The Product Tester - Chapter 2

Author's Note: If any of this seems familiar to long-time fans, there's a reason why. This is a reboot. 

I started writing this story a while ago, and while I'm still happy with the concepts that went into it, I was unsatisfied with some of the execution and decided to revisit it from scratch rather than try to muddle along and retcon some of the issues with the handful of published chapters that were already out. This chapter in particular is entirely new to the story - I felt that in the original, I was too eager to rush to the locking cover, and I didn't give Mary and Ethan time to develop before the cover got introduced. 

Illustration by HofBondage.

Mary shuffled her feet, avoiding eye contact with the secretary as she waited for the contract to finish printing. 

She was acutely aware of the eyes on her, staring at her ass, at the wet stains running down her thighs. It wasn’t that she’d seen anyone staring; she was too mortified to actually look around and see who was ogling at her accident, but she just knew that anyone who saw her would stop to gawk at the grown woman in soggy pants. 

If she didn’t have a head full of stubborn annoyance with Ethan to keep her going, she might have panicked and run for the door. As it was, she stood to the side, listening to the desktop printer whirr. 

Someone giggled as they walked by and Mary’s face turned beet red, but when she turned to look she saw that they were staring at their phone. They hadn’t even acknowledged her. 

Sighing in relief, she turned back to face the secretary. “How much longer?” 

Looking up from his keyboard, he glanced at the printer, read the LCD, and said, “A couple minutes. Slow printer, big document.” Turning his gaze on her, he added, “Look, do you want a towel or something? I’m sure the janitor has-” 

“It’s fine,” Mary said. The last thing she wanted was to make a fuss about her accident. “I’ll just wait.” 

“Suit yourself,” they shrugged. 

Rather than just stand there and fret about anyone laughing at her, Mary checked her phone while she waited. 

Ethan: Babe, I’m sorry, I was being an ass. Can we talk? 

Frowning, Mary thought about it for a minute or so before she typed out her response.

Mary: Once we’re home. I’m kind of stressed rn. 

The same moment that the message sent, she saw three little dots appear as Ethan typed out his response.

Ethan: Okay. I love you. Sorry if I was what stressed you. 

Mary: <3 

A few more moments went by as she checked out social media, then the printer stopped whirring. Leaning back in his chair, the secretary took the stack, squared it on his desk, and stapled it all together. 

“Here you go,” he said, passing over the thick document. “Have a nice day.” 

Mary took the stack and stuffed it into her bag. “You too.” 

She was disappointed to see that it hadn’t started raining as she stepped outside. If it was, she could just let the water soak her clothes and hide the pee stains, but instead it was a bright, sunny, beautiful day.

“Figures,” Mary grumbled, fuming about the weather as she turned down the street to walk to the bus stand. 

Lab-D’s building was situated in an office park. It was a blocky, ugly building, set between other blocky, ugly buildings, that had all been built with efficiency and cheapness as their main priorities. As a result, they were miles from the rest of the city, on a plot where land was cheap. 

Mary would have preferred that they have a building downtown. She didn’t care about the architecture, or the neighborhood, but having to take a lengthy bus ride to get back to her apartment was less than ideal. 

The bus stop outside the office was, thankfully, empty. Less thankfully, the bus that arrived was packed full. 

She could wait for the next bus, but that was half an hour away, and there was no guarantee that it would be any less crowded. Bracing herself, she stepped up, swiped her pass, and found a spot near the front where she could hold onto a handle. 

With the bus packed with what appeared to be mostly business workers on their way to lunch, it was particularly claustrophobic. Mary was acutely aware of the smell of urine, and she could see that several of the men standing nearest to her were pointedly averting their gaze away from her soggy pants. 

Nobody laugh. Please, nobody laugh. 

Nobody laughed, though she was given a wider berth than she was used to on the bus. It didn’t seem like the other passengers wanted to brush up against her, understandably.

Feeling like she was liable to catch fire if her face were any warmer, Mary stared at the ceiling and waited it out, grateful that the other passengers were mature enough to not make a scene. 

Ten minutes passed and they reached her stop, so she stepped up to the exit and walked out, leaning against the bus stand as she waited for her next stop. 

It hadn’t been so bad. Everyone had seen the evidence of her accident, of course, but nobody had commented. 

More eyes fell on her as she strolled up the sidewalk, head down, hands in her pockets. Her apartment building wasn’t far, but she was dreading running into anyone who lived there. Strangers were bad enough, but her neighbors…

She unlocked the front door, walked down the hall, and pushed open the door to the stairwell. The elevator would be faster, but given the time of day, she was certain she’d run into someone on it. Walking would take longer, and be a bit tiring, but she doubted anyone would bump into her going the other way.

Five stories later, she stepped out into the hall, looked around, and power walked to her apartment door. Fishing out her keys, she unlocked the door, stepped inside, and shut it behind her. 

“Hey,” Ethan said, getting up from the couch as she walked in. 

“Fuck!” Mary yelped in alarm, jumping in surprise. If her panties weren’t already soaked, a little damp spot might have just appeared on them. “You scared the shit out of me! What are you doing home?” 

