David took a deep breath of air as he watched Ollie change and contract in his arms right before his eyes. For an instant, his conscience warred with him as he took this step beyond the parameters he had worked out in advance with his boyfriend. Then, making the cutest face, Ollie grabbed at his thumb and cooed.
Convinced that he was simply giving Oliver what he wanted, David took another breath and used the ring to make some additional adjustments.
Ollie awoke from a strange dream to a stranger reality. He found himself resting on his tummy on a soft mattress. He moved a hand, expecting to prop himself up in bed. He felt lightweight and heavy at the same time. Even lifting his head felt like he needed more strength than he possessed in his petite form. He noticed a row of white wooden slats arranged like the bars of a cell. His eyes widened, but it was from an attempt to focus them and not from surprise.
He felt more confused than surprised. He finally managed to coordinate his body enough to crawl a short distance only to bump up against the crib's railing.
"What the..." Ollie thought. "David!"
When he tried to produce real words of spoken English, he managed only a indecipherable babble, the rough equivalent of "Gaa Daa Goo Pa."
He remembered David and the ring. He tried to grasp two of the white bars, but his little, pudgy hands lacked the coordination. He tried to stand but discovered he didn't have the strength or agility. With some intense effort, he managed to flip his body to land on his back instead of his belly. Now he gazed out of the crib toward the ceiling and an intervening hanging mobile of unicorns, leprechauns, and other magical creatures. He reached a stubby hand upward, but the mobile was far too far from him to touch.
Ollie noticed he wore only a crinkly diaper. "David!" He felt nervous. "David!"
His utterances sounded like a fearful cry that increased in intensity as he felt real fear begin to pervade every ounce of his six-month-old form.
At least, he got an answer.
David stepped into the room in an open bathrobe. But, as he bent over the crib, Ollie saw someone standing behind David. A bare-chested Marco leaned over David's shoulder to look into the crib.
"Morning, Ollie-bollie," Marco said.
David smiled, turned, and kissed his husband. "This is his official six month birthday. He's a whole half-a-year old today."
"Are we really have him a birthday for turning six months?" Marco asked. "We're going to spoil him."
"Well, it's our six month anniversary, too," David said, turning a smirk toward his handsome husband. "Don't you want me to spoil you?"
Ollie looked up as the two handsome men put their hands all over each other, momentarily forgetting about him. But, in his head, he was trying to come to term with what he had heard. Months! Was he really only six months old now?
He heard a strange sound and looked up to see David and Marco in a deep, passionate kiss. Were they married?
But David had been his boyfriend.
David led Marco to the bed that Ollie finally noticed on the other side of the room. They had placed his crib in their room.
"No! Stop! I don't want to see this!" Ollie wanted to shout at them.
David left Marco on the bed and returned to the side of the crib. He knew how to deal with fussy Ollie. A moment later, having popped the plastic pacifier into Ollie's mouth, he returned to his husband. "Where were we?"
Marco extended his arms and David fell into them as he shed the robe.
"No!" Ollie lamented. He sucked on the pacifier, which eliminated his unhappy gibberish from disturbing the occupied men in the master bed across the room.
Ollie felt himself stiffen inside the diaper, but he met with defeat when he tried to get one of his pudgy hands inside the diaper. He could only watch in horrible frustration and envy as Marco claimed his former boyfriend as he sucked more furiously on the pacifier between his lips.