” Mercifully, Melinda broke the Colonel’s death grip on Bo’s cheek and stepped back. “Uncle Ken-!” “COLONEL! We don’t want to be confusin’ the boy!” “You do realize that you’re only a Colonel in Kentucky, right?“ “Only, I say, only because there weren’t any good wars to fight when I was of age. But I am a fighter, have no doubt about that, dear Melly.” “Whatever you say, Colonel.” Melinda gestured for him to step further into the house. “Now please, come on in and close the door. You’re letting the air conditioning out.” From behind his trunk, the Colonel wriggled his big bushy mustache. “Ah, but I brought a surprise for you, Melinda, dear. Or rather, I say, or rather a surprise for Lil’ Kent.” He turned his head back around towards the outside. “BRING IT ALL ON IN, BOYS!” Past the Colonel, clad in navy blue jumpsuits, was a seemingly endless parade of horses, donkeys, and mules. But the pack animals did not come alone, no. In ones, twos, and threes, they were hoisting and carrying baby furniture; baby furniture which was obviously intended for a rather large baby. “Uncle Kent…Colonel…what is all this?” Boxes of toys, a tricycle, and a highchair all made their way past the trio. A couple of jackasses were busy setting up the rigging for an oversized bouncer in the living room, their blinders keeping them heedless to the comings and goings of their peers. Bo cocked his head as his eyes tracked some kind of fancy looking close-lidded trash can. Unable to speak, lest he give the game away, he could only point a mitten encased hand at the hefty plastic cylinder being carted by with the words ‘In case of accident’ stenciled on the side. The hefty shelf with the padded top that followed was a clue…but the boxes and boxes of diapers being carted in on a dolly was the real clincher. A changing table…a diaper pail…and diapers…all of them big enough to service Bo. They weren’t going into he and Melinda’s room either, but the spare “Guest Room” that the newlyweds hadn’t had time to decorate yet. It was being decorated now, that’s for sure. The Colonel must have taken Bo’s shock for a giddy delight. He smiled and gave Bo another rough cheek-flapping pinch before looking to Melinda. “Well I couldn’t, I say, I couldn’t help but notice in all of the pictures you posted on the interwebs of your new home, that you were in short supply…baby supplies, that is. So I decided to help out and bring all of your old baby furniture in. I sprung for a fresh coat of blue paint, and a couple of boxes of Calfies of course. There’s frugal and bein’ good with money, and then there’s bein’ cheap.” Both of them noticed the bars of an elephantine sized crib pass by. Melinda tried to stop things from going too far, as if she wasn’t already too late. “Oh, that’s really not necessary. Bo- I mean Lil’ Kent and I co-sleep. It’s the newest trend.” By the time Melinda finished talking, the old pachyderm had already turned his back to newlywed Graysons and was continuing to direct his impromptu work crew. “No, not that room, fellas, the baby’s room. The baby’s room!” He turned to face them again. “Melly, my dear niece. There’s ‘frugal’, and then there’s livin’ poor! I don’t want you losin’ sleep on account of you frettin’ about rollin’ over and squashin’ poor Lil’ Kent. A boy his age needs a crib to sleep in, anyways. He’s not a newborn.” He turned his back again. “Besides, I’m sure by now he’s leaked on you more than once. It might be nice for you to wake up in a dry bed.” “LEAKED?!” The pacifier was in the young pup’s…err….wolf’s mouth before the ribbon even went taught. Melinda’s hand clamped tightly over his muzzle, eliciting a whine. Colonel Kent spun around. “Em, What was that?” Hand still clamping over Bo’s mouth, Melinda gave her uncle a nervous chuckle. “I said that ‘Lil’ Kent has never leaked on me once in his life.” Bo smiled a bit with his eyes. “His diapers are far too absorbent.” So much for that smile. Colonel Kent seemed to wave off her concerns as the last of the supplies was unloaded, and the uninvited movers headed out as quickly and silently as they had arrived. “Whelp, time for supper.” He clapped his hands together and rubbed them eagerly. “Where the, I say, where’s the viddles?” “It’s only four. You didn’t adjust that old pocket watch for time zones.” The younger elephant paused. “Again.” Uncle Kent reached into his white jacket pocket and took out the expensive looking antique watch on a golden chain. “I didn’t?” He looked at the time on the watch. Then the time on kitchen stove. Then he dug into his jacket pocket and took out a smartphone and compared those. “Well, I say, well whaddya know? I guess I didn’t.” He slapped his knee and let out a big belly laugh, thinking the massive inconvenience he’d just caused was marvelously funny. The young couple could only stare, not quite sure how to react. “Yeah…that’s a hoot all right.” “Yes it is!” The older elephant’s thunderous laughter finally died down, and he even wiped a tear from his eye. “That also, I say, that also explains why I haven’t met the third member of your family.” “Third member?” “The boy’s father.” The couple’s uninvited house guest motioned over to the bedroom- Bo and Melinda’s bedroom, not the nursery he’d just created. He readjusted his spectacles and squinted hard at ‘Lil Kent.’ “Where’s the boy’s daddy, speaking of co-sleeping?” He leaned, looking at Bo, but addressing Melinda. “The uh…whittler right? Woodcarver? Not home from whittling, yet? What is he, a beaver or somethin’?” He scanned Bo’s babied body up and down. “Don’t see much beaver in you, though.” Bo received a heavy pat on his bonneted, fake-elephant-eared head. “No, he’s aaaallll elephant.” Bo stifled a growl and continued sucking on his paci to keep quiet, nevertheless doing his best to dig his claws into Melinda’s shoulder. He was not happy. It was bad enough going through all this classist, speciesist nonsense before the wedding with Melinda’s (oddly non-accented) parents, but now he couldn’t even speak up for himself. (And if he did, he’d still be wearing a diaper and riding on his wife’s hip.) “He’s a lumberjack, and he’s off in Canada at the moment.” It seemed his mittens were extra padded on the inside so that this claws could not penetrate; almost as if Melinda has planned on saying something that would irk her husband. “Every week he wires me…us…Lil’ Kent and I, some money.” Once again, Uncle Kent turned his back, slowly meandering towards the kitchen. “Well who needs, I say, who needs a lumberjack when you have rich elderly relatives?” Melinda stood up a little straighter and adjusted Bo on her hip. “Bo is a very devoted husband and he would do anything for me. Anything.” The two shared a look and nuzzled each other’s forehead. “Well, as long as he’s not some predator, like a wolf or somethin’. Almost as bad as those lions; damn moonies.” “UNCLE KENT!” Melinda was so shocked, she dropped Bo, his padded posterior cushioning the landing, but not his pride. Anger rising, but pacifier still in his mouth, he took to all fours, getting ready to pounce. It was only his wife’s hand on his back that made him remember that he was at home with another idiot in-law and not about to get into a bar fight. “I WILL NOT HAVE THAT KIND OF…THAT KIND OF BIGOTRY IN MY HOUSE!” Quickly, Bo backed off his haunches and put his knees to the floor, so that he was crawling. His wife had this. The Colonel was genuinely taken aback, looking hurt as he turned back around. “Well, I say, well gosh, Melinda. I was only makin’ a little off-color humor. Nothin’ you haven’t heard before, and nothin’ your precious bundle can understand!” Melinda put her foot down, literally, and the floor trembled with her fury. “Lil’ Kent can understand far more than you realize, and I will not tolerate anything remotely resembling that kind of talk around my baby!” She softened a bit and shot a look down at Bo. “One of the most wonderful people in the world I know happens to be a wolf.” Melinda’s uncle paused and seemed to take this all in. “Y’know, I say, y’know what? I’m far too old to be making new enemies out of good family. And you’re right, I’m far too cultured and refined to keep talkin’ the same nonsense that my grandpappy did. I’m sorry Melinda.” Then, without prompting, he bent over and looked Bo in the eye. “I’m sorry for that too, Lil’ Kent. Will you ever forgive me?” Both of the Grayson’s expressions softened. Bo had to resist the urge to pant. Melinda glanced back at the Colonel. “Uncle Kent…Colonel…of course we-“ “THEN LET’S GET ON WITH THE GRUB! IT’S STILL SUPPER TIME SOMEWHERE!” Husband and wife shared knowing, worried looks, before Melinda walked over to the kitchen. “I’ll cook.” (After These Messages….) (…We’ll Be Right Back!) “And I’ll play with Lil’ Kent!” Bo found himself quickly scooped up, held by the armpits by an absolutely ecstatic looking Uncle Kent. Even though his bootied feet were dangling only a few inches off the ground, it didn’t make him feel any less helpless. “Are you, I say, are you ready to play with the Colonel? Are you?! I bet you are! I bet you are!” “You two play nice while I’m cooking dinner!” The sentiment had an edge of menace behind it. Little did Uncle Kent seem to realize that that warning likely applied to both of them. “We’ll all be having peanut chicken for dinner.” With Bo still dangling helplessly from his underarms, Uncle Kent turned to the kitchen. “Sounds, I say, sounds delicious.” A trunk twitched and a bushy mustache wrinkled. “Uh, Melinda dear. Just curious. Would you mind checkin’ Lil Kent’s, d-i-a-p-e-r. I think he might need a new one.” If the young wolf could have crossed his arms, he would have. How dare this old fart say he smelled bad, never mind the implication of what, precisely, he smelled like! He settled for a pouted lip and a muted ‘harumph’ through his nose. That wouldn’t break character that much. Quite the opposite in fact, since the stubby little fake elephant nose took that air and channeled it out as an adorable little ‘toot’. “D’awwwww…he tooted, I say, he tooted at me! And somewhere else, if you catch my meanin’.” As though this were ever the most natural conversation in the world, Melinda didn’t even miss a beat. “It’s fine.” Already the scent of peanut oil frying in pan was filling the room. “I had just changed him before you came. His diaper should be fine until after dinner.” The Colonel took a few mammoth steps, and Bo found himself seated on the couch. Not directly on the couch, of course, his bottom crinkling on the Colonel’s knee. “Now what shall,I say, what shall we play?” The old man stroked his chin for a moment. “How about, ‘Peek-a-toot’?” Without further preamble, two enormous ears obscured the elephant’s face. “PEEKA.” And then nothing…. Despite himself, Bo waited. And waited. And waited. Had the old guy fallen asleep? Slowly, he reached his paw up to tap the Colonel on the forehead. He was almost being killed by