Playing House: Nap Time
by J-Raz
for Shade_Koopa
So far, Shade’s bad day was merely embarrassing. It was about to get much worse.
There is no need need for an in-depth recollection of his afternoon so far. It is enough to say that the Koopa runt is currently sitting in a wet diaper and pink tutu and strapped into a high chair at the mercy of his erstwhile charges, and leave it at that.
Tea-time with “Mama” Cynthia and “Papa” Brandon was winding down. Probably. The two younger children hadn’t argued at all while the three of them had been playing house, and the slowly darkening cloudy sky outside meant that he’d be free soon. So, all he needed to do was last just a little bit longer.
The shell-less Koopa shifted in his… no, in THE high chair, and his diaper quietly squelched. Shade winced at the sensation, lightly biting down on the old pacifier in his mouth. It felt a lot wetter than he’d thought it was. He’d need to change soon, Granny wouldn’t let him hear the end of it if he leaked…
Brandon’s fluffy ears twitched, and the husky puppy looked at him curiously. “Oh, is Baby wet?” he asked, helpfully.
Shade’s heart sank. And before he could say a word, he jumped as he felt Cynthia stick a finger between his leg and diaper. Shade’s cheeks burned yet again, for whatever number of times it had happened today. Cynthia made an overly-concerned face.
“Uh-oh, our baby’s really wet, Papa! I think he, I mean, she needs a change!”
Okay, they were taking this Playing House thing a little too far. And they needed to stop calling him a girl. He almost managed to mumble a complaint that he could change his own diaper, only for Brandon to suddenly pop off the highchair’s little table and bodily pull him free. Brandon stumbled slightly, but recovered before he fell. He patted Shade on the back in a way that made Shade spit the pacifier out, which made Cynthia giggle. Shade’s diaper made wet noises as he was squished in Brandon’s arms. “Don’t worry, baby,” the younger husky said, “let Daddy take care of you!”
“N~” Shade managed to say, before Cynthia popped the pacifier back into his mouth. His sucking reflex took over, honed by years of babyish treatment from his mother and granny. Cynthia just smiled at him, before turning to run back to the living room.
“I’ll get his diaper bag,” she called out, and Shade wanted to protest again, but Brandon was already stomping towards Jeremy’s room. It wasn’t a long trip, just down the hallway, but Shade bounced the whole way, his concentration shaken thanks to the shuddering movement and the rubber bulb in his mouth.
Brandon turned into Jeremy’s room, followed shortly by Cynthia dragging Shade’s backpack behind her. The lights clicked on, and Shade had a moment to collect his thoughts, and get a look at Jeremy’s room. Cynthia’s little brother may have already started potty-training, but the little raccoon’s room still felt like a toddler’s room. The walls were baby blue with yellow stars. Some scattered toys that had escaped the toy drawers. A wooden rocking chair sat in one corner. There was still a changing table with its stash of diapers and training pants. And on the far wall…
Shade made a muffled “oof” sound as Brandon almost dropped him onto the colorful play carpet. The tutu flopped up into his face, derailing his attempt to sit up, and then Brandon pulled his shorts off, exposing his sodden diaper to the world. He turned his head to one side, and Cynthia already had his backpack open, and was pulling out some of Shade’s stuff. Shade gulped so hard he almost swallowed his pacifier. But before he could try to spit it out, Brandon started tickling his tummy. Shade giggled and squirmed despite his best efforts: no shell, no protection, and no way to fight back.
“He’s soaked! I guess our baby isn’t ready for the potty yet, Mama!” Brandon teased.
“I know!” Cynthia said as she dropped the changing supplies on the floor next to their babysitter. She patronizingly patted Shade on the head. “Okay, now Mommy’s gonna change your diaper, sweetie!”
His attacker stopped tormenting him enough for him to try and catch his breath. “Wait, why are you gonna change his diaper? I’m the dad, I should do it!” Brandon asked, sounding surprisingly pouty for being preemptively cut out of an activity that parents across time have attempted to escape from.
