Just Get Comfortable

“You can’t be serious”

The guinea pig crossed his arms and tapped his foot. What was being presented to him was not the way he wanted to spend Halloween in the office. Every year he and a co-worker tried to find the most ridiculous outfit they could for each other. Five years straight he’d got one up on his little fox friend, the kit having to endure being everything from a ladybug to a shrimp. His friend had zero imagination, but what he was presenting this year was almost offensive.

“Oh come on Harry it’ll be fun! Besides everyone else has had to do this at some point, just go with the fl…”

“If you finish that phrase while holding a diaper Rob I swear you’ll never get me back in your office again”

The small figure of the fox smirked a little. Playing the occasional office prank was one thing, reducing him to the most embarrassing costume in existence was another thing entirely.

“Look, if I get rid of the bonnet, will you wear the rest?” He pulled the offending garment off the top of the pile and presented the remainder. Harry sighed as he looked it over, his black and white fur standing on edge as he touched the various items of plastic that his regressed colleague must have pulled out from the back cupboards somewhere.

“Where did you even find this stuff? I mean, sure it can probably fit me but this is like, new-born gear for regressed…” he sniffed the mittens on the top of the pile… “oh… right”

“Oh come on, just because a baby rhino comes out bigger than you now doesn’t mean they don’t need the same loving care as any other. Besides, I don’t think we’ve ever hired a rhino regressee before…”

“Good… that smell is…” Harry grimaced. Those mittens had clearly been in a mouth of some kind before.

“Babyish?” Rob grinned at him “At least the diaper looks brand new. Lovely thick cloth, fresh out of R&D!”

Harry raised an eyebrow “R&D? You took diapers out of R&D and now you’re expecting me to wear them for a joke?”

Rob laughed “Oh come on, the rumours about R&D are all nonsense. I mean… sure they had that one incident…”

“Rob, we had to close down an entire floor for cleaning”

The fox rolled his eyes “It’s towelling cloth. What’s it gonna do, make your fur go all poofy?”

Harry scowled, putting the mittens back on the pile and crossing his arms “No, I’m not doing this Rob. Your ideas are normally crap every year but I’m not doing this”

With a sigh the fox put the pile down on his office desk “Well… how about we make this even sillier then. If you don’t wear that costume, I’m sure I can find something much worse…” he pulled out another box. Harry immediately spotted that the label was dusty and grimy, as if it hadn’t been used for years. Rob pulled off the lid and tipped out the contents.

“Oh for goodness sake, where the hell did you find a dress like that?” Harry couldn’t believe anyone could wear a garment that was that pink or that frilly at any point in history, let alone in the twenty-first century.

“Oh, I dunno. This one is definitely a costume, probably for a cute white mouse…” he smirked at the guinea pig again “Would fit you like a glove.”

“So you’re saying I have a choice to either pretend to be like you and wear a diaper all day... or wear… that?”

Rob grinned “Yup, gotta say I think I know what you’re gonna pick”

Harry breathed deeply and let his fists clench and unclench slowly, counting to ten in his head before finally letting himself just say the words.

“Fine, give me the diaper”

*************************************************************************************************************

“Rob! Great to see ya! Love the Robin Hood outfit, gotta say the feather cap is a real showstopper” Harry looked past the doorway to the office lounge for the source of the voice. The jackalope head of HR was waddling over dressed as the most ridiculous looking pumpkin, his diaper poofing out the lower half of an orange onesie.

Harry smiled, even in his current get-up, there was something satisfying about hearing those words. The live action remake of that film, however bad it had been, had at least allowed him a new avenue for a costume this year.

“And Harry! Oh goodness you look precious”

Great, there it was.

“Well, you know, I thought I’d see what all the fuss was about” he shrugged, trying to hide the blush under his cheek fur.

Rob chuckled “You were certainly fussing when I changed you…”

Harry instinctively pouted back at his friend. It was somewhat difficult to look intimidating when your hands and feet are completely covered by oversized mittens and booties.

“Look, I’d never had to change into a diaper before. Just because you do it three or four times a day…”

Both Rob and the jackalope laughed “Oh come on Harry, lighten up. Half of us here are barely gonna notice you’re even dressed up. Relax, there’s no reason to be uncomfortable.”

The guinea pig felt a new blush appear on his face “Well… I mean… that’s not…”

“Stop worrying, just go get a drink or something. I’m gonna go flirt with some of the lovely ladies in accounting”

Harry couldn’t help but snicker “Rob… you barely come up to their thighs”

“Ah, but that’s the best view! Oh… and that’s a nurses uniform…” he wandered, fully distracted, over to the back of the lounge, leaving the guinea pig to sigh to himself.

