Work Text:
Izuku Midoriya stood awkwardly in place on the set. The lights above were shining down brightly, to the point where it was difficult to see to the soundstage beyond. He was aware of the huge camera mounted in front of him, recording his every movement. He was aware of the crew on the set who had helped get him dressed and prepped and did his makeup and coached him on what to say and do. This was supposed to be a simple job that he could finish in just a couple of hours, but it was turning into an eternity.
Allegedly, if he wanted to, he could leap straight upwards and touch the ceiling of this building. But his feet were rooted to the floor. He could barely move at all. This whole thing was crazy. Why was everyone looking at him? Why did they pick him for this? He was sweating under the intense illumination. That was bad. They might have to redo his makeup. Or do the shoot again. The idea of being forced to stay here any longer was mortifying!
“Ok Mr. Deku,” an assistant said from off to his side, “that should be it for all the prep. Now if you can please hold this package.”
A plastic-coated package was lifted up off the ground and handed to him. The assistant guided his hands into position and teased at it, smoothing out the creases and setting the angle just right. It was relatively light but evenly weighted, firm yet soft at the same time. Deku looked down and his heart jumped into his throat, his eyes narrowed, his mind scrambling. It was a package of diapers. More specifically, it was the package of diapers that he was advertising for this commercial. The reality of the situation sunk in. Deku was about to appear in a commercial where he told an uncountable number of people all over Japan that he wore diapers and that Pampers Heroic Protection Diapers for Big Kids were the diapers that they should buy too.
“There we go! All set!” The assistant continued, after all her adjustments were made. “If you wouldn’t mind, please look at the camera and say your name.”
The boy, clad in his dark green costume, snapped to attention. It was impossible to think rationally and his body reacted to her suggestion as if she had some kind of hypnosis or mind control quirk. But in reality, he was just defaulting to the first concrete order he was given.
“My name is Izuku Midoriya!” He said with far too much enthusiasm.
“Good, good. Although you can use your normal speaking voice. We have plenty of microphones here,” the assistant said warmly.
She looked off towards the blackness beyond the spotlights and nodded, following some kind of directions from someone Deku couldn’t see.
“Alright, the director is ready to go! Good luck! You’re going to do great!”
The assistant scampered off into the darkness as Deku shifted in place, holding the box steady as she had prepared it. The bulky diaper he was wearing, far thicker than the ones he normally wore under his costume, made his crotch and butt bulge out in a way that made it impossible to miss what he was wearing. They had instructed him to use multiple boosters. And even then, when the wardrobe assistant examined him, it was determined that it wouldn’t be enough to properly appear on camera. So he was currently wearing his original boosted diaper plus two more on top. It would have been nearly impossible to wear this massive padding under his costume and actually move around like he needed to for hero work or training. He could add the awkward waddle off the set to the number of things he was dreading about this whole situation.
Someone stepped in between Deku and the camera with a film slate, declaring the production count and date and then snapping the slate shut. There were a few other barks from the crew and then a loud and definitive “aaaand action!”
Deku trembled, ice coursing through his veins. Everyone was looking at him. He must have looked ridiculous. The whole thing was a massive joke. He tried to force a smile to appear natural. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t helping. Oh! Right! Lines! He had lines. Things that he needed to say.
“P… Pam…”
The words weren’t coming to him. He felt his soul leave his body.
“Uh…. W-what’s my line again?” Deku managed to squeak out.
“Cut!”
There was a sound like a bell and it seemed like the energy in the room deflated. Several assistants emerged out of the darkness to reset things and get the set ready for the next attempt. A short woman with blue hair and thick rimmed glasses walked towards Deku. It was the director of this commercial. She motioned for him to set down the package of diapers and looked him straight in the eyes.
“Alright, now, your line is: ‘Pampers Heroic Protection Diapers for Big Kids hold the biggest accidents a true hero can have. I should know! I wear Pampers all the time. I trust them whether I’m beating up a villain or studying in class!’”
She gesticulated as she spoke, emphasizing each part and giving a kind of enthusiastic energy to the ridiculous statement that seemed totally incongruous with the words themselves. It was clear that she had a lot of practice getting people motivated for these kinds of affairs. He was so focused on her that he didn’t even notice the front of his diaper warming as his bladder emptied into it.
