*** AUTHOR'S NOTE *** Hello, I'm Hibari and thank you for all the wonderful reception on my first story! I saw a lot of comments to continue the story, and that's exactly what I've done here. I have a lot of great ideas where I can take this story in future installments, but in order to explore a more interesting narrative I will have to delve into some more mature topics. For this particular entry I wanted to give a CONTENT WARNING in regards to some of the topics that you will read. Please let me know what you girls think, I hope to continue this soon!

The weeks following my makeover made for an interesting, if mostly uneventful rest of summer break. I didn’t really get the chance to see Joey again during the break, so it seemed my mom felt it necessary to take the reins of the operation for the time being. Things were fairly normal at first, with mom and I making some jokes about it, but I pretty much just stuck to wearing my own clothes. About two weeks after going swimming, my mom took me to a big department store to get some shopping done since she didn’t go to work that day. As much as I loved spending time with my mom, I never liked aimlessly wandering around stores with her because she would get easily distracted. Thankfully we were quick getting to the young men’s section to pick out a few pairs of pants and shirts for myself.

We continued wandering until conveniently coming upon the womens/juniors department. I followed mom into the displays as she gawked at all the cute summer outfits on the mannequins. She seemed to be grabbing clothes off the racks at a rapid pace and placing them in the cart. My mom might have a bit of a shopping problem. She held up a rusted orange colored button down midi dress and turned to show it to me.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“I think it looks good, pretty cute I guess,” I said in an unassured voice. I thought it looked fine, but not necessarily like something my mom would usually wear. Instead of putting it in the cart or hanging it back up she held it out towards me.

“You should go try it on,” she said, nudging it at me. I took it from her with a confused look on my face.

“What? Why?” I responded in disbelief, “Here, in public?” I motioned to the surrounding area.

“It’s 11am on a Tuesday, barely anyone is here,” mom pointed out. I looked around and sure enough I didn’t see another person anywhere nearby. “It’ll be fine, I promise!”

“But why would I try it on in the first place?”

“I think this color would really suit you!”

“It’s a dress.”

A disappointed look washed over my mom’s face. “So you’ll play dress up with Joey but not your own mother?” Her eyes became wide like a pleading puppy dog. All I could do was roll my eyes at her childish attempt to coerce me.

“Fine,” was all I could muster. Mom became elated and led me towards the fitting rooms in the middle of the women’s section. Usually there would be an attendant there to let you in and count your items but today must have been too slow for that to be necessary. Thankfully, all the changing stalls seemed to be empty. I took the farthest one down and locked myself in. I didn’t want to make a big deal of it, so I changed out of my clothes and into the dress rather quickly. It was very breezy around my legs, something I noted when I lifted my leg behind me (something Joey told me to do when posing for photos.)

I stepped out to show my mom. I presented myself with my hands on my hips and a tilted head as I waited to hear her laugh or make an outlandish compliment. Instead, she looked at me inquisitively, taking a second to gather her thoughts.

“How does it fit?” She asked earnestly. I was taken back a bit at her unexpected response.

“Well, fine I guess,” I responded, “although it’s a bit loose if I’m honest.” I tugged at the front of the dress to show the gap between the fabric and my chest. Mom nodded like she was taking mental notes.

“Yeah I don’t really love it after all,” she said, “Wait here just second, okay?”

Before I could say anything she disappeared out of sight. I was left standing alone with the car, confused at what was going on. She returned a moment later, holding some more clothes in her hands.

“Could you try this on instead?” Mom asked, handing me a hanger.

“Oh, okay…” I responded, dazed at what was going on. She seemed to be treating this very seriously, like we were actually shopping and not just having fun. I went into the fitting room again and held the dress up in the mirror. The tag said Lace-Up A-Line Dress, although I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant. It was white with a pink and gold floral design all over, and the back was very open with laces all along it like a shoe. Ah, that must be what they mean by Lace-Up. I got out of the midi dress and slipped into the new one. There was a zipper on the back of the skirt that I was able to reach and close myself, but I wasn’t able to tie the laces. I looked at myself in the mirror, struggling to lace myself, and let out a sigh. The dress was short, but the skirt was double layered so it didn’t feel as revealing. Why was I doing this? I went over to the door.

“Hey mom…” I said quietly, so as not to let anyone hear a boy’s voice leak out from the girl’s fitting room, “I can’t tie it.”

“Step out, I’ll help you.”

I opened the door and exited slowly in case someone else was there. Thankfully it was still just my mom. She went behind me and started pulling on the laces and making the dress tighter. She adjusted the spaghetti straps and stepped back in front of me to get a good look.

“How does this one fit?” She asked.

I examined myself in the mirror and ran my hands down the dress. Mom made it a bit tight, but overall it fit surprisingly well - almost like a glove.

“Actually, not bad,” I said, somewhat impressed.

“Interesting, so I guess you’re about a size or two smaller than me,” she said with a smile, “Do a twirl, I want to see it all around.”

I didn’t love the idea of twirling in public, but I spun around once like I was asked. Mom started giggling and clapping in approval. I got a bit dizzy and started laughing and smiling, too. All of a sudden, an unknown voice came from behind mom.