Harry gave his outfit another look over. Rob hadn’t exactly found anything to keep him warm, the double layered cloth diaper was all that was covering anything substantial, two massive blue pins holding it round his waist. The booties and mittens were massive, at first he thought they wouldn’t be so bad, but rhino feet were just as wide as they were long. His own feet nicely – even comfortably – reached where the toes would go but the sides of the damn things were getting caught under him constantly. The mittens were no better, he might as well have stuck his hands in sofa cushions. He’d have resisted the addition of the oversized bib Rob had pulled out of the office kitchen at the last minute if he’d still had use of his hands and feet. The pacifier that hung limply from it on its clip was one the fox had pulled out of his pocket just as they'd arrived. He’d got him good here, he had to admit.

Walking over to the hastily set up plastic tables at the side of the room he found himself a suitably sized chair and sat down next to the polar bear serving soft drinks. No alcohol at these parties, too many of the staff were now well below legal drinking age.

“Can I have a soda Nina? Like, whatever brand of cola we got in for this?”

“Sure you’re old enough kiddo?” the tone of Nina’s voice suggested the response was clearly not meant as a jab. This was her job, keeping little ones away from high caffeine and high sugar drinks was just common sense. But Harry could feel himself clenching his fists again.

“Nina, please, I’m in this because Rob managed to wrangle me into it. I’m not regressed, just dressed up, alright?”

“Oh come on, get into the spirit of things” she winked and waved a little ghost shaped lollipop at him “Go on, a bottle of milk would totally complete your look!”

Harry groaned at the pun and then raised his eyebrows at the suggestion “Nina… can I not just have five minutes without a joke at my expense”

The polar bear put her hands on her hips and walked up to the guinea pigs chair. She properly towered over him. Her chosen outfit tonight was apparently to cover one of the aprons from the kitchen in some splotches of fake blood… or maybe jam?

“Harry, don’t be a grouch. Besides you really think you can hold one of the plastic cups in those mittens?”

He blushed again, looking down at the ridiculous paw coverings. He went to pull one off in response but found they just slipped against each-other, his fingers completely encased in thick cotton.

“Didn’t think so,” Nina walked back round the back of the table, grabbing one of the many prepared bottles that were spread out on its surface “Here, this is a juice one at least. Now, make yourself comfortable, and don’t make me feed you a milk one”

Harry groaned and took the bottle in both hands, clasping it between the soft pads of the mittens in both hands and pulling it to his face. He couldn’t imagine how silly he looked doing this, but at least this costume party would leave everybody’s memories in a couple of weeks. The cool juice slipped down his throat, sending a little shiver up his back as he suckled on the teat of the bottle. It didn’t help that the room wasn’t exactly warm to begin with. His hair started to stand on end as he shivered, trying not to think too hard about how he’d ask for something to keep him warm.

He looked back over to where Rob had started trying to chat up his female friends in accounting. The fox thought he was sly, but getting regressed down to the age of a toddler didn’t really make an attempt to find a girlfriend especially easy. He’d have an easier time asking them to adopt him.

Harry smiled to himself as he watched the fox getting hoisted in the air by one of the accountants, his face suddenly going from a coy grin to a look of complete shock. She was a goat, clearly a very motherly one as she began to heft and squeeze at the padding that poofed out around the fox’s waist. Harry's smile widened when she took the liberty of adjusting the fox into a carrying position over her shoulder and walked towards the nearest changing room. Just when Harry thought he could chuckle to himself as he finished up the bottle, Rob caught his gaze on the way out.

He winked.

“Heh… lucky kid” Harry whispered to himself, chugging down the last of the juice. He stretched his legs in the chair and leant back, his eyelids drooping a little. He wasn’t that tired, but he certainly didn’t feel like getting up to chat with anyone. He placed the bottle on the table and stretched out, a yawn emerging from his maw as he adjusted in his chair, feeling the thick towelling cloth shift under him. He felt like the noise around him was getting slowly more… slurred… like he was going through a tunnel. His eyes shut slowly, his body relaxing into the chair as he slowly started to slink downwards.

“Whoa kiddo, who forgot to do your strap up?”

The voice brought Harry out of his stupor. He was gazing into the eyes of a coyote who was about a foot above him, their expression one of concern.

“It’s alright, looks like whatever regressed you hit pretty hard huh? Been there once before myself.” Harry's eyes widened as the coyote started to move his hands around his diaper area, seemingly feeling around for something.

“Whoa, whoa! What are you…?” Harry went to bat the hands away but they collided with a solid object on the way down. It was a white plastic surface, not too thick but seemingly surrounding him.

“Ah! There we go!” the coyote said, blocked by the new intrusion to Harry's view “All set, want me to refill your bottle?”

Harry looked around himself. He’d been trapped behind a tray with raised edges, small stains dotting its surface. He immediately recognised what it was, he’d spent enough time with Rob in the kitchens to know.

“You put me in a high-chair?!” he practically screamed at the coyote. He tried to move and pull himself free but found he was now firmly stuck.

