Originally published May 21, 2016.
Contains: long-term weight gain, direct encouraging.
Something I write while waiting on a friend who promised to proofread the story I wrote before this one. Hopefully that one will be up soon. In the meantime, have some fast food feederism. This one proved rather unwieldy as I kept revising the premise before I was comfortable with it, but I’m happy with how it came out in the end.
Synopsis: Kevin is a stocky fast food worker who’s taken to sneaking leftover food out at the end of his shift, even though everyone knows that’s against the rules. When his supervisor, Hank, catches Kevin sneaking out burgers, he makes Kevin an offer: eat the food he was going to sneak out, and then some, before he leaves, or Hank tells their manager Kevin was sneaking out food. One after-shift feast becomes many as Hank makes Kevin keep eating to ensure his silence, but things take a turn when it turns out they both might be enjoying it more than they let on.
Working for a fast food establishment was far from the kind of job Kevin wanted after he graduated college. His parents always told him he needed to be more serious about his studies or he’d end up flipping burgers, and now here he was. But having to watch even his more accomplished friends finds jobs served as a constant reminder that it certainly beat unemployment. That kept him from getting too down about the rude customers, the heat behind the counter, the low pay, and his supervisor, Hank.
Hank and Kevin worked together during the closing shifts. He looked to be in his late twenties, but having worked there part-time during his own college years gave him the clout the have moved into management about a year before Kevin started. He wasn’t precisely an unkind supervisor, and Kevin had worked for worse. He was hard on Kevin, but Kevin chalked that up to him being the new kid, as Hank didn’t seem to be so strict on the other employees.
What made Hank so unpleasant to work for was the comments he made towards the heavier customers. Sometimes he’d comment on how much they ordered, sometimes he’d insinuate how much they’d already eaten, and sometimes he’d just tell them to enjoy their food a little too sneeringly. He managed to get away with it by just skirting the line of where it became inappropriate, so most customers just brushed it off.
Even Kevin had been on the receiving end of some of Hank’s comments, not exactly being the skinniest guy around. Kevin’s college years had led to him putting on more of a freshman 50 than 15, now that he was no longer subject to his parents dictating his eating habits. It had gone all over his frame, unlike the beer bellies many of his cohorts sported, perhaps due to his weight gain stemming more from bad eating habits than nights spent drinking at the fraternities. He had a round face and burly arms and chest to show for it. His stomach, though not particularly protruding, was round and squishy enough to match the rest of him.
As a result, when he took a lunch or dinner break, Hank was liable to say something about it. “Don’t you usually have fries too?” “Sure you don’t want a shake with that?” “A salad? Sure you don’t want something tastier?” It wasn’t much different with the customers. “Bet you’d like a large instead.” “Enjoy your nice, greasy burger.”
But Kevin didn’t let it get to him; he liked the food they made too much to let Hank make him self-conscious. He’d developed a particular fondness for it in college when it was a cheap way to get some variety from all the ramen he was eating. Though he initially wasn’t excited about the prospect of working flipping burgers, the fact that he could spend his meal breaks eating the food they made proved to be a very appealing benefit of the job. Even better, Hank and the rest of management generally didn’t care how much food he took, as long as he only took it during his lunch or dinner break.
After all, everyone knew the rules about taking food: only during your breaks, and never, ever at the end of the night. Granted, all of Kevin’s coworkers thought it was a stupid, wasteful rule that all the food had to get thrown out at the end of the night, but they didn’t have a choice about it if they wanted to keep their jobs. And to Kevin, getting free food on the job wasn’t worth the risk of sneaking out more.
At least, not at first. But once Kevin had acclimated to the free meals he was already getting at work, he started craving their food more often than that. Of course, snacking on the job was an easy way to get caught, and he couldn’t justify spending his own money on fast food when he’d already eaten it twice in one day. So instead, at the end of the night, he stashed food in his coat pockets so he could eat it in peace once he left. After all, if it was just going to get thrown away, what was the harm?
It started simple enough: a burger here, a bag of fries there, sometimes a breakfast sandwich now that they served breakfast all day. He usually pocketed something while he was taking the food out back to throw it away and Hank was still inside. Only problem was that this left him out of luck on nights when Hank threw away the leftover food before Kevin could. Kevin accepted it at first, but before long, he’d grown too accustomed to having something to snack on at the end of the night to leave it up to chance.
So he started sneaking off to the back with food while they were still cleaning up inside and dropping it in his jacket pockets. It was a riskier proposition, but at least it meant he knew he’d have something to snack on at the end of the night. It wasn’t so difficult at first, when Kevin would only take an item or two each night. But the longer her snacked, the more insatiable his appetite became, and one burger or sandwich didn’t cut it anymore. It was when after he started making several trips out back that one Friday night, as he was trying to sneak out some burgers, Hank caught him.
“And where do you think you’re taking those?”
“Ah!, Hank! It’s, uh, it’s not what it looks like!”
