34th Street
By: LefthandedPen

Chapter 1

34th street sat just along the border where the downtown sprawl of Benton City met the awkward slums and project housing to its east. In keeping with this occupation, the street was less than beautiful, even in the sunlight of the early fall – the buildings were almost invariably quasi-cubic, done up in chipping, monochromatic paint, and pressed close against the thin, yellow-gray sidewalk that sloped down a bit and disappeared against the hot, black asphalt. Sex shops, loan sharks, and a lone, gay club on the western corner made up just about everything there was to see, and this early in the morning, around eight or nine, there was a decided lack of customers around the place.

Halden Gresham, in fact, was the only one out along the street, keeping close to the edge of the sidewalk and glancing about nervously from behind his black-rimmed sunglasses. He was dressed and groomed well, in utter incongruence with the world around him, nestled into a denim jacket and khakis with his short, black hair combed back in a simple-but-cute sort of style. His features, fair but not quite recovered from the ravages of puberty, were hidden behind the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. This last touch was intentional; he didn’t want to be recognized as he slipped into the shop he was heading for, down by the east end of the block.

Said shop was one of the better kept in the area, its baby blue paint in passable condition and its front windows devoid of the neon signs that abounded elsewhere along the way. The sign at the head of the door proclaimed “Marty’s,” but the abundance of gaudy posters and adult “toys” made it clear that this was another of 34th’s sex shops. Still, it was into this place that the clean-cut looking Halden ducked, blushing softly as he went inside.

“Halden!!” Almost immediately, the man at the counter yelped out the young man’s name, sending an echo through the small, otherwise empty store. Halden just cringed, almost whimpering at the friendly recognition in the cashier’s voice. “It’s been weeks! I thought you’d finally decided you weren’t going to come back.”

“I’m sort of wishing I had now.” Halden cast a glare at the man, upper lip curling a bit as he glanced around the shop. From the inside, it was a far cry from the window view’s commonality. Indeed, off behind the counter, the more average, fetish toys faded into a large display that was a good bit…well…fluffier. Bags of adult diapers sat piled up on a shelf, all the usual brands, and a pair of cardboard boxes boasted an almost creepy mix of furry accessories, thrown haphazardly about. The cashier himself was almost a bad caricature of both of the tendencies supported behind him; the man, lean and nerdy, with carrot-top red hair, wore a pair of costume fox ears and a tail, and every shift excited a small crinkle from beneath his loose shorts. “But…I still owe you money for those wolf ears, Marty.”

“That and you don’t really want to abandon an old friend.” The cashier smirked at him winningly, as if expecting the nervous disgust on the boy’s face to fade. When it didn’t, he just heaved a sigh and leaned over the counter, shaking his head. “…Just here to pay your tab, or is there something else you want?”

“Ahm,” the young man flushed, digging into his jacket pocket for a moment and coming up with a wallet, from which he drew out a trio of bills and handed them over. “Just the tab…and, ah, a bag of Depends. Usual type.”

“That’s what I thought.” Marty turned, busying himself with rustling along the shelf of diapers and finally plucking out a bag, making a point of reading the front and grinning at Halden, still trying to brighten his mood. “Maximum protection, as always. Is that it for you?”

“Yes, that’s it. Would you hurry up?” Halden sighed softly, shaking his head. It always bothered him that he’d gotten onto a casual chat basis with the man who owned this place. “I’ve got to get this stuff back to my apartment, before my roommate gets up for his first class. I don’t exactly want to have to explain why I’m carting in diapers at nine in the morning.”

“Oh…roommate, this year? Just tell him you wet the bed.” The man’s smirk turned decidedly wicked as he punched buttons on the cash register, handed Halden his change, and then began to bag the boy’s purchase. “That’d go over well.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” The expression on Halden’s face grew a bit tauter at the suggestion, even as he reached over and took the bag. Almost immediately, he turned, trotting for the door.

