Tale #50: The New Years Tradition

Tale #50: The New Years Tradition (Content Tags: Slice of life, messy diapers, costume diaper, humiliation, size discrimination, puny protagonist) "I'm older than Daryl though! He should be the one who has to wear the costume! And what about Amanda or Andy? Aren't they gonna be there? They're way younger than either of us!" It was New Years eve, and in this household, there was a longstanding tradition that the youngest sibling had to play the part of the holiday's mascot. Usually, that would be Daryl, but then the boy had gone and had a massive growth spurt this year. Meanwhile, Amanda and Andy were the twin toddlers of his parent's friend, and since they'd recently pottytrained, their parents didn't want any confusion by putting them back in diapers for the evening. "Calm down, Reed. Your brother is just too big to fit in the costume now, so that means you'll have to step up. Just because you'll be baby new year, doesn't mean you need to act like a *real* baby about it." That was that. Reed was eight, nearly three years older than Daryl, but because he was small for his age and Daryl had lapped him in size, age was going completely out the window on their little tradition. For his parents, this wasn't anything that really registered as a genuine slight, but for Reed, it was like as if he could feel his world crashing down on him. He was a big kid, and yet, here he was being forced to play the part of a little baby! It was a grave injustice, especially when there were more fitting candidates to play the part, at least by age. That evening, before the guests were due to arrive to the little new years party, it was time to get Reed dressed for the role. The costume wasn't anything complex: black top hat, black sash with 2024 plastered on it, and a bulky costume diaper with a big safety pin in the front. The diaper had a faint stain in the front, even though it'd been laundered, from when his little brother had fallen asleep and peed in it during last year's party. His brother wasn't really much of a bedwetter, he'd just had too much juice that night, but Reed was always bringing it up to embarrass him. And now that accident would be haunting his own halls. He'd be waddling around, looking like he whizzed himself, while his younger brother was the one laughing. Reed really did resent him, not just because of tonight, but due to how the whole wretched year had unfolded. Reed had been so certain that this would be the year he was due for a growth spurt; he'd hardly grown since he was six, and Daryl had been catching up to his stature. He already had to deal with mockery from his larger peers, so it seemed natural to his young mind that fate would throw him a bone. Apparently he didn't catch it though. Reed stayed the same size the whole year, and all the while, Daryl shot up like a root! First to match height, then he got progressively bigger and bigger. The Kindergartner was now as big as the boys in Reed's class, while Reed was more on par with the boys in Daryl's class. The size shift had made alterations to their fraternal dynamic; no longer could Reed push his baby brother around, and Daryl was perceptive enough to swiftly grasp that. So now it was Reed who had to hope that Daryl wouldn't flex on him, a complete aberration of the natural order! Nothing better summed up how inadequate he felt than what he saw in the mirror after his mother had helped him get dressed in his costume. Twiggy legs pushed apart by the bulky 'diaper', sash hanging across his pudgy tummy. Nothing was left to the imagination; he looked like an overgrown toddler. His mother swooned and cooed at the sight of her eldest son in the precious ensemble, and she took plenty of pictures that would almost certainly find their way onto her social media at some point. Reed made one last impassioned plea to opt out of the tradition this year, but his mother just gave him a swat and sent him on his way. He quietly sighed and toddled down the steps of the stairs; his mom seeing him like this, he could handle, but his father? And even worse, his baby brother? Each footstep felt like the pitter patter of a march to his doom. The living room was decked out with decorations to commemorate the new year, and the kitchen table was absolutely loaded with hors d'oeuvres from all walks of life. That was really the only saving grace of the evening too, to stuff himself silly on all kinds of tasty and exotic foods. He was already salivating at the thought of plating deviled eggs and cream puffs! Daryl's initial reaction was just as Reed had foreseen: mirth, mockery, and a 'playful' comment about how he was glad that he'd grown too big to wear the costume. Reed had to take it; he'd usually put up some level of verbal fight, but he just felt too puny tonight. If the clothes made the man, then his made him feel like a total baby. Reed found his solace in some light snacking, before the guests had even begun to arrive. He kept getting chastised for it, but the one positive note about his costume, was how easy it became to soften his parents' hearts. A splash of puppy dog eyes and he was allowed to have 'one more', and that happened at least three or four times. When the guests *did* end up arriving, they certainly took notice of Reed's get-up. Men cracked dorky jokes, women openly fawned and pinched his cheek, and kids laughed at his despair. The guests who were regulars at this yearly event already knew to expect a 'baby new year', but were shocked to discover who that would be. The worst was the