“Something no one says unless it’s exactly what it looks like.”
“Look, it’s just going to get thrown out anyway! It doesn’t make any difference if one of us takes something.”
“You know the rules as well as I do, Kevin. This won’t look good for you if Donna finds out”
“Sh-She doesn’t have to know. Do you really want to get me fired and have to train someone else when I’m just taking a snack?”
“Mmm, looks to me like you’ve already had plenty of those” Kevin couldn’t help but feel indignant about that comment, but he wasn’t in a place to show hostility towards Hank right now. “Kevin, what I’m supposed to do right now is tell Donna what I saw so you get written up. However…” he paused, stroking his chin. “I can be… convinced to keep this between us.”
“A-alright, what will it take?”
Hank turned his head to the side with a contemplative glance, looking at all the burgers still on the racks, before turning back to Kevin with a smirk. “It really is a shame that all this food has to go to waste like that, all because of some rule from corporate. It could at least go to someone who will… enjoy it,” he finished as his smile crept farther across his face. “You do enjoy it, don’t you?”
“I… uh… yes,” Kevin answered in a tone bordering on inquisitive, not sure where Hank was going with this.
After a deliberate nod, Hank continued, “Tell you what: I’ll finish cleaning up. You go grab four more of those burgers and eat them all right here, right now.”
“…what?”
“You heard me. Or is all that grease clogging your ear canals too?”
“Wh… why do you want me to eat them all right now?”
“Oh, it’s not me who wants it, Kevin. It’s you, so that I don’t tell management about this. You can quite easily refrain from doing it, just as I’ll refrain from holding my tongue about what I saw tonight.”
Kevin stared at Hank pleadingly ,in spite of how confused he was. But it didn’t seem Hank would be convinced. If that was what it took for Kevin to keep his job, he’d do it. “Alright.”
The smirk on Hank’s face widened into an unsettling smile. “I’m glad we could come to an agreement.” As he walked to the broom closet, he turned back to Kevin and said, “I trust you can find them yourself?”
Kevin grumbled and walked back to the prep area, swapping out the two cheeseburgers he’d taken for the six smallest hamburgers he could find. He hoped they would at least be less filling than the cheeseburgers, much as he would have preferred those. As he walked to one of the tables, Hank passed him with a mop in tow and a smile still on his face. Whatever enjoyment he was getting out of this, Kevin hoped it would be short lived.
Kevin sat at one of the table and laid his reluctant feast in front of him. They were at least still warm, but with all six laid out in front of him, it didn’t look like swapping out the cheeseburgers for hamburgers would do much good. Hank kept an eye on Kevin as he opened his first burger. With a sigh, he took the first bite.
Given that Kevin did genuinely like the food they made, the idea of eating a bunch of it wasn’t that unappealing. It wasn’t far off from what he did every night after work. And since the burgers weren’t as big as advertised, the prospect of eating six of them seemed doable, especially after Kevin finished his first burger and didn’t feel any fuller. Even the second one didn’t feel like it made much of an impact in his stomach.
It was after he finished the third burger that he started to feel them building up. He’d originally hoped to finish all six before he could feel full, but that was off the table now. Still on the table were three more burgers for him to eat. Just looking at them made Kevin groan.
“Feeling full?” Hank asked. “You’d feel a lot hungrier without the free lunch and dinner you wolf down every day.” Kevin looked nervously at his supervisor, knowing he literally couldn’t afford to stop now. With a determined grunt, he shoved the fourth burger in his mouth and took a hearty bite.
That scare got Kevin through two more burgers, but as he stared down the last one, he could feel his stomach protesting against how much he’d already eaten. He loosened his belt in the hopes that it would give him some more room, but even the waist of his pants still felt tight. His work shirt, already snug around his plush body, wrapped extra tightly around his bloated stomach. But he only had one burger to go, so he mustered all his gusto and stuffed it down.
Once Kevin had finished, he laid back in his chair to give his swollen stomach room to stretch. His breathing had turned heavy, and he draped his arms over the chairs next to him. He was seriously considering unbuttoning his pants, if only out of fear that they’d do it themselves if he didn’t.
“Why don’t you loosen your belt a bit?” Hank asked. “Or maybe lift your shirt up? It looks awfully tight.”
Even in Kevin’s food induced stupor, he still managed to look back at Hank with eyebrows lowered and reply with an indignant, drawn-out, “No.”
With a shrug, Hank added, “Just trying to help. I’ll let you clean up after yourself,” he said as he walked to the back to get his jacket. “I already cleaned up after the customers. Cleaning up after the staff isn’t in my job description.”
Kevin muttered various obscenities under his breath before he shifted in his chair to get up. His sodden stomach seemed to object to every motion, but he managed to stand, finding himself leaning back to accommodate all the food taking up space in his gut. Even given how much he enjoyed indulging on the items they made, he’d never eaten to the point where he was this stuffed. He pulled his shirt down and collected the wrappers to throw away, no longer caring that they weren’t supposed to leave trash in the bins after close. He’d already broken one rule; what was two at this point?