“Hey…! Hang on!” Marty yelped suddenly, stopping the boy in his tracks and making him wish he’d just went to get diapers at a pharmacy or some such. It would’ve been easier on the ears. Still, Halden turned and glanced back, finding the cashier holding out a yellow and red, plastic ring. It was thick and decidedly cheap, looking like it might’ve come out of a child’s vending machine, and across the elongated top it bore the letters “FP.” Marty, who was wearing a strangely enigmatic smirk by now, didn’t seem to have noticed its gaudiness. “It’s a Furry Pride ring. Some guy at the last convention I went to was handing them out. Wear it for a while…maybe it’ll make you more comfortable about this sort of thing.”

“Psh.” Halden just shook his head once more as Marty leaned over the counter to drop the ring into his bag. He’d toss it out when he got home. For now, though, he needed to hurry and get back to his apartment. So, without further ado, he darted for the door and out towards the parking lot where he’d left his car.
~~~~~~~~~~~

It was about fifteen minutes later when Halden slipped in the door of his apartment, flushing and holding the unmarked, plastic bag behind his back. A glance at his watch told him it was nine-fifteen, and he had to stifle himself from swearing. His roommate, Zander, had his Western Civ. class at ten, so, if he hadn’t slept in, the boy would be up by now. And, sure enough, he could hear footsteps from the small kitchen, off to the side of the living room, as he came into the place.

“Halden? Is that you?” The sound approached the door, and Halden dashed hastily into the bedroom. A confused pause followed from out in the living room. After a moment of listening, Halden slipped over to his dresser, shoving the bag inside, diapers and all, with his underpants. It wasn’t like Zander was going to go digging through there. Then, at last, the other boy appeared in the doorway, looking quizzically at his roommate.

“Oh, hey…” Halden offered an innocent smile, giving a small wave to his friend. “Sorry, didn’t hear you…I figured you might’ve slept in.”

“Nah. I got up a little while back…making breakfast. You want any?” Zander seemed to accept his friend’s explanation at face value, just smiling wide at him and brushing his dirty-blonde hair back with a grin. He was a year younger than Halden, only a freshman at the college they both attended, and, to be honest, he tended to be a bit clingy. Halden had suspected that his roommate might’ve had a crush on him, at first, but now he simply chalked it up to the novelty of college life for him.

“No thanks.” Halden shook his head, settling down on his bed and glancing with a nervous chuckle at his drawer. Then his eyes turned back to his friend, looking him over appraisingly. It was silly, but everything about Zander seemed suspicious for a moment. The arch of his eyebrow as he asked about breakfast, the way he stood with his weight shifted on to one leg, even the eager, slightly tired grin on his face…none of it was out of place, but Halden couldn’t help but think that he had seen. “I ate on my way out to the bookstore.”

“Ah, alright.” Zander turned, slipping back towards the kitchen. “What did you have to do out there, anyway?”

“Still owed money on my chem book.” The black-haired boy glanced through the doorway at him, before turning back to his dresser and carefully drawing it open, pulling the plastic bag off of the package of diapers and setting it out on the bed. Ignoring it for a moment, he shut the dresser drawer again. His first class didn’t start until eleven, so he’d have a good hour to relax from the stress of the incident, after Zander left. As his eyes fell back on the bed, however, he noticed the plastic ring Marty had palmed off on him. He picked it up, tossing and catching it in one hand as he headed for the bedroom door. “Bah.”

“What’s the matter?” The blonde boy blinked as Halden came into the kitchen a few seconds later, heading for the trash can. The scent of bacon was heavy in the air, and Halden felt a slight stir of hunger deep in his stomach. He wished for a moment that he hadn’t told Zander he’d already gotten breakfast…but there probably wasn’t enough for him, anyway. “Oh…what’s that?”

“Hrm?” Halden paused, looking at his roommate and finding his eyes fixed on the yellow-red ring in his hand. “Oh…just some kid’s toy I found at the bookstore. Don’t know why I kept it.”
