Before she'd even left for her freshman year Marcie's mom Dina had started going on about how she wasn't going to have anyone to take care of, how she wanted someone who needed her.
Marcie had rolled her eyes. Dina had had her when she had been Marcie's age. Her mom never showed it but Marcie knew being a young, single mom hadn't been easy, a fact that she brought up whenever she'd had enough of her mom's fantasies. "Really mom, you want sleepless nights, spit up, tantrums, dirty diapers?" she'd ask. Every time she brought that up a smile and faraway look would cross Dina's face.
Her mom was single so Marcie wasn't worried about becoming a big sister. Shortly into her sophomore year her mom casually mentioned that she was taking in a young man, Miles. Apparently he was some second cousin twice removed or something. Marcie couldn't really care being so far away. He'd apparently hadn't had luck finding work after he graduated and had moved to the city and would be staying at their house while he got his footing.
Marcie didn't think anything of it. She'd occasionally get a brief update at the end of the phone call, "oh your cousin's been having such a hard time getting a job, poor thing." One time she called her mom to catch up but couldn't hear a word she was saying. "Sorry for the background noise hun, running some sheets. Poor Miles has had a tough time lately." Marcie had just moved on once the din of the laundry machine had gone down.
Finally, Marcie's school work was wrapping up for the year. She hadn't been home in a while but work or internships had failed to materialize that summer so she was heading back home to try and get work there.
She got dropped off at her house in the afternoon. She opened the door but no one greeted her. The house seemed normal for the most part but something felt strange, maybe it was just that it'd been so long since she'd been home, but there was a lingering energy that Marcie couldn't put her finger on. She left her bag in the foyer and called out for her mom. "Up here!" she heard her mom's voice coming from the guest room.
The guest room door was wide open. Marcie assumed the grown man in the diaper was Miles, her distant cousin. The shock of seeing a grown man using a pacifier and wearing the thickest diaper she'd ever seen was almost as great at seeing the smile on her mother's face. Marcie wondered if she looked as shocked as Miles. "Hello," she finally managed to say.
Dina stood up, lifting Miles's pj's over his bulging bottom as she did. "See Miles," she cooed into the man's ear "I told you your cousin wasn't going to make fun of you. Now you had a big day today, so we definitely need a nap. I'll come get you when it's time for din din, kay baby?" The young man nodded sharply then crawled into bed, snuggling his head into the pillow, his thickly diapered bottom rising above his back.
Dina quietly closed the door, put her finger to her lips, then beckoned Marcie down stairs, leading her to the dining room.
Sitting at the dining room table Dina explained how the past few months had affected poor Miles. What started as occasional bedwetting soon became a nightly habit that started to spill into the mornings, then afternoons, then evenings. "I've had to buy the poor boy new pants, the one he brought with were too smelly before I convinced the silly thing that he needed to wear diapers until we figured this out."
"So out of the blue this guy just started peeing himself?" Marcie had her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. "Hun, the poor boy has been beside himself. You don't think I'd have a hand in that?" Marcie didn't want to believe that, but she also wondered how much of her mom's help was aimed at stopping these accidents.
Dina continued, "no doctors have found anything wrong with him, physically. I've talked to a therapist who says that it's an issue of compounding reinforcement on self image. Miles feels like he's failed as an adult by not living on his own and not jumping in to a career. The stress of that likely started his bedwetting which further reinforced his image as immature which led to pantswetting, which led to diapers, which led to messy accidents-
"Mom he's shitting himsel-!" Marcie didn't mean to say it so loudly and cut herself off as her mom shushed her.
"One morning a month ago I came out of the bathroom to see Miles with a thoroughly overused pull up. He didn't know he was going back to diapers anyway. He'd leaked through too many pullups. Poor thing." Marcie saw the look of concern on her mom's face. It looked genuine enough, she thought, she probably isn't poisoning him or anything.
"So he's back in diaper now mom, for good?"
"I talked to his mother, and the therapist. Miles is now... having his self-image radically readjusted. We don't know where it will stop, but when it does we may be able to build him back from there." Dina stood up straight and looked Marcie straight in the eyes. "What we can do, will do though, is make sure Miles knows he is loved and supported throughout. Yes dear, I know how strange it is, but his mother and the therapist agreed, this is the best place for him now. They're both providing the support they can, but altering his life more, like moving him again, will only accelerate this process and make recovery more difficult. So he's here for the foreseeable future and I'll need your support."
