“Nutritionally Complete Candy for Growing Kids”

Originally posted November 13, 2016.
Contains: accelerated weight gain.

This idea started as an Easter-based story (it’s a kick I’ve been on lately), but I ended up making it Halloween-based after being inspired by this picture by GAMEFACE27. It’s not too late for a Halloween story, is it?

One theme you see in a lot of Halloween-based gaining fiction is a character/characters being made to gain weight as revenge for a prank or some other nefarious thing they’ve done. It might even be a form of poetic justice. That was my goal for this story, but I wanted to do it without magic or anything supernatural. Not “realistic”, certainly, but still more mundane. Then I remembered a time in college when a friend of mine brought me a big bag of candy while he was doing a trick-or-treat event for the local kids, and offered me some. When I asked if he was letting me have it all, he said, “Hell no, this is for the kids.”

Synopsis: After signing up for a charity event to pass out candy to at-risk kids on Halloween, Cam takes the giant bag of candy they gave him home to eat himself, a bag that’s labeled “Nutritionally complete candy for growing kids.” “Poor kiddos” Cam remarks sarcastically before he starts wolfing down the candy, but as the night wears on, he gets his just desserts.

---

It was like taking candy from a baby, figuratively and almost literally. Cam walked through his front door with a giant bag of various single-serving sweets in Halloween-themed wrappers. It had to be at least a gallon-sized bag, possibly more. He’d signed up to help with a trick-or-treating charity event for at-risk kids, and received a bag of candy to pass out to them when they arrived. A bag that he’d taken home to enjoy all by himself.

He was still giggling at the conversation he’d had with the event organizer. “Now, Cam, we don’t have a phone number here for you.”

“Oh yeah, I prefer to not give that information out to just anyone. Can’t be too careful these days, you know?”

“Oh I understand,” she laughed. “Now, here’s your candy,” she said as she passed him the giant bag.

“Wow, there’s a lot in here!”

“Of course! We wouldn’t want you to run out while the kids are still coming. Now, as tempting as it might be to keep the extras for yourself, we do insist you return it at the end of the event. We’ll have plenty of candy to share with our volunteers when this is over, and you can take that home instead.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Great! We’ll see you back here in an hour.”

“Yup, see you then!” And Cam headed straight home, giant bag of candy in the passenger seat, cackling as he drove off. Whatever candy they might have given him at the end of the event, it surely wouldn’t have been as much as he’d just absconded away with, and why stick around for less when he could keep the big bag and do no work? Yes, he was quite pleased with himself.

When Cam got home, he kicked off his shoes and removed his pants just as enthusiastically. It was 5:32 when he walked into his living room and plopped down on the couch. With his skinny frame, he didn’t make much of an impact when he landed. He looked at the bag, decorated with bats and pumpkins and spider webs, and read the generic label: “Spooky Sweets”, with the subtitle, “Nutritionally complete candy for growing kids.”

“Aw, poor kiddos,” Cam remarked sarcastically before ripping the bag open. He grabbed the remote, turned on the TV to a channel playing The Nightmare Before Christmas, and dug in.

The first candy Cam pulled out was a piece of chocolate in the vague shape of a pumpkin, though not as heavy as he expected for its size. Tearing it open, he found peanut butter filling inside, and grinned before taking a bite.

The candy turned out to be more rich and sweet than Cam expected given the “nutritionally complete” label. It was as good as the brand name candy it was knocking off, and he quickly scarfed it down before pulling out another. That one was soon devoured too, and he reached for a piece in a differently colored wrapper. This one was circular, and when he bit into it, it revealed itself to be two chocolate wafers with a thick layer of cream in the middle, covered in chocolate. It was like a chocolate covered Oreo, but with more cream filling.

“How can this stuff be ‘nutritionally complete’?” Cam mumbled through a mouth full of cookie and chocolate. The Oreo disappeared just as quickly as the peanut butter pumpkins, followed by some kind of caramel treat.

As Cam opened his fifth piece of candy, he started to feel lethargic, his eyelids hanging heavier than usual. “Heh, all that volunteering sure tired me out,” he joked as he ate another peanut butter pumpkin. He kept munching as the movie played on, but the tiredness didn’t go away, in spite of all the sugar he was eating. He wasn’t sure exactly when it happened, but midway through his snacking, he passed out.