Even walking to the trash bin was harder with this much food in him. He had a gait in his step that made him walk more deliberately as he approached the barrel. His breathing remained heavy as he walked, for he wasn’t used to carrying so much mass in his stomach.
Hank came out from the back with Kevin’s jacket along with his own. “Figured I’d save you the trip.” Kevin tiredly took his jacket from Hank’s hands and slipped it on. He could still feel the weight of the two burgers he’d already successfully snuck out back before Hank caught him, though at this point, he didn’t want them. He ambled over to the door as Hank went in back to set the alarm, before walking out with Kevin and locking the door behind them.
After letting out a satisfied sigh, Hank asked, “Good way to start your night, huh?”
Hank’s tone left Kevin unsure whether he was joking or not. “Sure,” he replied, not sure whether feigning agreement would placate Hank or encourage him.
“Good,” Hank replied with the kind of sneering fake friendliness he used while commenting on customers’ orders. “Get home safe, Kevin.”
Kevin let out a quiet sigh and turned to start what would be undoubtedly be a long walk home. He only lived a 15 minute walk away from his job, but in his stuffed state, he knew it would take longer than that. Once he came across a curbside trash barrel, he took the burgers out of his pockets and threw them away.
Kevin was not looking forward to going back to work on Monday. The more he thought about what happened on Friday, the less any of it made sense. What it supposed to be some kind of punishment, like in that movie where the boy had to eat a whole chocolate cake? Was Hank hoping to make Kevin less fond of their food, and thus less likely to steal it? Did Hank enjoy watching it? Whatever had happened, Kevin hoped he could just put it out of his mind before he had to see Hank again.
But that proved to be impossible. When Kevin saw Hank upon arriving for his shift, he tried to not make eye contact, in spite of Hank looking at him with a knowing smirk. Strangely, Hank seemed to be nicer to Kevin during their shift than he’d been in the past, an odd turn of events given Hank had caught him breaking the rules. As their shift went on, Hank’s demeanor seemed less unsettling to Kevin and more reassuring, and for a while, he felt like he was in the clear.
That was until 11:00 came and Hank locked the door. As he walked back to the counter, he looked back at Kevin with that familiar devious smile on his face. “Alright, Kevin, ready to go again?”
“…what?” Kevin feared what Hank meant by that too much to suggest it.
“Oh my, have you already forgotten Friday night? I suppose for someone like you, meals that big start to blur together in your memory after a while.”
“Wha-wait, I-I didn’t take anything tonight,” Kevin pleaded, holding up his empty hands before taking his cell phone and keys out of his pockets so he could turn them inside out.
“Now’s the time to change that,” Hank replied, now close enough to the counter to stand above Kevin. “After all, like you told me, it’s just going to go to waste otherwise.”
“L-look, we already made our agreement. You got… whatever it is you wanted out of watching me eat those burgers, and I got your word you wouldn’t tell Donna you caught me sneaking out food. Fair’s fair.”
“Mmm, if we’re going to talk about fairness, I don’t think one night is a fair trade for continual silence.”
“I messed up once! Why would you hold that against me indefinitely? What do you stand to gain?”
“Oh, it’s you that stands to gain here, Kevin. Continued employment, for one.” Kevin could only sigh at Hank’s continued insistence that Kevin was the one benefiting here. “Besides, anyone can see you like the food. You admitted it yourself.”
Kevin couldn’t deny that, and now he felt foolish for admitting it to Hank that first night. “When I’m eating it on my own terms, yes.”
“Oh, I’m not forcing your hand, Kevin,” Hank insisted insincerely. “It’s your choice, and your consequences to live with either way.”
Kevin knew it was ridiculous, but he also knew he didn’t want to lose his job. After a long sigh, he asked, “What do you want me to eat?”
“Hmm,” Hank mused with his hand on his chin. “Methinks you would appreciate some variety, yes? Why don’t you take one of those trays and fill it with whatever you like? As long as you do fill it.”
Kevin made one last pleading look at Hank before turning around to grab a tray. He decided to fill it with his favorites to try to make the upcoming feast more pleasant, taking a cheeseburger, a chicken sandwich, an egg and sausage breakfast sandwich, and some root beer to wash it down. He then scooped some french fries and dropped them all over his tray to make it look like they were taking up more space. At the very least, this wasn’t far off from what he might eat on the nights when he’d snuck out a big haul. The only differences were the circumstances and him having something to drink.
As Kevin took his tray to a table, Hank passed him and gave an approving nod. After sitting down, Kevin looked up and saw Hank wiping down the counter, looking at him with sly grin. He didn’t know what to make of how much Hank seemed to enjoy watching him eat, but as he started snacking on the fries, it didn’t seem so bad. He got to eat things he would have snuck out to eat anyway–which certainly beat eating six burgers like some kind of ritual punishment–and he didn’t have to be stealthy about it. On top of it all, his supervisor was willingly doing all of the end-of-the-night cleaning. If this was what it took to convince Hank not to tell their manager he stole food, Kevin thought as he dug into the egg and sausage sandwich, he could get used to it.