the antici-…. “TOOT!” -PATION! Bo fell back off the couch in shock, almost braining himself on the new coffee table. That had been a wedding present, too! Afraid to yip, bark, growl, or anything that might give away his lupinity, could only grit down on his pacifier and exhale through his nose again. A comically loud honk, more like a toot, actually, erupted from the thing strapped to Bo’s nose. He looked down his muzzle in horror at the monstrosity strapped to his schnoz. It sounded a little like those cheap noisemakers at kids parties. Come to think of it, it kind of looked like it too when he huffed and puffed through his schnoz. Is this how other…errr…real baby elephants sounded like at first? It didn’t sound anything like the noises Melinda made when she was especially angry (or when they were in bed). Yet, it had to be! Otherwise, why would this old fool be falling for it? Then again, in the back of his mind, Bo was more than a little sure that baby elephants were at least not as tall as him, and yet that didn’t reassure him. Maybe dementia had set in and the old fart was really close to kicking the bucket. That would make this whole humiliating experience worth it. Just get through tonight… “Ha-ha-ha! Kid’s a natural!” Bo was dragged back onto his crazy in-law’s lap. “Let’s I say, let’s do it again!” “Peeka!” “Toot!” “Peeka.” “Toot.” “Peeka…” “toot.” “Peeka…” “toot…” “Peeka…” “Too…” On and on it went. Far too long, by Bo’s reckoning. Pretending that his false trunk was a house made of straw (just like Mama Grayson told him when he was learning to use a tissue) might have been amusing at first, but each iteration was becoming more and more tedious. Eventually, even the Colonel took the hint. “Maybe you’re a little too old for that, hmmm.” Bo only nodded. He figured that showing a little understanding wouldn’t break character. “Um, Melinda dear.” “Whaaaaat?” “At what age, I say, at what age to children normally gain object permanence?” “Cooking over here! Kinda busy!” “It’s just a-” “Colonel…do you want food or not?” ‘Lil’ Kent’ still in his lap, the Colonel slumped a bit and frowned. It did Bo some good to know that at least Melinda had that effect on other people besides him. Suddenly, a light shone in the codger’s eyes. “Oh, what about “Got yer nose?’” A hand reached forward for the stunted little ‘trunk’ on the end of Bo’s nose. Oh no! The ears were iffy at best, but there was no way that this cheap-o imitation trunk would hold up to such scrutiny! “AAAAAAAAH!” Bo didn’t so much fall as much as he leapt off the couch, tumbling and rolling against a box of toys. “Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow….!” The blocks in the giant toy chest, stuffed to the point of overflowing, spilled over the rim and toppled onto the diaper clad wolf’s head. Plenty of heavier and harder things had landed on top of Bo Grayson’s head before this, but the sheer absurdity and degradation of the day’s events caused him to tear up slightly nonetheless. The shadow of an overbearing and demented old man loomed over his son-in-law. “D’awwww, did you hear that, Melly. I think, I say, I think Lil’ Kent just said his first word!” “‘Ow’ isn’t a word, Colonel.” The sound of a meat hammer pounding away and a blender whirring to life punctuated Melinda’s remark. “And dinner’s ready!” The Colonel forgot all about ‘Lil’ Kent’ and stampeded (was it even possible for a single elephant to stampede?) over to the dinner table. Bo gathered his feet up underneath him and moved to stand, but a warning look from Melinda made him think twice. Doing his best not to whine, he still threw his wife a mournful look. Come on! He was supposed to be one! Couldn’t one year olds walk?! Based on the rhythm of her tapping foot, Bo could tell that the answer- for him at least- was a resounding ‘No.’ So, reluctantly, the young wolf made do and started to crawl on all fours to the kitchen. Crinkle-Crinkle-Crinkle. Bo stopped. He looked behind him, staring at his padded rump. Now that he was moving, he really could hear the sound that his diaper (the diaper…the diaper…it didn’t belong to him) made, crinkling with every shimmy along the living room carpet that he made. A body didn’t need elephant ears to hear that! When he turned his head back around, Melinda had changed her posture and facade from an annoyed housewife tapping her foot to a doting mother, hands on her knees beckoning her little one forward. “Come on, Lil’ Kent. Come on. Come to Mommy!” Her tone was saccharine sweet, as was her face, but there was something in her eyes that didn’t match. She was enjoying this, and in more ways than one. Bo blushed. Honestly, hearing his wife talk like that was kind of hot. “You’re never going to get to grow up and be a big boy if you don’t eat your dinner…” Bo blinked. The meaning was clear: The sooner this dinner thing was done and over with, the sooner he’d get back to being an adult. As fast as his mittened hands and bare knees could propel him, Bo Grayson crinkle crawled all the way to the kitchen. Naturally, when he got there, the Colonel was already seated at the table…in Bo’s chair no less. “Isn’t one, I say, isn’t one old enough to be walking yet?” From ‘Lil’ Kent’s’ spot on the kitchen floor, a silent I-told-you-so look was shot up to Melinda, which she promptly ignored. For the third or fourth time that day (Bo had lost count) he found himself picked up off the ground and manhandled by an elephant. “Bo’s-I mean ‘Lil