149.)

I sat up on the bed and tried to brush out my hair with my fingers. Blossom was rummaging through her bag. My cheeks were burning.

"We're gonna miss dinner if you keep distracting me like that," Blossom teased.

"Yeah, because it was my idea for you to check my diaper," I huffed. But Blossom was pulling out a different set of clothes from her bag. Something to change into. I had to change too.

But it made me wonder...

"So, wait, did you...?"

Blossom turned and looked at me with an ounce of curiosity, and then a warm smile.

"You'd have to check~" Blossom chimed, almost like she was singing a song.

"We'll definitely miss dinner," I said flatly. But she shrugged her shoulders.

"It's like in poker," Blossom said. "You wanna see my hand? You gotta play yours."

It was a dare. She waited, just a moment, for me to make up my mind, and just as she turned to go get changed, I interrupted her step.

"Fine!"

"Hm?" Blossom turned back to Amy, still sitting on the bed.

"Fine, come here." I held out my hand and motioned her over. I couldn't believe I was about to check Blossom Brixley's diaper…

Blossom wasn't sure that Amy was going to call her bluff, and it was equal parts enticing and anxiety-provoking that she had. Thankfully, years of performing in front of a crowd and even more years of dancing to her own tune no matter the setting had prepared Blossom Brixley for just about anything.

So, with a playful smirk, she approached the bed.

With every step, I grew more and more anxious. I knew it wasn't a big deal. If she was wet or not, it didn't really matter. But I'd never checked anyone's diaper before. What if I couldn't tell? Was I supposed to just guess? What if I was wrong? I hated being wrong. Did other Bigs have this problem?

Then Blossom was standing in front of me. I was still sitting on the bed. So I took a deep breath and lifted the hem of her hoodie, then pulled down her tight short-shorts. They hit her ankles expertly, like she knew exactly how to move so they didn't get caught on her knees.

With a deep breath, I lifted the front of her hoodie.

Blossom was a practical woman, and she knew she'd be in a diaper the entire drive. She also planned to reduce the risk of anyone seeing her in it, so she didn't go into any bathrooms. So of course, she damn well wet her diaper. And she loved that it wasn't her that was riddled with nervousness here: it was Amy.

Besides, having Amy undress her felt pretty hot anyway.

The diaper looked a little swollen, but that could have been my imagination. I couldn't be sure. I had to check her properly. But how? There was that meme on Twitter last year about ways to check a diaper, like putting your finger in the leg band or pulling back the waist. But I went with the one that was familiar to me, the one that Blossom used just a handful of minutes prior. Palm to the plastic, between her legs.

I'd never touched her diaper like that before. It was very personable, very intimate. I remembered when she did it, the shiver that ran up my spine. I felt it again in remembrance, like nostalgia from only a moment ago. I wanted to squeeze her diaper. I wanted to press on the padding and make her squirm.

"Well?" Blossom asked. Her voice was a little quieter, a little shier.

"Well..." I tried to compose myself. "Well, I guess you had no room to tease, huh? Since you couldn't stay dry either." The only reason I was sure she was wet - and I was sure! - was because of my own familiarity. Enough nights in my room with my hand on the front of my diaper. Enough experimenting with the squishy padding in Blossom's guest bedroom. It just felt different. For once, I felt like I had a distinct advantage over an ordinary caregiver.

"Mmm…"

It wasn't very often that Blossom could be left short of words, but this was one of those rare times. And it wasn't at all to do with Blossom being embarrassed, or blushy, or bashful, and had everything to do with the fact that Blossom wasn't sure of the right words to use to properly appeal to Amy. Early in their dynamic, she'd been off-putting, and Blossom was a little critical of herself for that.

"It's not that I couldn't, and just that I didn't~"

Oh, right. Blossom and I weren't exactly the same. It was hard to remember that sometimes, that her interest in all this stuff didn't line up with my interests perfectly. It was just so easy to project onto her, to say what I'd want said to me...

So I moved my hand out from between her legs and let her hoodie fall back over the front of her diaper. I could think a lot more clearly when I wasn't staring at a hot girl with her diaper on display.

"So you just decided to wet yourself then?" I asked rhetorically. "It's almost like you want to wear diapers..."

"Why would I want to wear diapers?" she said. "I'm not some baby~"

I shrugged my shoulders and pulled my coat down a little further, to cover my own diaper. To try to make this a little less about me.

"I dunno, Blossom. You're the one that chose to use your diaper instead of using the bathroom. Why would you do that?" Seductive wasn't a tone I could pull off, but uncertainty came so naturally to me. I was trying to sound like a confused babysitter who walked in on her charge trying on her little cousin's diapers, rather than an awkward RA who entered the wrong dorm at the wrong time. I hoped I was doing a good job.

