HTTYD - Day 23, Part 4a

ok so yet again im posting half of what the chapter is supposed to be cuz I thought I'd finish it all last night but then I went to bed early and am busy today so 4b will be coming soon, but this is still a hefty sized portion for now

======================

Friday, November 6 (cont.)

======================

After their game of Twister, the girls had decided to get ready for bed. It wasn’t even 8 o’clock yet, but they’d wanted to at least put on their pajamas. Marcus still felt comfortable wearing his day clothes for the time being though, so he checked up on his emails in the living room while everyone else got changed.

“You can come in now!” Jessie yelled from down the hallway, and he looked up to see her door swing open.

“That’s OK honey, you guys should have some girl time to yourselves,” he shouted back, returning to his phone.

“Daaaaddyyyyyyy,” she called out, “just c’mere!” Marcus sighed and put down his phone. I would’ve expected a bunch of teenage girls to wanna spend some time hanging out without someone like me around, he thought, walking down the hallway. Maybe she needs something though?

“What’s up?” he asked, peeking in through her doorway. Paris and Veronica were sitting on the floor, and he saw that his daughter had changed into a black sports bra and satin pajama shorts, also black, and was lazily sprawled out on her bed browsing through Twitter on her phone. She’d put on socks too, since her feet were starting to get cold. His face contorted in a mixture of surprise and confusion, “How many times have you changed today?” First she had wore her regular clothes to school, and then had been in her volleyball uniform for practice, and then changed back to her regular clothes, and then put on yoga pants for the Twister game before changing into this. “I figured you would’ve just gone to bed with what you’d been wearing.”

“What, my yoga pants?” she asked, and he nodded. “They aren’t pajamas; I can’t sleep in those.”

“Aren’t you always going on about how comfy they are to wear all the time?”

“Yeah,” she laughed, “but that doesn’t make them good for sleeping in.”

“If you say so.” He sighed, resigning that he just didn’t know enough about what girls wore and that she’d know better on the subject than him. “So, why’d you want me to come in?”

“Because! You’re part of the gang now, Daddy!” She bit her lip excitedly and patted the area next to her on her bed, inviting him to sit down with them. “You don’t have to hide away the whole night.”

He reluctantly made his way over to his daughter’s bed. “I watched TV with you guys, filmed some TikToks, and played Twister. I wouldn’t say that qualifies as ‘hiding the whole night.’” He obviously liked spending time with Jessie, but it wasn’t one-on-one, father/daughter time when her friends were around. But I guess I don’t really have anything better to do anyways, he thought as he took a seat on her bed. I should probably spend as much time with her while I still can though, in a few years she’s gonna be itching for independence and won’t be so inviting all the time.

Paris spoke up next, “Why aren’t you wearing your pajamas Mr. Tilden?” Her nighttime outfit consisted of a purple band t-shirt and a pair of shorts that were so short, it didn’t look like she was was wearing any pants at all since they were covered by the t-shirt. And Veronica had on a spaghetti strap top with checkered sweat pants.

Marcus shrugged in response to Paris’ question, “I usually don’t change until right before bed.”

Their conversation had given Veronica an idea. He didn’t see it, but she looked him up and down, wondering if she’d be able to pull her idea off. “Hey Jessie, do you keep your old clothes that you grow out of? Like from when you were younger?” Jessie looked over at Veronica, then thought about what she’d asked. “Or Mr. Tilden, maybe you kept some of them. Like the kind of stuff you keep to remember her by when she’s old and moves out. My parents did that for me and my siblings, I dunno if other families do that kind of thing though.”

Jessie scratched her neck. “I think so. Don’t we keep that kinda stuff in the garage?” she asked, turning to her dad.

He nodded, both of them completely oblivious and unsuspecting of what Veronica might be up to. “Yeah, it’s in one of the upper cupboards, on the right side. You might need to use the step stool to reach it.”

“Ooooh! I’ll go see if I can find it,” she exclaimed with a smile, hopping off her bed and dashing out to see if she could go find it.

“What makes you ask?” Paris inquired as they waited for her to return.

“I was just curious if other people did it or if it was just like a unique thing that my family did. I didn’t expect her to show me, but if she wants to…” She shrugged, pretending she was indifferent. Veronica wasn’t entirely lying—she was curious, and her parents did do that with her and her siblings. But she had hoped that Jessie would want to bring out her past life’s souvenirs.

