Chapter 5. Right place, right time (part I)

Frosty air nipped at Ace's nose, but the rest of him wasn't cold in the slightest as he watched the blue and purple glow of the lights wash over Sapphire's face. They were at a Christmas light festival, meandering down a path where various painstakingly designed art installations were set up. Currently they were in between exhibits, walking through a tunnel of lights in colours that kept changing. Sapphire was taking in her surroundings in wonder, quiet for once. But Ace's attention was wholly on her. He liked how enormous her eyes got as she took in the scene. He preferred to watch the reflection of the lights in her eyes and how the different colours lit up her perfect face, than look at the lights themselves.

"It's so pretty!" She began to bounce alongside him, overwhelmed with excitement.

"Not as pretty as you," he nudged her playfully.

"Oh stop it, you flirt!"

Ace gave her waist an affectionate squeeze and kept his arm around her as they continued to stroll. She rested her head on his shoulder. The lights were now turning their surroundings a rich magenta.

"Look babe, it's the colour of our love," Ace couldn't stop the goofy grin spreading across his face.

"You're so sappy!" She was beaming at him, and he wanted to stay in this moment forever.

"I can't help myself when I'm with you."

After the walk, the couple sat together in a cafe sipping peppermint hot cocoa. They had managed to snag a loveseat to share, right by the roaring fireplace.

Ace sighed contentedly as he fidgeted with the hem of his white knitted sweater. This sweater, which had loosely draped over his flat stomach this time last year, now proudly hugged a round potbelly. He liked how without his bulky jacket hiding his body, his gain was framed for all onlookers to see. As usual, Sapphire somehow knew exactly what he was thinking.

"You look great, baby," she leaned forward to give his tummy a tender pat.

He rested a hand on his belly thoughtfully, imagining how it would look this time next year. He knew it was only going to expand, and the thought began to get him excited.

"I know," he answered her, "but I actually think I look a little underfed."

Her eyes sparkled mischievously at his flirting.

"Well, we can't have that, can we? It's unacceptable! I can't have acquaintances who know us gossiping that I don't keep my boyfriend well-fed."

"No, you really can't," he reprimanded her with a sly smirk.

The back-and-forth was interrupted by a nervous-looking employee.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt folks, but I just wanted to check in before we get started. Are either of you interested in signing up for today's Christmas donut-eating competition?"

"Yes," blurted Sapphire without missing a beat, "my boyfriend will do it."

"Sounds good. Sir, if you would please follow me. Ma'am, please make your way into the next room and make yourself comfortable in the spectator seating area."

"Good luck, baby!" Sapphire gave Ace an enthusiastic thumbs-up, which he returned. Free donuts? It was his lucky day.

Ace was escorted into a small room with the other contestants. As he scanned his competition, no one stood out to him as an obvious winner. There was a small blonde girl in a cropped sweater that showed off her toned midsection and gem stone belly button piercing. He thought it strange that someone so tiny would want to subject themselves to a large amount of calories. But then again, why not? Why say no to free donuts? There was also an older, stouter woman with a spare tire spreading out over the waistband of her cozy heather grey sweatpants. A Christmas sweater with Rudolf's face on it was snug around her generous breasts and soft muffin top. She looked impatient. Ace empathized with her. That's right, let me at the donuts already! Perhaps she came here every year for this festive event. Or every weekend? They seemed to host one of these every Sunday in December leading up to Christmas. Then there were three college-athlete-looking young men who were joking around boisterously. They had a bet going on about who out of the three of them could eat the most donuts. They seemed eager to compare their bloated bellies after the fact, and were ribbing each other predicting who out of the three was most likely to let themselves go after college and become the biggest fat-ass over time. Ace wondered if any of them would come out of this event realizing how much they enjoyed stuffing themselves, and craving more. It would be satisfying, he thought, to see one of these strapping lads become a hulking porker with a donut addiction.

The host explained to them how the contest worked. It was simple, really. Eat the most donuts possible in the alotted time of 25 minutes. Prizes would be awarded to the contestant who ate the most total donuts, and the contestant who ate the highest proportion of their own weight in donuts. They had been brought in here to measure and record their starting weights.

Ace stepped onto the scale with anticipation, his cock already stirring. He had purposely stayed away from the scale at home to turn a blind eye, and Sapphire hadn't asked him to weigh himself. Prior to dating Sapphire, he had weighed in at 143 pounds.

"Okay, thank you," the host cut off his train of thought abruptly. Ace was ushered off the scale before he could get a good look at the number. Oh well, maybe it was better not to know.

The contestants walked on to the stage and stood by the long table, waiting for the host to announce them. Ace began to salivate as he took in the view. The table was filled with platters, each stacked high with donut mountains. There were several different types: some were reindeer complete with antlers, others were Santa, some were snowmen, others resembled colourful ornaments and still others were green like the Grinch with frosting piped on in a texture resembling fur.

The contestants took their seats at the table as the host announced them. Kourtney Summers, the petite girl with the belly button piercing, strutted on with a cheerful wave to a whole gaggle of equally slim and pretty friends in the audience cheering her on. Paula Hawker, the portly older woman, waddled to her seat gleefully with a determined gleam in her eye. The three student athletes were Peter Nguyen, Brad Evans, and Chadley Kensington. They swaggered on with bravado, hamming it up and flexing their muscles for the crowd, hyping up the spectators to solicit louder whoops and more applause.

"Last but not least we have Anthony Lee, weighing in today at 190 pounds!" The host declared. Ace hurried to his seat bashfully, reddening a bit as the crowd hollered. 190? Had he really gotten that heavy? When he took his seat, his eyes met Sapphire's. She was glowing with pride and enthusiasm. He winked at her, ready to blow his lady away by putting on the show of her life.