Originally published July 30, 2016.
Contains: long-term weight gain, direct encouraging, and sexual scenes. Not recommended for underage readers.
This story was inspired by a story by Ventrego called “Front and Back Heavy”, which he posted in the Yahoo group bulkorama. In that story, a fit, recently-divorced family man pulls up to a trucker depot, and with the help of a genie-like character, he blows up to the size of the big truckers around him, getting to experience life at that size. Much as I enjoyed it, what fascinated me most were the brief scenes of this clean-cut guy looking at the fat truckers around him and being envious of that lifestyle, wanting to be as big as them. I wanted to explore what might have happened if, instead of using magic, the guy ended up fattening up the same way those truckers did: driving a truck and eating big out on the road.
I sat on the idea for a while, because it was missing that something to make me want to write it. That something ended up being exploring how the man’s relationship with his ex-wife and kids evolves as he grows and becomes more of the man he wants to be. That kicked me into high gear to start writing, and this story is the result. It’s a little bit of just about everything I’ve written up to this point: feeding sessions, long-term weight gain, vanilla sexual scenes, character development being tied in with the erotic scenes, and the evolving relationships between the characters. I’m proud of it, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Synopsis: When Mark, a recent divorcee, makes a trip to a truckers’ depot to fill up on gas, he reevaluates his life decisions up to that point, including his respectable-but-stressful job and the trim figure he put so much effort into maintaining while getting no satisfaction out of it. Inspired by the hefty truckers around him, he decides to quit his job and take up driving a big rig, eating big on the road and at the depots he visits along the way. As his waistline grows and he has hot and steamy encounters with other hefty drivers while out on the road, he also grows closer to his kids and ex-wife as he becomes more the man he always wanted to be.
It was Saturday night, and Mark was driving home from visitation in a minivan that felt far too large for him. Without his ex-wife or eldest daughter in the passenger seat and two or three kids in the back, the vehicle felt vacant, like a shopping plaza with only one store front occupied. It was a lot like how he imagined the house would feel after all three kids had left for college, and it was just him and Cathy trying to fill the space with warmth and love and memories of just two of them. But instead of doing that, he was awkwardly driving the giant van down a highway back to his new apartment. He’d never felt comfortable with how much space he took up on the road when he drove the van, but when the kids were inside, it gave the vehicle’s size a sense of purpose. Now it just felt unnecessarily large.
It was appropriate, in a way. At just over 6 feet tall with a toned frame and a trim waist, Mark himself was never comfortable taking up much space. He was the type to shrink to the side when he had to pass by a coworker in the office, even when they moved aside for him. This was compounded by a timid demeanor that his wife always told him would never help him move up in the office like he wanted to.
But did he really want to? It was a question he found himself pondering as he drove home that night. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he only cared about his job because it enabled him to support his family. Child support payments were a much less tangible reward than being able to provide for his family directly, and with only himself to provide for tangibly, the job was seeming a lot less appealing.
But he still had to pay his own rent and put food on his own table, even if that food was usually take-out he picked up on the way home from work. His job had been demanding that he work a lot more late hours, without any sort of additional compensation, not even a thank you. As if on cue the day after his divorce was finalized, his boss came into his cubicle and told him, “Listen, the board wants to see more results from us on every front, so we’re all going to have to pull a little more weight around here.” No promotion, not even a raise, just a bigger workload. He’d gotten the only part of moving up in the office that he didn’t want, with none of the perks.
All this weighed on Mark’s mind as he pulled into a travel depot to get gas. It was the kind of place that was mostly frequented by truckers making their way across the country with their hauls, but anyone could come to fill up their tanks. Due to usually catering to drivers with bigger tanks to fill, the prices were better than Mark could get elsewhere, which was enough for him. It was just the sensible thing to do. Sensible like keeping his job, or going to the gym after work, or buying a minivan to drive all his kids around.
Mark let out a sigh as the nozzle clicked and stopped pumping.
Across the way from Mark was the big rig of a trucker who’d started filling up before Mark had arrived. Around when Mark finished pumping, the hefty trucker walked out of the station with a pizza box in hand and a brown take-out bag with large grease stains balanced on top, which he put on the passenger seat before checking to see if the nozzle was done pumping. With the gas still flowing, he opened the pizza box and pulled out a slice. Cheese strings stretched as the burly trucker pulled out his snack before they finally snapped and he took a giant bite. He ate with abandon and glee, finishing the slice faster than Mark had seen before.
It wasn’t all that surprising. The trucker looked like eating a whole pizza himself, along with whatever was in the bag on top, wasn’t unusual for him. Out of a stocky frame stuck a spherical gut that protruded at least a foot in front of him and looked well over two feet wide. Though the trucker was heavy all over, his gut was by far the heftiest part of his body. It looked like it had been permanently rounded out by the large meals he must have enjoyed on a regular basis.
Mark looked down at his own toned midsection and let out a jealous groan. He thought of the lean, unfulfilling and unfilling meals he and Cathy cooked and ate together. He thought of all the office lunches where he’d ordered a salad when he really wanted to get pizza like everyone else. He thought of his nights spent at the gym staying trim when he could have been spending time with his kids. He’d always told himself it was the right thing to do. Now he looked at the trucker’s prominent gut and his own trivial heft and wondered what he had to show for it all.
After Mark paid, he pulled his car around to the parking lot to use the bathroom inside the travel depot. He didn’t especially need to go, but he wanted to stay among the truckers just a little longer. He had no trouble finding a space, as there weren’t many other non-truck vehicles in the lot.
As he walked from his van to the building, Mark found himself walking toward another trucker, this one even bigger than the one he’d seen before. His round gut, covered by a tight white tee shirt and flanked by a denim vest, must have been over three feet across. Unlike the first trucker, this one was large all over, with burly arms, stocky legs, a brawny chest, soft cheeks, and a lengthy greying beard to match. He carried his size with an unwavering confidence, so Mark moved out of the way before they were even close to crossing paths. As they passed, the trucker’s crinkly blue eyes looked Mark’s way and he nodded with a warm smile. Mark smiled and nodded back, and for a moment, he felt at peace.
Mark passed under a sign that bore the words Harrison Truck Depot as he walked inside. In the halls, he followed the signs to the bathrooms while dodging the truckers around him like a game of Frogger. They ranged in size from those that bore a small but noticeable paunch to those who were the size of the trucker he’d passed in the lot, and some who were even bigger. They seemed to move with an intuitive understanding of human traffic flow that Mark wasn’t privy too, resulting in a lot of ducking and dodging on his part. What he knew for sure was that at his scrawny size, he was at the bottom of the pecking order here, and no one was going to move aside for him.
On his way to the bathroom, Mark passed by a store that sold clothes in sizes he’d never seen on a rack before, and several fast food stalls promising filling, hearty meals. Next to the bathrooms were shower stalls, from which he watched a portly driver emerge and shake his head, making water fly from his wet, shaggy hair. Once he’d used the restroom, he passed by a bulletin board that he looked at for fun, though he knew he wasn’t the target audience for anything on it. But one “Now hiring” flier stood out over the rest due to one key piece of text: “Not a truck driver? We’ll pay for your driving lessons.”
Mark fingered one of the tear-off slips of paper with the company website and phone number on it, before letting his hand drop, still empty. It was silly, he told himself. He had a good job. He shouldn’t give that up.
“You thinking of picking up trucking, pal?” Mark looked to his right and saw a trucker about his height and probably a hundred pounds heavier standing next to him, peering at the billboard too. He had a loose-fitting shirt draped over his body and a backwards sports cap on.
“I mean…” Deep down, Mark had hoped he could blend in at the depot and pretend like he belonged there. In hindsight, he supposed that was never going to happen. “Yeah…” he admitted. “I am.”
“Hmm…” said the trucker contemplatively. “Well, Cross-Country Haulers ain’t a bad place to start out. I worked for them a few years, and I didn’t have many complaints. Would have been a pretty sweet gig if I didn’t already know how to drive a truck.” The trucker looked Mark over pensively before he continued. “It ain’t glamorous work, though. Definitely not for everyone. I’m not sure what a clean-cut guy like you sees in it, to be honest. But if you want to give it a go, I ain’t gonna discourage you. The trucker’s life’s been good to me.”
“How long have you been a trucker?” Mark asked.
“I started about ten years and seventy pounds ago,” the trucker said with a chuckle as he patted his ample gut. In spite of himself, Mark couldn’t help but stare at the driver’s belly, something the trucker caught on to quickly. With a smirk on his face, he rubbed his gut and watched with satisfaction as Mark was transfixed. Occasionally his shirt lifted up as he rubbed and he flashed a bit of skin, making Mark’s eyes go especially wide. “Maybe you’re cut out for it after all, pal.”
With a shake of his head, Mark recomposed himself and looked the trucker in the eye again. “I mean… I really want to give it a try.”
“Do it, then,” the driver said as he patted Mark on the shoulder. Before he walked away, he turned back and extended his hand. “I’m Barry.”
“Mark,” he replied as he took Barry’s warm, rough hand in his own, shaking it for longer than intended and forcing Barry to be the one who let go.
“Nice to meet you, Mark. Maybe I’ll see you around.” With a tip of his hat, Barry strode off, arms swinging widely at his sides.
Mark looked again at the flier, contemplating it one last time before he ripped a slip off. He pocketed it before pulling out his phone to take a photo of the flier too, in case he lost the paper tab.
On his way out, he paused by one of the food stands, stopping in place when he saw what was available. It was the furthest thing from what he usually allowed himself to eat. And yet, with a feeling somewhere between determination and resignation, he got in line and ordered a hot dog. As soon as he started walking out, he took a bite and closed his eyes with an audible, “Mmm.” Then he remembered where he was and opened his eyes just in time to avoid running into another gigantic trucker walking toward him. He quickly apologized, at which the trucker waved his way before walking off.
Mark managed to finish the hot dog before he even got out of the building, licking his lips as he threw away the wrapper in the bin by the door. Not wanting to waste any time, he called the number on the slip on his way back to his minivan and set up an interview as he drove back home.
The next weekend, Mark pulled into Cathy’s driveway Saturday morning to visit the kids. He pulled up next to her newly bought, gently-used white sedan and felt a pang of jealousy. He told himself he’d have to sell the minivan and replace it with a more sensible car when things settled down.
Mark knocked on the door and was greeted by his eldest child at 13 years, Camila. “Dad!” she shouted excitedly. Though Mark would have never picked a favorite child, Camila was definite the one who favored him the most.
“Hey, sweetheart. Where’s everyone else?”
“They’re in the kitchen,” she said as she stepped back to allow Mark to walk in. Cathy had moved into a one-floor house which she’d fashioned into a four-bedroom home for the kids, turning the study into a bedroom for Bobby, the middle child, and what was once a playroom into Gwen’s bedroom.
In the kitchen, Mark found Bobby eating cereal, Gwen engrossed in her crayons, and Cathy sipping coffee while looking over bills. Bobby said, “Hi, dad,” with an even tone like he saw Mark every day. Gwen waved at Mark before she kept coloring. Cathy nodded at Mark like a passerby on the street.
