Cool Heart stood nervously besides True Heart in the Care-a-lot nursery, shuffling in place as he watched more and more bears arrive.The assortment of multicolored bears and cousins chatted amicably with one another as they took seats among the several bean bags and random chairs that had been set up for the day’s demonstration. Cool Heart swallowed a nervous lump in his throat. Had there always been so many folks up in Care-a-Lot?
Trying to keep his mind off the gathered crowd, he turned to look at True Heart as she set things up. The motherly bear was busy puttering about a large changing table, pulling out supplies and making sure everything was in order, humming an old nursery rhyme to herself as she worked. Anxiously, Cool Heart adjusted the heart shaped shades on his head, approaching True Heart.
“err.. . True Heart? There’s, uh, a lot of folks here…” He whispered nervously.
“I know, isn’t it wonderful?~ It was a stroke of good luck to be able to host this demonstration when all of Care-a-Lot was available! Perhaps we should thank our resident lucky bear for that, hmm?” True Heart giggled softly to herself, missing the way Cool Heart seemed to pale ever so slightly, his nervous fidgeting increasing.
“A-all of Care-a-lot?” He questioned, glancing at the growing audience once more. Great wishing star, he could even see Hugs and Tugs in the audience, holding Grams Bear’s paws and laughing merrily. The brown Care Bear’s cheeks burned bright red at the thought of the two cubs seeing the demonstration, his eyes briefly flickering down to the fluffy white diapers wrapped around the little one’s waists.
“Why of course! It’s a very important lesson for all bears and cousins to learn, so naturally I wanted everyone to be able to see our demonstration today!” True Heart said cheerily. “After all, with all the new cubs we’ve been getting, knowing how to properly change a little one’s diapers should be something everyone knows how to do. We can’t just leave it all to the regular nursery bots, what with how often they can break down.”
Cool Heart sighed, knowing True Heart’s words were true. Care-a-Lot had been getting lots of new cubs lately, appearing from who knows where. It had been manageable at first, with Gram’s, True, and Noble able to care for the little tykes, but they weren’t machines and needed breaks, especially with Gram’s already busy with Hugs and Tugs. There was of course Cool Heart’s friend and adoptive brother (whether he was his younger or older brother was something that tended to change often), Young-at-Heart Bear, who could often babysit most of the new cubs to help ease the burden.
Even with Young getting help from Plush Heart, a robotic care bear caretaker, It would still be much easier to simply teach all the other bears and cousins how to properly babysit. Despite being great with kids, some bears were just not very good with cubs. Cool Heart decidedly did not look over at Champ Bear at that thought. Luckily all the aforementioned cubs were currently being watched by Plush Heart, the robo caretaker up to the task of playing daycare attendant for a few hours by its lonesome.
That all brought them to the current situation, where Cool Heart would be helping True Heart demonstrate how to properly care for cubs, in order for everyone to be able to pitch in and help with the influx of little ones. Cool Heart, wanting to help, had volunteered to assist True Heart when she’d asked for anyone willing to help lend a paw at the last meeting discussing the issue.
“I think that’s just about everyone now, '' True Heart said, dusting off her paws and walking up beside Cool Heart. “Once again, thank you ever so much for agreeing to help me, dear. This will be much easier to demonstrate with a bear instead of a doll~” Smiling, the motherly bear gently pat Cool Heart’s cheek, bringing a blush to his face and making something flutter in his tummy.
“‘C-course! No, uh, no problem True Heart! Happy to help!” He replied, smiling nervously. There was, of course, a major problem. He’d agreed to help True Heart out under the impression he’d be helping set up supplies, or even demonstrating things on dolls, or even on one of the actual cubs. He was a pretty decent babysitter, if he said so himself, so he thought himself up to the task.
Unfortunately, this was not what True Heart needed help with. No, she had the setup covered and would prefer not to use the cubs for demonstrations, as they were, in her words, ‘too squirmy to show techniques off properly’. Which meant Cool Heart had apparently agreed to help out with a babysitting demonstration… as the [i[baby[/i].