“Are you finding everything alright?” said a female store employee, who came from seemingly out of nowhere. I gasped and froze right where I was. I couldn’t believe I was caught like this. My face turned bright red with embarrassment. I felt like a criminal. Mom turned around politely to look at the young employee.

“Yes, thank you,” mom said calmly, “just shopping for some clothes with my daughter. She doesn’t really have anything summer-y, so we’re trying to fix that.” Mom quickly shot me a knowing look, expecting me to play along.

“Very well,” said the employee, “We do have a policy that when trying on clothes you must be wearing underwear at all times, and that includes a bra.” The employee looked at the mirror directly behind me. The back of the dress was very open and she could clearly see that I didn’t have a bra on.

“Oh, sorry,” I said very quietly.

“That’s all my fault,” mom said. She leaned towards the employee and spoke softly, “She’s insecure about her flat chest and bras only remind her of that, so I don’t force her to wear one often.” My face became even more flushed.

“That’s alright,” said the employee who was now uncomfortable, “If you need any help just let me or another store associate know.” She walked away and I let out a sigh of relief. Mom and I stared at each other for a second.

“Guess that’s our queue to stop, huh?” Mom said, laughing.

I was a little less jovial after almost being caught wearing a dress, but I changed back into my clothes and we continued shopping. My mom kept on picking up everything in her sight and adding it to the cart. We passed by the swimwear when my mom stopped and looked at me.

“Any of these catch your eye?” she asked with a laugh.

“I’m not trying on a bikini, mom,” I said firmly, “especially not after what just happened.”

“I know, I was just curious.”

Before long we finished up and headed to the front to check out. They only had one lane open and the two people in front of us also had a mountain of stuff in their carts.

“Why don’t you go wait out in the car, honey? I’ll be there soon,” mom said. I was more than happy to leave. I took her keys and started walking towards the door. The employee who came up to us earlier passed by me, with a confused look on her face, clearly because I was now in shorts and a tee shirt.

“Have a good day, ma’am,” she said with a nod. I nodded back and walked out as fast as possible to hide my red face.

A while later, after waiting in the car for what felt like an hour my mom finally arrived and loaded up the car. During the drive home mom started talking about other things she had grabbed that she wanted me to try but had to be put back after almost being caught. She went on and on before I had to stop her.

“Why did you want me to try on all that stuff?” I asked seriously.

“I thought we were just having fun,” she responded.

“It seemed like you were gonna buy those for me…”

“I mean, maybe if there was something you really liked we could’ve got it, sure.”

I felt like I was being lied to. “I know that I let Joey give me a makeover and dress me up, but I’m still your son, right?”

“Of course, honey! I don’t want you to think otherwise.”

“You seemed way too happy to tell that employee that I was a girl.”

“That was just to prevent us from getting into trouble. You look like a girl sometimes, I know you know that.”

We both fell silent. I started to feel bad. I wasn’t mad at her, but I wasn’t really sure what I was feeling or why and it came out angry. It was all so confusing.

“You seemed like you had so much fun with Joey,” mom said, “and I’ll be honest, there is a part of me that is sad I never got to experience having a daughter. I thought maybe this was my chance to see what that was like, since you seemed so happy when you were dressed like a girl. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love you or aren’t proud of the person you are now. I’m sorry I made you wear those dresses and made you feel like less of a boy.”

We became silent again. To hear that from her was upsetting, but also relieving to know how she felt about the whole situation. I couldn’t blame her, she was only doing what she thought felt right, and she still loved me.

“I did have fun,” I said, “That was the most fun I had in a long time. I don’t know why, but it just felt right. And… I guess in a way it did make me feel closer to you.”

I could see the smile start to form on mom’s face. “Really?” was all she could say.

“Mhm. When you told me the story about the dress, I think something clicked with me and, even if it was just for that night, I felt different. Maybe I did feel like your daughter,” I was shocked to hear myself admit that, but it just came out, “And you don’t have to apologize for back there at the store. If I didn’t want to do it I would’ve just said no, okay?”

“You really didn’t mind?”

“Not if it made you happy. It’s just clothing, after all.”

The mood had lightened up immensely. It felt good to say all that out loud. My emotions were confused, but that didn’t stop the fact that I was having fun just being with my mom. We decided to drive-thru somewhere for lunch. We deserved the junk food.

When we got home I helped her carry in all the bags. She told me not to go far until she gave me my clothes from the trip. I went to my room and sat down on my bed when my mom came in and put a large stack of clothing next to me.

“Here,” she grunted as she plopped it down. I started to get up and pick it up when I noticed something peculiar on top of the stack. It didn’t look like anything I picked out at the store. I picked it up and realized what it was: a bikini.

“Uhh,” was all I could say to my mom.

“I told you I would buy you your own,” mom said nodding towards my chair, “You didn’t want to try anything on so I took a guess.”

She walked out before I could pick my jaw up to say anything. I forgot I still had Joey’s bikini in my room from the other week on top of my pile of dirty clothes. All I could do was stare at this new bikini. I went ahead and put away all my other new clothes and then laid the bikini out on my bed. It was a white/purple/blue tie dye, and the top had a weird criss cross style wrap on it. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I pulled out my phone and sent Joey a picture of it.

“Look at what my mom just got me…” I texted her.

“OMG no way!” Joey responded instantly, “Now you don’t have to keep wearing mine lol.”