Though Kevin tried to not reveal how pleased he was with the circumstances. If Hank saw this as some kind of punishment and he found out Kevin was enjoying it, he’d be liable to up the ante. So Kevin kept a neutral expression on his face, even as he happily put away all three sandwiches and the fries. In trying to keep up the façade, Kevin found himself focused less on how much he was eating than on keeping his facial features flat. As a result, he wolfed down his food in less time than he thought it would take him, munching down the last few of his fries as Hank finished cleaning.
“Perfect timing,” Hank observed as he emerged from the broom closet after putting away the mop. “I trust you enjoyed yourself?”
Hank had that judgemental tone he used with customers who put it big orders, so Kevin wasn’t sure how to best reply. “Um… I guess…” he replied with a drawn out tone.
After satisfied nod, Hank replied, “Good. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Kevin rocked back and forth in his seat before he was able to get his footing and stand up. Though his meal was easier to eat than six hamburgers, it didn’t exactly leave him feeling more nimble. As he stood, his stomach swelled out to make room for all he’d eaten, and it was then that he could feel the mound of food he’d built up. But having gotten to choose what he ate, he felt satisfied rather than gorged, his tight stomach prompting a casual rub rather than frustrated profanities.
“Need a moment?” Hank asked, standing by the counter with his jacket on and his eyes on Kevin’s hand.
“Nah,” Kevin replied as he strolled to the back to grab his jacket. Rather than the weighed-down hobble of the previous Friday night, he strode ahead with a deliberateness that belied how full he was, though also resembled a stately stride. He thought he saw Hank look him up and down, but if he did, he didn’t do it for long. Once they both had their jackets, Kevin strolled to the door as Hank set the alarm. They both got to the door around the same time, and Hank locked it behind them
“Well, I don’t know about you,” Hank started, “but I’m looking forward to tomorrow night.”
If he was wording it like that, Kevin thought, maybe he wouldn’t mind if Kevin was enjoying it too. “There are certainly… worse ways to spend the end of the shift,” Kevin replied coolly, not wanting to show too much enthusiasm.
With a grunted giggle, Hank patted Kevin on the side of his stomach and told him, “Keep up the good work, kid, and your secret’s safe with me.”
Hank turned around to walk to his car as Kevin stood in place, taking in what had just happened, before he turned around for his own walk home. He wasn’t sure what to make of Hank’s encouragement, if he could call it that, but at least he’d ended his shift on a better note than he did on Friday. So onward he walked, stroking his sated belly with a smile.
It was the next Monday, a week after Kevin’s second feast, and that night had set the tone for how his nights had gone the rest of that week. By the time the next week rolled around, Hank and Kevin had fallen into a pattern of how they spent their evenings after closing, one that was solidified that Monday night.
As Hank walked back toward the counter after locking the door, Kevin looked back with a doe-eyed expression. “You sure you don’t want me to help you clean up?” He stifled the coy smile he could feel wanting to spread across his face.
Hank shook his head back and forth with a full-bodied grin. “Not when you could make yourself useful ensuring that food doesn’t go to waste. Chop chop, big guy,” he encouraged, patting Kevin on the shoulder while Kevin felt a bit of his smile peek through.
In turn, Kevin took a tray and loaded it up with whatever he felt like eating: two cheeseburgers, two chicken parm sandwiches, two egg and bacon sandwiches, a large box of fries, and a chocolate milkshake to wash it all down. Whereas once he used the fries to fill up space on his tray, now he took them in a box so he could fit more in the space he had.
Now that Kevin had gotten used to how unusual the situation was, he’d embraced it. He knew he would have been taken that much food every night if it weren’t against the rules. If Hank had locked the door and said, “Alright, this is all going to get thrown out anyway, go nuts,” he would have taken enough food to fill his tray like that. And that was essentially what was happening now. The only difference was that he wasn’t taking it for the road.
As Hank cleaned up, Kevin started wolfing down his fourth meal of the day. He couldn’t help but notice Hank seeming to be taking a more leisurely approach to cleaning. Maybe he didn’t want to finish before Kevin did and be left tapping his feet, waiting for Kevin to eat. He did seem to be looking Kevin’s way more often, smiling when the two made eye contact before resuming his work.
Kevin didn’t take a break, though, other than to wash down his meal with his milkshake. He happily made his way through all the food he’d taken back to the table, sandwich after sandwich with fries in between for good measure. Now that he’d grown accustomed the situation between him and Hank and it didn’t strike him as weird, he felt less self-conscious about his feasts. He enjoyed them as much as he did when he was sneaking food out and ate as voraciously as he pleased.