“Hey, sport,” he greeted Bobby, who was on the cusp of his ninth birthday. “Hey, Gwen,” he said. At four years old, Gwen was his youngest, and also the quietest.
Mark walked up to Cathy with his fingers nervously fidgeting in front of him. “Hey.”
WIth tired eyes, Cathy looked up at Mark like he was a coworker who’d come to talk to her at her desk. “Hey,” she said with the same kind of feigned enthusiasm she normally reserved for her professional life.
“You have anything fun planned for today?”
“Just taking care of bills.”
Mark nodded meekly. “You… don’t want to go out and do something nice for yourself while I have the kids?”
“The nicest thing I can do right now is get these taken care of and off my mind,” said Cathy assuredly.
“Ah. So… how are things?” Mark asked, not sure what else to talk about.
“More of the same. Your first child support check came through, so that’s made things easier.”
“Good,” said Mark, genuinely happy he was able to help Cathy and their kids but not sure how to sensitively express it when the topic was so delicate.
“How about you?”
“Well…” Mark felt weird telling Cathy about his recent decisions. By all accounts, he was a “free man”, whatever that meant, and he knew he shouldn’t have felt like he had to answer to her judgements. At the same time, visitation and child support meant whatever decisions he made still affected her. “I put in my two weeks’ notice at work.”
“Oh,” said said with eyebrows raised.
“Yeah. They’d asked all of us to take on more responsibility, without a raise or even any recognition, so I started looking elsewhere.”
“So much for moving up there.”
“I don’t think that was going to happen anyway.”
“Hmm,” Cathy remarked, like she wanted to disagree with him but couldn’t do so earnestly. “So, what’s next on the horizon for you?”
“I’ve, uh… I’ve been hired by Cross-Country Haulers.”
“Sounds like a trucking company,” Cathy chuckled.
“It is.”
After a pause, Cathy nodded slowly, like that wasn’t the answer she was hoping for but she was still optimistic about where this could go. “So what are you doing for them? Accounting? Data entry?”
“Well… no,” Mark stated, having finally found some assuredness in his tone. “I’m going to be a driver.”
Cathy put her hand in front of her mouth from having nearly spat out her coffee. “You don’t know how to drive a truck,” she exclaimed.
“No, but they’ll pay for my classes so I can learn.”
“So you’re not even going to be working until you’re certified to drive a big rig?”
“I have enough saved up to tide us over in the meantime.”
After staring at Mark a while longer, Cathy’s eyebrows relaxed and she looked to the side contemplatively. “How, um… how did you decided to try trucking?”
“It’s… “ In an uncommon decision for him, Mark decided that lying would be better than telling her the truth. “…something I’ve been thinking about for a long time now. And, I mean… with the the divorce, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what makes me happy and what I want to change. New chapter and all that.”
With a reluctant nod, Cathy took a long sip of her coffee. “I hope it makes you happy,” she said like she had to force out each syllable individually.
Mark nodded and replied, “I think it will,” with as much assuredness as he could muster. He was sure it would, but not so sure he could convince Cathy. “Anyway… I guess I’ll take the kids out now.”
With a nod, Cathy said, “Have fun with dad,” loud enough for the kids to know she was talking to them.
“So what’ll it be today? How about the zoo?”
“Yeah!” shouted Camila excitedly.
“I guess,” said Bobby
Gwen remained silent.
Six weeks later, Mark was licensed to start driving and had gotten his first assignment, a cross-state merchandise delivery. He showed up Monday morning and was able to get the cargo out and the truck back by the end of the day. Hardly the long overnights he was expecting when he started, but he took some comfort in knowing he could move his way up to those when he proved his competence.
Before heading back, Mark stopped at another travel depot closer to his destination to grab a bite to eat. It was 1:00 PM, and he hadn’t eaten since his modest breakfast that morning. He’d planned to grab more to eat during the trip, but it was such a short and straightforward drive that he didn’t have a chance to take a break until the end of his delivery.
The depot was smaller than Harrison’s, but it still promised everything he needed right now. After parking his rig in the lot, he headed inside for a desperately needed bathroom break and an even more desperately needed lunch. After emptying his bladder, he eyed a chain food stop that sold Italian food and got in line, his stomach growling loudly at the prospect of him finally having something to eat. The trucker in front of Mark looked back at him and down at his abdomen. “Sounds like you came to the right place,” the burly man said in his husky voice.
“Definitely.”
When Mark got to the front of the line, he blanked on what to order, his decision making skills deteriorated by his hunger. He ended up ordering everything that looked appetizing, including a piece of lasagna, a slice of pepperoni pizza, some meatballs, and a breadstick. He consciously skipped over the salad.
With a cutlery and napkin packet in hand, Mark found an empty table to eat his lunch at. Though no one joined him, he didn’t especially care when he was that hungry. The breadstick was the first to go, a casualty of his ravenous hunger, with the pizza following soon after. With some food in his stomach, he could slow down and enjoy the lasagna and meatballs, pleasantly surprised by how good they tasted.
Mark felt quite full when he stood up, but it was a satisfied fullness, one he didn’t mind as he walked back to his truck to start the trip back. He was also thankful it meant no food coma on the drive back, and he parked the truck back to Harrison’s without incident.
“Pretty good for a first day,” Mark told himself as he put the truck in park to pay a visit to where it all started. He stepped down from the high cabin, still getting used to get in and out of a vehicle even bigger than his minivan. In comparison, the van didn’t seem so unwarrantedly large. Then again, like the van when he was driving his kids around, the rig was giant with a purpose.
Mark headed inside to get a bite to eat. He wasn’t as hungry as he was at lunch, but it was dinner time, and the idea of grabbing dinner from the travel depot was a lot more appealing than any of the trendier, healthier, skimpier places he’d used to visit on the way home from work.
Mark still felt awkward walking around the travel depot, not quite feeling like he belonged there yet, but he was more used to moving around it than he had been at first. At this busier time of the day, it was easier for him to fall in with the human traffic patterns than it was the first time he stopped in the depot. Unfortunately, it also meant a longer line at the food shops.
Once Mark had finally moved to the front of the line, he ordered a chicken fingers and fries plate and a meatball sub, wanting to make the wait worth it. He took his food and wandered the food court until he was lucky enough to find an empty two-person table. With a sigh, he sat down and ate his dinner, trying to tune out the hubbub around him.
“Is this seat taken?” asked a familiar voice. Mark looked up and saw Barry’s friendly face looking down at his own.
“Barry! Yeah, go ahead,” he answered as he motioned toward the seat.
Barry sat down with his tray loaded up with a hulking double cheese burger, a large order of fries, an order of fried pickles, and a large drink. The metal stool seemed remarkably steady underneath him, though if the depot were quieter, Mark would have been able to hear it creak. “What brings you back to our corner?”
Mark chuckled to himself. “I got the job. I’m a trucker now. Today was my first day.”
“Hey hey! Congrats!” Barry beamed as he patted Mark enthusiastically on the shoulder. “You start your first job already?”
“Started and finished, actually.”
“Really?” asked Barry. “Oh, they started you with an in-state job, didn’t they?”
“Yep.”
“You going to try to start driving out-of-state jobs soon?”
“That’s the dream,” Mark answered, at which Barry’s eyebrows popped up before he took a bite of his burger.
“Well,” Barry said through a mouthful of burger, “don’t get into any accidents and you’ll get there.”
Hank nodded and took a bite of one of his chicken fingers. “I’m going to get a shirt from the shop to celebrate. Something that’ll feel like work attire for this new ‘office’,” he said while making air quotes.
“Not a bad idea,” said Barry before he took another bite. “What size shirt is that?”
“A large.”
“Get an XL,” said Barry. “You’ll grow into it, trust me.” The idea of it made Mark’s heart beat a little faster, and his breath drew a little shorter. “Matter of fact,” Barry said as he pushed himself up from the table, “on that note, let me buy you something to eat to celebrate you starting the job. What’re you in the mood for?”
Mark froze before he could answer. On the one hand, the idea of growing fatter naturally just by doing his job was part of the appeal of trucking when he’d applied. It was what he wanted. On the other hand, part of the appeal was in it happening naturally, almost unconsciously, as he left behind one lifestyle for another. Doing it intentionally was a whole different matter that brought home the reality of the situation.
But he hardly intended to turn back now. With a smile, Mark said, “Pizza sounds good.”
With a nod, Barry walked off into the mass of people and out of Mark’s sight. Anywhere else, a man like Barry would have stood out in a crowd, but in a travel depot like this one, it was remarkably easy for him to blend in.
Mark had finished all of his chicken fingers and most of his fries by the time Barry came back. He’d been growing impatient, but his annoyance was immediately dispelled when he saw Barry come back with a large pizza box.
“Did you get a whole pizza?” Mark asked in an astonished voice.
“You think was going to go wait in line for a single slice?”
“Surely you don’t expect me to eat all that tonight.”
“I mean, not if you don’t want to. That’s up to you. You don’t even have to eat any of it now if you don’t want to,” said Barry, the snark building up in his voice. “But you might want to lift up your food and put it on top of the pizza so we have space for it on the table.”
Mark obliged, lifting up what remained of his fries and meatball sub so Barry could slip the pizza box underneath them. The two continued chatting pleasantly as Mark nibbled on the last of his meatball sub and snacked on his fries. Mark got up to throw his trash away as Barry snacked on his fried pickles. With Barry’s snacking keeping Mark’s mind on food, he opened the box of pizza and, not really thinking about what he was doing, took a slice and started eating it. Barry saw what he was doing, but merely smirked to himself and kept chatting.
By the time their conversation was over, the travel depot had cleared out considerably, and the crowds weren’t as dense as they were when Mark arrived. Only about half of the tables in the food court were occupied. And Mark had eaten half of the pizza.
Barry got up from the table without much trouble, but Mark found himself having a much more difficult time of things. When he finally stood up, he let out an impressive belch and rubbed his sore stomach absentmindedly.
“Mmhm,” said Barry. “Yeah, you need a bigger shirt.”
“Why do you say that?” Mark asked in something of a food-induced stupor.
With a chuckle, Barry reached over and patted the underside of Mark’s stomach. “See for yourself,” he said, just as Mark realized he could feel Barry’s hand on his skin.
Looking down, Mark saw that his shirt was sticking out at an angle from the top of his stomach, rather than wrapping around like it would normally. He pulled it down in an attempt to hide his exposed belly, and had some measure of success when he felt his knuckles brush against his belt. “See? Still fits.”
“You keep telling yourself that,” said Barry. “But you’re going to need a new one sooner rather than later. Come on,” he said as he put his arm around Mark’s shoulder to lead his stuffed friend to the clothing store. “Let’s go get you one now. I’ll carry your pizza.”
“Don’t eat any,” Mark joked as he walked off with Barry.
