(Rating: 2/5 (soft ABDL), CW: m/m, awkwardness, diaper use (wet).)

Well, that was a bust.

Tonight was supposed to be Adrian’s first kink gathering. A “munch” as they call it: a whole restaurant room set aside for kinksters to spend a good evening together. They would eat, they would drink, they would throw more innuendos at each other than a cheeky porno movie could ever handle, and some lucky ones would go back home with someone else to have fun together.

Adrian had reserved a spot online, set aside his evening for the event… well, organized his whole week around it, to be fair. But right as he stood right in front of the restaurant’s door… he chickened out.

It was just like the first time he tried to enter a sex shop, back when he was barely an adult. A heat wave washed up his face, his heart pounded faster as he walked to the entrance. Then self-consciousness became overwhelming and he had to fall back, leaving him flustered, frustrated and shameful about himself. Same scene, several years apart. He hadn’t grown confident in the slightest.

So much for a fun night of drinking and talking about kinky stuff with his peers.
So much for the new people he could have met there...

Now, he sat alone at the counter in some cheap Chinese food joint, chewing on his food without much appetite. Steamed buns. Heh. Not the kind of steamed buns he would have liked, tonight.

The waitress must have taken pity on him, as when he was done with his meal, she brought him not one, but two fortune cookies. Adrian smirked. With his luck, he’ll get a lousy fortune to cap off the night. He broke the first one between his fingers.

"Love is fulfilling worth pursuit for a life whole."

Well, that was a badly-written Engrish koan for sure. What did it even mean? He didn’t bother eating the cheap cookie before smashing the second one, extracting a thin band of paper from the crumbs.

"The treasures of life cannot be searched for: they will come to you."

Huh. Well, this one was more optimistic and written in proper English. Adrian was surprised by the contrast between the two cookies. Still, he was too sour still to appreciate its philosophical content.

As he was about to stand up to pay, he felt a sudden tug on his back. Someone had grabbed his belt and yanked it up without warning. He heard a deep voice from behind him.

"Careful, boy, everyone can see your Pampers peeking out."

Adrian’s whole body pivoted before he could fully process the words. Their meaning got to his brain on time to flush his face of all colors, right as he faced the stranger. A tall bearded man with a leather jacket and a confident grin looked back at him.

"Seriously", he added in his low voice, "everyone could have seen it. You shouldn't sit on bar stools with that kind of underwear on display."

The man sat down next to Adrian, casually picking up the menu to browse it. Adrian was holding the back of his trousers with an iron grip, like he feared someone would pull it down to expose him for everyone to see. Well, more than he had exposed himself, anyway.

The humiliation was like nothing he ever felt before, stronger than the shamed he had felt earlier. It’s one thing to wear a diaper around people who enjoy it, but a completely different one to show it to a bunch of strangers by mistake. Yet at the same time, he was angry at the man, angry that he would so casually walk up to him and… and… and warn him? His emotions didn’t make any sense right now.

Adrian was about to leave without saying a word as the stranger raised his eyes from the menu, cool-headed as ever.

"Hey, relax, it's okay. I'm not gonna snitch. I'm with you on this whole... thing." He gestured vaguely towards Adrian's midsection. "I’ll say, it's rather rare to catch a diaper enthusiast in the wild."

Adrian was still more tense than a piano string, but he now felt intrigued. The bearded man shot him a smile.

"You know, little boats are cute and all, but you should really look for something thicker to wear. Those will leak as soon as you move around. Trust me… I know firsthand.”

That sentence was enough to calm him down. The man had an oddly calming aura to him, and his deep voice was soothing to Adrian’s ears. He sat back down as the stranger ordered some appetizers from the waitress.

"So, you're in town for the meet-up?" asked Adrian.

"The what?" replied the guy, raising an eyebrow. "I have no plans for tonight, sorry. I’m just here for the bao buns."

Adrian was taken aback. "You didn't know about the ABDL meet-up tonight?"

"Sorry, no. I didn't even know there was an ABDL scene in this city. Otherwise I would have joined a long time ago!”

While the jab reminded Adrian of his own insecurities, he was also incredulous about the whole situation. Was this encounter pure luck? A happy coincidence? He had spent so much time trying to find a kinky friend, and now one was just randomly showing up next to him... It felt too good to be true.

"My turn for questions now,” continued the stranger. “Tell me... are those diapers of yours still dry, or…?”

Without a word, Adrian closed his eyes, then after a couple of seconds, he let out a sigh of relief.

The bearded guy’s laugh roared in the cheap food joint. "Alright, I guess that answers my question! Damn son, right in front of me! I didn't think you'd be so bold!"

Adrian smiled coyly and blushed. He didn't believe himself to be so bold either.

His new companion leaned closer to his ear and whispered: "Say, as I said before, I have no plans for tonight. If you don’t either, I'd be open for a little baby-sitting job. What do you think...?"

This was a dream. This could only be a dream. No way these things happen in the real world, outside of horny discussions chats on his phone. But if that was a dream, then there was no reason to not play along. Adrian nodded in approval.

The other guy smiled and nodded as well. "Atta boy! Let me just finish my snack, and then we'll be on our way. My place."

They sat together in silence for a moment, the stranger receiving and quickly wolfing on his Chinese snack, while Adrian paid for his own meal. He didn’t dare to talk more, for fear of breaking the marvelous illusion he had found himself in.

It’s only when they both got off their bar stools - and Adrian nervously tucked his belt up - that he finally asked: “Hey, uh, before we go any further, what's your name?"

He replied with a smile. "Paul.” Then, after seeing his expression, he rolled his eyes and added: “Yes, you can call me ‘Daddy’, but wait until we’re at my place before doing that, okay?”

Paul had wrapped his arm around Adrian as they walked the quiet streets. They talked about trivial things, trying to get to know each other as much as they could on the way to a very peculiar night together. At some point, they passed right next to the munch’s restaurant.

“Oh, hey,” said Adrian without thinking, “that’s where the…”. He stopped dead in his tracks.

“The what?” asked Paul. “Oh, that’s where the meet-up was supposed to happen, right?”

Adrian didn’t answer and bit his lips. Shit. He shouldn’t have mentioned it, because then Paul would surely ask…

“You want to join them? We can still sneak in and meet some nice people, I’m sure.”

And there you go. Now that lovely evening together was going to turn into a social rump that he didn’t have the strength for in the first place. And maybe Paul would find someone more interesting than him to spend the night with…

Noticing his mutism, Paul squeezed his arm around him to get his attention. “Hey. You don’t have to say yes. I’m just offering an option.”

Adrian looked at the window. Behind the curtains, there were certainly a dozen people having a laugh and making bets on who would be the first one to leak. But to be fair, the event sounded a lot less interesting than it was an hour ago.

“No. I think I'm good. I got everything I need right here.”

Cheekily, he pinched one of Paul’s buttcheeks. Immediately, the tall man countered with a firm slap on Adrian’s butt - which would have hurt if he hadn’t been padded - and let out his roaring laughter once more.

“Atta boy! I’ll have you all to myself then! I hope you don’t have to work tomorrow, because we’re going to have a long night together!”

Adrian blushed as they started walking again. The night was young and full of promises. Funny how things happen, sometimes, right? He had found his treasure without looking for it.