Marcie's head spun. Coming home she was worried if she'd get a summer gig, now she was looking at being a big sister to a baby bigger than her. "Mom I-"
"Hun I'm not asking you to be his nanny. I don't know how much help he'll- I'm just asking for now at least, be kind."
Marcie gulped and nodded. "Yeah mom, of course."
Dinner that night was mostly silent. Miles shuffled downstairs after his nap. Marcie could here him crinkling even as she set the table. She tried her best to smile at him, then spent the rest of the meal staring at her plate. Her mom took the empty dishes to the kitchen when she heard the crinkles again, then the whimpering. She looked over to see Miles looking panicked as he fidgeted in his seat. He looked around the table frantically then shoved his thumb in his mouth, still fidgeting.
"Hey, uh Miles, do you want to um take your thumb out, or uh, where's your pacifier?" Marcie tried her best to sound sympathetic. She scanned the table too, seeing the pacifier right by his elbow. She picked it up and held it in front of him. "Here, use this." She felt ridiculous offering a pacifier to a guy in his 20's. Miles continued to fidget and whine behind his thumb that he was sucking faster and faster.
Marcie gently took the thumb out of his mouth and slid his pacifier in. Miles eyes went wide and dulled, his fidgeting slowed, and he started to pee his diaper. Marcie heard the hiss and stumbled back into her chair, watching the grown man let loose into his thirsty padding. He wasn't even done when Dina walked back in the room.
"Ah did Marcie help you find your paci Miles, isn't she sweet? Oh and I think I know where all that juice you had before your nap went too!"
Dina moved to stand Miles up and prodded the slightly sagging padding around his waist. Marcie took that as her chance to leave back to her room.
The rest of the week Marcie spent as much time as she could looking for work. She needed to find a job, not just for money but to have an excuse to be out of the house. Dina had said that Marcie would always have opportunities to earn money by helping with Miles. Marcie did eventually find a job, at a restaurant, working mid week lunch shifts.
She wasn't pleased that she managed to find such a meager money flow but at least she was earning something and by staying at home she was keeping her costs close to nothing, and by having a job she had an excuse to get out of the bizarre world her home was turning in to.
Every day she came home from work that world crept further into the house. Sippy cups and bottles started appearing in the dishwasher. She saw more and more toys strewn across the living room. A stack of diapers and changing supplies appeared in the corner next to the sofa one day. Marcie looked at them, thick, crinkly, some plain white and others adorned with cute patterns.
Miles was changing too, rapidly. After her third day at work she was setting the table for dinner when Miles came down as shy and bashful as her first day back. Marcie looked at him wondering where her mom had found a diaper to match his t-shirt before realizing what he was wearing.
"Doesn't Miles look adorable in his new onesie darling?" Dina said as she put an arm around him. "These help keep his diapers from sagging, we don't want them falling off him after all!" Marcie forced a smile, "Yeah Miles, uh, looking sharp." Marcie doubted she delivered the line with conviction but chose to take his increased pacifier sucking as a sign that she'd mollified the young man. His pacifier is on a ribbon! She thought, only to be further surprised when her mom snapped a silicon bib around his neck and put a plastic plate of finger food in front of him.
"Now Marcie, I know you have tomorrow off, in the morning I'm having a few things delivered for Miles's room, can you help us set it up?"
Marcie looked between them for a moment. "Uhm yeah, sure mom, happy to help." Her mom beamed and turned to Miles. "See baby! I told you she'd be a helper!"
The next morning after breakfast the three of them brought a half dozen boxes up to Miles's room. Marcie had avoided the space since her first day and was surprised at how much had changed. All the posters of cars and skateboarders had been taken down and toys ranging from legos to giant ring stacks were piled up in a corner by Miles's bed. She saw the shelf in the small closet was stacked practically to the ceiling with bags of adult diapers. How long does she expect this to go on, Marcie thought.
The three of them got to work opening the boxes with Dina directing where to put what. It was a familiar pattern to Marcie. Just like Ikea she thought and she slid another plank over a row of dowels. She stood back and realized what it was. "Mom are these, crib bars?"
She turned to the corner where her mom and Miles were working. "Yes dear, Miles has had a few spills at night lately, probably trying to get to the potty. I'm surprised you haven't heard. We don't want him getting any big boo boos and this will help keep him snug and safe!" Dina walked over to the assembled bars and motioned to Dina to lift with her. They carried the piece over to Mile's bed and set it on the frame, where Dina moved around clipping the base onto the frame. The two stood back. Marcie figured that if Miles stood the bars would be at his belly button. She turned back to Miles, who was looking at his new bed with what Marcie thought may be wonder, or confusion. Marcie pieced together what he and Dina had been working on too. It resembled a massage table with shelves built in. A changing table, Marcie realized.
