Now that David brought up the subject of dinner, Oliver found himself hungry. "But we can't go out to a rest... to a rest-runt..." He kept stumbling over the word restaurant. "Not looking like this!"
"I was kinda wanting to order a pizza," David said.
"Good idea!"
"I guess sharing a bottle of wine's out of the question."
Oliver giggled. "I want a root beer!"
David, although every bit a four-year-old in physical terms, hadn't had the same amount of time for his mental and emotional state to begin to match his appearance. He grew wide-eyed with amazement at the way Oliver had embraced his second childhood.
He looked down at the colorful Bob the Builder undies, which brought home the scope of the changes.
"I like Gio's," he said. "How about a sausage and pepperoni with green peppers?"
Oliver sulked. "I don't want any yucky peppers."
"How about mushrooms?"
"Eeew!" Oliver squealed. "Gross."
"Fine," he retorted. "Pepperoni and sausage with extra cheese."
He went to the clothes he had folded to get his phone out of his pants. As he did, he remembered the ring on his finger. He twisted the silver band. "Oliver, we need a safe place for the ring."
He turned and noticed Oliver had left. David stepped into the hall. "Ollie?"
"In the kitchen!"
A minute later he walked into the kitchen just in time to see Oliver remove a can of soda.
Looking at the counter, he also saw exactly what he needed.
"Ollie, help me push this chair over to the counter."
Oliver complied. The two four-year-old boys put their backs into it and scooted the chair over the kitchen tiles, the chair's legs making a grating sound as they did so.
With the chair in place, David climbed into the seat and stood tall enough to reach the countertop. He lifted the heavy dome of a glass cake stand and placed the ring on the stand before he placed the curved lid back in place. "There!" David said proudly. "The ring's safe. We can order our dinner and have some fun now."
David's phone felt odd in his pudgy hands. He swiped the screen and managed to dial the pizza place. Oliver listened to make sure neither peppers or mushrooms returned to their pizza.
"Yes, my parents know I am ordering," David said, indignant, at one point. After a short interval, he nodded and gave the person on the line the address of Oliver's house. He ended the call and looked at his boyfriend standing there in tight little undies decorated with Bert and Ernie.
"How long?" Oliver asked.
"It might be 30 minutes..."
Oliver groaned. "I'm hungry now!"
"But they said they'd try to have it here in 20 minutes."
Oliver appeared mollified.
David, with adult confidence thus far unshaken, might have failed to foresee some obstacles.