Ollie woke slowly, blinking his eyes and listening to the sounds of cooking and laughter from the kitchen. He didn't remember arriving home. He certainly didn't remember Marco carrying him from the car and placing him on the living room sofa to continue his nap.
"I never take naps during the day," he thought groggily. Then, with a jolt of electric fear, he moved a hand down to feel of his pull-ups. He sighed with relief to find them still dry. He didn't desire a repeat of the humiliating accident he had suffered at pre-school.
He then realized something else. The pull-ups were his only clothing. Someone had removed his T-shirt. His shoes and socks were gone, too. He pushed a blanket off him and saw his pale, puny form with just a slightly distended tummy curving above the waistline of the pull-ups. He slid off the sofa and padded across the carpet in bare feet. He followed the sound of laughter into the kitchen. Standing in the doorway, he saw Marco, having donned an apron, holding a large wooden spoon to give David a taste of sauce from a large pot on the stove. They hadn't noticed him, but in just that instant as David licked the spoon and smiled, Ollie got a swarm of butterflies in his stomach as he witnessed something troubling.
"Oh, look who is awake!" Marco said as he fastened eyes on the cute little tyke.
"Just in time, Ollie," David said, turning to give his former boyfriend a big smile. "Dinner's almost ready."
"Where are my cwothes?" Ollie cringed to hear the lisp deprive him of necessary consonants.
"Marco noticed you had a big blueberry stain on your T-shirt, so we tossed it in the wash," David explained as he cast his eyes down toward the little boy standing there in only childish pull-ups.
Marco slid behind David and sharp-eyed Ollie caught the familiar pat that the other man gave David's butt. It was a friendly but charged gesture, and David eyes appeared to light up from the fleeting contact.
"So, could I get some..." Ollie edited himself, unwilling to hear the lisp again. "Could I get something to wear?"
David turned and looked at him with a smile. "I don't think that's a good idea, Ollie. You're sure to get this sauce all over yourself, so let's wait until after dinner. There will be less mess."
Before Ollie could respond, Marco leaned closer and kissed David. Right on the mouth. David returned the kiss. It wasn't a long kiss, but they kissed right in front of Ollie. Marco ended it by saying, "I'll start plating everything."
Ollie stood rooted to the spot. The kiss completely got beneath his guard.
David, to his credit, looked slightly embarrassed. "Doesn't the food smell good, Ollie?"
Ollie felt strange. He felt hard in his pull-ups, but he knew that hardness was only a pathetic shadow of its former glory. He moved a hand down to adjust himself and was defeated by the bulging fabric of the pull-ups, which made things so much worse.
His eyes leaked a few tears. David saw and moved to scoop the boy off the floor, but even as he did so Ollie began to bawl. The floodgates opened as his emotional control dissolved.
His boyfriend liked Marco better, and now he had let himself get tricked into the body of a four-year-old boy. He didn't have any say in anything, not even whether he could wear clothes. His bawling made it impossible to speak and almost difficult to breathe. David held him closer and patted his back. "There, there," he soothed. "Ollie, this is so perfect. Marco told me he would actually like to have kids..."
Ollie squirmed and tried to get away, but David's arms held him fast.
"Everything all right?" Marco asked, turning away from the stove to stare at them.
David reached into a pocket with a free hand and drew out the ring. Ollie gasped and tried to grab for it, but David whisked it out of reach.
"Don't..." Ollie managed to say before David used the ring.