“But I can tell that you’re struggling up here. I get it! It’s weird when everyone’s poking you and prodding you and telling you what to do and say and recording the whole thing,” she said.
“Yeah…” Deku trailed off, trying to center himself. “I’ve only had a crash course in media relations. All Might makes it look so effortless being on camera in front of everyone.”
“Well, not everyone can be All Might! It’s not like you’re his successor or something!” She laughed.
“Haha, yeah,” he said, forcing an unconvincing chuckle.
“So let’s not focus on the lines for now. You were picked for this commercial for a reason,” the director said, lowering her glasses down to the tip of her nose. “You aren’t the only person who wears these you know. Word on the street is that you’re not even the only hero, if the tabloids are even close to being right. So how about we get you comfortable in front of the camera before we do the scripted lines?”
“How am I supposed to get comfortable in front of the camera like this?” Deku asked, cocking his head.
“Well, you were the one who agreed to appear in this commercial! You must like something about it. Tell the camera off the top of your head what you like about these diapers. There’s got to be something here other than just money from the deal!”
Izuku had quite a history with diapers. He had been a bedwetter his whole life. Growing up, it was one of those things that spread around on the playground after a sleepover gone wrong. Next to him being quirkless it was his defining characteristic at school. Oddly, now that he thought about it, Kacchan never bullied him about the bedwetting. Just being quirkless. He doubted he would get a chance to ask Bakugou why that was, considering their stressed semi-friendship and the odd nature of the question.
After he inherited One For All’s power he had attended the UA entrance exam where he overexerted himself to such a degree that even Recovery Girl was unable to fully heal him. While his torn muscles and shattered bones recovered with minimal--at the time--lasting effect, the strain on his internal musculature was overlooked at the time. He ended up wetting his pants out of excitement when his application to UA was accepted, much to his mother’s shock.
Following several more incidents at home and at school, the worst of which was when he completely soaked the costume that his mother made for him when fighting against Bakugou, he sought out help. It was determined that he had suffered permanent damage to the nerves that allowed his body to tell when he needed to use the bathroom. Recovery Girl had tried several different healing methods to try to help, but it seemed that the result was obvious: Deku had to wear diapers. He was no longer potty trained and never could be again. He was stuck in diapers permanently. His whole class knew that he was a diapered student at school and a diapered hero when training.
But despite all of that, Izuku couldn’t find it in him to resent his situation. Sure, it was inconvenient to have an accident in front of his friends. Or to be stuck in a hero training course where he couldn’t change despite being leaky. And his fight against Shinso at the Sports Festival was incredibly humiliating when his pants fell down as he was hypnotized to walk out of the ring. And of course the fight against Muscular in the forest training camp where Kota watched him mess his Pampers in the middle of a battle was mortifying. Actually it would be shorter to list the instances where his diapers didn’t become a noticeable focal point for his heroic journey.
But again, despite all of that, Deku had to admit that he didn’t hate his situation. He was a hero now. And even if that came with some unique caveats, he was happy to be where he was. With all of his new friends and exploits and the dream of becoming the greatest hero of all time!
And the diapers were, honestly, pretty nice. He was used to wearing protection to bed every night up to that point, so there was something oddly nostalgic and comfortable about waking up in a dry bed with a soaked diaper on that held his bedtime accident. And he had more than enough nights where his pullups were just not enough and he ended up soaking his sheets despite the protection. So it was quite a pleasant surprise to find out that when he switched to wearing Pampers at night he was much more likely to wake up in a dry bed!
The way the diapers hugged his body, how their warmth and weight pressed against him after it was totally soaked, how the diaper brushed against his thighs as he walked, how it felt to run his hands along the front of the pliable, soft plastic shell still radiating heat from a heavy flooding, groping and kneading and-
Deku realized he had started to blush while thinking about diapers. He turned away from the director who was studying him.
The entire commercial thing came about after a high profile event after Deku started working with the Endeavor Agency for the Hero Work-Studies program. He was shadowing Burnin helping with backup for a robbery case. The robber was using Trigger to boost his abilities and caused a lot of damage, but Deku managed to take him out thanks to some quick thinking and his new Blackwhip ability. The (some would say “iconic”, some would say “memed to death”) image of Deku standing atop the monstrous villain with the back of his suit cut away almost perfectly to expose his diaperbutt to the whole world had quickly taken off.
