“S-Sally!” Tails stammered, scrambling for his blanket at the foot of his bed. “W-what are you... why...” In his panic, he accidentally tossed his sheets off the bed and onto the floor. He locked up, face completely flush, his eyes darting between his covers and a still-shocked Sally. Another moment of silence passed. Then Tails curled into a ball, wrapping his tails around his body.
Sally was still trying to make sense of it. When Tails was younger, he had some... nighttime issues. As his caretaker, she’d done her best to help him out- she’d quietly clean his sheets, give him advice to help stop his accidents, and try to comfort him whenever they happened. His problems never seemed to get any better, so eventually she had to convince him to wear “protection” at night. The little fox didn’t like being forced to wear diapers, and he really didn’t like Sally always being the one to diaper him before going to bed, even though he couldn’t really do it himself. He whined about it every night, even though it was better than the alternative. She still treated him like she always did, and tried to be as gentle about it as she could. She got him plain diapers without babyish designs and made sure nobody else knew about it. Eventually, Tails did grow out of it, and they never talked about it again.
If he’d relapsed and started having problems again, it could explain his behavior. He was still young enough that it could happen. But he hadn’t been this reclusive the first time around, so why would he be now? He’d gone so far as to push Sally to leave him alone on the Sky Patrol. It wasn’t like he’d really...
Could he...?
Sally was suddenly broken out of her thoughts when Tails made a sound. The poor little fox was crying.
Instinctively, she grabbed his blanket off the floor and wrapped it around his shoulders. It did nothing to make him feel better, and he just kept quietly sobbing. Sally sat on the bed next to him and tried talking to him.
“Tails?”
Nothing.
“Tails, is something wrong?”
All he did was shake his head and curl up tighter.
Sally racked her brain trying to think of some way to help him. She didn’t like seeing him cry. It was kind of her fault, since she could have at least knocked first, but it wasn’t like she could just leave him alone now.
“I’m sorry,” she said, moving a little closer. “I shouldn’t have walked in on you like that. It’s just... you haven’t been yourself lately, and I wanted to see if you were okay.”
Tails sniffled some more.
“I just want you to know,” she continued, “whatever it is you’re going through, I’m here for you.” She reached over and began gently stroking his ears. He used to love that. “You’ve always been so sweet.”
Finally, he untucked his head and looked at her. She returned a warm, loving smile to him.
“I-I didn’t want you to know...” he choked out, then broke down sobbing again.
“Know what?” Sally asked. “Have you been having accidents again?”
“N-No... I mean, yes, I... I don’t...”
“It's okay, Tails. You can talk when you’re ready.”
All Sally could do then was put her arms around him and wait for him to calm down. It was still a bit hard for her to focus, which made trying to talk to him that much harder. She just couldn’t think of anything else to say to him.
“Sally?” Tails eventually spoke up once he’d stopped crying.
She let go of him so he could look at her.
“You like me, right?”
“Of course I do.
“And... you’re okay with me... wearing...” He shied away from Sally. “You know...”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because I... I’m not...” His whole body tensed up, and he could feel his stomach turn at the thought of trying to tell Sally. She seemed to be kind now, but for all she knew, she thought he’d been wetting the bed again. Of course it was easy for her to accept. He bit his lip and took a deep breath. He couldn’t stand the thought of lying to-
“Tails...”
“I’ve been wearing diapers because I like to!” he practically yelled at Sally.
Burying his head back into his knees, he couldn’t even cry anymore. He’d been humiliated enough. Even Sally knew about his strange obsession now. Might as well announce to the rest of the Freedom Fighters everything wrong with him. At least they wouldn’t make fun of him, they’d just never talk to him again. Just like Bunnie...
“Huh?” Suddenly, he felt Sally hug him again, holding him even more tightly than before.
“That’s okay, Tails.”
“Wha...?” He turned and looked up towards her, giving him just as warm of a smile as before. “You really think that?”
Sally nodded. “I mean it.”
He didn’t quite feel relieved yet, but it was still a load off his shoulders. He scooted over next to her on the edge of the bed, still keeping himself covered with the blanket. Even if Sally could tolerate it, he wasn’t ready to let her see him like that yet.
“Do you wanna talk about it?”
“I guess.” He could at least snuggle up to her. Tails always loved hugs.
“I remember you used to hate wearing diapers to bed.”
“I did,” he replied, blushing profusely since Sally was actually using the word. “It was, kind of, I dunno. Different, I guess. It's like... I can wear them now, because I want to. I don’t really need to.” He shifted a little in Sally’s arms. “Once I was out of them, I kinda started to miss them.” His fuzzy cheeks turned an even darker shade of red. “They did help me sleep, since I knew I wouldn’t wake up... well, you know. And they’re actually pretty comfy...”
Sally couldn’t help but giggle a little bit when he said that, which earned her a small glare from Tails. “Sorry. Continue.”
“I tried not to think about it,” he started again, “I knew that I shouldn’t like this sort of thing, but... I couldn’t help it. Once we moved aboard the Sky Patrol, and I had some privacy, I snuck some aboard and hid them in my room. I wear them sometimes, when I get a chance to be alone.”
“Is that why you wanted me and Nicole to leave?”
Tails nervously crossed his paws. “Yeah...”
“Tails...”
“I’m sorry, Sally,” he began getting choked up again. “I just really wanted to be alone for awhile, after I...”
Sally pulled him a little closer.