“Don’t throw it away!” Zander grinned, his hand darting out and grabbing at Halden’s wrist. The black-haired boy looked at him, puzzled, and Zander just shrugged, chuckling as he took the ring from Halden’s hand. “Little things like this are cool…besides, it couldn’t be a kid’s ring. It’s too big. Look…”

“Oh, well, maybe it’s for some sort of club. Might even be for one on campus…it looks pretty cheap.” Halden just shrugged, stifling a chuckle as his friend fingered the ring, finally slipping it onto his right hand. It would be just like the boy to wander around campus wearing a “Furry Pride” ring, without ever suspecting. “Heh, guess it’s not a kid’s ring.”

“Yeah. I might ask around campus. You never know, someone might’ve lost it.” Zander’s smile stretched out a bit wider. He was more than a little excited by the prospect of getting to wander around and play detective. Looking thoughtful, he turned back around to the stove…and then suddenly jerked forward, nearly tumbling over onto the hot burner, before tossing himself back with a yelp. “Ah!”

“…Zander?” Halden gaped as the boy tumbled back onto his bottom, his head jerking and coming close to colliding with the tile floor beneath their feet. Another, short spasm saved him from that, but, almost immediately, the blonde, young man began to flail about, yelping and howling in pain. “What’s…what’s wrong?!”

“Agh…!” Zander, to say the least, wasn’t in much of a talking mood. His legs and arms jerked wildly, splayed across the floor…and, finally, after working his jaw for a long moment, he yelped, “Call 911!”

Halden was smart enough not to wait. He stepped over his friend, heading into the living room and grabbing the phone off the base where it was charging. Still, before he punched in the three-digit number, his eyes darted back to the kitchen floor, and his jaw nearly dropped. All across Zander’s body, there was a white…something...spreading out like wildfire. Halden thought for a second that his skin might’ve been turning white, but, as he took a few steps closer, he realized with an astonished blink that it was actually thin, white fur, getting thicker by the minute. Gawking at this, his hand stilled on the phone, having already hit the “9” and “1.”

A moment later, the flailing stopped, only to be replaced by a sudden, harsh, crackling sound. It took Halden a few seconds to realize that this was the sound of shifting and snapping bones, drawing out a fresh burst of pained cries from Zander. At his feet, the blonde boy’s hair was turning white as well as the fur overtook it, and his body was bending in ways it clearly hadn’t been meant to go. His fingers elongated and thickened, looking almost paw-like, and, down below, his feet did the same, bending and shifting with a series of sharp snaps. Somewhere throughout the process, Zander’s bladder had given way, and a dark stain spread across his crotch, the mingling scents of bacon and urine making Halden nearly lose the breakfast he hadn’t had.

The boy’s ears almost seemed to shift upwards along his head as they grew and grew, and, finally, with one, last, harsh snap, Zander collapsed back onto the floor, unrecognizable. He looked, for all the world, like a rabbit-fur, a big, white bunny-boy whimpering and whining on the floor in his wet pants…and, at last, sitting up weakly with a frightened gasp.

“…Halden?”

__________________________________

There are some situations for which the human mind is just not adequately prepared, situations so far outside of the realm of probability that the only sane response is to look quickly away and forget they happened. This, unfortunately, is rather difficult when the situation in question has left one with wet pants, rabbit ears, and a tail. Or, to put it another way: Zander wasn’t taking things well. In fact, he was kind of panicking, jerking to his feet and looking around, then pausing and nearly falling over as his ears jerked with him, flopping from one side of his face to the other and almost covering his eyes.

Halden, though, wasn’t in any better a condition…mentally speaking, at least.

I’ve snapped, he thought to himself with a whimper, looking on helplessly as Zander found himself having to grip the kitchen counter to keep on his feet; the balance his bunny body needed to stay erect was something totally new to him. All the stress of college and being a babyfur has finally gotten to me. I probably didn’t even make it to Marty’s this morning. I’m sitting on the side of the road somewhere, and everyone that wanders by is shaking his head and tsking at the crazy guy muttering to himself about rabbits.

“H-Halden?” Another whine from Zander snapped the still-human of the two back into reality, though, and a glance across the room showed his no-longer-human roommate taking a tentative step towards him. He’d gotten his ears under control somewhat, and they perked and held themselves aloft as he eyed his friend, sniffling and tearing up. “I…I think I’m going to need some help. I can’t really walk like this.”

