We left the house and stopped at the local barber shop for me to get my hair cut. I ended up with a short fohawk, practically shaved on the sides and spiked nicely in the middle. I was all smiles as we got back into the truck to head clothes shopping. The drive was quiet, the same as always, until my dad spoke up. "So be honest, was the gift this morning too much?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"No, Dad, it was actually kind of perfect. I so wasn't expecting that. Although, not everything in there was necessary. I mean, did you really have to buy me three kinds of underwear?"

"Oh speaking of which, what kind of guy is my son? Boxers? Briefs? I bet your a boxers kind of guy. I know I was at your age." 

"DAD! Stop! Why must you do this shit to me? Seriously."

"What, I'm just curious Luke. This is normal father-son conversation . So are you gonna answer my question or just wait till we get to the store for me to see which ones you grab?"

"Boxers Dad. Yes I'm wearing the boxers. Now can we not talk about undergarments for the rest of the day? Please and thank you." I spoke quickly, wanting to get off the subject. 

"Actually I'm not too sure about that. I actually think we need to talk about a few things first. There were some things in the letter that your mother and I were confused about." He said and paused.

"Okayyyy...." I said getting a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Oh, no dude, it's nothing bad. We just didn't know what a chest binder was. I googled it and understand why you want one so badly. So we are gonna order you one today. I have a feeling you have done some research and know which one you want and stuff so at some point we are gonna sit down and do that. How does that sound?" He said.

"Omg! Dad if i wasn't driving right now i would be giving you the biggest hug ever!" I said as I turned onto the freeway. "Oh um hey, what store are we going to?"

"The mall, duhh," he said and cranked up the radio. The drive was only half way over at that point but it seemed to only be a few minutes before we reached the mall parking lot. We had spent the rest of the drive rocking out to the Moonshine Bandits 'Dive-bars and Truck-stops' CD we had both become obsessed with. 

It was 11:43 when I locked the truck doors and we walked to the entrance of the mall. "What store are we going to first?" I asked, hopeful of the events to come.

"I was thinking we would go Guess, Buckle, Tilly's, Target, and then end at BodyJewels, with lunch thrown in somewhere in the middle." he answered cautiously. It was obvious that he was happy to be here with me, but at the same time it was more obvious that he wasn't too sure how things were going to go. When I didn't answer right away I could tell he began rethinking his plan. "I mean, I want to get some nice stuff from Guess and Buckle, but you also need some every day stuff like what you have on now, by the way I'm really glad that fit, but yeah. And then BodyJewels is for both of us. I don't know about you, but I want some new gauges. I hope that works for you." he finished in a rush.

I tried my hardest to stifle the laugh that was building in my throat. "Dad, calm down. That sounds good. If I don't respond instantly it isn't because I'm offended or upset; it's because you having a plan and being so enthusiastic about this just keeps catching me off guard. Okay?"

"Okay," he said and began laughing. Our conversation ended as we walked up to entrance to Guess. I took an deep breath, which my dad noticed. He placed his hand on my shoulder and spoke to me in a strong, confirming voice. "Today you become you Luke. Today is going to be stress free. I get that you are probably a little worried but its okay. Okay?"

I couldn't manage to speak but I was able to make myself smile at him and nod my head. A few short breaths later I managed to say, "Let's do this shit," As I spoke I walked into the dimly lit store with a smile on my face. My dad followed me over to the men's section of the store and we began to look through the various button up shirts. I found a dark blue, white and gray plaid button up and was trying to figure out what size I thought I would be when an employee walked up. 

"Good morning sir," he said looking at my dad, "m'am," he added looking at me. My mood instantly fell from excited to discouraged, something my dad noticed. "Can I help you guys find anything?" added the store clerk.

"Actually yes you can. Me and my son." my dad said placing his arm on my shoulder and emphasizing the word son, "are trying to revamp his wardrobe," he added being sure to put emphasis on the word his. "I would like to set up a changing room for him so that he can try on the things he picks out." finished my father.

The clerk was at a loss for words. He realized what he had done wrong and I could see he was sorry. He stumbled over his words as he tried to speak. "Oh um, I'm, I'm sorry guys. I will go get a room set up and if you guys need anything I am more than happy to help. Just um, just let me know." He finished speaking more to my dad than to me. He began to turn away but stopped and looked at me. "I really am sorry," he said and gave me a blushing smile before walking away. 

