Obligatory Content Warning: The following story involves cubs, nappies (diapers) and wetting, and hints at beatings.  If this is offensive to you, DO NOT READ ON.

As Beth drove out through the school gates she glanced around at her passengers. Her young twin daughters, Julie and Jennie, were securely fastened in their cub seats by the windows. Between them, on a booster cushion, sat her son Jason. He was almost six years older than his sisters. They'd grown a bit even in the few weeks since he'd last seen them, and he was engaged in re-acquainting himself with them. This was his first term at the school, and she was wondering whether it had been wise to send him away so young.  Beside her, on the front passenger seat sat the strange cub her son had invited for the exeat weekend. His name was Adam, and his father's ship had docked for a few days on the other side of the country, so his mother had flown over there to see her mate, but had been unable to take her cub with her as the school's headmaster had refused to let her take him out of school the evening before the exeat started, or to bring him back a day late. Adam was almost as much older than her son as her son was older than her daughters, and she'd had some reservations, but her son had been quite insistent, and the school's matron had said she thought their friendship was good for both cubs. She glanced at him.  He was adjusting the sun visor and looking into the vanity mirror on it. He seemed a little tense, or maybe anxious. Once they were out on the main road she glanced at him again. He'd relaxed a bit, and was watching, alternately, the road ahead and something he could see in the vanity mirror; probably the cubs in the seat behind.

Cub didn't know how long the journey would be, but he'd adjusted the sun visor so that its vanity mirror showed him Smallest and his twin sisters in the back seat. At the moment Smallest was busy chattering to his sisters, using some kind of cubby-talk which seemed to make sense to them, but which made no sense to Cub, who had no siblings and not much experience of very small cubs. He busied himself reading road signs and trying to recognise landmarks they passed.

"Adam?" Beth asked. There was no response from the cub, who was looking out of the window a little dreamily. "Adam?" she asked again, a little more loudly.

Cub twitched, startled to realise he was being called by his given name, and turned to give the caller his attention.

"Sorry." he said, quickly.

"Day-dreaming?" Beth asked.

"I guess." he replied, though the truth was he didn't often get called by that name. At home his mother used a pet name for him when they didn't have company, and at school all the cubs went by family names, not given names. "I was wondering how far we're going?" he added.

"Oh, should be there in ten minutes if the traffic's not too bad. How far is your home?"

"Usually about half an hour, but out East, with a view over the harbour." he replied.

"Nice. Best view we get is of the hills."

The chatter from the back had quietened down. Adam peeked in the mirror. The twins seemed to have fallen asleep, and his young friend was looking back at him. He smiled.

"Anything special you want to do with the weekend, Jason?" Beth asked, sensing her son's attention.

Adam looked in the mirror again. "His name's Jason." he thought, at once both puzzled and un-surprised that he hadn't known this before. He caught Jason's eye, and shrugged.

"Just be at home?" Jason replied.

"And what about you, Adam?" she added.

"Not being at school's good enough for me." he replied.

"Yeah." Jason agreed.

"Well, if either of you have any ideas later, speak up."

A few minutes later they pulled onto a suburban driveway in front of a house in a long road of similar dwellings. The front garden was mostly lawn, with a few shrub beds. Beth went to the back of the vehicle and took out the cubs' two suitcases, handing one to each of them. She gave her keys to her son, and then picked up her daughters, carrying them, one on each hip, to the door.

"Open the door, please, Jason," she said, "and show Adam your room."

Beth took her daughters and set them on the floor in what was obviously a playroom. Jason led Adam upstairs to his room. They set their cases down on the floor.

Adam looked around the room, and began to realise just how much older than Jason he was.  The books and toys in pride of place were ones he'd outgrown years ago. The bedding and curtains also gave the same impression. He turned to look at Jason and found the other cub looking anxiously at him. He reached out and drew him into a hug.

"Nice room." he said, and went to look out of the window. It looked out over the back garden, which stretched quite a way, with high hedges on both sides and a fence at the end just visible between trees and shrubs. Beyond the far fence was woodland.

"Wow! Nice garden!" he said, with much more enthusiasm. His own home had a garden, but it was smaller, and surrounded on all sides by other houses, paths and back yards. This one offered much more.

"Let's go out there. I'll show you my den." said Jason, and they both rushed downstairs to the back door.

"Ten minutes!" Beth shouted after them as they ran into the garden.

They didn't stop running 'til they reached the fence at the end. Adam tested the gate, but found it wouldn't open.

"It'll be locked, but we can get the key and go exploring later if you like." said Jason.

"Yeah, that'd be fun." Adam replied, and they continued exploring the garden. They walked round all the borders, crawled into a den in the hedge, and peeked into the neighbouring garden.

"That's Becky's garden." Jason said. "I wonder if she's around." but they couldn't see anyone in their limited field of view.

"Time for lunch." they heard Beth call, and crawled back out of the den, dead leaves and stray twigs clinging to their fur and clothes, and dirt on their paws and knees.

"Better get yourselves a little cleaner." Beth said when she saw them. "Then can you bring the twins here."

