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Step One: Get out of my bubble.
Mommyâs eyes narrowed as she considered my request. I didnât think she was opposed to the ideaâbut she wanted to consider the logistics of it first.
âWeâll be a ways from home,â she said. âAnd there will be a lot of people.â
âI know.â
âIâm not not opposed, Baby. But I know your comfort levels. And I worry that this is going to be outside of them.â
I had thought the same thing, of course. But I had also been thinking about the idea of immersion. Reverse-immersion? Just as Mommy had dumpedâno pun intendedâme into the role of being a big baby once upon a timeâI wondered if I might benefit from just immersing myself in the real world again, no matter how hectic and overwhelming it might be.
âIâŠI think Iâll be fine.â
âWeâll pack extra diapers,â she said.
Funny, I thought. Ava said the same thing the other day when I suggested that we go out and get pizza.
âOf course.â
âYouâre sure that youâre okay with this, Clarky?â
âY-yes, Mommy. As long as you donât mind that I, uhm, might have an accident.â
âOh, Iâm counting on that,â she said. âBut I think youâll be far more embarrassed about that than I will.â
Same as it ever was. âI know.â
âVery well. Iâll get a diaper bag packed. And I suppose we should pick out a more adult outfit for you too, yes? Unless you want to waddle around in your âI heart Mommyâ onesie.
It was a good call. And while I wouldâve liked to think that I wouldâve had the same thought myself before we walked out the front door, it hadnât occurred to me until she said something. I wasnât even sure where she kept my adult clothes. Not that she kept them from meâI just had no need for them. Out of sight, out of mind.
Things had mostly returned to normal since Mommyâs return home from her brief excursion. As nice as it had been to see Ava again, her presence had kept me on edge. No matter how sweet she was to me, all I could think about was how she was constantly judging me. Or worse, comparing me to Caleb.
Whoever that was. For all I knew, Caleb was her cousin. Or neighbor. Or dentist. It didnât matter who Caleb was nowâhe represented men. All men. Any man who wasnât still filling up a pair of diapers. A man sheâd eventually allow to make a move on her because she wasnât going to wait for me anymore.
And so the normalcy of Mommy was nice. But I was still mulling over âThe Planââthe one that would take me from being an oversized toddler to respected adult again.
Again? Was I ever respected as an adult before?
Mommy didnât ask about the status of my diaper, she looked for herselfâpulling it open and peering down inside. Then, either seeking further evidenceâor just wanting to see me squirm a littleâshe ran her hand between my legs, squeezing the bottom of the diaper.
The crinkling was louder than it had ever been before, thanks to the new plastic pants she had gotten for me. The idea of cloth diapers had been thrown around for a while nowâshe often joked that I was responsible for an absurd percentage of the nationâs diaper-trashâbut sheâd never acted on it before. Apparently, Ms. Beaufort had been convinced by the conservation-minded Risa to make the switch and she, in turn, convinced Mommy.
âWet,â she said. âIf we were staying home, Iâd say this could wait a while. But I think Iâd prefer you in a dry diaper before we go out.â
âA, uhm, cloth diaper?â
âDisposable. Itâd be best to stick with what we know best for a trip like this,â she said. It was music to my ears.
I liked the cloth diapers, but they were different. The weight of them seemed to hang differently. They moved differently between my legs when they walked. And those damn plastic pantsâI wondered if Mommyâs neighbors could hear me crawling around.
âWhatâs with this newfound interest in getting out of the house?â Mommy asked while I was atop the changing table, legs sticking straight up in the air as she ran a damp wipe over my bottom.
âItâs been a while,â I said. I almost felt like I was keeping a secret. I supposed I wasâI hadnât yet told Mommy about my still-developing plan to ease back into adulthood. I didnât think itâd be the end of the worldânor did I think itâd even be a fight. I knew sheâd be supportive.
But that conversation would change things. No matter how slow I wanted to take that process, Mommy would start second-guessing everything she did to baby me. And I still loved the way she treated me nowâand wanted that to last as long as possible. Iâd tell her eventually. When I was ready.
âIs there anywhere special you want to go, Baby? I can take you anywhere you want to go. The comic book store?â
I had made a stray comment a few months ago that I had missed going to the comic book store. I wasnât a regular, by any means, but I liked to swing by a few times a year and see what new releases were out. I was touched that she had remembered that.
It was tempting to take her up on that offerâbut that seemed like the last place I wanted to be when I had an accident. I couldnât say what was different about a store full of men my age and older seeing me poop my pants, as opposed to an office full of women, but I knew I didnât like it.
âN-no, thatâs okay. Thank you for offering, Mommy.â
âOf course. Are you sure you wonât be bored following me around? Iâm shopping for shoes. That barely interests me.â
âItâll be good,â I said. âI just want to get out for a while. It doesnât matter where we go.â
While my legs were held up in the air, I felt her finger ever-so-slightly run across my backdoorâan action that still sent a powerful jolt through my body. I moaned softly as I tried to push my ass towards her as if begging for more.
