✅ Potty Genius [NaNoWriMo 2022]

Twelve

¿Are diapers comfortable?

If you want to know, why don't you try them yourself? Besides, it's not like that question was even on my mind.

I was still shaking when I got home. I went straight back to my room, and put the whole bag in the bottom of my closet. Where nobody else would see it. Sure, it would have made more sense just to hide the diapers, but I was so nervous right then that I might not have been thinking so clearly. If anybody else saw my shopping they'd assume that I was still a little kid; even if I was technically in the right age range for those diapers.

I reminded myself that they weren't really diapers. That they were just for bedwetting, and a lot of girls got that briefly at some stage in puberty. I could remember clearly when it had happened to Naomi, whether because of hormones or early experiments with drinking way too much. I could remember how much I had teased her, bringing it up for months afterwards. If everyone found out that I was in the same situation, I would never live it down.

Well, it wouldn't actually be that bad. I was going to university. I'd been accepted, I would be living in dorms a month from now, and I would barely see my friends from school once I had a whole new group of friends. But still, I wanted to keep in touch with people, and I didn't think anybody would still want to talk to me if they found out about all of this. But no, I had to keep telling myself that these things were designed for girls around my age; they were a normal part of growing up for some. And even if I'd been a bitch about it, I could admit that it shouldn't be so shameful.

¿Does the app count them as diapers? For the challenge?

I didn't even think about that until later in the evening. I'd been watching TV with my family, and the thought crossed my mind of when I would get around to wearing my diapers. I reminded myself that they're not diapers, they're protective underwear for teens and young adults. And then I remembered that the reason I'd bought them was a challenge that asked me to wear a diaper. I didn't know if they would count.

As soon as the episode ended, and That Boy was back in his familiar hell, I made my excuses and headed up to my room. I might have said that there was somebody I wanted to talk to, or some email I needed to send; I don't remember what I actually said. But I needed some privacy, and that was the kind of thing they weren't going to argue about.

I called up the supply manager on my phone, by tapping the icon that looked like a diaper. I deleted the one that I'd previously added zero of, and tapped 'add diapers'. Then I scrolled down until I found the SleepSafe brand logo. Under that there were several different ranges, but Allnights seemed to be the most common, shown at the top of the list. That wasn't enough information for this app, though. I had lists to choose the size and pattern from as well. The size I knew was 'teen', intended for kids 14+. But it surprised me to see that there were separate sizes for boys and girls. A little note in the app told me that they actually had boys and girls sizes, which I guessed had the padding in different places or something, separate from the apparently-gendered designs. I had to get the pack out of my closet to check then, and found a little ♀L sign on the corner of the pack. I'd bought the right one, then, even if I hadn't looked in the right place on the pack when I was in Mr Santa's.

I'd only just put the pack back in its bag, back in the bottom of the closet, when I realised that the app wanted me to select which pattern I had bought as well. I was surprised to see how many were listed; it seemed that they had patterns aimed at boys and some that were probably intended for girls; and things that would be suitable for all the different age ranges, but this app allowed me to browse through the whole list rather than just showing me the ones that matched the size I'd selected. I got the pack out again, and took a look. Apparently these were a fire truck print that looked like the kind of thing I might have expected a six year old boy to choose. So it wasn't just the app; this brand seemed to think kids should be free to choose the designs they wanted, not just the ones that were aimed at a particular demographic. It seemed a bit weird to me, but once I thought about it I realised that there was no particular reason why anyone's choice should be restricted.

I picked the fire trucks from the list, and selected that I had one pack.

I took a deep breath. I wanted to know if these counted, so that if they didn't I could try to find some alternative in the morning. But I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about actually wearing one. Still, I guessed that there wasn't any kind of downside. The packaging was full of claims that they were just like regular underwear, and nobody would ever know what they were. I didn't believe that, but they were supposed to be pretty discreet, and it wasn't like I was going to let anyone see them anyway.

I tapped the button on the app to say that I was opening the pack. '1 pack' on the screen changed to '11 diapers'. Well, that was convenient. I was half surprised that it hadn't popped up with a hypnotic message to make me actually open it. Did that mean that I could have just lied about buying these? Somehow, the concept seemed weird and uncomfortable. I needed to be honest with what I was doing. I opened the pack of diapers, and put it back into its tote bag. I left my backpack out of the closet this time, though, and extracted all the food items from the tote. I could do with some snacks, and the magazine was the only thing I needed there to ensure that the diapers were properly hidden.

The app was asking me something. I looked at my phone again; it was asking whether I wanted to put on a diaper, or set a reminder to wear one at bedtime. The little knot icon that I now recognised as representing the 'Learning the Ropes' challenge was next to both; so I guessed that was a confirmation that they would count as diapers. I thought about it for a moment, and decided that I should get the challenge completed as soon as I could. But there wasn't really any need to wear a diaper; I could at least try just tapping the button to report that I'd done it.

¿Did that work?

Well, I tapped the 'mark worn' button next to my pack of diapers, and there didn't seem to be any issue with it. I had second thoughts, wondering if I might attract some punishment. I held my finger on the button for a second, wondering if I was doing something really silly, but I knew that it was too late to change my mind now. With a little effort of will, I forced my thumb to lift off the button.

==> 𝙷𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚍𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍. 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚖 𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚙𝚎𝚛?

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. There was only an 'OK' button at the bottom of the screen. If I tapped it, would it assume that I was wearing the diaper? I tapped it.

> 𝚆𝙴𝙰𝚁 𝙳𝙸𝙰𝙿𝙴𝚁 <

I opened the closet again, and lifted out the tote bag with my diapers in. I lifted the magazine out of the way, and pulled the first one out of the pack. The design was a bit childish, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I stripped, and pulled them on. They were a little bit tight, but not really uncomfortable. I put on a pair of loose shorts over them, just to make sure nobody would see them if I had any excuse to leave my room later in the evening, and then put on my nightie. It might be a bit early to get changed for bed, but when I had my underwear off anyway I thought I might as well get changed.

The app congratulated me for completing the day's challenge, and gave me the option of looking at the next challenge, or putting it off until the actual end of the day. That was a no-brainer; I wanted to get through as few of these challenges as possible before I could ditch the app altogether. I chose to wait, and closed the app.

I'd gotten through one more day without being utterly humiliated, and right now that felt like a big relief.