Kent is a bit of a late bloomer.” She deposited him into the waiting highchair, positioned neatly between the two ‘grown-ups’. “And I’ll have you know that he was walking a little bit just before you arrived. More of a waddle, really, but it’s a start. I just think he likes crawling better.” As the tray of the titanium reinforced plastic shelled chair was slid into place, locking him in, Bo gave his legs a bit of an experimental squeeze. His knees couldn’t even touch! He let out a surprised gasp. “Mmm-mmm-mmm. Sounds like, I say, it sounds like Lil’ Kent is almost as hungry as I am.” The Colonel wasn’t wrong. Even with his actual nose covered with a half-assed prosthetic, Bo could smell the chicken, and if it was one thing that this morning had reminded him of it was that his wife was a phenomenal cook. Melinda set down an entire rotiserrie’s worth of chicken in front of her uncle. Bo’s eyes widened, and the pacifier dropped from his mouth. A second plate, holding half a chicken was placed at Melinda’s seat. Bo was starting to drool, the sound of his light panting was only being masked by the crinkle coming from this diaper as he unconsciously wagged his tail. They’d gotten two chickens! That meant that the other half was for him! When the meal came, sound from his mouth stopped. All crinkling caused by his tail starting to wag stopped. All sound, save for the thoughtless clinkling and scraping of metal as Colonel Kent started to devour his own meal, died out. Bo did not have a chicken placed in front of him. Instead, a steaming, almost burbling mess of beige mush was placed on his tray, a plastic throw away spoon sticking straight out of the morass. “Mmmm…Lil’ Kent’s favorite. Chicken! Baby looooves his chicken.” Melinda’s eyes gestured over to the counter where she had been cooking. He looked over to the counter. By the sink he saw the blender, still dripping with mush and residue from just minutes ago. She hadn’t…! He looked back to her, now with a spoon all but dripping with pureed meat dangling in front of him. “Heeeere coooomes the chicken choo-choo train! Chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga!” She had! “Eat up, Lil’ Kent. It’ll make, I say, It’ll make ya big an’ strong!” The so-called ‘Lil’ Kent’ was not encouraged. His mouth dried up and his jaw clamped down. He shook his head rapidly, as if trying to dodge the oncoming spoon. Still, it chugga-chugga-chugged along on it’s invisible path through the air. No! No, no, no! Not going to happen. A piece of yellow cloth fell across Bo’s chest. Momentarily, he stopped and looked down at the alien garment. The words ‘Mommy’s Messy Boy’ were stitched across it. Suddenly, the front of cloth jumped up to his neckline, and with two ends being pulled back tight. “GAAAAAAACK!” He was being choked! He was being garrotted! It was a mafia style execution, just like in the movies! Gasping for air, Bo gripped the edges of the highchair, and opened his mouth wide. WOOOMPH! Not-quite-liquid chicken was spooned into his waiting jaws, spreading out over his tongue. ‘Mommy’ Melinda withdrew the spoon and smiled as the offending terry cloth slackened, now firmly tied around his neck. “Awww, thank you Colonel. I knew I forgot something. His bib!” A knowing look passed between the two. “Wouldn’t want Lil’ Kent to get food all over himself.” Bo grimaced and swallowed. The plastic spoon was back in the meaty mush and was chugga-chugga-chugging back to his mouth before the young wolf had even to finish muscling down the first spoonful. At least the Colonel had returned back to his seat at the table, though some territorial part of Bo couldn’t help but cast resentful looks at the old pachyderm. That was his chair! Wordlessly, Bo opened his mouth for a second time, and allowed the chicken to be spooned in again. Again, he swallowed and grimaced. What was wrong with this stuff? Bo normally liked chicken, but there was something off about this batch, and it wasn’t the peanut oil, either. Maybe it was because his nose was covered. Food always tasted funny when his nose was stuffed, and the faux trunk protruding out made his nose feel like he had a bizarre kind of cold. Perhaps it was the texture. Being an adult wolf with a full set of teeth, Bo typically liked chewing and tearing his food with his teeth. He didn’t even like pudding for that very reason. Who liked food that they couldn’t chew? None of this pondering or navel gazing stopped the continuous refilling and chugga-chugga-chugging of the liquid chicken train constantly motoring towards his waiting mouth. He would open, get spoonfed, swallow hard as he tried not to gag, and just as he was about ready to come up for air, he’d be confronted by another spoonful. Scam or not, Bo could tell that his wife was enjoying this a little bit. Melinda was going juuuuuust fast enough to make it so that he was constantly eating- always swallowing but never chewing- and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Just as the last spoonful was being scraped along the bowl, Melinda went to the refrigerator and produced another implement of gastronomical torture. “Can’t forget your ba-ba. Baby looooves his ba-ba…” A tiny high pitched puppy-whine rose up in Bo’s throat, as he glanced over at the Colonel, who was only now gingerly wiping his lips. WOOOMPH! Thuck-thuck-thuck-thuck… Glug-glug-glug-glug. It had been all the opening that Melinda had needed to stuff the bottle between Bo’s lips, and obediently