It was this newfound carefree attitude that allowed Kevin to wolf down a meal as big as the one he’d taken tonight. Before, his nervousness made him conscious of every bite he took. Now he could chow down without giving any thought to how much he was eating, at least until he started to feel full. But Kevin enjoyed the food too much to let that stop him. He kept plodding through his tray, determined to not stop until everything he’d taken was gone, even as his stomach felt progressively tighter.
Kevin had saved one of the chicken parm sandwiches for last, but between all the other sandwiches, the fries, and the shake, he already felt quite stuffed. He found himself leaning back in his chair to give his belly room to stretch, and he’d already loosened his belt a notch. After a sigh, he took the last sandwich in hand and took a bite.
Kevin chomped it down as Hanked look on from behind the counter, wiping it down as he did. Kevin could have sworn Hank had already wiped down the counter, but he didn’t give it much thought. All he tried to think about was how good that chicken parm sandwich was, so he didn’t have to focus on his belly feeling just a little fuller with each bite.
Once Kevin chomped down the last of his meal, he washed it down with what remained of the milkshake and laid back in his seat with a sigh of contentment and relief. Overtaken by how stuffed he felt, he rubbed the top of his gut gently, feeling the firm mass of his meal underneath it. He nearly started rubbing with both hands before Hank asked, “Should I leave you alone for a moment?” and brought him back to his senses.
“Ha, nah, that’s okay. I just have to…” Kevin tried to lean forward to get out of his chair, but his stomach’s protestations made it more difficult than expected. After straining and not convincing his belly to budge, he fell back in his chair with an “Oof”.
Hank chuckled and asked, “Need some help?”
“No, I got it,” Kevin grunted as he tried again, giving it his all and finally getting up on his feet. Once standing, he let out a belch as the contents of his replete stomach had a chance to settle in. He patted his stomach with a satisfied sigh, as Hank looked on without breaking his gaze.
“You’re peeking through,” Hank commented with a chuckle.
Kevin put his hands on the bottom of his belly and found his shirt had ridden up as he ate. Upon pulling it down, he found it only barely covered his stomach, wrapping around his gut like a sock wrapped around his calf. “Guess it’s time to upgrade to a bigger size.”
“Nah,” Hank replied, shaking his head side to side. “Maybe when it doesn’t fit you before you eat. But there’s no shame in it being tight now.”
Kevin let out a chuckle of his own. “Easy for you to say. You don’t have to walk home like this.”
“You’re sweatshirt will cover it, I bet,” Hank assured him. “Now come on, let’s get out of here.”
Kevin grabbed his sweatshirt and the two walked out. Hank gave Kevin another pat on his belly, this time on top, and told him, “Good show, big guy.”
“Thanks,” Kevin replied, happy to get the encouragement. “See you tomorrow.”
It was about a month after Hank started making Kevin eat after close. Kevin came into work one day while Hank and Donna were both working. Kevin’s company Polo shirt had been gradually getting tighter, riding up his belly after his feasts. This wasn’t a problem when Hank was the only one there to see it, but now it was starting to show skin during his shift.
“Uh, Kevin,” Donna started as he arrived in the back to hang up his coat. “Has your uniform shrunk in the wash?”
“Um…” Looking down, he tried to pull his shirt over his stomach to no avail. “Possibly,” he replied, putting on an unsure tone. “But maybe I should upgrade to one a size bigger anyway, just in case.”
Donna’s eyebrows shot up as her mouth closed in an unamused expression. “What size is that?”
“XL.”
“I think we have a 2XL in back,” she said as she strolled into her office.
“Even if she does,” Hank whispered to Kevin. “Keep that one.” Kevin gave Hank a quizzical stare, but Hank merely smiled and walked back to his station.
“It’s your lucky day,” Donna sarcastically enthused as she emerged from her office brandishing the larger shirt. “Go and put this on before you get started.” As Kevin turned to walk away, Donna continued, “Oh, and Kevin…” He turned back to see her still looking at him. “That’s the biggest we have on hand. So if you need a bigger one, you’ll have to order it specially. Try to do that before you outgrow that one,” she finished in a tone of insincere pleading before she went back to the counter.
Kevin walked to the men’s room and into one of the stalls. He hung the 2XL shirt on the hook and lifted his current shirt over his head. In slipping it off, he could feel the textured fabric glide snugly over his newly expanded belly. Once it was off, he looked down and pondered his recently added heft. He rubbed his stomach with his free hand, finding it had indeed grown noticeably since that first night Hank made him eat six burgers. The rest of him had grown too, with his face looking a bit rounder, his arms a bit more burly, and his legs demanding he buy some new pants soon.
But his belly was where his growth was most apparent. Kevin was fascinated by the extra space he took up now, his stomach seeming alien to him, more like a messenger bag or a thick coat than an actual part of him. But as he felt his fleshy fingers run over his warm, soft belly, he couldn’t deny that it was all him. Kevin had never been this wide before, and he felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement at the prospect of it.
