"...get you some clothes. What say we head to the store?"
Oliver beamed and nodded. The thought of going clothes shopping wasn't particularly appealing to his four-year-old sensibilities, he was just excited by the thought of spending time with David and by the fact that the big handsome man wanted to buy him stuff and pay attention to him.
"Excellent." David grinned, caught up in the tyke's contagious enthusiasm. "Go inside and find a grown-up shirt for you to wear while we're out, and no thinking about turning into an adult while you're wearing it. Oliver can buy his own clothes - but my little Ollie-pollie needs a new wardrobe that's as cute as he is."
Oliver blushed and giggled as his boyfriend playfully patted him on the bottom to send him on his way, the boy scampering down the hall as David smiled after him. He waited to see that Oliver was out of sight before biting his lip and turning to the care package, his mind alight with the possibilities of what the ring could do. After hesitating for a moment, the man reached into the box and plucked out a single item, which he tucked into his pocket just as Oliver bounded back into the room, laughing and hopping about as he wildly swung the arms of the long-sleeved shirt that swamped his tiny body. David couldn't help but laugh himself as he scooped the boy into his arms, Oliver squealing and squirming in the man's embrace as he favored the tyke with a tickle of the tummy.
"Hey, I thought I said that only Little Ollie could come along, not Big Oliver," David mock-scolded the boy, eliciting another round of giggles from the tyke.
"I am Ollie," the boy declared as he playfully bapped his little hand against David's chest. "You just thought I was big 'cause it's such a grown-up shirt."
"Oh! Silly me." David smiled as he kissed the boy on the cheek. "You looked so darn mature that I thought you were headed to the office. Good thing you're still actually little so you can play with your daddy, right?"
Oliver paused only a moment before he grinned and nestled his head against David's shoulder.
"Right, daddy."
David's heart melted into goop as he carried Oliver out to the car, bouncing the tyke in his arms as he did so, securing his little boyfriend in the backseat with as much care and tenderness as he would a real child. Oliver beamed the whole while, astonished at how much he enjoyed being treated like an actual little boy. He was so caught up in the play that he laughed at his own silly, childish stories and jokes as he leveled them at David from the backseat, bouncing on his bottom out of excitement the whole way to the store. David, for his part, laughed right along with the tyke, not only to humor him but because it was genuinely charming to see how his often-dour boyfriend had become so excitable and earnest and cute.
When they got to the store Oliver let David put him in the seat at the front of their shopping cart without complaint. Not only did it amuse him to no end to see his tiny bare feet dangle so far above the ground, it also gave Oliver a bit of a naughty thrill to know that the construction of the seat forced his shirt up and put his colorful little undies on full display. From his perch he could see several of their fellow shoppers giving him odd or disapproving looks, none of which David seemed to notice - until the man met the particularly accusing eyes of a woman who had been digging through the clearance rack when they entered the store.
"Soaked his pants clean through." David smiled and shrugged at the woman. "What can you do?"
Seemingly satisfied, the accuser returned to her discounted cast-offs as Oliver blushed and pouted up at his boyfriend.
"I did'n wet my pants," he protested.
"I know, I know," David laughed as he ruffled Oliver's hair. "But you're even cuter when you're embarrassed."
Though Oliver remained steadfast in his pouting, David could see the smile behind it and knew that the boy wasn't really mad. Still, he knew that might change when Oliver realized that they weren't going to be shopping for clothes for a boy his current age - instead, the clothes they'd be getting would befit the child who once possessed the item he stuffed in his pocket, which was...