Jamming With Matt (Diapers)
Michael had two days full of excitement and intrigue, and he couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about everything that happened to him for the past week. He befriended three younger men in the neighborhood, who either wore diapers or were supportive of others wearing them. He managed to spend some time with Devin, and had stepped in to help Tyler when he was being bullied by a long-time nemesis. He even received a kiss from Tyler, which caught him by surprise. As he laid in bed Monday afternoon, Michael ran through all the recent events in his mind. Up to this point, his emotional reaction to everything was pleasant indifference, but now, he had a strong incentive to be more productive and outgoing.
While the lion tried to rest, Matt tapped on his bedroom window, which was facing the front yard. This startled Michael. He threw the top bed sheets off of him and walked to the window. He rubbed his eyes and yawned while adjusting the diaper he was wearing. When he approached the window and saw the fox standing there, Michael's eyes opened wide, and he dashed away from Matt's view so he could put on his pants. Matt laughed, pointed at Michael. With his voice partially muffled because the glass window was completely closed, Matt pointed and said to the lion, "Busted!"
Michael put on his pants and adjusted his belt. He opened the window and asked Matt, "What do you want? Ever tried knocking on the front door?"
Matt raised a single congra drum up to the window, and the fox nodded his head enthusiastically. "Let's make some music!"
The lion shut the curtains of his window, and walked to the front door. Michael's mother called out to him from the dining room, and asked if everything was alright. Michael told her that his friend, Matt, just arrived.
"Ask Matt if he wants anything to drink. I'll be in the kitchen," she told Michael.
Michael invited Matt inside, and led him back to his bedroom. The fox set his conga drum down, and sat beside it on the floor.
"Mike, I got this sick beat down. I dreamt about it last night, and it goes like this." Matt tapped the conga with both sounds, and slapped the base of the drum occasionally to create the kick drum effect. He switched over to some soft taps, mimicking the hi-hats, and loud taps for the snare. He started slow, and generated a rhythm with a moderate tempo.
Michael was impressed with the fox's timing and cadence. Based on skill that was shown by Matt, Michael assumed that his conga-playing friend had an aptitude for percussion music. The lion didn't want Matt to have all the fun, so he turned on the lights in his room, and opened his sliding closet doors. There, he retrieved his shiny, blue bass, which leaned up against a corner. Matt saw the lion bring out his prized instrument. The fox was glowing with enthusiasm as he waited for Michael to play beside him. Matt moved his head, and grooved to the beat on the drums.
"Here goes nothing. 1-2-3-4!" said Michael before playing the bass and effortlessly sliding his paw up and down the bass frets. The lion played slap bass, and he liked to hammer on many of his notes. Michael closed his eyes, and hung his head low while he played. The top of his silky mane covered his eyes and tickled his muzzle while he jammed with Matt. He banged his head up and down, pretending he was playing with his old band, Manic Machine. He visualized playing on a small wooden stage to a sold-out crowd. He imagined looking out and seeing the crowd, which appeared to be a blur. He felt his heart beating fast while he hit the notes and sang into the microphone. He could feel the vibrating kick drum rattling his footpaws. He felt ready for showtime.
Matt's endurance couldn't match the lions. He faded the drums out, and listened to Michael, who was caught in a euphoric trance.
"Mike! Mike!" Matt called out his name. Finally, Michael snapped out of his spell, and saw his mother standing in the doorway with a tray of drinks: a hearty pint of beer and two medium-sized glasses.
Michael scratched his head. Confused, he asked his mom, "What's up with the beer?"
The lioness smiled. "You're had a rough day yesterday. You helped out your friend, and I think you deserve a nice, cold beer. How about you, Matt? Would you like one?"
"I don't see why not." Matt took the tray from the lion's mother and set it on the desk. "Thanks, Mrs. Miller."
When his mother left and closed the door behind her, Michael turned to Matt and said, "Isn't she great?"
"Hell yeah! Music and beer makes a perfect combination. Thank your mom for me."
The two sat on the floor and slowly drank all the beer. An hour had passed, and both were inebriated and completely satisfied. After a long jamming session, Michael and Matt laid on the floor; both sprawled out under the overhead light. Michael looked up and stared at the ceiling. He looked at the light shining down on him, and cursed at it for being too bright. Matt tried to stand, but he fell backwards, and landed on the lion's soft, crinkling waist. Finally, Matt sat up and brought his knees closer to his chest so he wasn't intruding on Michael's personal space.
Michael took a deep breath, and leaned up against his bed frame. Temporarily forgetting all his preconceptions and concerns, the lion yawned and stretched his arms.
Matt turned to the lion and said, "You were great yesterday."