"You two have been so helpful, Marcie why don't you and Miles play in the living room for a bit. I can put on some finishing touches up here." Dina looked at her daughter and nodded slowly as she spoke. Marcie sighed, she'd been avoiding Miles and she knew it, Miles probably did too. The man wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and it looked like he'd be like this for at least the rest of the summer. You don't buy a guy a changing table if potty training is in the cards.
"Oh look, race cars, these look like fun!" Marcie dumped the box of toy cars on the rug and sat on the living room sofa with her phone. She watched Miles get on his knees and crawl to the toys and start to play. She scrolled aimlessly for a minute before she heard the sound of playing stop and she looked to see Miles on his knees facing her. He had a blank look on his face. not the blank look he sometimes got when watching a cartoon or peeing. He looked like he might be presenting a project to a class, if he weren't wearing a t-shirt and a diaper, Marcie thought to herself.
"I-I sowwy," he began and cleared his throught. "I'm sorry- about all this, being here like this," he began to sniffle.
Marcie leaned forward, feeling sympathy for hadn't felt for the man a few years older than her. "It's ok Miles, this all must be, a lot like a lot for you."
Tears were brimming Miles's eyes. "I don't wanna be a big baby but it's better dan, is betta dun..." He looked at the ground around him for a moment before putting his thumb in his mouth. Marcie saw his face relax and his shoulders slacken.
"I dun wanna be a big diapie baby, bu being a baby is betta dan bein scawed." Marcie nodded, this was the most she'd heard Miles talk in the nearly two weeks she'd been home. Miles took his thumb out of his mouth, took in a big gulp of air and continued.
"Like before it was like I was falling, all da time, and now I'm like gliding? Or like dere's a big fluffy thing I know'll catch me, and your mommy... Your mommy's really nice and pretty and I know I'm safe and she's happy." Miles trailed off and put his thumb back in his mouth.
Marcie put her phone down, slid off the sofa, and looked at Miles. "Miles baby, it's ok, my mom is definitely happy. I'm glad she's able to help you. I'm glad we're here to help you." Miles nodded and smiled. "Wanna show me some of your cars?" Marcie asked.
She lost track of time playing with Miles. They barely spoke, mostly giggled, as they ran toy cars over and into thing on the living room rug.
Marcie went to the dining room to grab a car Miles had manage to slide under the table. When she turned around she saw Miles on his feet in a deep squat, with one hand on his stomach and a thumb in his mouth.
As Marcie slowly walked to him Mile's grunted and strained as he loaded the seat of his diaper. Marcie watched his diaper droop closer to the ground. She heard his diaper crinkle as it expanded. Without thinking she reached down and grabbed his hands. He took them and shakily pulled himself up, stopping briefly to push more mess into his bloated diaper.
Marcie stared mouth agape at the man in her living room pooping his diaper. She'd been dreading this, she'd tried to ignore the scents creeping over the house. The sweeter scents of baby powder and skin lotions were easy to ignore, but she'd refused to name the lingering scents of Miles's accidents that had been creeping out of his room and around the house. She knew that if Miles was really regressing that'd mean wet and messy diapers would be a daily fact of life. Now she was awash in the stench of Miles's soiled diaper. It hung in the air like a fog. As gross as I suspected it would, she thought. She stared and him, looking down at him as he stood there bowlegged, his face still red from straining, a bit of snot beneath his nose.
"P-po-poopy." Miles said as he stood up with his legs bowed.
Marcie laughed. Her laughter surprised Miles, and herself. Her first experience, one of many to come she realized, of looking at this man in his poopy diaper. "Yeah baby, definitely poopy, and stinky!" Seeing a frown start to form on his face Marcie continued. "Miles, it's ok. That's what your diapers are for, remember? You're in diapers so using them is what you're supposed to do." She said it flatly, as much for herself as for the young man in front of her.
The stood staring at each other silently for a moment before another stinky waft reached Marcie's nose. She waved a hand in front of her nose "Pee-yew Miles! Are all your diapers this stinky?"
That got a giggle out of him. I'm joking with a man about his poopy diaper, she thought. This stinks, it literally stinks so bad, but that's it? Marcie pondered, the diaper was here, yucky and smelly, but it's manageable, not a car crash level disaster she'd been making it out to be. It really was smelly though.
