chapter 2

It had been a month since Tegan's first day. Every day since she'd gone above and beyond her job description. There wasn't a day that passed where Tom wasn't supplied with food from her, and for a while she'd been doing a brilliant job at making sure that her boss had been getting home on time.

However, the past week or so Tom had started to seem less eager to go home. A few times he'd even still been sitting at his desk for long after Tegan left... she could tell by the takeout wrappers the next morning.

Speaking of takeout: Tegan looked up from her computer screen and saw Tom stood talking to one of the downstairs floor managers. He'd gone up a size in his clothes, she would've guessed -- especially the neck sizing in his shirts. At an estimate Tegan would say that he'd gained around a stone in the past 4 weeks. His belly was now a pot belly that constantly pushed against his shirt; his small but flabby love handles hung over his belt; from a sideview Tegan could see that he was growing slight moobs. Tom was well on his way to a double chin; his face and neck were really porking up fast.

"Hey, Tom?" Tegan asked as she walked up to him after his conversation had ended.

He grunted acknowledgement and turned to look at Tegan. She quickly glanced down at his shirt buttons straining across his growing paunch and tried not to smirk.

"Want your usual for lunch?"

Absentmindedly putting a hand to his belly, Tom slowly nodded.

Tegan put a hand on his arm as she picked up her coat off of the hook behind him. She knew he was thinking about how burgers and fries everyday was something he shouldn't do. "I'll get you a few extra portions of those mozzarella bites that you like."

Realising he was now rubbing his palm across his gut seconds after Tegan had left to get his lunch, Tom made way to his office.

Shutting the door, Tom grabbed his paunch and looked down at it: embarrassment clear on his face. Feeling the handfuls of flab and knowing it was only a part of what he'd gained in the last few months, he couldn't blame Emily for complaining about it. He'd started lying to her a few weeks ago when he'd woken up to her prodding his belly and saying he was becoming a blubbery hog. He'd told her he'd started using the gym at work and he was using a subscription service to order healthy meals for his lunch.

That had been dozens of burgers and pizzas ago.

And not only was Tom not eating any better, he was actually less active than ever. Tegan seemed to do almost everything for him and he was becoming increasingly comfortable in spending a majority of the day in his office just snacking on sugary and greasy foods.

Sitting down at his desk, Tom opened one of the drawers and stared at the stash of food inside. He knew he shouldn't. He may've been getting lazy, but his memory was still active enough to remember Emily's comments: "You'll be a blimp before long," "Keep this up and you'll be so big you won't be able to be on top," "Gosh, look at your belly. You're turning into a whale. Is all you do waddle around for more food?"

All of this and more went through Tom's mind. He knew he shouldn't. But he couldn't help himself.




By the time Tegan came back with both her hands full with bags of food, she'd been updated by other staff that Tom had last been seen rubbing his 'blossoming buddha belly' before going back into his office.

Grinning at the knowledge that people were starting to notice just how much thicker Tom was getting, she knocked on his door.

No answer.

She knocked again and heard a groan. She knew what this meant. She'd heard it plenty of times over the past month.

Opening the door and stepping in quickly as to avoid anybody seeing into the office, Tegan was taken aback by the sight of Tom.

Slumped back in his office chair, Tom was bloated bigger than she'd ever seen him. The shirt buttons were holding up a brave battle, but it would be a miracle if they lasted until the end of the day. Pathetically holding his belly, Tom was groaning: chocolate smeared around his mouth and on his bump of a second chin.

"Were you hungry, sweetie?" Tegan put on a smile to cover up her shock.

He nodded, fat neck turning to rolls as his head went down. "All gone," he muttered and then burped.

"What do you -" Tegan had gone around to his side to see him closer, putting the bags of food on the desk. There she saw all the desk drawers open and now empty: candy wrappers littering the floor. "Oh my! Hehe. You've certainly outdone yourself haven't you."

"I'm getting fat."

Again shocked, Tegan stuttered slightly: "n-no, you're not, you're just-"

With a loud burp that Tegan was sure people could hear outside of the room, two of Tom's shirt buttons on his belly popped off and skittered against the wall.

Tom and Tegan remained in silence besides Tom's stuffed panting until he reached under his paunch and removed his trouser button. His burp had evidently masked the sound of his trousers giving up on his expanding size.

"I'm nearly 200lbs, you know," Tom wheezed. Still looking straight ahead. "195lbs to be precise. I'm a blimp. A fat, disgusting blimp. I'll be lucky to even have a future with Emily at this rate... That future being she'll be off fucking one of her fitness buddies because I'll be too flabby and out of shape to do anything but sit on my ass and eat until none of my clothes fit me."

Tegan did well to disguise her smile. This one is going to become huge.

"Leave me alone." Tom muttered. "And leave the food."