Daily Free-Write December 19, 2020 (Patreon)

Continuation of August 10, 2020 "Time Off"

Ace the workaholic bunny had just found out that he would be staying with his captor-for-hire longer than he had bargained for. It wasn't the big Bear's fault, though. Ace's friends were to blame. They'd paid for Ace to spend a whole week of time with John and made sure Ace used some of his never-used paid vacation time to do it.

He was left in the chair to ruminate while the bear switched out the empty bowl of oatmeal for jars of mushed carrots, and he might have thought about how embarrassing it was to know that the bear was sending his friends pictures and status updates. He might have been grateful that he had such good friends that cared about his happiness and accepted this part of him - even it he didn't expect to be exposed like this. He might have tried to hide his face when the bear went to answer the door and came back with his friend Cooper in tow, except for one thing: Ace was totally zonked out of his mind thanks to a healthy dose of hypnosis. 

Cooper, a sporty young raccoon in a hoodie and jeans bent down to speak to the grinning bunny strapped into the highchair. 

"Hey there, bunny boy, are you having a good time with your babysitter?" 

The bunny's vacant stare fixed on him.

"Hi Connow. Did you come to pway?" 

"Yes, little buddy. I'm gonna spend some time with my best friend Ace!" 

The bunny giggled but didn't say anything else. John stepped in.

"He's still under... I can wake him up if you want."

The raccoon looked over to John and blinked his calm eyes. 

"Will that make him his normal self?"

"Oh, no," said John. "Not unless you want. I'll bring him back regressed so he can relax and not feel stressed." 

"Oh, okay then. Do it." 

"You got it. Step back a second." The bear swept a paw out and the Raccoon stepped back, watching impassively as John spoke to his friend.

"Ace? Ace." The bunny turned his head and looked in the bear's direction. "How are you feelin, little guy?"

"Good..." 

"Do you like bein little?"

"Yeah..." the bunny said with a little more excitement in his voice.

"Do you want your nummy carrots?"

"Yeah," said the bunny, clapping his mitts. 

"Would you like cooper to feed you, or me?"

"Coopow," said the rabbit, definitively. 

"Okay, baby bun. Cooper will feed you your carrots. But first I'm going to need you to wake up. When I count to three you'll wake up believing that you are only three years old. You'll remember how much you love being little and how happy you are to be fed and played with by your friends. Do you understand, Ace?"

"I understand..."

"Alright little guy. Coming back as a little baby bunny on the count of three... one.. two... three!" 

The bear snapped his fingers several times and the bunny blinked rapidly. He looked to the bear, then back to the raccoon, then back to the bear. Then he pointed to his mouth. 

"Hungy!"

The bear gave out a big hearty laugh and even the passive Cooper smiled softly and chuckled. 

"Cawwots peeze!" said the bunny, pointing to the carrots on the counter. 

"Okay, okay, here ya go," said the bear, placing several jars on the tray. He held up the spoon to Cooper. "Will you do the honors?"

"Heh, yeah, sure I will," said the raccoon. He grabbed the spoon and sat in a chair across from the bunny. "Uh... I haven't really done this before." 

"It's easy. You just... fill up a spoon, and bring it to the little chomper's mouth... and you just pull it up like so as you pull out. That makes sure the carrots stay where they belong and not on the spoon... and if he spits any up on his chin... like he just did righ there, you just catch it with the spoon... there ya go! You're getting the hang of it. 

John coached Ace's friend as he fed the babied bunny his first couple jars of carrots, then he stepped back and let him finish feeding the bunny on his own. 

"All done!" said John, clapping. Cooper and Ace followed suit, and Ace laughed as Cooper ruffled his headfur.  

"Okay, Cooper, go ahead and wipe his face off with the bib. If it's really messy you can use a damp washcloth too, but he managed to stay pretty clean for his first feeding." 

The racoon nodded as he wiped the bunny's face clean. John showed him how to remove the tray, "In case you guys decide to get one of these for him," and then how to check the bunny's Diaper.