And as mortifyingly embarrassing as that was, it would’ve been horribly rude to just go back on his word after agreeing, especially with how happy it had made True Heart to hear. So Cool Heart figured he’d suck it up and bear it. After all, with the bears and cousins usually busy on missions, surely there’d only be a handful of folks that would come to the demonstration, right?
‘Oh man, this was a big mistake…’ Never before had Cool Heart wanted to kick his past self in the butt than at that very moment, watching every single bear and cousin he knew settle into the surprisingly spacious nursery. He even spotted Young and Grumpy seated at the very front, the former giving him a cheerful wave, and the latter looking at Cool Heart with a somewhat teasing smirk and a raised brow. The brown bear felt his cheeks heat up, the thought of a cool bear like Grumpy having front row seats to the demonstration making his entire face burn.
“Thank you all for coming, everyone!” True Heart’s announcement startled Cool Heart, pulling him from his thoughts as everyone in the nursery quieted down.
“As you all know,” The motherly bear began, moving away from the changing table to address the audience, “there’s been a very recent influx of adorable little cubs up here in Care-a-Lot.” A soft murmur of agreements rose, many bears nodding along at the fact. In the back, Hugs and Tugs were gently hushed by Grams as they cheered, no doubt the most excited about all the new playmates they’d been having. True Heart smiled and continued.
“And while of course, new friends and family are always welcome here with us, I’m afraid we all simply weren’t prepared to take on so many new little ones at once! So, in an effort to ease the burden on the few caretakers we have, and on both Brightheart and Grumpy who’ve been working double duty to keep up our auto-nursery-” both mechanics slump in relief at this. “I’ve decided to hold this little demonstration, to ensure every member of the Care Bear family knows how to properly take care of our new cubs~”
More murmurs rose up amongst the gathered crowds as bears excitedly spoke to each other about learning to take care of cubs. More than a few bears had been wanting to lend a paw in taking care of the cubs after all, in order to help ease the burden. An orange paw rose out of the crowd, waving slightly in the air. True Heart, with a patient smile, turned and addressed the bear it belonged to.
“Yes, Champ?”
Champ Bear rubbed the back of his head, looking somewhat sheepish as everyone’s gaze turned towards him.
“Err… not that I don’t wanna help out ,True Heart. But do we all gotta learn? I’m, uh, not so good at that kinda stuff…” A pair of giggles rang out from the back where Grams and the twins were, the latter whispering to each other and laughing at a sort of inside joke. Champ blushed, having a bit of an idea of what the two cubs may have been talking about.
True Heart chuckled softly in response to Champ’s question. “Hehe, well, while I don’t expect you all to become experts in cub sitting overnight, I would appreciate if you did your very best to follow along.” She explained patiently. Then, with a teasing smile, she winked at Champ.
”With enough practice, perhaps even you can learn how to change a diaper, Champ. Without the cubs looking like adorable little mummies afterwards of course~”
The orange bear chuckled sheepishly, cheeks red as the bears all around laughed good naturedly at the athletic bear’s expense. True Heart meanwhile, maintained the teasing grin on her face and looked over the rest of the assembled bears and cousins. “That goes for all the rest of you as well! Noble, Grams, and I have changed all of your collective tushies enough times over the years, so the least you all can do is pitch in with these newcomers~”
True Heart giggled brightly as a wave of blushing cheeks and good natured laughter took over the assembled crowd. Cool Heart found himself laughing along as well, some of his nerves easing as True Heart spoke with and teased the crowd.
‘Maybe this won’t be so bad?’ He thought.