“I just... I really felt like...” He took a deep breath, trying to not start crying again. “I still felt like a... freak.” The two-tailed fox hated that word. “I really wanted to tell one of my friends. I thought maybe I’d feel better if I wasn’t just hiding it all the time. I thought I could at least tell Bunnie. She knows what it feels like when people don’t like you being... different.” He forced down a sob when he remembered when he went to her, more shy and nervous than he’d ever been about anything in his life. “When I finally tried to talk to her though, she... freaked out.”
“‘Freaked out?’”
“Y-yeah...” he stammered. “She was really upset about it. She said it... it was wrong for me to like that kind of thing. I tried to...”
Tails choked up, on the verge of tears again, unable to bring himself to even face Sally. It seemed strange to her for Bunnie to take such an aggressive stance to his ‘interest.’ Sure, she could be pretty short tempered, but Tails was like a little brother to her. They cared about each other too much to let something like that come between them. While Bunnie could be sensitive, she’d never take such offense to anything... unless it was personal.
“I’m sorry she treated you like that,” was all Sally could come up with. If she were holding him any more tightly, she’d probably crush the poor fox cub.
“I thought she’d just make fun of me. I didn’t think she’d...” he trailed off.
“Have you at least tried talking to her since then?”
He shook his head in response. “She doesn’t want to talk about it. But I don’t really want to, either. It was bad enough once.”
“Oh, Tails.” Letting go, she knelt on the floor in front of him. “I know it's hard. I’ve seen Bunnie get upset before.”
“Not like this...”
“I know,” she pressed. “But she’s had long enough to think about it. If you just tried-”
“You don’t understand!” Tails snapped, starting to curl up again.
“I do, Tails. Because I-”
She stopped.
Tails had just completely opened himself up to her. She knew all about his secret. And yet she instinctively forced herself to not tell him the same thing.
Tails looked at her with his shimmering blue eyes again. She could tell he already had an idea of what she was going to say. What he wanted her to say.
He needed a big sister. While the idea was there, Sally had avoided making this about her, or what she wanted. Tails needed someone to listen to him, not baby him. But after hearing what happened, it seemed different to her. Like he felt alone.
Maybe that’s what he really needed. Someone to make him feel like he wasn’t the only person in the world like this.
She sighed and closed her eyes.
“Because... I like wearing diapers, too.”
For a moment, Tails’ bedroom fell silent. Sally never really planned to tell anyone else about her little secret.
“When I was about your age, I had my own problems with bedwetting,” she began. “Without... my mother... I was pretty much raised by Rosie, and you know she can be... strict. So she didn’t take it very well. Said it was... ‘unbecoming’ of a young princess.”
“So... you had to wear diapers to sleep, like you had me do?”
“Well... no. Rosie never went that far. She tried pretty much everything else so I’d stop, but after awhile, I wished I were just put in diapers. Even when I didn’t have an accident most nights, I had trouble sleeping because I was afraid I would. I thought that I’d be able to sleep better if I were wearing one. And I guess my curiosity just never went away.”
For a moment, Tails’ room was silent again. Then Tails started giggling. Sally was just glad he was smiling again.
“What?” she teased.
“Hehehe... nothing,” he laughed. “I just... I never would’ve thought you, of all people, would like this, too.”
“Heh. I guess I wouldn’t believe it, either,” Sally replied. She casually looked down and noticed an open box on the floor. “What’s this?” she teasingly asked, already knowing what it was as she reached towards it.
“Huh?” Almost immediately, he stopped laughing. “Wait, no! Don’t go-”
“Too late.” She took out one of the diapers and began looking it over. When she walked in on Tails putting his diaper on, she hadn’t really gotten a good look at it (not that she’d even thought to). “Still plain white? Gotta say it Tails, I’m a little disappointed. They make diapers your size with all sorts of cute designs.”
“I’m not a baby, Sally...”
She chuckled at his protest as she put his diaper back. “You’re my baby, Tails.”
It was adorable to her how hard the little fox was frowning at her.
“Oh, come here you.” She pulled Tails into a loving embrace and gave him a kiss on each of his fuzzy cheeks, then kissed him once more on the nose. Tails’ eyes immediately lit up when she did that.
“You remember the funny kiss?”
Sally nodded. “Of course I do. I could never forget how much you loved it.”
That small, nostalgic gesture was enough to get through to him. Tails tossed aside his blanket and leapt into a surprised Sally’s arms. Thrown off balance, she fell on her backside, consumed by a fit of giggles. She sat back up, holding him tightly, and lovingly nuzzled him. Tails tucked his head under Sally’s chin. The two of them silently cuddled for a little bit, just enjoying the intimacy they had missed. He felt so warm and safe in her arms.
“Still sleepy?” Sally asked. “I’d love to tuck you in.”
“I... wasn’t really tired at all,” he sheepishly admitted. “I just wanted to be alone so I could... you know...”
Sally chuckled as she carried Tails back to his bed. “Thought so,” she said as she laid him back down. “I’ll give you your privacy, though-”
“A-actually...” he cut her off. “I was thinking... since, you know... we’re alone, and it's just you, and me, and Nicole’s kinda busy-”
“You want me to stay here with you?” she smiled.
Tails nervously tapped his toes together and looked down, blushing. “Yeah... I mean, only if you want to...”
Sally chuckled and gave him a little hug. “Of course I want to.”
“Thanks, Sally-”
“Just as soon as I get a couple things.”
“Huh...?” Tails was taken aback as she stood up and left. “W-what things?”
“You’ll see,” she sweetly said as she left.
He had a pretty good idea.