Blossom left a pause for dramatic tension and then deliberately bit her lip, smiling awkwardly, shyly, bashfully the way she knew that Amy would love to see.

"I just didn't want people to see, so I stayed in the car the whole time… that's all…"

How would a teacher in Academy A handle that rationale? How would Nana handle it if Ai said it? It was always a game; every word from the lips of a Candy was ammunition against them.

"So you're saying," I started, trying to get the words perfect in my head, "that you'd do anything to avoid someone seeing you in a diaper? Even wetting it like a helpless little girl?"

If Amy's first strike had been good, that follow-up was great! And Blossom actually did feel blushy. She was just so clever, Blossom could talk her way out of anything and everything, not realizing that her words were webs and the spider was trussing her up with each little strand.

"….right, but, at least nobody can see if I wet it…"

"Ah, okay." I nodded coyly. I had leverage! "So you'd pretty much do anything then, just to make sure nobody found out about you wearing diapers. Like, if I had a picture on my phone... you wouldn't want me to show anyone."

I didn't have a picture on my phone. Blossom knew that, because I'd never do something like that without asking. But none of this was real anyway, right? She would probably play along.

"Of course I wouldn't want you to show anyone, I'd be ruined if you did! You know I'd do anything to stop you showing people!" Blossom's little outburst felt wonderful.

"So you'd wear diapers whenever I told you to?" I asked, poking at Blossom's limits. Of course, none of these were real demands.

"I guess..." Blossom mumbled.

"And if I had you keep a pacifier in your pocket when we went to dinner?"

"That wouldn't even make any sense. Why would I do that? What does that have to do with these dumb diapers you made me wear?"

That tone was a playfully childish one, a tone that Blossom didn't often use.

"It's a reminder," I said simply. "Because if you don't do what I say at the restaurant, I'll make you choose. Put that pacifier between your lips in front of everyone, or I'll send that picture of you in your diaper to everyone on campus."

Okay, so we were taking a hard turn from Academy Works and into the ABDL blackmailed-by-your-bully trope. Funnily enough, I was the bully this time!

"You wouldn't do that," Blossom argued. "You wouldn't! You know how much it would ruin my reputation, and you're…" She trailed off and crossed her arms in a show of defiance. "No. No this is dumb, you're not going to control me."

"Well, there's only one way to really be sure I never have any control over you..."

I shuffled off the bed a little bit and grabbed my pants off the floor. They landed close to the bed. I fumbled through my pockets and pulled out my phone.

"I'll just send that picture to everyone and this will all be over. Easy as that."

"Gimme that!"

Now, ordinarily Blossom Brixley would have had no issue taking something from Amy - Blossom was both taller and quicker - but for the purposes of this moment, this interaction, this scene? She decided that it wasn't something she could do. So she snatched at it, but missed, and tried again, and missed, and then managed to purposefully trip over her own feet and wind up falling onto the bed.

Nailed it.

Wow, what a performance. Blossom could have overpowered me even in the worst of circumstance. I couldn't let that go to waste, could I? So I stood up, despite the fact that Blossom could likely see up my coat at the diaper between my legs.

"Watch it, Blossom," I said with a tone of mock irritation. I wasn't good at stern, but I could do irritated. "Come at me again and I'm hitting send. So you better be prepared for the consequences."

"Fine fine fine! I'm sorry! It's just so… so dumb, I don't know how I let you coerce me into this, Amy. But I'll take the damn pacifier okay? Now put your phone away… please?"

"And if you act up even once at the restaurant," I teased, "then you'll take that pacifier from your pocket and slip it between your lips. In front of everyone."

"I can't!" Blossom argued.

"You'll suck a pacifier in front of strangers, or the whole school will know you wear diapers." I wasn't sure what narrative we were following on exactly why she was in diapers, but I didn't think it mattered. Neither of those threats would ever happen in the real world. It was a game.

"…fine," Blossom pouted.

"Good girl," I said happily. It wasn't an act: I had successfully won a fake-dominance-round with Blossom! It was something to be happy over. But we really did have to change and get going, so I ended the scene with a simple:

"Go get changed then."

"Yes Miss~"

Blossom decided to add that as a final lil' cherry on the crinkly diaper cake. Blossom gathered her things and went to the bathroom of the gorgeous hotel room to get changed for dinner.

I had planned to just use the hotel room proper to change into some normal underwear, but even with the curtains drawn it felt weird. So when Blossom was done in the bathroom, I took it. In the end, I was wearing basically the exact same clothes - with panties instead of a diaper - and Blossom was in a completely different - and slightly more weather-appropriate - outfit. Probably more appropriate for a public restaurant too.

When Amy emerged from the bathroom, Blossom was standing in her new ensemble in front of the window, looking out at the city below. They could have been much higher up, but it was gorgeous nonetheless. And everything beautiful felt more beautiful when in the company of someone you love.