Fascinated as Kevin was by his new growth, he knew he couldn’t stay in the bathroom admiring his new form all day. He swapped the shirt in his hand for the one on the hook and slipped on the 2XL, relieved to find it fit noticeably more loosely. XL shirt in hand, he left to start his shift.
Kevin walked to the back to hang up his old shirt with his jacket, but he ran into Donna before he could make it. “Good,” she observed upon seeing him. “Alright, give me that old shirt so I can take it home to wash it.”
“Oh, uh, th-that’s okay. I’ll, uh…” Kevin stalled, glancing at Hank. He felt like Hank was observing his next move, even though he looked absorbed in his work. “I’ll… take it home and wash it myself.”
“Oh… Okay. Thanks, Kev,” Donna replied, sounding genuinely touched. She walked on to her office as he walked to the back to hang his shirt by his jacket.
Once Kevin had joined Hank behind the counter, Hank quietly told him, “Good stalling back there.”
“…thanks?”
“I can order shirts too, so go ahead and keep that one. I’ll buy an XL to put in back in its place.”
“Why do you want me to keep that one?”
Hank turned his head to look at Kevin, his neutral expression curling into a smile. “Just go with it,” he assured Kevin with a pat on Kevin’s stomach, before turning back to his work.
Kevin looked around them to see if that was weird to anyone else, but Donna was nowhere in sight, and none of the customers seemed to have noticed. With a shrug, he got down to work.
Kevin didn’t think much about Hank telling him to keep the shirt as he worked through his shift. A busy afternoon and evening kept him focused on his work, and left him relieved when 11:00 came and Hank locked the door.
“Alright,” Kevin said. “I guess it’s that time.”
“Not so fast,” Hank cautioned. Kevin looked back to him with his hand still on the trays. “We don’t want to get your new shirt dirty, do we?”
“Since when are you worried about that?”
“Well, it’s brand new,” Hank replied, adopting a more amicable tone.
Kevin didn’t believe that was his real reason, but he also didn’t want to play 21 questions about a shirt. “Is this why you told me to keep the XL?”
After a slow nod, Hank continued, “All I’m saying is I think it would be more fun for you to enjoy your meal in something… a little more snug.”
“More fun for whom?”
Hank let out a quiet chuckle. “Well, I think you’ll find wearing an XL more fun than dealing with the fallout when Donna finds out why you’ve put on so much weight lately.”
Kevin paused to try to think of a retort to that, but he had nothing. With an aggravated sigh, he walked to the back to put on his old shirt.
With how easily Kevin’s 2XL slid off, the tightness of the XL was extra apparent as he tried to pull it back on. The seams where the sleeves ended felt tight around his shoulders, and no matter how he pulled at the bottom hem, he couldn’t get it to meet the waist of his pants. After a long exhalation, he turned to head back out into the restaurant.
Hank cracked a smile when he saw Kevin in the extra tight shirt. “Much better. Now get to eating.”
As Hank turned to wipe down the counter, Kevin shook his head back and forth and grabbed a tray. At the very least, he was still hungry, and the shirt he wore didn’t change that. He walked past the shelves of leftover food and took eight wrapped items, not much caring what he took as long as he had something to eat. He took a large milkshake as well, to wash everything down. Then he threw a ninth item on his tray, a chicken sandwich, for good measure. If anything, he didn’t want run out of food before he felt satisfied.
These days, Hank had slowed his cleaning down to the pace of a new employee closing for the first time. Kevin could tell it was deliberate, as he wiped down the counter with the care and delicacy of someone cleaning an antique table. Hank was no longer subtle about keeping his eyes on Kevin as he ate, only occasionally looking down at whatever he was cleaning.
Not that Kevin minded. Hank didn’t pressure him to eat anything in particular anymore; making Kevin wear the XL shirt was the first odd thing to happen since those first few nights. If all Hank wanted was to watch, Kevin was okay with that.
And thus the two did their nightly duties, as Kevin finished one sandwich, then two, then three, then four. He shifted in his seat to give his stomach more room, trying to not compress the mass of food more than he had to. Then five. Then six. Then seven. He ate more slowly with each bite, his belly feeling tighter and heavier as the night went on. Then eight. He finally gave in, undoing his belt so he could fit one last sandwich in with the massive mound of bread and meat and cheese he’d built up. Then… nine.
Leaning back in his chair, Kevin breathed shallow breaths as he rubbed the top of his gut, hoping for some kind of relief. His muscles tensed for a belch, but only a tiny burp came out, as if there wasn’t enough room in his stomach for any real amount of gas. Upon rubbing the bottom of his belly, his hand touched bare skin as he felt that his shirt had risen up even more. Not that this was new, but after wearing a shirt that fit for his whole shift, the contrast was especially evident. Even as he tried to pull it down, he couldn’t get the bottom hem past his belly button. He’d stuffed himself well past the point where his shirt had any chance of fitting.