When Cam stirred to wakefulness again, the clock read 6:27. He closed his eyelids tight and rubbed them before opening his eyes to look around. There were over a dozen candy wrappers strewn about the couch next to him. Maybe more than he usually ate, but he couldn’t imagine why they would make him doze off like that. But the movie was still playing, and he still had plenty of candy left. With a shrug, he shimmied in place to straighten out his back and started munching again.

It was when Cam reached for his third piece since waking up that his hand hit his abdomen and he felt a little bounce. With a furrowed brow, he looked down and saw his stomach pushing out against his once loose shirt. He didn’t think he was precisely fat. His paunch was modest enough that he reasoned it was only noticeable because he’d sat down.

Still, it was odd to Cam that he hadn’t noticed it before that night. Though his belly was modest, it was still pretty flabby. Looking down, it stuck out a couple of inches beyond his chest, his tight shirt accentuating the distance. That seemed strange to Cam too. He didn’t remember his shirt being that tight when he left the house.

“Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t be eating so many of these,” Cam mumbled as he put the bag aside. For a while, he managed to ignore it as he watched the movie. But the temptation was too strong, and he soon found himself taking another piece, thinking, Just one more.. It was an excuse he used a few more times, before he stopped trying to justify his eating and started mindlessly snacking again.

It wasn’t long until Cam felt the tiredness settle in again. He fell in and out of awareness as the movie droned it, feeling like he did when he slept in on a Sunday morning and went in and out of a light sleep as he lounged in bed. He was certainly too out of it to keep eating the candy, so he let his arms fall at his sides and lay back, completely okay with the possibility of falling asleep on the couch.

He didn’t end up falling asleep. When he was aware again, the clock read 7:38. The Nightmare Before Christmas had been replaced with Hocus Pocus, and the piles of candy wrappers on either side of Cam had more than doubled in size. He saw that several of them had fallen on his legs, and he waved his hand to brush them off.

As Cam’s arm passed in front of him, it nudged against his belly, something he wasn’t expecting since he thought he’d given it enough space. Opening his eyes wider, he looked down and saw that his stomach had grown even bigger. While he previously wasn’t sure just how recent of a development his paunch was, now he knew something weird was going on.

Compared to his earlier “not quite fat” abdomen, Cam’s belly had grown to stick out around six inches in front of his chest when he looked down. It stuck out round and taut, like a beer drinker’s badge of honor. Rather than love handles, his belly wrapped around to make a ring of fat that tapered off as it went around his back. His shirt had grown quite tight, and a cautious feel revealed it had ridden up well past his belly button. That it fit at all was amazing to Cam.

But amazement was soon overridden by shock. Cam didn’t know what was in that candy that could make him grow like this, but he knew he couldn’t eat anymore of it. He intended to get up, throw it away, tie up the trash bag, take it out to his barrels in back, and be done with it.

His round stomach had other ideas. Cam had never had to push against that much belly when he leaned forward, and his body didn’t seem capable of pushing it. He strained against the force of his own stomach pushing against him, but in his tired state, it was a battle that his stomach won. He fell back in his seat, breathing heavily, and gave his swollen belly some defeated pats.

“Maybe I’m just… too full to move,” he painted. “I’ll just… sleep it off. Yeah… then I’ll be fine.”

Cam turned down the volume on the TV so it wouldn’t keep him up and reclined back to see the night out. Though he felt sleepy, it wasn’t enough to make him slumber. Rather, he merely lost enough awareness of his own actions that he reached for the bag of candy again.

Cam wasn’t sure how long he munched on the sweets, nor when he grew too tired to keep eating. All he knew was that around 8:56, he came back to a lucid state in time to see the movie come to an end. He looked to the side and saw that the wrappers were piled up densely enough to completely cover the couch in spots, the piles having grown even bigger. And they weren’t the only ones.

Cam tried to straighten up in his seat, but he found it a lot more difficult that usual, before remembering his predicament. When he looked down, his jaw dropped. His rounded belly stuck out a foot past his chest, which had itself pushed noticeably past its previous size. His gut still bore the defiantly round shape it had grown in previously, and the sides now stuck out several inches past where his abdomen had once ended. His shirt stood no chance of fitting anymore, having bunched up around his chest, so he pulled it up and tossed it on the coffee table.