“Now-’ True Heart began. "As much as I'd love to stand here and tease you all a little more, Plush Heart can only keep the cubs occupied by themselves for so long. So without further ado, lets begin with our demonstration~ And to help make this as informative as possible, I’ve gone ahead and enlisted the help of our dear friend Cool Heart, who will be taking the role of our adorable demonstration cub~”
‘Nevermind, this is going to be mortifying…’ Cool Heart gulped, sweating nervously as True Heart motioned over to him. She smiled brightly at him and clapped excitedly, prompting all the other bears and cousins to do the same. Many giggles and good natured laughter joined the claps as the crowd realized Cool Heart would be playing the role of oversized cubs in the demonstration. Near the front, Share and Cheer let out a soft ‘daaawwww’ clasping their paws over their chests at the thought.
With burning cheeks, Cool Heart turned away from the crowd and looked nervously over at True Heart. Seeing this, the motherly bear smiled gently, reaching over to rub the nervous bear’s back soothingly.
“There, there, Cool Heart, there’s no need to be nervous! Why, I’m sure you’ll make the perfect cub for the demonstration~” She said happily, mistaking Cool Heart’s embarrassment for nerves.
“U-uh, T-true Heart? I’m uh, not, uh, n-not so sure about this anymore…” Cool Heart stammered out, the reality of the situation properly dawning on him as True Heart began to guide him over to the changing table. In response, True Heart simply giggled, patting the bear on the head, making something warm flutter in his tummy.
“It’ll be alright, sweetheart, you’ll do great~ Now, why don’t you hop up on the changing table so we can get started, hmm?” The motherly bear patted the table softly, smiling so lovingly at Cool Heart that what little fight he had in him drained away. He most definitely did not want to hop on and get started. Especially not when it would mean True Heart would be putting a diaper on him in front of literally all of Care-a-Lot! Even so, he wanted to disappoint True Heart even less than that.
With a reluctant sigh, Cool Heart hopped onto the table, noting how soft and comfortable it was. He once again found himself red faced (had it ever not been red since he walked into the room?) as True Heart gently pushed down on his chest, guiding him down to lay back on the table. She gave his head another gentle rub, eliciting another warm flutter in the bear’s tummy, and turned to the other bears as she began gathering supplies.
“Alrighty now everyone, pay close attention! Our adorable little demonstration baby will be helping me show you the proper[i/] way to get cubs like him safe and snug in their diapers~”
Another round of ‘daaawwws’ and good natured giggles followed as Cool Heart covered his burning face with his paws.
“First of course, we’ll need to get the baby’s diapers~” True Heart sing-songed, grabbing one of the fluffy white cloth diapers from the stack. “While I’m aware some of our new cubs prefer disposables, we’ll be going with the tried and true classic that I’m sure all your tushies are familiar with for this demonstration~” Giggling at the blushes she could see from the crowd, True Heart turned to gently pat Cool Heart’s tushie as she grabbed his legs in a gentle yet firm grip.* “Lift your tushie for me a bit, sweetie~” She called softly, prompting the embarrassed bear to comply and allowing True Heart to slip the padding beneath his bum.
‘It’s… s-soft…’ Cool Heart’s first thoughts at feeling the diaper beneath him was how incredibly comfortable it felt. He’d compare it to sitting on a soft fluffy cloud, but living somewhere that was [i[made of clouds, he could assuredly say that the diaper was definitely softer. Part of him… kinda liked it…
His cheeks burned even brighter at the thought and he did his best to shake his head to get rid of them. He was a big burr! Err, an adult! He couldn’t like something as utterly babyish as a [i[diaper[/i] of all things!... could he?
The blushing bear was brought out of his thoughts as True Heart rubbed his tummy gently, thanking him for doing as he was told. “Now, once you have the diaper under their tushies, its time for the baby powder~”
Producing a bright blue bottle, True Heart proceeded to start gently showering Cool Heart’s diaper area in the sweet smelling powder.
“It’s very important you make sure the cub gets looooots of powder, everyone! Not only does it help prevent nasty things like rashes, but it makes them smell so adorably sweet~” The bear giggled, grabbing a cloud shaped applicator and patting all over Cool Heart’s tushie to make sure the bear was nice and covered. The chorus of coos and giggles from the crowd continued on as the change progressed, making Cool Heart squirm in embarrassment. Said wiggling was halted swiftly by True Heart, who reached out to gently boop the blushing bear.