When my dad looked back at me this time I too had a big blushing smile on my face. He must have noticed because he smiled at me, chuckled and said under his breath in an all to sarcastic tone, "Oh yeah, you're totally straight." I couldn't help but let out a small burst of laughter and elbow him in the side. "Don't worry, your little secret is safe with me, under one condition. You have to try to get his number before we leave here today."

"But Dad, why would he like me. He's obviously gay and he didn't even think I was a guy at first. I mean look at me, I'm not really much of a man at the moment." I said as I looked down at my shoes.

"Hey, Luke look at me." he said, his tone of voice changing to a much more serious one. "You are an awesome guy, and he was obviously sorry for what he said. And not to mention the way he looked at you. He thinks your good looking. You are going to have to start putting yourself out there more otherwise nothing will happen. Okay?"

I nodded my head and blinked away the forming tears from my eyes. My dad had never in my life spoken to me this way. He was finally playing that traditional fatherly role with me and I was both happy and hurt at the same time. I figured for the time being I had to let the happiness trump the sadness so I turned back around to the clothing rack and grab the few shirts I had been looking at and moved over to the jeans. It wasn't long before I had an arm full of clothes and was heading towards the dressing rooms. 

"Go ahead, I'm gonna stay out here. I will be waiting when your done." my dad said, his tone of voice hinting for me put myself out there with the store clerk.

I started walking into the dressing rooms and there he was, waiting for me by the door. "Here, let me help you with that," he said as he grabbed some of the clothes from me. "And I don't think we were properly introduced before, I'm Andrew." he said while putting out his free hand.

I suddenly felt short of breath. "I-I'm Lucas, but you can just call me Luke," I said as I shook his hand.

As our hands pulled apart he looked away and we started to head to the open dressing room door. "I, um, I really am sorry for mis-gendering you earlier, I was gonna say sir but I was worried that I was going to end up mis-gendering you, which I guess I ended up doing anyways and why am I still blabbing right now..." he said as he set the clothes down.

I reached out and grabbed his empty hand. He turned to face me as I began to talk, "Hey, it really is okay, don't worry about it, okay?" I shocked myself by how calm and collected my voice sounded, and deeper, it may have just been me but it seemed that my voice really did sound deeper.

"Okay," he said staring at our hands with an offset, bright white smile. He looked so cute standing there with his short hair spiked up. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a black button up short sleeved shirt. Around his neck he wore a red bow tie which tied the outfit together perfectly. I smiled at him as our hands slipped apart. "Um so I guess I will step out and let you start trying things on. If you need anything in another size just let me know and I will go grab it. Oh and don't be shy, I would love to see how you look in these clothes." he finished as he stepped out of the room. 

I stood there for a few moments unable to move. I centered myself and took a deep breath before moving towards the wall of clothes in front of me. I grabbed a pair of jeans and quickly changed out of my shorts and into them. It was the first time I had ever put on a pair of men's cut jeans. I looked at myself in the ceiling high mirror and liked what I saw. My hips looked less prominent than they ever had in my jeans before. I hadn't looked at myself in the mirror while I was in my shorts and now wondered if they had the same effect on the way my body looked. I put the thought out of my mind as I grabbed the first button up, the blue, white and gray plaid shirt. I pulled off the tank my dad had bought me and slid on the button up. I started buttoning it from the bottom to the top. As I reached my chest I noticed that the shirt wasn't as loose as I would have liked it to be, but I knew I would be swimming in it if I went up a size.

I cracked the door open just enough to look out. "Um, Andrew, ca-can you come in here. I d-don't really feel comfortable stepping out of the dressing room....can you come see how this looks?" I said softly. My mouth suddenly felt extremely dry and my head was foggy.

"Yeah," he said giving me a little smirk, "But I bet you look amazing," he added as I stepped back so that he could come in.

"Yeah, I'm not to sure about the shirt," I said as I looked at myself in the mirror. The dizziness in my head grew worse and I began to lose my balance. Andrew noticed and quickly caught my arm.

"Here, lets sit you down," he said as he directed me towards a chair."Just breathe okay, slow deep breaths," he directed me as he knelt in front of me. He held my hands in his as I sat there and caught my breath. by the time I was no longer dizzy, I was in tears. "Aye, dude, whats wrong? You look fucking hot. Trust me." he said while making me look into his eyes.