“Eh… sorry.” Ethan rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly, “I asked to get off early, once you stormed out.” 

“Yeah, no shit I stormed out,” Mary said, walking towards the bathroom, leaving the door open as she began pulling off her shoes. “You were being a dick, and your boss made me piss myself.” 

Ethan walked over to her, standing in the doorway. “Sorry, that’s not what I meant. You were right to be upset, but I wanted to apologize in person. If you want to do this, you’ve got my support.”

“Your support?” Mary asked, peeling off her socks and tossing them in the laundry hamper. “Does that mean you’ll give me the schematics and a key?” 

Wincing as she put the soggy, stained socks onto dry laundry, Ethan crouched to open the cupboard under the sink, taking out a plastic trash bag to segregate the wet laundry from the dry. “I can’t do that. If you get someone else as your handler, I could get fired, and if you pick me, I could get fired and sued.” 

Mary paused, halfway in the act of shimmying out of her jeans. “Handler?” 

“To change your diapers.” He said it in a matter-of-fact way as he picked up her socks and put them in the bag, then set the bag on top of the hamper. “It’s not an automated process. You’ll need someone to work with you, change your diapers, and repair any damage you do to the cover and its accessories.”

Thinking about it, Mary pulled her jeans off the rest of the way, then passed them to her fiance. “Well, that’s obviously you. I’m not going to let some stranger wipe my ass, and you’ve got more experience than anyone at putting up with my shit.” 

She expected him to laugh, but Ethan only blushed as he put her jeans in the plastic bag. “So you’re going to do it?” 

“I haven’t decided yet.” Mary pulled off her panties, passing them to over to be bagged. “I feel like I can’t really turn down the money, but…”

She didn’t finish the thought, and Ethan didn’t follow it up. Instead, he pointed out, “I’d still be directly pitted against you. It’d be my job to ensure you didn’t get out of your diapers until the thirty days are up. You’re not just going to slip out of the cover without resistance, I’ll be contractually bound to give you a fight. Would you be okay with that?” 

That also took some thought, but not a lot. Flashing him a smile, Mary stepped closer to him, swaying her hips a little, leaning in to whisper, “Hey, maybe I’ll like it if you take charge for once.”

Completely cut off by the sudden shift, Ethan was only able to say, “Huh?” before she planted her lips on his. He returned it, even putting his arms around Mary and pulling her into a hug, so close that she could feel the hard, bulging presence in his pants. 

Pulling away for breath, she asked, “Join me in the shower and I’ll show you a thing or two about how slippery I can be.” 

…

When the steam cleared, the two of them dried off next to each other, toweling down. 

“You seem to have calmed down a bit,” Ethan said. “Did I tire you out?” 

Mary rolled her eyes. “Hardly. I still expect our usual in the bedroom tonight.” 

“I swear you’re related to the energizer bunny,” her fiance teased. “You can just keep going and going.” 

Flashing a wicked little grin, Mary said, “Well, I do have a personal relationship with a rabbit for when you’re not up to it.” 

Ethan set aside the towel, pulling on his boxers. “You do know that, if you do this, you’ll be a little, eh… sealed off for a month.” 

That deflated her good mood. “Yeah, I’ve considered it.” 

“And?” 

Wrapping up her hair in a towel, she crossed her arms over her chest and faced her lover. “That’s not what I’m worried about, to be honest. I’ve got the willpower to skip sex for a month.” 

He didn’t say anything, but Ethan’s smirk was telling. 

“Jerk,” Mary teased, shoving his shoulder lightly with one arm. “Just because I like sex doesn’t mean I’m a nympho or anything.” 

Ethan chuckled, pulling on his pants. “Okay. So what’s the worry?” 

“Well…” she blushed, almost as embarrassed by the confession as she’d been from her wet pants. “I almost cried coming home today. Nobody even said anything, but it was just… and then, when they could tell… and that was just wet pants!” 

Her fiance’s expression softened, and he put his hands on her shoulders. “Baby, you’re the strongest woman I know.” 

“Maybe don’t call me baby right now,” she said, but she was smiling.

“Sweetie, then,” Ethan corrected. “I know you can do this. Besides, diapers and pants wetting aren’t the same thing. Sure, it’s not exactly, uh… discreet… but if you wear baggy clothes, nobody should be able to tell when you’re wet.”

“Yeah? And… the other thing?” Mary asked. “Even if they can’t see what I’m wearing, people will notice if I’ve got shit in my pants.” 

“They’ll notice, but how are they going to know it’s you?” Ethan looked her in the eyes. “How many times a day do you get a whiff of a weird smell and just write it off while you’re walking through town?” 

That was a fair point. Unless she was alone in an enclosed space with someone else, it might be hard to determine the source of any stinkiness. Then again… 

“What if it’s gross? What if I get so disgusted in the first day that I just want to bail?” 

Ethan shrugged. “We can’t legally make you wear diapers for a month. You’ll be able to get out of the contract, you just won’t get paid.” 

“Will that hurt your position at work?” she asked. “If I back out?” 