Cynthia stomped her foot. “Because I’m the one with a baby brother, duh!” she explained slowly, briefly breaking character.
“Oh, right.”
Shade sighed. It was the way they were talking over and around him that got to him. No matter how often it happened, it always made him feel so small and helpless.
“Well, can I at least help?”
“Sure!” Cynthia exclaimed brightly, eager to be helpful. “Now, the first thing we need to do is get the old diaper off so we can clean him!” She suited actions to words, and knelt down so she could undo his tapes. Shade’s eyes shot wide, and he tried to squirm his way out, but then Brandon grabbed his arms and held tight.
“The baby is really fussy, mommy!” Brandon laughed. “I bet he needs a nap!”
“I agree!” she said, nodding seriously as she wiped him not-too-gently with a handful of cold wipes that made him shiver. She wasn’t doing that well of a job, Shade thought. Maybe she wasn’t allowed to change Jeremy without parental supervision. That train of thought was immediately derailed when she grabbed his ankles and tried to lift him into the air like an actual baby. She strained and struggled, but couldn’t get the right leverage. “Daddy, could you help me by lifting the baby, please?” she asked, in a sickly sweet voice.
“Sure!” Brandon on the other hand was strong enough to lift his bottom off the floor, enough for Cynthia to pull the old diaper out and slide the new one under him.
“You can put him down now,” she explained patiently, and Brandon, well, he didn’t quite drop Shade but he did set him down a little quickly, which was muffled slightly by the thick padded material under his bottom. Shade shook his head, trying to clear it, and then Cynthia poured way too much powder onto his diaper area, and he sneezed.
“Aww, so cute!” Cynthia said as she pulled the diaper up and over and started taping Shade into it, and that was when Shade realized that this was a lot thicker than his last diaper. In fact, she’d pulled out one of his nighttime diapers that his mom had insisted he bring just in case it turned into a sleepover. It was easily twice as thick as his normal wear, and she wasn’t even taping it as snuggly as he would have done. He wriggled and squirmed, trying to reach for his pacifier and pull it out, but it was too late: the children he was babysitting had just finished diapering him like a baby.
Yes, today was officially worse.
“All done!” Cynthia said proudly as she clapped her hands.
“Now what?” Brandon asked as he idly poked at Shade’s old diaper with one of his shoes.
“Now the baby needs a nap!” she explained. “He’s obviously really tired and fussy. He’ll feel better once he’s gotten some sleep.”
No, no naps, he did not need a nap, he wasn’t even tired… his body put a lie to that thought, as he failed to fight a yawn.
“Oh, okay,” Brandon said, and then awkwardly picked Shade up off the floor.
“Let’s put him in Jeremy’s crib!”
No, no cribs, he’d only convinced his mom and granny not to make him sleep in a crib a few years ago. He had his own bed and everything. Sure the sheets were colorful and the mattress had a plastic sheet to protect it, but he had a bed. He didn’t need a crib. But Brandon had already marched him over to Jeremy’s crib, and then unceremoniously plopped him down on the childish mattress, and then before he could pull himself up and try to escape Cynthia had lifted the bars up and they latched into place. He was trapped.
“Sleep tight, baby!” Cynthia said as she patted his head through the bars. “We’ll come get you in a little bit!”
“Sweet dreams!” Brandon added, and then the two of them giggled and ran out of the room, stopping only to turn the light off and then closing the door behind them. A little light entered the room from the windows, but not enough to really make anything out yet.
And now Shade was alone in a toddler’s room.
Okay, that’s it, he’d officially had enough. He needed to have a real talk with their parents, and maybe with his mom too, because this was ridiculous. Yes, he needed to somehow reassert his authority, and get them to stop treating him like a baby… he yawned again, much bigger than before, and the pacifier fell out of his mouth and dropped onto the sheets. He sank down onto his bottom, listening to his diaper crinkle. No, he didn’t want to fall asleep, he needed to get out of here. He tried to resist another yawn, but this one was enough to make him topple over on top of a soft fluffy blanket.