“Maybe now you’d like some help up?”
Kevin’s sleepy eyes opened to see Hank standing over him, a pleased smile on his face. “Sure,” Kevin replied in a tired voice. His stomach resisted any attempt he made to stand, but with Hank pulling him up, he managed to resume an upright position. He felt wobbly, wavering back and forth as he adjusted to his newly shifted center of gravity.
Hank didn’t let go until Kevin had gotten his balance again. “How you feeling?”
After some hesitation, Kevin answered, “Swell.”
Hank let out a hearty laugh. “Alright, head on back and change into your 2XL. This was fun, but I’m sure we both want to get home.”
Kevin waddled over to the back and took off his XL. Looking down, his swollen stomach stuck out farther than he was used to seeing. It was like the alien sensation he felt while changing in the bathroom before, but now his food-induced stupor made his new size seem all the more incomprehensible. He ran his finger across the top of his belly, feeling the hard mass of food underneath it with curiosity. He grabbed the underside of his gut with both hands, pulling it up and feeling the inertia of an engorged stomach that did not want to be moved. Letting it fall, he uttered an “Oof” as it bounced, before massaging it in soothing circles. His movements slowed down as he did, pushing more strongly as his head leaned back in relief.
“Having fun?” Hank asked with a smug satisfaction as Kevin froze from being startled, before turning around to see him watching. “I knew you enjoyed this. I knew you weren’t just doing this to ensure my silence,” he boasted as he walked toward Kevin with slow, deliberate steps. “You try to put on that air of doing it just to keep your job, and yet here you are. I let you decide how much you eat, and you kept piling it on your tray. Now look at you: piled on the ponds the way you piled on the quarter pounders.”
Kevin was frozen in place, not sure what to do or say, or even what to think. Sure, Hank hadn’t pressured him to eat as much food as he did, but he was only doing it with the understanding that it was what Hank wanted in exchange for keeping his secret. Any extras he’d taken were just to satisfy his increasingly insatiable appetite.
At least, that what his instinctive reaction. But upon thinking about it more, he couldn’t deny the satisfaction he felt when he finished a gigantic meal. He couldn’t deny how good it felt to rub his swollen belly. He couldn’t deny his fascination with his expanding frame. He couldn’t deny the thrill of taking up more space.
Kevin’s pondering ended once Hank was within arm’s reach of him, looking at him with an expression Kevin couldn’t quite identify. He looked down at Kevin’s stomach, before extending one of his hands to give it a rub. Kevin was startled again, and his instinct was to pull away from this unexpected touch. But instead he stood in place, motionless at first, before leaning into Hank’s caresses.
“You like that, don’t you?”
As with everything else, Kevin couldn’t deny how good it felt for Hank’s hands to be rubbing his sodden belly. Hank knew all the right spots to make the gorged Kevin feel good, and he stroked them all in turn. Kevin’s eyes glazed over, his mouth hung open, and his head tilted back, enjoying this attention from his supervisor as much as Hank was clearly enjoying it. Hank’s mouth curled into a smile, then into a smirk, then a toothy grin, as he handled Kevin all the right ways to make his tight stomach feel good again.
Kevin wasn’t sure how long they stood like that, but he was plenty dazed when Hank had had enough. With Hank’s hands off of him, he looked back down with eyes and mouth still half open. Hank looked back with an expression Kevin could have sworn was pride. “Come on, big guy. We both gotta get home.”
That snapped Kevin back to attention. He quickly grabbed his 2XL shirt and slipped it on, looking back at Hank like that somehow would erase what had just happened. But Hank still smiled, looking Kevin up and down to take in his new girth. “You gonna be okay to walk home?”
“I’ll manage,” the newly awoken Kevin blurted out.
“Alright,” Hank replied. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Once they were both out of the building with the door locked behind them, they turned to look at each other. Kevin found himself trying to make sense of what had just happened, but Hank seemed more sure in himself, looking at Kevin with a self-assured smile. “Stay out of trouble, kid,” he told Kevin as he turned toward his car. “This job would be a lot more boring without you.”
Kevin turned around and started what would inevitably be a long walk home, walking with a noticeable gait in his step as he started his trip. He tried to think about what had just transpired, to get some kind of clarity about what was going on. Clearly Hank was enjoying watching these feasts for its own sake, not out of some kind of desire to punish Kevin for stealing food. What about it he enjoyed, Kevin couldn’t imagine, but enjoy it he did, and he clearly didn’t mind if Kevin enjoyed it too. So it wasn’t coming from some kind of malicious motivation, but then, from where?
The next day was another busy day, not giving Kevin much time to dwell on what had happened the night before. He returned his XL shirt, having washed it that morning after passing out as soon as he got home the night before, and got right to work, the day too hectic to let any tension build between him and Hank. That was until the lull right before closing, when Hank and Kevin had a moment of quiet. Kevin tried to keep himself busy with menial duties, while Hank walked leisurely around the restaurant, giving Kevin a bad feeling.
