As you watch Nemo tell the school of fish to swim down to escape the net, you glance at Bow Kid only to realise she’s fast asleep on your shoulder. She’s always cute, but again you’re reminded how cute she is sleeping. You barely notice the credits rolling as you watch her, cuddle against her side. It’s comfy.

“Now, it’s time for bed,” mum says, making you jump slightly.

She’s smiling, but you can tell she won’t be up for any more arguments about staying up — and to be fair, Bow Kid is asleep, or was as she blinks the tiredness out of her eyes.

“Time for bed?” she asks tiredly.

“Yep.”

As you stand up, she follows slightly more unsteadily. Mum is waiting, obviously intent on making sure you do go to bed.

“Do you need a change, sweetie?” Mum asks as you get to your room.

Looking over your shoulder in confusion, you’re pretty certain you hadn’t used your nappy.

“I’m okay,” say Bow Kid quietly.

Mum gives her a kind smile.

“If you’re wet, you will need a change.”

Bow Kid shuffles slightly at your side.

“Well…”

“Let me get you a fresh nappy.”

Mum urns back towards the lounge room and after a moment wondering where you should go, decide to guide Bow Kid to your room. Turning your light on, you think you can see Bow Kid’s nappy bugling slightly. She’s blushing embarrassedly, so you pull her into a hug.

“Lay down on the bed and I’ll get you into a dry nappy.”

Looking at mum, you can see two nappies, however.

“Do you need a change too, sweetie?”

“Oh, um — I’m dry,” you say, blushing.

At those words, it occurs to you that you do need to go to the loo, but isn’t that’s what your nappy is for?

Mum accepts your words as Bow Kid lays down. Rather than pull the trackies off, mum only pulls them down to her knees, exposing the visibly wet nappy. There’s enough room then for mum to untape it and put a fresh nappy underneath her. Soon, Bow Kid is securely taped up in a dry nappy.

There’s a round of goodnights as mum turns off the light.

“You okay?” Bow Kid asks, you’re not sure how long later.

You hadn’t gotten to sleep yet, the discomfort in your bladder having risen to the point where you just couldn’t. You knew you just had to go in your nappy, but for some reason you just couldn’t. You had initially thought it was the fact you were on your side, cuddling with Bow Kid, your legs mostly together, so you fidgeted and squirmed, lifting your legs so there was space to go. But you still couldn’t.

You feel guilty knowing your movement kept Bow Kid up.

“I need to pee,” you admit after a moment.

“Oh,” Bow Kid replies. You can see you eyes shine even in the low light. “Like, you want to get up and go to the loo?”

You were supposed to say yes, but you know Bow Kid sometimes goes because it’s easier. She admitted that last sleepover, and for the same reasons don’t want to.

“No.” You try to think. “I just can’t go,” you admit quietly.

You can see Bow Kid chew her lip, clearly thinking.

“The — the first time I tried to go, it was hard,” she admitted. “It was like I knew I wasn’t supposed to go there.”

“Oh,” you say in understanding. That made sense.

“It’s… easier on your back,” suggest Bow Kid.

Untangling yourself from her, you roll on to your back, your bladder ending warning signals as you do even though you can’t go. You try to relax and go again, but it’s still hard. You are aware of Bow Kid next to you, awake, and wonder if that makes it harder. After a few moments however, she shuffles closer to you.

“Try to imagine you’re on the toilet,” she says sleepily.

You close your eyes and try to tell yourself that, slowly relaxing. After a few seconds, you suddenly feel a spurt escape you. You freeze and the flow halts in its tracks. You can feel the little bit of encouraging wetness and try again. You can imagine your toes brushing to cool tiled floor and the slight chill of the room, and slowly the flow begins.

It’s a relief on your aching bladder, and you add some encouraging pressure. You can feel the liquid hit your nappy, some of it splashing back. It runs down between your legs and down your bum, pooling on top of the padding slightly. It’s warm and your can feel the nappy swell between your legs, the flow seeming to go on forever.

You sigh, your bladder happy, as the flow drops to a trickle. You lay there happily for several minutes before reaching for your nappy and giving it an experimental squish with your fingers. It’s warm hugs you nicely. Rolling and cuddling back up to Bow Kid, the warm nappy squishing between your thighs, before drifting off to sleep.