Ethan’s World

by Daphne Childress

Ethan Martin and his mother live a simple life in a small Southern town... with a twist: She makes dresses to pay the bills and he helps out as best he can.

Chapter Thirteen: A Fitting Afternoon

Ethan has an uplifting experience.

The doorbell rang at 2:05, and Ethan, wiping dust off his hands, glanced up from the laundry basket. He was in the back room, sorting tea towels while Colleen adjusted pattern pieces on her worktable. She didn’t look up.

“That’ll be your Aunt DeeDee,” she said, her voice light, almost singsong. “Would you be a dear and let her in, sweetheart?”

“Why is she coming over?” Ethan asked, already suspicious.

Colleen smiled. “Oh, just a little favor.”

Ethan paused, then padded barefoot to the front door, smoothing his sleeveless pink and white top and gave his panties a little tug down over his cheeks. After helping his mother with some modeling he’d kicked off the rest of his outfit, the matching gingham skirt, ankle socks and slippers, to do his chores, but he hadn’t bothered changing into his regular boy clothes.

By now it wasn’t uncommon for him to run about the house in a short top and undies while doing housework, especially in the heat of the summer. It was certainly much more comfortable when he was tackling labor intensive tasks like laundry and vacuuming and cleaning the bathrooms. Most important, his mother didn’t mind.

But the closer he got to the front door the more he regretted that choice--his bare legs felt oddly exposed and vulnerable, and he was acutely aware of how the fabric of the short crop top hugged his ribs. Aunt DeeDee had seen him in his undies before, so it shouldn’t have been a big deal. But he got a little tingle in his belly which told him something wasn’t right. And as he opened the door he got second thoughts; maybe he should have at least put the skirt back on--but by then it was too late.

“Hey, Little Mister,” Aunt DeeDee said, stepping inside with two department store bags on one arm and sunglasses perched in her short auburn hair. “Wow, cute panties! Aren’t you just the cutest hostess this side of the retirement home?”

Ethan blinked. “Why do you have shopping bags?”

“Oh, these?” She breezed past him, brushing a kiss onto his cheek. “Just a little parcel pickup. Your mother asked for some assistance.”

Colleen called from the back, “Did you find a good variety?”

“Four styles, three sizes,” DeeDee said. “A nice spread.”

Ethan stared. “Wait. A what?”

A third voice piped up behind him. “This is gonna be good!”

Ethan turned just in time to see Dani slip through the open door, backpack on one shoulder, grinning ear to ear. “Hey, Sissy! How’s it hanging?”

“You weren’t invited,” he said flatly.

“Didn’t need to be,” she said, holding up a bag of caramel popcorn. “I smelled something funny in the wind.” She glanced down at his bare belly and legs and winked. “Mmm, nice panties, Sissy! Looks like I was right.”

The living room was transformed in a matter of minutes. Colleen pulled the ottoman forward and laid out a pale blue towel. The air smelled of lavender spray starch and popcorn. DeeDee unwrapped tissue paper and laid a neat row of bras across the sofa back: one padded nude bra, a soft white training bra, a pale pink one with tiny strawberries on the band, and one lacy lemon-colored number that looked purely decorative.

“Why are there bras here?” Ethan demanded, red-faced and staring at the wondrous sight. “They better not be for me!”

“Oh, they’re for you, all right, panty boy.” Dani grinned like the cat going after the canary. “Who else would wear such prissy little boobie bags? Not me!”

“She’s… kidding, right?” The mortified boy looked towards his mother and his aunt. The smirks on their faces answered his question. “But… why?”

“Because you’re still growing,” DeeDee said breezily. “And because your mother wants to see which style flatters your shape. Which, so far, is mostly collarbone and nerves.”

Colleen chuckled as she unrolled a soft measuring tape. “Don’t pout, honey. This is to help with proportion when you’re modeling for me. I need to see how my designs look with the proper underpinnings.”

“And to see how much of a sissy you really are,” Dani added.

“I am not--!”

“Shhh,” Colleen cooed. “Less whining, more slipping off your top, please.”

“Do I have to do this in front of them?”

“You’re not doing anything inappropriate,” Colleen said calmly. “You’re trying on undergarments. It’s no more shameful than socks.”

“Socks don’t hug my chest!”

“That depends on the sock,” DeeDee muttered.

Ethan slid out of his gingham top, leaving him standing before his audience wearing just the panties--soft pink with a white bow and scalloped edges. One arm crossed tightly over his bare chest, the other doing its best to hide his modesty between his legs..

“Nice not-boobies, panty boy,” Dani said through a mouthful of popcorn.

“Mom!”