“Yeah, my mom and dad do the same thing,” Paris said. “I think it’s pretty common actually, parents like that kinda stuff, right?” They turned to Marcus, the only parent in the room.

He nodded, “I never saw any point in getting rid of it, and it’s always nice to bring back memories of when Jessie was just a kid whenever I look at that kind of stuff.”

They heard the door to the garage open again, and the flurry of foot steps as Jessie came running back to her room. She was carrying a box in her hands, and she set it down on the ground so everyone could see inside as she knelt down beside it. “There were actually a few boxes, but since I could only carry one I picked the oldest stuff,” she said, and pulled out some of the items on top. On top was the mobile for her crib, with pink and white plush animals that hung from it when she picked it up.

“Awwww, that’s kinda cute,” Paris said, and Marcus smiled at seeing the girls sift through Jessie’s old baby memorabilia. He got off her bed and went over to stand next to Jessie, looking down into the box as she pulled out more stuff.

“It looks like it’s mostly clothes and toys,” Jessie commented, pulling out some alphabet books, a farm animal puzzle, and a cute summer dress with cartoon dolphins and beach balls on it.

“This stuff is adorable,” Veronica remarked, genuinely smiling. Just because she had a plan in the back of her mind didn’t mean that she didn’t still think her friend’s baby things were cute. Jessie blushed, vaguely remembering bits and pieces of her early childhood.

But then at the bottom of the box was a large ziplock bag with ‘EMERGENCY’ written on it. “Oh yeah, I remember that,” Marcus said. “I used to always keep that in the car.” Inside was a first-aid kit, a miniature blanket, some sunscreen, a small pack of wipes, and a few diapers. Veronica unzipped the bag, and pulled out the diapers with gleaming eyes.

“Do those even still work?” Paris asked with a laugh.

“Well they’re not food, I don’t see why they wouldn’t,” Marcus answered, but wondered the same thing.

Veronica held them up, and then her eyes shifted to Marcus who was standing on the other side of the box, and her eyes went wide. “Wait, I wonder if they’d fit you Mr. Tilden! You’re probably pretty close to the same size Jessie was when she was a baby.”

Marcus’ smile faltered and his face went pale, but Jessie grinned at the notion and grabbed one of the diapers from the bag. She turned to her dad and thrust the diaper against his pelvis to see how it compared. “Oh my God, I think it might actually fit you Daddy.”

Marcus shook his head and started to back away. “I don’t think I like where you guys are headed with this,” he said, laughing nervously.

“Oh come on,” Jessie said, scooting forward and tilting her head endearingly. “Obviously we’re not gonna make you take all your clothes off, we just wanna see if it fits you. It’ll be cute,” she encouraged.

“We should give him some privacy so he can change,” Veronica offered, and stood up to head out of the room, with Jessie agreeing following suit.

Paris was a bit uneasy about the whole thing given how reluctant Mr. Tilden had seemed. “Are you sure you wanna do it?” she asked him quietly. “You don’t have to, you know.” He was grateful for Paris’ endless kindness, but at the same time he felt as if she spoke to him like an adult comforting a kid, when he was the adult and she was supposed to be the younger one.

He sighed and smiled at her, but decided that maybe it wouldn’t actually be that bad. “It’s fine Paris, I know they’re just trying to have fun. Thank you for asking though,” he added, putting his hand on her shoulder. She faintly returned his smile, thinking that the whole idea was weird and taking his side more than her friends. But ultimately, as long as he said he was fine with it, she didn’t feel like they were peer pressuring him to do anything, so she stood up and joined the other two girls outside in the hallway, shutting the door behind her.

Well first off, Marcus thought to himself as he began to take off his pants, I am not taking off my underwear. I don’t need my dick touching that thing, and just cuz I’m gonna wear it for a few minutes doesn’t mean I’ll be using it. That’d be a line he wouldn’t cross, no matter what anyone said. But he knew it’d never come to that, Jessie was old enough and smart enough to know that that was too far. Standing in Jessie’s room in his underwear, but with his shirt still on, he looked over at one of the diapers and held it up. As much as he hated to admit it, it definitely looked like it would fit him. He turned it around in his hands, inspecting it from a few angles to try and figure out which end was supposed to be the front—it had been so long since Jessie was a baby herself. I think the more padded side is supposed to be for the butt, he realized, and turned it so that that end was facing down and the thinner strip was facing up. Then with a deep breath, he reached around with one of his arms as he slipped the bottom through his legs, grabbing it from behind and pulling it up. So he had one hand holding the front of the diaper up, and his other hand was holding the back of it up. But no way to tape the straps at the side to bind the whole thing together. “Shit…” he muttered. Should I call the whole thing off?