Today had just been too much for his body and mind. There was no way he was going to stay awake. Just a few minutes, that’s all he needed. He’d close his eyes for a few minutes, and then get on with escaping…
Shade opened his eyes, and for a minute couldn’t remember where he was or what he was doing. He seemed to remember dreaming that he’d been treated like a baby, again, and that he’d been taking a nap… then he realized he’d actually fallen asleep, and the events of the day came rushing back to him. Oh no. He’d actually fallen asleep.
It took a few seconds to collect his thoughts and gather his surroundings. He was still in Jeremy’s room, and it was dark. The little nightlight threw strange unfamiliar shadows up the walls, and Shade resisted the urge to shiver. He instinctively pulled the soft baby blanket around himself. There wasn’t a clock in the room, but there was a baby monitor on a side table near the crib. And it was late, later than he wanted it to be. Cynthia’s parents would be home soon, and he’d be in big trouble if he wasn’t out of here and back in control before they got back.
Shade turned his thoughts to how he was going to take charge, and that’s when he realized he’d been sucking on the pacifier this entire time and somehow hadn’t noticed. He hadn't even lost it in his sleep. He quickly pulled the offending instrument out of his mouth and glared at it, before angrily throwing it across the room with a quiet plastic ‘tink.’ He breathed a sigh of relief. That was much better. Okay, first step: escape the crib.
This turned out to be harder than he’d expected. His normal daytime diapers didn’t usually give him any trouble moving around, but his thicker night diapers were another story. And these ones hadn’t been put on him properly, which made it worse. He was forced to waddle on the mattress, each step making the waterproof wrapper crinkle with his diapers. It wasn’t helping his mood any. He looked, but he couldn’t see the latches at all. And it was almost impossible to get a proper grip on the crib bars, they were too tall and smooth. He could barely get his arms up to his elbows latched over the edge, but he wasn’t strong enough to lift himself up. What was this, the second or third time today he hated being a runt? And wasn’t Jeremy supposed to be a little escape artist or something like that? Maybe that’s why the bars were so smooth. Well, whatever the reason, it was a real pain in the shell. Time to get creative.
The pillow and blanket went over the side, and then he pushed himself into the corner and scrabbled desperately at the bars with his feet until he was just high enough to get his chest over the top bar, and now…
The bedroom door swung open and the light clicked on.
“Shade Koopa!” a loud and surprised woman’s voice exclaimed.
Shade’s fragile grip and balance vanished, and he slipped back onto his diapered bottom with a quiet “oof.” He quickly stood up and looked through the bars at…
“Grandma?” He felt his face burning like a fire flower. “What’re you doing here?”
Granny Koopa bustled into the room like an angry storm. Shade briefly saw Cynthia and Brandon peering around the door frame before his view was blocked by a looming matriarchal turtle demon.
“Cynthia’s parents are stuck in the city, and they asked me to come over and check on you three kids,” she explained, looking down at him. “I’m glad that I did.” Shade briefly began to hope he’d been rescued… “Were you trying to climb out of that crib on your own?” she asked, glaring down at him.
Shade felt his hope withering, but he gulped and tried to press on. “But, but Grandma, I… I don’t sleep in a crib,” he whined, unaware of just how juvenile he sounded, “I’m a big boy, I mean…”
Granny waggled a clawed finger at him. “That’s not what those two told me. They said you were out like a light almost immediately.”
He quailed under that gaze, averting his eyes in shame. He couldn’t think of a response, anything to say, that could convince her he wasn’t as childish as he looked. He heard her working the latches, and the crib’s side easily dropped down. “N-no, I was just tired, I~hrrf!” he cried out as she picked him up and perched him on her wide hip, the way she liked to carry him ever since he was a real baby. “Granny,” he asked nervously, “where are we going?”
