A Trick Before Treats: Maxy Dolly

"Come on, dude! Hurry up!" Alex glared at his best friend.
"You're the one who insisted we play Malix." He said.
"Well, I didn't know your sister had taken it from you." Alex sighed. He had told Max that Laurie had taken it, but he had kept secret how she had told him that her 'little sister' should not play such violent games, to say nothing of how she had waited until he was flouncing around the house dusting as Madame Frou-Frou when she had stolen it. "Besides," Max added. "I don't gotta be home until dinner. If we start now, we can play all day long."
"It's probably in her closet." He muttered, throwing open the double doors. He blushed as he saw dresses, both familiar and not, hanging there in plain sight. Were they cursed? Laurie seemed to have a million different ways to turn him into something girly, it seemed, and it had taken weeks to convince Max to come over again after the tea party of last time. He took a deep breath and pushed the dresses aside, wincing. He sighed in relief as he saw he still had his own socks, his own jeans, his own t-shirt. And there was Malix!
"Got it!" He turned around and saw Max reaching for something on Laurie's desk. He did not even see what it was, just his best friend's hand reaching for it. "No! Don't!" It was too late.
Alex could only watch as the change took hold of Max. His clothes exploded into a bright yellow dress that fell to his knees as long, beautiful curls cascaded down his shoulders, his short hair gaining inches in seconds. An enormous yellow bow bloomed atop his head as Alex watched aghast. Max though, was not horrified at all as a pair of Mary Janes wrapped around his socks, which sprouted lace frills. In fact, he had a strange smile on his face.
"Hi! I'm Maxy Dolly! Will you play with me?" It was still Max's voice, but far peppier than Alex had ever heard it. When Max was excited, it sounded like a boy getting pumped. The way it sounded now was like Max, but a girl Max. And that smile! It was a bit too much like...
"Maxy Dolly? Oh, god. She turned you into a doll." That's why his smile looked so weird. It was a doll's smile!
"I'm Maxy Dolly. Let's be best friends!"
"Uh, um... what do I do?" Alex paced back and forth in Laurie's room. They couldn't stay here. Laurie would be back... he didn't know when, but soon! He grabbed Max's hand and pulled him along.
Thankfully, Max could still walk, but his knees didn't seem to bend. He wasn't, but he moved like he was made of plastic and it was slow going back to Alex's room, where he could make a plan.
Alex had hoped to keep Max out of his room, given that Madame Frou-Frou, who he refused to accept was him dressed as a maid, had made some changes. His room was now constantly spotless, but the problem was, she had replaced his bedsheets with Laurie's old ones, which meant unless he made his bed and covered them up with his dark green comforter, happy pink unicorns cavorted all over his mattress. Laurie had of course just laughed and called it an incentive to make his bed every day. He hated how right she was, but refused to accept her claim that he seemed to sleep better with the new sheets. And the sheets aren't even the worst change, he thought, glancing at his dresser.
"Alright," he said, barely even able to look back at Max, who stood there right where he had left him, smiling. "What do we do?"
"I'm Maxy Dolly! Will you play with me?" Alex paced back and forth, trying to think. It proved difficult with Max standing there, smiling and looking so ridiculous in the dress. Last time, he had been right there with him and he felt bad how relieved he was to still be in his own clothes.
"Let's see... how 'bout the dress? Turn around." Max stayed still, so Alex went behind him and reached for the zipper, roughly moving Max's hair out of the way. "Hold still."
"That tickles!" Max suddenly leaped forward with a giggle. "I'm Maxy Dolly!"
"I know." Alex muttered. "Hold still." For the next two minutes, Alex tried his best to corner Max, who had suddenly started skipping around his bedroom, giggling. "Guess that's a no on the dress." Alex muttered. "Gotta think. Uh, let's get that bow off at least." He walked over to Max and tugged on the bow. It did not budge. His hair did not budge. Nothing moved, even when Alex tried with all his might. "Magic." He muttered under his breath. "Fine. Let's at least try to get rid of your hair." He looked at Max.
"I'm Maxy Dolly. Let's be best friends."
"What? Uh, are you trying to talk? Is that why you keep saying things?"
"I'm Maxy Dolly. Will you play with me?"
"I'll take that as a yes."
"You will? Oh, goody!" Alex groaned as Max jumped up and down, clapping.

"No, that's what I meant. Look, if the real Max is in there, we're going to get this fixed, kay?" Max did not answer. He only smiled.

Going to his desk, Alex grabbed a pair of scissors. How long had they been there? How often did he even use scissors? Well, he needed them now. He marched over to Max and, without hesitation, cut one of his curls off. There! Progress, though small, was still progress. Max did not blink. He just smiled at Alex as he cut off a few of the curls.