“ Now, now sweetie, I don’t need a squirmy wormy for this change now do i?~” She said softly, giggling at Cool Heart’s blushing face. The brown bear let out an embarrassed whine, covering his face once again and doing as told. The bear wanted to believe that True Heart was being purposefully teasing on purpose just to embarrass him, but he knew that the motherly bear was just like that. Taking every opportunity to tease all of her cubs, no matter how old they were. Truthfully, a part of him enjoyed it. The way she would playfully pinch his cheeks or gently rub his head. She’d tease and poke fun at him (and others) but never in a mean way. It was all done with the same maternal love she held for each and every bear and cousin in Care-a-Lot.
‘Geeze, she’s really treating me like I’m a real cub… I know it's supposed to be a demonstration on caring for a cub, but still, it's so embarrassing! Even so…’ Despite the situation, Cool Heart found himself smiling shyly ‘all of the attention sorta feels… really nice…’
“Now then, once you’ve made sure your baby is smelling nice and sweet, it's time to finish tying up their diapers~” Brought out of his musings once more by True Heart’s sing-songy voice, Cool Heart watched as the cream colored bear motioned for the crowd to come closer. “Now, come closer if you can, it can be a little hard to see from so far away after all!” She said, pulling the front of the diaper over and between Cool Heart’s legs to rest it on his tummy.
Cool Heart let out a surprised squeak as most of the bears and cousins in the room surged forwards to crowd around the changing table. He found himself fighting off the urge to squirm and cover his face as the amused faces of his friends suddenly came into view. He could see Young giving him an encouraging thumbs up, while Grumpy smirked teasingly beside him.
“Daaww, see Grumpy?” The purple bear began, nudging his blue pal playfully. “Told ya Cool Heart would make the cutest lil’ demo baby!” Grumpy rolled his eyes at the grinning bear, letting out a good natured chuckle. “Hehe, yeah, I guess he is pretty adorable. Maybe we should keep ‘em in diapers more often.” Though his tone was playful, Cool Heart felt the bear may not have been joking.
“Pretty adorable???” A voice cut in from the other side of the table, causing Cool Heart to turn and look over, spotting Share, Cheer, and Wish bear smiling down at him adoringly. Cheer giggled softly while the other two bears cooed down at him. “I’d say he's more than just pretty adorable, Grumpy. Why, he’s positively precious~” Cheer finished, reaching over to playfully pinch one of Cool Heart’s cheeks, eliciting an embarrassed whine from the bear and causing him to hide his face behind his paws to hide the soft smile he found himself fighting to keep off his face. Naturally, this triggered a chorus of awws from the gathered bears.
“Goody, goody, gosh, Tugs! I didn’t know they made diapers that big!”
“Gee, me neither, Hugs! Maybe they make ‘em special for big cubs like Cool Heart?”
Aaaannnd now the actual cubs in the rooms were talking about how big his diapers were. If Cool Heart got any redder folks might start confusing him for Always There Bear…
From the relative safety of hiding behind his paws, the blushing bear heard more and more folks give their own two cents about how cute they thought he was. From how adorable he looked in his diapers, to the cute way he was blushing and hiding behind his paws. Cool Heart was showered in good natured teasing, offers to bring him things like plushies, bottles, or pacis being given out left and right.
Yet despite what should’ve been an absolutely embarrassing situation, Cool Heart found himself giggling softly at it all, still hiding his smile behind his paws. Sure, he was embarrassed, but a part of him was also enjoying all the attention, even if he wouldn’t admit it. Having everyone talk about him so sweetly, the gentle rubs and playful teasing remarks… There was something simply wonderful about it at all!
The soft sound of a throat being cleared brought everyone’s attention back to True Heart, who stood holding part of Cool Heart’s untied diaper in one paw as she looked on at all the bears in amusement. “While appreciate the enthusiasm, and agree that little Cool Heart makes for an exceptionally adorable cub~” cue another embarrassed squeak from said cub ” I think it might be best if you all let me finish making sure his diapers are nice and snug before whisking him away for cuddles, hm?”
