21 Fairy Girls

“How should I know what you should wear to a Green Fairy date? You’re the one who’s been to that club, not me.” Ava could hear Ollie’s exasperation over the phone, but frustration was no excuse for being an unhelpful friend.

“It’s not a regular date. Her freaking mom is chaperoning us. It’s weird!” Ava sighed. “What if I pick an outfit that seems okay, but it turns out to be embarrassing when Veronica sees me in it?”

“Well, what’s your baseline? What’s Briana wearing?” Ollie asked.

“I don’t know. Not because I didn’t ask, before you say anything. Briana doesn’t know what she’s wearing. She said she’s letting Veronica pick her clothes as part of the deal allowing her to go to the club.”

“Then there’s your answer.”

“Ollie, what the heck are you talking about?”

“Tell them you need to be picked up a bit earlier and have Veronica dress you, too.”

“Are you crazy? That’s embarrassing!”

“More embarrassing than Veronica changing your diapers like ten times?”

“She’s only done it twice! Once at Briana’s birthday and once at the sleepover.”

“Oh, sorry, it must have been one of the many other mommies running around that house that did it the other times.”

“You’re so mean to me.”

“I am your best friend and gave you a perfect solution. It’s not my fault if you’re too much of a scaredy baby to use it.”

“Bleh, fine. But if she tarts me up in some weird kink outfit with my boobs out, it’s your fault.”

“Yeah, that seems super likely from the woman who won’t let her adult daughter go to a nightclub without a chaperone.”

“Are you sure you won’t come?”

“Ava, I love you, but ABDL isn’t my thing. I don’t ask you to come to my nightclub either.”

Ava wrinkled her nose at the memory of her last experience at Head Hunters, the tacky tiki-themed club that Ollie loved despite his decent fashion sense. From what she remembered, the dominant experience of Head Hunters was the smell of male sweat and a mélange of colognes that blended into a super-musk. She couldn’t bring herself to offer to go to Head Hunters in exchange for Ollie coming along to the Green Fairy.

“I get it. Will you be my escape-call if it goes horribly?”

“Um, duh, of course, I will. It’s not going to go horribly, though. You’re a dummy if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Like you’d be any different if you had to go on a date with your boyfriend’s dad.”

“Depends. How hot is the dad?”

“You’re gross. I’m hanging up.”

“Love you, Ava.”