"We'll swing by the barber, I promise. I just want to get you looking like a guy again." He wondered if he could cut off the bow. The hair was coming off fine, right? He adjusted the scissors in his hand.
"Hi! I'm Maxy Dolly! Will you play with me?" Alex rolled his eyes but then stared in disbelief. Max's hair was back to long and curly! In the split second that he had looked away, everything had been undone.

"Dammit!"

"Hi! I'm Maxy Dolly! Will you play with me?"
"Argh!" Alex exclaimed. "I can't play with you. I'm trying to figure this out!" His best friend took a stiff step toward him. He almost prefered the sissy little skipping he had been doing when Alex had been trying to get the dress off.
"Hi! I'm"
"I know! You're Maxy Dolly!"
"Oh, thank god!" Maxy Dolly said, suddenly less stiff in his movements. Alex jumped, startled by the sudden exclamation. "I thought you'd never say it."
"Huh?"
"All I know's I needed you to say my name so I can talk normally." Max said.
"Well, I'm sorry that I was more focused on trying to fix this."
"Well, dummy. Did it ever occur to you that I could help?"
"Fine." Max was talking like himself now, but his voice still sounded weird. Alex could not quite figure out how. He had more important things to worry about anyway. "How can you help though? You're wearing a freaking dress."
"And these curls are killing me." Max batted one away.
"I tried to cut them off."
"I know, but obviously." He shook his head, making his curls bounce. "The only way to fix it is to play with me." He glanced over at Alex's unmade bed and snorted, but did not comment.
"Ok." Alex shrugged. "I'll go grab Malix and"
"No, I want to play!" Max almost sounded like he was whining.
"What do you want to play?"
"I'm Maxy Dolly. I'm your best friend." Alex stared at Max. Did he realize what he had just said? "You brush my hair and compliment my dress, sing a song, stuff like that." Alex would not have been more surprised if Alex had suddenly grown a second head.
"I'm... not doing that."
"C'mon! It'll be fun!" Max was all but pouting now. "Please? Pretty pretty please with sugar and a cherry on top?"
"But"
"You'll make me the happiest Maxy Dolly in all the world!" He wiggled as if so very excited by that prospect, petticoats rustling softly.
"Pretty sure you're the only one in the world." Alex muttered. He heard a door open downstairs and he ran to the window. "Shit."
"What's wrong? Want to play tea"
"Shuddup. Laurie's home." He was all out of ideas and determined to demand Laurie put his friend back to normal. "Stay here."
"We're best friends. We go everywhere together." Max announced, following Alex out of the room. "You can bring Maxy Dolly anywhere!"
"Do you even hear yourself?" Even back to normal -- or closer at least -- Max was still talking in the girl doll voice.

"Yeah? I just figure we should stick together. Last thing I need is for Laurie to do this to you too."
"I guess."
"And then we can play tea party, right?" Alex shuddered. Something was very wrong with his friend.



