The Additive

An author named Monsta posted a list of fictional movie synopses, as a story challenge. One in particular caught my attention. My normal writing process is glacial, but this story sprung out almost fully-formed in a day or two.

---

It makes sense now, finally. I mean, I was a divorced mom, never had time to date, but I wasn't

gay

. I was a Twilight Mom! Team Edward all the way!

And then, over the holidays I found out about this little cupcake shop. It was on the way to work. So I started bringing them in as a treat for the ladies at the office sometimes. It must have been the first time I did that. The Friday after New Years. I got an assortment and brought it in. It was my time of the month. Must have been then. I can't prove anything, but it didn't happen to any of the other ladies until much later. I'm

sure

that was it. The strawberry filling.

I love strawberry. The other ladies had chocolate or whatever, but I took a strawberry-filled one, and Suzanne had the other one. Well, she took it home. She was saving it for a treat. Her time started the next day.

What? Women talk about these things.

She was fresh out of college, working as the admin, a redhead just covered in freckles. Short and thin and sweet. I almost thought of her as a second daughter back then. We'd talk about things and I'd give her career advice.

It's only looking back that I can make a connection with those cupcakes. Nothing special happened at the time. A couple weeks after, I bought a vibrator. But I thought I was just lonely.

Then one night... sometime late January. My daughter was in bed, I was staying up watching TV on a Saturday night. I'd had a glass or two of wine. I got bored and saw the little 'on-demand' button. And before I knew it I was watching a porno. But even though I was turned on, something was missing. When it was done, I looked around the menu and saw a lesbian one. And I picked it.

And I thought I'd been turned on before...

You can imagine I was sort of confused. I couldn't understand why I'd never looked at women that way before. It felt so natural all of a sudden.

Early February, I brought in some more cupcakes. I crave sweet stuff around my period. I made sure to get two of the strawberry ones. One for me, one for Suzanne. I made some horrible joke about red filling, because she was due too. And the sprinkles were freckles.

I'd been thinking about her a lot. Especially at night. I remember one day she wore this tight skirt, and stockings. I got so flustered. Here I was, a divorced mom, crushing over a girl ten years younger than me!

Though it wasn't

just

her. All of a sudden I was noticing breasts and hips and legs and even necks. And their voices... One day I was grocery shopping, and it was like I'd never really seen how women

walked

before. I had to be so careful at the gym. I know I got caught staring a few times.

But Suzanne was special. She thanked me for the cupcake, and we got to talking. She told me she was tense. PMS, and trouble with her boyfriend. So I offered to give her a backrub, right there in my office. And she said yes! I had her sit backward in my chair, put her arms on the backrest. Oh, God, I can't tell you all the things I was picturing, her legs spread like that.

I worked her shoulders, and her neck, and I kept having to shift my feet. My pussy was so hot and tense it

hurt

. I ran her long red hair through my fingers. I got close so I could rub my breasts against her back, I kneaded her all the way down to the top of her butt.

When I was done, we were late for a meeting. And I was sure it was my imagination, wishful thinking, but she acted practically as flushed and jittery as I was feeling.

Valentine's Day came. Suzanne told me she broke up with her guy. And I just blurted out that she shouldn't be alone on Valentine's Day, that I'd take her to dinner. She thought about it for a second, and said she'd like that. When she left my office, I called all over in a panic, trying to find someone to watch my daughter. Thank goodness my neighbor, the mom of one of her friends, said she could sleep over. I raced home after work, got her packed, and practically carried her down the street and shoved her through the door.

Then I ran back to my house and almost drove myself crazy trying to figure out what to wear. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't want to seem like a cougar, but I didn't want to look like... like a frumpy old divorced mom. I finally just picked a nice dress - this floral blue one, skirt to the knee but tight at the waist - and got on some makeup. On the way to her apartment, I stopped and bought roses at the grocery store.

She came to the door and smiled when I gave her the flowers. I was still playing it like a joke. I'll never forget, she was wearing this sheer hot-pink dress and matching stilettos. It brought out her freckles and her red hair and her green eyes and I felt like I was going to faint. She said it was what she'd been planning to wear for her boyfriend, and I said he was totally missing out.