Mark had just finished his third week working for Cross-Country Haulers, and was driving the minivan to visit his kids. Though he’d planned to get rid of the minivan and trade it in for a smaller car once things had settled down, working every day in a much larger vehicle had made the car’s size not seem so gratuitous. In comparison with driving a truck down the highway, driving a minivan was a breeze.
Mark was wearing a new shirt he’d bought since buying his first XL with Barry. Though he could still wear his large shirts, the XLs were just more comfortable. He’d also upgraded to a bigger pair of jeans, one he’d intentionally gotten with a loose waist knowing it wouldn’t stay loose forever. For now, his belt held the baggy denim up faithfully.
When Mark rung the doorbell, he was greeted again by Camila, who was happy to see him as always. But this time, Bobby was standing in the doorway behind her, and he also said hi to Mark as he walked in. Bobby wasn’t quite so enthusiastic as Camila, but it was a nice change of pace. When they walked into the kitchen, Gwen waved at Mark enthusiastically before she resumed her coloring. Cathy leaned on the counter and sipped her coffee.
“Hey. How’ve you been?”
“We’re settling into things,” she admitted. “But I think everyone’s starting to get used to this new normal.”
“What else can you do?” Mark asked rhetorically.
“How’s the job going?” Cathy asked, not sounding as dismissive as she had been when he first told her about it.
“It’s going well!” Mark enthused. Judging by Cathy’s smile, she seemed to believe him this time. “I’m actually going to start my first out-of-state drive tomorrow.”
After she finished taking a sip of coffee, Cathy said, “That’s exciting.”
“It’s also my first time staying out overnight on a trip. I’ve picked out a nice depot to park at for the night.”
“Is there a hotel nearby?”
“Oh no, I’ll be sleeping in the back of my truck.”
Cathy nearly spat out her coffee, holding her hand in front of her mouth to prevent a mess. “Willingly?” she stuttered as she tried to swallow her coffee before it could go anywhere else.
“Yes.”
“Did you know you were signing up for that when you started driving?”
“Hey, it’s not like the back seat of the minivan or something. There’s a whole bed behind the seats for me to sleep in. It’s pretty nice, actually, and if it means I get to travel more, all the better.”
Cathy raised her eyebrows before raising her mug. “People do always wish they had jobs that allowed them to travel,” she said into the mug before taking another sip. After letting her hand down, she looked at Mark with something resembling a smile. “If this is what you want…” Mark nodded with a smile of his own. “Then I hope it’s everything you want it to be.”
With a another nod, Mark proclaimed, “It will be.”
It was Monday morning. Mark started his trip with a stop at the Harrison Truck Depot for breakfast and to stock up on snacks, now that he knew better than to trust that he’d always be able to find a travel depot to stop at for every meal. Though he’d already picked out a depot to spend the night at, anything beyond that was a crapshoot. He stocked up on chips, cheetos, chocolate bars with nuts in them, chocolate cupcakes, cheesy popcorn, and mini pizza bagels for the road. With a good breakfast of two egg-cheese-and-sausage sandwiches in his stomach, he started on his trip.
Mark spent all morning snacking on the treats as he drove, but he was lucky enough to get to another travel depot around lunchtime. Though he wasn’t especially hungry thanks to all his munching, he figured it couldn’t hurt to grab lunch, as well as refill his supply of snacks. So he pulled in, took a spot, and stocked up. He grabbed more of everything he’d already eaten and a large pepperoni pizza for the drive. With his stores of food restocked, he got ready to head out on the road again. But not before eating four slices of the pizza in the parking lot, swearing “Just one” before the first one and “Just one more” before every one after that.
By the time Mark got to his destination, he’d eaten the rest of the pizza and even more of the snacks. He made his delivery and drove his rig to the travel depot where he planned to spend the night. He’d picked out this one in particular thanks to all of the amenities it offered, and as he walked in through the automatic front door and was hit by a wall of air conditioned coolness, he knew he’d made the right choice.
In front of Mark was a food court that offered even more choices than Harrison’s did, and a bigger seating area to match. He also saw a lounge area with TVs and pool tables and plush couches and chairs, where several truckers were sitting to take a load off. Since it was only 5:00 and he wasn’t quite hungry yet, Mark headed to the lounge area to relax for bit.
Mark was still undeniably low on the pecking order of truckers, something he was aware of as he moved through the depot and made room for those bigger than him. But as he walked, he found that a few of the smallest truckers there moved out of his way before he could move out of theirs. He wondered, was he moving up the totem poll?
When Mark took a quick look down, it certainly seemed plausible. “Fat” would have been an ambitious word to describe his midsection, but weeks of enthusiastic eating had caused it to push out in a way that seemed almost alien to him with his historically svelte body. All his snacking on the road that day, in addition to two proper meals and another meal’s worth of pizza, had only bolstered his heft even more. In addition to sticking out, his full stomach caused him to walk in a way that resembled the gait of the larger truckers around him. His arms swung wider at his side, and he stood tall to give his stuffed stomach more room to stretch. As a result, he strode ahead in a way that resembled a confident walk, something he’d previously been unable to pull off. I could get used to this, he thought as he straightened his back, puffed his gut out, and swung his shoulders even more. As if on cue, two thinner men walking his way separated to walk around him, letting him stroll through.
The smaller truckers weren’t the only ones who noticed. A burly trucker with a neatly trimmed beard and a gut the size of a beach ball caught Mark’s eye the same time Mark caught his. The trucker’s white shirt was stretched tightly over his rotund gut, flanked on either side by a black leather vest, with a thin stripe of skin showing through under the bottom hem of his shirt. He looked Mark up and down before raising his eyebrows when they made eye contact. In turn, Mark stared at the truckers protruding gut and bit his lip. It wasn’t a conscious attempt at flirtation, but when he looked at the trucker’s eyes, he realized that’s exactly what was happening. Not sure how to proceed from there, as this was brand new territory for him, Mark gave the trucker a wave and a nod before plopping down on one of the empty couches.
It wasn’t long before the rotund trucker walked up to the couch Mark was sitting on. “Mind if I join you?” he asked.
“Not at all,” Mark replied, scooting to the side even though there was plenty of room for both of them.
“I’m Hank,” the trucker said as he extended his meaty hand.
“Mark,” he replied as he took Hank’s warm hand in his own.
“Haven’t seen you around here before, Mark. You passing through?”
“Yeah, I made a delivery nearby and I’m staying for the night before I head back home tomorrow.”
“Hey, welcome to town. What are your plans while you’re here for the night?”
“Oh, I was just planning on staying in the depot.”
“Hmm,” Hank replied with a nod. “You new to trucking, I take it?”
Mark was caught of guard. Even now that he’d started working as a trucker, it seemed he couldn’t blend in at the depots. “W-why do you say that?”
“I don’t know many seasoned truckers who could spend a whole evening in a depot without getting bored.”
“I mean… It’s still all pretty new and exciting for me, honestly.”
“Hey, hold on to that for as long as you have it,” Hank assured him. “In the meantime, if you don’t have anything planned…” Mark looked at Hank expectantly, eager to see what would follow. “Maybe I could show you some of our trademark hospitality.”
Mark turned toward Hank to look him in he eye straight on. “And what might that entail?” he asked, trying to put on his best sultry voice.
“Mmm, tell you what. You’ve had a long day, right? Why don’t we head for the showers and see what we might both enjoy?”
It took Mark more time than he would have liked to admit to realize Hank wasn’t talking about chatting while they bathed in separate stalls. Once he put it together, his eyebrows went up and his heart started beating faster. “Are we allowed to do that?” he whispered.
“No one’s going to stop us,” Hank assured him in a hushed tone, leaning in closer with a mischievous smile on his face.
Mark felt like he was in over his head, but he decided to dive in head-first rather than bail out now. “Let’s.”
The smile on Hank’s face opened to reveal a toothy grin. “Come on,” he said with a tone bordering on the kind of eager excitement Mark felt. Perhaps, Mark thought, in spite of his self-assured demeanour, even Hank wasn’t sure how this would go, and was pleasantly surprised at the outcome.
Hank lead Mark to the shower area, just to the right of the bathrooms. Mark took Hank’s lead and grabbed a towel, even though he wasn’t sure how much washing they’d really be doing. They walked down a tiled hallway off of which were several rows of showers. Though many of the curtains were closed, indicating the stall was in use, there were also many open curtains indicating a vacancy. To Mark’s surprise, Hank picked a row where most of the stalls were occupied. He lead Mark down to the last stall, easily the biggest in the row, and looked back toward Mark to scope out the hall behind them. With a nod, he grabbed Mark’s hand and pulled him into the stall, nearly causing Mark to trip, and closed the curtain behind them.
Mark yelped at nearly falling, at which Hank put a finger on Mark’s lips and made a “Shh” face with his own.
“Why did you pick such a crowded row, then?” Mark whispered shortly.
“More background noise to cover our own,” Hank whispered back with a grin. As he reached in the stall to turn on the water, he pulled Mark toward himself with his other arm and their lips met.
Hank wasted no time getting into it, forgoing the gentle patience and charming awkwardness that punctuated Mark’s memories of his first kiss with a girl. Then again, he reasoned, his high school girlfriend wasn’t any more experienced with kissing than he was. Hank was clearly a seasoned pro, and Mark had somehow fooled him into thinking he was too. But, Mark thought, it couldn’t be that different from kissing a woman, so he decided to roll with it.
But not before Hank caught on that Mark had been caught off guard. After pulling away, Hank looked at Mark with a concerned look in his eyes and asked, “You alright?”
“Oh yeah,” Mark answered, and for once, he meant it. With a smile on his face, he leaned in toward Hank and picked up where they left off.
Mark could feel Hank’s lips curl into a smile before he kissed back. The whole thing was such a rush of feelings that Mark could hardly think straight, following Hank’s lead and trusting his instincts to not lead him astray. When Hank pulled Mark closer, Mark pulled himself closer to him. When he felt Hank’s tongue cross the threshold of his lips, he did likewise, enjoying the trucker’s musky taste. His own mouth must have tasted like a wild combination of flavors, Mark thought, but Hank certainly didn’t seem to mind. His mouth watered, quite literally, for Hank’s affection, and Hank was all too happy to oblige. Trademark hospitality indeed.
Hank pulled away with a satisfied sigh and looked at Mark with a warm smile and half-closed eyes. Mark didn’t know how long they’d kissed, but it seemed it had been just as good for Hank as it was for him. With a gentle stroke, Hank ran his finger down Mark’s cheek, emboldening Mark to run his hand over Hank’s beard. To Mark’s surprise, it was remarkably soft, and it made Hank giggle to have it rubbed. “We should actually shower while we’re here,” Hank said softly.
“Together?” Mark asked nervously.
With an eager smile, Hank nodded in reply. He pulled away from Mark to hang his vest on one of the hooks in the stall and started taking off the rest of his clothes. Mark followed suit, his excitement accelerating his motions, even as his nervous hands shook as they pulled off his clothes.