Just then, there was a knock on the bedroom door. “Daddy? Is everything OK in there, are you having trouble?”

“Yeah, it’s just a little harder to do myself than I was expecting, but I’ll figure it out. Don’t let everyone back in yet.”

The door slowly inched open, and Jessie’s head snuck through. “It’s just me,” she assured him, not letting anyone else get a look inside. She saw him struggling to hold the diaper up with his elbows so that his hands would be free to strap the sides, and decided he wouldn’t be able to do it alone. “Here, lemme help you,” she said softly, squeezing through the door to keep it from opening too far before firmly closing it behind her again.

“Jessie, I don’t need your help,” her dad persisted, but they both knew that wasn’t true. She calmly knelt down in front of her dad and took hold of the straps at the side, but his shirt kept getting in the way.

“Well first, we should just take this off,” she murmured, grabbing the hem of his shirt instead and lifting it up to try and take it off of him.

“Jessie, wait, there’s no need for that,” he said, refusing to lift his arms. “I don’t think I should be shirtless around your friends anyways.”

“If you were a girl, I could see your point. But there’s nothing weird about a guy being shirtless. It’s not like you haven’t gone to the pool with me and Paris a hundred times before anyways.” Marcus knew she kind of had a point, so he relented and lifted his arms above his head so his daughter could pull his shirt off. But you and Paris don’t look at me the same way Veronica does, he thought. It’s her that I’m worried about. With his shirt off now, she instructed him to hold the back of the diaper up and she’d hold up the front with one hand so that her other could attach the strap. She easily taped the left side together; all he’d needed was three hands instead of two. With a satisfying pat on it a few times, she fastened the right side as well, before cautiously pulling her hands away and leaning back, inspecting her work. “OK, let go now,” she told him, and he lifted his hands just like she did. He could tell from the bright smile appearing on her face (and the fact that the diaper wasn’t falling down) that it was a success, and Marcus looked down at himself, feeling ridiculous with how heavy and baggy the diaper was. He didn’t like how the center of the garment forced his legs apart so he couldn’t stand normally, and the extra padding at the back readjusted his center of gravity. “You guys can come in now!” Jessie yelled, and Veronica immediately burst through the door, with Paris slowly following in after her.

“Oh my God, he’s adorable!” Veronica exclaimed, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the shrunken man wrapped up in nothing but a diaper. It really was a perfect fit for the two and a half foot Marcus. At first glance, he looked like a baby waddling around, until the leanness of his limbs and definition of his face made it clear that he was in fact an adult man and not a pudgy toddler. Her gaze quickly diverted to his chest, and she unconsciously bit her lip, admiring her crush’s shirtless torso. He didn’t work out enough to have a clear-cut six pack, but he was still clearly fit, and her new knowledge of what he looked like underneath his shirt only made him seem hotter in her eyes. Putting him into a diaper hadn’t actually been her original plan, but it still worked to get him shirtless which was what she’d wanted all along. Although the juxtaposition of the infantile swaddling around his man parts were more of a buzzkill than she was expecting.

“OK, so it clearly fits,” Marcus said, “you guys all got to see me wear it. Now can I take it off? I’m getting kind of cold without anything else on.” Jessie turned back to the assortment of clothing strewn out on the ground, and picked up a pink onesie sleepsuit.

“Here! You can put this on,” she giggled, and scampered over behind him to help him put it on. He felt her right up against his back, her arms coming around the sides of him, as she laid out the footies to the costume in front of him. “Left leg up,” she murmured softly, her head hovering over his shoulder, and he hesitantly complied with her directions and inserted his foot into the left leg hole of the outfit. “Now the riiiiight,” she cooed, and he stepped forward into the other hole. “And the arms.” His hands entered the onesie’s sleeves, and with his limbs in place she eagerly zipped up the back of the outfit, contentedly patting it several times before scurrying back around with the others to check him out from the front. “That’s perfect!” she laughed, finding the depiction of her shrunken father in her baby girl outfit to be funnier than anything she’d seen in weeks.

