IX. Out with the old, in with the new

Once home, Celester went upstairs to get a diaper for Rowan. He was relieved to be safely padded again, after the tense morning at the police station. Without saying a word, he sat up and pulled Celester into a tight hug.

'You're welcome, Rowan. I'm so proud of you. Now there's only one more thing to do for today?'

'Find me a therapist?'

'Good one, but no,' she laughed. 'I'll ask around at the department of social services tomorrow. They have a broad network of people who work in all kinds of mental healthcare. They'll know a good match for you.'

'Can you please tell them not to pick someone canine or feline? I-I don't m-mean to be discriminatory or anything, it's just th-that I'm afraid I won't feel comfortable with someone of those races. It might be hard to open up, y'know.'

'That's a rabbit thing, isn't it?'

He nodded firmly.

'I'll have them pay attention to it. Don't worry.'

'So... What are we going to do?'

'Well, Stella and I are planning to organize the first floor this week. I figured you'd probably want an actual bed to sleep in, for starters.'

'Y-yeah, that'd be nice. The couch is okay, but I think it won't be for the long term.'

'It's not just about having a bed to sleep in, Rowan. You'll get a room of your own. That'll be your space, where you can withdraw if you want to be alone for a while.'

'That sounds good, actually. I mean, I like being with you girls, but I guess it's best to not sleep in the living room anymore.'

'I agree. We were going to set up a playroom first, but now that you came into our life, that'll be of later concern.'

'A playroom? You mean for Stella to be a filly?'

'And a nice bean bag for me to sit down and read a book. Playing filly is not my thing, but I enjoy being in Stella's presence regardless of whether she's big or little. We were going to do a princess-themed room, but I think we might tone it down a little bit, so you'll feel comfortable as well.'

'Really? But I don't even know if I like playing filly. I-I mean little rabbit. Kitten. Thingy.'

Celester chuckled.

'I'm sure Stella won't mind if not everything is pink and glitter, and to be honest, neither will I. Mostly the latter, actually.'

'Oh, okay.'

'But like I said, we'll worry about that later. First, let's make a list of what you'll need. We'll search websites for selling second-hand stuff. You'll be amazed what people offer there. You can use my laptop and I'll use my phone, we can cover more ground that way.'

She got up to grab a pen and some paper.

'A bed is the first thing, obviously,' Rowan started.

'And a closet for your clothes. Depending on the size of that closet, you might need a nightstand with a door, or some other small cabinet.'

He tilted his head.

'What for?'

'To store your diapers, silly. Or at least the ones for nighttime. I'm okay with changing you, but you'll have to learn to do it yourself as well. Especially in case you ever wake up in the middle of the night and need a change. There'll always be situations in which I can't change you, or maybe times when you'd rather do it yourself.'

He nodded. 'That sounds reasonable. Oh, now that you mention a nightstand, I'll need a smaller lamp. For near my bed, I mean. And one for the ceiling.'

'That sounds like a good list to start with. Let's go!'

For the next half hour, they searched various websites. At some point, Rowan got distracted by his growing need to pee. He looked around for his crutch, then remembered Celester had put him in a diaper. Trying to draw as little attention as possible, he focused on his bladder. With a few concentrated breaths, he managed to start a trickle. That trickle soon turned into a steady stream of warm urine, flowing over his bits and pooling in the middle part of the diaper before being fully absorbed. Rowan could not resist letting out a content sigh.

'Did a certain little bunny just wet his diaper?' Celester asked, without even so much as looking up from her phone.

'H-how did you know?'

'Oh please, Rowan. I've been with Stella for almost eight years now. I know the signals of someone peeing themselves and enjoying it.'

His ears flopped and he looked away.

'Does that embarrass you?'

He nodded.

'Why? You know I don't judge, don't you? In fact, I'm totally fine with it.'

'I-I know. It's just that... It's all new for me. I don't even understand why I like this, let alone why it makes me, um... hard, sometimes.'

'Maybe you didn't understand me,' Celester said kindly, looking up from her phone. 'I like watching Stella using her diaper. The look of bliss on her face, the pure enjoyment of what she's doing... I love it.'

'So you like that she likes it?' Rowan asked, tilting his head.

'More or less, yeah. I love being able to facilitate her enjoyment. It clearly makes her happy, which in turn makes me happy. In other words, I'm absolutely okay with you being discreet about using your diaper, but you really don't _have_to be when you're at home.'

His ears flopped once more.

'O-okay.'

'Relax, Rowan. Just enjoy the experience. Now let's continue searching. After all, you don't need to be changed yet.'

He quickly looked away, still embarrassed about his wet diaper.

A few minutes passed before Celester nudged him.

'I think I found something. It's an ad from a guy that is about to move in with his girlfriend, and he has some furniture they want to get rid of. A bed, a closet, and a nightstand. Just what you need.'