Hank stopped when he’d stripped down to his briefs. Mark had already finished stripping down to his birthday suit, leaving him feeling somewhat vulnerable next to this handsome man who still had some coverage. But that didn’t last long. Exposing his rounded gut in all its glory, Hank leaned back to stretch, pushing it out even more. Mark forgot all about his insecurities as he was entranced by the globe Hank bore on his midsection. With a smirk, Hank rubbed his gut in a way that might have been mistaken for absentmindedness, if his smile didn’t betray that he knew exactly what he was doing. Not that Mark noticed; as Hank lifted his hefty gut up and rubbed it all over, all Mark could do was stare.
“Heh, I knew you were that type,” Hank proclaimed with a cheeky grin before he finally pulled his briefs down. Mark wasn’t sure what Hank meant by that, but it didn’t matter much now. With a smile, Hank pulled the shower curtain aside, turned up the temperature of the water, and beckoned Mark to follow. Once Mark had stepped over the threshold of the shower, Hank grabbed Mark’s hand and stuck it on his gut, drawing a short gasp from Mark. “Go on,” Hank encouraged in a low whisper.
Mark wasn’t sure what to do with such a handsome man now in his grasp, but he redoubled his resolve to dive into this new experience head first and let his hands wander over Hank’s belly. They traveled slowly at first, Hank’s sparse body hair soft under Mark’s hands, getting wetter as Mark rubbed. When both of his hands ended up on the underside of Hank’s gut, Mark lifted it up to feel its heft, his breath drawing short when he felt the heavy abdomen come back down, pulling his hands with it. Hank leaned back to give Mark more to play with, twisting side to side along with Mark’s motions. “You like my big gut, don’t ya?” Mark could only nod enthusiastically in return, too overwhelmed to form words. “You’ve got a nice one going yourself,” Hank complimented, turning to the side to rub Mark’s stomach. “Stout and firm.”
Mark giggled at the tickling sensation of someone’s hand on his stomach. “Honestly, that’s because it’s full of pizza and junk food. Long day on the road, you know?”
“Oh I know,” Hank answered unashamedly. “How do you think I got this?” he asked as he pushed his gut out to bump against Mark’s stomach. “It’s good, though. It definitely has potential, if you’re into that.”
“Into what?”
With a hearty but muted laugh, Hank leaned in and whispered, “Where all those snacks are going.” As he answered, he rubbed Mark’s modest paunch with a chuckle. “Something tells me you are.”
After letting out a nervous laugh of his own, Mark said, “I was certainly skinnier when I started this job.”
“Mmhm, most of us were,” Hank stated factually. “You could say it’s a hazard of the job. Though some would say it’s a perk. A plus, rather than a minus. Tell me…” he entreated as he leaned in closer. “Which one are you?”
It was almost too much for Mark to bear. He felt like his fight or flight response had been triggered, and part of him wanted to run out of the shower stall. But he chose to fight, battling against his nervousness and standing his ground. “Plus…” he answered with the best fake confidence he could muster, though his conviction was completely genuine. “It’s definitely a plus.”
With his smile growing wider, Hank leaned forward so he could go to town on Mark’s stomach with both hands and as much enthusiasm as Mark was showing for his belly before. “I thought so,” he damn-near growled as he rubbed Mark’s stomach, making him feel heftier than he really was. If this was what he had to look forward to as he grew bigger, Mark thought, he could definitely get used to it. “Come on,” Hank said as he gave Mark’s belly one final slap, like a pat on the shoulder. “Get yourself clean. I’ve got some plans that I think you’ll like.”
“More of that trademark hospitality?” Mark asked with an eager smile.
“You’ll see,” Hank replied with a mischievous smile of his own.
After finally noticing the shampoo and liquid soap dispensers in the shower stall, Hank cleaned himself as quickly as he could so as to not delay whatever Hank had planned next. He and Hank still couldn’t keep their hands off each other as they showered, but they multitasked by soaping each other up as they did so. At one point, Mark squirted some shampoo in his hand and sudsed it up to rub it into Hank’s beard. Hank giggled again before telling Mark, “That really isn’t necessary.”
“But it’s so fun,” Mark replied with a tone like he wasn’t bargaining with Hank, but rather telling him why he wasn’t going to stop.
Hank let out another laugh, letting Mark have his fun before he bumped Mark with his belly, pushing him away. “I think it’s plenty clean now, thank you.”
Soon the two had finished showering. Mark stepped into the outside area to towel off, while Hank stayed in the shower so they both had enough room. They exchanged a few more rubs and kisses before they finally got their clothes on again. Hank leaned his head out of the outside curtain to check that no one was around and beckoned Mark to follow. As soon as they were out of the stall, Hank’s demeanour went completely cold, and he lead Mark out like they weren’t even leaving together. He was being awfully cautious for being so sure that no one was going to stop them, Mark thought. Maybe he was more nervous than he let on too.
Hank lead Mark back out into the food court, showing a bit more warmth once they were back in the crowd. “You like subs?” he asked.
“Love ‘em.”
“Good. You picky about what goes into them?”
“Nope.” Mark had his preferences, for sure, but he wanted to keep an open mind and see where this went.
“Tell you what: you find a place to sit, and I’ll meet up with you in a bit.”
Mark did as Hank suggested, finding a table with a metal chair on one side and a long bench that spanned several tables on the other. He sat on the bench as he waited for Hank, pulling out his phone to catch up on the news back home. When Hank came back, he had four foot-long sandwiches in hand. “You might want to sit in the chair,” he suggested. “I don’t mind sitting in the chair myself, but you’ll find it easier to get out of after this.”
“Why do you say that?” Mark asked as he scooched out.
Hank merely returned Mark’s inquisitive gaze with a smile until Mark sat down. Once he did, Hank put down three of the sandwiches in front of him. “Those are for you,” he declared as he sat down with his one remaining sandwich.
“All three?!”
“Mmhm,” Hank answered casually as he unwrapped his own sandwich. “You can finish all of them. I believe in you.”
Mark wasn’t so sure, especially given that he’d already eaten so much that day that it was causing his belly to stick out. He had no idea how he was going to fit three sandwiches on top of that. But he decided to start eating and see what happened. If he didn’t finish, he could just take the sandwiches to his truck for the road.
It turned out that wasn’t necessary. Mark probably wouldn’t have been able to finish all three sandwiches if he were eating on his own, but with Hank there encouraging him the whole way, he got all three down. The first was a turkey sub with “all the fixings”, which Mark didn’t find so difficult to get down in spite of everything he’d eaten that day. It seemed their fun in the shower had made Mark work up something of an appetite.
But things got more difficult when Mark moved on to the chicken salad sub. Whatever had been added to the chicken seemed to make it more filling. Or maybe Mark was just getting full. Either way, every bite he ate seemed to add a noticeable lump to the growing mound of food in his stomach, stretching his belly tighter with every mouthful. But every time he felt like giving up, Hank had the right thing to say. “Doesn’t that taste so good?”
“Mmhm,” Mark groaned.
“Why not have another bite?” Hank encouraged. His husky baritone was all the comfort Mark needed to get him through the second sub.
But the third sandwich proved the most challenging of all. It was labeled BLTCM, and when Mark pulled it toward him, Hank asked, “You ready for that bacon lettuce tomato cheese and mayo?”
“Is that all?” Mark snarked as he leaned back in his chair, rubbing his stuffed belly in the hope of giving it some relief. His shirt had already fit tightly when he walked into the building, but as he rubbed, he could feel his finger touch the skin on the bottom of his stomach. Trying to pull his shirt down proved to be of no use.
“You’ve already gotten this far,” said Hank. “You don’t want to give up now, do you?”
That question reignited something in Mark, the same determination that had kept him in the shower with Hank when part of him wanted to run away. Considering how much he’d enjoyed that, his determination hadn’t lead him astray thus far. With this burst of new resolve, he unwrapped the sandwich and took a giant bite.
A giant bite that he immediately regretted when it hit his stomach. It felt like all his organs had to rearrange themselves to make room for the mound of food he was building up. His breathing had grown shallower as a result of how full he was. But he pressed on. If anything, he wanted to impress Hank.
Hank kept on encouraging Mark as he ate the BLTCM, but food coma had already started to settle in. Everything became a blur: the sandwich, Mark’s words, the sounds of the crowd around them. By the time Mark came to any kind of real awareness again, the third sub was gone, replaced by some stray lettuce and a blob or two of mayo on the wrapper.
Mark let out a lengthy sigh as he leaned back in his chair. His shirt had ridden up enough that the hem stretched over his belly button, showing off the bottom of his stuffed belly. He couldn’t even spare the energy to rub his abdomen, in spite of how desperately it called out for comfort.
“Why don’t you sleep in my truck tonight?” Hank offered.
Mark bowed his head up and down to nod a yes, his movements slowed by his fatigue. The rest of the night only came through in spurts as he struggled to stay awake before he could lie down. He remembered Hank helping him stand up, a task that seemed Herculean as his stomach protested against his every movement. Once he was up, all his attention was focused on moving his crammed body forward, with Hank’s arm over his shoulder leading him out of the building as he told people, “He’s alright. Just had a lot to eat.”
By the time they got to Hank’s truck, Hank had to push Mark up to help him into the cabin. Mark instinctively crawled over the seat and into the bed behind them, not even pulling the blankets over himself before he fell on his back with a loud groan. His gut seemed to defy gravity as it stuck out above him, a mound of sandwiches and pizza and snack food that refused to be moved. Hank followed close behind, kicking off his shoes and crawling up next to Mark. With a look of satisfaction, he rubbed Mark’s belly, coaxing a satisfied groan out of the sleepy trucker. Occasionally Mark tried to reach out to touch Hank back, but the food coma was too strong. Every attempt ended in his hand falling back down as he let out a tired sigh. It wasn’t long before he gave in to the fatigue and let his wavering eyelids close.
The first thing Mark felt when he woke up in the morning was an unmistakable soreness in his stomach muscles. It caused him to close his eyes again as soon as he woke up, before he also felt an arm draped over his chest, jolting him awake. To his left lay Hank, eyes halfway open, a tired smile on his face. “Morning, big boy.”
“Morning,” Mark groaned. “How long have you been awake?”
“Not long,” Hank assured him. “Wouldn’t want to wake you, anyway.
With a sleepy smile on his face, Mark rolled over to face Hank. It was much easier to do now that his gut didn’t have an inertia of its own. It also meant he could finally reach out and run his hands along Hank’s face, enjoying his beard especially. Hank returned the gesture, rubbing Mark’s face before showing his belly some attention too. With a giggle at the tickle of his belly being touched, Mark let his own hands wander down to Hank’s prominent midsection, enjoying listlessly feeling his ball of fat.
“As fun as this is,” Hank said reluctantly, “we both have places to be.”
“Yeah,” groaned Mark as he sat up. “You’re right.”
“We should grab breakfast first, though. Most important meal of the day, and all. Plus we can both get some snacks for the road.”