Mom must’ve told Aunt Jen about seeing me wear it to bed, and she definitely would’ve told Joey. Crap.

“Idk what to do with it.”

“Take a pic of yourself in it!”

“You can’t be serious, right?”

“It would be weird to own a bikini and never wear it??”

I froze at her suggestion. What else would I even do with, anyways?

“Ha ha, I don’t take good selfies though,” I texted back.

“Have your mom take the pic then.”

My cheeks became red at the idea. Mom did buy it, after all. I didn’t want her to think I was ungrateful. I debated with myself if I should really do this, but after some time I quickly got out of my clothes and slipped into the bikini bottom. It had a high waist and went up above my belly button. I put the top over my head and finagled with the criss cross wrap until it looked right to me. Mom was getting good at guessing my size, cause this, too, fit me just right. I had to admire myself in the mirror for a moment, even without makeup it really was easy to mistake me for a girl.

I tepidly opened my door and walked out towards the living room where my mom was sitting on the couch. She was too engrossed in her show to look my way initially.

“I think I’m gonna go swimming, if you want to join me.” I said.

“No thanks,” she said without looking away from the TV, “I’ve got too much stuff to do.”

“Mhm. Then could you at least take a pic of me before I get in?”

She finally turned towards me and looked stunned and surprised. Her mouth curled into a wide smile as she got up from the couch.

“Oh, Avie, that looks so good on you!” she exclaimed, like a proud mother.

“I can’t lie, I like the colors a lot,” I said while adjusting the elastic on my bottoms.

“I didn’t think you would wear it so soon, I’m surprised.”

“Well, it’s hot out and the pool sounds like a great idea. Plus I still can’t find my trunks, so this is all I really have.”

“I would love to join you but I really do have a lot to do aside from watch TV. But I’ll gladly take a picture of you.”

I handed her my phone and posed with a wide smile and a peace sign. She kissed me on the forehead and went off to do her stuff. I sent the image to Joey.

“YOU LOOK SO GOOD!!” Joey texted with a million different emojis. I smiled and put my phone down. The pool was calling my name and now that I was already changed I dove in. I only spent about half an hour in there doing laps and floating before getting out and wrapping myself in a towel. It felt good to hear Joey and my mom’s enthusiastic responses to the bikini.

After drying off I went inside to rest on the couch and watch some TV. I didn’t bother changing back yet, but that was mostly due to laziness. I could hear my mom walking back and forth in the hallway behind me for a long time. I finally looked at what she was doing, and she was carrying heavy looking bins from room to room.

“Mom, what are you doing?” I asked.

“Since I bought some new clothes today I’m putting some old clothes from my closet into the spare room,” she responded, grunting from trying to carry a bin.

“Ah, into the closet, I presume?”

“I think you’re familiar with it,” she said sarcastically, “These are bins that weren’t there two weeks ago, if you catch my meaning.” She winked at me.

“What, is Joey coming over or something?”

“Oh honey, you don’t need Joey here if you ever need to just borrow some clothes, you know.”

“Very bold of you to assume that I will need to borrow your old clothes,” I said. I couldn’t believe she was basically telling me to just dress like a girl whenever.

“Son, you’re wearing a bikini,” mom said bluntly. All of a sudden my face got red and I grabbed a pillow to cover myself. She continued, “Besides, these will be there if I decide to give you a makeover.”

My face lit up at the words. “Promise?” I said, semi-sarcastically. I got up to help my mom move the rest of the bins. It must have been a while since she cleared her closet, because by the time we were done there were more than double the amount of bins than before. I changed out of my bikini to help mom with dinner.

The rest of the summer was rather unexciting. My mom never did give me a proper makeover in that time, opting to instead paint my nails when she did her own on weekends. She was simply too busy to devote the time, although I’m sure if I had just asked her she would have done it. Her assumption that I was going to borrow some of her old clothes did prove true, however. Whenever I was too lazy to do my laundry or didn’t want to dirty my clothes I raided those bins to find comfortable things to wear. It wasn’t uncommon for my mom to come home from work to find me lounging in a maxi skirt or yoga pants, much to her delight. I felt comfortable wearing them around the house, and because mom approved it it started to feel less weird. Summer wrapped up without much fanfare, but when school rolled around in August, things changed….

School was much the same for me, admittedly. Everything was done online and I was fully self-sufficient since my mom was at work. Plus the move from 7th grade to 8th wasn’t a drastic one. Joey, on the other hand, texted me everyday to tell me about her high school experience. She had a hard time adjusting the first couple of weeks, but soon enough she found her groove. I was shocked when she told me she tried out for the JV cheer squad, mostly because she never seemed interested in that stuff. Regardless, she made the squad and I was happy for her. She would always tell me how next time we hung out she would make me try on her uniform.

As for me, I started to become more liberal with my at-home crossdressing. I justified it mentally by telling myself that it was just clothing, but it felt freeing to do my schoolwork while wearing a dress. Mom never questioned it, either, usually just giving me compliments or even tips on things to wear. Some mornings I would subconsciously go into the spare room to find an outfit for the day. I once totally forgot I was wearing a t-shirt dress when I went to answer the door in the middle of the day. Our neighbor Ms. Davis was very shocked to see me like that while just trying to ask about borrowing a ladder. I’m sure mom had a very interesting conversation with her next time they met.

