Originally published October 20, 2018.
Contains: stuffing, bloating, direct encouraging.
Not much to say about this one, to be honest. It was inspired by the videos that a guy called tankerTUBBS on Grommr posts on his builderTUBBS YouTube account. The idea of having a fat builder like that work on my apartment has obvious appeal, and it got my mental gears turning: what might transpire if that plumber and I were on the same mental page?
Synopsis: Eli isn’t exactly thrilled about having to work from home in his kitchen to oversee the fixing of his sink. However, the portly plumber arrives and introduces himself as Steven, Eli is immediately much more enthusiastic about the idea. What follows is a string of gut-filling incidents, involving club soda, takeout from an Italian restaurant, and a delivery order so big that Steven can’t finish it without some friendly encouragement.
It was far from Eli’s ideal way spend a day. The fact that his kitchen sink was clogged was bad enough, though he was thankful his landlord could get someone out to look at it in only a day. But now he found himself setting up his work laptop in his kitchen so he could keep an eye on the proceedings. Though he had no problem with working from home, he did prefer to do it from the comfort of his desk, not sitting at the table in the kitchen. He supposed it would just have to do until his pipe could be fixed.
Just after emailing his coworkers to let them know about the situation, Eli heard a knocking on the door. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 8:55. The plumber was early. That at least boded well, Eli thought. With a sigh, he got up from the kitchen table and walked to the door.
Upon opening the door, Eli was struck by the image of a man with at least a foot of height and 200 pounds on him. He wore jeans and a plain white tee shirt–a surprising choice for his field–and looked remarkably well put together. There were no stains on his clothes, and his face was more pleasant than that of the handymen his landlord had sent in the past. His smooth, pudgy cheeks were flanked by a well trimmed beard that hugged the round shape of his face quite well. With his shirt tucked in, his belly looked just as spherical, sticking out over his beltline like a scoop of ice cream on a cone. It also looked just as ready to burst out as frozen pipes.
“Hi, Eli?”
“Yes,” Eli answered, looking up to look the man in the eyes after realizing he’d been fixating on the man’s belly.
“Hi, I’m Steven. Your landlord sent me to fix your kitchen sink?”
“Yep, it’s this way,” Eli said, pointing toward his kitchen.
“Awesome,” Steven said quietly, stepping in and walking ahead of Eli, which Eli didn’t mind. Getting to watch a man as hefty as Steven walk was a treat. His gait wasn’t quite a waddle, more a deliberate stride that demonstrated incredible awareness of all of his girth. Every time one of his boots met Eli’s floor, the flab above his pants jiggled, his belly bouncing with his steps. Perhaps, Eli thought, this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Once they were in the kitchen, Eli told Steven, “So no matter what I do, the sink seems to always clog. I’ll clear the clog with Draino or something and it works for a week or two, and then it’s clogged again.”
“Got it. I’ll have to get under there to take a look, of course.”
“Already cleared it out, so you’re good to go.”
Looking down into the cabinet, Steven nodded. “Great. I’ll go get my tools.”
As Steven bounded out of the kitchen, making the various items on the shelves shake just a little with each step, Eli let out a long sigh and sat at his kitchen table. Looking at his laptop and his queue of unread emails, he started to read through them, while suspecting he wouldn’t get very much done that day. Not if he could help it, anyway.
Steven soon returned with a metal toolbox filled with all kinds of wrenches and screwdrivers and other things he might need on the job. Putting it down next to the sink, he sighed quietly to himself before he slowly lowered himself onto the floor. With another exertion, he was on his back, looking up into the underbelly of the sink.
It wasn’t the only underbelly getting stared at. It seemed Steven had tucked in his shirt because it just didn’t fit over his massive belly anymore. As he reached for a flashlight from his toolbox and messed around under the sink, his shirt had popped out of his belt line, leaving almost all of the underside of his gut exposed. A mountain of soft flab towering over Steven, with a good few inches of gut visible. And it was all there for Eli to take in.
“I’m not seeing any signs of stress or pressure on the outside, so at least you’re not at risk of a rupture. We might be able to save this pipe.”
“Great,” Eli replied, putting on his best courteous tone as he kept blatantly staring at Steven’s gut.
“Hey, is my belly sticking out?” he asked, to Eli’s surprise.
“No,” Eli said with his best vocal straight face.
“Okay, good,” Steven said as he fiddled around under the sink some more. “This shirt doesn’t fit like it used to.”