"Thank you. Means a lot."
"Where did you learn those moves?"
"Comic books, martial arts films." Michael laughed.
"No, no, I'm serious. You take lessons?"
"A while ago. Got bullied as a cub. Parents said, 'Don't forget your pride,' and I took lessons after they told me. I was like, 'I'm a lover, not a fighter,' but I was denying my instinct to survive. Once I took --"
"Blah, blah, blah. Not listenin' -- oh, what was you were saying?"
"I don't remember. Now look what you did. I forgot!"
Michael started to experience fatigue. He could barely keep his eyes open. The lion wasn't able to sleep for the past two days because he had thoughts constantly swirling around his mind. He still wasn't able to get over the idea that he made some new friends that never once tried to distance themselves from him because of his condition. He still wasn't able to fully comprehend how small the world is -- and how convenient it was to be friends with people who related to his condition on a personal level. There was no pity, no shame or loss of dignity. Never in his life had he received so much encouragement from his peers. The positivity was so foreign to him, and yet so irresistible; it made him feel invincible.
"Kinda find it odd, you know?" Matt slurred.
"What is?"
"The whole diaper thing. I don't get it."
"It's not for everyone." Michael's jubilation was slowly disappearing, but the lion figured that the line had to be eventually drawn somewhere.
"I like you guys, and I've known Tyler for a long time, but it's just... I don't know. How do you cope with it?"
Michael couldn't think clearly enough to give a thoughtful reply. "It's a part of my life."
"Yeah, but don't you sometimes wish that it wasn't?"
Michael thought about it from time to time. What would life be like without diapers? The lion imagined that he would have been more sociable and less introverted. He would have made more friends, and would have done more things. He always hoped for waking up one morning dry, and staying dry until he felt the urge to go. He hoped that one day, his body would operate like clockwork: feeling like he had more control of his body. Going back to hindsight -- and thinking about what could have been -- depressed him greatly. He tried so hard to not think about the past and about what he could have done differently.
"Are you kidding? I think about it all the time." The lion gave a sigh, and crawled onto his bed.
"I know that if I had to wear diapers, I'd feel restricted."
Michael did feel restricted. "To me, it's a safety net. I know that it will always be there for me when I need it."
"Sounds like you need a girlfriend more than a diaper."
The drunk fox was onto something, Michael thought. The lion had been out of a relationship for two years. His previous relationship was with a female named Natalie, who was deterred from being intimate because of his incontinence. She couldn't grasp his condition as something that couldn't easily be remedied. She told Michael that she was breaking up with him after admitting to an affair with the drummer of his rock band. The band dissolved shortly after Michael discovered the affair was taking place. Brokenhearted, Michael moved to Falton, and realized that he was unable to socialize as well as others his age.
"I had a girlfriend, but that didn't work out," said Michael, who didn't want to divulge the painful details.
"Have you started looking?" asked Matt.
"Not really, but I'm interested in someone." Michael was surprised of his own admission.
"Like who? Is she hot?"
Like a natural reflex, Michael said, "'She'?"
Matt tilted his head at the lion, but the lack of sobriety prevented him from thinking about Michael's statement. Michael bit his lip, and waited Matt to follow up and investigate his gaffe, but to no avail. Once Matt started talking about music again, Michael took a sigh of relief. After feeling relieved of the burden to explain himself, Michael stood up from the floor to sit on his bed.
"We should jam more," said Matt.
"Yeah, that was fun. I enjoyed that."
"What are you doing tomorrow night?"
"Nothing, I don't think. Why?"
"You should come to Nate's bonfire at the beach. Tyler, Devin, and I are coming. You should come along."
Michael nodded, and accepted the invitation. "Sure thing."
The lion went into the kitchen, helped himself to some more beer, and stumbled back into his bedroom. Matt saw the beer can in Michael's hand, and asked him for some. After some playful teasing, Michael handed the can to Matt. "It's all yours," the lion told him. The fox drank all the remaining beer, and grunted happily. He swished his tail, and chuckled randomly. He started speaking to himself, and Michael couldn't understand it. Both were very intoxicated, and they laid around Michael's bedroom, trying to figure out what to do next.
Though he could barely see a foot in front of him, the drowsy fox's eyes eventually wandered to the lion's crotch. He noticed that a wet spot was forming there, and getting larger in size. The first reaction from the fox was a chuckle.
"Wah issit?" asked the lion.
"You peeing."
"Wahs that?"
"You're peeing man."