Towards the end of September I got a text from Joey telling me she was going to homecoming. She was excited for her first high school dance but upset because she hadn’t picked a dress out yet and most of her friends weren’t going to attend.

“You should come with me to pick out a dress,” she messaged.

“I wish I could but mom doesn’t have the time to drive me all the way out there,” I responded.

“I know, I was just hoping. I’ll lyk what I pick out, but it won’t beat your beautiful dress.”

“Ha, I know. I’d let you borrow it but it’s too special.”

“Have you worn it again?”

“No.”

Joey spent her time typing a response. “Maybe I should ask you to be my date to the dance. So you have a reason to wear it.”

“But we’re cousins?”

“I meant a friend-date, dork. But if you played your cards right ;)”

“Gross!”

“It’s just a joke. Besides, I don’t think they’d allow an eighth grader in anyways.”

The dress still lived in my room, displayed like one of my prized possessions. Honestly, it pretty much was. It wasn’t something I could just casually throw on in the morning before sitting at my computer to do math. I quietly longed for another reason to slip into it, knowing that opportunity would likely never come. I was never envious of the kids who attended public school, but all of a sudden I found myself jealous that I would be missing out on things like homecoming and prom. Although, if I really was Joey’s date would I even wear the dress? Aside from trying on clothes in the store I hadn’t worn any girls’ clothes in public, and just the thought of going out into public like that left a pit in my stomach. It’s not like it mattered much, I wasn’t going to her homecoming anyways. It came and passed and she told me about how much fun she ended up having, wishing I was there, and so on. Fairly soon September rolled into October, where things began to drastically change.

Halloween was always my favorite holiday, but I weirdly was never into wearing costumes and hadn’t done so since I was 10. I was more into the spooky atmosphere and scary movies. My mom always threw a big Halloween party the week before the 31st with some other local businesses, but I had never been because I was told it was “too adult.” Not that kids weren’t allowed, but there was a lot of alcohol and “questionable content,” and my mom would be too busy to babysit me from that stuff. The older I got the more okay I felt skipping them, anyways.

That was until three days before the party, my mom was talking to me about some troubles that had risen. Her and five of her employees were going to wear different colored bunny suits for their event, but their purple bunny got the flu and wouldn’t be able to participate. My mom seemed really stressed about this as she talked to me, talking about how they needed to have all six of them to be there for the event. I didn’t see the big deal in being short one person, but I didn’t dare say that out loud. Her stress levels were through the roof as she vented to me.

“Heh, I may as well ask you to take her place, Avery,” mom said, clearly joking. I could tell she was genuinely worried about this, though. I thought hard for a second.

“Why don’t I?” I asked with a serious tone.

“What? No,” she said, surprised that I would volunteer, “You don't want to, trust me.”

“You don’t think I could handle it?”

“It’s just… the party is pretty mature.”

“I’m grown up! Besides, I just want to help you out.”

Mom smiled. “I guess it might be okay if you take her place. But you really won’t mind wearing her costume? It's kind of... revealing”

“You’ve seen some of the things I’ve worn this year, it can’t be that bad.”

Mom laughed and agreed and went to tell her employees the plan. They agreed, and in fact seemed too delighted by the fact that I was joining them. Mom had told them about my proclivity to dress at home, so they were excited to see it in person. All I could do was laugh, unaware of what I was going to get into.

Mom was originally going to change into her costume when she got to the party, but because I was joining her she had to do it at home. She went out the morning of the day of the party to help set stuff up and returned at 11am with our costumes. The party didn’t start till 4, but mom said getting ready would be a long process, so we ate lunch and immediately decided to get ready.

I was nervous as I was led into my mom’s room to change. I was mentally preparing myself for the challenge of going out into public, but I felt more okay when thinking of it as just a silly Halloween costume. People would see me and assume it was all a goof, done in good faith and fun. However, as soon as my mom laid the costume out my nerves became shot. I knew what she meant when she told me they were going in bunny suits, but seeing these Playboy Bunny outfits firsthand sent my mind into a whirlwind. I had never worn something like that before. Something so…. Sexy. Mom could see the anxiousness on my face.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want, honey,” Mom said in a calming voice. I took a deep breath to muster up some confidence.

“It’s okay, I can do this for you,” I said with a nervous smile.

There was the actual bunny suit, but also laid out before me were cuffs and cufflinks for my wrists and a collar with a bowtie. The classic Playboy Bunny look. I also noticed a pair of fishnets and next to it was a black piece of fabric I couldn’t quite identify. As I picked it up to examine what it was, I realized exactly what I was holding.

“Those are panties,” mom said, “for the costume.”

“Oh…. I didn’t realize I had to wear these,” I said while feeling the soft satin of the underwear.

“If you just wore the bunny suit you would chaff. Besides, you need to wear them for extra protection to keep your….thing from popping out.”
Mom glanced down towards my crotch. I had never even considered that possibility.

“I guess that makes sense. I just - I haven’t worn p-panties before,” I stuttered out.

“It’s not much different from bikini bottoms, and I know you’ve worn those plenty of times.”

Her words were meant to be comforting, but this just seemed different. Bikinis were meant to be shown off, but underwear was much more private. I had avoided wearing them up to this point, opting to usually wear spandex shorts (albeit they were usually so small they may as well have been boyshort panties) whenever I wore a dress or skirt.