guests who hadn't seen his family all year, and so they mistook the brothers for eachother. He'd nearly exploded by the third time he'd been confused for Daryl, while Daryl had been beaming to be mistaken as a more grown Reed. There weren't many other kids at the party, but as he'd assumed would be the case, the twin toddlers were in attendance. Reed resented them too, since he figured they would have made for perfect subjects for his role. But no, their parents didn't want to confuse the recently pottytrained tots by putting them back in diapers for the night, inadvertently giving them small superiority complexes over what Reed was wearing. Only *babies* wore diapers; it wasn't as if they had any conception of who Reed was supposed to be dressed as, or even what New Years was. Being so young, they also didn't have much tact or decorum, so they loudly and openly pointed out the diaper, while inquiring why he was wearing it. Reed tried to ignore them, just as he was trying to ignore everyone else at the party. If he had to endure this gauntlet of shame, then it would at least be on his own terms, and that was why he was hovering around the kitchen so much. A few hours in and he'd stuffed himself silly on all manner of culinary delights, some of which he couldn't even identify. He'd started to get sleepy toward the end, as did the other kids at the party, but Reed would prove he was at least grown enough to make it to midnight! Once the big countdown was starting to near, Reed began to feel a burning fullness in his belly. After gorging the last few hours, it would appear that his bowels were in full revolt of his choices, and he needed to go to the restroom *now*. The diaper, costume or not, was pinned a little too finely for him to be able to remove it easily on his own. He started to wander around, biting his lip and feeling his stomach churning and gurgling; he finally caught sight of his mother and went to tug on her dress. "M-mommy, I need some help.." "What do you need, honey?" He really didn't want to have to say it in front of the other adults that she'd been talking to, so he gestured for her to get close, so that he could whisper discreetly. Once she bent down to his level, Reed cupped his hands and bashfully told her that he needed her help to go use the potty. She nodded her head and was about to oblige, when something else caught her attention. Daryl was acting a fool, probably because of all the sugar that'd kept him up this late; he was zipping around and causing trouble, which diverted her attention away from her eldest child. The woman brought Daryl by the wrist to be stand over by Reed, all while admonishing him for behaving poorly at the party. The cramps in Reed's bowels were reaching critical levels while she lectured Daryl on how to behave properly, and how he needed to stay by his brother, where she could keep track of him. Reed thought that'd be the end of it, and that he could finally get some assistance, but then something was happening on the big screen in the living room. The countdown to the new year was starting! Reed tried to speak up, but his mother told him to wait just another moment, and that she'd take him after the toast. He hardly felt like he could hold it any longer. While the countdown began, little farts were already beginning to slip out, no matter how hard he tried to clench his buttcheeks. He just needed to make it another ten seconds... He could do that, right? The tumultuous grinding in his gut begged to differ; as the countdown reached one, as the ball dropped on TV, he'd reached the limit of his abilities. The boy grabbed hold of his aching tummy and leaned forward, and an immense cannonball of a pantload fired into the seat of the plush garment. Just like the cork of the celebratory champagne popping off, that more solid mass was but the stopper for a much wetter mess to follow. "Happy new year!" The people around him were shouting, drowning out the rude noises of his explosive diarrhea. People were toasting and making lots of noise, and Reed was ringing in the new year by pooping his pants. His brother, being closest to him, was the first to notice. Daryl gasped and his eyes bulged almost as much as Reed's backside; the Kindergartner could hardly believe what he was seeing! He might have peed in the costume last year, but he'd been asleep, and pooing it was definitely a lot worse! Daryl started to loudly laugh and he pointed an accusatory finger at the browning rear of the sagging diaper, "Reed is POOPING!" He shouted, cutting through the jovial noise of the party. Their mother was the first of the startled guests to go and confirm what the tyke was saying. She pulled back at the waistband of the costume diaper and grimaced at what she saw, though the exterior of the garment should have been more than enough to acknowledge what Reed had done. "Reed, I told you to just hold it another minute! You weren't supposed to use it like a *real* diaper!" She chastised, taking the teary-eyed boy by the hand to lead him away from the party. As he waddled away to get cleaned up and put to bed, Reed knew he wouldn't be hearing the end of this from his brother over the next year. He also had a sinking feeling that with how small he now felt, that he'd have another year without much growth. That meant that he'd again be carrying out the tradition next time, except now the diaper would bear the stains of his disgrace in addition to what mark his brother had left. Here was to another year of being the 'little' brother; another year of being the 'baby'.