⌚ New Experiences

25. The Other Outcome

Spanky's head drifted up and down as the spirals danced before his eyes. He didn't know how many times he nodded, or how many times he tried to count them, just like he couldn't see how many there were. But then the yo-yo was gone, and he found that he couldn't remember why he'd been looking for Lulu a moment before. He'd been distracted, and it was like all the thoughts in his head had gone away completely.

"Is that okay, Spanky dear?" Lulu chuckled. Spanky looked up and saw the yo-yo in her hand, the string still looped around one finger.

He pulled his thumb out of his mouth long enough to protest that it wasn't fair, and that he was going to do what she said on his own.

"Yphh dff nmm..." he started, before Dawn broke down in muted giggles behind her own thumb. He tried again, but found that he couldn't stop sucking. His paw just wasn't listening to him, and his mouth kept on sucking even when he tried to talk. Another look up at Dawn told him she found this really funny. Funny enough to stop being angry about him spoiling her tower, anyway.

"Awww, poor little Spanky!" she giggled, still able to pull out her own thumb, "If you wanna talk like a big girl, then you got to learn to behave."

"You didn't need to do that!" he wailed as soon as he could speak again, "I was going to keep doing it. It's not fair if I can't tphhh..." His attempts to speak died again as Dawn returned her thumb to her mouth, and her sister found himself doing likewise.

"Now, Dawn," Paper wagged a finger, "Don't be mean. Well, don't be too mean. Okay?"

"Yes, Mommy," she nodded, but returned to sucking on her thumb before Spanky could manage to say anything. He still thought it wasn't fair, but he could still make plans in his head, try to find a way to show that he was the big sister after all. He knew in his heart it was true, because he wasn't the one trying to hide a wet diaper from Mommy.

The sudden warmth surprised him enough that he would have let out a little yelp, if he wasn't firmly gagged by his thumb. He didn't recognise the feeling at first, taking a few seconds to realise that he was wetting his diaper. As soon as he'd thought about it, he hadn't been able to hold it back. He just hoped his blush wouldn't give it away, and he could still claim to be a big girl if Dawn had wet herself first. It wasn't much consolation, but it was enough to let him not cry.

He sat down amid the toppled pile of blocks and started building something again, hoping that Mommy wouldn't check his diaper and find him wet. He didn't think about how long he might be able to hide it for, but he wasn't quite humiliated yet. Dawn settled down beside him and started to play too. A few minutes later, they were working together on a stack of blocks.

"I'm starting to get hungry," Lulu said, as they watched the cubs play. "Want to order pizza?"

"Pizza!" Spanky leapt to his feet, "Yeah, let's pizza!"

"I wasn't talking to you," Lulu gave a big grin, to make sure he knew she wasn't being serious. Or too serious, anyway. "Don't you have some jars of baby food around? I'm not sure you girls are old enough to eat pizza yet."

"Awww!" Spanky pouted, "We haven't got baby food. I'm not a baby, I can have pizza!"

"Well, if you haven't got any, then I guess we don't have a choice. I'll order today. But you have to promise to be super good, okay?"

"I promise!" the cubs said at the same time, and then turned to each other and giggled. They were getting on like sisters are supposed to now, even thinking the same things sometimes, now that they were the same age.

Lulu went out into the hallway to call for pizza, so she wouldn't have the noise of arguing cubs in the background. Meanwhile, Paper beckoned the two away from their slowly growing fort of blocks.