“If you say so,” I said with a deep breath, “I guess I’ll step out and put these on.”

“Avery, I’m your mother. It’s not like I’ve never seen you naked before,” said mom. My face became warm. She wasn’t wrong, but I was a lot older than the last time she had seen me nude. She continued, “Besides, I’m going to have to help you put a lot of this on and you’re gonna have to help me with my costume, too. You might as well just get used to the awkwardness.”

There wasn’t any helping it. With much hesitation I stripped away all my clothes. Mom tried her best to not stare at me so much during the process, but there wasn’t anywhere else to really look. I slid the panties up around my waist. They felt tight and hugged my genitals in a way that left them visibly pronounced.

“They feel weird,” I admitted, “And they’re so high up.” I snapped the bottom elastic to show how high up my thigh they were.

“They’re supposed to be like that. They rest high on your thighs and hips so it won’t be peeking out from the bottom of the bunny suit,” mom responded as she looked at me from across the room. She clearly had something to say as she glanced me up and down.

“That’s fine, but…” she lost her words. All of a sudden, her face slowly began to become flush with color. “Avery, I’m sorry but I need to do something about that.”

Mom got really close to me and got down on her knees. Without much warning, she reached under my panties with her hands and gently grabbed my penis. I was so stunned and unsure of what was about to happen I couldn’t even open my mouth. She adjusted my penis so that it was aimed towards the ground and contoured with the shape of the panties. She took her hands out and my penis stayed in that shape. Mom stood up quickly and we both stared at each other with stunned expressions, our faces as red as beets.

“Avery, I’m so sorry,” mom said, talking fast, “I just needed to fix it so that when you put the costume on your thing would look natural and you wouldn’t get embarrassed - not that your thing is big enough to be visible - but just in case I didn’t want it to accidentally stick out and-”

“Mom,” I said, cutting her off before she could defame me more, “Why didn’t you just tell me to do it myself?”

A look sprung upon her face, a look that admitted “I don’t know.” She became flustered and for the first time in a long time looked like she didn’t know how to handle the situation.

She started speaking rapidly again. “You know what? This was a bad idea. We can just forget about this party and forget this happened and-”

“Mom!” I said loudly. She snapped towards me, not expecting me to raise my voice like that. “It’s fine, I get it. I wouldn’t know how to say it either. So let’s just continue, okay?”

Mom composed herself and took a deep breath. “You’re right. I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay. I just can’t believe the first girl to touch my dick was my mom…” I jokingly added.

Mom’s face became red again, but she responded kindly with a laugh.

“So what’s next?” I asked, “The fishnets, I assume?”

“Well, actually,” mom said, “You might not like this next part.”

I gave her a confused look. All of a sudden she pulled out something from a dresser drawer. It looked like a black bra. Actually, it looked like just the cups from a bra - no straps, no wings, no hooks.

“This is a sticky bra,” mom said, holding it up, “I hate to tell you this, Avie, but you have no boobs.”

For some reason I felt offended at her comment.

“The bunny suit has a chest that you can’t fill. The costume straps are clear and the back is too low to just put you in a regular bra and stuff it. So instead, we’re going to have to fake it,” said mom, “Now I need you to squish your chest together, like this.”

Mom squeezed her boobs tight together. It felt off-putting, but I think I understood what she meant. Using my hands I squeezed my chest together in a way so that the skin bunched up to essentially create man-boobs. Mom took the first cup and placed it on the left side of my chest. To my surprise it really was sticky and stayed in place. She repeated the process on my right side and brought the two cups as close and as up as possible and hooked them together. The result was mystifying to look at in the mirror. Just like that - I had boobs.

The rest of the changing process was fairly straight forward. I put the fishnets on without much hassle, hiking them up past my belly button. I stepped into the bunny suit itself and put the clear straps on my shoulders. I couldn’t quite tell what material it was made out of - it seemed like a faux leather, but it was flexible enough that it I didn’t feel like my movement was restricted. There was a zipper on the back, right above the puffball tail which mom had to zip up for me. I pulled the chest area up so that it looked natural with my “boobs.” Overall, the costume fit as snug as a bunny costume on a 13 year old boy possibly could. I put on the cuffs and collar and sat on the bed.

Before moving onto the makeup, mom had to get changed. She told me that I could look away if I was uncomfortable at any point, but I would need to help her zip up. I tried to look respectfully as she took off her jeans and shirt and was only in her underwear. She was already wearing the right panties, but to my surprise she started taking her bra off. She must have seen me quickly look away because she explained that since she had boobs she didn’t need to wear anything with the costume, unlike me. She sat down next to me on the bed while she started to put the fishnets on. I tried everything to not look at her boobs, but they were constantly in my peripheral vision. I know mom had said she had seen me naked before so it shouldn’t be a big deal, but I had never seen her naked before in any way. And I thought she was pretty, of course, but I was seeing her in a new and totally different way like this. I started to sweat.

