Chapter 8: Making a splash.

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(AN: Sorry for my FanFic readers who had to deal with the crazy text bug.

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Crawling across the play area, Finnick felt the cold water through his fun and on his skin. He had no idea how little kits found this fun…

Well, for the ones who could walk he could.

Forced to crawl though, his arms were already getting tired. If he had to go between five different kids, then he'd wear himself out!

Of course, he had a better plan. He crawled quickly towards a small group of children. Two wolf pups had been crawling about just like him, while a little woodchuck girl squealed about as she raced to and fro. There was a skunk and racoon too. Five mammals. Easy.

"'Ello!" the racoon girl shouted out, as she saw him and raced over. Rolling his eyes, he chose to play the part, waving at her. She scooted over, looking at him, before kicking a splash of water onto his side.

Finnick shuffled away a bit, grinding his teeth and bearing it as she giggled. He sucked his pacifier to cool him down, frowning as he realised that he was actually doing that, before glancing backwards to Nick.

He was there, giving him a thumbs up, with…

Finnick looked away and growled. HE WAS FILMING IT ON HIS PHONE!

"Uuuuuuh!"

He looked up, and his eyes widened in alarm as he saw the racoon girl back off. If Nick thought he….

Shaking his head, he refocussed. Getting up on his knees, he smiled and did the best thing he could think of doing.

He offered her his pacifier.

She studied it for a little bit before shaking her head. Finnick was worried for a second, but he relaxed as she smiled and came forwards. Her paws up, she pushed them out, and Finnick obliged, playing pattycake with her.

Pattycake…

Pattycake…

They were then joined by the skunk boy, who had his own little ball. He threw it at her, or rather dropped it at her in what was vaguely her direction. It slashed onto the ground and rolled towards Finn, and in return he rolled it back along the floor to the racoon. She smiled, while the skunk boy looked on. Soon, the ball was being passed around this way and that, the others finding much more enjoyment out of it than Finnick was. Still, it let the time slip by, and he was hidden in plain sight.

Glancing up, Finnick checked the time and noticed that he had little more than half the time left. He hadn't done more than half the target, which made him worry, but that was helped as the woodchuck girl and two friends, a set of beaver twins, came over. They began passing the ball around each other, giggling and smiling, while Finnick had a smug mission accomplished grin on his muzzle.

One minute passed…

Then another…

He had this in the bag.

He could feel spots of wetness all over his onesie, but his diaper was dry, and his butt would be free of spankings later on.

He felt the ball get passed to him and noticed something on it. Some lettering that was worn out. Wondering what it was, he picked it up to read it, struggling to make out the worn letters. It was probably the toy company or…

He was jolted as the ball was pulled out of his paws, the angry looking skunk boy looking at him. "My Ball! Not baby ball!" The toddler pointed at him, and bounced the ball over to one of the beaver twins. It hit the girl in the chest and she stumbled backwards, landing on the seat of her butt, giving the group an exposed view of her own diaper. She winced up, and began crying, her sister racing over at the skunk boy. Finnick backed off, watching as she pushed him down into the water too. Before she could revel in her victory, the raccoon girl came to push her, while the chipmunk kid began wailing.

Suddenly fed up and wanting out quickly, he began walking on his knees to get away. He couldn't resist giving the skunk boy a taste of his own medicine though. He walked up to him and tapped him, before pointing to a gap between his shirt and his soaked dungarees, frilly white cloth beneath. "'ET 'AY-EY!"

His lips began quivering and he began sobbing, and Finnick shuffled away, happy at the come-back. A check on the time, and he still had two minutes left. He saw the wolf pups from earlier, still crawling about in nothing but a pair of soaked diapers, and went up to them. He waved, and they waved back, before one of them crawled up and pointed at his shirt. At one of the toy trains.

"'Ain…" Finnick went, trying but failing to get the consonants in through the mouth guard and tongue bar. One wolf pup looked to the other and Finnick, for no real reason, began rotating his arms as he imitated a steam engine. "ugga… ugga… ugga… uga… OOOO! OOOOO!"

Both pups burst into squeals of happiness, and somehow Finnick managed to smile himself. He began pattycaking with them, and just humouring their arm waving. Maybe this wasn't too bad?

He felt a sudden push on his backside, and felt himself get tossed to the floor. Eyes wide open, he turned around to see the skunk kit back, and very angry. Before he could react, he felt himself get rolled over onto his backside. The boy tried to slap him, but Finnick easily met him and threw him to the floor, before leaping up to run away.

A sharp sting pierced his foot as it hit the ground, and he managed to remember the anti-walking boots as he tumbled, his chest landing straight on top of one of the little fountains. He cold water pushed into his chest and rubbed all around him. Seeing the little skunk behind him, he crawled forwards over it, before realising that both the skunk, and the wolf pups, were in tears.

He also realised that he was absolutely soaked. His thin onesie was waterlogged and his diaper thick, cold, saggy and wet. He closed his eyes and groaned, before they opened in shock as he felt his scruff get pinched. Nick lifted him up, and carried him back over to the side, dropping him on a warm stone bench and looking at him.

'Oh Crap no!' he thought, and he flinched away, worried about whatever punishment he was about to receive.