“Hell.” Halden was almost relieved at this development, really. Helping a friend into another room was easy; he’d done it a lot in his freshman year, when his friends’ dorm mates would come home plastered and need help upstairs. It was safe, familiar territory. He moved over by Zander and put an arm around him, propping the boy against his side and beginning to walk towards the living room. They fumbled at first and nearly fell over, but, after the first few steps, Zander just stilled…if not relaxed…against his friend, and they eventually made it into the living room and towards the sofa. “I…I’m going to take breakfast up. You sit here and…try not to panic.”

“Too late.” Zander gave a short chuckle, his throat rasping a bit before he cleared it and wiped his eyes. He was clinging to the small, saner things for the moment, as well, trying to ignore the swish of his fur as the ceiling fan overhead stirred the air against him. “Could…could you get me a clean pair of pants, first?”

“Oh. Yeah.” The other boy nodded, looking down at his friend’s soaked jeans and almost giving a mad, stressed giggle. Then, with a sudden glint in his eye, he reached around and put a hand against Zander’s bottom, exploring for a moment and brushing against the bulge of his tail. Perhaps understandably, the boy’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to protest, showing off the herbivorous teeth his new form had in the process. Halden, though, just cut him off with an innocent, carefully restrained shrug. “…And a knife. You’ll have to make a tail hole, if you don’t want that in the seat of your pants.”

“Oh. Yeah…sorry.” Zander flushed, silently cursing himself for letting his mind dive into the gutter as Halden turned and headed towards their bedroom, cursing a bit more vocally. This was just his luck, really; his roommate looked like he’d wandered out of one his naughtier fantasies, helpless and lapine on the sofa, to say nothing of soaking wet and pleading for a change, and instead of getting to indulge himself, he just felt like someone had punched him in the gut. Still, a moment of rummaging in his friend’s drawers produced a pair of briefs and pajama pants…they’d be easier to cut open than denim.

“Just let me a grab a knife and take up the bacon.” The young man nodded to his friend as he passed back through the living room…it was actually amazingly easy to keep calm if he just focused on the little things. Outwardly, at least…inside, the back of his brain had taken out an ice pick and was trying to Trotskify him from the inside out. Still, the bacon came out of the pan and onto the plate just as easily as if the boy who had made it were still human, and soon enough he was carrying a paper plate with that and a knife on it, along with a second for himself. He’d tried to seem more concerned about this than his friend’s state as he re-entered the room. “Hope you don’t mind if I borrow some of this. I’m hungrier than I thought.”

“Nah…I’ve lost most of my appetite, anyway.” Zander nodded, squirming on the couch as his friend sat his clean clothes down. Then, after a second’s pause, discomfort won out over modesty and he unbuttoned his drenched jeans, pulling them down, along with his underpants. He gawked a bit as his fur-covered thighs and waist, before flushing beneath his fur and glancing up to his friend again. “…I need something to dry off with.”

“Oh, yeah. Hold on, I’ll get a towel.” Halden nodded, darting off for just a second before returning, trying not to look as his friend took the thick, burgundy cloth he passed him and began to clean up his wet bottom and front with it. Then Zander passed the towel back, bright red beneath his fur, and began to fumble with the briefs Halden had brought out, sliding them over his footpaws and then up onto his bottom. A grasp of the knife and a bit of careful reaching, tugging, and cutting at the back of them made an awkward hole for his tail, but it was better than nothing. He slid the pajama pants on, next, and his hand was steadier as he cut the hole for those; they were looser and…well…it was just easier to handle a knife when you weren’t otherwise naked.

“Thanks.” Zander settled back down on the sofa, his tail flicking about in its new found freedom, and Halden just looked downwards, embarrassed, while the bunny reached for a slice of bacon, bringing it to his lips with a sigh. “…I don’t know what I’m going to do about classes today. I can’t exactly go like this.”

“I’ll go tell your professors you’re sick, after you eat and stuff.” Halden suggested, biting his lip. “That’ll work, for today…I don’t know about after that. I guess we just hope that whichever one of us is dreaming wakes up, huh?”