Mom thankfully sat up to finish pulling up her fishnets and stepped into her bunny suit. I zipped her up and she did a little spin to show herself off to me. She was the yellow bunny. I was stunned at how gorgeous she looked, but we weren’t done yet. She sat me down at her vanity to do my makeup and hair. This was my first time getting a makeover since seeing Joey in June, but this felt way different. It started out the same, with mom applying foundation and concealer and things I didn’t quite know the names of. But this time it felt like she was doing more to my face. I didn’t like the feeling of stuff being applied to my eyelids and lashes, but mom then told me that she would be putting on fake lashes, too. A bit more touching up was done to my face and she finished with some lipstick. Looking at myself in the mirror, it was immediate to see the differences from last time. Mom opted for shades of purple to match my costume, and the makeup around my eyes was a lot more pronounced - smokey is how she described it. My lashes were big and fluttery and my eyebrows were defined. The lipstick was a deep red color that seemed very mature.

Next was my hair. I had actually continued growing it out since the summer and it now went down past my shoulders, although it was still shaggy. Mom brushed it to get it as nice looking as possible before bringing out her curling iron. I sat there for what seemed like eternity as she went strand by strand, but the result was stunning. With my entire costume being done I took a long look at myself in the mirror. I had had my makeup done before and I spent too much time wearing my mom’s old clothes around the house, but there was something new about this experience. I knew that I looked like a girl most of the time, but with how my makeup was done and with what I was wearing - I looked like a woman.

Mom did her makeup and hair in much the same way, opting to instead use yellow eyeshadows to match her costume. The whole process for the both of us took hours and by the time mom finished it was time to head out. Mom gave me a pair of heels to wear at the party. I didn’t have any practice wearing them before, so I walked as carefully as possible. We had to carry our bunny ears with us because they were too tall to wear in the car. As we walked out the house and down the driveway I was cautious to make sure none of our neighbors saw me. I was beyond nervous to go to this party like this, but I thought as long as it’s a costume and as long as I’m with my mom, things would be alright.

We got there just before it started. The actual event was larger than I thought it would be; it was set up in an open field next to the park and there were tons of tents and vendors there. There were other businesses with tents, food, carnival games, and a dunk tank. My mom always said this was her and some other businesses’ party - she really helped to organize all this?

We made our way to the area my mom had set up for her salon where we were greeted by four other bunnies. I recognized them all, but I hadn’t seen them in so long I had forgotten their names. My mom was 39 and all of them looked to be younger, probably early 30’s at the oldest. Mom hugged them all and they started talking about who-knows-what until they caught a glimpse of me. All of their faces lit up and they ran up to me and spoke above each other.

“Oh my god, Avery, is that really you?!”

“Avery, you look fabulous!”

“Aw, honey, come here and give me a squeeze!

“You look just like your mother!”

I became overwhelmed as they crowded around me, so mom had to pull me aside.

“Avery, I don’t know if you remember any of my girls, but these are Crystal, Sammy, Leslie, and Morgan,” Mom said. All the girls waved and smiled at me. “Let’s finish setting up.”

They had two pop-up tents for themselves with a fold out table under one of them. The other tent had a long booth-looking thing that I wasn’t quite what it was for. We put out bowls of candy on the table and some coupons for the salon. Two chairs were set up with the table while five were being used for the booth. People were starting to arrive en masse to the field, so it was time to truly get started. Mom gave me a color coded wristband that indicated I was under 21 and couldn’t be served any alcohol from vendors.

People kept staring at us as they walked by, interested in the six women - sorta - dressed like Playboy bunnies. Mom told me to sit at the table and hand out some candy while they were putting on some finishing touches. I saw mom and the others pop some mints into their mouths, and I was jealous that they didn’t offer me one. Leslie stepped out in front of the booth and ripped off some paper that was taped on the front of the booth to reveal a sign: KISSING BOOTH - $5/BUNNY.

“Come on folks! Looking for a quick thrill this evening? Have money burning a hole in your wallet? Come on over to the Salon Express tent and kiss one of these lovely ladies! Only five dollars per kiss! You even get to choose the bunny you want!” Leslie shouted at the crowd like some kind of barker.

Dread began to take over my body. A kissing booth? Why didn’t mom tell me about that? Is that really the kind of event that this was? Is this why she was hesitant to let me come? Mom could see me worry and came over to comfort me.

“Don’t worry honey, obviously you’re not going to be part of it, you’re too young. You’re just going to stay at the table giving away candy and coupons, okay?” Mom put her hand on my shoulder. I was relieved to hear that, but it was fairly obvious I wasn’t going to participate in it.

Long lines formed at the booth as seemingly everyone wanted a piece of the action. I had to sit and watch as people came up to kiss my mom. Men, women, older than her, younger than her - it didn’t matter. Some people gave quick pecks while some probably lingered on their kiss for too long. It didn’t help that my mom seemed to be the most popular of the girls. For some reason it was hard to look away most of the time, and it felt like there was a pit growing in my stomach. Was I…. Jealous? That couldn’t be the case, the idea of kissing a bunch of strangers seemed awful, especially since I hadn’t kissed anyone before. Unless… I was jealous for a whole different reason.

So many people were interested in the kissing booth that barely anybody stopped by my side for candy. I got bored and decided I needed to go away from the booth, so I headed out into the crowd with my candy bowl to hand stuff out to passers-by. That was going fine, I didn’t say much so as to conceal my voice. I stood around for a while, when all of a sudden I heard a voice from behind me.

“Excuse me, do I know you from somewhere?”