“How old were you when that was yours?” asked Paris, trying to stifle a giggle at how funny Mr. Tilden looked in his daughter’s pajamas. “Like 3 or 4 years old?”

“Not even half that, all this stuff was labeled 0 to 2 years!” Jessie exclaimed, giddily snatching her height and weight chart from the box. “My dad’s 2’7, which is 31 inches, and this says here at my 18 month milestone I was… 24 pounds and 32 inches.” Her head snapped up as the others gasped. “You’re not even as tall as I was at a year-and-a-half, Daddy!” She burst out laughing again, almost falling backwards onto the floor as Marcus waddled his way over to her mirror to get a look at himself. She crawled up behind him as the other girls walked over to look at him in the mirror too, as Jessie placed her hands on her dad’s shoulders, her head still several inches above his own even when she was on her knees. “You’re at the size that babies are when they’re not even measured in years yet,” she told him as he looked at how ridiculous he looked in his daughter’s old baby outfit, his diaper still wrapped around his loins inside. “Imagine what I looked like when I was a year and a half old, that was over a decade ago, I obviously don’t even remember,” she continued. “So tiny and with thin hair and a cute smile, and baby fat everywhere. Probably barely able to walk on my own. But even at that size I still would’ve been a giant compared to you!”

“Not a giant, you just would’ve been taller is all,” he mumbled, and she rolled her eyes but continued giggling.

“Same difference, the point is I would’ve been bigger!” She reached her fingers up against his armpits and started tickling him. “Coochie-coochie-coo, Daddy!” she teased, continuing to dance her fingertips under his arms, and he couldn’t fight his body’s reflexes that caused a smile to form on his face. “There you go, you should be laughing along with us, lighten up.” She ruffled the hair on his head and turned back around to the box as he wondered if maybe Jessie was right, maybe he should just be having fun along with her. He had to admit, if he was full-sized and it was someone else in his position, he probably would’ve thought it was funny for them too. Jessie spun back around. “Okay, open wide Daddy,” she cooed, and lightly grabbed ahold of his chin so she could pull it down without waiting for him to do it for her. With everyone staring at him in the mirror, he watched as his daughter inserted her old pacifier into his mouth and pushed his chin closed again around it. All three of the girls, including Paris, broke out into a new round of laughter at seeing the man with his daughter’s old binky in his mouth, suckling at the same rubber nipple that she used to when she was an infant.

Shaking his head and feeling like they’d all gone too far, he ripped the pacifier out and turning around to face them again. “Alright, I can put up with some of your guys’ games but that was too much,” he frowned, indignantly throwing the pacifier back with the other stuff.

“Awwww, looks like wittle baby is cwanky today,” Veronica mockingly pouted with a layer of baby-talk applied over her words. She took a few steps towards Marcus, and he backed up as the giant girl approached, scared of whatever unknown idea she inevitably plan. Unused to trying to walk with a diaper on, he stumbled backwards, falling onto his butt and rolling onto his back from the momentum. Seizing the opportunity, Veronica quickly knelt down and rushed her hand forward. His mouth was already open in surprise, and she quickly stuck her thumb into it. “Do you need a new pacifier?” she teased, wriggling her thumb around in his mouth. Veronica’s finger was more than twice as big as one of his own thumbs, so his jaw got pushed open almost all the way as she slid her thumb inside as if it was a new binky for the older man to suck on.

“Hey, you might choke him!” Paris warned, rushing over and gently pulling Veronica off of her friend’s dad.

“Okay, okay, I was just messing around,” Veronica said, holding her hands up in surrender as Marcus got back onto his feet. “I didn’t choke you, right Mr. Tilden?” she asked. “I was just goofing off.”

He wearily scratched his back, feeling uncomfortable from having her thumb stuck down his mouth. But he half-expected her to pull something worse. “It’s fine, let’s just move on.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Jessie nodded with approval, and tossed all of her old baby stuff back into the box. “I think you’re kinda cute wearing the onesie, and I bet it’s pretty cozy,” she told her dad with a smile, “so I’ll leave it out and put everything else away.” At least I got them to not make me keep the pacifier, he thought begrudgingly, and watched as Jessie skipped out of the room to return her baby items while leaving her dad to keep wearing her toddler-sized jumper.