“Love you, Ollie.”

~~~*~~~

On the drive to the Green Fairy, Ava reflected on the conversation that had gotten her into her current predicament. Ollie’s advice seemed less sagacious from an adult-sized baby seat in the back of Veronica’s car. Ava had been nervous about asking Veronica to put extra effort into her chaperoning, but Briana’s gothy mom had been delighted by Ava’s request. Veronica had arrived at Ava’s apartment already referring to herself as Ava’s babysitter. The extra time Ava had allotted for Veronica to dress her had been a gross overestimation. Briana had been on her best behavior, setting the tone for Ava right away. There was no opportunity for Ava to delay – Veronica had Ava diapered and dressed in ten minutes.

The outfit Veronica had chosen for Ava was a shirt of light and dark sand-colored threads woven together in jacquard fabric over a sea-green skirt. The flare of extra fabric from the gharara-style skirt made the outfit seem Little, especially since Ava had “accidentally” ordered both pieces a size too large. The flowing, overlapping fabric of Ava’s outfit would have been sufficient to hide any small or mid-sized diaper – but Veronica had put Ava in one of Briana’s bulkiest nighttime diapers.

To be fair, her girlfriend was in the same size diaper, and it was much more visible. Briana was wearing what Ava assumed was her quintessential outfit – a rainbow dress with a sequined top and a tulle tutu skirt. The plastic tiara that capped off Briana’s outfit was obligatory instead of ostentatious. Ava had checked the tiara to make sure it was plastic when she’d kissed Briana hello. She wouldn’t have put it past the Rasmussens to put a genuine diamond tiara on an ABDL girl. For costume jewelry, it was a convincing fake.

The car came to a stop just outside the club. Veronica hopped out of the passenger seat, reminding Ava that she and Briana had two chaperones for the driving portion of the date. As Veronica helped the Little girls out of the car, Ava thanked Jane for driving them.

If Briana’s parents were putting on a show to make Ava feel like a kid, it was working.

Veronica was dressed to kill at any gothic nightclub – which meant she would stand out like a sore thumb in the teddy bear section of The Green Fairy. On the street, she looked fine, even next to Ava’s more colorful Indian clothing. Briana was the standout in public, though people were likely to forgive and forget anything they saw on the steps of a nightclub.

They took their places in line on the steps leading down to the club, surrounded by leather daddies, girls with suspiciously high ponytails, and other LGBTQ folks whose outfits either had nothing to do with kink or were more subtle than a hairy man in motorcycle leathers. Veronica took a moment to ensure Ava was steady on her crutches and straighten Briana’s tiara.

“Now, girls, what are the rules for tonight?”

“No drinking alcohol,” Ava said sourly. She couldn’t believe she was going on a diapered-date with her polyamorous baby-girl girlfriend, with said girlfriend’s mom, after finding out she needed to be in diapers full time – and do it all sober.

“That’s right, what else? Briana?”

“Kisses are okay, but no making out.”

“Good. There was one more rule. Do either of you remember it?”

Ava’s desire to prove she could remember simple rules overcame her annoyance at Veronica’s presence. “We have to tell you if we’re moving to a different room by walking up to you and making sure you’re listening.”

“My exact words. You’re a good, smart girl, Ava.” Veronica kissed Ava’s forehead, which pleased Ava far more than it should have. She was at once relieved to finally be slipping into Littlespace while nervous about the headspace making her vulnerable in public.

“I’m also a smart and good girl, Mommy!” Briana insisted.

“You’re my smart baby girl, but whether you’re a good girl or not depends on your behavior, especially when we’re in public.” The speed at which Veronica’s mild statement shut Briana down suggested that Veronica had given Briana additional rules or at least a long talk before taking her out.

That Briana would even need such a talk – genuinely need one, not want to be scolded for play – was fascinating to Ava. Despite giving the matter a fair amount of thought, she couldn’t decide if she was envious of the fact that her girlfriend lived in Littlespace basically full-time. Even if Ava wanted that, it wouldn’t be possible without the constant support Briana’s family gave her.

I wonder if it’s their acceptance I’m envious of, Ava wondered. My parents are supportive, but they don’t know I’m ABDL.

The bouncer that let the three of them in recognized Ava enough to call her by name, which impressed Briana and was a nice boost to Ava’s ego. The club front room was a deliberately generic space with a few tables and a circular bar which regulars affectionally referred to as “The Switch”, since it was the only way to get from one of the club’s zones to another. As always, The Switch was sparsely populated. People only lingered there to talk with friends who didn’t share their kink or on their way in or out of the club.

A woman in a frighteningly tight corset and a masquerade mask greeted Veronica by name, which was the most exciting news Ava had heard about Veronica yet. The event caught Briana by surprise, too, though that was likely another effect of Briana’s perma-Littlespace. Ava certainly didn’t know what kinks her mother got up to and was glad of it.

