As Heather entered her room she chucked a packet of rice cakes at Mel who was still lounging on her bed. The packet bounced off the side of Mel's head. Heather expected loud protests as she dumped the rest of the snacks onto her desk, but none came. She turned to look at her friend.
Mel was sitting bolt upright in the middle of Heather's bed staring at her phone. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open. Heather was about to crack a joke about catching flies when she realized that the phone wasn't Mel's. It was her own! In a panic she dove across the room and ripped the phone from Mel's hands. Mel continued to stare at her empty hand for a moment. Then she slowly turned her head to look down at Heather who now lay across the bed beside her, clutching the phone tightly to her chest.
"What. The. Fuck." Mel whispered.
Heather risked a glance down at her phone. The picture of Mel rubbing sunscreen onto her chest was open.
"What. The. Fuck." Mel said.
Heather flailed her way across the bed, away from Mel.
"What. The. FUCK!" Mel shouted.
Heather found herself pinned by 90lbs of angry Mel. Her phone was ripped from her hands and shoved into her face.
"What is this?!" Mel hissed. "Where did you get these? Is this photoshop? Or that artificial whatever crap? No. You're not good enough with computers for any of that. Someone else made these for you. Who?"
Heather just shook her head. She was beginning to cry now. She knew that no matter what she said Mel would never believe her. She wished she had deleted those photos when she had the chance. Mel gripped her nose with her long, thin fingers and held the phone up to her face again.
"Where. Did. You. Get. These." Mel said with heavy venom.
"You won't believe me." Heather sobbed.
"Try me." Mel growled.
Heather broke down and told Mel everything. The diapers, the app, the scenarios she had tried, and Mel's part in them. Mel just sat there with a look of contemptuous disbelief.
"So where are these diapers then?" she asked sarcastically. "Did they fall through the back of your closet into Narnia?"
"No. They're on the shelf. In that cardboard box."
Mel looked over at Heather's open closet and saw the box. She stood up and went to grab it. Tossing it onto the bed in front of Heather, she sat down and pulled the flaps open.
"So these are the magic diapers?" she said, pulling one out. "They don't look all that special to me. How do they work?"
"You have to put one on."
"Show me."
Mel thrust the diaper into Heather's hands.
"I can't." Heather sobbed. "If I put one on then I'll just get pulled into a different world. You won't be able to see anything. I don't even know what happens here when I leave."
"Convenient." Mel said dryly. "Fine then. You put one on and I'll put one on too. Then we'll both go."
"No!" Heather said fearfully. "They don't work like that! There was a lot of warnings about tandem play on the website. Something really bad could happen if we try."
"What website?"
Heather grabbed her phone and opened the Big Tots website. She navigated to the FAQ page and pulled up the one about tandem play before handing the phone to Mel. Mel read it carefully then swiped and tapped at the screen for a bit.
"Beta testing?" she asked. "That's where you get to try out new software before it's ready, right?"
"Um, yeah, I guess."
"Alright. I'm signing us up."
"WHAT?!" Heather almost screamed.
"I said I'm signing us up for the beta. Then we can both see this other world where you're diapered and I'm some kind of horny nursemaid."
Heather tried to grab her phone back, but Mel just stood up and held her off with one arm while she completed the registration.
"But it's dangerous! Didn't you read the warning?"
"It didn't say it was dangerous, just unstable. Besides, this whole thing is just some elaborate prank anyway. Where's your 'totem?'"
Heather wordlessly held out her wrist. Mel looked at the bracelet critically, then nodded.
"You have another one of those?" Mel asked.
Heather nodded towards her desk. Mel dug through the drawer until she came up with another bracelet and pulled it onto her skinny wrist. She looked at the phone again.
"What settings did you change?"
"Wha-?" Heather said. "Settings, um, just the-"
"Never mind, I figured it out."
"Figured what out?"
"I said never mind."
Heather was getting worried. Mel was tapping away at the screen at a rapid pace. There was no doubt that she was changing all the settings that Heather had so carefully put in place. She tried to grab the phone several times, but Mel just held it up out of her reach. Finally, Mel switched the screen off with a satisfied smile and pushed Heather towards the bed.
"Strip and lie down on the bed." Mel commanded.
"What, Why?" Heather said nervously.
"So I can put one of these diapers on you, stupid. It says in the instructions for tandem play that one person has to put the diaper on the other in order to start the scenario. Since this is your little prank you get to be the one diapered, got it? That way when it all backfires on you I can at least get a picture of you in one of these ridiculous diapers as revenge."
"But it's not a prank!" Heather insisted. "And besides, as soon as the scenario starts you'll be in a diaper too!"
"We'll see." Mel smirked. "Now strip!"
Heather hesitated for a moment, then began pulling her clothes off. It helped to think that Mel had already seen her naked before, even if it was a different Mel. As she was pulling off her shirt she swore that she saw a predatory look on Mel's face, similar to the one the other Mel wore, but it was gone by the time she looked again. Once she was naked she sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Lay back." Mel commanded while unfolding a diaper.
Heather closed her eyes and lay back. It wasn't like the diaper changes in the scenario. For one thing, Mel lacked the strength that the other Mel seemed to have. Heather had to lift herself so that Mel could get the diaper under her. Then Mel had some trouble with the tapes. Heather had to show her the proper way to fasten them so the diaper would stay on. When the diaper was finally in place, Heather closed her eyes again and clutched the bedspread.
"Why are yo-" Mel began, but then the world started spinning.
Heather clung for dear life to her comforter. The previous two times she had used the diapers had been bad enough, but this time it felt like a tilt-a-whirl in a tornado. She rode it out as bet she could. When things finally felt stable again she cracked one eye open and peered at her surroundings.
Her room had changed back to the giant nursery again. The crib and changing table were back, and her desk had become a toy chest again. Heather hoped that it didn't have the same contents it did last time. She sat up carefully and looked down at the floor. Mel was curled up on the carpet. Heather had expected to see her in a diaper, but there was absolutely no evidence of one. She was, however, wearing her nanny dress again. As she watched, Mel uncurled and pushed herself shakily upright.
"What the fuck was that?" Mel groaned, green in the face.
"That's what happens when you use the diapers." Heather said. "Reality changes around you to match the scenario you picked. It's usually not that bad, though."
Mel was looking herself over.
"Why the fuck am I wearing tights?" she asked. "I never wear tights!"
"You do here. Though to be honest I'm not sure why you're wearing them now. This is supposed to be tandem play, so I assumed you would be like me here."
"Don't be stupid." Mel said. "I picked a scenario where only you would be diapered. Though I didn't think this was actually real. Where's your phone? Where's MY phone?"
"Depending on the settings I might not actually HAVE a phone here. What did you pick?"
"Something called 'Au Pair-adise.'" Mel said. "The description looked interesting. Then it asked if I wanted to import settings, but when I said yes it asked what settings to import, then gave an error saying that some settings could not be imported from solo sessions. After that it asked if I needed any help setting up the scenario, so I said yes and it walked me through the settings."
"It didn't do that when I used it." Heather said. "It was just a bunch of menus."
"It's a beta feature." Mel said haughtily. "You would have known that if you read the web page all the way through. Now, let's get you dressed. You can't just go around in just a diaper all day... Or maybe you can?"