"Hey…"

The words were strangely soft, and Finnick flinched as he felt a paw go around his back. He opened his eyes as a kiss was placed between them, before he saw Nick bring him in for a hug. He was frozen in shock as he felt himself get patted in the back, the larger fox then rubbing his paw up and down it.

"I saw everything," he said, comforting him. "That mean bully picked on you, and you did nothing wrong, so there's no reason to worry."

Finnick sighed with relief, relaxing, only to snap back to reality as he realised that he was sitting in a sodden, freezing cold, diaper. Nick noticed it too, and cupped a paw beneath him to squeeze and examine it. "Now, as things went a bit unfair for you, I'm happy to offer you a deal."

Finnick paused, not sure what to think of this.

"I can slip some plastic pants on you, and change you in half an hour as planned," he said. "Or… I can change you right now. But it'll be right out in public. Clap once for one, two for two."

Finnick paused, thinking. Weighing up the options…

"Oh," Nick added, smiling darkly. "If you don't decide in three, it'll be the change in half an hour and I'll make it public."

Finnick's eyes widened in alarm and, as Nick began counting down, he quickly decided.

Clap….

"Okay then!" Nick said happily. He smiled as he reached into his stroller, and picked out the pants. "Just lie down."

Finnick did, and felt the tight pants get pulled on and snapped into position. Looking down, he noticed that they were a dark blue, with smiling yellow stars and crescent moons.

"Turns out that you're the same size as a baby wolf," Nick said cheerily, as he picked Finnick up. "So plenty of supplies from there…"

Finnick rolled his eyes as he was carried back over the stroller and locked in. He still had the went onesie on him, clinging to him, and he hadn't had the chance to shake himself out so he still felt wet all over. It wasn't that bad though. It was hot outside and it was nice and cooling, even if the squishy diaper was definitely overkill.

Nick seemed to realise this too, and they spent the rest of the time in the outdoor markets. Though they were kept in the shade often, it was still hot, and Finnick got plenty of time in the sun as Nick picked up bits of food and other supplies. By the time it came for the change, Finn's onesie and fur was nice and dry. Some toilet roll took care of his diaper area as a new one was placed over him, any remaining dampness sucked away by the extra clouds of powder that Nick had showered on him.

Re-dressed in his top and shorts, Finick was locked back in and pushed into the mall. There were too many mammals, but few paid him any mind. Keep himself hidden, hide in plain site he reminded himself. He still blushed though when mammals seemed to look at him for too long, and in the end just closed his eyes again as they visited some more stores.

That ended though as they stopped somewhere, Nick nudging Finn's cheek. The Fennec woke up and groaned. He'd fallen asleep, and looking at the clock he saw that it was quarter to twelve.

"Hey, little Finny," he said, smiling. Finn looked at him neutrally. "I wanted you to make five friends. You made seven! Well done!" The fennec wasn't sure whether he should be proud or patronised, though he leant to the latter. "As a result, when we have lunch later, I was thinking of giving you some bits of my adult meal, plus a special treat that I remember you loving."

Finnick managed to smile slightly, only for Nick to use the opening to push his pacifier back in. "You're getting there, but you're a bit below where you should be," he noted. Finnick sighed, and began sucking again. He was rewarded with a demeaning pat on the head. "Now, for the next shopping trip, I'd advise you suck all the way through it. Get you well above target."

Finnick, still sucking, nodded.

"Aaaand, behave," Nick lectured, a mischievous grin on his muzzle. "This next part will be humiliating, and if you act out then your rewards may turn into a punishment."

Finnick gulped at that, before his ears tilted as he heard a commotion. Nick turned the stroller around and began walking forwards, Finn's eyes widening as he saw a group of giggling girls up away, phones out and pictures being taken. He grimaced… only to realise that it wasn't he who they were photographing. There were too shopping trolleys, with a deer doe actually in one and a hare doe in the child seat of the other. They were both shielding themselves and crying, as two other does came around them and fawned them. Both the children were larger than their parents, and then it hit him.

These were Willow and Darren. She was dressed in a yellow frilly onesie, with an inbuilt skirt. The way she was sat exposed the frilly leg cuffs of her diaper, and her paws were handcuffed so they couldn't hide it up. She looked around, tears flowing from her eyes, as she sucked her pacifier. Darren had it even worse. His antlers had been removed, and fur dye added to give him fawn like spots. Sitting down inside the trolley, he had only been given a pink princess top and a frilly bonnet, making it impossible to hide the giant pawpers diaper he was taped into. He wasn't sucking his pacifier, instead using his mittened up paws to try and hide him. An impossible task.

"There you are," Nick called out, and both mothers turned to wave at him. "Shall we go shopping?"

They both agreed, much to the giggles of the surrounding girls who were following them. At this point, one of them spotted Finnick and gasped. "Oh gosh! He's a little Fennec! That's so cute."

Eyes wide, Finnick promptly shut them and squirmed in his seat, trying to hide himself as he felt all the eyes on him, all the photos being taken, and all the paws and hooves now touching him and trying to tickle him.

The last torture ended though as they began moving again and, opening his eyes and looking up, Finnick saw the sign of the store they were entering.

'Cub World'