We went to dinner and talked. I can't even remember about what. I just kept looking at her, drinking her in. We laughed and ate and I joked about playing footsie with her under the table. And then she rubbed her toes on my shin and it was like, like lightning. I gasped out loud. I knew I was blushing but she just smiled and kept doing it.

I drove her back to her place, just... just floating in this huge tense cloud. Could it really happen? Was I too gay now to read her, were my hopes coloring everything she said and did? Or was she actually interested?

She invited me in. We stood there for a second after the door closed. I don't know what I would have said, but she stepped up to me and put her arms around me. I hugged her back, sure it was all a dream. And then her hand cupped my behind and squeezed. I remember every second of getting her out of that dress. Her panties were the same color. And she was a natural redhead. I was late picking up my daughter the next day.

This was really early on, you know. Before the Starbucks Sisters or the outbreaks or any of that. I just thought I'd found my true calling. Well, it certainly is now.

She moved on after a few months. Found a girl her own age. And we ended up in different Communities during the Quarantine. I met other women, made a new life for myself. They're calling us chemo-dykes now, can you believe it?

But she was my first, and has a special place in my heart. My little strawberry cupcake.

---

Senators, members of the press, we believe we have identified the cause of the enormous surge in lesbianism over the past year and a half, what has been called by some the 'gay plague' or the 'Dykesaster'. At this point, we have concluded that it is not in any way contagious, not even by exchange of bodily fluids. I reiterate that the cause

is not

any form of infectious agent. The Quarantine has been entirely misguided, in many ways counterproductive.

Multiple lines of evidence instead point to the actual cause - exposure to Anactorium, a food preservative initially approved for use nearly worldwide roughly two years ago, that has seen increasingly widespread adoption in the intervening time. Since different countries and products introduced Anactorium use at varying times, it unfortunately masked the correlation until recently.

That's correct, sir. A food additive seems to be ultimately responsible. If I may proceed?

Anactorium acts as a preservative and by now is present in an extremely wide variety of products. It is thermally stable, more effective and significantly cheaper than most alternatives, and does not metabolize or linger in the human body for very long after ingestion. For that final reason it has been considered to be exceptionally safe, until now.

At this point we understand why the side effects of Anactorium weren't detected prior to FDA approval. Our findings point to critical flaws in nearly all testing procedures - for both food and drug testing - and we recommend a full overhaul of FDA guidelines in light of this failure.

The key issue is that males are preferred subjects for drug and chemical testing, and males are not affected by Anactorium exposure. The female menstrual cycle complicates testing protocols, so the bulk of drug testing not aimed directly at women avoids the issue when possible. Animal testing is not helpful in this regard; very few mammals, even among primates, actually menstruate. Female mice, for example, have estrous cycles but do not thicken and then shed their uterine lining; in short, they do not bleed at the end of estrous. It is important to note that almost all the animal testing for Anactorium was performed on mice.

And menstruation is the key factor, the reason why men are not at risk from Anactorium. The breakdown of the uterine lining releases various chemicals into the body. It is these specific compounds that interact with the additive. The resulting substances are non-toxic, and have little effect... except upon certain varieties of brain cell. Specifically they bind to, and alter - to all indications permanently - cells of the hypothalamus and the cingulate gyrus, and to a lesser extent the olfactory veromonasal organ. The result is a hypersensitivity to testosterone, limited to specific areas of the brain.

No, ma'am, it is not known at present why these particular cells are preferentially affected, but that is definitely a target for future research. I promise, I will summarize all our findings, and there will be time for questions afterward.

Excuse me, where was I? Ah. The affected structures are known to be related to sexual response. They become masculinized, usually to a degree not seen even in normal males due to the exaggerated testosterone receptivity. Note that actual hormone levels in the body do not appear to change, nor do other tissues in the body or brain become sensitized. We have no substantiated reports of, for example, beard growth or voice deepening in women exposed to Anactorium.

