184.)

Blossom was still holding the bouquet when she slid into the driver's seat of her car. She put the box of chocolates in the back seat, but she really didn't want to let go of her flowers. Usually Blossom Brixley only got flowers from horny guys, and it was like every single flower she'd ever held was fake by comparison.

"You can’t drive like that,” I said. “Here, I'll put the flowers in the back."

"Be careful with them!" Blossom insisted.

"I will," I laughed. I really didn't think she was going to be so enamored with a ten dollar bouquet. I got out of the car and put the flowers in the back seat very carefully, then got back into the car.

The drive to the theater took half an hour. We intentionally picked a place out of town, but as we sat in the parking lot, neither of us felt particularly good about it.

"It's crowded..." Blossom sulked.

"It's Valentine's Day," I reminded her.

We were both leaning forward, looking out the front windshield at the full parking lot and the looming theater. It was a warm, sunny winter day, but we felt like two girls going up to a haunted house in a cartoon.

"Promise to hold my hand?" Though she was covered up this time, Blossom still had butterflies in her stomach that couldn’t make up their minds if they were excited or anxious. Probably both.

"Or we could call this off?" I asked. Part of me was joking, but part of me really wasn't. Wearing a diaper in a car or a hotel lobby was one thing, but this was a crowded movie theater! Ugh, what a mistake...

With that suggestion, Blossom made up her mind.

"Nope. We're doing this, babygirl. And by the end of it, with sufficient amounts of DC purchased at stupid prices, we're gonna waddle outta here wet as a summer's day in London. C'mon."

And to emphasize her certainty, Blossom opened her driver's side door and stepped out of the car, full of undeserved confidence.

"Absolutely not!" I called after her. I hadn't even thought about whether I needed to use the bathroom! But she closed her door. Then she came over to my door and I slammed down the lock. She tried the door and it didn't open. I stuck out my tongue. Then she clicked her key fob and opened the door anyway. Damn...

"You know I can put you on my hip, right? I can just lean down, and pick you up," She leaned down and put her arms around Amy’s waist like she was going to pick her up, but Amy kicked and shoved her away.

"Fine, fine!" I didn't have a choice. I didn't think Blossom could actually lift me, but she could definitely drag me out of the car. That would have been worse. So I stepped out into the parking lot and closed the car door.

Click goes the lock. And I was stuck.

"Hand?" Blossom asked, holding hers out.

"Sure," I muttered, putting my palm in hers.

Every step through the parking lot was agonizing. I could still hear the subtle crinkle of the diaper, and the thick padding between my legs made it harder to walk. I didn't waddle, but I thought about it. I thought about waddling into the theater and needing to go potty and wetting myself and everyone cooing at me like a little girl and...

I shook my head. I was already slipping into Little feelings. I had to keep it together.

"The irony is that if we did this more often, we probably wouldn’t waddle so much. We’d get used to it. More baby time equals less baby equals more baby time. I think that's what eternal recurrence means."

Clearly Blossom was anxious; she babbled when she was anxious. But holding Amy’s hand was helping a lot, so she squeezed it for reassurance. Reassurance for Amy, and reassurance for her.

I was barely listening to Blossom talk. I wanted to listen, but I was distracted. Distracted by everything around me. Distracted by every person I passed. Every glance. We only made it to the ticket booth when I finally leaned into Blossom a little and closed my eyes.

"This... is not fun. This. Is anxiety."

I'd never had to fight off Little feelings before, not in public. Sure, maybe inklings here and there. But I was in a diaper! A real one, not the drugstore kind!

"Keep your eyes closed and lean against me like that, okay? Like you're a little kid and you're cuddling into your parent’s dress. Focus on my warmth, focus, on my perfume, focus on me and not on the world; can you do that for me?"

Blossom whispered most of it just loud enough for Amy to hear, then she took a step closer to the ticket booth. Even though she was also anxious, Blossom cared more about being here for Amy.

