Chapter 1 - An Initial Agreement

Derek had become a lot stronger since his freshman year of college. Over nearly six years of bulking and cutting, he had gotten himself to an impressive 280 lb build, with a good amount of muscle. He had always been a bigger guy, but now he had the look of a football player -- more or less.

Kevin, his best friend since college and current roommate, was the complete opposite. He had always been paper-thin, 130 lbs soaking wet. He had gone to the gym with Derek countless times and never had anything change. No matter what he did, Kevin just stayed the same.

Derek, after having taken a shower, was eyeing himself in the mirror. As he flexed, he was trying to find a good pose so he could take a picture to update his Tinder profile. He was enjoying the attention that his gains were getting him, but was not really enjoying all the pudge that came with it. Derek had a pretty bad sweet tooth, not to mention his cravings for fast food.

Derek, in a towel about to take a picture, was interrupted by Kevin barging in to brush his teeth.

"Kev, what the fuck. I'm not done in here" Derek broke out with a smile.

Kevin's eyes were still closed and yet he was already brushing his teeth. He closed the toilet seat, sat, and looked Derek up and down with just one eye barely open.

"D, you're gonna be taking pictures in here for another hour. I'll just be a minute"

Derek, still smiling, sat on the edge of the bathtub, fully accentuating the size of his belly. He listened to his roommate brush his teeth for a moment before asking

"Do you think I'm fat?"

Kevin stopped brushing. He opened both eyes to see his roommate's expression turn to one of sincerity. He wasn't sure what answer Derek was expecting, but he sure wasn't going to say he was skinny.

"D, I've seen you probably a hundred pounds lighter. But that was also when I could beat you in an arm wrestle. You're ... a big guy, but it looks good on you dude."

Derek kept looking at his figure in the mirror. Disappointed, he got up and walked back to his room.

Kevin, still brushing his teeth, called out from the bathroom.

"Come on man, I said you look good!"

He waited a bit for a response, but heard nothing. Kevin walked into Derek's room, unannounced, and started rifling through his dresser. Derek, now fully naked, heard the noise and almost screamed.

"Dude I'm changing, get out --"

"Shut the fuck up, I'm stealing a nice shirt"

Derek picked up his towel off the floor and covered himself again.

"Kev, don't steal my shit again"

Kevin, smiling, picked up an old button down and asked "D is a medium still fitting these days?"

Derek felt a little embarrassed - he held onto some old clothes that he hoped he could fit into again. But he definitely wasn't fitting into a medium anytime soon. Derek watched as Kevin walked out with his old dress shirt and a belt.

Derek called out "A thank you would be nice".

"Thank you for the wrinkly shirt"

Derek rolled his eyes as he began to change for work. He had interned at a tech company for a few years in college, who were more than happy to fire him full time as soon as he graduated. He made a stupid amount of money for a fairly easy job.

Derek appeared out in the hall in a button down, tie, suspenders, and some khakis. He hadn't had time to get a new belt, and none of his other ones fit anymore. His dress shirt was also a bit too tight, so his tie was working to try and hide the straining buttons (particularly around his chest).

Kevin emerged at nearly the same time, wearing his stolen shirt with some nice pants. He looked like a teenager -- the complete opposite of his roommate.

Derek looked Kevin up and down and said "You look good man. You ready for your interview?"

Kevin took a deep breath in. "Seventh times the charm, right?"

"Kev, I told you I could help you get somethin-"

"Look D, I appreciate it man. I just don't really think I'd be a good fit. I need a fairly flexible schedule, and I like working with people. I just need to do this okay?"

Derek didn't have high hopes that this new job would pan out either, but he tried his best to show full confidence to his friend.

"Sure thing, just let me know how it goes okay?"

Kevin smiled at his roommate and then walked out of the house. Derek spent a few more moments obsessing over his appearance in the mirror before finally leaving for work.

When he got to the office, his usual temptations began to take over. One of the office ladies went around and took breakfast orders for the local deli. He kept telling himself to just say no.

A young woman, Cindy, knocked on Derek's door, before slowly opening it a smidge. "Morning Derek. Anything for breakfast today?"

Derek couldn't help but notice how much tighter his shirt felt when he sat down. One part of his brain just wanted to ask her to bring him a mountain of food, and the other was begging to just go on a diet.

"I'll ... um ... can I ... uh"

Cindy had played this game way too many times, and she really didn't have the patience for it this morning. "Hun, I'll just order you a few things. Big man's gotta eat right?"

Derek tried to protest, but the door was already closed. Dreading the start to this actual work, he went to the break room to make himself a coffee.