Jason led Adam to a bathroom, and they both washed their paws. Then they went to the playroom. Jason picked up one small cub and handed her to Adam.

"This is Jennie. Jennie, this is my friend Adam." he introduced them to one another. Adam found himself holding a small cub, who promptly clung to him as if afraid he might drop her. Jason picked up the other cub, balancing her on his hip in a manner which indicated he'd done it before, often.

"This is Julie. Julie, this is my friend Adam. Let's go have lunch." he said as he led the way back to the kitchen.

Beth smiled as she saw Adam struggling to cope with Jennie, and took her from him, putting her into a high chair by the kitchen table. Jason was already putting Julie into the other high chair. Soon the meal was on the table, and for a while there was quiet, mostly broken by the clatter of cutlery and crockery, appreciative noises, and cubby-talk as Beth and Jason helped the twins with their food.

"Jason, will you help me change the girls before you go out playing again, please?" Beth asked when the table was clear after the meal. Jason wrinkled his nose, but complied, lifting one of the cubs from her high chair and following his mother to the large family bathroom upstairs. Adam followed, curiously, at a little distance, and waited at the bathroom door.

"Come and watch if you like, Adam." Beth said. "Ever changed a cub's nappies?"

He shook his head to say no, but came far enough into the bathrooom to be able to watch, at first from a distance, as the cubs were undressed, dirty clothing was put into one bucket, dirty nappies were rinsed and dropped in another, dirty cubs were cleaned thoroughly, dried, and then put into clean nappies and clothes.

"You're almost as quick as Matron." he said quietly to Jason.

"You can try helping next time, if you like, Adam." Beth added, but Adam looked a little uncertain.

"Well, let's put these two down for their nap, and then you can go outside and play some more." Beth added, taking one of the clean cubs across the landing to their bedroom. Jason followed with the other, and both were soon in bed.

Jason and Adam spent the rest of the afternoon outside, some of it exploring the woodland out the back, and returned as the evening approached and the air cooled down, with their fur and clothes full of stray twigs, leaves, and quite a bit of dirt.

Beth had just finished feeding the twins in the kitchen when they came in. She took one look at Jason and Adam and sent them straight to the bathroom with instructions to put their clothes in the laundry basket, and to run a bath. Then she followed them up, carrying a twin in each arm, and organised bath time for all the cubs. Adam was uncertain quite what to do when sharing a large bath tub with the small twins, especially when he realised he was expected to help wash them. He watched and copied Jason, who was thoroughly engaged, and clearly enjoying the process. Beth took the twins out of the bath, and left Jason and Adam to themselves while she put the youngsters to bed. Then she called the older cubs down for supper.

"Any ideas what you'd like to do tomorrow?" she asked. Adam and Jason looked at each other, then back at her, and both shook their heads to say no.

"Oh well. What about this evening? Watch a movie on the TV? Play a board game?"

The two cubs whispered to each other, and opted for a movie. That settled, they all sat down to supper. After the meal they settled on one couch to watch the movie, with Jason in between Adam and Beth. They paused the movie a couple of times to get refreshments, and re-arranged themselves on the couch. By the end of the movie Jason had found his way onto Beth's lap, and Adam was cuddled at her side. After the movie was over, Beth shepherded both cubs up to the bathroom and left them to get ready for bed. She checked a few minutes later, and found them both cuddled together in the lower bunk bed. She leaned over to give Jason a goodnight nose-lick, tucked the covers over them both, closed the curtains, turned out the lights, and went back down to relax a while before going to bed herself.

Beth pondered over the day's events, and particularly over Adam. He might be five years older than Jason, but in some ways he didn't seem that much older. The two had played together all afternoon in a way that suggested they were very like-minded. Adam had seemed a bit shy at bath-time, but that might well be down to his not having any siblings, and he was clearly somewhat uncertain how to relate to the twins. Jason, however, seemed quite happy to give Adam a lead when he needed one. The school matron had mentioned Adam being anxious about wetting his bed, but had also said the anxiety was new, and that he'd been dry at night for years. Yet he'd made that comment while he was watching Jason put a nappy on one of the twins that suggested he'd seen the matron putting a nappy on someone. Beth wondered whether that someone might have been Jason, and concluded there was more to the story that she didn't know. She figured it was a puzzle that could wait for another day, and took herself to bed, checking first on the twins and then on Jason and Adam. All the cubs were soundly asleep, and not much later so was she.

Jason was first awake. He was most uncomfortable. The bed was soaked, but he remembered putting his night pants on before going to bed, and he could feel their comfortable padding. They must have leaked, he thought. Then he realised he also needed to go to the bathroom soon. Usually, when he'd wet in his sleep he didn't need to go so badly when he woke up. He sniffed under the covers, and realised that Adam had wet the bed. Gently, he licked the older cub's nose.

Adam woke up slowly as Jason licked his nose, and returned the licks, hugging the smaller cub close. Then he realised the bed was soaked, and then that he was responsible. He was suddenly wide awake.

