Chapter 3

When Alex had returned home and saw his father sleeping drunkenly on the sofa murmuring in his slumber, he took it as a free pass on talking tonight and explaining where he had been and what he had been doing. He didn’t know why but his father gave off the idea he disapproved of anything effeminate done by boys. He simply went to his room and flicked the TV to a show about  designers giving people makeovers, something he had never really wanted to watch before today.
Alex’s phone light up with a new message from Toni reading

“Tristan and I had lots of fun, hope you’re up for more sometime. What you up to?”

For the next few minutes Alex and Toni sent messages back and forth, speaking of the clothes they tried on and the show Alex was watching. Soon the show hit it’s credits and local adverts were playing and it was to do with the town’s closest Mall. A new store was opening with a very attractive bunny woman in the advert showing off the store, The entire thing was a female’s clothing store, newly built and with supposedly “Only the finest brand names” for their customers.  The beautiful bunny woman in a shimmering coat of pure white detailed what the store catered to and closed as a group of other very attractive women all joined her dressed in some of the clothing the store had on sale for it’s opening week.
Alex’s phone lit up ringing as Toni was calling.
“Hey what’s u-“
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!” she screamed deafeningly down the phone “ARE YOU SEEING THIS!?” Alex recoiled from his phone as the shrieking continued.
“Yeah it’s a store calm down, jeez why the shouting?”
“It’s not just any store!” she exclaimed loudly “IT. IS. SAMANTHA BUNNY!”
Alex waited a second hoping Toni would continue on with what she was saying. The name Samantha bunny was not as synonymous with Alex as it was his friend.
“She is a fashion GODDESS!” Toni had then launched into a fully rehearsed history lesson of mr’s bunny’s fashion career, outlets, designer’s school, tailoring suites for custom orders, online shopping websites. Alex was just hoping that the time taken to tell him all this wouldn’t be charged to his phone bill.
“Okay so she’s a pretty big deal in the fashion world, i get that, i’m just wondering why I should care as much as you” toni laughed
“Sorry i get worked up she is my IDOL , however there is one reason she should peak your interest and Tristan’s when I tell him this great news” she paused most likely for dramatic effect. “the clothes selection in her store cater to men as well.” Alex looked back over to the TV back to showing some new TV show but he could envision the advert in his head, the girls all in a line up wearing the selection on sale.
“they cater to cross dressers?” he could hear Toni talking away but the whole idea of the store catering to cross dressers lingered in Alex’s mind so much that Toni merely sounded like a fading background noise. Would it be fun to see, to shop in, trying on girl’s clothing in public? Alex blushed at the thought of being out in public in such a way, would he be mistaken for a girl? he smiled as his cheeks grew red.
“Just told Tristan, he’s just as excited it’s gonna be the best store for us two” they talked more of it until finally the show returned Toni saying she took down all the details on a calendar.
“You wanna come with us to the store though? we could probably find you something super cute” Alex smiled to the thought of buying himself a nice dress like the one Toni had designed herself. something to wear or admire as he saw fit, but then the thought of his father finding it and berating, punishing or doing anything worse crossed his mind, forcing the dream to shatter against reality.
“Cant Dad would find something eventually and would have my head.” It took five minutes for the next reply from toni.
“So buy it and leave it at mine to wear if you wanna just wear it around me and tristan, and besides if you’re so hooked up on hiding stuff from your dad why’d you take the panties you tried on today?” Alex jolted up as a hand felt over his trousers at his waist and he felt the rub of the silk on his fur.
“oh crap” he said aloud before looking back to the phone
“P.S cute boxers”  The familiar warmth in his cheeks returned as Alex went red all over putting his phone down and rushing to change out of the panties. His heart thumping as he held onto the panties Alex darted down the stairs making sure not to creak the flooring loud enough to rouse his father before slipping out through the back door and moving over to the garden bins. with the panties clumped in his hand he was ready to toss the garments in a fit of fear when all of a sudden he heard,
“Look Margaret” an old frail voice said breaking Alex’s concentration on Ursa minor “you see I told you the young boy looked like Robin Castle.”
“You’re right Mabel Oh my the spitting image, Oh no wait, Robyn had white fur his is pitch black.” Alex turned to see two elderly women standing at the fence, oddly they were an old fox and an old sheep. Grey hair atop their withering fur coated bodies wearing very old styled clothes, remnants of their past generation modest and long . They smiled for some reason to Alex and he pondered why. All Alex wondered at this moment was who on earth this Robin Castle was.
“Hello there” he said with a simple wave of a hand as he tucked away the panties in a pocket. They both waved him over and Alex reluctantly obliged them coming to the fence to chat, learning the sheep was called margaret and the fox mabel. “How are you both tonight?” he asked
“so polite this one just like his kind father, oh he helped mabel with the trash today before he went to work, oh but he got a horrid stain on his shirt which left him in a foul mood. We feel so bad about that”
Alex wonders about his father, on very bad days he drinks the worst perhaps this drunken rest he was having was related.
“Might I ask but who were you talking about before? who i looked like supposedly” the women smiled happily responding
“only the most daring courageous man on the big screen”
“whose weekly cereals leave all cheering in the theatres, Robyn Castle! prince of the castle!” they both cheered and laughed like young children and looked to Alex again who was visibly confused. They laughed and Mabel left into her home as Margaret explained
“when we were young, we went to the theatres to watch the cereals and our favourite by far was robyn castle prince of the castle, it was the tale of the royal prince who uncovers plots of evil doing men in his kingdom and thwarts them single handedly .” Mabel returned and unfurled a large poster of a gleaming white rabbit clad in royal garb and wielding a rapier with the title “Prince Castle in: The wizard of the forgotten towers” looking very close, Alex saw it, he saw someone with his exact features in the poster the prince himself with his ears tied back above his hair but all in a perfectly white coat.
“you see it too don’t you? heh, we’ve always loved the prince and what he stands for but there’s so much more to him than just that, he’s been a guiding influence in our life and means a lot to us.” she rolls up the poster and smiles to Alex “we’d better get inside Margaret before we catch a chill, it was very nice to meet you young man do stop by and say hello we’d love a visit from ‘the prince’ himself” she joked as both old ladies laughed and wandered into their home.
Alex took a quick look to his phone and searched up about the prince and his filmography. learning that the cereals were a long lasting staple of theatre goers and of the prince’s ideals.
one article read,
“It’s to bear in mind the prince does not stand for the ideals of his father the king but for the ideals of those who deserve happiness and he strives to give that happiness freely. He makes no judgements on a person by their face value but of who they feel they should be and hopes his rule would inspire those to be who they chose to be not what’s better for those around them” That hit home. If he would throw away these panties he’d be doing so to hide what was fun about his day from his own father, if he does it Toni may get mad or upset. If he threw the panties away, Alex himself would be upset because, despite whatever he grew up thinking Alex realised something today.
“girls clothing are way more fun to wear” he said to himself in a hushed voice as he lay down on the grass and looked to the stars in the clear night’s sky. he then brought the glowing face of his phone before him and texted back to Toni.
“When we going to get me a new dress then?”