The offer for a commercial came almost immediately to capitalize on the event while it was still in the public’s consciousness. Deku had no idea what to do about it. Endeavor was notoriously poor at managing his PR, even as the Number One hero and had little to say about it beyond “do whatever you need to do to excel.” All Might had been away on a trip to I-Island and couldn’t help.
In the end, it was Ochaco’s advice that seemed to resonate with him: “You need to practice being yourself in front of everyone. We all know how passionate you are as a hero. Everyone else should see it too. Plus Yaoyorozu got to appear in a commercial as an intern! I bet it’s fun!”
“I don’t know if people are going to learn much about me as a hero besides that I wear Pampers…” Deku muttered to himself as he thought back on the events that led to this situation.
“What was that?” the director asked.
“Oh nothing! Just, you know, psyching myself up!”
The director gave a warm smile and a reassuring pat on the shoulder and gave a few more pointers, then retreated back behind the camera. There was another slate clap and the sense that all eyes were on him again.
Izuku sighed and did what he did best. He infodumped. He started listing off all of the different brands and products and styles of pullups and diapers that he had worn. He talked about the different specs and how they mattered to him. Some of the diapers worked fine until he developed Shoot Style, which put too much strain on the crotch and led to some yucky situations. Some of the diapers had material that irritated his skin when he would exercise. And the capacity was always an issue, especially when patrolling. He needed diapers that could hold up to extended wear without compromising in any of the other areas that he needed. And of course there were other factors too! Aesthetics might not sound like a big deal but since Deku was stuck in diapers all the time it helped to wear something that looked kind of cool and didn’t just remind him of being a big baby. All of these tests and conditions and caveats had all come together to the conclusion that Deku’s favorite diaper was the Pampers Heroic Protection Diapers for Big Kids line!
He continued talking for a while after about some of his other experiences and diaper opinions. He had actually gotten so into everything that he had totally forgotten about the camera recording him! It was like it melted into the background and he could speak naturally about how he felt.
“Aaaand cut!”
The boy blinked and cut off his sentence right in the middle of talking.
“Oh! Uh… was that not alright? I can try it again! Or do you want me to hold the package again?”
The director emerged with a grin.
“Kid, we have, what? ten minutes? of footage of you talking about how much you love Pampers. You name-dropped some of the marketing terms, the slogans, and you even got the capacity figures right! I can make an entire commercial line with material like this, not just a quick promo like we were going to do! One of the producers wants to talk to you about that.”
Deku was stunned. Had he really spent the last ten minutes straight talking about diapers in front of the camera? That wasn’t the warm up? That was it? That was what was going to be aired?
“C’mon! My crew needs to do some coverage shots of the set. I’ll introduce you to the producer. He mentioned something about ‘getting your face on a pack of diapers’ so, you know, let’s make a good impression, huh?”
He toddled behind the director, his mind racing and his vision swimming, his legs swinging awkwardly from the extreme bulk between his legs. This couldn’t be right. Everything that just happened had to be a big dream! He must be under the control of some horrific villain’s nightmare quirk!
As if the entire situation couldn’t get any more bizarre, there was a commotion coming from one of the doors in the back of the sound stage. There were raised voices. Familiar raised voices shouting with fiery intensity.
“Katsuki Bakugou! For the last time! You are going to do this commercial!”
“Fuck off! There’s no way in hell that you’re going to get me to do this! You tricked me into coming! I’m not going to let them film me like this! I’m not that damn nerd! I don’t wear fucking diapers!”
“I don’t give a shit! You wear pullups to bed! Do you know how expensive it is to keep your ungrateful ass in them for your whole life? You’re paying for it!”
“This is child abuse! I’ll kill you!”
The director sighed and looked over her shoulder to Deku.
“Well, I guess the diva for the bedwetting protection commercial has arrived…”
He wasn’t sure what to say. It was probably best not to say anything. But a tiny part of him wanted to suggest that maybe Kacchan could try out Pampers at night just like Deku had.