Out of disbelief more than anything, Cam brought his hands up to feel his gut. It was then that he noticed his arms had grown wider too, his once lanky limbs now wrapped with burly flab. When his hands made contact with his gut, he found it was firm and taut, yet yielded to his fingers when he pressed down. He’d never had enough body fat to push around like that. It was a strange sensation, to have a part of his body wasn’t under total control of his muscles, that hung out and jiggled with a mind of its own.

It wasn’t long until Cam’s disbelief was replaced with horror. Whatever was in that candy was making him pack on the pounds faster than he thought possible. He struggled to push himself forward and stand up, pushing his arms down at his side, only to find them sink down into the couch. He tried to lean to the side to help himself pivot up, but his belly pushed back stubbornly as ever, and he had to struggle just to resume a sitting position.

Cam laid back in his seat exhausted, too tired to move from the spot. But he knew one thing he could do. With his last bit of energy, he reached for the bag to throw it on the floor, out of reach, so he wouldn’t be tempted again.

But he couldn’t. With a grunt, Cam let the bag go before he could even move it much closer to the edge of the couch, let alone toss it, leaving it very much within easy reach. He lay back against the cushion, still breathing heavily from his attempt to stand up. With a sense of resignation and defeat, he reached in the bag and grabbed another piece of candy.

Cam didn’t quite black out like he had before, losing all sense of awareness before coming to again. Rather, as he ate, he found himself falling into a haze, the pieces of candy all blurring together. Whatever was playing on the TV barely registered. As Cam ate, his head was either slumped too far down or leaned too far back to see the screen.

Not that Cam cared about whatever was playing on the TV. With his diminished consciousness, he focused all his efforts on eating. He’d paw at the bag, going more by touch than sight, and grab a piece of candy from inside. He’d eaten enough that he had to reach far inside to grab a piece, but there was still plenty left for the taking. He then groggily fumbled with the wrapper until he ripped it open and shoved the candy in his mouth. He then chewed slowly, his mouth hanging open until he could swallow the sweet treat. As he did, he started the process again, ensuring he had a piece of candy in hand when he finished the previous one.

Cam ate like that until he didn’t have the energy to lift his arms anymore. With his mouth hanging agape, flanked by melted chocolate, he tried tiredly to lift the sweet in his hand to his face. But with each attempt, his arm made it less of the way before it collapsed down. After one last try, he let both of his arms fall to his side and leaned his head back, breathing heavily.

It wasn’t until 10:27 that Cam had the energy to lift his head up. Feeling energized again, he devoured it quickly and licked the melted chocolate off of his fingers. However, his brief relief at not having the chocolate precariously in hand anymore was short-lived, for when he let his arm fall down, it landed on his belly.

As his smile flattened, Cam looked straight ahead, not wanting to look down and face the reality that had grown over his lap. His arm, still resting on top of his gut, slipped down in front of him and to the side, grazing over his newly expanded girth. It revealed that his belly had grown past fat and was now massive. His belly now extended noticeably to the side, pushing his arm aside as it moved down. He didn’t want to think about how far forward his stomach stuck now.

Not thinking about it seemed the best option to Cam. There wasn’t anything he could do about his new heft now, so he leaned back and kept his eyes on the TV, playing some Halloween movie he’d never seen before. It wasn’t long before he grabbed the bag of candy, now about a third full, and pulled it up toward his chest. When he put the bag down on top of his belly and it didn’t go anywhere, he tried to not dwell on it. Instead he reached in, pulling out a caramel treat, and started munching again.

---

When Cam woke up, he saw sunlight streaming in through the living room windows. He closed his eyes extra tight before he opened them again to see the empty bag still in his field of vision, propped up on his stomach. After he swatted it aside, it landed to his left with a rustling sound. He looked to the source of the sound and was astounded at how many torn up wrappers covered the couch. He closed his eyes and sighed at the prospect of cleaning them all up. With his eyelids shut, he could hear the din of the TV still going. He felt around for the remote control under the wrappers on his right and shut it off.