“I like the sound of that,” Mark replied with a smile.
After a hearty breakfast and a snack run, the two stood in front of the depot, knowing they had to go their separate ways to start their respective trips. Before they parted ways, Hank said, “Hey,” and gave Mark one of his cards. “Give me a call if you’re ever in town again.”
“Oh, yeah, hang on a sec,” Mark said as he pulled out one of his own cards. It had initially weirded him out when Cross-Country Haulers wanted his cell phone number for his cards, but now he was glad they’d asked. “If you’re ever up by Harrison Truck Depot,” he said as he handed Hank a card, “Give me a call.”
“Will do,” Hank replied with a smile. After staring at each other for a few moments, Hank gave Mark a pat on the side of his stomach and told him, “Keep up the good work,” before walking back to his truck.
It was Saturday morning, and Mark was excited as he drove to Cathy’s house for his weekend visit. Now that he’d been working for Cross-Country Haulers for several months, he’d earned the privilege to take on longer trips. And while that had been his dream, it meant that some weekends, he wasn’t in town to visit his kids. He always made it a point to call them to talk when that happened, but it wasn’t quite the same as when he got to see them in person, for him or for them. That had been the case the previous weekend, and he was glad to have the chance to see the in person again.
When Mark knocked on the door, Camila pulled it open as if she had been waiting right behind it. “Dad!” she shouted.
“Camila!” he said as he pulled her up for a hug.
“Dad!” he heard Bobby shout behind her, happily pulling him in for a hug after he put Camila down.
“Bobby! So good to see you both finally. Where’s mom and Gwen?”
When Mark put Bobby down, he saw Gwen standing in the doorway between the foyer and the kitchen. She smiled when Mark looked her way and said “Dad!” with about as much excitement as he could expect out of her.
“Hey, dear. Would you like a hug too?”
Gwen’s smile grew even wider and she ran up to Mark with her arms open. After he picked her up and gave her a hug too, Mark saw Cathy walk in with a smile on her face.
“Hi,” he greeted, not sure how much his enthusiasm would be matched if he showed more than that.
“Hi,” she replied. “Glad you could finally make it.”
“Hey, I would have definitely been here last weekend if I weren’t halfway across the country.”
“I’m just giving you a hard time,” she assured him. “The kids appreciated you calling, but they were all looking forward to seeing you again.”
The three kids all agreed with Cathy, a din of affirmations carried on their youthful voices.
“Believe me, I was looking forward to seeing you all too,” said Mark. “Hey, let’s go in the kitchen so we can sit down.”
“Okay,” the kids shouted before they ran back in. Cathy wasn’t so quick to follow them, watching them run past her before she walked up close to Mark. “Is this beard part of your… personal reinvention?” she asked, with the same tone as before.
“You could say that,” Mark said, unperturbed.
“Do your new trucker friends like it?”
“They do,” he said. “Do you?”
Cathy shrugged her shoulders. “I like that you keep it well trimmed. It looks like something you grew intentionally, not like you just haven’t had a chance to shave in a week. I can respect that.”
With a chuckle, Mark said, “I’m glad you can at least do that much.”
“What about this?” Cathy asked as she poked Mark’s belly. “Was that intentional too?”
Mark merely chuckled. “You could call that one of the hazards of the job. I’d call it a perk, personally,” he said as he stretched back to stick his stomach out more. This deep into his job, Mark’s abdomen had grown beyond being a paunch and into a respectable belly, and he was well past the point of feeling any sort of shame about it.
He still braced for a judgemental comment from Cathy, but she merely nodded, slowly, contemplatively. If she had any negative thoughts to share, she hid them quite well. That seemed unlikely to Mark, though, as she looked up at him with a warm smile. “‘Perk’ is a good word for it. It is quite perky,” she observed as she patted it on the bottom.
“Seems I was blessed with the genetics for that. Never would have found that out if it weren’t for this job.”
Cathy let out a giggle before she said, “Come on. The kids are waiting.”
Mark followed Cathy into the kitchen, where the kids all sat at the table eating their breakfast. “You know, the kids were all saying you should come by to visit during the week if you can’t make it on the weekend.”
A chorus of excitement erupted from the table as the kids all started asking Mark if he could. Even Gwen seemed to be joining in, though Camila’s and Bobby’s voices drowned hers out.
Mark certainly wasn’t against the idea, but he knew that wasn’t part of the terms of his and Cathy’s divorce, and he wasn’t sure about stepping over that line. “What do you think, Cat?”
After looking at the kids with a pleasant smile, Cathy looked back at Mark and said, “If it makes them happy, that’s what matters.” It made Mark feel relieved to know she wouldn’t use this as some kind of power play against him. “Just give me a call beforehandas a heads up.”
“Of course,” Mark assured her, before turning to look at the kids. “So, where should we go today?”
“I wanna go to the mall!” said Camila.
“I wanna go to the game store!” Bobby shouted out soon after.
“Ice cream!” Gwen yelled meekly.
With a chuckle, Mark said, “I’m sure we can find ice cream and a game store at the mall. I think we can swing all that.”
Mark had been working for Cross-Country Haulers for a year and a half, and he could not have been happier about his change in careers. He got to see different parts of the country he wouldn’t see otherwise, meet new people as he traveled, become more confident, and best of all, eat and snack all day as he drove.
And the change had been remarkable. Mark wasn’t sure how much weight he’d gained since he started trucking, since he didn’t care about the numbers enough to buy a scale and find out. But he filled out a 3XL shirt, with a round gut that dwarfed those of a fair number of the truckers he shared the travel depots with. He’d been letting his beard grow longer too, hanging an inch from his face, wavy and brown.
The change in his physique was reflected in how he carried himself as well. Though he still had to move aside for a fair few of his peers as he walked through the travel depots, he found more and more of his fellow drivers moving aside as he walked down the halls. And while he once considered it a good night if he was able to get some action at a depot, now he could reliably find another driver who wanted to go in the showers or back to his truck with him.
What remained a challenge was finding men who were into Mark’s growing gut the way he was, whose own guts were products of intentional expansion, not just happy accidents. He certainly didn’t mind the more straightforward encounters he had with his fellow drivers, but he considered it a good night when he found another driver who was into eating the way he was.
One of those nights came when Mark pulled into the travel depot where he was planning on spending the night before the last leg of his drive home. It was around 8:00 PM, and things in the depot had calmed down from how busy they could get during dinner time. Thankfully for Mark, the food courts in these places were always open late, and always left a few locations open 24 hours a day, if it came to that.
Mark hadn’t planned especially well for that trip, and since he was on the cusp of needing to upgrade to 4XL shirts, a lot of the clean shirts he’d brought along didn’t fit. On that day, he chose to wear a tank top that let a thin strip of skin show underneath it if he wasn’t constantly pulling it down. Of course, Mark wasn’t going to expend that kind of effort, so he strolled ahead knowing full well his belly was hanging out. If anything, he told himself, it might help him get some action that night.
Mark walked into the depot and strolled ahead. Many of the other truckers moved out of his way, but he knew well enough to move out of the ways of the giant ones. He was conscious of the ones whose eyes he caught, and he gave them a knowing smile. Some blushed and looked away, some smiled back just as eagerly, and some merely kept staring. Either way, Mark had a good feeling about that night.
After a trip to the bathroom, he stood in line at a pizza and sandwiches shop to order some dinner. In front of him was one of the largest truckers he’d seen in the place that night. Not only was he wide, sporting a gut the size of a small yoga ball, but he had at least a few inches of height on Mark, making his gargantuan gut seem proportional. When he looked back at Mark, Mark saw that he had a lengthy, shaggy beard that ran down to his chest and a shaved head whose stubble bore a balding pattern. He wore a black tank top under a faded leather vest that flanked his mammoth belly. When he looked back, he glanced down at the bit of skin showing from under Mark’s shirt and raised his eyebrows as a modest smile spread across his face.
Mark was transfixed, but by now he had a better handle on how to navigate these situations. “How’s it going?”
“Not bad,” replied the trucker in a voice that was higher and softer than Mark expected given his build. Then again, at his size, he didn’t have anything to prove by making his voice more intimidating. “Just starting a week-long trip. You?”
“Just finishing a trip. This is my last night before I get home.”
“Mmm, that must be nice.”
“You’ll get there,” Mark told him with a chipper tone.
The two continued their pleasantries as the line moved. When the tall trucker got to the front, he asked, “Could I get a large pepperoni pizza, a large pizza with extra cheese, large chicken parm sandwich, a large meatball sub, a large cheesesteak…”
Mark lost count of how many items the trucker had ordered by the time he was done. “Are you going to eat all that tonight?” he asked, sounding more impressed than anything else. “Or are you buying it for the road?”
“If I was buying for the road, I’d get it tomorrow morning,” the giant replied with a confident smile as he turned around to face Mark. “Still, I wouldn’t mind some help finishing it all tonight,” he said as he bent his head forward, looking at Mark with knowing eyes.
With a giddy smile spreading across his face, Mark replied, “I’m game. Name’s Mark, by the way.”
“Dan. Nice to meet you.” When the two shook hands, Mark felt like Dan could crush his hand if he so desired. But Dan’s sheer strength was offset by a conscious gentleness in how he held Mark’s hand, putting Mark more at ease.
“So, should we grab one of the larger tables to eat at?” Mark asked as the two stepped aside to wait for Dan’s order to come out. “I mean, considering how much you ordered…”
Dan shook his head side to side. “With a meal that big, I prefer to take it back to my truck and eat it sprawled out on my bed.”
“Do you worry about crumbs?”
“I usually eat over a pizza box to catch the crumbs. Even if I get a little messy, though, that’s what washing machines are for.”
Mark nodded slowly. It wasn’t a standard of cleanliness that he’d be satisfied with for his own truck, but for one night in someone else’s, he figured he could put up with it.
When Dan’s order finally came out, the employees had to stack it on the counter in parts. There were three large pizza boxes under several more rectangular boxes, and about a half-dozen paper bags stacked on top of those. The crew must have put several items in each bag, Mark thought, because he was sure Dan had ordered more things than that.
Dan walked up to the counter and picked up the pile from the bottom, having no trouble carrying the entire stack. Turning to Mark, he asked, “Shall we?”
“Lead the way.”
Dan walked ahead with the boxes and bags in hand like they were nothing. If he was strong enough to carry those, Mark thought to himself, in addition to being that hefty, then no wonder he could eat so much. Mark walked ahead of Dan to open the door for him when they got to the exit, prompting a “Thank you,” from Dan. When they got to Dan’s truck, it was even bigger than most that Mark had seen, a fitting match for its driver. “Ugh, the keys are in my right pocket. Could you grab them?”
Mark obliged and reached in, taking some joy in feeling Dan’s plush thigh push against him when he slipped his hand through the opening. Once he grabbed the keys, he hopped up to the driver’s side door and opened it.