"Ok, let's get my mom to take care of this." Miles nodded and walked towards the stairs. Marcie looked at the back of his diaper, plastic stretched and drooping. Watching the slightly discolored seat sway with his waddling steps. They stood next to each other back in the doorway of Miles's bedroom, though bedroom didn't do the space justice, Marcie thought. This was a nursery. The room had changed so much she forgot for a moment how much Miles reeked.
The crib's sheets were light blue and adorned with ducks and sheep, the changing table had a plastic cover as well, similarly adorned with cartoon animals. Beneath the cover Dina had filled the shelves with diapers and changing supplies. A play carpet covered center of the room.
Dina stood proudly in the center of the nursery and her smile grew bigger when her nose started to twitch. "Miles, did you know I just finished putting your changing supplies away? Is that why I'm smelling a dirty diaper?" She embraced the young man and pulled back the back of his diaper. Marcie winced as the stench increased.
"Oh my! I'll say this is the right diaper to christen your new changing table! What do you say we get you out of this yucky thing?" Miles nodded his head against Dina's breasts. Marcie briefly caught her mother's eyes as she left the room making sure to close the door behind her.
That evening, after Miles had been tucked into his new crib, Marcie and Dina sat on the sofa with a bottle of wine. Dina, Marcie noted, was glowing.
"Thank you so much for your help today with Miles dear," Dina rested a hand on her daughter's arm. "Today could have been a tough one. I'm so proud of how you both handled it."
"And how are you handling it Mom? It seems like you're in it for the long haul." Marcie watched her mom's expression as a smile settled, left, then returned.
"Well the poor boy is likely to be like this for some time. We're supposed to wait for his regression to settle, then look for signs of growth again, similar to a toddler." Marcie noted Dina's frown as she said 'growth.' Dina perked up again. "But until that happens we'll keep Miles will be safe, happy, and clean. Speaking of which, let me know if you want to help with changing any diapers." Dina chuckled and Marci rolled her eyes.
Three days later Marcie changed her first diaper. She didn't have a shift that day so she was helping feed Miles his lunch while her mom picked up more groceries. She was spooning some fruit into Miles's open mouth, trying to tamp down on how adorable she thought he looked when she heard a familiar hissing. She was used to that sound but was startled by the sound of liquid on plastic, then the drip of liquid on the floor.
She looked down underneath the highchair tray and saw a staned onesie straining over a saturated diaper. Miles's accident had broken containment and his seat was filling, with his pee overflowing onto the floor. Miles had tears flowing down his cheeks and Marcie quickly pushed his paci between his lips. She didn't know when her mom would be back so Marcie removed the tray and avoiding the puddle hugged Miles's face to her chest. "Sshhh baby, I'm sorry you got a leaky diaper. Let's take care of that ok?"
Marcie stood the young man up, carefully stripped off his clothes leaving him in just a yellow, squishy, saggy diaper, and walked him closer to the changing supplies.
On a changing mat on the living room floor Marcie untaped Miles's bloated diaper. With her encounters with penises at this point, few had been flaccid. Marcie marveled at how smooth Miles's crotch was. The smell wasn't too bad she thought as she wiped him down. It's about as bad a typical port-o-potty she thought. As she finished wiping him Miles's penis started to twitch. She was quick with the powder and taping him up. Dina came home a minute later, assessed the scene, and instructed Marcie to feed Miles a bottle on the sofa while she cleaned up. Marcie felt a strange serenity looking down at Miles's closed eyes as he lay in her lap nursing his oversized baby bottle.
Two days later she changed her first messy diaper. Work had been rough. The kitchen was less competent than usual and the customers, the few that there were, were more miserable and miserly than ever before. Marcie felt her spirits lift when she was greeted home with a bear hug from Miles as soon as she walked in. She'd grown used to the smell of his shampoo and the ever lingering sweet scent of baby powder that clung to him. She breathed the smells in and felt the stress start to leave her. After a moment though she felt Miles stir, his head sliding down slightly against her collar bone. She was confused when it felt like Miles was bucking against her, then she heard the squelching sound of his diaper expand and the soiled smell wafted up to her.
She pulled back and looked at Miles with his goofy, mouth agape grin and wide eyes. Her nose wrinkled and she waived a hand in front of her nose. "Really couldn't wait to see me could you buddy?" Miles let out a small laugh and blushed. "Where's Dina?" Marcie asked calmly but the stench was getting stronger. "She's in da showa," Miles said as he stood up with a wide stance. Shit, Marcie thought, her mom took her time in the shower and she didn't want to have to endure the dirty diaper stench that long, or have Miles stay in a poopy diaper that long. "Ok buddy, let's get you changed." Marcie grabbed Miles's hand and took him to his nursery.
