"You are a difficult one, aren't you?" The woman shook her head, but smiled. "I suppose I can give you a little time to make your decision. " She set him down in one of the large playpens with another little winged boy. Derrick stared - it was like looking in a mirror again! This boy was identical to what he had seen as his reflection - a beautiful blonde child with bright blue eyes. Standing up was a little awkward - his legs were shorter in proportion to his body, but Derrick managed to grab the bars and look around.
All of the flying toddlers were exactly the same - hair, eyes, dimples, even the happy expressions. Every one of them was a perfect flying 3 year-old, giggling and playing. As he stared, a soft shape was pressed against his back. "Wanna play?" The little boy sharing his playpen was holding out a stuffed bear.
Derrick turned and asked "What is your name?"
"Cupid!" The boy giggled, obviously proud of his answer.
"No, I mean your real name! Who were you before they made you one of the Cupids?"
This seemed to puzzle the boy, for his smile changed to a look of confusion. Then he brightened. "Aaron! I used to be Aaron!"
So you didn't lose everything. Derrick pressed for more. "How old are you, really? How old were you when you became a Cupid?"
This made the little boy frown in concentration. "Was big boy! Grownup! This many!" He held up his hands with fingers splayed, closed and opened them again, and then held up just four fingers.
"Twenty four? You were twenty four?" Derrick stared at the toddler. "Did you ask to be made like this, or did they trick you like they did me?"
"No trick!" The boy looked confused again. "Good to be Cupid! Play, sleep, make people happy! Not get old, not scared, not work." He grinned again. "Always happy little boy! And flying!" He stretched his wings out and shot up into the air with a giggle.
At least the Cupids remembered a little bit. Derrick stretched out his own wings and gave them a test flap. The muscles in his back felt strange as they worked, but he forgot all of that as he found himself in the air over the playpen. It was not just the wings - he was light as a feather - the wings shot him forward with amazing ease. He zoomed up to the ceiling and dove back down into a pile of stuffed animals as he had seen to other boy do. He popped up from the pile, amazed and delighted. That was fun! he rose back up and started cavorting in the air - one of the other boys - they were all identical, so he had no idea which one it was - flew up and tapped his shoulder, shouting 'IT!" A game of tag ensued, and it wasn't until much later that Derrick collapsed, still giggling, in one of the playpens.
The woman came over and picked him up, no longer seeming threatening. She smiled and mussed his hair. "A lot nicer that you thought, isn't it? Are you ready to nurse now?" She shifted him to her waist so that he could easily reach her breast, but did not force him closer. Derrick did feel hunger now, and the sight of her swollen pink nipple was hard to resist. But did he want to make this permanent? What was the alternative? The so-called 'price'?