the not-so-little baby nursed from it, even being so good as to hold it between his mittened forepaws without needing direction. The milk certainly tasted better than the meal; at the very least this was something that was meant to be liquid. Yet, something still tasted off about the milk. Bo could only assume that it was the aftertaste from the chicken pudding. Dutifully, the cubbified wolf drank down the milk as quickly and as cleanly as he could, afraid to even spill a drop. He could practically feel his belly expanding with each gulp. “Blech.” A gasp came out when he slammed the bottle down on his tray. It was the closest he’d been to drowning since that one time at summer camp, back when he was an actual pup. Melinda still didn’t let up. The tray slid out of place, and Bo found himself back in his ‘Mommy’s’ arms, his legs wrapping around her waist and his body leaning forward over her right shoulder; her right hand supporting his bottom as the left one started patting him roughly on the back. Bo didn’t have to wait long. “URP!” “Good baby!” She gave his diapered rump a playful little squeeze and a pat before resuming the burping. Really? Now she was feeling flirty? “URP!” Another squeeze and pat, and more cooing followed. “Such a good boy! Now one more.” Bo took a deep breath, so that he might whisper something into his wife’s ear. What came out instead was “UUUUUUUUUUUURP! Ugh…” He went limp, almost ragdolling with that last belch. It felt good to get out, but it also felt like a little bit of his dignity was going with it. “GOOD BABY!” Far too soon, Bo was placed back in his highchair, the tray clicked in place, so that Melinda could eat her own dinner. By the time that the entire vile meal had been finished, Bo had been beginning to feel overfull, uncomfortable and tired. The burping had not helped that much. Finally, Melinda sat down and ate a few bites of her own dinner. Uncle Kent, for his part, had voraciously devoured his meal (ironically, one might say that he’d “wolfed it down”) and was now watching T.V. in the living room. Feeling absolutely bloated, the so-called ‘man of the house’ slumped forward in his highchair and started panting a bit. Gosh, this was exhausting. Melinda put her fork down, stood up and took her husband’s chin in her hand. “Quiet…you don’t want you-know-who to hear, do you?” She pointed to her enormous ears. “Sorry…I can’t help it.” He tugged at the false ears and baby bonnet on his head. “I’m starting to feel hot in this thing.” Melinda twisted her mouth to one side. She leaned in, her voice a conspiratorial whisper. “How about a bath, later? Even Uncle Kent won’t barge in there. Then you can get dressed before bed and-” “No!” Bo’s voice was a hoarse whisper but he felt on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “Please no! It was hard enough getting into this outfit the first time. If I get out of it, I’m not going to be able to get back in.” She caressed the side of his face, her voice full of sympathy. “I know, baby, I know. But the bathroom has something else in it too. Something you might need soon. We run a little water in the tubby and no one will hear the p-o-t-t-y flushing.” The offer was tempting. The need to void one’s waste, like the need to consume, was something that was often forgotten until it was pressing, but became ever more pressing the more one thought about it. Now, Bo needed to go. And a bath might be nice…sensual even…maybe even adult depending on how much privacy the newlyweds were afforded, after a trip to the loo, of course. Unconsciously, Bo tried to close his legs, only to have the thick padding of his diaper cut him off, reminding him, gently reminding him that he was already wearing his toilet. Images of himself having to sit on an oversized child’s potty, a cooing Melinda towering over him, and a bubble bath complete with rubber ducky flashed in his mind’s eye. Then him having to lay back down on a bathmat so that Melinda could slip another diaper under him. No. Just no. “I’ll hold it…” “But…” “I’ll hold it…” Bo flashed his gritted teeth. Melinda only shrugged. “Okay…” Bo allowed himself to be picked up again and carried to the living room. This time, the pacifier was back in his mouth without instruction or coercion. The young couple positioned themselves between the Colonel and the television. “It’s still a little early, but I was thinking of putting Lil’ Kent to bed in his new crib. It’s really been an exciting afternoon for him.” “Capital, I say, capital idea, Melly.” The Colonel stood up and rustled Bo’s baby bonnet, not seeming to notice that the floppy elephant ears moved with the head piece. “Sweet dreams, Lil’ Kent. I’ll see you in the morning.” “The morning?” The Colonel arched an eyebrow. “Oh, I didn’t tell you? Completely forgetting themselves, both of the Graysons shook their heads. The building pressure was in more than just Bo’s diaper area, all of a sudden. “I’M MOVIN’!” Two sets of jaws plummeted forward while a third set of eyes didn’t seem to notice. “I managed to snatch up that empty lot next to your house and I’m movin’ my new retirement trailer right in!” Neither Bo nor Melinda could find the words. “I’ve got, I say I’ve got only a few good years left in me, and I wanna spend as many of them watchin’ my Lil’ nephew grow up! We’re gonna be neighbors!” It was Melinda who found her wits first. “That’s…great Uncle Kent. I’m so happy to hear it. Buuut like I said..Lil’ Kent needs his