“Mm,” Eli responded, trying to sound like he wasn’t screaming inside. As Steven kept working, Eli tried to focus on his own work too. But the temptation to watch that mound of blubber jiggle with all of Steven’s actions was simply too strong. Any time he tried to look at his screen, he’d hear a grunt from under the sink, which would cause him to look back and see that gut jutting out above its owner again.
After looking around a few more minutes, Steven started shimmying out from under the sink, the motions of which made his belly quake even more. Seeing his blubber slosh back and forth as Steven moved his body made Eli barely able to look away before Steven could see him watching. Once he could, Eli looked back at his laptop, before looking back to Steven to look him in his eyes.
“Well, I still think it’s worth a shot to see if I can fix the pipe. I just need to go grab a few tools from my truck to do that.”
“Sure thing,” Eli said, before waiting impatiently for Steven to return. Once Steven came back, several more tools in hand, as he plopped them down on the countertop, Eli asked, “Can I get you something to drink? Beer, maybe?”
“Nah, I don’t like to drink on the job. Even for something simple as a clogged pipe, I prefer to have my wits about me.”
Consciously, Eli knew he should have been happy about that answer. But selfishly, he wished he could see Steven bloated up even fatter, wobbling around as the beer in his belly sloshed side to side, unsteady and caring even less about whether that shirt was tucked into his pants.
“But something bubbly would hit the spot right now. You got any club soda?”
“Oh yeah,” Eli said, opening up the refrigerator and pulling out a dozen cans of club soda that he’d bought for a party recently, only to find everyone preferred real soda. Having previously wondered how he’d ever get rid of them, he was thankful to have found a way. “Have as much as you want. I don’t really drink it, so it’s all yours if you want.”
“Awesome, man. Thank you so much,” Steven replied, taking the dozen by the soda rings and putting it on the counter next to the sink, before he pulled one out and cracked it open. After the carbonation escaped, he put it to his lips and started drinking, soon chugging the entire thing down. After taking the can away from his lips with a satisfied “ah”, he said, “Must have been thirsty,” before contorting his head a bit and opening his mouth to let out a massive belch. “Oof, excuse me.”
“Hey, no worries. Belching isn’t a crime in this house,” Eli said with an amiable smile, a smile which Steven returned. “In fact, better have some more of those if you’re thirsty. Gotta stay hydrated, you know?”
“Heh, you’re right,” Steven said as he reached over to pull out another. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking, but Eli swore that his belly looked bigger than it had before. Nearly an inch of flab was hanging out of the bottom of his shirt, with nearly no chance that it could be tucked back in. It made Eli wonder just how much bigger Steven’s belly could get if he could get even more club soda in Steven.
Luckily for Eli, it seemed Steven was inclined to keep chugging down the club sodas on his own. With his tools in hand, he set up everything he needed on the counter and started trying to work on the sink, with the 12-pack of club soda close at hand. With his back turned to Eli, it was easier for Eli to focus on his work, allowing him to pass the time as Steven tried to get his sink working. Steven, meanwhile, was not having such an easy time of things, as the sink seemed to resist the easy unclogging that he had anticipated. Between several different brushes, what looked like some sort of camera on the end of the thick wire, and other tools that Eli didn’t recognize, Steven was throwing everything he could at the sink and not getting very far.
He was also throwing back the club sodas much more quickly than he was making any progress on the sink. When he ran into a frustrating roadblock–which seemed to be happening regularly–he’d pick up the can and take a big swig of the soda, before bringing it back down on the counter with a bang. When he emptied one can, he’d put it aside and pull another out of the rings, before opening that one and taking a big gulp of it. The massive burps he was letting out in between frustrated grunting indicated just how quickly he was drinking the soda down.
By the time 11:00 AM came around, Steven still didn’t seem to be having much luck with the sink. And as Eli heard another can come down on the counter, he looked to see, to his surprise, twelve empty cans put aside, and an empty plastic 12-pack ring laying on the countertop. With his eyes widened, he slowly looked toward Steven, who was still standing with his back to Eli, leaning over and looking in the sink. “Well,” he said in between heavy breaths, “I apologize for my, uh, frustrated demeanor over here.” Once he straightened his back, Eli could see even from behind that his belly had swollen up significantly bigger. “I really thought this would be a simple fix.”
Upon uttering those words, Steven slowly turned around, revealing just how much those 12 cans of club soda had bloated up his already massive belly. His shirt had ridden far abovevt where it lay before, revealing not just his belly button, but a good few inches of flab above that too. Wrapped tightly around what remaining torso it could cling onto, it seemed ready to snap up around his chest, leaving the whole rotund mass hanging out for Eli to see. Except “hanging” wasn’t quite the right word, as it jutted out in front of Steven without any sag, rock solid and huge. It looked a few inches bigger all around, plenty to push up the shirt.