âIf youâre a good boy,â she said, âthereâll be treats for you when we get home.â
I liked treats. Treats made me spurt into my diaper. Or, if I was really lucky, her hand.
âI-Iâll be a good boy.â
âI know you will, Baby.â
Soon after, weâre in the car. Just being in the car is strangely refreshing. I didnât think it had been that long since I was strapped into the backseat of her SUV, but even a few weeks without being in a car seems like a long time. It felt surreal to be so excited about seeing all the mundane things out in the worldâbut yet there I was, a stupid smile on my face when I saw a new billboard for some lawyer. There was a group of kids hanging out on a street corner. A guy whose arm was hanging out of the driver side window, cigarette dangling from his fingers. A long line at the hamburger placeâs drive-thru.
It was stupidly thrilling.
âIâm meeting a client in Atlanta early next week,â Mommy said to me as she drove, turning her head enough to project her voice into the backseat. âIâll be gone again, but only for a night, I think. Iâll be flying out Monday morning, and Iâll be back Tuesday night.â
âYes, Mommy.â
âIf you had a good time with Ava as your babysitter, maybe I could call her again?â
That was the last thing I wanted. I wanted to somehow find a way to prove to Ava that I was growing upâand giving her access to my dirty diapers wasnât going to help that argument.
âI, uhm, dunno about that,â I said.
âNo? She said that she had a good time.â
My cheeks warmed a little. Yeah, she probably loved playing with a stupid baby.
âI justâŠuhâŠâ I had no idea how to explain this to Mommy.
âI get it,â she shrugged. âShe used to be like you. Now sheâs not. I suppose itâd be hard to see someone who used to be your peer suddenly be responsible for you.â
That was trueâthough it wasnât exactly it. Close enough, though. âY-yeah. I like Ava. I justâŠdonât know about her as a babysitter.â
âFair enough,â she said. âMaybe Iâll give Courtney a call.â
Courtney was better than Ava, but still not ideal. Courtney loved playing with big babies almost as much as Mommy did. If I was trying to find my maturity again, she certainly wasnât going to help.
âWhat aboutâŠLyndie?â I offered. I hadnât put that much thought into it, but it sounded good as I said it. Lyndie was the best of both worldsâMommy approved, but also someone I could have an honest conversation with. If there was anyone who could help me make progress towards boxers again, I thought it might be her.
âIâll text her when we get out of the store,â she said. âGood idea, Baby.â
Of course, I was still sitting in the backseat of Mommyâs carâa thick diaper under my pants while I discussed who would have to babysit me. I had a long way to go before I was âgrown upâ again.
I was wet by the time we reached the store. I was a little miffed by this, too; I had spent the better part of the drive trying to remain conscious of my bladderâs status. But somewhere along the way, I got distractedâmaybe it was a billboard, or maybe it was the conversation about babysitters. Suddenly, my padding was feeling moist.
Mommy, of course, had to check for herself in the parking lot. She made no attempt to be discreet about it, giving the waistband of my pants a good tug outward so that she could peek inside of my diaper. Some women were walking past us at that moment. Once, there was a time when Iâd have been paranoid about what they thought or if they had seen anything. It didnât seem that important to me anymore. Nothing to see here. Just a big baby getting his diaper checked in the parking lot.
âYou should be good for a while longer,â she said, giving me a supportive pat on the bum. âAnd thereâs plenty more in the diaper bag.â
I was thankful that the bag didnât look like a âdiaper bag.â It looked almost like a normal backpack with its neutral gray color and brown leather details. We had diaper bags at home that looked like diaper bags. Gaudy custom-made things that had things like âBABYâ embroidered on the sides.
The bag was handed off to me. That made senseâeverything in it was for me, so I should be the one hauling it around. Perhaps a perk for the Mommy with an extra-large baby.
It wasnât quite a mall, but I wouldnât have called it a strip-mall either. It was a cluster of shops and stores arranged in a mini-neighborhood, with sidewalks and roads zig-zagging through it. There was probably a name for something like thisâbut I had no idea what it was.
Mommy had been right about the people. The good weather had brought everyone out, and groups of people were strolling from store to store with handled bags hanging from their hands.
I had never been much of a shopper, myself. Still, it felt good to be back in a place like this again. I was walking past people. They were ignoring me. They couldnât hear the sound of my diaper rustling over the ambient noises around us. They had no idea that I had peed myself a little bit ago. They had no idea that the backpack slung over my shoulders held even more thick adult diapers.
âHow are you feeling, Baby?â Mommy asked me. Was it brazen that she called me âBabyâ in public? Or was it just a habit for her now?
âIâm good,â I said.