“Tell you what,” said Dan. “If you can take these a couple at a time and put them on the bed, that’ll be the easiest way to do this.” Mark did as Dan suggested, grabbing two bags at a time and putting them on the wide bed behind the seat. The bed must have been nearly king size, Mark thought. If so, it suited the man who used it. Mark took the pizza boxes last, having to move carefully to be sure he didn’t drop them. Once he put everything down, he put Dan’s keys on the built-in nightstand next to the bed and waited for Dan to join him.
To Mark’s surprise, before he saw Dan ascend into the cabin, he saw his black tank top go flying through the open door. Once he heard Dan grunting and climbing up into the rig, his heart raced at the thought of the sight that awaited him. And when Dan climbed in and closed the door behind him, Mark was not let down. Flanked by his old leather vest, his bare, bulbous belly looked even more impressive without the “slimming” black to downplay it. Though body hair was smattered all over his torso, a notable line of it went down from the middle of his chest to his belly button, spreading out as it descended from there to his beltline. Once Dan maneuvered his massive body over the seat to lean over the bed, Mark was in awe.
“Keys?”
“There,” Mark replied as he pointed toward the nightstand without taking his eyes off of his corpulent companion.
Dan looked at the nightstand and gave Mark a thumbs up, before turning back at him with a rascally expression. “Shall we?” he asked, his voice sounding gruffer than it did before. Mark could only nod enthusiastically, still unable to take his eyes off Dan. Dan sat beside Mark, facing him with the food next them on the bed. “Dig in.”
Mark reached for one of the sandwiches, not much caring which one he got, and unwrapped it such that the wrapper could catch the crumbs as he ate. But soon he didn’t care about crumbs–Dan certainly didn’t seem to, as he let the crumbs from his mozzerella sticks fall right on his belly. More so than crumbs, what Mark cared about most was wanting was to impress Dan.
Motivated by that determination, Mark plowed through the sandwich in no time, though not without occasionally taking a break to eat a mozzarella stick when Dan offered him one. They both finished around the same time and reached for pizzas next. Mark was excited to get the pepperoni pizza, while Dan opened the pizza with extra cheese. Mark ate through his slices at a more reasonable pace than he’d eaten the sandwich, but when Dan offered him a slice of the extra cheese pizza, he ate it with abandon, still wanting to impress him. All the cheese made that difficult to do, but Mark was determined.
By the time they finished their pizzas, Mark was starting to feel the food build up in his stomach. Though he hadn’t been keeping track, Dan had given him a total of three slices as they ate, only eating five himself, on top of which Mark had also eaten the entire pepperoni pizza. He’d tried to offer Dan a slice of his pizza in return, but Dan graciously turned him down. When their boxes were empty, they both tossed them to the side before Mark let out a burp and rubbed his belly with a satisfied groan.
“How you feeling over there?” Dan asked.
“Oof, I’m, I’m feeling it,” Mark mumbled. “What about you?”
“I’m still raring to go,” Dan replied. Whether he’d intended to egg Mark on or not, that’s exactly what he did, and Mark sat up straight to keep going.
Mark grabbed a cheesesteak next to keep trying to impress Dan, while Dan pulled out an order of chicken fingers and french fries. The cheesesteak tasted greasy and rich, and felt heavy in Mark’s stomach as he ate. But he pressed on, intending to finished what he’d started.
Dan, meanwhile, had taken a more laid back approach to eating his food, something Mark was completely oblivious to. Dan munched on his chicken fingers with a pleased look on his face, but many of his fries ended up in Mark’s mouth. Sometimes Mark wouldn’t even finish chewing before Dan offered him one of the thick-cut fries, and he took it along with his bite of cheesesteak. But Dan usually had good enough timing to offer Mark several fries at once between bites, and Mark happily obliged, gobbling them all up.
When Mark had finished the cheesesteak, he let out another long burp as he crumpled up the paper. When he closed his mouth, he felt his mouth close on several more of the fries, looking over to see Dan’s arm extended toward him. Mark munched dutifully as Dan looked down at the fries that remained in his tin. “These are all yours,” he offered.
“Mmph,” Mark grunted before swallowing the fries in his mouth. “I dunno,” he panted as he rubbed his stomach, now heavy with sauce and bread and meat and cheese. “I’m getting pretty full.”
“You have been eating pretty fast,” Dan observed, something Mark couldn’t deny. “Come this way,” he said, waving his hand to beckon Mark closer. With a grunt, Mark scooched over next to Dan. Dan reached out to rub Mark’s belly, sending a wave of relief over Mark’s body that he couldn’t get when he rubbed his gut himself. Mark felt his whole body relax as Dan rubbed him in all the right places to make his stomach feel less tense. Soon Mark’s head was leaning back with his eyes closed and his mouth agape. Before long, Dan stuck in another fry.
It caught Mark by surprise, but what surprised him even more was that he no longer felt like eating the fry was so difficult. He chewed it, slowly but happily, as Dan kept working his stomach to make him feel better. The one fry was replaced by another, then another, Mark eating each one reliably.
“There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Dan asked. When Mark looked down, he saw that the tin was empty, before Dan put it aside. He also saw that Dan had moved all the food closer to the wall behind him. “Come this way. I think you’ll like this setup more,” he beckoned as he shifted over to lean against the wall. Mark followed Dan until Dan’s back hit the wall. Dan beckoned Mark to turn around, and when he did so, he gently guided Mark backwards until Mark was leaning against Dan’s belly.
Mark gasped when he felt the warmth of Dan’s gut against his back. The soft surface layer of fat, bolstered by a firmness beneath it, made for a comforting place for him to recline. Soon Mark felt Dan’s gut rub against his back before Dan’s chest bumped into Mark’s head. With his long arms, Dan reached around and rubbed Mark’s belly. The combined sensations of comfort from the back and relief from the front put Mark in an almost trippy state of mind. He felt hypnotized by all of this attention from Dan. And like a hypnosis subject, he was very susceptible to suggestion.
“How are you feeling?” Dan whispered in his ear.
Though Mark could barely manage a reply beyond a moan, the word “good” managed to fall from his lips.
“Think you can handle a little more?” Dan asked in a soft voice.
“Mmhm,” Mark affirmed, not able to give much thought to Dan’s question but knowing he was game for it.
Mark felt Dan’s left hand drop from around his belly and soon return to his mouth with a slice of pizza. This one was sausage. Mark nibbled on the pizza at first, barely able to eat any more voraciously than that in his dazed state. But as Dan kept rubbing his belly, he kept upping his speed, making the second half of the slice disappear faster than the first. The first slice was soon followed by a second, which Mark ate just as obediently. A third came after that one, as did a fourth, and so on until the third pizza had all disappeared down Mark’s gullet.
In spite of his stupor, Mark seemed to have some awareness that he’d reached a milestone in his eating that night, and that he’d eaten more than he thought possible. He let out a pained groan before Dan resumed rubbing his stuffed belly with both hands. His groan soon turned into a satisfied moan as the tension in his stomach slowly relaxed and Dan pushed his pillowy belly into Mark’s back. Letting his mouth hang agape, Mark felt content again.
It wasn’t long until Mark felt another sandwich pushed into his open mouth. He let out a quiet grunt, too dazed from all of Dan’s attention to be jumpy at the surprise. Though he moaned at first, briefly aware of how stuffed he already was, he soon started munching on the sandwich, even as the pained moans continued. With Dan still rubbing his belly, Mark felt like there wasn’t much else he could do. After the first bite, he knew it was the chicken parm sandwich, and it tasted good enough to satisfy him. Soon enough, the moans subsided into grunts as Mark chowed down on the sandwich, feeling fuller with every bite.
Mark wasn’t aware of how long it took him to eat the sub, but he knew he was done when Dan pushed the last bite in with his finger, letting Mark’s mouth close around it before he pulled it out. Dan kept his hand on Mark’s cheek, gently rubbing as Mark chewed the last bite of sandwich. When he finally swallowed it, he let out a gasp, his mouth free of sandwich for the first time since Dan first fed it to him.
“Mmm,” Dan whispered in his ear as he resumed rubbing Mark’s swollen gut. “That feels good, doesn’t it?”
Mark could only groan in reply, a groan that was simultaneously satisfied and pained.
“You like filling your greedy gut. I knew you were the type. This didn’t happen on accident,” he said as he shook Mark’s belly, making Mark groan as his turgid gut vibrated more than it wanted to. “You want to get even bigger, don’t you?”
Mark moaned quietly.
“You want to keep eating until you’re as big as me,” Dan said as he pushed his warm, giant gut into Mark’s back. Mark moaned more loudly, this time a pleasurable one.
“Yeah,” Dan proclaimed in a husky whisper. “You’d love that. Waddling around with it wobbling in front of you. Not walking, really; just shuffling behind your massive gut as it leads the way.” Leaning in closer, Dan snarled, “Hell, you’re already letting your gut lead your. It was your gut that brought you to this truck. And now it’s going to reap the rewards.”
Immediately Dan felt the meatball sandwich against his mouth. In spite of how worked up he was by Dan’s words, it brought him momentarily back to an awareness of how full he was. He groaned at first as the sandwich was maneuvered into his mouth, not knowing how much more he could take. But Dan’s strong hands on his belly melted that tension away like the cheese on the meatballs. Feeling such a gargantuan man handling his engorged belly only made him want to eat more. With one last groan, he took a bite of the sandwich, his groans soon replaced with grunts as he chowed down on the girthy sub.
The rest of the night passed in a haze for Mark, a blur of sauce and meat and cheese and dough and moans and grunts and belly rubs and a giant bean bag of a gut pushed against his back and encouragements whispered in his ear. When he felt like he couldn’t eat anymore, Dan rubbed his belly more attentively and made him enjoy the tension again. The fuller he felt, the greater of a relief it was to feel Dan’s warm hands on his bulging belly. It was enough to keep him going, even as the pile of wrappers grew higher next to him, all of it disappearing down his willing mouth…
Mark woke up with two burly arms wrapped around his chest and the feeling of someone’s head on his shoulder. When he groaned and stretched, he heard Dan grunt from being startled awake, before unwrapping his arms from around Mark’s chest and stretching himself. “Morning already?” he asked.
“Did we fall asleep like that?” Mark groaned.
With a chuckle, Dan replied, “You fell asleep in my arms as you were eating. I didn’t want to wake you after that. Or move you, given how full you were.”
At the mention of fullness, Mark felt a distinct soreness in his belly. His stomach muscles, stretched taut the night before, were flexed outward, making his gut look even rounder. Trying to suck it in, or even just let the muscles relax, made them feel more sore. “Christ, how much did I eat last night?”
“A lot,” Dan chuckled before rubbing Mark’s belly again. It was a gentler rub than Mark remembered from the night before, soft and tender in a way he wouldn’t have expected from a man as gigantic as Dan.
“How much did you eat?”
“Not as much as you.”
Mark looked back at Dan, as much as he could when he was sitting in front of him, with an expression of disbelief. “You’re telling me I out-ate you?”