“Oh, and, uh, I finished the club soda. So… sorry if you wanted any of those,” Steven said with sheepish expression, before letting out yet another burp and patting the top of his belly with an embarrassed chuckle. Eli was thankful he didn’t pat the bottom, where his hand would have hit his bare belly, and he’d know his gut was hanging out of his shirt.
“Oh, no worries,” Eli said softly, not even trying to take his eyes off of Steven’s gut. “I’m just glad they want to someone who would enjoy them as much as you did.”
“Yeah…” Steven sighed, not sounding very comforted by Eli’s words. “Say, where’s your bathroom?”
“Go around that corner and it’s the door on the right,” Eli said as he pointed Steven in the right direction.
“‘Preciate it,” Steven mumbled as he turned toward the corner. As he started walking, there was much more of a waddle to his walk than there had been before. He moved with much shorter steps, careful to not disturb the contents of his stomach by walking too quickly. His turgid stomach, meanwhile, forced him to arch his back to give that club soda all the room it needed. As a result, his stomach stuck out even farther, leading him along like it was the one navigating and he had to dutifully follow it.
As he waddled along, his upper body swayed side-to-side while his gut remained remarkably still. His mouth hung open, breathing heavily from the burden of all that soda weighing him down. It seemed he also kept it hung open to let out any burps as they came up, which they often did. Even after he rounded the corner, Eli could still hear his burps echoing off the walls. The burps kept coming until the toilet lid was lifted and Eli heard it clink against the tank. When they started interrupting a lengthy groan of relief instead later, the sound of flushing and hand washing came of the bathroom instead.
Soon Steven hobbled back out of the bathroom, looking back at Eli with a sigh. “I’ll probably be doing that more before lunch.”
“Understandable.”
“So I’m going to try at the sink some more and probably take my lunch around noon.”
“Sounds good,” Eli said with his best straight face. In truth, he couldn’t wait to see how big on lunch this massive man could eat. Especially after all that club soda had stretched his stomach so wide. He remembered something he’d read once, about how beer bellies were made not a because of all the calories in beer, but because the bubbles expanded the stomach, making one hungrier due to all the empty space. And with Steven having gotten no calories from the club soda, he was primed to really chow down.
But for the moment, he kept looking into the sink, burping constantly, and taking frequent bathroom breaks. Eli tried to keep his eyes on his work, knowing the view wouldn’t get any better the more he watched. But as lunch approached, and Steven started complaining about how hungry he was, Eli couldn’t help but get excited at the prospect of watching this massive man chow down on a giant meal.
Around 11:50, Steven let out an aggravated groan before turning to Eli. “Would you mind if I took my lunch early?”
“Dude, I’m not your boss. You eat when you want to eat,” Eli said, resisting the urge to add “and how much”.
With a chuckle, Steven said, “Fair enough,” before putting his tools down on the counter. “You mind if I eat in here with you? I’ll clean up after myself.”
“Yeah sure,” Eli said, trying to not sound as excited as he really was.
Soon Steven was out of the kitchen, hobbling out with noticeably less waddle than before, though his belly still hung out of his shirt by a few inches. When he returned, he came back with a lunchbox that Eli found disappointingly small. Even after Steven opened it to reveal two sub sandwiches the length of the lunchbox, and a can of soda to wash it all down, Eli still found himself wishing Steven had brought more to eat.
He was marginally more excited when he saw Steven start eating, wolfing down the sandwich in massive bites that showed just how hungry he was. It seemed he had no intention of savoring his lunch, just getting it down as quickly as he could. And he got it down remarkably fast, stuffing the end of his sandwich into his mouth and chewing with something resembling a grunting noise. The kitchen was silent as Steven finished what remained of the first sandwich. He then looked down, and without a word, pulled out the second sandwich, unwrapped it, and started eating.
His pace wasn’t as ravenous as it was the first time around, but he was clearly eating to satisfy his hunger, not to enjoy his sandwich. His bites were consistently large, before he’d chew with his cheeks puffed up with food. As soon as he could swallow that, it was on to more sandwich. In this way, the second sandwich disappeared almost as quickly as the first one.
“Goddamn,” Steven grumbled upon finishing the second sandwich.
“I’ll say,” Eli said under his breath.
“That second sandwich was supposed to be my lunch for tomorrow, and I’m still hungry.”