rest.” “Of course, of course! Night night, Lil’ Kent!” It was all Bo could do to keep from screaming as he buried his muzzle into Melinda’s shoulder. “He’s feeling shy…it’s because he’s tired.” Pivoting on a dime, she rushed towards the nursery. Bo angled his mouth towards Melinda’s ear. “What are we gonna do, Mel? I can’t pretend to be a baby elephant this long!” Melinda stroked the back of his head with her trunk. “I don’t know, baby…I don’t know. We’ll figure something out.” “Just a sec, I say just a second there, Melinda!” The lady elephant froze. She whirled around. “Somethin’ just occurred to me and I’m miiiiighty suspicious all of a sudden.” “Oh?” The Colonel narrowed his eyes. “It just occurred to me that there wasn’t a single, I say a single baby toy when I first got here.” Melinda was curling her trunk, doing her best to not chew on it, as she did on the few occasions when she got nervous. It was her one tell. “Oh…really?” “No crib? No highchair? No playpen? I could see all of that being a matter of financial hardship. But not a single toy?” “Um…you see…it’s like this…” “Somethin, I say somethin’s wrong here!” The two elephants stared at each other across the room. Melinda was visibly shaking. Bo held his breath. “You’re not just rottin’ the boy’s brain with cartoons, are ya?” From Bo’s vantage point, the ceiling got a little closer as Melinda stood up a little straighter. “I certainly do not!” “Oh really? No ploppin’ him down in front of the ol’ boob tube and lettin’ Tom Injury or Garfunkle do the heavy liftin’?” “Absolutely not!” Yikes! Melinda sounded like she was genuinely offended. “I play with him all the time!” “You do, I say you do, do ya?” “As a matter of fact I do.” WIth incredible strength, she held out her baby/husband, dangling him from his armpits. “Just watch.” Bo let out a near terrified yelp as Melinda tossed him into the air. “Whoops…!” Just as quickly, he fell back down into her waiting arms. He let out a little giggle in relief. “A-daisy.” “Whoops!” A little harder this time. Bo’s legs rose up parallel to him. For a fraction of a second, the young man felt as though he might be skydiving, before plummeting back down into the safety net that was his makeshift Mommy’s arms. “A-DAISY!” A giggle became a yip of excitement “WHOOPS!” He skyrocketed ceilingwards, a dumb, almost giddy grin breaking out. He was on top of the wor-! WHAM! Pain shot up him, first up in his back, and then shooting to the back of his head before yo-yoing down to his heels. Just as quickly the floor came up at him. Melinda, her face a mask of shock; her hands gripping her ears in panic, failed to catch him. WHAM! The world went starry for a second. Then red. Then blurry. Bo hurt. His back. His head. His belly. His nose. Everything. It was all Bo could do to roll over. His chest ached as he drew a few ragged breaths, and the warm hot pain of bruises and lumps beginning to form filled him up. Another kind of warmth invaded it’s Bo’s space. Bo’s body wasn’t the only thing that was being filled up. So was his diaper. The liquid warmth sloshed around his front before rushing to the back and then being quickly and quietly absorbed; causing the diaper to swell and expand outward. Never before had Bo so genuinely hoped to be peeing blood, but even through blurry star-filled eyes, Bo could see the distinctly yellow discoloration of the thing between his legs. That’s when Bo started to cry. “AWOOOOOOOOOO!” It was a mix of hurt and humiliation, his pride buckling under everything he’d endured. More importantly, the mournful and miserable howl could never be mistaken as anything elephantine. Melinda was over him. “Bo! Baby, are you okay?!” “Bo? Why are, I say, why are you callin’ Lil’ Kent that? And why’s he makin’ that noise?” Melinda ignored the Colonel’s question, instead ripping the flimsy pachyderm disguise off of her husband’s head. “It’s okay, Baby. It’s okay. I’m here.” “I’m so so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I’d never mean to.” His sense of smell was still diluted but damn, did it feel good to have fresh air on his face again, all the same! The feeling of even this minor freedom, only allowed the tears to flow more freely, however, and soon Bo was crying into his wife’s lap, not sure where the pain ended and the embarrassment began. This moment of respite was short lived, however. “MELINDA! WHAT IS, I SAY, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? Bo couldn’t see what was happening, buried as he was in Melinda’s lap, but he could certainly hear it. “The meaning, Colonel, is that I lied to you!” She was so mad she was practically spitting. “I don’t have a little elephant baby!” Their not-so-carefully constructed plan was falling apart, just as they were approaching the finish line. There was a long silence. Only Bo’s quiet sobs, still not dying down, made a sound. “It all makes sense now…” The Colonel’s voice was even, low, and even tinged with a bit of sadness. ‘Mommy’ Melinda stroked her ‘baby’s’ back. It helped, if only a little. “Yeah…I guess it does.” “So… you adopted?” Bo looked up to his wife, then rolled over to look at her uncle. “And that’s why you didn’t want me talking about wolves like I was?” Melinda seemed uncertain. She looked to Bo, then back up to her Uncle “…Yes.” Apparently, it was time to double down on the crazy. “And you named him Bo?” “…Yes?” “After your husband, the lumberjack?” “Sure, let’s go with that.” “But you’ve been hiding him from