I turned around to see two people dressed in pirate costumes, one boy and one girl, trying to get a good look at me. They looked to be older than me, but not by too much. The color coded wristbands they had on identified them as being under 21. The girl looked so familiar to me, like a vague memory. I couldn’t say the same for the guy, he didn’t look like anybody I would’ve known.

“Um, I’m not entirely sure-” I said in a soft voice before being cut off.

“Allison, is that you?” Said mom, who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Allison. That name rang a bell.

“Miss Emma! How are you?” said Allison. Her and mom hugged like they had known each other a long time. There was only one person I can remember who called mom Miss Emma.

“I’m great! I was hoping I would see you,” Allison said.

Mom put her arm around my shoulder and spoke to me, “You remember Allison, don’t you?”

It all started to come together. Years ago mom hired a stylist who had a daughter that was three years older than me. We would play together in the lobby of the salon when our moms were busy and we couldn’t be left home alone. She seemed so much older than me at the time, but she still played with me. All I remember is one day she stopped showing up. Mom said something about her mom finding a different job.

Allison got close up to my face and gasped. “Wait, so does that mean…. Avery?! Is that you?”

My face became red when she realized it was me. She looked me up and down and her face became red, too.

“You look so, uh, different than I remember,” Allison said, trying to be as polite as possible.

“He’s helping out his momma with the event today, he was even brave enough to put up with this costume,” mom said, trying her best to keep me from being embarrassed.

“That’s right,” I said.

“Well, you look good!” Allison said, playfully. She still seemed shocked to see me like this.

“That must make you Jacob?” Mom asked the boy, who was left just standing there.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied politely.

“You’ve grown up too much! How old are you now?”

“20, in my second year at State. I have the week off and came down to visit.”

“Oh that’s just wonderful! I guess that would make you 16, Allison?”

“Yep!” Allison said cheerfully.

“I love the matching costumes you two have on, they’re adorable. Thank you for coming!” Mom gave them both a hug, “You plan on sticking around long?”

“We just got here, actually, yeah,” responded Allison.

“Well please have fun. If you need anything just let me know!”

“Do you want to come with us, Avery?” asked Allison.

I wasn’t expecting to be asked that. I shot a look at mom like I was asking for permission.

“Oh, go ahead, Avery! You’ve helped out enough, go have some fun!” Mom said while playfully shoving me towards the two.

“I guess I’ll join you.”

I walked with them and we wandered around the event. Allison kept asking me questions about how I had been and what I had been up to. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her about all the crossdressing I had done since the summer, I was worried she would be weirded out. Although, with how I was dressed, who knows how she would’ve responded. I tried to make it seem like this was a one time thing for Halloween.
“Why aren’t you working the kissing booth?” Jacob said with a laugh. Allison elbowed him in the stomach.

“He’s only 13, idiot,” Allison said, defending me, “and he wouldn’t want to be kissing a bunch of dudes, anyways.” She quickly turned to me after saying that. “At least, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t.”

“I’m not gay,” I said with a huff. Allison laughed at my response, and I smiled back.

We spent the next hour or so playing games and getting too much candy to carry. Jacob seemed to be over our juvenile fun, but he stuck around with us the entire time. After enough time we decided to wind down and just chill out. We walked over to the park and found an empty pavilion a decent ways away from the party and sat down.

“Why don’t I give you my number? I still live in the area, and I’d love to catch up more if possible,” Allison asked me.

“That sounds nice, but I don’t have anywhere to hold my phone with this costume,” I laughed while sliding my hands down my costume like I was looking for pockets.

“Ha, okay just give me your number then.”

She made a new contact on her phone for me. She asked me to stand up so she could take a picture to use as my icon. I reluctantly agreed, but I gave her a sexy pose. Her and I laughed, but Jacob seemed a bit annoyed.

“Alright, I think I’m gonna head back over there and grab a soda. You two want one?” asked Allison. Jacob and I both nodded. Allison started walking away, and it felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. Being left there with just Jacob was awkward as neither of us said anything. Finally, he opened his mouth first.

“You don’t dress like that all the time?” He asked.

“Uh… no,” I said. I began to get nervous, like he somehow knew that I did. My mind began racing. Did he somehow see me at home? Or did Joey post some pictures and maybe her and him were friends and he saw them. My heart began to sink.

“You should,” Jacob said firmly.

“Eh?”

Without warning Jacob grabbed me and brought me close to him. With one hand he grabbed my crotch and started to squeeze my penis. I was about to yell out but was stopped when he began to kiss me. I could feel him force his tongue into my mouth and begin to massage my tongue. I tried to escape, but he used his other arm to keep me from running away. I writhed, trying to get out of this hell in any way possible, but he only played with me more with every attempt. After what felt like an eternity I saw Allison approaching. She got closer, unsure of what she was seeing. When she finally saw exactly what was happening she dropped the sodas and screamed.

“Jacob?!?!”

He stopped kissing me to turn his head to his horrified sister. With this distraction I quickly kneed him in the crotch and he fell down in pain. Allison and I locked eyes in horror. All of a sudden I felt like a wet blanket. Tears started to stream down my face, slowly at first before becoming full on waterworks. I started to run away, passed Allison and towards the party.