“You were enjoying yourself,” Dan answered with a higher tone of voice. “I didn’t want to get in the way of that. You were very happy to eat it all up last night.”
Looking back on the night, and on how much he wanted to impress Dan, Mark understood how he could have gotten that impression. “Tell me something: do you really eat in your truck like that? Or was that just a ploy to get me in here where we could eat like that?”
Letting out another giggle, Dan replied, “Guilty as charged. Did you enjoy yourself, though?” he asked as he rubbed Mark’s belly more enthusiastically.
With a quiet moan, Dan replied, “Mmhm. I’m still really sore, though.”
“Does this help?” Dan asked as he massaged Mark’s belly more deeply with slow, mindful strokes.
“Mmm, yeah,” Mark moaned as he sunk down into Dan’s embrace. He leaned his head back into Dan’s beard like a spoiled cat. “Yeah, keep doing that,” he whispered, goading a chuckle out of Dan before he leaned over to kiss Mark on the cheek.
It was late Wednesday afternoon, and Mark was driving to Cathy’s house after finishing a week-and-a-half-long trip and not being able to see the kids that past weekend. He didn’t have any big plans for the kids and him, since they all had to be up for school the next day, but he wanted to stop in so they didn’t have to wait until the next weekend to see him. Judging by their phone conversation that past Saturday, they seemed to all want that, Cathy included.
Mark drove down the street in the same minivan that he’d once sworn he was going to sell. Driving a truck had made it seem much more manageable in comparison. Mark also appreciated its reliability; five years after Mark had started working for Cross-Country Haulers, it still ran just fine. And most vitally, Mark could still fit inside.
For Mark was a far cry from the man who drove that minivan to the Harrison Truck Depot that fateful night five years before, and he probably wouldn’t have fit in a smaller car now. But in the van, between moving his seat away from the wheel and leaning the seat back, he could still fit himself and his bulbous belly with room to grow. He didn’t know how much he weighed, though he always told himself he should weigh himself on a scale at one of the depots to satisfy his curiosity, and always forgot about it once he stopped in. He’d graduated to wearing 5XL shirts to be on the safe side, especially when he visited his kids. He wasn’t always up to date with upgrading his wardrobe because he didn’t mind if a bit of belly peeked through in the depots, so he had to pay extra attention to the fit of his clothes during his visitations.
That day, Mark wore a tee-shirt he’d picked up as a souvenir in California that fit plenty loosely. As soon as he pulled in, the door to Cathy’s house was flung open and Gwen ran out to greet him. Gwen had come into her own once she started elementary school, and was no longer the shyest of the three. Bobby wasn’t far behind, while Camila stood in the doorway, watching the other two with crossed arms and a smile. She was ready to head off to her first year of college, and was apparently too old to run into her dad’s arms like she used to. When Mark saw her stand in the doorway watching her younger siblings, it struck him how much she reminded him of her mother.
“Dad!” Gwen yelled, running out to jump in his arms. She was the only one of the kids Mark could still pick.
“Gwen!” Mark shouted before he picked her up. With a grunt, he put her down and said, “Wow, you’re getting big, sweetheart.”
“So are you, dad!”
“Gwen!” Camila shouted from the doorway with an embarrassed look on her face.
WIth a chuckle, Mark told Gwen, “I certainly have, dear. Bobby! How are ya, sport?”
Bobby wrapped his arms around Mark’s giant gut, too tall to be picked up but too short reach over it. “I’m good!” he shouted out.
Mark walked to the door with Gwen and Bobby behind him. Camila leaned against the frame with a smirk on her face. When Mark walked up to her, she looked up at him and the other side of her mouth rose into a smile too.
“How ya been, kiddo?”
“Oh, you know…” she said. “Trying to enjoy my last summer of freedom.”
“Hey,” Mark said as he patted her on the shoulder. “You’re going to do great in college.”
“You think?” It was a common bit of teenage snark, but Camila’s tone seemed to be genuinely asking Mark what he thought.
“It’s going to be a lot of work, for sure. But you’ve been working pretty damn hard these past four years of high school, haven’t you?”
“Yeah,” she answered through an exasperated chuckle.
“So hey, you’re ready. Now,” he said as he stepped back. “Are you too old for hugs from your old dad?”
Camila’s eyes went for a short roll before she smiled again and stepped out to embrace Mark. She was the only one of the kids tall enough to hug Mark around his chest, though the fact that she had to lean over his belly meant he could still rest his chin on her head when they hugged. He just had to be careful to not get his beard in her face. “Mmm, you give the best hugs, dad,” she mumbled into his chest.
As they finished hugging, Cathy came to the door with eyes wide and a smile on her face. “Hey! You made it!”
“I told you I would!”
“Come on in. You too, kids!”
Camila, Bobby, and Gwen ran past Cathy as she stood in the doorway, before she moved aside to let Mark in.
“Hey, Cat,” Mark said warmly.
“Hey, Mark,” she replied just as amiably, stepping out to get a hug from him. She stood on her toes to be able to hug him without having to go around his chest, while he leaned forward to move his belly down out of her way. “Mmm, Camila was right. You do give great hugs now.”
“Now?” he asked in good humor as his eyebrows shot up.
After she pulled away, Cathy smiled and said, “I think this might have something to do with it,” before patting the side of Mark’s gut. “It makes you look warm, welcoming, friendly. It’s comforting.”
“Comforting or comfortable?” Mark asked, a playful smile still on his face.
“Both,” Cathy quipped, coaxing a chuckle out of Mark before she went in for another hug. This time he wrapped her extra tight in his burly arms, which Cathy repaid with a contented, “Mmmm.” After she pulled away, Cathy continued, “And I mean, you’re clearly happier now, and happy people give the best hugs.”
Mark’s mouth curled into a smile, pulling his beard up with it. “How about you?” he asked. “How have you been?”
“Well, Camila starting college is certainly exciting. It’s nerve-wracking to see our baby go off on her own, but I think we’ve prepared her as best we could.”
“She’s not a baby any more, Cat. She’ll do fine. Hey, maybe I can roll through some time to visit her. There’s a depot not too far from her campus.”
“I think she’d like that more than she’d admit,” Cathy chuckled. “You’ll still come by to visit us, right?”
“Of course,” Mark assured her.
“Good to hear. The kids aren’t the only ones who miss you, you know.”
After pausing in surprised, Mark’s warm smile spread even wider. “C’mere, you,” he said before pulling Cathy in, kissing her on the forehead before she fell into his embrace again.
In Mark’s arms, Cathy giggled like they were teenagers again. “Where was this Mark when we were married?” she asked, looking up at him with a smile.
“He was buried under work and obligations and propriety,” Mark replied. “And now I’ve finally been able to dig him out of that pile.”
“Seems to me like you’ve built him up more than dug him out,” Cathy replied, gently patting his belly again.
Mark replied with a grunted chuckle before his burly arms pulled her in closer. He gave her one last snug embrace before he said, “We probably shouldn’t keep the kids waiting any longer.”
“Ooh,” Cathy blurted out before she leapt back from Mark. “Yeah, let’s head in.”
It was the end of another long trip for Mark, and though he still loved these lengthy deliveries, there was a certain amount of relief in coming back home to the familiar. Of course, at this point, the scope what was familiar seemed be growing along with his waistline, as certain travel depots that he stayed at frequently became homey in their own way. But none of them felt as comforting as Harrison’s, and even when he could have easily gone directly home at the end of a trip, he liked to stop at Harrison’s as a capstone to his travels. This trip was no different. Around 4:30 PM, Mark sauntered his way into the travel depot to see what kind of trouble he could get into now that he didn’t have anywhere to be.
As Mark strode through, arm swinging wide, gut bouncing with every step, most of the truckers in the depot moved aside from him, and it was easy to see why. Though there were a few drivers in the place who rivaled Mark’s size, he was easily one of the widest men there. His gut, firm and bulbous, must have been 65 inches around, though he was as bad about checking its circumference as he was about checking his weight. All he knew was that he filled out his 5XL shirts easily now, and had already purchased a few 6XLs for when he went to visit his kids.
But in the depots, the ill-fitting shirts were fair game. That particular day, Mark wore a white tank top that he was convinced couldn’t possibly be a 5XL because of how short it was on him, but that didn’t mean it didn’t have a place in his wardrobe. That after, he strode in with his gigantic belly hanging out of the bottom of his shirt, his belly button just barely hidden by the bottom hem. He also wore a comfortably worn pair of jeans, some trusty boots, and an open black leather vest that he’d bought now that he finally felt like he had the confidence to pull it off.
And the other trucker’s noticed. As Mark marched ahead, he was conscious of all of the eyes on him and his gargantuan form. Some gawked at his heft or his fashion choices–he wasn’t sure which, nor did he much care–some didn’t look Mark’s way other than to walk around him, and some were very clearly into it. Of those in the last category, some made very obvious passes at Mark, some were more tactful in their approach, and some were too taken by him to do either.
This wasn’t unusual for Mark now. But when he thought back to where he’d started when he first walked into this place with fantasies of being like the men around him, it would have seemed unthinkable. Now he could take the reactions on the faces around him for granted.
But one face stood out to Mark in particular that night, a familiar one that belonged to another hefty trucker. “Barry?”
Barry looked behind himself toward Mark. Mark wasn’t sure how long it had been since he saw Barry, but it had been too long for sure. In part because he could see on Barry’s face that he didn’t recognize Mark.
“It’s me, Mark.”
Barry’s eyebrows and eyelids both shot up when he realized that the mammoth that stood in front of him was the once modestly-portly trucker he’d lost touch with now that he wasn’t stopping in Harrison’s as often. “Mark? Holy shit, dude, look at you! How’s it going?”
“Grand!”
With a hearty laugh, Barry replied, “I’ll say,” as he pulled Mark in for an enthusiastic bear hug, slapping him on the back before pulling him in tightly. When they let go, he stayed in close and patted Mark on the side of his gut. “Been eating good, I see?”
“How else would I eat?” Mark enthused before giving his gut some hearty thumps of his own.
With a hearty laugh, Barry told him, “That’s the right idea. Listen, I need to head out for a bit, but are you hanging around? We could meet up later and catch up.”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely stick around for that.”
“Cool,” Barry said before patting Mark on the shoulder as he walked by.
As Barry passed him, Mark looked to the side and saw a trucker on the smaller side standing by the wall, eyes glued to where the two men stood. He wore cargo shorts and a tee shirt that was snug on him, revealing a modest but respectable belly underneath the cloth. When Mark looked his way, his eyes briefly flared in panic before he looked to the side, trying to act cool. He then briefly looked back at Mark, an embarrassed smile on his face, before he looked away again.
The man’s demeanor made Mark chuckle, not just at how obvious he was, but at how much of himself Mark could see in him. Looking back on his svelter days, he knew he was probably that blatant, trying to play it cool while also being so obviously flustered by all the imposing men around him.