“Yeah.” The bunny-boy gave a soft, nervous chuckle at that. He wasn’t quite so doubtful of his mental state; Zander was well-aware that his imagination wasn’t good enough to make all of his bones rearranging hurt as much as it had. Still, he played calm, biting into the bacon and then, with an almost-yelp, cringing at the taste. “Ick…I guess I burned this, huh?”

“Doesn’t look burnt.” Halden shrugged, leaning in. “But…it isn’t exactly rabbit food.”

“Shit…you mean…?” Zander sighed. “I’m not going to eat any carrots, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Well, you might have to. Vegetables, at least. And fruit…just if meat and stuff keeps tasting bad, though.” The black-haired boy offered a reassuring smile, before glancing to the clock. “I’ll grab some salad and stuff on the way back, after I grab your professors…speaking of which, I probably ought to get going. Your class starts in ten minutes. Need anything before I go?”

“No.” The rabbit looked around for a moment and then shook his head. “I just need to calm down for a second. That, and get used to the idea of shedding.”

“Heh.” Halden offered a weak laugh at this, but neither of the boys could muster a believable smile to go with the quip. After a few seconds, Halden stopped trying and headed for the door, stopping there to pull on his shoes again. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’ve got my cell phone, so, if you need anything, just call.”

And, with that, he disappeared from the room, leaving Zander sitting alone on the couch, nibbling at his bacon, taking the smallest bites he could manage to avoid tasting the stuff. Even eating like that, he didn’t make it through a whole piece before the sensation became so bad that he had to put the plate aside, pulling his feet onto the couch and burying his face in his knees. His eyes were watering against now as he felt the fur on his face brush against his pajama pants…yeah, watering. “Crying” probably would’ve been a bit more accurate, but he’d already wet his pants today; he deserved to avoid a few undignified wordings, after that.

Zander wasn’t sure how long he sat there and cried for. A quarter hour, at the least, perhaps longer…but, in the end, he was drawn out of his furry ball on the couch by and uncomfortable rumble in his stomach. On any other day, it would’ve been obvious what the problem was, but, stressed as he was and in a new body, it actually took Zander a moment to realize he needed to use the bathroom. And, given the trouble he’d already had with walking, that presented a nice, little problem for the boy.

After a moment of simply trying to hold it and hoping that the sensation in his abdomen would go away, Zander sighed and pulled himself to his feet, gripping the arm of the sofa and balancing himself. The bathroom wasn’t that far away, with its door set on the opposite side of the living room from the kitchen’s, just a few feet from the couch, but even that close, the bunny gave a soft, nervous whine at the prospect of having to walk all the way there. Needless to say, then, he was shocked when he found himself much more firm on his feet than before, with his tail freed from his pants and the small claws on his footpaws gripping the ground.

“Oh…yes!” The bunny let go of the sofa, taking a few, careful steps towards the door, and, when he found these successful and himself still on two feet, it was all his pride could do to keep him from squealing with glee. His tail, though, was less dignified; almost immediately, it started wagging, and, much to the boy’s horror, these slight tremors from the appendage keeping him balanced were enough to knock down the house of cards, as it were: he stumbled, shook, and finally fell, his knees buckling and sending him sprawling out across the floor.

As if this weren’t enough, his fall was all his bunny-body needed to decide to betray him completely. When he moved to stand up, gripping the other side of the sofa, right outside the bathroom door, his bowels gave a squelching roar. There was a sick pause between the noise and when Zander lifted his bottom off the ground to stand…and, as soon as that moment had passed, his control gave way. Before he could blink, the bunny could feel the back of his briefs bulging out from his heavy mess and making his pajama pants sag childishly in the rear.

Zander sat there for a minute, pressing his hands to his face and sobbing, half-raised off the floor as he felt the seat of his pants fill. After a moment, though, the scent wafting from his messy pants was enough to tell him that he needed to get up and try to change…or, at least, to clean himself up. And, in fact, the rabbit was just about to do that, when, from across the room, he heard a knock on the door, followed by a female voice.