'Sounds promising. Where did you find that?'

She pointed him to the right website.

'There. It says they'll move in together this week.'

'Interesting,' Rowan said, mostly to himself. 'Not that it matters much, but I even like the style of the closet.'

'I'm going to call this guy. Let's hope he hasn't sold it yet. All this for such a low price, that's really a steal.'

'Okay. I'll continue searching, in case it's gone.'

One short but pleasant conversation later, Celester hung up the phone.

'Nice. This guy is moving to Hornet City, from some small village in the south of the county. They'll literally take the road through the forest to get to his girlfriend's house. I asked him to drop off the furniture here, for a little bit extra.'

Rowan's ears perked up and his eyes went wide.

'They'll be here on Wednesday, early in the evening.'

'Wow, that's fast!'

'It sure is. You know what that means?'

'What?'

'Only two more nights on the couch!'

'Aww, and we were just getting acquainted,' Rowan pretended to pout.

'You can still sleep under the same duvet, if you want. Stella kept her single duvet covers from when she lived alone. They're all printed with cartoon characters, but I don't think you'll mind.'

'I will opt out of any pink ones, if you don't mind,' he laughed.

'Don't worry. Most of them aren't specifically girly themed.'

She put down her phone and stretched her arms upwards with a yawn.

'Well, I suppose this concludes our search for now. Are you hungry?'

'Now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind having lunch.'

After lunch, Rowan stared through the large window in the living room, looking out over the backyard, adjoining the forest. Autumn had already done quite a job of dropping leaves all over the place. When he looked more attentively, he noticed many plants and bushes were untrimmed and poorly kept. Even the rectangular patch of grass in the middle of the garden was mostly taken over by weeds. It looked as if the garden hadn't been maintained in a couple of years.

'Um, Cel?'

'Hmm?'

'What's with the garden?'

'What do you mean? Did it disappear when I wasn't looking?'

They laughed.

'No, I mean... Please don't take this as an insult, but, um...'

'It's a mess and it looks like it needs a lot of work?'

'Y-yeah. Wait, you knew?'

'You don't need a degree in botany to see that. We bought this house from a widow. She and her husband loved gardening, hence why they had lived here for decades. Her husband's physical health had been diminishing over the past few years, however. He just didn't have the strength and the energy to work in the garden anymore. His wife did all the work the first year, but she eventually decided it was better to spend her time and energy caring for her husband, and having a good time with him on his better days.'

'That's sad.'

'What? Isn't it lovely that she decided her husband was worth more than her garden?'

'Oh, no, sorry. I meant it's sad that they had to let go of doing something they both enjoyed. I guess that comes with being old, but it's still sad.'

Celester nodded. 'When her husband passed away, the widow decided it was time for her to move into an assistance home in the city. She lives closer to her children now, and the window of her apartment looks out on a central garden that is kept by the homeowners association.'

'That sounds nice. Better than looking at this mess, I mean.'

'Still, when we bought the house, we promised we would restore the garden to its former glory. We'll start once this winter is done, or at least when the ground is no longer frozen. Maybe not with the same passion she and her husband had, but we surely won't leave it like this. And when we're done, we'll drive over to her apartment, pick her up, and have tea with her in the restored garden.'

'That's so kind of you. I bet she'll love that.'

Celester nodded, staring out of the window, as if her mind was on other things as well.

'Is anything wrong?' Rowan asked.

She remained silent.

'Come on, Celester. I don't need a horn to tell me something is bothering you.'

She took a deep breath. 'It's that shed, in the back of the garden.'

Rowan looked in the direction where Celester pointed. A somewhat worn shed was built in a far corner. One of the glass panes in the window next to the door was broken.

'It looks like it has seen better days, yeah. But what's wrong?'

She shrugged. 'We have a bit of a dilemma. It'd be weird to fix the garden, but leave the shed in shambles. The problem is that I don't expect us to use the shed much, except for storing some gardening equipment we don't even own yet.'

'What did the previous owners use it for? I assume they didn't store bicycles there, did they?'

'Nope. The old man used to be a maintenance guy. Mostly carpentry and simple electronics. He even made sure there were sockets and electric heating in the shed. Too bad he didn't also think of replacing the windows with double paned glass. It must have been freezing there during winters.'

Rowan's ears perked up.

'Wait, a carpenter you say?'

She turned to him with a confused look on her face.

'Yeah, why?'

'I took carpentry as an extra class in high school. Working with wood and tools... It makes me feel calm and at ease. Wood doesn't judge, y'know.'

He sighed and stared at the shed.

'Your turn to not speak your mind?' Celester teased.

'Yeah... Since I discovered I like woodworking and carpentry, I wanted to go to trade school. I've dreamt of having my own workshop one day. When my mother kicked me out and Azalea made me her "servant", I kinda let go of that dream. It's not going to happen anytime soon anyway.'