"Ready to go, gorgeous girl?"

"Yep, let's hit it."

We decided to walk, because we probably wouldn't find good parking anyway and the place was only ten minutes away on foot. I was thankful that Blossom put on some actual pants, though she didn't seem to shiver even in the cold evening winds. The sun was already down, but there were so many lights that it didn't really matter.

The place I planned for was all over the Google searches: Balthazar. It was kind of a French-American restaurant, and it was pretty damn pricey. But I knew that no matter what we ordered, it wouldn't cost even half as much as the hotel. I could afford it.

Unfortunately, the wait was forty-five minutes.

"Sorry. I tried to book a reservation online," I said sheepishly. "But I didn't know when we'd be here, so..."

"It's cool, cupcake. I'm never going to complain over getting to spend time with you." As Amy pouted over poor planning, Blossom swayed freely like she was grooving to some unheard music.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Blossom asked. "I mean, we're in New York."

"With you dressed like that?" I asked skeptically.

"Yes, with me dressed like this!"

"Well... if you aren't going to be cold..." Our names were on a list and I'd get a text when it was our turn.

"If we head back toward the hotel, we could see the Hudson River?" Blossom offered.

"Yeah, that sounds nice." We wouldn't go too far, so we could make it back in time for our table.

Here in the city, so far from everything that made up life back home - if a few hour drive could be considered far, anyway - everything seemed just a little bit more amazing. Once on the street, Blossom unabashedly took Amy by the hand and made sure to hold it tight.

She felt so warm, despite the cold.

"I'm so into you, cupcake, you know that?"

"Yeah, I think I've heard that rumor." Though for the life of me, I still didn't understand why. She was so carefree, even as she held my hand. Our fingers weren't interlaced, not like how two people held hands. They were all askew, awkward, like children trying to do it. And it felt so natural.

The walk back to the hotel was short. The walk past the hotel to the water was even shorter. We had to run across a big road to the median, and then again to the waterfront. There was a tennis court. And then, across the water, the skyline of Jersey City. The river was alight with reflections. And it was cold, so I sunk a little closer into Blossom's side.

The two of them sat on a park bench together, and Amy leaned affectionately into Blossom's side. Everything about the city and the night and the cold and the world felt like it belonged to the two of them.

"I like this," Blossom said. It was a simple admission: understated, vague, but also completely and utterly understood.

Air off the water is always quieter and colder than any other air. I noticed that at Blossom's beach house too, that first night when we were out on the porch looking out at the waves. I was holed up in my sweatshirt, trying my best to not be cold. And now I was holed up in Blossom, trying my best to do the same.

But in that cold, in that quiet, there was something still and surreal about it. It was like a totally different world. It felt like I could say anything, and the words would get blown out to sea before they could hurt me. It felt like I could say anything, and the words would get cold and freeze before they could burn me. It felt like I could say anything.

"Don't take this the wrong way," I said flatly, looking out at the horizon, "but I love you."

"Uhhhhh..." Blossom's syllable droned on for a moment. "How am I supposed to take this?"

"Like it's not a big deal, because it's not. I'm not confessing anything. I'm just saying something I haven't said yet, but I was always going to say it. So I'm just getting it over with."

The first time Blossom said it, it was an accident. Since then, she'd said it a few more times. Offhandedly, like passing thoughts. I wanted to say it the same way, like something obvious. But I couldn't stay out of my own way. I couldn't be flippant like her. I couldn't be careless. Just this one time, I wanted it to be careless. I wanted to say what I felt without thinking about all it meant.

There was a little pause, just enough for Blossom to get a wry little smile on her face, before she nodded her head gently and replied with the only thing she knew was right to say.

"I love you, too."

And then.

"Just in case, y'know, your baby brain somehow forgot~"

"Yeah, the reminder doesn't hurt," I smiled.

I knew it was out of character for Blossom to hold her tongue in that moment, when I said those words. I knew it was hard for her. But she did it for me. Sometimes that's what love is: just being able to put yourself aside for a moment or two for the sake of someone else.

"So what's that?" Blossom said, pointing out at the water. There was a big building in the middle of the river.

"That is..." I opened the Maps app on my phone. "The Holland Tunnel Ventilation Shaft. Two."

"Ah, the famed sequel to the Holland Tunnel Ventilation Shaft One," Blossom said.

"The very same," I laughed.

"And here I was hoping it was the Pillar of Romance or Regency of Love or whatever."

"Maybe next time."

My phone buzzed.

"Oh, fuck," I mumbled, scrambling to my feet. I must have lost track of time. "We gotta go. Ten minutes, or they'll give our table away."

"Ten minutes? No problem!"

Blossom took my hand and we ran all the way down Spring Street. I didn't let go until we were in front of the restaurant.