“…Zander? Are you there? I need to get your half of our chem.. project!” It was Julia, his lab partner...he would’ve growled at himself for forgetting, but being changed into a rabbit had been a bit distracting. Still, it wasn’t too big of a problem, not nearly a big of one as his messy PJs– he’d just pretend not to be home and get Halden to take the thing to her room when he got back.

“Zander…? Zander, come on, open up!” Outside, Julia rapped on the door for a few more moments, before the sound stopped, followed by a sharp sigh and a snap. “Zander!”

Everything went quiet for a moment, and Zander’s heart lifted joyously in his chest…and then he heard the sound of the front door’s doorknob turning freely, followed by a telltale creak as it opened on its hinges.

“…Zander! Where are you?”


__________________________________

“God dammit, Zander…”

The poor rabbit’s ears tossed haphazardly around as he looked this way and that. Bolting into the bathroom would be the easiest thing to do, and it was where he needed to go, really; after this accident, a shower was sort of mandatory. On the other hand, it’d be pretty obvious someone was there, if the bathroom was shut and locked. Maybe he could bolt into the kitchen…she wouldn’t go looking there for their chemistry project, right? But, then, the door was too far away, and, instead of moving at all, he was still sitting there in his messy pants, looking dumbstruck, when Julia pulled the door all the way open and walked inside. Luckily, the couch hid the better part of him, for the moment.

“Oh, God…” Julia, on the other side of the room, was sniffing audibly and holding her nose, her words coming out in a strange, stopped-up accent, thanks to the gesture…”Zander, are you here? The place smells like shit. You better not be passed out somewhere or something.”

“Uhm…no, not exactly.” He wasn’t quite sure why he’d decided to speak up, but, in any case, he had…and, as he did so, he poked his head, floppy ears and all, over the arm of the couch, sitting up and cringing as the load in the back of his pants shifted with him, reminding him just how much he’d gone, a moment earlier. None of this, though, stopped Julia from looking over. Her eyes met his ears, then his face, lingering over the strange, herbivorous teeth that showed from the nervous, half-frightened smile he forced.

Then she screamed.

“Holy…holy Hell…what the fuck are you?!” The look on her face was part horror, since, of course, she’d just stumbled onto some sort of half-human monster, and part benign befuddlement, since, after all, the monster’s other half appeared to be bunny. “Where’re Zander and Halden?”

“Eep!” Zander, for his part, had buried his face in the couch’s arm at the scream, pressing his ears down against it and holding his hands over them. Lord, she was loud…and his new, extra-large ears weren’t helping. “I’m…I’m Zander!”

“...” Julia just gawked, pausing for a moment and looking him over, as if trying to take this in stride. The voice was familiar, admittedly, but, well…the aural accessories, just for starters, were a bit too much to believe. “…No, you’re a rabbit.”

“It’s a long story…actually, I don’t really have a clue what’s happened.” The bunny fixed her with a helpless look, finally pulling himself to his feet and blushing as the angle he stood at showed off his drooping PJ bottoms. “Halden went out to tell my teachers I’m sick.”

“Oh. That was nice of him, I guess.” The girl blinked, tossing her light, red hair over her shoulder and snickering. She was trying to do her best not to freak out…and the absurd humor of the moment really did seem to be the only refuge left her. “Ahm. Do you…need to change your pants or something?”

“Yeah.” Zander sighed, looking back and downwards, before beginning to walk carefully into the bathroom. He took a moment to make sure that Julia couldn’t see him from this angle, before beginning to strip his drooping pants off, wincing at the scent wafting from his undies. “It’s hard to get around like this…would you mind grabbing me some more pants and stuff out of my drawers? Walking seems to be on and off again for me, at the moment.”

“Er. Sure.” Julia called, notching her voice up a bit in volume as she headed for the bedroom. A glance around showed two sets of dresser drawers, so she simply chose the nearest, pulling open the top drawer. Luckily, the pajamas seemed to be here, and she plucked out a set, plain, light blue. The fur was probably warm enough already, so she just grabbed pants. Then, moving onto the next drawer down, in her hunt for underpants, she pulled the thing open…and blinked as a bulky, green bag reading “DEPEND” stared up at her. “Oh, my…”

“Did you find them?” Back in the bathroom, Zander had finished stripping down his soiled briefs in a now tied-up trash bag, and he was busy trying to clean his fur as best he could.