"No I don't. Just look at my chest. There's no way I'm ever gonna be seen as a guy with this chest." I said as the tears ran down my face. I felt Andrew let go of my hands and realized that he had begun to unbutton his own shirt. It took me a few moments to register why.

"Look, Lucas, a binder does wonders. Today you get your wardrobe, then you get a binder. They help, a lot. Okay?" He said looking me straight in the eyes. I looked away from his eyes to see him kneeling in front of me with his black button up held together only by the red bow tie around his neck. His eyes had begun to tear up and I could hear that his breathing had gotten heavier. Although his shirt was open, there was not a bare chest showing, rather there was a white binder over his chest. "Look, things get easier."

I lifted a hand to wipe my tears and then wiped away the tear that had began to travel down his face. "Thank you. Really. I would have never thought. Seeing someone so close to my age pass as well as you do is a really big confidence boost." I smiled as he grabbed my hand and stood up.

"Good. So now let's get up, pick out some hot outfits, put the smiles on our faces we deserve. And let me take you out to dinner sometime?" He said the last part slowly, as a question. I was caught off guard and couldn't find the words to answer to him. Before I was able to speak, he spoke again. "Oh, I mean, we don't have to. If you don't swing my way that's fine. I'm sorry if I made things awkward just now. Seriously, why do I keep blabbing?" He asked as I cut him off.

I squeezed his hand gently and wrapped the other arm around his neck. Pulling him closer to me, I kissed him. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. It was many kisses past being my first but it felt like no other I had had. It lasted longer than I expected and when it finally broke we both stood there breathing heavily. I slowly moved my arm away from his neck and started buttoning up his shirt. 

"I will definitely take you up on that dinner offer, but for right now you should probably get back to work, you know, fully dressed and all." I said as I chuckled softly. His hand went around me and rested on the small of my back. He kissed me softly.

"A few more minutes isn't gonna hurt anyone," he said as he leaned in and kissed me again. This time the kiss was even deeper than the first, even better. I didn't think a kiss could be that great. When the kiss broke we had to hold onto to each other for support. "I think I can make it till we have that dinner now," he said breathing heavily. He slowly took a step back. "If I give you my number can I be sure you will call me, Lucas?" he asked.

I reached over and grabbed my phone, placing it in his hands. "If you give me your number I will text you before I even leave this store,"

"Good," he said and kissed my cheek. He saved his number into my phone and handed it back to me. He finished re-buttoning his shirt and helped me pick out a few outfits. "Everything here fits the same so don't worry about trying it all on, okay." 

I could only manage to nod in response. 

"I will leave so you can get changed and they will help you at the counter. Don't forget to tell them who helped you today." he said giving me that same sideways smirk as he walked out of the room. 

I quickly changed back into my clothes and walked out the room with my new outfits in my hands. As I walked towards my dad I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened up the newly saved contact. I waited till we took a few steps together to say anything. 

"Well dad," I started to speak as I showed him my phone, "I got the number, and a kiss, oh and an upcoming date."

"Damn boy! My son is a player," he said as he handed me back my phone. "Now we gotta pay, for these new clothes. It looks like you found a few things you liked?" he said jokingly looking at my arm full of clothes.  

We payed for the clothes and left the store. I left with three new outfits and we went on the the next store. By time we left Buckle and Tilly's I already had ten new shirts and tanks, 5 pairs of jeans and two more pairs of shorts. The next two stops were pretty routine, but then again a lot of things would seem routine in comparison to the first stop. When we left Tilly's we headed to target, which was by far the quickest stop. We went in grabbed some clothes and headed straight to the register, no need to try things on since I already knew my size there. 

"Okay, so now lets go get some food. Its already 2:45. I don't know about you but I'm pretty hungry." my dad said as we walked out of Target.

"Yeah, I'm hungry too, but I would rather go to BodyJewels first and then just go home after lunch." I said. 

"I'm starving. We gotta eat first. Where do you wanna go?" he asking quickly.

"Um, I'd be good with going to BJ's. Pizza and a Pizzokie sound bomb right now."

"Okay, BJ's it is. You go get a table and I'll be right there. I'm gonna put these in the truck first."

"Okay dad. See you in a few," I called out and we broke off to go our separate ways.