With a smile on his face and a smirk on the inside, Mark sauntered toward a spot on the wall next to the timid trucker, emphasizing the sway of his belly as he did. The trucker looked back and forth from Mark to some point off in the distance, seemingly in disbelief that Mark was really approaching him. When Mark reached the wall, he stood next to the trucker and leaned back, like he’d only walked there to take a load off. “How’s it going?” he asked casually.
“N-not bad,” the trucker replied.
“You ending your day here or getting ready to head out for a night drive?”
“Oh no,” the trucker laughed. “Ending the day. No night driving for me, thankfully.”
“You don’t lIke driving at night?”
“I mean… I’d be nervous to do it,” the trucker admitted, starting to be less reserved and get into the conversation more. “It’s harder to see, and what if I fall asleep behind the wheel, you know?”
With a quiet but hearty laugh, Mark told him, “If you ever try it, I think you’ll find falling asleep behind the wheel is a lot easier said than done, thankfully. Plus, it can be nice to drive when there aren’t as many cars on the highways.”
“Hmm,” the trucker replied with a nod. “Do you drive at night often?”
“I do it when I have to in order to make a deadline. But given the option, I prefer to spend the night at a stop like this one. Grab a bite to eat, kick back, maybe get into a bit of trouble.”
“Trouble?” the driver asked with an inquisitive look on his face.
With a laugh, Mark patted the driver on the shoulder and told him, “Harmless trouble, I assure you.” After a pause, he extended his hand. “I’m Mark.”
“Ben,” the other driver greeted with a smile on his face as he shook Mark’s hand.
“Haven’t seen you around before, Ben. You passing through?”
“Yeah, I’m making a delivery up north, and staying the night here.”
“Oh nice. What are your plans for while you’re in town?”
“Oh, I, uh… I don’t really have any plans.”
“No?” Mark asked softly as he slid closer to Ben. “Maybe I could help you change that.”
Ben’s eyes shifted around in a mixture of excitement and nervousness. “W-what do you have in mind?”
Mark let out a low chuckle as he raised his arms above his head and pretended to stretch. He wasn’t sure exactly how much his shirt rode up to reveal more of his belly, but it was definitely enough. Ben’s eyelids and eyebrows both rose like the hairs on a startled cat as his nostrils flared from his accelerated breathing. His eyes were locked on Mark’s midsection, no longer darting nervously to and fro like they did before. With one hand gently patting the side of his belly, Mark answered, “Something tells me you already know.”
With a nervous laugh, Ben looked up to Mark’s eyes before looking back down to his belly. His laughter halted when his eyes locked on Mark’s midsection again. Mark watched Ben’s eyes go wide before he lifted a hand up and slowly moved it toward Mark’s gut.
When Ben’s hand was within inches of Mark’s stomach, Mark put out a hand of his own to stop Ben in his tracks. “Not here, though,” he said just as he started to see the disappointment in Ben’s eyes. “Fancy a shower?”
With his eyelids open wide again, Ben asked, “I, uh, don’t suppose we’ll be doing much washing?”
“We can do that too,” Mark assured him. “It’s more fun when you’re rubbing soap on someone else.”
At that, Ben’s eyelids and eyebrows rose even higher than before, his face free of all hints of nervousness as unbridled joy pushed them aside. “Let’s,” he enthused.
With a nod and a smile, Mark beckoned Ben to follow as he strolled toward the showers. Ben reminded Mark a lot of himself when he didn’t know how to talk to guys. He was definitely new to this, Mark thought to himself, but his head was in the right place, and if he was game to try it, Mark was game to show him the ropes.
When the two reached the showers, Mark grabbed a towel and motioned for Ben to do the same. Mark walked down until he found a row of showers without many stalls occupied. Looking behind him, he looked back to see an eager Ben, with no one else in the hall. With a smile and a beckoning wave, he walked into an empty stall as Ben followed closely behind. Mark reached past Ben to close the outer curtain, forcing him to brush his belly against Ben. A stiff inhalation punctuated the air before the rattling of metal rings heralded their newfound privacy.
After reaching around to turn on the shower for some background noise to drown them out, Mark reached out and put his hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Go ahead,” he encouraged in a hushed tone.
Once again, Ben timidly reached out towards Mark’s gut, his hands gliding through the air until they made contact. When they did, he massaged his fingers into Mark’s gut, feeling the fleshy ball under his hands as his eyes grew wide.
As Mark let out a quiet chuckle, Ben looked up, seeming nervous at Mark’s amusement. “You like my gut, don’t you?” Mark asked assuredly. As Ben nodded enthusiastically, Mark’s chuckle took on a deeper tone. With a playful sternness, he told Ben, “Then act like it.”
With a palpable excitement, Ben dug his fingers into Mark’s gut, dragging the cloth of Mark’s tank top along with his hands as he caressed Mark’s heft. Mark had to rotate his torso to follow the force of Ben’s motions, swaying his massive gut side to side as Ben’s hands directed. It was all he could do as Ben handled his gut so enthusiastically.
Or so it felt at first. But soon Mark found himself settling in to all the attention he was getting from Mark. With his right hand on Ben’s shoulder, he moved the two of them until they stood parallel to the curtain, a metal wall behind either of them. When Ben’s hands were on the sides of Mark’s belly, he stepped forward and pushed Ben against the wall with his gut, sending Ben’s arms flying to either side. “How’s that suit you?” Mark asked in a low, husky whisper.
With his arms rising at his sides, Ben breathed heavily as his head arched back against the silver metal behind him, eyes struggling to stay open. Between his husky breaths, he couldn’t get a word out.
“You like that?”
In a staggered whisper, he affirmed, “Yeah.”
“Yeah?” Mark asked as he leaned forward and slowly took Ben’s wrist in his hand to hold it against the wall.
“Yeah,” Ben whispered in a higher voice.
“Yeah?” Mark said one more time as he thrust his other hand against Ben’s other wrist, pinning it against the wall with a quiet thud.
With a shuddering nod, Ben whimpered, “Mmhm.”
With an open-mouthed grin having spread across his face, Mark leaned in toward Ben, the corners of his mouth softening as he moved. He watched Ben’s eyelids close as he approached, letting his own eyes close just before they kissed.
For all of their playing rough before, the meeting of their lips made them both drop the power play they’d been acting out before and just enjoy being this close to each other’s bodies. Mark loosened his grip on Ben’s wrist, letting his hands rest on Ben’s arms and stroking them with his pointer fingers as his lips traced the surface of Ben’s mouth. Ben let out a quiet, contented moan as his arms fell out of Mark’s grip and down to his sides.
As Mark leaned back away from the wall, he wrapped his arms around Ben’s shoulders to keep him close. Ben had to stand in his toes to reach up and over Mark’s gut, but once he did, he wrapped his arms over Mark’s chest to keep a hold on his hulking mate. In turned, Mark pulled Ben in closer, keeping a tight grip on his smaller partner as he found the way through Mark’s thick beard to his lips.
When Mark couldn’t hold Ben up any longer, he let him down slowly with a long exhalation as their lips parted. Both men opened their eyes, arms still wrapped around each other, looking into each other’s eyes while breathing heavily. Mark was the first to crack a smile, Ben soon following with a grin of his own, before Mark went in for a quick smooch. “We should probably put this water to good use,” Mark said, still holding Ben in his arms.
“Yeah,” said Ben. “Seems a waste to let it run like that.”
With one last kiss, Mark let go of Ben so they could both disrobe to shower. Mark’s vest took the hook as the rest of their clothes piled on either the little shelf at knee level or the floor. Mark took especial joy in lifting his tank top up to reveal his mammoth gut, looking in Ben’s direction to catch his face when the shirt came off. Ben didn’t disappoint; when the cloth lifted from Mark’s line of sight, he was greeted by Ben’s eyelids and eyebrows both raised high again, locked on Mark’s midsection.
But Ben wasn’t dumbfounded for long. He soon looked back up to Mark, eyes open just as wide. “Wow,” he said in a mild voice that was followed by a giggle.
With a chuckle, Mark slapped his gut and gave it a rub, watching with satisfaction as a shiver went down Ben’s body. As Ben stood transfixed with his underwear and shirt still on, Mark said, “Let’s see yours,” in as friendly of a tone as he could use.
Ben’s smile faded and he looked to the side before slowly pulling his shirt off. He stood up straight to try to give his modest midsection a little more volume and looked back uncertainly at Mark.
With a growing smile on his face, Mark reached over to gently caress Ben’s belly. He let out a satisfied “mmm” as an affirmation before he looked back up at Ben, who looked less nervous now. “Nice.”
“Not as nice as yours,” Ben admitted.
“Hey, it’s big, for sure, but it’s not all admiring stares and people stepping out of my way. For one, it’s difficult to wash the underside,” Mark admitted.
“I think I can help with that,” Ben offered, perking up.
With a satisfied smile, Mark hooked his thumb in his underwear and let it drop, prompting Ben to do the same. The two men stood in the outer area of the stall with smiles on their faces before Mark turned up the hot water.
The two quickly finished the essentials like washing their hair and face, giving them ample time to enjoy feeling up each other’s bodies. With a generous handful of body wash, Ben sudsed up Mark’s belly before letting his hands wander all over it again. Mark let out an “Mmm” as he felt Ben’s hands glide over his gut, enjoying all the attention.
When all the soap had washed off, Mark took a handful of it himself and leaned over to spread it over Ben’s belly. Ben didn’t seem so enthusiastic about this prospect at first, shuffling in place uncomfortably. But Mark’s soft hands soon had him relaxing and enjoying himself. Mark knew how to rub a guy’s belly to make him feel good, and as his expert hands felt Ben’s gut over, Ben started to get into it. By the time the body wash had all washed off him, he’d cracked a smile.
Once they’d finished and dried off, the two got dressed while still occasionally stroking each other’s bare bodies. The shirts went back on last for this reason. Ben gave Mark one last enthusiastic rub before Mark slipped his tank top back on, followed by his vest. Once the two were dressed, they exchanged one last kiss before Mark opened the curtain.
Standing outside of the shower stall was another trucker walking down the hall with wet hair and a towel in hand. He looked to the side at the source of the noise, and when his eyes landed on Mark and Ben, they went wide. Ben’s eyes went just as wide as he stood frozen in place, but Mark merely smiled, stood back, and wrapped his arm over Ben’s shoulders. Ben looked startled at first, but when Mark looked at him with a confident smile, he looked back with a smile of his own. Paying the stunned trucker no mind, the two walked out.
Mark took Ben’s towel and tossed them both in the used towel bin on the way out. Once they were back in the main area, many eyes were inevitably fixed on both of them, but Mark didn’t care. If any of them took issue with it, they weren’t going to mess with someone as big as him. Ben, meanwhile, walked slowly next to Mark, until he seemed to get used to all the stares. As he picked up the pace of his walk, he wrapped his arm behind Mark’s shoulders and looked at him with a smile, which Mark enthusiastically returned. As the eyes of the room wandered away from the two of them, Mark looked over to Ben and said, “I think it’s dinnertime.”
The Plot Thickens 