11:00 came and went and Hank locked the door behind the last few customers once they left. He turned to Kevin and gave him a thumbs up. After the previous night, Kevin had grown self-conscious about his eating again, and he stuck with taking one chicken sandwich off the shelf to start with.
“Not feeling a whole feast tonight?” Hank asked as he walked back behind the counter.
“I don’t know,” Kevin stalled. “I’ll start with this and see how I feel.” Hank gave him a nod and walked back to start wiping down the counter. They were both silent until Kevin spoke up. “Hank?”
“Hmm?”
“…what happened last night?”
Letting out a chuckle, Hank asked, “You mean what happened back there?”, pointing to the back.
“Yes.”
The smile on Hank’s face faded as he realized Kevin was serious. “Did you not like it?”
“I, uh…” Kevin wasn’t sure, and not knowing what had happened didn’t make the question any easier to answer. But he certainly didn’t dislike it. “Not necessarily.”
“So what was the issue?”
“Well…” Kevin took a bite out of his chicken sandwich to stall for time. “I’m just not sure what to make of it.”
A smile spread across Hank’s face again, but for once, it looked like a friendly one. With an amiably quiet tone, he answered, “Make of it what you want to make of it. If you liked it and you want to do it again, we can do it again. In doing so, you might figure out what it is you like about it.”
“I guess, but–”
“Hey you two,” Kevin heard a voice say, looking to his right to see Donna pass by them. Somehow she’d let herself in without them hearing. “Don’t mind me, I left my jacket in my office. Although you might want to start cleaning if you want to get home soon.”
“Donna!” Kevin shouted, before hiding his chicken sandwich. “Uh, hey…”
Giving Kevin a bewildered look, she asked, “What are you hiding your sandwich for?”
“Wha… what sandwich?”
“The one you were eating just now,” she answered, clearly unamused with Kevin’s stalling. “Why did you put it behind your back?”
“I, uh… I thought we… weren’t allowed to eat food leftover at the end of the night.”
“Well, that is company policy usually. But this town has a local law against establishments mandating that food be thrown out, so that doesn’t apply to us. I mean, I wouldn’t suggest you eat it every night, but you won’t get in trouble for eating it.” At that, she walked to her office to grab her coat before walking out again, shouting out, “Have a good night, you two.”
Kevin looked after her with mouth agape, before looking back to Hank, whose eyebrows were still raised. “Well… that’s news to me too.” He let out an extended sigh before looking back at Kevin. “Look, you can head home early, kid. I won’t make you help clean after putting you through all that.”
Kevin pondered it for a moment, staring Hank in the eye before he took another bite of his sandwich.
“You don’t have to eat that, you know. I don’t have any blackmail against you.”
After chewing and swallowing his bite, Kevin gave him a smirk back. “Maybe I want to eat it.”
Hank’s eyebrows shot up.
“Maybe I want to eat more after this too.”
Hank’s eyebrows remained elevated as a smile spread across his face. He strolled over to stand in front of Kevin and put his hand on the side of Kevin’s stomach, rubbing as Kevin’s smile widened. “I think that can be arranged.”
It was Kevin’s one year anniversary of when he started work. He strolled in with a 4XL shirt on, one he’d ordered through Hank to keep Donna from growing suspicious. Of course, she wasn’t so unobservant that she didn’t notice Kevin’s wider frame. “Hey Kev. Is, uh… is that the 2XL I gave you way back when?”
“Oh yeah,” Kevin answered, seeing no harm in messing with his manager.
“Okay… well… as long as it still fits,” she concluded, before continuing her work. Hank looked over his shoulder and gave Kevin a knowing smirk and a wink before continuing himself.
That shift passed and Hank locked the door once 11:00 hit. He turned to his bulbous coworker with a proud smile on his face. Any boundary between Kevin’s cheeks and chin had disappeared, lost as his face rounded out. His arms were well past burly and had graduated to flabby. His belly, now the clear centerpiece of his body, protruded out in all directions, big enough to bounce as he walked. And as he walked toward Hank, his arms swung wide at his side to balance all the mass he had to move.
Once they were close, Hank enthusiastically took Kevin’s belly in his hands and massaged it gruffly, much to Kevin’s enjoyment. He stuck his hands under Kevin’s shirt to feel the warm, fleshy expanse underneath. Kevin flashed a toothy smile as his head tilted back, waving back and forth as it did so. He kept swaying as Hank massaged his belly, dizzy from all the sensations emanating from his stomach.
“So what’ll it be tonight?”
Though still enjoying all the attention, Kevin brought his head down and looked at the remaining food. “I think I’ll scarf down those six cheeseburgers first and see what I’m craving after that.”
With a smile, Hank took his hands out of Kevin’s shirt and patted him on the side of his gut the way he’d pat his shoulder. “Get to it, big guy.”
The Plot Thickens 