(Content warning: messy diaper, diaper change, capitalism.)

Maria was fidgeting, pacing back and forth in her living room. Every couple of seconds, she looked at her phone's screen nervously. On the app, an animated map informed her that her delivery was on the way and will arrive in a few minutes. It has said as much for at least the past fifteen minutes, and she was getting restless. She kept looking at the little silhouette meant to represent a bicycle, running along the colorful lines of her neighborhood streets.

Finally, the bicycle tracking entered her cul-de-sac and quickly closed the distance to her house. In preparation for its arrival, she walked to the door and right as she reached it, the doorbell rang. She was so eager to answer that she almost flung the door open.

A twenty-something woman waited for her at the porch, her eyes looking up from her phone. "Hi! Are you Maria?"

She nodded. The woman smiled, pressed a button on her phone and casually pocketed it. "Hello then! I'm Chrissy. I'm sorry for being late, there was a lot of road work on the way, I had to find a way around. I came as fast as I could!"

Maria had waited for so long that she would have accepted any excuse in a heartbeat. She invited the woman in and closed the door behind them.

Right as she was about to move further inside, Chrissy placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her, and with the other hand, flipped up Maria's skirt. It revealed a sagging, discolored diaper underneath, which had been used in more ways than one. She gingerly poked it to gauge the situation.

"Whew! I get why you requested the express service,” remarked Chrissy. “You really needed a change! How long have you been in this?"

Maria's face lit up in a fiery blush as she answered: "I got on the app as... as soon as it... happened. Just a few... minutes." She was only telling half the truth, as it had been more than half an hour at this point.

"Let's not make it a few minutes longer, then," approved Chrissy as she let the skirt fall back down, hiding the damage once again. The blushing lady grabbed her guest by the wrist and led her to her living room, where a changing mat on the floor was already waiting for them.

Usually, Maria would ask to do it in the bathroom, but it was upstairs, and she really didn't want to try walking up the stairs with that catastrophe waiting to happen…

Quickly, she was laid down on the mat, and Chrissy ripped her ruined diaper open, wincing at what she discovered within.

"Sorry..." whimpered Maria. She didn’t want to admit that pacing back and forth probably made it a lot worse. But the other woman gave her a comforting pat on the head.

"Don't be sorry! I've been changing a dozen diapers every night ever since I got on the app, and I've seen much worse than this. Trust me, it's fine. I'm just glad I got here before it became uncomfortable for you."

She meekly nodded as Chrissy pulled out supplies out of her professional-looking bag. Maria reached out to grab something of her own: a pretty dolly, which she held tight against her chest as she waited.

When the wet wipes came out of the bag, her thumb shot to her mouth on instinct.

And Chrissy went to work as her new charge began sucking on her thumb. She scooped as much of the mess as she could with the used diaper, quickly balling it up to prevent smells. Then came a parade of wipes, expertly used and discarded until her skin was fresh and clean again. Maria had to admit: that lady was a real pro at this.

Chrissy picked up an unusually thick diaper off the floor and unfolded it near her protege's bum, expertly crossing her ankles and lifting her legs so she could slip it underneath. Maria's eyes opened wide when her butt touched the soft fabric, as it was a sensation she was not used to. She could usually feel the surface under her padding, but not so much with this one. It was much too thick for that.

Seeing her surprised look, her helper immediately went to reassure her. "I’m sorry, I should have warned you. Since it's pretty late already, I thought I should put you into a nighttime diaper directly. That way, you'll be all set for when you want to go to bed and won’t need to change once again. Is that okay?"

Maria nodded and smiled, not bothering to remove the thumb from her mouth. Her caregiver picked back up right where she had stopped and centered the diaper properly under her. “Powder or cream?’ she asked as she presented both options. Maria pointed wordlessly towards the tub of cream, and Chrissy acknowledged it just as silently.

Her charge squirmed as every fold of her skin was lovingly slathered in the medicinal-scenting cream. Chrissy made sure to cover every inch of skin between her legs, along with a generous dose on her butt cheeks. By the time she was done, Maria’s bottom had become slightly sticky, and its owner looked positively delighted.

From that point, it only took a few moments of folding, pulling and taping for the fresh diaper to be closed and snug around her charge’s waist.

Chrissy grabbed one of Maria’s arms and pulled her to a sitting position. "Up we go!" she cheered. Maria’s body felt like a ragdoll as the helper pulled her up, and she let out a little giggle as she rose from the floor.

The caretaker asked: “Is there anything else you need while I'm here? Do you need a ba-ba, your teddy, something else?"

Maria nodded ‘yes’, then plopped the thumb out of her mouth and dropped her dolly at the same time. “Hug?” she asked as she opened her arms wide to Chrissy.

The young woman let out a laugh. No way could she ever resist an invitation like that! She embraced her charge wholeheartedly, ruffling her hair and patting her back along the way. Maria was practically purring from the attention.

They hugged for about a minute or two before Maria broke the hold. Christy instinctively gave her a kiss on the forehead as they parted, electing another mewl of pleasure from her charge.

As Chrissy picked back up her supplies to store them in her professional diaper bag, Maria grabbed her dolly and laid down on the couch, now that there wasn’t any chance of staining them in her new plush padding.

The caretaker had gathered all her stuff and got ready to leave the room, but she stopped for a second to smile at the woman playing happily with her dolly. It was a charming scene.

Then Chrissy spoke up in a surprising tone. It sounded happy and cheery, but also oddly fake. A “customer voice”, as someone working in retail would call.

“Thank you for using Changies, the app that connects bigs and littles in need. Don’t forget to give me five stars if you enjoyed our moment together! If you’re a premium user, you can also add me to your favorite caretakers if you wish to call for me personally another time. Thank you for trusting me, and have a good night!”

The words had probably been repeated hundreds of times and sounded about as genuine as a radio ad with awful voice actors. But Maria was eating it up, and she waved goodbye to her temporary carer with a big smile on her face. Chrissy left the room, then the house.

Maria grabbed her phone where she had left it. The Changies app was still open, prompting her to rate her recent experience.

With one tap on the screen, she paid for the diaper change. She then tapped several more times in order to give Chrissy the best possible rating, giving her maximum stars and pressing the smiley face on every subsequent question. An adorable “All done!” animation played on the screen, and the app made a big show of adding a gold star to her loyalty card. Only three more and she’ll be eligible for a special loyalty prize!

Her part of the deal now done, Maria went back to playing with her dolly, a lot more relaxed than she was ten minutes ago. To be fair, it was among the best experiences she had with the app. You never knew what you were getting when you ordered someone from the internet to clean your butt, but so far, she never had to complain. And it made her life a lot less stressful.

Maybe the ads plastered all over town weren’t lying when they proudly proclaimed: “Being a baby has never been easier!”...