“You know the rules, Shade,” she explained carefully and calmly as she walked towards the rocking chair. He thought quickly, trying to remember what rule she could be talking about… oh no.
“P-please, Granny,” he stammered, “I didn’t mean to…”
“You know you’re not allowed to climb over any barriers, baby,” she confirmed. “That includes cribs.” Grandma sat down in the rocking chair, the wood creaking under her. He briefly managed to see the disappointed look in her eyes before she laid him across her knee, backside up. She raised her hand, and brought it down on his diapered bottom. Smack.
She didn’t hit hard. Granny didn’t need to. It was the humiliation that did all the work for her. He felt the blow through his thick diaper, and heard the other two kids giggling at him. Today had been nothing but embarrassment and indignities, and it was finally too much for him. Smack. His cheeks burned and his eyes welled up with tears, and the world went fuzzy and indistinct as he started to cry.
Smack. And she was done. But Shade was still crying. He didn’t even notice she’d picked him back up until she’d wrapped him in a big gentle hug. He buried his face against her familiar sweater, holding on for comfort.
“You could have been seriously hurt, baby,” she whispered as she gently rocked him. “You know you don’t have a nice hard shell to protect you. I worry so much about my little Koopa-poopa.”
He hated that nickname, so much, but right now he just wanted today to be done and over with. “I’m… s-s-sorry…” he somehow gasped out around his sobs.
“I know you are, honey.” She kept rocking him and patting his back until he finally calmed down. He sniffled as he looked up at his grandma, and her warm smiling face, and he couldn’t help but weakly smile back at her. “That’s a good boy. I love you, baby.”
“L-love you too, Granny,” he sniffled.
She pulled out her favorite hankie and held it up to his snout. “Now, blow.” One good strong blow later and she nodded approvingly, before she looked down and tugged at his diaper’s waistband. “And just look at your diaper!” she said as if she was continuing a conversation. She easily stood up with him in her arms, and carried him over to the changing table. “How did you do the tapes that badly? I thought you said you were old enough to change yourself.”
“B-buh-but it wasn’t meeRRF,” he stammered before his words were cut off by a sudden pacifier that commanded his sucking reflex to give over control of his mouth. The younger raccoon stood nearby, beaming.
“Thank you, Cynthia, you’re being very helpful, dear,” Granny said with a smile. Shade tried to glare at Cynthia, but then Granny laid him down on the smooth crinkling plastic and slipped a little belt around his tummy to hold him in place. “And no buts, Shade! You’re clearly not responsible enough yet. You’ll just have to let mommy and granny do that for you until we’re sure you can do it right. Actually…” she said thoughtfully, before turning around. “Brandon, sweetie?”
“Yes, Missus Koopa?” the husky said quietly from where Shade couldn’t see him. A sense of horrible foreboding came over him…
“Would you come over and help me, dear? I think I’m going to need to show you how to diaper a baby properly, so you can change Shade in the future if he needs the help.”
Cynthia giggled, and Shade’s cheeks burned anew as he suckled furiously on the pacifier. “Of course, Missus Koopa!” Brandon said helpfully, and clambered up on a small stepping block so that he could look down on Shade strapped to the changing table. Granny nodded approvingly, and then turned to work.
“Now, be good for us, Shadey, and it’ll be over soon.” Shade frowned, but nodded. Yes, he just wanted today to be over, and at this point he didn’t care what he had to go through before he could finally go home and try to forget about today.
“Now, the first thing is to get all of your changing supplies together. Wipes, powder, baby oil, and of course, most importantly, the diaper.”
“Can I do the tapes?” Brandon asked as he nodded in agreement.
“When we get to that step, yes, you may. Now…”
And as Brandon ripped at the old diaper’s tapes, Shade resisted the urge to sigh. This might be the last time he babysat for anyone. In more ways than one, he realized as his granny easily lifted his bottom off of the old odd-fitting diaper. There was no way that those two kids would ever stop treating him like a baby now. Today was just a humiliating mess…
j-raz
