10.)

I got up from the stool - which really didn't do anything for my height - and followed Blossom to the huge doorwall. The sun was down and the water in the distance was barely distinguishable from the inky blue sky. The deck was wooden, with a little set of stairs leading off to the beach. Blossom had to go down the stairs and around the house to get the lounge chairs out of the shed. I offered to help, but she told me I didn't have my shoes on. She wasn't wrong.

I waited, leaning on the edge of the banister, looking out at the water. It was quiet. Peaceful. I bet I could get some good writing done in a place like this...

With some pride in her posture, Blossom unfolded the wooden lounge chairs, checked them for cobwebs, and set them in place. She then went inside, opened a closet door just inside the kitchen, and came back with a couple of wave-printed cushions for the lounge chairs.

"It looks prettier during the day, I promise."

Oh, that reminded her! She looked up under the porch ceiling and reached up, turning on a purple bug zapping lantern; it was probably high enough that most girls would have needed to stand on a chair, but not Blossom. It made her a tad bit self conscious. Nonetheless, she sat down on the lounge chair and put her feet up.

"Come on, sit! You're so stuffy, Mia; relaaaaax, get comfortable. I wanna hear your story!"

I sat on the chair next to Blossom, crossing my legs and looking out at the water. The purple hue of the lamp above us washed out the horizon and it was hard to see the water.

"I was talking to a guy online," I started. "We used to roleplay together. I was like, thirteen? He said he was sixteen, but I said I was sixteen too, so who knows. It wasn't sexual or anything, not at first. We were both into Harry Potter, so we made up our own school where we were both mages. Then one time there was a spell that turned me into a kid or something for the day, and all the teachers were treating me like a kid. By the next year I was reading stories on sites I shouldn't have been on." It was kind of a dull story.

"I've never read Harry Potter ~ I wanted to, but it turns out the author is a bit of an awful witch and not like the 'cast a spell and turn you into a baby' kind of way, but the really bad way, so I never got the chance."

Blossom looked up at the bug light and then out at the ocean and then at Mia Moore, sitting an arm's length away. Was this a dream? This had to be a dream, right?

"I totally lied about my age when I was that age too, because obviously. And I used to think people would take me more seriously if I capitalized the first letter of every single word; my heavens I must have been obnoxious. Do you still talk to the boy?"

"Nah, we lost touch after a few years... I think our interests kind of took different routes. I was on more of the ABDL stuff, and he was kind of..." I didn't know how to phrase it; I'd never talked about that guy out loud before. Back then, I had such a limited vocabulary. "Kind of submissive? And it's hard to be submissive with someone who wants to act like a child."

"Ah, I totes understand. It's hard when dynamics don't line up right, because you can kind of force it for a while but eventually you both notice how uncomfortable you are and you're left wondering if it's even worth it, am I right?"

Blossom did have a tone hinting that she'd had at least one awkward dynamic mismatch in her life, and rather than let it hang out open in the air she elaborated a little bit further.

"Ya girl Blossom here is a Switch, and I still sometimes end up in relationships where things don't work out dynamics-wise. Like, he'll want someone who's only submissive or she'll want someone who's only dominant, or it'll be some edgelord who thinks that safewords are the devil or they mean you're not committed or whatever the fuck."

"Ew."

"Very ew," Blossom echoed.

"I guess I didn't really get into the whole sex thing until later," I said, playing with my fingers in my lap. "I think most of my teens was just playing baby. It started as a kid, then a toddler, and eventually diapers got introduced. Lots of roleplays; that was how I learned to write. Roleplaying and reading. I sure didn't learn it from school."

"What about now?"

"Now what?" I asked.

"You said you didn't get into the sex thing 'until later'."

"Oh." I guess I did say that. "Yeah, probably around fifteen or sixteen. I still don't think baby stuff is all that sexy, not objectively. But it's sexy if you're forced into it. Hypnosis, conditioning... like you were talking about in the car. Or just someone strong, who knows what they're doing. That's why there aren't any ABDL characters in Academy Works, I guess. It's not hot if someone already wants it. I mean, not to me. To other people, probably."

"Obviously I can only speak hypothetically based on the stories I like, but I probably agree with you. There's a big yes to the idea of forcing, or coercing, or conditioning or training - have I mentioned how much I love that word? It's so fucking hot. Training someone to wear diapers, or act like a baby."

Blossom fanned herself a second before continuing.

"Obviously there's lots of value in pretending or roleplaying too; there kinda has to be. Once a person likes it, they like it, and they'll probably only want to be forced to like it if they like it. The game itself is really fun; you just have to suspend disbelief and play along. Buuuuut... also? There's some appeal to me in the idea of training someone like Talita who accepts it, who likes it, but who also remembers when she didn't and that's pretty hot too. Bala was kind of the opposite because she's trained to like it, and also made to remember liking it so it's a really hot reversal."

It was hard to tell under the purple light, but Blossom was blushing.

"Also, being made to wear diapers in everyday situations, even if it's just under clothes and people can't really tell but maybe they can? Wow."

I had to laugh a little. Gosh, she sounded like such a fangirl, talking about my stories like that! She was just so excitable.

"What?" Blossom pouted, looking over at me.

"Nothing," I smiled. "I just haven't talked about this stuff in person before. It's different than talking online. More personable. And with Blossom Brixley, no less."

"Kink doesn't care how stacked you are, or how popular," Blossom said wisely. "It just gets inside your head like a sexy lil' brain parasite and that's that."

Blossom leaned back in her chair.

"Is it good different?"

"Hmm?"

"You said talking in person is different from talking online?" Blossom reminded. "Is it good different?"

"I think so?" I looked over at Blossom, then looked down at my hands and smiled. Even if we couldn't be friends in the real world, this beach house was real enough.

I could have stayed on that porch all night, but the sun had gone down a while ago and it was getting cold. I checked my phone: 45 degrees. I pulled my arms into my hoodie - out of the sleeves - and wrapped them around myself to prolong the moment.

"I'm cold, too," Blossom smiled, without looking over, "I'm scared if we get up and go inside, suddenly you'll be gone, and that'll be that."

The two of them were quiet for a few more moments, and the gentle waves lapped at the sand melodiously. Eventually, the cold would win. Maybe it would be now. Maybe Blossom should get up, and lead the way inside; she wasn't dressed for the chill of the breeze off the water, that was for sure.

"We've got all weekend?" I offered, still looking out at the horizonless void. "The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow."

"If it's nice tomorrow, I'm totally going to get you out on the beach to tan," Blossom said with a smile. "Come on, let's go inside and I'll order some delivery - cake only works for dinner if it's pink, so let's get some real food."

Blossom stood up and stretched her arms above her head before turning to slide open the door wall.

I didn't want to leave that moment, I really didn't. But if I stayed there, then I would miss out on all the other moments waiting for us. I couldn't risk that, so I got up and followed Blossom inside.