Eli breathed in a little quicker than usual before suggesting, “Well, I was about to get takeout from an Italian pace for lunch. We could get you something too.”
“Oh god, yes please. I swear I could eat a horse right now.”
After Eli showed the menu to Steven, they ended up agreeing for Steven to pay for the order with Eli giving him cash. After all, Eli only wanted the lunch chicken parmesan. Steven wanted the dinner chicken parm, a slice of lasagna, a small meat lover’s pizza, and mozzarella sticks for good measure. Eli had a hard time believing that all the carbonation in the club soda could make Steven that hungry, but if he ate all that food, it would be a sight to behold. So he called in the order, trembling internally with excitement as he did.
Thankfully, Steven’s hunger didn’t seem to subside in the time it took before Eli could leave to pick up their lunch. Eli kept working while Steven brought tools to and from his truck, occasional complaining about how hungry he was and how lunch couldn’t come soon enough.
It was all that Eli could do to keep a straight face as Steven kept talking about how hungry he was and how much he was going to chow down when the food came. By the time 30 minutes had passed and Eli had to leave to pick up the food, he was thankful for the solitude he was about to get. “Well, it’s time I head out to get our food. I’ll be right back.”
“Oh, can I come with you? I really don’t know how much longer I can wait.”
“Uhhh…” Eli stalled as he pondered the question. Just being around Steven made it hard for him to focus on work. Could he focus on the road with Steven eating next to him too?
“Or do you just not allow folks to eat in your car? If so, I understand.”
“No, you know what? Let’s go. I’d hate to leave you behind knowing you’re starving.”
An appreciative smile spread across Steven’s face before he replied, “Thanks, man. You driving?”
Soon the two were in Eli’s car, making their way to Angela’s to pick up their food. Steven had been forced to lean the passenger-side seat back in order to fit himself in the car, giving Eli quite the view of his rotund belly protruding out over his lap. Upon sitting down, Steven tried to pull his shirt down. It did fit his seated belly marginally better than his standing gut. But it didn’t take much driving for the shirt to ride up yet again, revealing a strip of Steven’s rounded belly that Eli had a hard time keeping his eyes off of as he drove.
Soon they made it to Angela’s. Once Eli put the car in park, Steven ended up unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the door. “I better go inside, in case they want me to sign anything for my card.”
“Ah. Yeah, good thinking.”
With a bit of back and forth, Steven eventually got himself out of the passenger seat, pushing himself upright with a grunt. He absentmindedly tried pulling his shirt down again, only this time, it wasn’t staying put. With his belly jiggling in front of him, he bounded his way inside. Eli just hoped that his outfit wouldn’t prevent him from picking up their lunch.
Thankfully, Steven soon walked out with a large bag in hand, a smile on his face, and a couple inches of belly hanging out of the bottom of his shirt. After getting back in Eli’s car, he fished in the bag and pulled out Eli’s lunch-size chicken parm. “Here, you better take this now.”
“Why’s that?”
“Once I start eating, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to differentiate between what’s mine and what isn’t.”
Eli wasn’t sure he bought that, but it was a hot idea nonetheless. With a nod, he took the plastic container in hand and put it on the floor beneath his feet. “Just try to minimize the crumbs. That’s all I ask.”
“Of course,” Steven agreed, taking his meat lover’s pizza out from the bottom of the bag and opening it up so he could use the box like a giant plate.
As soon as Eli put the key in the ignition, Steven proved to be a man of his word. The pizza was rather big for a “small”, and yet Steven still shoved half of one of the six slices in his mouth. Eli was so captivated that he nearly didn’t start the car until Steven had finished swallowing his first massive bite. Once he got them back on the road, he was quick to drive them back to his place, not wanting to stay on the road any longer than he had to. The risk of distraction was simply too great.
By the time Eli got them back to his place, Steven had already finished half the pizza. After putting the car in park, Eli looked over to see Steven still voraciously shoving the slice in his mouth, eating more at once than Eli thought possible, or at least reasonable. Selfishly, Eli watched as Steven wolfed down what remained of the slice before he piped up, “Well, we’re here.”
“Oh,” Steven mumbled through a full mouth. “So we are. Let me pack this up,” he continued, the mound of food in his mouth swallowing his consonants as voraciously as he swallowed the pizza. After closing the pizza box, he put it back in the bag with the remainder of his food and bumbled his way out of the car, bag in hand. Once he was standing, he wiped the crumbs from his shirt onto the sidewalk, before following Eli back into the apartment.