There seems to be a critical threshold of exposure. It can be reached in one specific event, such as a substantial dosage of the addititive during menstruation. We believe the 'Starbucks Sisters' are the result of such an event, along with several other incidents that were originally labeled 'outbreaks'.

Recent investigation has determined that a central American coffee supplier suffered a production accident in late March of this year. A badly calibrated machine dispensed far more than the recommended level of Anactorium. Unfortunately they decided to ship rather than scrap the production run, which was purchased by the Starbucks corporation. It is our belief that other 'outbreaks' can be traced to similar incidents of overexposure.

I'm sorry, Senator, criminal charges and liability are not within the scope of our study. I can say that nothing we have uncovered indicates that anyone in the now-defunct Starbucks corporation had any knowledge of the issue in their supply chain.

To return to our report, the threshold can also be reached cumulatively. Multiple lower-level exposures, typical of regular consumption of the additive, can trigger the effect if the dosages coincide with a woman's period. Once the critical point is reached, the effect becomes self-reinforcing, even without further exposure to Anactorium, and so far has not been reversible. The process of masculinization, once initiated, usually completes within one month, though it may take as long as three months. It is worth noting that this is fairly rapid response for mature central nervous system tissue. It is possible that further research may offer ways to repair the damage of strokes and other brain insults, once the biochemistry involved is better understood. But that too is outside the scope of the present investigation.

Individual sensitivities vary. For the majority of women, at the typical blood concentrations observed in the field, it could take five, six, or even more cycles for the critical threshold to be reached. There will be many women who are significantly more or less sensitive than that average, however. Note that typical human testing trials usually cover less than three months in the case of rapidly-excreted compounds - such as Anactorium. This is another aspect of our testing protocols that will need to be thoroughly re-evaluated.

The symptoms of the localized masculinization present as a specific, all-too-familiar syndrome - dramatic increase in libido, accompanied or closely followed by exclusive or nearly-exclusive lesbianism. A minority of women present solely with lesbianism but no discernable change in libido. An even smaller number of women present with increased libido primarily, though most of these also display bisexuality.

While many young children have unfortunately been exposed to Anactorium, the data we have suggest that girls who have not reached menarche are extremely unlikely to be affected. So long as further Anactorium exposure is prevented, they should develop normally. As previously noted, the additive is rapidly cleared from the human body.

Our key recommendations include an immediate halt to Anactorium production, along with a full recall of all affected products. No, sir, our commission was not tasked with estimating any potential economic impact.

And to reiterate, a complete review and overhaul of

all

food and drug testing protocols is urgently required in light of this incident. Specific recommendations include much longer evaluation windows, as well as fully integrating women into testing groups at every stage of examination. Additionally, an animal model of menstruation suitable for substance testing

must

be developed.

That is the gist of our report. I will now try to answer any further questions you may have to the best of my ability.

---

It's so fucked up to think I found the love of my life because of contaminated fucking coffee.

Yeah, I'm a Starbucks Sister. I still miss it, sometimes. Their coffee, I mean. They're all closed, now, and nobody makes it quite the same. Me and Kaitlin and Britney always went there, every day practically. Some pissed-off guy actually burned down the one we used to go to, can you believe that?

Anyway, I didn't really notice anything for a couple of months. Just felt, like, sorta off. Like something didn't fit. I got super horny, though. I was masturbating, like, three times a day. But I couldn't come anymore with my boyfriend. Except once on Cinco de Mayo, but I was super drunk and we did it doggie style so I didn't have to look at him.

But then it was June, and Britney's wedding. Her bachelorette party, really. Me and her and Kaitlin were friends since forever, and we were so happy for her. We all thought Steve was a good catch. It was a big destination wedding and everything, L.A. I was a little bummed 'cause I'd just broken up with Doug, but Kaitlin had dumped her boyfriend too so we joked that we'd be each other's dates. Oh my God, we were so clueless.

Anyway, we went out and hit a strip club, but the guys weren't doin' it for us, y'know? Amber and Beth, they were having fun, but the three of us were just all 'meh'.