Veronica said hello to the corset lady, calling her “Jackie”, but was otherwise undeterred in her quest to get the Little girls into the Teddy Bear door as directly as possible. They passed through the fateful door, and Briana had the classic newbie reaction of disappointment that they were in a grey-painted hallway. Ava had been the same, but the club layout was complicated by its different zones. As much as she wished it could, the Teddy Bear door couldn’t teleport her directly into a Little world.

They turned the corner to the dance floor. Briana squealed in delight. Multicolored lights swirled in dizzying patterns over a padded floor soft and clean enough to dance on in bare feet. The only seating was in pairs of leather caregiver chairs and colorful Little chairs along the walls. At the back, a DJ spun the hottest club remixes of children’s songs.

“Do you want to see the whole club first or get right to dancing?” Ava half-shouted over a techno R&B remix of Baby Beluga.

“Ohmygoddess!” Briana broke free of her mom’s grasp and bounced excitedly on the padded floor. “Dancing first!”

Ava handed one of her crutches off to Veronica – that was a big point in favor of having a chaperone – and quickly stepped out on the dance floor. She’d stretched and rested all day in anticipation of her date and was ready to dance! Briana was the most enthusiastic, terrible dancer Ava had ever seen. They spent more time giggling at the rainbow girl’s antics than dancing, though Ava taught Briana a few ABDL moves that the Green Fairy crowd had popularized. Perhaps because of how ridiculously she danced, Briana was a natural at crinkling her diaper like a maraca during a Diaper Drop, and her rendition of the Cry Baby was, if anything, too authentic.

They were sweaty, bubbly girls when Veronica called them off the dance floor and told Ava to use both her crutches. Veronica hadn’t pretended her instruction was a suggestion, and Ava discovered she didn’t mind. She’d stay on her feet a lot longer using both crutches – but more importantly, obeying a babysitter’s order didn’t feel like giving in to her lazy legs.

“I’ll show you the rest of the club; come on, Bri!” Ava shuffled forward, leaving her girlfriend in the dust until the Little girl managed to rev her diaper-waddle enough to catch up.

“What’s in there?” Briana pointed at the beaded curtain that led to the changing area.

“That’s where Littles get changed.” Ava pushed past the room quickly. Club etiquette was that you didn’t peek into the changing area unless you were there to change or be changed. “It’s not very exciting; it’s just a floor with some small tents so that people have privacy.”

“Tents?!” Briana whined in frustration but abandoned the beaded door to follow Ava.

“They’re little triangle tents with wipes and stuff inside them. It’s not that interesting.” Ava smirked. “Besides, I’m sure you’ll see it soon enough.”

“Nuh uh, Mom says my diaper is big enough that I probably won’t need changed.”

“With you, that’s a bold prediction.” Ava giggled as Briana blew a raspberry in response. “Anyway, this is the dining room. People mostly use it as a smaller lounge; I don’t think I’ve ever seen people have a meal here.”

Briana’s initial eagerness over a room she was allowed to peek into became the same nonplussed reaction Ava had on her first time in the club. The space was small and cozy, with five tables and more of the Caregiver/Little pairs of chairs.

“It’s not much to look at, but it’s a fun spot to hang out with friends.” Ava pushed onward into the lounge.

Widely regarded as the heart of the Teddy Bear zone, it was also the biggest room given over to the ABDL crowd. The staff had the lounge in its standard configuration, with overstuffed red leather couches against the walls and adult-size playpens in the middle. A bar in the back was decorated in primary-colored plastic with a theatre-sized popcorn machine built into it.

“This is where people hang out when they’re not dancing. The bar serves Big and Little drinks, but they don’t police which ones we get.”

“That’s up to your caregivers to police.” Veronica had been behind them the whole time, but her sudden interjection startled both Littles.

“I remember the rule.” Ava found herself responding like an exasperated kid rather than with her earlier annoyance.

“Do we just walk up to people, or is there some way to introduce ourselves?” Briana’s oddly quiet tone caught Ava’s attention immediately.

“Bri – are you nervous?”

“No – maybe – okay, I am! Stop interrogating me!”

Ava giggled. “What’s going on? You’re the original social butterfly.”

“They’re all grouped up with friends and whatever.” Briana shuffled her feet. “Usually, when I introduce myself, it’s to one person at a time.”

“In that case, do you want to meet my friends?” Ava leaned in and kissed Briana.

“Yeah! I totally forgot you’d have friends here. Let’s go meet them.”

Leaving aside her girlfriend’s negative vote of confidence on her ability to make friends, Ava approached a playpen whose mix of Littles would be friendliest toward her. None of the Green Fairy regulars were friends in the sense that Ava knew Briana meant by the word. She’d never allowed her ABDL life to spill into her regular existence. Despite how often she’d been to the club, Ava’s unwillingness to meet people outside it had kept her from being considered a regular by the core of the Green Fairy’s ABDLs.