"I'm trying to avoid feeling–"

"Can I help you?" the man behind the counter asked.

"Yes," Blossom said quickly. "Two tickets to Puss in Boots please."

Blossom handled the transaction and I stood quietly like I wasn't there. When she got the tickets, we went into the concession area and found a quiet wall to lean against.

"We should see a much more grown up movie," I pouted.

"This is the point," Blossom laughed, holding up the tickets. "Let yourself feel Little."

"I don't want to," I huffed, which sounded a lot more bratty and whiny than I intended. Because my toes were in little space, and the water was very inviting.

"Oh you don't want to? You don't want to feel Little with your girlfriend, seeing the Little movie, eating popcorn, wearing our little secrets that only we know about? You don't want to feel Little with me? I'll bet you do, even an itty bitty bit~"

That tone wasn't condescending, per se, but it was definitely diminutizating.

I puffed out my cheeks. Blossom was being difficult.

"You're here too," I whispered. "You be Little!"

"Not my vibe," Blossom smiled.

Oh, right... she wasn't Little the way I was. Why did I keep forgetting that?

"Well... what do you want?" I asked. Why else would she want to wear a diaper with me to a kids movie if not to be Little?

"I want to go on a date with my little girl girlfriend, and both be padded, and know that nobody else is as happy as we are." Not exactly the world's most romantic sentiment, but pretty good by Blossom standards.

"You coulda done that in normal underwear," I hissed.

"I like these underwear," Blossom said with a small smile. A hint of a blush.

I believed her. I knew Blossom just liked diapers, and they didn't have to be a little space thing. Actually, she preferred them to be more submissive. So just wearing one in public was probably enough for her. I sighed a sigh of resignation.

"I'm nervous..." I admitted. "All these people..."

"And nobody is going to notice, I promise. And mine is way more noticeable; you don't have any visible padding lines."

And Blossom wasn’t the type of person to fluff someone up for the sake of their feelings. If she said she couldn’t tell Amy was in a diaper, she meant it.

"So let's get snacks, and then get into the movie theater, alright cupcake?"

"Fine..." Not like I had a choice. And at least the theater was dark. The sooner we got in there, the better.

"How 'bout you pick a candy?" Blossom prompted.

"I don't want any."

"Of course you do. Go on."

She ushered me forward to the rack of candy. Of course I wanted some. So I got a box of Sno-caps and walked back over to her. Each step was a reminder of the diaper around my hips.

"There's my good girl,” Blossom teased, patting Amy on the back. When they were called to the counter, Blossom placed her order - two large DCs and a popcorn - and then she turned to her girlfriend.

"Put your candy up on the counter, sweetheart. The lady has to scan it."

Was that too babyish? Was that awkward? I couldn't tell, and I wanted out of the social interaction, so I did what I was told. If it was any consolation, the woman behind the counter didn't seem put off in the slightest.

"Stop doing that!" I hissed at Blossom as we moved off to the side to fill the soda cups.

"I'm pretty sure that's not for girls your age to worry about now, is it?"

After a pause, Blossom leaned a bit closer to do her signature Bluey Whisper.

"Remember you can Yellow or Red if you need to; just communicate it okay?"

"Yeah... um, maybe just don't push it with other people? Like, I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable..."

"Yellow?" Blossom asked.

I nodded. "Just for other people..."

"You got it, cupcake. Are you ready to go in?"

I nodded. There was nothing I wanted more than to be in a dark room, away from prying eyes.

We got seats in the middle. Nobody else was in our row, which was nice, but the theater had a lot of other people in it. I started on the popcorn and sunk down into my seat. Just be Little. Let myself be Little.

Blossom lifted up the armrest between the two of them so she could have Amy cuddle into her - should Amy want to - and she shuffled just a little bit closer with a chorus of subtle crinkling. Which, in a theater full of people noisily opening candies and eating popcorn, was literally impossible to notice. But Blossom’s mind was a whirlwind of possibility.