Celester smiled.

'You know what? I think I know what you should spend your first salary on.'

He titled his head.

'A toolbox, silly. We're not going to use most of the space there. The movers took most of the stuff to a second hand shop, but the workbench was too much of a hassle to take.'

'There's a workbench in there?'

'Yup. Vise and all. The place is just awfully dusty. And muddy, in some places. See that window next to the door? A few weeks ago, a storm blew a broken branch right through it.'

'Wow,' was all Rowan could say.

'No problem. I was just glad we had our insurance in order. They pay for most of the damage, and they'll send someone to replace the window by Friday. It'll be one big window i stead of four smaller panes, but at least it'll be modern glass.'

'The first thing I would do is install a metal wire frame in front of the window, to reduce the chance of this happening again.'

Celester grinned.

'I see you've found your first odd job around the house. But maybe we should clean the workshop first.'

He nodded. 'I'll start tomorrow. It's not like I have much to do around here anyway, and I don't have to hurry.'

'I'll make sure you can reach the right cleaning equipment without having to go upstairs. Just be careful outside, and clean your paws when you get back into the house.'

He smiled. 'Thanks. I'll do my best to clean up the shed.'

There was a short silence.

'Um, Celester? Could you do me a favor?'

'What do you need?'

'I need to go, um... potty.'

She frowned. 'You're wearing a diaper.'

'I-I know, but it's not, um... I need to-'

'Oh, I get it. Sure. Lean on me, and I'll take your diaper off. Take your time on the toilet. I'll put it back on when you're done.'

'Thanks,' he said shyly, almost whispering.

Rowan pulled down his pants, allowing Celester to undo the velcro tabs of his diaper one by one. She helped him step out of his pants, then handed him the crutch.

It took Rowan some puzzling to get to the toilet without stumbling, but eventually, he managed without hurting himself. Celester closed the door for him, after which he let out a sigh of relief.

Sitting on the toilet felt almost strange to him, after having worn diapers for a few days. Being able to see and touch his private parts still felt unfamiliar as well. Even the absence of his chastity cage was a feeling he was not fully accustomed to yet, although that was the change of scenery he was the happiest about.

He felt his breathing speed up as he flushed the toilet. His tail twitched, in anticipation of being diapered again. In the meantime, Celester had prepared the changing mat on the ground. She sat on the edge of the couch, waiting for Rowan to lay down on the half used diaper.

With some effort, he sat down, feeling the damp padding touch his butt. He threaded his bushy tail through the hole in the back and laid down on the mat. Celester sprinkled some talcum powder on his private area, to which his penis promptly responded by slowly growing hard.

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' Rowan mumbled, covering his eyes with his hands.

'That's not going to work like this, I suppose.' Celester said to herself, stating the obvious.

Rowan shook his head, without looking up.

'You don't have to be ashamed, Rowan. You already told me you like wearing diapers, and that it can arouse you.'

'I can't help it. It's not the first time, either.'

'What do you mean?'

'It happened when Stella first changed me.'

'Oh, well, okay. It's not exactly a problem me nor Stella are familiar with, but like you said, it just happens. To me, it just tells me that you like being diapered, and I see it as a compliment.'

'Th-thanks. It's still annoying, though.'

'Only a little bit. What did you do when it happened before? Did you just wait around or something?'

'Stella read me a children's story.'

Celester chuckled. 'Sounds like something she would do, yeah. Let me guess, it was about a grumpy unicorn?'

Rowan uncovered his eyes and looked up.

'How did you know?'

She shrugged. 'It's one of her favorite stories. The irony is that I gave her that book as a present. Little Stella had claimed that unicorns are always nice and sweet, so her Mommy shouldn't be mad with her when she misbehaves. She thought that would get her out of having to sit in the corner for twenty-five minutes.'

'Why that long?'

'One minute for each year of her real age. I could let her sit for her acted age, but that wouldn't make much of an impact. Anyway, I got her that book to prove that not all unicorns fart rainbows or poop cotton candy.'

'Stella said she often reads that book in your presence when you're mad at her, like some sort of statement.'

She scratched her neck. 'Yeah... Let's say it backfired a little. It's okay, though. As long as she does that, I know we're still okay.'

Rowan suddenly felt the squishy padding of his diaper against his bits. The used part had cooled down somewhat, but still felt comfortable. Celester quickly taped the diaper up, to avoid Rowan getting hard again.

The soft padding of the diaper hugged his waist and cupped his bits. For a moment, he felt at peace, as if he belonged in diapers.

_ No, no, I don't,_ Rowan reasoned with himself. I'm just wearing a diaper because it's convenient now that my ankle is sprained.

With that thought, he pushed away the shameful image of himself laying on a brightly colored changing mat, wearing nothing but a diaper he had already wet. Let alone that he liked it.