me.” This wasn’t a question. “Yes.” “And that whole namin’ him after me was just tryin’ to butter me up? So I’d accept him?” This wasn’t entirely a lie. “Yeeeeeah…” Carefully, the Colonel came over to their spot on the floor and looked his niece in the eye. “Melinda. Melly darlin’. I’m hurt.” He looked down at Bo. “Your little cub might not be blood, but that doesn’t mean he’s not family.” “Really?” Melinda’s voice was full of hope. “Of course.” The Colonel rose, his voice gaining volume as he spoke. “It wouldn’t matter if your baby was an elephant, or a wolf, or even a lion.” A thick gray finger pointed towards the wolf. “As long as he’s your baby boy, then he’s my nephew, too, and I wanna spend some time gettin’ to know him.” Bo gulped. How was it possible to be relieved and terrified at the same time? “Okay….I think I…I think we’d like that.” “Good. Now, we’ll talk about this more, later. Get your boy to bed.” Still sniffling, Bo was carried into the adult sized nursery that had been designated as ‘Lil’ Kent’s room’. Now, so it seemed, it was simply Bo’s room. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to almost ruin it…” His voice was hoarse from crying. The wolf had a frog in his throat. Like a mother shushing a scared and confused child, Melinda did her best to calm him down. “Shhhh….it’s okay. It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong.” She laid him down on the padded mat of the nursery’s new changing table. “You couldn’t help it. You did everything right. I messed up.” “But now he knows that we lied to him.” He didn’t struggle or flinch as Melinda tugged at the tapes to his soggy diaper. He yawned, instead. His adrenaline cooling, the pain and embarrassment were subsiding into an almost unnatural sleepiness. The gentle, cool caress of the baby wipes against his most sensitive areas wasn’t doing much to keep him awake. It was soothing, really. “Up we go.” Melinda hoisted her hubby’s hind quarters into the air and slid out the soiled diaper. Quickly, she slipped a new one beneath him before setting him back down. She was really good at this! “And no, he only knows that I fibbed to him. He still thinks you’re a cute lil’ adopted wolf cub. His mind must be going, but it works in our favor.” It might have been a sudden case of life imitating art, so to speak, but the young wolf had a sudden urge to suck his thumb. “But he’s moving next door. How are we have to keep it up?” His wife ignored him, briefly. “A little powder, just in case.” Her trunk sprinkled on what might have been considered a little powder, were he an elephant. Bo was left coughing, engulfed in a white cloud of lavender cornstarch as the diaper was pulled up between his legs and fastened on with little tapes. “We’ll find a way. It’ll be more than worth it in the end. I promise.” The room was starting to get hazy. Bo was grateful when Melinda helped him to a sitting position. “But what if I goof it up again? How am I gonna go to work?” A loan moan escaped his lips while his new Mommy tugged a pajama shirt over his head, this one decorated with rocket ships and planets. He had always wanted to be an astronaut when he was a little kid. Melinda, ever the doting Mommy, reached for a matching pair of pajama bottoms. “Legs through here, that’s right.” She picked a suddenly exhausted-looking Bo back onto her hip. “You don’t have to be an elephant; just your adorable wolfish self.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “And you’re doing wonderfully at that.” He didn’t have the energy to even comment as she laid him down in the crib, raising the railing. “Just hang in there for a little while longer, and everything is gonna be juuuuust fine.” Eyelids getting heavy, the world seemed to start to gently sway for Bo, like the mobile dangling above his crib. “Juuuuust fine. Can I have more eggs tomorrow? With onions? But not from a blender?” “Sure, baby. I think I can sneak that by the Colonel.” Melinda leaned over the rail and brushed her hubby’s hair with her trunk. “Night Bo-bo.” She walked to the edge of the nursery, her finger on the lightswitch. He yawned, squeaking a bit as he did. “Night Mommy…” Melinda let out a chirping little squeal of her own, just before turning out the lights. ********************************************************************************************************** The sun had long set when Melinda cracked back open the door to the adult sized nursery. “Bo? Are you up?” He was not. Still clad in his new jammies, waistband of the diaper poking out, her husband was snoring up a storm. “Oh this is just too cute.” Carefully, she inched her phone in and snapped a pic. She smiled to herself. She wasn’t experienced enough to know if a diaper needed changing based on the swelling, yet, but her nose told her that it had definitely been used. She tiptoed back over to the couch, Uncle Kent sipping patiently on a glass of red wine. “How is he?” Melinda took her own glass. “Sleeping like a, well… you know.” The Colonel chuckled. “I suspect, I say, I suspect he would after all the stuff you mixed in with his dinner.” “It’s just to help ease him into things.” The two elephants shared a knowing look. “Thanks for doing this for me, Uncle Kent.” She took a sip. “Melly, I say, Melly my dear; the difference between crazy and eccentric is measured in dollar signs. If you want your baby and your hubby to be the same person, then it makes no difference to me.” “Thank you, Uncle Kent.” “You