“Hey Inka, Oriana, Nieves, I’ve got a Green Fairy newbie for you to meet.” Ava dropped her crutches at the edge of the playpen and climbed in, crawling over to a trio of Littles.

Inka was dressed almost identically to her appearance at Briana’s birthday party, thickly diapered under a blue leotard and a sparkly white tutu. Her dark hair was pulled back in pigtails and looked freshly curled. Oriana and Nieves were both Latine women and had matching bob haircuts. The resemblance ended there. Nieves was diapered and dressed in a purple onesie plus thigh-high fuzzy socks. Oriana was rocking a skater-girl aesthetic with short denim shorts. A grey hoodie with cutoff sleeves covered her red plaid button-up. Her shorts left no room for a diaper, which was more conspicuous in the playpen than a padded rear was.

“I’ve met Briana; I was at her birthday party!” Inka laughed.

“Are you sure?” Ava grabbed an oversized squishmallow and flopped on it. “You were supposed to go with me, but I never saw you there.”

“Oh, whatever, you were hanging out with the birthday girl the whole time.” Inka laughed. “Hi again, Briana. This is Nieves and her mommy, Oriana.”

“Hi, I’m Briana!” Whatever spell of nervousness had come over Briana was clearly gone; she tackle-hugged Inka, Nieves, and Oriana one after the other before coming to rest cuddled against Ava.

“Inka told us about the party; it sounded like a lot of fun.” Nieves said wistfully.

“You can come to my next party for sure.” Briana grinned. “We’ll do the laser tag next time.”

“Sounds awesome, I’m in,” Oriana said. “So – are you two together?”

“Yeah!” Briana exclaimed, grabbing Ava to plant a big kiss on her.

“You met at the university, right?” Inka asked.

Ava giggled, faux-reluctantly pushing her girlfriend away. “The first time we met was when I was house-sitting for Briana’s grandma. But we’re both in Microbio at ABDU.”

“Small world, huh?” Briana said. “Where did you three meet?”

“There’s an ABDL kink group in town that meets pretty regularly,” Oriana said. “My Snowbaby and I help run it.”

“I just go to the meetings,” Inka said.

“That’s true,” Nieves tickled Inka. “Don’t try getting any work out of Inka.”

“Oh, but you two are the responsible type?” Briana sat up with a resolute look on her face.

“Here she goes.” Ava chuckled. “Take my advice; either give her a hard no upfront or accept that you’ll get roped into her scheme.”

“Hey! No fair prepping them.” Briana giggled. “Seriously though, I could use your help.”

“Are you organizing an event?” Oriana sat up with obvious interest. Ava shook her head. The poor girl was doomed, giving Briana an opening like that.

“More than that! I’m sure you’ve noticed that a lot of people are saying nasty stuff about ABDL people lately. Well, I’m going to work on fixing that!”

“Fixing what – hateful people?” Inka shook her head. “Good luck.”

“If you’re looking for, like, PR campaign people, Briana, that’s not us.” Nieves smiled apologetically. “I don’t want to be out as ABDL.”

“I’ll do that part!” Briana nodded enthusiastically. “But activist efforts need all kinds of different jobs. I have a few Little friends, but we need more to make an actual organization.”

“Like what, calling people? Data entry? What are you looking for?” Oriana was seriously entertaining the idea, to Ava’s surprise. In contrast, Nieves was much more skeptical, and Inka was so far opted out that she looked like she was about to find another group to play with.

“Both of those things and a lot more, yes. It’d be like a political campaign, but it’s important – super important – that as many of the people working as possible are Littles, or at least in the ABDL community.”

“Why?” Nieves asked bluntly.

“Because I want to show the world that Littles aren’t gross, dumb, or useless. We’re people that matter, and we can do anything other people can do without needing to be Big!”

“Bri…” Ava sighed.

“Yo, Briana, I get Little to escape from work, not to do more of it,” Nieves said.

“Hear her out, Snowbaby. Briana clearly hasn’t lost her Little spark.” Oriana pulled Nieves into her lap, snuggling her until the Little girl’s frown smoothed out.

“Yeah! That’s the whole point. We can be Little and still do what we need to do. Once people understand that, they’ll stop being mean.”

Ava watched Inka crawl away from the conversation and wished she could follow. Instead, she laid down and curled herself around Briana. “Bri, that’s not how prejudice works – at all.”

“It is, though! I mean, the words people use are usually different than what I said, but basically, it’s about people accepting that we’re more like them than we’re different.”

“A lot of people don’t want people to know that we do ABDL stuff at all,” Nieves said.

“It’d be nice not to have to worry about hateful people, wouldn’t it?” Oriana stroked Nieves’s hair. “The other day, we talked about going to the park and playing on the swings – but there had just been that protest, and you decided not to.”

Ava flinched at the memory of the protest. Instantly, Briana reached behind her and put a hand on Ava. She pushed away the grim memory and said, “It’d be good if there were less of those for sure. I’m helping Briana with this thing – I kinda have to as her girlfriend.”

“What does that mean?” Briana turned to Ava with a furrowed brow. “Is this something you don’t want? Is it scary?”