Michael emptied his full bladder into his diaper. Though his diaper was comfortably absorbent, it wasn't able to handle full-bladder flooding. The diaper began to wick wetness to the inside. The uninterrupted piss was flowing so quickly that the absorbent core couldn't absorb all of it at once, and it began to trickle down from the leg gathers, and onto his pants. The lion couldn't care any less. "This feels good," he thought. He was too lazy to show concern that he was actually wetting himself in front of his friend, so the next best thing was to display sarcasm.
"Thisss is bad... way... really bad," Michael slurred.
"That's a lot," added Matt.
The fox moved his muzzle over Michael's crotch to get a closer look. Suddenly, Matt began to tug the lion's pants down. Taken by surprise, the lion protested and said, "No, no, no," but Matt already made up his mind. He pulled down the lion's pants to check out the diaper, which was heavily saggy. The diaper was damp, and had yet to be discolored. Michael tried to wave the fox's paws away, but Matt was resilient, and he placed his paws on the lion's wet diaper-front. The lion started breathing heavily, and feeling somewhat energized by the fox's inspection.
"You need ta change, Mikey," Matt concluded.
"Yeah..."
"I got this." Matt walked over to the closet, slid the doors open, and went through the lion's drawer of fresh diapers. He picked out one, and unfolded it in front of Michael.
"Wait, what are you doing?" the lion asked.
"I'm gunna change you. Come on, be a good sport, Mikey. I... can..." The fox stumbled over, and Michael laughed.
"You can't do this."
"Ohhhhh shut up, will ya? I've changed big cats like you before."
Michael didn't realize exactly how understanding and accommodating his friends were with each other to the extent that one friend would change the other friend's diapers. It was mind-blowing. Unable to completely react to what Matt told him, Michael laid back in bed, and let the fox take his pants off his ankles. He continued to breathe sluggishly as he anticipated the diaper change. The lion curled his footpaws and went silent as the fox changed his diaper.
What the lion didn't know was that Matt, who had no siblings, considered Tyler as his brother. They had known each other for as long as they could remember.
When they were little, Matt, Devin, and Tyler would often sleep over at the tiger's house, and Tyler's parents would always remind his friends that at night, their son had "accidents," and sometimes had "accidents" during the day. A bag of pull-up diapers (with cheerful, boyish prints) would always be placed at Tyler's end table at night, and it was Tyler's responsibility to change himself every time he wet. Otherwise, he would wet the bed and produce a musky odor that agitated his friends.
Sometimes, Tyler would wake up in the middle of the night and change himself in the nearby bathroom. Other times he would change himself while in bed, and hope that nobody was awake to see him -- but somebody was watching him. Matt saw his friend change his diaper, and not do it properly. He would miss fastening a tape or two, and the diaper would flop back down onto the bed. It would take a few exasperated grunts from Tyler before Matt rose from bed, and asked if he needed any help. Tyler rejected the little pup's offer, and would continue changing himself to no success. Tyler got so frustrated that he tossed the diaper aside and fell asleep without only, gambling that the bed would be remain dry by morning. It wasn't.
Matt watched Tyler's mom yell at her cub for wetting the bed, and she threatened to have him diapered at all times -- to humiliate him -- in order to fully understand the inconvenience he put his parents through every morning. Matt said nothing about the incident until the next time he had a sleepover with Tyler.
Late that night, Tyler sobbed quietly when he wet himself. Matt slid out of his sleeping bag, and tried to comfort the tiger the moment he heard him crying. Matt offered to help again, but this time, the tiger accepted albeit reluctantly. Matt took a diaper from Tyler's end table, and tried to change his friend. At first, he was a little disgusted since the tiger cub had also messed himself, but Matt's empathy overwhelmed his revolt. He tried to emulate the way Tyler changed himself, but was unsuccessful at his first try. Tyler began to coach Matt, and teach him how to change. About a half an hour later, he was successful, and Matt celebrated by throwing Tyler's dirty diaper in the pail across his bed like a basketball into a basket. By the time the sun rose the next morning, Matt had cuddled up in bed with Tyler. When his mother peeked in to see how her tiger cub was doing, she saw the two cubs together, and smiled.
Michael's diaper was changed by a drunken fox, but the change was done so seemlessly that it didn't seem like the fox was really drunk at all. Rather, it seemed like pure instinct.
"Wow, thanks," said Michael.
"No prob --" Matt fell on top of the lion's chest and slid down to the floor where he passed out. Overcome with gratitude, the lion pulled the sheets off his bed, and cast them over Matt's body. The lion got up from bed momentarily to wrap the blanket around Matt. He did so, and petted the fox's headfur as a token of his thanks before crawling back to his bed, and dozing off to sleep. Before he closed his eyes, Michael thought about his friends, and deduced, "I could not ask for better friends."