Emily sat cross-legged on her bed in the small apartment she shared with Jack, the soft glow of her phone screen the only light in the room besides the faint streetlamp filtering through the half-closed blinds. In her palm rested a small amber bottle of experimental pills, the label already half-peeled from how many times she had turned it over in her hands. She had found the listing late one night after another evening of scrolling through photos of her more glamorous friends, feeling the familiar quiet sting of comparison. The product claimed to be a “hormone optimizer” designed to balance and enhance feminine features. The reviews were mixed, the company looked shady, and she had almost deleted the order three times before finally hitting confirm. Tonight, after yet another day of feeling average and invisible, she decided she was done waiting.

She twisted the cap off with a soft click. One small white pill rested in the center of her palm. Emily stared at it for a long moment, heart beating a little faster than it should have. “Just one,” she whispered to herself. “If nothing happens, nothing happens.” She placed it on her tongue and washed it down with the last of the water from the glass on her nightstand.

At first there was nothing. She sat still, listening to the quiet hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen and the distant sound of traffic. A full minute passed. Then another. She let out a small, self-conscious laugh and set the bottle on the nightstand. “Placebo,” she muttered, reaching for her phone to text Jack that she was going to sleep. Her thumbs hovered over the screen when a strange warmth began to bloom deep in her chest.

It started as a gentle heat, centered just behind her nipples, like the feeling of stepping into a warm bath after being cold for too long. The warmth spread outward in slow, pulsing waves, filling the soft tissue of her breasts. Emily’s brow furrowed. She set the phone down and placed both hands over her chest, cupping herself through the thin fabric of her oversized sleep shirt. They felt… different. Not dramatically so, but there was a subtle fullness, a slight increase in weight that made her palms sink a little deeper than usual. When she gave them a gentle squeeze, a soft spark of sensitivity flickered through her nipples, …