True Heart giggled as the crowd backed off a little, the group slightly embarrassed at having interrupted the demonstration with their eagerness. Nodding in satisfaction, True Heart gave Cool Heart’s head a gentle, soothing rub, before going to finish the diaper change.
“Now, watch carefully~ This is the proper way to make sure a baby’s diaper is nice and snug without being too tight.” The bears all watched in fascination as True Heart expertly tied both knots, tugging at the waistband and leg gathers of Cool Heart’s diapers to adjust the fit. And before long, the change was complete, and Cool heart found himself sitting up on the changing table and looking down at the fluffy white diapers now spreading his leg with a blush and a soft smile.
‘Ah geez, it really is super soft… So comfy… b-but I dunno if I can close my legs like this? Guess I might be waddlin’ for a bit…’
“And there you have it, everyone! One perfectly changed diaper, and one very[i/] happy cub as you can see~” Everyone giggled at that, drawing another blushy smile from the cub in question. “Now” True Heart continued, looking at Cool Heart with a teasing smile. “what do we say Cool Heart?“
The brown care bear jumped slightly, brought out of his musings by the motherly bear's words. He blinked in confusion for a moment before his eyes lit up in realization. With a shy smile, he began fiddling with his paws.. “A-ah… t-thank you, True Heart. For the, uh, d- uh…” He paused, glancing away from True Heart. “D-diaper change…” He finished softly, another round of coo’ing ensuing from the crowd, joined by True Heart’s giggles.
“Why, you’re very[i/] welcome little Cool Heart~” Reaching over, she gave the bear a gentle hug, lifting him off the table with surprising strength and playfully patting his padded tushie, causing a puff of powder to poof out of his diapers, followed by another round of giggles.
She set the overgrown cub on his feet by the table, where he promptly nearly lost his balance due to the thickness of his new diapers spreading his legs apart. True Heart helped steady the bear with a gentle grip and patted his head.
“There we go, up and at em~ That wasn’t so bad, now was it Cool Heart?”
The bear chuckled in response. “Haha, I-I guess not, True Heart. Suppose I was a little worried over nothing.” He finished, chuckling in embarrassment and prompting a giggle from the motherly bear. “It seems so~” Giving him one last hug, True Heart then reached down to grab Cool Heart’s paw and began to lead him to the other side of the room.
“I’m glad you’re not feeling nervous anymore, Cool Heart. After all, we still have quite a bit of the demonstration left to go~” She said with a cheery expression, causing Cool Heart to blink in confusion.
“W-wait, you mean that wasn’t it?” He asked, the fluttering in his tummy from before coming back.
“Why of course not! There’s much[i/] more to taking care of a cub than just changing their diapers after all~ There's bottle feedings, dressing them, bath time, and play time to name a few! Not to worry though, there’s plenty of time to go over them all~”
With each activity True Heart mentioned, Cool Heart’s blush, which had finally begun to go down, returned and grew deeper. He watched as the cream colored bear motioned for the crowd to follow after them as they approached a wardrobe that wasfilled to the brim with some of the most babyish outfits Cool Heart had ever seen.
“Now then everyone,” True Heart called in her sing-songy voice” since our adorable little cub is nice and snug in his soft, fluffy diapers, it's time to get him dressed! For this part of the demonstration, I’ll have you all participate and help out,so look around and pick an outfit for the cub, then we can get started~”
Cool Heart gulped, watching the excited crowd surge forth and start grabbing outfits upon outfits. From simple t-shirts to… was that a sailor suit?? The bear could feel the excited, tingly, fluttering in his tummy return full force and sighed in mock resignation, a small shy smile blooming on his face.
While the next couple hours were no doubt going to be terribly embarrassing for the care bear, at least everyone thought he was cute.
digitz from a lil while back :https://inkbunny.net/s/3215612