Everyone must have been looking at me as I ran through the crowd trying to find my mother. I made my way to the salon booth with tears and mascara running down my face. Mom quickly came up to me while the other girls looked on, horrified to see me like that.

“Avery? Avery what’s wrong?! What happened?!” Mom worriedly shouted at me.

I was in hysterics and unintelligible, all I could do was cry. Mom told the others to continue the event without her, she had to take me home. She led me into the car and we left the party. The drive home was quiet. I had stopped crying but I didn’t want to say anything. We got home and I immediately went to my room without saying a word to my mother. I changed out of my costume and fell hard into bed. I didn’t care that it was early, all I wanted to do was sleep. But it was hard to, with so many thoughts moving around in my head. I spent most of the night staring at my ceiling.

I eventually fell asleep and woke up around 11 in the morning. As much as I didn’t want to leave my room, I knew I would have to at some point. I checked my phone, which I left at home, and saw 12 missed calls from a random number. That must have been Allison trying to get a hold of me last night. I didn’t know how I could even talk to her after what had happened. I left my room to find the house eerily quiet with no signs of life. I poured myself a bowl of cereal and sat at the table in silence. Eventually I heard a door open and mom’s footsteps make their way towards me. She looked at me with a sorrowful face.

“I just got off the phone with Teri - Allison’s mom,” she said before pausing. All of a sudden a tear started to fall down her face, and she tried to stop more from coming. She ran up to me and gave me a hug. “Honey, I am so sorry.”

I didn’t know what to say. We both cried in each other’s arms for a while. Eventually we composed ourselves to have a conversation about what had happened. Allison had told her mom what she saw go down, who then told my mom, and whatever details she was missing I filled in. Allison and her mom were willing to back up any statement I wished to make if I wanted to go to the police. I felt so violated, but I didn’t want to think about it any more, and trying to go to the police would just stretch this out longer than I wanted it to go. Apparently, Jacob’s mom had already called his college and he was put on academic leave as a result of this. He was staying at a friend’s house for the time being, miles away from where I was. All I wanted to do was move on in whatever way I thought was possible, but that was going to be hard. Later that day I received a text from Allison.

“Hey, it’s Allison. I’m so sorry for what happened, I can’t even imagine what you’re going through right now. I feel bad, meeting again for the first time in years only for you to experience something so horrible. I understand if you don’t want to talk to me ever again, but just know that I’m here for you if you need me and I support you 100%,” it read.

“Thank you <3” was all I responded with.

The week following the incident I was very lethargic around the house. I followed the same routine of waking up and doing school work before shutting down and spending my off-hours watching TV. I only wore my own clothes, too. Every time I so much as thought about wearing a skirt or dress I felt sick. Mom could tell there was something wrong when I spent our dinners barely speaking more than ten words. Soon, the actual day of Halloween came and I spent the entire day locked in my room. After a few days, mom came home from work telling me we needed to have a talk, and we sat down in the living room.

“Avery, you’ve been so depressed this week, and I can’t blame you. Truthfully, I was a bad mom. I put you in a predicament that no parent should put their young child in. I actively let you and help you wear something too provocative for your age, regardless of gender. I also let you be a bystander to some adult activity that you shouldn’t have witnessed. In doing all this, I let you be vulnerable which led to you being hurt in ways I can’t even imagine. Watching you this past week I feel like I may have killed a spark of joy that was inside you. You have been so alive recently, and now I can see that that has been drained from you. I am so sorry for my actions,” said mom in a solemn voice.

She was clearly talking about my crossdressing. I did feel more alive when I expressed myself through clothing, but those feelings were complicated when that action led to my assault. Or that's what I told myself. I stared at mom, trying to think of what to say.

“Mom,” I said before taking a deep breath, “I’m not gay.”

A look of confusion fell upon her face.

I continued, “I’m not gay. And I don’t think that I’m transgender. I’m just - a boy who has experienced some complicated emotions recently. I still can’t explain it to myself, but I have been happier when wearing girls’ clothes and I don’t know why. I’ve had more fun wearing makeup than I can ever remember. With Joey and with you. I’ve felt closer to you than ever. Maybe I feel like your daughter sometimes, and I like that, but I am your son. That's who I am.” I paused to collect my thoughts. “You don’t have to apologize for anything. I wanted to do it and I alone let myself do it. You did everything to make sure I looked my best, and you succeeded. What ended up happening was - I don’t like thinking about it. But it’s only confused my feelings more. No 13 year old should be having to think this hard about who they are, but one thing’s for certain: I love you, mom.”

We had a long embrace and it felt nice. We stared at each other, and my face got red as I thought about what I was planning on doing. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wallet, and from within I grabbed a five dollar bill. I held it out towards my mom, who was clearly confused.

“What’s this for?” She asked earnestly.

“I, um…..” I had no courage to say what I wanted to say, “I found this on the ground, I think it’s yours….”

“Oh, well, you can just keep it, sweetie,” Mom smiled. She hugged me once more and got up and walked to her room.

What was I thinking? Was I really trying to buy a kiss from my mom? The idea just came to me randomly and I felt excited by the idea. I could’ve just asked her for a kiss probably…. But it wouldn’t have been the kind of kiss I wanted…. I was left standing alone, awash in my embarrassment. I felt dizzy, like a new emotion was stirring around in my heart. What was going on? I went to go take a cold shower and call it a day.