"Oh no!" he wailed, almost falling in his hurry to get out of the bed, then pulling the covers off and seeing the huge wet patch on the bed. "What do I do now?"

Jason surveyed the situation with an experienced eye, checking to see what bedding was wet. He dumped the dry bedding in a pile safely away from the soggy bed, and began to strip the wet bedding.

"We take the wet stuff to the bathroom, and then we have a shower." he replied. "Can you help me with these?"

Adam tried to help, and was glad to discover that the bed had a protective cover under the sheets. The cubs gathered up the wet stuff and went to the bathroom.

Beth woke up and heard some commotion. Reluctantly, she went to investigate, and found the cubs in the bathroom. Jason was stuffing bedding into the washing machine.

"Why are you up so early? What's the matter?" she asked.

"Adam wet the bed." said Jason.

Beth turned to look at the older cub. His sleep suit was soaked all down one side. He turned to look at her, and then dashed for the door. She caught him and held him tight. He struggled briefly, and then flopped into her embrace, sobbing.

She held the weeping cub tight, making consoling noises, stroking his headfur, and licking his eyes and nose, until his weeping subsided. Jason also joined the embrace. She didn't try talking to the distraught cub until he finally looked into her eyes.

"It's Ok, Adam. Nothing a little washing won't fix."

He sniffed, clearly not convinced.

"Let's get the laundry going, and have a shower." she added, undressing the damp cub. Jason stripped his own sleep suit off too, putting both his and Adam's in the machine, and dropping his night pants into the bin. Then he took Adam by the paw and led him to the shower. Beth watched, then realised that her sleep suit had also become rather damp when she'd caught and embraced the older cub. She too stripped, put her clothing in the machine, and followed the cubs into the shower.

"If we're quick we'll have time to get clean and dry before the twins wake up." she said, and set the shower running. She washed herself quickly, watching the two cubs. Adam seemed lost and uncertain, while Jason was trying to get them both clean. She reached for the older cub's scruff, and grabbed it. He was still just young enough for the kitten reflex to catch him, and while he was surprised and immobile she quickly washed the parts that most likely needed thorough cleaning. When she let him go, he seemed to have recovered somewhat, and she watched as the two cubs washed each other.

Adam was startled. He'd not been grabbed that way in years. It was something mothers did to very small cubs. He hadn't been washed by quite so thoroughly between his legs and under his tail by anyone else in quite a while, either. When Beth let go of him, and his limbs were his to use again, he turned to Jason and the two cubs washed each other, Adam, at least, using the activity as a distraction while he regained his composure.
 
Once they were done, Beth turned the shower off and set the blow-drier going at full power. They were all soon fluffily dry. She stepped out of the shower, took the cubs one by each paw, and led them back to her bed. They climbed in and made themselves comfortable, and then, gently, she tried to tease his story out of Adam.

Adam reclined in Beth's bed, with a pile of pillows behind him so that he was almost half-way to sitting. Jason was beside him on one side, and Beth on the other. Beth had one arm stretched behind his head, and was gently skritching Jason behind his ears. He felt a bit trapped, and a bit anxious. His paws were by his side. He shifted slightly so that he could hold his sheath. That made him feel a little safer. He'd wet the bed earlier. He was worried he might do so again.

"Do you wet your bed often, Adam?" Beth asked.

He shook his head, and squeezed his eyes shut to try to stop the tears welling in them.  Beth reached over, gently turned his face towards hers, and licked his eyes and nose.

"Anything we had last night that might have made you do it?"

He shook his head. They'd not had anything strange to eat or drink, and he'd not had all that much, either. He'd been to the bathroom just before they went to bed, too.

"How long ago was the last time you remember?"

"Ages ago." he murmred. "I don't remember it well, even."

"Wet your nappies, though." Jason added.

Adam cringed. He wanted to curl up small and hide. Beth saw his embarrassment, and flicked Jason's ear, but then skritched him to reassure him she wasn't that cross.

"If you don't wet your bed, why were you in nappies?" she asked, a little puzzled. She knew that the matron put nappies on Jason from time to time, but that was so that he could sleep without worrying about wetting his bed.

"Punishment." Adam said, flatly.

"For what?" Beth asked, again reaching over to turn his face towards her.

Adam didn't want to answer, but Jason leaned over and whispered in his ear, far too quietly for Beth to hear, and hugged him.

"I wet my pants when the headmaster beat me, so he made Matron put me in nappies."

Slowly, Beth teased the story out of him, drawing confirmations and extra details from Jason as well. By the time she thought she'd got the full story she'd pulled the cubs into a close cuddle, and they lay in silence for a while, until sounds from the twins' room indicated they had woken up.

"Well, let's get those cubs out of bed and changed, and then have some breakfast." Beth suggested as she got out of the bed and reached for a bath robe. Jason scrambled out of the bed, and pulled Adam by the paw, leading him to the twins' room. Adam again found himself the bearer of a small sleepy cub, and again watched as Beth and Jason changed them. Once that task was complete, Beth sent Jason and Adam to get dressed too, and took the cubs down for breakfast.