always were my favorite niece.” He looked back to the nursery door, and then lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “So, what’s the next step?” “Try to get him through the day as a baby.” Melinda thought about the eggs and chuckled. “It should be easier to get him to eat if we switch to some less disgusting food.” Uncle Kent grinned. “Ah, the art of the hard sell. One night of liquid chicken, and a lifetime of peanut, I say, peanut butter and jelly will seem like a feast.” He waggled his finger at her. You really are my heir apparent.” Melinda rocked back. “HA!” She covered her mouth, waiting to make sure that her new baby hadn’t been distrubed. “Anyways, getting to hear his own name, and some better food should help him keep up the act a little bit longer, at least until it’s not an act.” “There’s no con like a long con. By the time I decide to pull up stakes, your hubby child will be well adjusted to his new role in the family.” He drained his glass and moved to refill it. “How are you going to keep him from going back to work, though?” The new ‘Mommy’ pulled up the picture on her phone and pressed a few buttons. “Baby boy probably won’t be welcomed back when I email this to his boss.” Her eccentric uncle nodded in approval. “Devious…devious. But how are you gonna pay the bills now? I’m rich, but I’m, I say, I’m not a bottomless wallet.” Now it was Melinda’s turn drain her glass. “A few webcams, a few videos, and a decent web-design, and baby boy can start paying for his own diapers. The internet is a wonderful thing.” “You don’t mean?” The Colonel’s question was answered by his niece pantomiming with her fist rhythmically shaking up and down. It only took a moment for him to understand the meaning. “Ahhhh that’s a gasser! Just like them ol’ penny arcades but from the comfort of your own phone!” Melinda refilled her glass. “And you’d be surprised how much people will pay for ‘playdates’ and ‘adult baby sitting’. I play this right and I won’t need any inheritance.” They clinked glasses. “This was, I say, this was a real hoot. I didn’t know I could have this much fun.” “Well, you know what they say. Making the baby is the best part.” (The End)

Hello all just was wondering if there was any abdls or babyfurs in Wagoner Oklahoma or close Wagoner who would want to meet up or just chat.

I'm looking for a roleplay partner/ caretaker. I'd like something platonic and online. I have telegram and discord if that makes communication easier. We can discuss boundaries and what we each expect.

I've probably had an account on here before, but I definitely don't remember my login. I'm a 27 year old gay diaper boy in the city of Los Angeles. I've been around the ABDL community since about 2005, and started meeting alot of ABDL's in person in 2007. I wear more often than not, I tell people I'm 23/6 instead of 24/7, as I don't put requirements on myself to wear all the time. I have several different headspaces I can find myself in; mostly a 3-4yo toddler who isn't taking to the potty training or giving up his pacifier thing too well. But I can also be a naughty teenage boy who's horny as hell, a diapered puppy, a baby fur, or a sissyboy. Though most often, I'm just a 27 year old wearing diapers while going about life.

So I've been wanting to improve on my art recently. These two drawings featured are the best I can do at the moment until I get get more help to improve myself on things like shading and anatomy. If you would, please comment on how you feel about the two pics featured on here >w<.

Please watch me on the following social networks if you are willing to, Thanks! http://dusktheraccoon.deviantart.com/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/amazingduskraccoon/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFjSMZC6y7VZr15U321HpVA smol dusk#8906 - Discord live:skylers_8 - Skype https://discord.gg/TvR4GJR - Discord Server Invite I'm Dusk, btw if you all want to know. I'm a babyfur who enjoys wearing diapers (both in art and in real life). Check me out sometime :).

Hi everybody. My name is Crinkles The Bunny.

Hi, I'm a straight babyfur fox from Gippsland Victoria I don't know of anyone else around my area int any sort of ageplay but am happy to chat and maybe meet others if I can beat my shyness. I'm very polite and respectful.

Hi! My name is Apple! I'm *counts on her fingers* 4 years old! I'm a sugar glider! I like ear scratches, cuddles and waking up from a long sleep dry. I adore roleplaying with those who talk down and humilate me or well has no problems putting a bratty fur baby in her place. I dunno much what else to say other than it's almost five in the morning. Hope to get to know a lot of you soooon xoxo

I'm a lurking dragon! I may have had an account before, lol. Trying to stay cute and get in touch with the community for 2016.

Hello

Two baby boys looking for a daddy to keep them happy and safe. Baby Reed is 1-2 and is a newborn babyfur from the US needs love and reassurance is known to have accidents, baby Claye is 4-5 and is from Australia, he is mischievous but sweet, our daddy needs to have lots of time to devote to us. He needs to be firm yet loving. He needs to make sure that both reed and Claye are diapered (Claye needs to be forced as he thinks he is a big boy but continues to wet the bed and his pants) Please email baby reed at redvampire100@gmail.com and reply directly to this post as well if you are interested or have any questions. Thank you