“…Yeah!” Julia had to fight off a noisy chuckle as she answered him. Even amidst all this weirdness, after all, finding your friend’s underwear drawer full of diapers was a bit amusing. And, besides, this explained a lot…too bad that, by the look of the bag, he hadn’t been wearing one, when he’d messed himself. Ah, well. She seized the entire package, carting it out into the living room and tossing it, with his pants, onto the sofa. “I put the stuff on the sofa. I’m going to have to grab our project and run, though. I’ll…er…be back later, I guess.”

“Alright.” The rabbit poked his head out of the bathroom, giving her an appreciative, lapine smile. “Don’t mention this to anyone, though. I’m not sure how I’m going to handle it yet.”

“Yeah. Gotcha.” Julia gave him her best, reassuring smile, darting back into the bedroom to retrieve her project, before calling out her goodbyes and bolting for the door. As funny as it would’ve been to see the bunny trying to diaper himself, she didn’t need a failing grade in chemistry, this semester. School was strange like that. Walking in on a human-rabbit, under any other circumstances, would’ve been world-stopping…but, when a project grade beckoned, not so much.

Back in the bathroom, the bunny had finally done as much as he could, outside the shower. On the bright side, at least, he seemed to have gotten used to getting around; he was still being careful, but he hadn’t fallen down amidst his awkward bustling about in the small room. Now, though, a shower was in order, so he carefully stepped onto the slick, bathtub floor, drawing the curtain closed and turning the water on. A moment of careful adjustment, and it was a comfortable warm…the entire thing was so normal he half expected to look down and find his new fur missing, when he reached for the shampoo.

The shower, needless to say, took a while. He wasn’t quite sure what to do about his fur. Did it need shampoo? Conditioner? Would soap be a problem? In any case, it was a pain to clean…and drying turned out to be worse. A towel would only do so much; between that and shaking, he ended up lightly damp, comfortable and cool but not furniture-safe. And so it was that, when the door creaked open and Halden returned, he was sitting on the bathroom sink, wielding a hairdryer and not wearing a stitch.

“Ahm.” His roommate had a more than slightly disturbed expression on his face, when he appeared in the doorway. Seeing his Depends sitting out on the couch had not been fun…and Zander sitting naked on the sink, drying himself, didn’t help. “What are you doing?”

“I…ah…had another accident.” The bunny looked up at his friend, shifting his legs so that his less public-appropriate areas were hidden from sight and speaking matter-of-factly. He’d had a long while to calm down, as crazy as this all was, so, apart from the pouty look that crossed his face at the word “accident,” he was quite calm. “So I got a shower. And this fur is evil, so now I’m drying it off.”

“Ah. Ahm. Alright.” Halden nodded, looking over his friend and swallowing heavily. God, this wasn’t fair. Out of everyone that could’ve ended up naked and furry in his dorm…he’d gotten his roommate. “I’m just going to go put up the salad and stuff I got you.”

“Gotcha.” Zander gave him a playful thumbs-up and nudged the door shut as he left, turning to eye himself in the mirror. Halden had been gawking…was he ugly like this, or something? He set the hairdryer down, beginning to mock-model, just to make sure he hadn’t been terribly deformed. And, well…he certainly looked strange. But, beyond that, his features were still the same, albeit rabbitized…and the cottontail and ears were kind of cute, if you stretched it. Halden must’ve just been gawking at the weirdness of it all.

He shrugged and headed outside, leaving his towel in the dirty-clothes hamper and carting the trash bag he’d put his dirty undies in with him. He tossed that quickly in the larger trash can, before turning to the sofa and looking for the clothes Julia had gotten him. Instead, he found a pair of Halden’s pajamas…and a bag of diapers?

“Halden…did you get these?” The bunny blinked, turning towards the kitchen door and covering himself. A moment later, his roommate appeared, his expression nervous and his frame even seeming to shake a bit.

