Please notice me

Josh ran his fingers delicately through his long blonde hair, adjusting a few rebellious strands as he stared at himself in the bedroom mirror. He wore a thin, semi-transparent white nightgown that left little to the imagination. The soft glow of the bedside lamp highlighted his new curves — so different from the body he once had. With a hesitant sigh, he tilted his head and murmured to himself in a voice that trembled with both insecurity and hope:

— "Maybe… maybe now he’ll finally notice how much I want to be with him?"

Josh and James had always been inseparable — best friends since high school. After graduation, they moved in together in the city. James dove into a career in software development, while Josh landed a job at a chemical company. That’s where everything changed. A terrible accident left Josh disfigured, with burns and injuries that at first seemed beyond repair.

But medicine was stunned. His recovery wasn’t just fast — it was uncanny. His tissues regenerated at an abnormal rate, and over time, his body began to change in ways no one could explain. His bone structure softened, his features grew more delicate, curves formed where there had been none. Most baffling of all — his genetic tests revealed a chromosomal shift: his Y chromosome had somehow become a second X. Josh, biologically, was becoming a woman.

It was a confusing, terrifying, and lonely time — if not for James. James never left his side. He was there for every appointment, every crisis, every silent tear at night. When Josh was finally discharged — with a generous settlement from the company — he chose to keep living with the one person who had never treated him differently.

But something had changed.

Josh had begun to see James in a different light. Not just as a friend, but something more — something deeper. And James... well, his relationship had started to fall apart. His girlfriend was consumed by jealousy, uneasy with the beautiful woman now living under the same roof. Eventually, she broke up with him, saying he had changed — that now she could only see him as “one of the girls.”

Josh felt strange too. On the street, strangers stared — some with admiration, others with something more invasive. But at home, James never said a word. No compliments. No lingering glances. It was like he didn’t see Josh at all. Or maybe, saw too much and didn’t know how to react.

So Josh started testing boundaries. A shorter skirt here. A lower neckline there. Subtle makeup. A touch of perfume. All little experiments to see if James would notice. But nothing ever seemed to work.

Until that night.

Josh made a decision. He chose the most daring nightgown he owned, posed carefully in the mirror, gathered every ounce of courage, and stepped out of his room. He would face James directly. He needed to know — once and for all — if there was something between them. If he was seen.

And that night… he was.