Laurie smiled confidently. She had barely even walked in the door and she could hear Alex coming down the stairs. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw him wearing a striped t-shirt and jeans, but she hid her surprise as she noticed Max behind him.
"What are you doing back?"
"Someone" she nodded to the smiling boy-doll. "Touched my stuff."
"And" Alex felt his stomach drop. "You knew?" Laurie did not answer. She didn't need to. He recovered from the revelation. "Change him back."
"Did you try taking off his dress?"
"Yeah."
"And how'd that go?" Alex did not answer. He didn't need to. "What's your name?"
"Maxy Dolly." Max replied.
"And this?" She pointed at Alex.
"My best friend!"
"Oh, I bet. What are you two up to?"
"Laurie"
"Shush. Maxy Dolly, what are you two up to?"
"Well, I want to play tea party." Max explained matter-of-factly.
"And so you will."
"What?" Alex watched his sister closely.
"Oh, settle down. You look like a cornered animal." She drew an X across her chest. "I solemnly swear not to do anything to you. Now if you two would move, let's go up to my room."
"Why?"
"Quit being so freaking paranoid. You want my help, you gotta cooperate." Alex knew there was little choice. He followed Laurie to her room, groaning as he saw Max following him.
"Can we go play?" Max asked. "I'm Maxy Dolly and I love playing!"
"You do!" Laurie agreed. "But we've got to get my little sister here all set to play."
"I knew it!" Alex exclaimed. "You... you tricked me!"
"How?"
"Uh, well, you know. You're gonna put something on me and turn me into a doll too."
"I promise I won't." Laurie insisted. "And I promise I'll change him back."
"What's the catch?"
"No catch." Alex looked at Max. He needed to do something.
"Fine. What do we do?"
"I'll change him back, but only if you play with Maxy Dolly." Alex glared, but he knew he had little choice. "Which means you need to dress like the sort of girl who plays with dolls like Maxy Dolly, right?" He grunted. "I know Madame Frou-Frou's already got you pantied, so" she noticed his face. "No? Have you been hoarding boy undies? Well, no matter. Go put on some proper underwear, little sis, and this dress." She handed him a blue and white dress. "By the time you come back, I want to know if you're Alice or Alexa." She smiled sweetly at him. "Given the colors, I'd go with Alice if I were you." He glared. "But it's your choice. Off you go, little sis!"
To her surprise, Alex did not take as long as she expected. Twenty minutes later, he poked his head into her door. she could see one of the frilly shoulders and knew he was in the dress.
He looked undeniably like a boy in a dress, though the dress was so extravagant, it almost drew the eye away from the little girl wearing it's bizarrely short hair. Almost.
"Aren't you cute?"
"This is... Ridiculous."
"What do you think, Maxy Dolly?" Laurie asked.
"You're wearing such a pretty dress!" Max said in his doll voice. Alex swallowed. He was doing this to free Max. He knew the real Max didn't think the dress was pretty.
"I'm thrilled you're finally dressing like a proper little sister, but" Laurie said pensively. "But a girl should really match her favorite doll." She dramatically revealed a dress that perfectly matched Max's.
"So you are going to make me a doll too."
"Nope." She laughed. "I'm too old to play with dolls. I told you already. You're a little girl and Maxy is your dolly."
"Ooh! Please, can I be your dolly?" Max asked, bouncing up and down and clapping his hands.
"Aw!" Laurie smiled. "Take off your dress and let's get this one on you."
"What was the point of putting this one on then?" Laurie stared at him as if he was stupid.
"Practice."
"Huh?"
"A girl wears a lot of dresses in her life and it's good for you to get used to putting them on yourself." She grinned. "Cuz you did. You put that pretty pretty dress on all by yourself, Alex." With the way Alex's cheeks glowed, she knew he knew she was right. "Now, let's get you undressed and into your play dress."
"I want to play!" Max whined. That doll voice was getting on Alex's nerves more and more!
"See? We're both waiting on you." Laurie said. "Oh, did you pick Alice or Alexa?"
"Alexa." Alex muttered through his tightly closed lips.
"Hi, Alexa!" Max said cheerfully. "My name's Maxy Dolly! Let's be best friends for forever and ever!" Laurie laughed.
"Well, that's a very nice name, little sis. I like it too." She brandished the dress again. "You should probably get changed before Maxy Dolly explodes, huh?"
"I don't want him to see."
"See what?"
"You know." Laurie giggled as she realized.
"Oh, ok. Well, Maxy Dolly is your doll. She has to do what you say, right?"
"Max, cover your eyes."
"Oh, no no no. That's not very polite at all. You need to give your dolly a reason. And ask nicely." Alex rolled his eyes. "And be sure to call her her actual name."
"Maxy Dolly."
"Yes?"
"Can you please cover your eyes?"
"Better." Laurie said, really savoring the moment. "But here, let me help you." She leaned down and whispered into Alex's ear. "If you want me to undo the doll spell, you better do it." Alex groaned. "And go over to her too." Alex felt like he was walking to his doom as he crossed Laurie's bedroom. "Take her hands and look Maxy Dolly right in the eye."
"Maxy Dolly? I want you to cover your eyes while I put on my"
"Play dress."
"Play dress. I want to match you, but I'm still a"
"Bashful"
"Bashful little... little girl and I don't want my best friend to see my panties." Max felt compelled to obey, but he still was able to see between his fingers as Alex undressed. He thought Laurie had only made him say panties but no, those were too frilly to be anything but! Alex was wearing panties? Laurie must have him under some kind of control, right?
"You know, I like Lexi better." Laurie said as she watched Alex struggle into the dress. "You'll get the hang of it." She smiled. "And you're the luckiest little girl to have a big sister who helps you practice."
"I'm only doing this for Max."
"Well, Maxy Dolly's been waiting so patiently, hasn't she? Why don't you go over and give her a hug, Lexi?"
"Hi, Lexi!" Max said. "I'm Maxy Dolly! Let's be best friends."
"What do you say, Lexi?"
"Ok."
"Yay!" Max bounced up and down. Laurie smiled approvingly.
"Maxy Dolly, what's the catchphrase from your commercials?" Commercials? Alex thought. Was a Maxy Dolly a real thing?
"I'm Maxy Dolly, the doll so fun, you'll play with me all day long."
"Sounds good to me." She smiled and tousled her brother's short hair before making a show of adjusting his yellow dress. "Go on, Lexi. Go play with your Maxy Dolly all day long." Max beamed as he extended his hand. Alex took it and they headed downstairs with Max humming merrily as Alex hoped against hope that Max might just think he was under a spell too. "Love ya, little sis!" Laurie called after them. Alex gulped. He was going to rescue Max, but who would rescue him?