"Looks like he's not ready for a change quite yet. Upsie daisy, big boy!"

Ace wrapped his legs around the much larger bear as he was picked up and brought to the back yard. 

"You up for a game of tag, boys?" asked the bear, looking to the two furs. 

"Sure," said Cooper. 

Now under normal circumstances, the bunny would never have dreamed of stepping foot outside dressed as he was. But now he was practically hopping with excitement. 

"Tag! Tag! Tag!" he cried, rushing out as soon as the bear opened the sliding glass door to the yard. 

"Hold on, buddy boy," said the big bear, grabbing the rabbit by the scruff of the neck. "We've got a few rules to go over. No leaving the yard without an adult. No climbing the fence, and no cheating at tag. If you get touched, you're  it. Also, the tree is home base. You can't be caught if you're touching the tree. Got it?"

"Yeah, got it!" said the bunny, twisting to get away. As soon as the bear let go he was off. 

"Hehe, you picked the wrong game old man," said the racoon patting the bear on the back before walking into the yard. "Hope you can keep up! Oh and... you're it!" 

The racoon was fast, and the rabbit was faster, even with the thick diaper between his legs to slow him down. The bear wasn't worried though. He stretched a bit, then smirked. "Ready or not, here I come!" 

They spend a good afternoon chasing each other around the yard, and finally landed in a heap in the grass, staring up at the blue sky. The bear had caught his quarry and held the bunny against his chest, tickling him and causing him to giggle.

"This little guy still has energy!" said the bear. 

"Must've been saving it up sitting behind a desk so long," said Cooper.

"Well no more of that for a while, huh little guy?" 

The bunny just giggled as he hugged the bear tight. 

"You know, you guys can keep him like this as long as you like," said the Bear. "But have you thought about how long you want this to go on?"

Cooper just locked his arms behind his heads and looked at the sky. 

"Yeah, we have. I wasn't sure what I would see when I got here but seeing him like this... I think it might be best if he stays this way... I've never seen him so happy and alive... Not since... well, not for a while."

John wasn't going to pry. That wasn't his job.

"Well, he sure is a cute one. He's a lucky bunny to have friends like you..." He gave the bunny a squeeze, then patted the front of his diaper. "Hoo boy, someone's a soggy little bunny."

"Nu uh!" said the bunny, giggling and squirming to get away. 

"Guess it's time for your next lesson, Cooper. Diaper changing 101." 

Cooper stood up and dusted off his pants. "Alright. Let's go." 

This week would be a learning experience for all of Ace's friends. Then it would be Ace's turn. 

"I wonder how he'll react to the news...," said Connor, later that night. Ace had been put down for bed and the two of them had retired to the living room for some coffee.  

"There's a few ways it could go," said the bear. "I've seen them all. It comes down to the seven dwarves."

"Seven dwarves?"

"Yeah, you know. He'll either be happy, grumpy, weepy, bashful or try to out-logic us like doc." 

"That's only five dwarves..." 

"Well, I don't think he'll sneezy unless he's allergic to baby powder. Dopey? Well, he didn't strike me as the type." 

The raccoon just chuckled. 

"Heyy, you're messing with me aren't you?"

"Maybe just a bit."

"My point is it's up to all of you to make the case if you want him to stay like this. I'm not going to ask why he's killing himself working so hard, but those issues don't just go away when he gets little. Sooner or later..." 

"Yeah... that makes sense," said the raccoon, folding his paws into his lap.

"Just think about it. So you don't have to call me in every time you hit a snag. And believe me, I don't mind the money. But this one's a good kid."

Once the raccoon was gone, the bear locked up the house and went to bed. He sighed. He loved this job. He just didn't love what happened after. He got the easy part. He got to regress and play with his little cubs. But in the long term? Things tended to get a lot more complicated. 

"Please let this one be another happy ending," he prayed, to no one in particular. 

Meanwhile, Ace snoozed away, twitching his feet as he dreamed of playing tag with his friends.