The Accident

"Hey, what's that smell?"

~~~~~~~~Marcus POV~~~~~~~~

I watched as Ethan went ghost white. Growing concerned, I started to ask him what's wrong before looking down and seeing the very noticeable crescent wet spots around his legs and realized exactly what just happened.

"Ethan..." I start to say before the boy bursts into tears.

"Shut up!" He yells as he sits on his bed, he face going into his hands.

My first instinct is to scold him for being rude, but I realize how embarrassed he must be and besides, it's not my place to do so so I sit on the soiled bed next to him.

"Hey hey, it's alright, Ethan. Accidents happen" I say, trying to console him, making him look at me like I had three heads.

"No they don't! I'm a 20 year old man that just wet my pants! How.... that's not normal! And you saw! You're gonna tell the whole school and I'm gonna be a laughing stock AGAIN!" He said through his tears.

"Woah woah woah, now hold up. Why on earth would I go and tell the whole school? I know we just met, but do I really seem that mean?" I ask, feeling a little hurt that anyone would think I'd do something so awful.

"Th-that's what M-Mike did back in middle school. He pulled my pants down and saw my....my...." he couldn't even finish his sentence as he broke down into tears again.

"He saw your....diapers" I say, making him sob. It was undeniable that he was wearing one, those kind of wet spots only happen when a diaper leaks. "Hey hey hey, it's okay. It's okay. I promise you, I'm not like Mike and I absolutely WON'T tell anyone about this."

"H-how am I supposed to know you won't tell anyone!? I just met you!" He says, I can't blame him for being skeptical.

"Okay, tell you what, how about I tell you a secret of mine? That way you can be sure I won't be sharing yours" I say, gently putting my hand on his shoulder, making him flinch.

~~~~~~~~Ethan's POV~~~~~~~~

Marcus's suggestion sounded reasonable, it'd be mutually assured destruction, but there's no way he has a secret as embarrassing as mine.

"O-okay..." I say, still feeling skeptical of his words.

"Okay so.... I'm part of a..... community" he says, seemingly nervous himself.

"A.... community? What like a cult? I ask, smirking a little, despite still feeling nervous.

"No, no no, nothing like that" he says with a chuckle. "Okay so this may be a little weird, but it's called the age regression community."

"Age regression? Is that that k-" I start to say before he cuts me off.

"Nope! Absolutely not. It's not like that" he said, catching me off guard with how quickly he dissuaded that idea. "Age regression is....well it's something people use to deal with a lot of things: trauma, depression, anxiety. It's essentially letting your mind slip and mentality become a child again."

"Okay?... So your a....regressor?" I ask, not sure if that's even the right word.

"Well, not quite. The community is made up of two kinds of people: regressors or littles, being the ones that regress, and caregivers, people that take on a sort of parental role for littles. I'm the latter." He says, scratching the back of his head.

"Wow I....I'm gonna be honest I was skeptical about you having a secret that could possibly be as embarrassing as mine but....I guess that's enough to make me feel confident you won't tell anyone" I say, feeling a little awkward.

"Well I'm glad I could put you at ease" he says with a smile. "Um...I think you might wanna....change. Don't want a rash after all. I can leave the room while you do."

"Oh uh, yeah....right.....thanks" I say as I blush, having forgotten about my current predicament.

He gets up and leaves the room, allowing me to get cleaned up and changed and to get the now soiled sheets off the bed. The mattress was thankfully not ruined, only mildly damp so I just turned it over, be it with some difficulty. As I cleaned up I couldn't help but think about the secret Marcus had told me. He was a "caregiver" so he likes to take care of "littles"? What does that even entail? Maybe I could ask him more about it?

After about 15 minutes I heard a knock on the door followed by Marcus asking if I was decent. "Y-yeah, I'm all good!" I called out. He walks in and smiles, shutting the door behind him.

"Feeling a bit better?" He asks as he sits on his bed across from mine, taking a brief glance at the opaque trash bag sat next to my balled up sheets before returning his gaze to me.

"A little I guess" I say as I glance to the floor.

"Hey uh, so.... Do you mind me asking....what exactly happened? Like did you forget to change?" Marcus asked awkwardly.

"U-um....I meant to change when you left the room, but I ended up falling asleep" I said, trying to look anywhere but at him.

"Ah, okay, got it. So how about this, if I'm in here and you need to change, just let me know and I'll leave the room for a bit? That way we don't spring any more leaks." He says with a light chuckle, making me look down in shame, letting out a small whimper.

"H-hey man I'm not... I'm not trying to make fun of you. I'm genuinely trying to help, okay?" He says as he looks over at me concerned.

"But....why? I mean you just met me a few hours ago. Why do you care so much?" I ask as I look at him for the first time this whole conversation.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just a caring person. I guess that's why I like being a caregiver. It allows me to help others feel better and happy" he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I....what....what does being a caregiver entail?" I ask without even thinking.