Colleen clucked gently as she pulled his hands to his side. “No need to cover up, sweetheart. We’ve all seen a chest before.”

“Not mine,” he said, turning a shade pinker than his panties.

Dani snorted from the couch. “What chest?”

“I’m gonna kill you.”

“You’re gonna blush yourself inside out first.”

Ethan fumed. “That’s it! I’m moving to Australia!”

“Children,” DeeDee snapped. “Let’s focus.”

She held up the white training bra, simple and soft, with wide straps and no padding. “Let’s start conservative.”

Ethan looked at it like it might bite him.

Colleen nudged him, her voice gentle but firm. “Come on. Arms up.”

With a defeated sigh, he lifted his arms and DeeDee slid the bra down over them, then tugged the soft cotton into place. She spun him around, adjusted the band and fastened the back, giving a little tug at the straps.

“There,” she said. “Now let’s see.”

Ethan stood stiffly, eyes closed.

“Look at me,” she said.

He opened one eye.

“No, all the way.”

He looked up, his bottom lip tucked under his teeth.

Dani leaned forward, studying him like a museum exhibit. “Huh. You know what? It doesn’t look that weird.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“I mean,” she shrugged, “it kind of… fits?”

“It fits too well,” Colleen murmured, circling him. “He’s got just enough taper under the ribcage to give the illusion of…”

“Don’t say illusion,” Ethan muttered.

“Well, what do you want us to say?” DeeDee asked. “That you’ve got womanly curves? Because you don’t, sweetie. But with a little cotton and the right posture…”

Colleen stepped back. “Let’s try another.”

This time DeeDee handed him the pink one. Small strawberry print along the band, eyelet trim, and slight padding in the cups. Ethan took it with trembling fingers and turned toward the wall.

“Oh no you don’t,” Dani called. “Turn around so we can see!”

“I’m not stripping in front of you!”

“Too late, cupcake,” she said, grinning. “You already did.”

Colleen gave him a look. “We don’t have time for modesty, Ethan. Off with the white one, on with the pink one. Hurry up, please.”

With a red face, he reached behind to remove the training bra. After fumbling for a moment, DeeDee sighed.

“Come here, Princess.”

He stepped over slowly toward his aunt. She slid it up and off with a quick flick. “Now put on the other.”

He turned the strawberry bra around backward, fastened it, then spun it back around again and slipped his arms through the straps, pulling it up. He then tugged at it here and there until it felt… comfortable?

“Wow, you really act like you know what you’re doing!” Dani jeered. “Where’s you learn that, Sissy?”

“Mom!”

“Oh, she doesn’t mean it, honey,” Colleen said. “Now face us.”

He did--arms limp, eyes pleading.

Dani burst out laughing. “Oh my god. That one actually gives you boobies!”

“Stop saying that word!”

“You look like the shy girl in gym class who forgets her sports bra.”

“Mom!”

Colleen stepped forward and tugged the straps a little tighter. “It’s snug, but not too tight. I like the shape. It’s… sweet.”

“I look like an idiot.”

“You look like someone who’s cooperating,” DeeDee said. “Which is shockingly attractive on you.”

She reached for the nude bra next. It was slightly larger and had even more padding in the cups--a subtle boost meant to mimic a budding bustline.

“I’m not wearing that!” Ethan backed away. “It’s… it’s way too big.”

“Stop being so dramatic, baby. It’s meant for structured garments,” Colleen explained. “For when you’re modeling older-girl dresses. It’s not for every day.”

“But I don’t need padding.”

“Princess,” DeeDee said dryly, “you didn’t need frilly panties either. Yet here we are.”

“Here, I’ll help,” Colleen said, slipping it around his torso before he could object.

As she tightened the back clasp, the cups pushed ever so slightly forward.

Ethan looked down--and gasped.

“It’s too much!”

“Oh, it’s not that much,” Dani said. “You look like you’re about to give a speech in front of the whole seventh grade about your summer volunteering at the library.”

“You’re not helping!”

Colleen guided him to the full-length mirror. “Look.”

He did. And there he was: barefoot, in pink panties, wearing a padded bra that gave the illusion--no, the promise--of a chest.

“Whoa,” he whispered.

“You see it?” Colleen asked.

“I look like…”

He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t have to.

DeeDee held up the last bra--lemon yellow with lace trim and a decorative bow. “I like this one best,” she said, tossing it to him. “I got it mostly for laughs.”

Dani giggled. “And I helped!”

Ethan caught it, stared, then looked up.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Try it,” Colleen said, not smiling.

Ethan stared at her.

She crossed her arms and stared back.

He sighed.