âYou tell Mommy if you think youâre going to have another accident, understand?â
âYes, Mommy,â I replied, showcasing my own habit.
âOr, you tell me if you had an accident. Iâd rather hear about it from you before I start to smell it myself.â
âY-yes, Mommy.â
We walked past the restrooms. Men. Women. Family. I let out a little sigh of relief at the sight of a family restroom. This, hopefully, meant that I wouldnât be subjected to a diaper change in the back of her carâshould I need one.
Who was I kidding? Of course Iâd need one.
It was hard to say if this trip was actually accomplishing anything or not. Thirty minutes had passed while I had followed behind Mommy as she slowly shifted between racks, shelves, and display cases. I hadnât made a fool of myself yet, and that felt like a small accomplishment. But was this how I was going to âgrow up?â
Maybe with repetition?
â...I had a pair like these last year,â Mommy was saying to a young woman by a display of shoes. âI thought they were very nice, but I wore them once and I swore they were falling apart by the end of the night.â
âIâve seen people online say they had a similar problem with this brand,â the woman responded.
Their conversation continued, but I tuned out. I was listening to the music playing over the speaker at the store. It was a happy sounding pop songâthough one I had no recollection of hearing before. Not that I was ever one for keeping up with the trending tunesâbut I wondered if it was a popular song. One that might have taken the nation by storm while I was in the midst of filling up my diaper.
âFucking shoes,â a masculine voice to my left said. I quickly turned to find a young man standing a few feet from me. He had that hipster-look about him with his scruffy hair and a not-quite-beard. âI swear, she owns a hundred pairs, and here she isâlooking at more.â
My heart thumped hard in my chest. Did this guy see me asâŠanother guy? An adult guy?
âTell me about it,â I said, making a show of rolling my eyes like I was the guy he believed me to be.
He laughed, shaking his head. âMaybe she thinks the same thing about me, though. Like, she thinks I have too many watches or something.â
I wasnât sure that Iâd owned a watch in years, let alone multiple watches. Still, I was enjoying my moment in adultdom, and I wasnât ready to let it end yet. âRidiculous. You canât have too many watches.â
âRight? Thatâs what Iâm saying,â he said, his hands doing just as much of the speaking as his voice. âWatches tell time. The date. You can use a watch. But, like, all I need are like two or three pairs of shoesâtops. My sneakers, my boots, and my dress shoes.â
âMakes sense to me,â I shrugged.
âSo, uh, can I ask you something?â I liked the turn his voice took. It got a little quieter, but a little smootherâlike a conman explaining his latest grift to his accomplices.
âUh, sure. I guess.â
His head nodded towards where Mommy was still chatting with the woman. âThatâs not your mother, right?â
Well, it is and it isnât. âNo,â I said, shaking my head.
âGood, dude.â He playfully slapped my arm. âBecause she is fucking hot.â
I laughed just thinking about how much that wouldâve amused Mommy to hear.
I found myself wanting to play along. Iâve never been that kind of guy before, but this man didnât know that. âTell me about it. And, uh, your girl isnât looking too bad either.â
âWell if you ever want to swapâŠâ Heâs joking, I think. His cadence suggests a jokeâI suspect I wouldnât have even been able to tell the difference back before I became the chastised baby I was now. I find it hard to believe that people actually talk like this. To strangers, no less. Is this what Iâve been missing while in my bubble?
Goddamn. Mommy would absolutely devour a guy like this. And I wouldâve wanted to see it tooâthis cocky asshole strolling up to her, only to suddenly find himself on his hands and knees in a diaper, licking up a puddle of her piss from the floor.
Fuck, now Iâm thinking about the taste of her piss.
My laugh wasnât the most genuine, but I didnât think heâd notice the difference. He didnât.
He breaks into commentary about his partner: âWell, now sheâs going for the green shoes. Nope. Nope. Maybe the blue ones instead? Sheâll probably change her mind two or three more times.â
Is this what passes as comedic banter between men?
He doesnât see my responseâwhich is to begin wetting my diaper. Itâs one of the rare times that I am fully cognizant of what Iâm doing in my diapers. Eventually, I was sure, Iâd have had an accident and have ended up with a wet diaper anyways. But I decided to expedite thatâpurposefully opening the floodgates.
I needed this. I needed to feel my diaper swell and warm around me. If this guy can live in his own little worldâone where heâs a ladies man who actually stands a chance with someone like Mommyâthen I want to be in mine.
âAh, well, looks like she made a selection,â he shrugged. âIâll probably have to go offer an opinion now. Spoiler alert: I donât give a shit what color shoes she buys.â
I almost wish I was a different kind of person. The kind of person who could be bold enough to say something about how she clearly deserves a better partner. Instead, Iâm squeezing my thighs together, feeling my wet diaper squish between my legs.
âGood luck,â I offered as he wandered forward.