Back at the hotel, Amber and Beth went to their rooms, but we stayed with Britney in her suite. And she just broke down and, like, sobbed on my shoulder, y'know? Said she wasn't in love with Steve anymore, that she liked him and didn't want to hurt him but he just did nothing for her anymore in bed.

So Kaitlin and I hugged her, and we were crying too, and then... she kissed me. And I kissed her back, and then Kaitlin was kissing me, and... and... We were up all night. Fucked on every piece of furniture in there, and in the shower too.

We told her not to, but she married him the next day. They got divorced in a month. But she's got a really nice girlfriend now, so that's cool.

Anyway, ever since then, me and Kaitlin have been together. God, we're so in love. We're gonna get married, next June. Kinda our anniversary. It's not just the sex - although that's

fucking awesome

. She completes me, y'know? Sounds lame, but it's true. Once in a while we have threesomes, or go fuck other girls by ourselves, but I always come home to her. And she comes home to me.

Y'know how guys say they can fuck somebody, and it's just sex? Just for fun? I guess it's true. It's that way for Kaitlin and me and our 'masculine brains'. Though, I guess there aren't so many girls that guys can cheat with anymore.

Anyways it's kinda weird, I guess. Knowing that I'd probably still be into guys and all if I didn't drink coffee, I mean. But I wouldn't go back, not for anything.

---

I'm a member of OUT-PRIDE, an international gay rights watchdog. We went to investigate reports of forced medication in Russia. Unfortunately, it seems the reports were true in every respect. Apparently someone tipped off the government we were coming. We were detained as soon as we got off the plane.

Those bastards dosed us. Injected us. They claimed it was Anactorium and menstrual blood extract. Said we wouldn't be gay anymore. And they brought in several men who said they'd gotten the same 'treatment'. And they were now straight.

They held us incommunicado for two days, then placed us on an outgoing flight, all our electronics confiscated. No traces of Anactorium were found when we had blood work done, but 48 hours is long enough for it to be fully excreted. All we can do now is wait and hope that our sexual identity has not been forcibly altered. We implore the international community to take this report seriously. We've long known of serious human rights abuses against gay people in Russia, but this is a new and horrifying level of oppression.

---

Boys are so...

pushy

, y'know? I guess I can't blame 'em. Now I see what they're looking at, I mean. If I were a boy, I'd be all over girls too. Well, I mean, I already am, but... oh, whatever, you know what I mean. That's why I stayed in a Community.

Anyway, there was an outbreak at my high school. Too much 'Anna' in the bread, something like that. By then the whole Starbucks thing had happened, over the summer, and there'd been a couple other outbreaks, but nobody really expected it.

I think I was one of the first. Extra sensitive or something. Though, I had my period the first day of school. Maybe that was it.

Things were normal for a couple weeks, and then one night I was suddenly hella horny. I had to come, like, four times before I could get to sleep. Weird, but I wasn't really scared yet. Not even when I started rubbing one out a couple times a day. The first day or two I even fantasized about guys.

Then a week later I realized I was checking out Lisa Robinson's ass in the shower, and my nipples were rock fucking hard. Look, I'm not a dumbass. We'd all heard about the 'gay plague' stuff. So I kinda had a silent freak-out, right there. I got the fuck out of that shower room, ripped open my locker, and slammed on my clothes so fast I still had soap in my hair.

I wasn't gonna give in. Oh, no, I was gonna fight it. I swore I wouldn't play with myself or look at girls or anything. I was even gonna try to get a boyfriend.

I made it two days. Then after dinner I locked myself in my room, and pretty much went nuts. I got on my netbook and frigged myself to pics and vids of naked girls until the middle of the night. I got a couple viruses, had to wipe the drive and reinstall everything. After that, though, I didn't even care anymore. I didn't

want

to go back. I wanted

pussy

.

I put out some hints, made a few enemies, got some rumors started about me. But guess what? Five days later I was biting Lisa Robinson's ass in her own bed. And her tits, and everything else. It was a pretty good couple of weeks, we were all over each other. And Amy Muller hit on her, so we all got together. I took some shit from people, but I didn't care. I wasn't quite out but the closet walls were pretty fucking thin.