It was a struggle--the little hooks were more stubborn than the others--but he got it on. This time with his hands behind his back--"Like a normal person,” quipped DeeDee. The lemon lace glowed softly against his pale skin. It didn’t fit as well--well, he didn’t think so--and the lace itched slightly, but none of that mattered. It was frilly. It was loud. And it made Dani shriek with laughter.

“I knew you had it in you!” she gasped. “You’re a walking lemonade stand! And you got lemons for boobies!”

“I’m going to die,” Ethan said.

“No, sweetie,” Colleen said kindly. “You’re just growing up.”

Ethan sat on the ottoman, arms folded across the lace-trimmed bra, trying very hard not to exist. The bra strap itched slightly at the shoulder, and he kept shifting his weight as if to remind everyone--himself most of all--that this was temporary.

Colleen laid the other three bras neatly back in a row across the ottoman.

“I’ll take all four,” she said.

“Called it!” DeeDee and Dani said in unison. They gave each other a high five and grinned at the embarrassed boy.

“All four?” Ethan asked, scandalized.

“Sure, why not? You never know what I’ll need when I’m fitting dresses,” she replied. “Structured bras for structured garments, sweet soft ones for school dresses, and a little fun one for when I’m feeling indulgent.”

“I’m not wearing lemon lace for your indulgence!”

DeeDee handed Dani a soda and flopped onto the couch. “You’ll wear whatever ends up in your drawer, honey. Don’t get precious about it now.”

“I think he should wear one now,” Dani said, grinning. “You know, like practice through the rest of the day… and dinner.”

“Absolutely not!”

“Why not?” Colleen said innocently. “Dani’s right. You do need to practice and you’ll be dressed anyway. It’s good to learn how a bra feels with movement. You’ll move more naturally during our photo shoots… or if we happen to go out somewhere nice.”

“Go out somewhere nice!?” Ethan looked betrayed. “I thought this was just for fittings!”

“It was,” Colleen said with a shrug. “But you’re already fitted. Besides, Aunt DeeDee doesn’t get to see this side of you all that often.”

DeeDee sighed. “Yeah, I’m going to have to come around a lot more.”

Dani leaned over, smirking. “C’mon. I dare you. Put the strawberry one back on. You can’t chicken out now, Little Miss Strawberry Shortcake.”

DeeDee cackled and raised her soda can in a toast.

“I hate all of you,” Ethan muttered.

“Arms up,” Colleen said gently.

He obeyed.

Later, after they’d eaten cold pasta salad and slices of melon--Dani made him fetch extra napkins and another can of soda while she watched him move about, causing her to giggle like a maniac--Ethan stood in the parlor, now wearing the pink gingham sundress but with the strawberry bra underneath. In his hands were his new gifts, which Colleen insisted that he handwash, press and fold before DeeDee and Dani left. His cousin, as always, insisted on supervising.

His cheeks burned as she hovered over him. “See, this is why you’re the sissy. You do these kinds of thing so much better than I ever could.”

Why does she always have to say stuff like that? he thought to himself.

A little while later he opened the top drawer of his dresser. It used to hold socks and old video games and spare cables. Now it was filled with pastel panties folded neatly, a few camisoles, and several pairs of frilly ankle socks and knee socks. He hesitated before adding the bras. The white one went in first. Then the lavender, then padded nude.

He held the lemon lace one a moment longer. It looked like it belonged in a costume trunk. Or a very glamorous dollhouse.

He set it gently on top.

The drawer closed with a soft click.

He caught himself in the mirror.

Not just glanced--looked.

Shoulders soft. Collarbones prominent. The strawberry bra under his dress gave the slightest hint of shape, just enough to draw the eye. His hair had grown out a bit, but it still looked like a boy’s. His face was still his. But the rest?

It was hard to tell where he began and the girl in the mirror ended.

He didn’t smile.

But he didn’t look away.

* * *

Colleen knocked once, then opened the door. She didn’t ask for permission. She walked over, placed a hand on his shoulder and fondled an exposed bra strap before sliding it under the collar of his dress.

“Thank you for trusting me today,” she said softly.

Ethan nodded.

“You did beautifully.”

He looked up at her. “Do I have to wear one all the time now?”

“Of course not,” she said, smiling. “But you should as often as you can. You need to get used to them--for when we really need you to wear it. And when it makes sense. And maybe… sometimes when we’re trying something new.”

“That sounds like ‘all the time’.”

“It sounds like growing up.”

She took his face in between her hands and lightly kissed his lips. “Come downstairs, baby. You’ve earned a cookie.”

He followed her, his skirts swishing, the strawberry bra snug around his ribs, a reminder of who was in charge.

Next, The City Weekend