Mommy regrouped with me soon after too, two pairs of shoes in her hands. She didnât ask my opinions on them, and I assumed that she already knew she was going to buy them.
âAre you getting those?â I asked. âThey look nice.â I didnât say this out of obligation. I meant it.
Mommyâs face lit up as she smiled. Was she surprised that I cared? Or just happy to be reminded?
âWhich do you like more?â she asked, holding out both pairs in front of her. There was a pair of glossy black shoes, some more rustic looking brown shoes.
I almost immediately pointed to the sleek black shoes. I liked that I could almost see myself in them.
âMe too,â she said.
We started walking again, slowly making our way towards the front of the store. Occasionally, sheâd stop, looking at another display while I stood off to the sideâmarinating further in my wet diaper.
So much for starting the process of growing up today.
âHow are you doing?â she asked. She wasnât asking about my general well-being, of course.
âWet,â I quickly replied. I realized I hadnât followed her direction from earlierâletting her know when I had used my diaper. I tried to overcorrect: âB-but I didnât poop yet.â
I had failed to consider the discretion Mommy used in asking her question. Any other time, any other place, sheâd have had no problem with bluntly asking if I had soiled my diaper. It wasnât until after I gave my response that I noticed that the couple we had interacted with a few minutes ago were standing just a few feet from us. Mommy smiled as she went about looking at shoesâseemingly happy with the ramifications of my little self-own.
Had they heard me? Well, seeing as how the mustached man smirked as he and his partner exchanged looksâit was safe to assume so.
Mommy paid the couple no mind, nonchalantly finishing her browsing before continuing her stroll towards the cashier, with me shuffling behind her. I wondered what that man thought of me now. What he might have thought about my relationship with Mommy. Was I still the âdudeâ he thought I was?
The transaction was completed and we were outside again.
âI have another store or two I wanted to stop at while weâre here,â she said. âWill your diaper be alright?â
I nodded. âShould be.â Truthfully, I had no ideaâmy body did its own thing. Sometimes it amused me that she even asked. She knew me as well as I did. How many times had I said that my diaper would be good, only to spring a leak a few minutes later?
It happened often enough.
I was feeling a little defeatedâhaving already soaked my diaper and having attracted the wrong kind of attention from strangersâbut I also knew that wasnât the point of today. I was here because I needed to get out of my bubble. And in that regard, I thought I had succeeded.
âHow are you doing?â Mommy asked again as we walked. I just knew that she wasnât referring to my diaper this time.
âOkay,â I nodded.
âDid you miss the public so badly that you needed to go shoe shopping with Mommy?â
âS-something like that,â I shrugged. My mouth hung open for another moment as I contemplated whether or not Iâd tell Mommy more about my developing long-term plans. I decided against it, for now. With my luck, Iâd blurt out something stupid: âMe want to be big boy now!â
Iâd tell her more when it felt like the time was right.
âWell youâre doing very well, Baby.â
âTreats?â I asked, sounding like a pathetic puppy.
âTreats,â she confirmed.
Laterâbut not that much laterâI was on my back atop the changing table in my nursery again. I was in a fresh diaper and the soggy one I had worn on our excursion had been cast into the bin. Now, the tip of Mommyâs vibrating massager was pressed against my cage, through the diaper.
I had been hoping for something to be pushed into my asshole, butâŠ
âUhhhhhhhhhhffffffffâŠâ
âŠit didnât really matter. Iâd gladly take anything that Mommy gave to me.
âDoes that feel good?â she cooed.
âY-yes, Mommy.â
As my body shook and twitched, climbing closer and closer to that peak, I thought about the future. One day Iâd wake up and the first thing I did would be to use the toilet. Iâd wear the clothes of my fellow adults. Iâd go to a job. Iâd have a girlfriend. A wife, perhaps. Fingers crossed it was who I wanted it to beâthough if I was seeing anyone at all, I had to assume it was someone I liked.
Weâd have sex. Iâd enter them with my cock, finishing deep inside of her and weâd moan and roll around together.
I couldnât wait.
But then⊠âI-IâŠIâm gonnaâŠuhhâŠâ
âGo on,â she cooed to me. âTell me all about it.â
It was that pre-climax blabberâa deluge of stream-of-conscious tidbits that I forced out as I came close to blowing my load. I had gotten pretty good at it.
âIâŠIâm your baby, Mommy. YourâŠuhfâŠdumb little pathetic babyâŠâ
âAre you now? And what should I do with a dumb little baby like you?â
âK-keep me in diapersâŠforever,â I spit out, my back arching as I finally cameâglobs of milky-white goo oozing into my diaper. Iâd be wearing that for a while..
âForever is a very long time. ButâŠif you say so.â
Those werenât exactly the words of a boy who wanted to grow up. Oh well. Maybe Iâd get âem next time.