“I was against you getting the offer to begin with. It’ll be Kat who gets burned, if anything. I’m half tempted to suggest you take the contract and back out day one, just to get back at her, but… yeah.” 

Mary thought about it for a minute, then started getting dressed, her shirt and bra coming back on. “I’ll have to think about it.” 

Ethan fiddled with his ring, the way he did when he had something to say but didn’t want to say it. 

“Out with it, then,” Mary said. “What’s on your mind?” 

“You could always try, eh… a test run,” Ethan suggested. “To make sure you wouldn’t be too grossed out.” 

“A test- Oh.” Mary hesitated, then asked, “Would we need to go to the store?” 

“I’ve got a couple diapers, from work,” Ethan said. “In my car. Kat suggested it, actually.” 

Thoughts flashed back to Katherine’s smirk as Mary wet her pants. “Why does that not surprise me?” 

“She wants to be thorough. Do you want to try it?” 

Mary pressed her lips into a line. “You know what? Yeah. Sure. Today can’t get any more humiliating, I’ve already hit my cap, might as well go all the way.” 

Ethan nodded. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.” 

There wasn’t much point in disagreeing. Mary leaned against the bathroom counter, naked from the waist down. She checked her phone, scrolled through social media, and watched a short video, until she heard the door click back open. 

Her fiance walked into their apartment carrying a paper sack. Half jogging to the bathroom, he turned over the bag, depositing a thick, purple-white diaper on the countertop. 

“It’s… thicker than I’d expected,” Mary commented. “Don’t they make these to be discreet?” 

“Our lab techs favored effectiveness over subtlety,” Ethan explained, sounding a little proud. “Once it goes on sale, it’ll be the most absorbent adult diaper on the market. Do you need a hand putting it on?” 

She blinked at him, feeling a little patronized. “I can do it myself, thank you very much.” Then, blushing, she added, “The tapes point towards the front, right?” 

“Yeah.” He paused, hesitating in the doorway, then said, “I guess… I’ll just wait out here.” 

“I’ll let you know when I’m done.” She closed the door, then turned, inspecting what would - if she accepted it - be her lingerie for the next month. 

“Well,” she announced, to nobody in particular. “No point wasting time.” 

Already naked from the waist down, she didn’t have to strip, but she did have to lay down on the bathroom floor to get appropriate leverage on the diaper. 

Unsure how to proceed, she did the tapes one leg at a time, getting one side nice and secure, then doing the other. It made the padding look a little lopsided, but she didn’t need it to be perfect.

Diaper on, she lacked an excuse to postpone what came next. Pushing up to her feet, she made a face, put a hand on the countertop, and tried to push.

Nothing happened. Her body recognized that she was clothed, that she was standing, and refused to obey her instructions. She tried harder, but to no greater effect. Her potty training was too deeply ingrained to be overcome by a little grunting and effort. 

“Well, damn,” she muttered. She didn’t want to have to wait until her need became more pressing, but her body didn’t want to go unless she was sitting on the toilet. 

She glanced over at the porcelain bowl. Well, there’s an idea. 

Scooting to the side, she sat down on the toilet, trying to align her brain with what she was used to.

You’re just using the toilet. There is no diaper. Just… go. 

Mary pushed again, and this time, her body complied. A little part of her wished it hadn’t. Solid waste squeezed out into the seat of her diaper, making the padding crinkle as the back bulged out slightly and then held firm, making the mush against her as it started to spread. 

She didn’t need to go that badly, and she stopped pushing after only a few moments. It was enough for a trial run. 

First thought: Gross. 

Reaching back, Mary poked at the back of her diaper, testing it. The padding seemed to have plenty of room to spare for more. 

Second thought: The stink isn’t as bad as I’d expected. 

It was smelly, sure, but the padding was thick and held close to her body, and was probably containing the worst of it. The odor was less a neon sign, and more a gentle suggestion that someone in the room might be hiding something. 

She got up, waddling to the door, trying not to make things squelch too much. Then, considering that she’d have to put up with this for thirty whole days if she couldn’t crack the cover, she deliberately pressed her thighs together and walked like a model, feeling what it could be like at its worst. 

The mess in her diaper squelched and spread against her, uncomfortable, but not torturous. If anything, the chafing and tight band that cut off her circulation was worse than the mess. 

Opening the bathroom door, she said, “I guess you should get a say in this, too. Am I too stinky to live with for a month?” 

Ethan looked up from the couch, staring for a moment, his eyes clearly locked on her sagging diaper. Mary blushed, feeling some shame creep into her thoughts, but then he looked up at her face. “You put it on wrong.” 

“Huh?” Mary asked, looking down. “How?” 

Ethan walked over, crouched slightly, and adjusted her tapes without asking. “You want to pull them towards the center, not around your legs.” Once he was done, he stood up. “How’s that?” 

It was a lot more tolerable. Heck, other than the muck stuck to her bottom, it was downright comfortable. “Pretty good.” 

Ethan breathed in for a moment, inhaling through his nose. “Yeah, I can live with that if you can.” 

Third thought: I can do this.