Opening his eyes, Cam beheld the final state of his overgrown body. Looking down, he saw his bulbous gut bulge out far enough to reach his knees. It stuck out so far to the side that he reasoned his abdomen had to have doubled in width. Yet in spite of all its growth, it still maintained a spherical shape, rounded out on top and rolling over his thighs. Even his arms looked bulkier than before, and just lifting them required a certain amount of effort that it hadn’t previously.

Cam did not relish the thought of getting off the couch, but he knew he couldn’t very well wait until he weighed less and it would be easier to move. With a sigh, he tried pushing forward again, before falling back unceremoniously. His belly had grown so big that even though he wasn’t full, it simply refused to compress. So he scooched forward on the couch, inching his much wider rear end closer to the edge. He was thankful he had a tall couch, as once he was close, he was nearly in a standing position already. After bending his knees to put his feet as far under himself as he could, Cam took one last giant breath in and, using his legs, pushed himself up.

It took Cam a moment to get his balance. He was grateful both that he’d taken a wide stance and that he could lean his calves against the couch as he stood. Having never had to carry that much weight before, it took him a few seconds to realize he had to lean back to counteract the weight of his gut pulling him forward. Once he stopped feeling like he was going to fall, he felt silly for not figuring that out earlier. He stood in place until he felt himself stop wavering, finally finding his new center of gravity. It was a lot farther forward than he anticipated.

Cam had to take short, hobbling steps to leave the living room. He felt like he was waddling like a penguin, complete with his arms hanging at an angle away from his body like their wings. It was far from the most dignified moment of his life, but he wasn’t sure how else he could move. Once he felt comfortable taking longer strides, he could feel his belly bounce with every step. Upon further consideration, he felt “bounce” wasn’t quite the right word. Rather, when his foot hit the floor, his voluminous gut would cease descending a moment after the rest of him, giving his frame a quick tug when it did.

Cam waddled into his bedroom to look at himself in his full-length mirror. Creeping in from the side, he saw the reflection of his gut before he saw his own face. The surprise made him freeze in place, and it took a few seconds before he worked up the courage to keep walking. Once he did, he could barely believe the gargantuan man in front of him was himself.

From the side, Cam’s torso was nearly as wide as it was tall. His swollen gut stuck out like it had been inflated with a bicycle pump, but with a little bit of sag near the bottom, showing it hadn’t just ballooned up. The top looked perfectly round, like it had been stretched out by all the candy he ate and stuck in place. Turning to face the mirror, he saw that his belly was as wide as his shoulders. He now understood why his arms had hung out at such a wide angle when he walked.

Lifting his hand up to feel his gut, Cam found it was quite warm under his touch. The surface was soft and plush, compressing under his fingers like the upholstery on the arms of his couch. And like when he felt that upholstery, his fingers were soon met by a firm center that was much less yielding to his touch. With a morbid curiosity, he reached both of his arms under his massive gut, finding he couldn’t even touch his hands together. There was simply too much belly in the way. With all his strength, he tried to lift his gut, finding it much heavier than he’d anticipated. He only managed to lift it an inch or two before he let go, his arms pushed out of the way by his plummeting blubber.

Once he could take his eyes off his belly, he looked up and saw where his once-flat chest had been replaced by two pillows of fat. His chest had previously merged with his abdomen without much of a distinction between the two. Now they were separated by two creases that circled the top of his gut before wrapping around his chest to his back. Looking farther up, he saw that his cheeks had bulged out to match his gut. Rather than a distinct double-chin, his chin had swelled out to merge with his cheeks, making a ring of fat around his face.

Cam had expected his eyes to be bulging out of his head with shock at the sight of his new form, but instead, his eyelids hung exhaustedly as he looked at himself. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and turned back toward the living room. He opened his eyes and moved his bulbous body back to the couch, more slowly than before, even though he was now more practiced with carrying his new girth.

Once Cam reached the couch, he plopped down with a sigh, only to hear the wood creak beneath him as his new flab bounced back from the collision. After his heavy breathing subsided, he reached under the wrappers to his right to pull out the remote and turned the TV on. The channel was playing reruns of some sitcom Cam hadn’t seen many episodes of, but he decided it would do. After dropping the remote on top of the pile of wrappers, he folded his hands, rested them on top of his gut, and leaned back to watch TV, resigning himself to deal with his current predicament later.