“Er…” The black-haired boy stared at him for a moment, pondering the question. The tone made it sound like he’d never seen them before, but he had to have gotten them out of the drawers. Still, if he had a chance of getting out of confessing that they were his…”Yeah. I just thought, since you wet yourself, before I left, you might need them.”

“Oh.” The bunny looked downwards at the bag, pouting horribly at the idea, and Halden breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the jitters that had run through him at the question beginning to subside. “Well…thanks, but I really don’t need them. I only wet before because I was busy turning into a rabbit.”

“Well…” Halden eyed his roommate for a moment, considering. On one hand, the nice thing to do would obviously be to tell him that he didn’t have to wear them. After all, it would be pushy to try to force him into them…and the poor boy was already in enough danger of being exploited by him, just with his new rabbit form. Him in diapers, to top it off, would really be too much. On the other hand, when was a chance like this going to come up again? “I really think you ought to.”

“Hmph.” Zander glanced at the diapers again, then back at his friend, shaking his head. “Too bad.”

“Zander…you’re going to wear those, if I have to hold you down and put you into them.” Halden sighed, beginning to advance on him with a forced frown. In the back of his head, a little part of him was telling him he really shouldn’t, but…it was little for a reason, right? Soon enough, he was standing by the naked rabbit, and he bent down, opening up the bag and pulling out one of the diapers. A bit of knife-work gave it a rough but mostly accurate tailhole, at the rear. “Lay down, while I go get the powder and stuff.”

“Grr.” The bunny just settled on the sofa, sitting but not laying, and glared at Halden’s retreating back. When he returned, a moment later, carrying a bottle of baby powder, he flushed and stared up at him, doing his best to seem planted in place. “I’m telling you, I’m not wearing those.”

“And I’m telling you that you are. Now lay down.” They glared at each other for a moment, eyes meeting bunny-eyes…and, finally, Zander pouted, pushed the pajama pants off onto the floor, and laid down.

“Oh, fine…but if anyone sees me like this, I’m going to kill you.” Zander whined, spreading his legs at a nudge from his roommate. Halden’s hands deftly raised him up a bit, and he fought off a murr as the thick diaper was unfolded and settled beneath him. Halden opened the powder and sprinkled it out across his crotch, working it into his fur with an ease that made the bunny blush bright beneath his white fur.

“Zander, if anyone sees you, at this point, you’ve got a lot more to worry about than them laughing at your diapers.” Halden smirked, doing his best to be unreadable as his eyes danced over Zander’s form, excited. He set the powder aside, before leaning in to pull the tabs on the diapers up, taping them tight, one by one.

“Actually…Julia came in, earlier, to get our chemistry project, and she calmed down after a little bit.” The bunny gave his roommate a hopeful smile, a smile that, much to his despair, came far too easily. Given the situation, he really ought to have been frustrated. Frustration was masculine; squirming while you were taped into a diaper and nearly purring was not. “She’s the one who got my clothes out; sorry she got your pants.”

“No problem.” Halden forced a shrug, lest his face fall, and pulled the bunny to his feet. Well, that explained how the diapers had gotten out. Now he just had to hope she assumed they were Zander’s. Sighing, he reached down, picking up the pajama pants and beginning to help the bunny into them, after giving them a tailhole, as well. “Here, they’ll probably fit, anyway.”

“Erf…you sure you don’t mind?” The boy felt his face burn as his friend tugged the pants up around his waist, grinning all the way. Zander was sure it was all Halden could do to keep from laughing and jeering at him, at this point…and the fact that his diapers poked out over the waistband of his PJs and made them bulge bulkily at the crotch and bottom didn’t help. “Gah, I look so silly…”

“Oh, hush.” Halden just grinned at him quietly for a moment, looking the shirtless, diapered bunny over, from head to toe, and finally swatting him across the padded bottom. “C’mon, you still need breakfast. I’ll get you a bowl of salad.”

“I…er…alright.” Zander blinked at him, looking back as the swat made his diapers crinkle, before beginning to waddle and hop after his roommate…crinkling, of course, all the way.