Ava opened her mouth to answer, but her tongue was crowded with responses. Before she could pick one, the room went pitch dark. The babbling Littles in the room went quiet in shock; for a moment, the silence was as total as the dark. Then someone screamed, scattered Littles across the room, began crying, and others began shouting. The cacophony made the darkness worse, shredding any hope of an orderly attempt to restore the lights. All Ava could do was cling to Briana. She was amazed at how calmly her girlfriend held on to her.

“Briana, Ava, I’m here!” Veronica’s mommy-tone projected at shouting volume was enough to lift Ava’s spirits and silence several wailing Littles. The tall, slender figure of Briana’s mom stepped out of the gloom with a trio of cellphones in flashlight mode.

Briana took her phone and was on her feet immediately. Nieves and Oriana had a phone too, but a Little boy in shortalls near them was sobbing and hugging his knees. Briana stepped up to the Little boy without shining her phone light in his eyes and offered him her hand.

“Everything’s going to be okay. I’m Briana, I’m a Knight. My Mommy is here too. Do you want a hug?”

The offer snapped the Little boy out of his tears. He took Briana’s hand and nearly toppled her – he was a good foot taller than Briana when standing. Even so, the boy hugged Briana tightly, getting a trademark Briana Hug in return.

Ava took her crutches from Veronica. They were unsteady on the playpen floor, but better than not having them at all. Nieves and Oriana were on their feet and had been rejoined by Inka.

“I’m guessing a fuse blew out?” Ava said, more to have something to say than because she thought what she said was useful. “The staff should have it back up any…”

“Attention, Green Fairy Patrons!” A man had climbed up on the bar, shouting with his hands cupped around his mouth. It looked like he might be wearing a staff uniform in the half-light of a few dozen cellphone flashlights.

“We’re very sorry to inform you that someone has sabotaged the club’s power. That’s why we’re making this announcement room by room instead of on the intercom. Staff members will come by with flashlights to escort you to the nearest exit. Please stay calm and wait for them to arrive.”

“Someone did this on purpose?” Nieves sounded angry and afraid at once.

“Mom, I thought the police said they locked that guy up.” Briana returned with the Little boy she’d helped in tow.

“We don’t know that this was anti-ABDL people, Baby Bee,” Veronica said, though there was no conviction in her tone. “Unfortunately, there are many people who use this club that get targeted by hate groups.”

“It’s never happened before that I know of,” Oriana said sadly. “Briana, can I get your phone number? If even the Green Fairy isn’t safe, we’ll need someone to stop this.”

“I’m texting Jane,” Veronica said while Briana exchanged numbers with Oriana. “She’ll pick us up in a few minutes.”

Though the room was calm, Ava was in a spiral of dread. Her brain kept asking terrifying questions to which there was no answer. Would there be people outside taking pictures of everyone leaving the club? Did someone get hurt, and would there be another attack? If she kept dating Briana, and Bri went public as ABDL, how long would it be until her parents found out? Until Rohan found out?

Ava’s terrified trembling was enough to make her crutches rattle. Like magic, Briana stepped in and put an arm around Ava’s waist. She looked up at Ava with a classic happy Briana smile, utterly calm.

“How are you so calm right now? This is bad – this is…”

“I’m a Knight,” Briana answered.

“And that means you don’t get scared?”

“Knights get scared like anyone else.” Briana’s smile was unwavering. “But they don’t show it until the danger is over.”

With a shuddering sob, Ava laid her head on her tiny, ridiculous, wonderful girlfriend’s head and cried. When she was done crying, a line had formed to the room’s fire exit. The Green Fairy staff were kind and apologetic as they guided people out of the club. There were no picture-takers outside, only cars coming to pick people up and clusters of clubgoers waiting for a ride. Blessedly, Jane was already waiting. Though Ava hopped eagerly into the car, she refused Veronica’s offer to buckle her into the child seat. It was a quiet, sad drive back to Ava’s apartment. Though she looked disappointed, even Briana wasn’t surprised Ava wanted to end the evening.

Ava said a short goodbye in the car and slipped into her apartment as quickly as possible. Before letting Mango out of his cage, she turned every light in her apartment on and made sure the doors were locked. Her next objective was her couch, with a cup of hot cocoa, a snuggly bird, and the TV on. With Rainbow Space Princess on for some familiar noise, Ava pulled out her phone and texted her mom.

[Ava] Mom, could I come home for the weekend, and could you pick me up?

Her mom’s reply was quick and as excited as Ava had expected. She also had texts from Briana to answer but no desire to talk about the evening. Guilt overcame her enough that Ava decided to send Briana one text, but she wanted to make it short.

[Ava] The thing tonight wasn’t your fault, Bri. We’ll talk later.

A lot of replies came in after that text. Ava muted the conversation without reading them and focused on texting her mom. Working out the mundane details of getting home for the weekend was as much a comfort as the cocoa.