He's better behaved than an actual baby during a diaper change, there's that at least, Marcie thought to herself as Miles lay still holding his legs up on his changing table. That's about it though. Cleaning him up stunk, it smelled worse than a port-o-potty on the last day of a music festival. Still, she made progress, wipe after wipe, until Miles was cleaned, lotioned, powdered, and diapered again. Marcie held the offending diaper at arms length and dropped it in the diaper pail. She knew it wasn't even a particularly full one. From the way she'd seen his diapers sag and stain she put it on the lighter side of medium. Still, she was glad to have it gone. She turned to see Miles sitting up on the changing table wearing just a shirt and new clean diaper. He smiled behind his paci as it bobbed between his lips and he swung his legs back and forth. Marcie's first adult baby poopy diaper change had been gross, probably the grossest thing she'd ever done. It still wasn't the worst part of my day though, she thought.
The house changed after that. Marcie no longer tiptoed around the adult baby in her midst and Miles didn't seem to feel any more trepidation around Marcie either. He was always about now, no longer holed up in his room. Marcie would see him playing on his own or with her mom when she woke up and when she got home.
Her mom was overjoyed when she heard about Marcie's first dirty diaper change. Marcie didn't think Dina had been holding back but she certainly wasn't after that. Her joy shone bright as she nuzzled, cuddled, cood, and pampered her adult baby man. Marcie herself enjoyed playing with what she was growing to view more and more and her big baby brother. His happiness was infectious.
As she grew more comfortable she stopped treating Miles like he was going to break at any moment. Growing up an only child she found herself enjoying the chance to tease the man a few years older than herself.
"Mom, careful before you come in here, Miles just dropped an absolute bomb in his diaper."
"Miles, you need another diaper change, your not getting paid for this are you?"
"I know bigger boys make bigger boom boom but seriously dude what has my mom been feeding you?!"
Her comments usually got a giggle out of the adult baby, and if she saw his lip start to quiver a quick ruffle of his hair or peck on the cheek got him smiling again.
She still relegated more diaper changes to her mom but Marcie did handle more adult baby care. Dina, to her credit, never pushed for Marcie to babysit but with most of her friend's away Marcie didn't have much reason to go out and spend money on the weekends when she could stay in and earn it. So Marcie spent more time playing with Miles, feeding him, giving him his nightly baths, and reading him stories.
Miles was less reluctant to leave their house when Marcie and Dina could both go. So the three of them tried to make it out at least twice a week, Miles holding their hands in between them, to parks, the zoo, and the movies.
Occasionally Marcie would stop and think about how strange it all was, how it must look to the neighbors who'd caught glimpses of the adult baby boy living on their street, but those quickly faded away as everyday life demanded more attention.
The day Marcie left to go back to school Miles had been a wreck. She'd quit her job the week before and had spent her free time with him. She was so happy she'd got him to laugh when she read him a story before his afternoon nap. Her mom and her had agreed that it'd be best if she left when he was asleep. She'd lingered in the doorway of his nursery and watched his chest rise and fall as he slept softly in his crib.
Down in their doorway Marcie hugged Dina. Marcie knew Dina would do fine on her own with Miles. That was something that concerned her actually. Miles was a young adult, and cute as he was waddling around in diapers he probably would want to become an adult again, sooner rather than later. Marcie knew her mom loved Miles, probably as much as her mom loved her, and she knew how much joy her mom got from having someone need her.
"Mom before I go... with Miles... don't forget..." Don't forget he's a grown man and this is all really fucking weird. Don't forget that as much as you love changing diapers and spoon feeding him he needs to grow up as soon as he can. Dina thought all that, and also held the last image of him, sleeping and snuggling his teddy.
"Yes hun, what shouldn't I forget?" Dina said with a knowing smile.
"Don't forget to check the baby during naps more often. He's been going poo poo more and more often when he sleeps, and don't forget to send me pictures of him too. I want to show my friends at school what a cutie he is." Marcie gulped and grabbed her bags. "And don't forget to tell him that his big sister Marcie loves him and I'll be back sooner than he can shake a rattle."
They both wiped tears from their eyes. "Of course hun. I wont forget any of that. You have a good time at school, we'll be here when you get back."
