✏️ Under One Roof

28. Once Only

Theodora's apartment was tiny; especially considering that she actually had a flatmate here. The whole place felt packed full with just her, Tegan, Karina, and Linus in the lounge. And every available corner was packed with the possessions of the two girls who actually lived here, even extending to the bathroom. The room didn't actually contain a bath, just a tiny shower, basin, and toilet. But all along one wall there was space for the junk left by people who'd clearly grown up used to much larger spaces. Bags and boxes of toiletries, and other things that Tegan didn't think to investigate.

But as she walked over, she could see that there really was a pack of diapers in one of the bags. She probably shouldn't even have noticed them; there was another bag on top of that one, and only the edge of the packaging protruded. But somehow she had recognised it, and a second of investigation proved that she had been right. So either Theo, or her mysterious barista friend, whatever her name had been, needed diapers occasionally. That was a weird thought, and Tegan didn't know how to fit it into her mental impression of the two girls. But she knew that tonight would be the first time that her closest friends got to meet Ness, and that if he was anything like the typical bully stereotype he would feel the need to show her that he was in charge. He was going to make her wet herself, there was no doubt about that. She needed some way to keep him from humiliating her, or she would have no friends at all.

Diapers were the perfect choice. She pulled one out from the package, and put the other bag back on top. She was wearing loose black jeans tonight, which she was pretty sure would hide the added bulk of her underwear. And maybe, if Ness tried anything, the apparent lack of results would discourage him from doing it in future. Tegan wasn't really enthusiastic about the thought of using a diaper for its intended purpose, when she was old enough to attend college. But she had to think about the big picture. Maybe it wouldn't happen at all, and nobody would ever know. Or perhaps Ness would continue to do whatever he had been doing, he would think his trick had failed, and still nobody would ever know.

She took a deep breath, and tried to remember how to put a diaper on. She'd done it a couple of times, near the end of middle school and the start of high school. Babysitting had been about the only acceptable way to make some extra money to support her hobbies; even if her brothers somehow got their hands on most of her income. But back then she'd always been applying a diaper to an actual baby. They were smaller, so there was less opportunity for mistakes in where those tapes could be placed, and of course she'd never tried to put one on herself before.

Eventually, she settled for holding a diaper up behind her, and backing against the wall to hold it in place while she fastened the tapes. She was sure it wasn't the normal way to do this kind of thing, but at least it left her enough hands free to fasten the thing. Then she turned and looked at herself in the mirror. It was kind of weird; she looked cute in a diaper and tee, and she didn't have the first clue how she was supposed to feel about that. But she couldn't let herself dwell on that possibility, she had to deal with practical matters first. And she was just about certain that this would be the only time she would ever wear one of these things. So thinking about it too much was a complete waste of effort. She pulled her jeans back on and turned around in front of the tiny mirror, trying to see if it was in any way noticeable. She could imagine that her butt might have looked a little larger, but that was all. And her friends would hopefully not be looking at her in that much detail. The diaper poked above the waist of her jeans by a tiny amount, but she could fold the top down almost out of sight. And thankfully her tee for tonight was almost long enough to be decent on its own. If she didn't tuck it in, it easily covered the top part of her jeans.

With a deep breath, Tegan was sure that she was ready to face her friends again. She turned to the mirror and tried talking to herself. She needed to know that her voice was going to sound normal, but instead spent ten seconds staring at her reflection, trying to find something to say. In desperation she recited the first few couplets of an obscene version of Mary Had a Little Lamb, which she couldn't even remember where she had learned it now. The words came out clearly, and she didn't feel any hesitation about saying the four-letter words, so it looked like everything was back to normal. A slow, deep breath, and then she rejoined her friends in the tiny lounge.