On the dining table, there was an assortment of breakfast pastries, generously donated by ... someone. A business partner maybe? Must have been someone important though, because the spread was huge. He had seen this kind of thing many times, and more often than not the entire thing was thrown away by noon. He checked to make sure no one was watching, and just began stuffing his face. He made his way through 4 donuts and had a croissant in hand when his coffee was finally done.

He made is way back to his office, still hungry. He watched the clock for the next hour until his food arrived. Luckily, Cindy handed him 2 breakfast sandwiches and a platter of pancakes.

Derek tried playing it off as way too much food, despite wanting to eat the entire thing then and there "Cindy, I know I'm a big guy but this is way too much"

Cindy looked back from her cart "Well I wanted to offer you variety more than anything -- just eat what you like and throw out the rest."

He, of course, ate the entire thing in record time. When he was finished, his brain was divided in two -- half of him felt so good being so satiated, and half of him felt so disgusting for eating so much. He probably had more than enough food for the entire day, and it wasn't even noon. The sad part was he still wanted to go back to the break room for some more pastries.

---

Kevin's interview was not very successful. He was a smart guy, sure, and he even had a master's degree. It just really didn't mean all that much when everyone else had one too. His wait for the bus was interrupted by a text from his roommate.

"Any update?"

Kevin turned off his phone and just was overcome with anger. He felt like he wanted to punch something, like he wanted to scream, like he wanted to be anywhere else doing anything else. He felt like a failure.

His bus ride home was uneventful. After about 30 minutes of cooling off, he finally answered his roommate.

"No dice"

---

Kevin started putting his keys in the door, when he realized the apartment was already unlocked. He opened the door to see his roommate eating out of the fridge.

"Oh shit, uh, hey man. Sorry about your day"

Kevin looked his roommate up and down. Derek's button up was completely destroyed. Half the buttons weren't even on the thing anymore. His pants seemed to be straining too. Yet he was still stuffing his face.

"Uh dude, I gotta say this is definitely making you look fat."

"*** dude, who asked you"

"You did. This morning."

Derek looked at his roommate, grabbed a carton of milk, and began chugging. Kevin walked to his room and dropped of his wallet and keys. He started to strip when he heard Derek from across the apartment.

"And give me back my clothes man"

Kevin walked back out to the kitchen to talk to his gorging roommate face to face. Racking his brain on what to say, he started off by asking

"What the fuck are you even doing home? It's 3 o'clock"

Derek's face turned red, as he let out "I just came home because my shirt buttons popped off."

His face was covered with a lot of the remains of this most recent binge. From the looks of it he picked up something on the way home that was no longer here. Kevin pieced together that it was probably a full cake.

"Man, you can't keep doing this and then guilt me into saying you look thin. This kind of behavior is why you've gotten so big. You don't look bad by any means, but if you want to lose weight this isn't the way to do it."

Derek looked up from the fridge again before closing it fully. He walked by his roommate in silence before taking a seat in the dining room. Before he said anything, there was a loud *POP* that came from his pants finally giving out. He lifted his belly to reveal the now freed button. He grabbed it and placed it on the table.

The two roommates stared at each other for a bit before laughing hysterically. Derek looked at his roommate and began thinking.

"Kev, I really need some help with this"

"With what?"

"With losing weight, with curbing my terrible eating habits. Listen man, I make enough that I could pay for everything you need plus give you a decent salary to be a personal coach. Cou-"

"D, I don't know the first thing about dieting or exercise. I don't think -"

"But that's not what I need! I've hired some of the best trainers money can buy, and the best they've done for me is help me maintain weight. I just need someone who's gonna hold me accountable, someone who's gonna be there for me at a moment's notice to literally smack the donut out of my hand."

"...so you want me following you around all day?"

"Well ... not forever. Just until I'm in a better place with my eating habits."

Kevin looked at his roommate and then looked away. His wallet was definitely hurting, and he could sure use the money, but he was unsure about how well this situation would work out. He tried to express his hesitancy to his roommate

"D, listen I-"

"Ok just shut the fuck up and listen. There's like a little part of my brain that knows the right thing to do. I can verbalize that to you, and you just need to act on it."

"Act on it?"

"Yea man. Lock me out of my phone so I can't doordash, or take my keys so I can't drive to Wendy's. Look, when I tell you to not let me order enough food for three people, instead of cracking a joke just do it!"

Kevin looked at his roommate puzzled. This seemed all too good to be true.

"I just don't want any of this to come between us. I mean, I'm literally going to be coming between you and your dinner, and I can't help but think you're gonna hate me for it"

"Dude, I promise I won't. And if I'm being a jerk you tell me, and I'll stop."

Derek held out his hand for agreement.

"Do we have a deal?"

Kevin shut his eyes, but couldn't hide his smile. He reached out and shook Derek's hand.

"I guess your diet starts now then"