“What? No! I just came over and gave the one you’re in now an adjustment. You looked like you were about to fall clean out of it!” the coyote picked up the bottle Harry had left on the table next to him “I can get ya a refill, just don’t let it fall off your tray next time alright champ?”

Harry blushed “I… I don’t need a refill! I just finished that one… just get me out of this chair! I didn’t even get into it!”

“Kiddo, you know regressees that lose the age you have can’t just crawl around on the floor at parties like this! I get you want to have fun with all your work pals, but imagine if someone fell on you!”

Harry's face went from mildly panicked to a very firm pout “What?! Look, I’m a guinea pig, I’m a bit smaller than you but I’m in no danger of being crushed! What’s your…”

Just as he was about to identify his assailant the bulb of the pacifier was shoved between his lips.

“Calm down, give this a little suckle for a while alright? No one here cares, remember! Just get yourself nice and comfortable ok?”

Harry spat the pacifier out immediately letting it fall back down to his bib “I… give me your name! I’m going to report you to HR! I’m not a regressee! I’m still thirty years old!”

The coyote raised his eyebrows “Wait… but then why are you…?” everything seemed to suddenly click into place in his head, his expression going from confused to shocked “I’m… I’m so sorry! You were going to fall out of the chair and… please don’t report me! I was only trying to help!”

Harry pushed at the tray again, trying to shuffle his way out. The strap around his diaper that the coyote had tightened was keeping him stuck firmly in place, and there was no way to get any purchase on the tray with the mittens slipping all over it.

“Get me out of this thing!” he could feel his head starting to spin again. He’d never been claustrophobic but the suddenness of the situation was setting off his flight response hard. He could almost feel tears coming to his eyes.

“Whoa, whoa calm down, look I’ll undo the straps, just hold still alright” the coyote went back under the tray, Henry still squirming in the chair “Stay still, I’ll… wait… where’d the clip go?”

Henry stopped moving. He could still feel himself being tightly constrained to the chair but as he looked down, he realised whatever the coyote had originally used to keep him from falling out the bottom had now vanished into thin air.

“Come on you stupid…” he pushed his mitten covered hands down to the seat, trying to push himself up and out of it, straining against the pastel coloured padding that now adorned it. Even with a whole-hearted attempt at pushing forward in the seat, he stayed stuck firm.

“Look, wait here, I’ll see if I can get someone to help” the coyote bolted away from the chair, heading towards the door. Harry could only sniffle, shifting from side to side in the chair as he felt the diaper under him bunching up a little.

It was then he noticed Rob coming back out of the changing room, his head resting on the goats shoulder, his eyes closed and his thumb pressed firmly in his maw. Great, his wingman was down for the count this evening just when he really needed him.

“Stupid costume…”

He stopped moving and leant back in the padded seat again. No one seemed to be paying any attention to the fact that he’d suddenly found himself stuck here, or even the noise he must have been making moving around in the chair.

What was worse was the feeling in his abdomen. His bladder had already been pretty full before the party and now it was straining a little after the juice. It wasn’t urgent but his new seating arrangement made it impossible to consider getting to the bathroom.

A few minutes passed before the coyote reappeared through the door, followed by a regressed wolf with an untucked shirt and mottled hair. They both approached the highchair, the coyote coming into earshot through the din of the party.

“… so then it just vanished. He couldn’t get out and…”

“So, he’s dressed like this for the party?” the wolf eyed the guinea pig suspiciously.

“Yes! This is just a stupid prank by my friend!” Harry interjected, trying to keep himself from sounding like a desperate child, however he might look.

The wolf looked up and down the high chair. His head was only just up to around Harry’s knees, giving him a full view of the cloth padding around his waist.

“Where’d he get the diaper from?” the wolf asked.

Harry suddenly felt his hair stand on end. Crap…

“He… got them from storage… I think”

The wolf raised his eyebrow and giggled “Right. Storage...”

Harry grimaced, looking down at the large colourful blue pins and cloth towelling, feeling his bladder twinge again.

“Look, can you get me out of this or not, I kinda need to use the bathroom”

The wolf went from giggling to outright laughter “Someone thinks he’s a big boy huh?”

“I AM A BIG BOY!” Harry’s hands shot to his mouth. Damn it why did he have to say it that way…

The wolf recoiled a little from the shout before composing himself again, doing his best to cover his smirk “The answer is, I have no idea. I’ll get a team up here and record a regression event. You’re gonna have to stay put for a little while.”

Harry groaned and leaned back. Fantastic, he was now a literal guinea pig for R&D.

“You’re in a diaper though so that shouldn’t be a problem. Especially one of that quality. Whatever storage your friend found he knows how to pick out good stuff.” the wolf grinned knowingly “So get comfortable”

With a deep sigh, Harry closed his eyes and tried to think of anything but the slow warming of his diaper as he did exactly that.