After leaving Jack sleeping on the couch, Jamie went into the kitchen, starting some coffee and taking stock of the groceries. What he found confirmed that they would be stopping by the grocery store on their way home after work. He only had enough to work with to make omelettes if he got creative. “I hope Jack likes spinach,” he mused quietly to himself as he pulled out the carton of eggs, a jar of feta cheese, a bag of sandwich ham, and a bag of spinach, all almost empty.
He was rolling up the ham to start slicing it while the eggs were cooking on the stove when he heard movement behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see Jack, looking bleary eyed and half awake, toddle in with Woofy draped over his shoulders like a cape and the pacifier still in his mouth. “Good morning, baby bro.” The wolf greeted with a smile.
Instead of answering, Jack just continued to waddle forward until he was right behind his older brother, hugging him from behind and burying his muzzle in the small of the wolf’s back. Jamie just chuckled, reaching around awkwardly to hug the little cheetah before continuing his task. Clearly Jack was not a morning person.
They stayed like that until breakfast was ready, with Jack never releasing Jamie. Jamie honestly wondered if the feline had fallen asleep again, but he moved whenever the wolf did, so at least not completely. Soon enough, breakfast was ready, and after setting the plates down on the table, Jamie directed Jack to sit down in front of his plate before going to get drinks. Snagging a bottle from the drain rack, he filled it with the last of the milk before getting himself some coffee.
Turning, he saw Jack had yet to start eating. Instead, the little cheetah was watching the older wolf. As Jamie turned, Jack’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of the bottle in Jamie’s paw and he sat a little straighter, suddenly more alert. Jamie chuckled. “Yeah, I found some things last night. You didn’t even make it through the whole movie, by the way. It’s hard to cheer the good guys on when you’re trying not to wake your baby brother.”
Jack just shrugged, reaching for the bottle as Jamie handed it over. He immediately went to drink from it, blinking in surprise when it thumped against the pacifier. Jamie couldn’t help but laugh at the kitten’s bewildered expression. “Didn’t even realize that was there, did you?” he asked, reaching over and plucking the pacifier from the stunned kitten’s maw. “You certainly took to it quickly enough when I gave it to you earlier.”
Jack still didn’t answer. He yawned and placed the bottle nib in his mouth, sucking on it mulishly. Jamie shook his head and turned his attention to breakfast. He didn’t take long and returned to fill his coffee. Turning again, he noticed Jack hadn’t even started eating yet, still sucking on the bottle. “You need to eat, Jack. We have to leave soon and we still need to get ready.” Jack merely raised an eyebrow at him. Jamie decided to lay down the law. “Eat, Jack. Or by the gods, not only will I force feed you, complete with airplane noises, but you’ll lose all of your other privileges. That includes what you’re currently wearing.”
“Jeez, okay,” Jack muttered, putting the bottle down and picking up his fork. He yawned again. “I hate morning.”
“If I didn’t already know it would be a terrible idea, I’d offer you some coffee,” Jamie commented, shuttering at the idea of a caffeinated Jack. Satisfied that Jack was now eating, Jamie left the kitchen to get dressed for the day. Fortunately for him, he set his own dress code, so a Green Lantern themed t-shirt and a simple pair of jeans sufficed.
Returning downstairs, Jamie walked in the kitchen just as Jack finished his omelet. He noted a small pile of spinach on one side of the plate. He was also rather surprised to see that the bottle was only half full, considering that was all Jack seemed to want for breakfast. Seeing the wolf, Jack leveled a slightly dark look in his direction and asked accusingly, “Spinach? Really?”
“What?” Jamie asked innocently. “Not like there was a lot in the fridge. Besides, spinach is good for you.” He grabbed the plate and after dumping the spinach down the garbage disposal, rinsed off both plates and putting them in the dishwasher. He then walked over to Jack, who was back to nursing the bottle, and picked him up again. “Come on, grumpy pants. It’s nearly 11, and we are falling behind. Were you serious about me picking your clothes, or are you too rebellious right now?”
“Too many big words this early,” groaned the little cheetah, laying his head on his brother’s shoulder as they moved up the stairs. “Go ahead.”
Jamie snorted as he shouldered the door to Jack’s room open. He lay a smack on the boy’s butt, barely felt through the padding before he sat him on the bed. Jack merely flopped back bonelessly. “I do not envy Dad and Sandra when you’re a teenager. If you’re this moody now, I don’t want to imagine how bad you’ll be then,” Jamie commented as he checked Jack’s diaper. It was still dry, but that was to be expected. Jack had woken up not too long ago. Unless...
“By the way, did you wet your diaper when you came into my room last night?” The wolf asked as he went to Jack’s closet. “I don’t think it would have held any more when I changed you this morning.”
“You changed me this morning?” Jack asked, lifting his head up to regard the wolf going through his closet. “Weird. I don’t remember. But I do remember climbing in your bed and then really needing to pee. I knew I was wearing the diaper, so I did.” Jamie noted happily that he sounded more like the kitten from last night.
“Ok, good,” he replied, pulling out a Batdog themed shirt. “I’d half wondered if you’d wet in your sleep, which wouldn’t have been good.” Jack gave him a quizzical look, so he elaborated. “Dad and Sandra are only gone for two weeks. If you’re wetting the bed suddenly while they’re gone, they’re gonna wonder what’s going on.”
“Would that be so bad?” Jack asked curiously. “At least then I’d be able to wear them all the time, at night anyway.”
“Maybe,” Jamie answered distractedly, grabbing a pair of jeans from the cub’s dresser. “I don’t know Sandra’s opinions, but she strikes me as the type to be sympathetic. But Dad...I’m going to be the first to admit that our disagreements have put my opinion of him in a bad light, but I do recall him remarking to my mom about some of my younger cousins being put in diapers for bedwetting, and how glad he was that I never formed that bad habit.”
Jack bit his lip, looking worried. Jamie sighed and sat next to him, pulling him into a hug. “Hey, let’s not worry about that. I like to think that Dad and I are starting to mend bridges, and it’s possible he’s learned from our disagreements.
“In the meantime, after these two weeks, I’m not going to abandon you. I haven’t been a good big brother to you, but that changes now. I’m going to try to come over more often, and you are more than welcome to come to my apartment anytime, and it’s near the school. I’ll even give you a key. I know there’s a school bus dropoff near my shop, so you can visit me anytime. And I’m going to work on your mom to be your main babysitter until you don’t need one anymore. And should you decide you don’t want to do this anymore,” he again poked Jack’s padded hip for emphasis. “That’s okay. I won’t abandon you for that either. I want to be your big brother, Jackie, diapers or no. So please don’t think that I’m only doing this because of them.”
Jack sniffed, then hugged Jamie with a fervor that caught the wolf off guard. He was crying softly into Jamie’s shoulder, so he just held the little cheetah. He got the sense that he just alleviated one of Jack’s biggest worries, and so he didn’t say a word. He just held and gently rocked the boy until his tears slowly ended.
Pulling away, he gently wiped Jack’s tear streaks away. “You okay now?”
Jack just nodded, not wanting to speak just yet.
“Good,” Jamie smiled at him. “Because now we’re really running late. Let’s get you dressed and then we better get going. C’mon, buddy.”