Eli kept his lunch-sized chicken parm close at hand as he tried to work through his lunch break. But focusing proved to be a challenge as Steven, now with the benefit of eating on a table that could catch the crumbs, devoured his lunch like it was the first food he’d eaten in a week. The mozzarella sticks were the first to go, dipped in marinara sauce and eaten in one bite like they weren’t bigger than his pudgy fingers. His own order of chicken parm went down next, alternating between the pasta and the chicken cutlet with ruthless efficiency. He finished the pizza next, eating a little more slowly than he did in the car, but not by much. Finally, he ended with the lasagna, finally eating at a pace where he could savor his food. Although Eli guessed that was less due to presence of mind and more due to how full he already was.
As Steven ate, Eli couldn’t keep his eyes on his work for any longer than it took to read a short email. The sight of this massive man consuming such massive amounts of food, all of which would go to make him even more massive, was too appetizing to resist. It proved to be even more appetizing than his lunch, as midway through his own chicken parm, Steven pointed toward Eli’s order and said, “You better eat that before it gets cold.”
“Ah, right. Sorry, I guess I got… caught up in work.”
“Why are you apologizing for that?”
“I…” Eli was silenced by the realization that he was really apologizing for staring. “…don’t know.”
Shaking his head side-to-side, Steven chuckled and smiled before continuing with his meal.
From then on, Eli had to consciously make himself eat, or else he’d watch Steven stuff himself forever while he starved. Wouldn’t that be an ironic ending?, Eli thought. Or would it? As he pondered whether that fit the definition of irony, he realized he still hadn’t started his chicken parm, so he took the lid off and forced himself to start eating it. Thankfully, it was delicious enough that once he started eating, it was easier to keep going.
Still, between being genuinely distracted by his work and also by watching Steven eat, Eli finished his lunch around the same time Steven finished his. By the end, though, it was clear which one of them had eaten more. While Eli tried to not stare, he couldn’t quite take his eyes off of Steven leaning back in his chair, rubbing his belly as subtly as he could, occasionally groaning at just how much he’d eaten.
“You okay over there, big guy?” Eli asked before he could stop himself. Afterward, he nearly covered his mouth, as if that could take the words back, but he know that would only be more incriminating.
“Heh, I think I…” Another small belch escaped Steven’s lips. “…overestimated how hungry I was.”
“You want to lie down for a bit?”
“No, no. I need to get back to work… if I’m going to hope to fix your sink by the end of the day.”
Right, the sink. The entire reason Steven was there in the first place. Eli chuckled to himself internally at forgetting that there was a reason why Steven had come to his apartment that day, and it wasn’t to stuff himself for Eli’s entertainment.
As Steven stood up, he grunted at the effort it took raise so much mass. Once he was standing, he stretched his back, pushing his rotund gut out even farther than it was before and forcing his shirt to inch up above his belly button. He didn’t even try to pull his shirt down, instead patting his belly with a contented sigh before looking at the sink. “Although, it turns out I will have to lie down to fix this pipe.”
Steven struggled to bend over and put his toolbox on the ground. It seemed all the food in his gut had other plans for him. But he was eventually able to bend forward enough to put it down, before standing up with a sigh of relief. After looking down at the pipes, he let out another sigh, before he started his struggle to lie down. Eli tried to not look too much, lest he be caught staring. But once Steven was on the floor and working on the pipe, Eli looked up, only for his eyes to shoot open at what he saw.
With Steven’s head buried under the sink, Eli had free reign to look at Steven’s belly. And with the massive lunch inside of his, his belly jutted up into the air above him like a mountain, stubbornly resisting gravity’s pull thanks to being full of too much food to compress. Thanks to all that food, his belly was also jutting out of his shirt, the bottom hem hanging well above his belly button. To see such a massive mound of flab practically out in the open made it much harder for Eli to focus on his work. Not that he was going to complain.
Things got especially distracting once Steven really got into the gritty task of working on the pipe. With a soundtrack of grunts and metal clinking, Eli was treated to the sight of Steven’s belly jiggling, jostling, and vibrating as he worked. Occasionally he’d take a breather, during which the only movement his belly would make would be rising and falling with his breath, itself having sped up due to his work. But soon he was back to working on the pipe, making his belly vibrate in a way that Eli couldn’t take his eyes off of. To watch that engorged mound of blubber move and bounce made it very hard for Eli to focus on his work.
Thankfully for him, as the afternoon went on, it got a little easier. Even watching a belly like Steven’s ricochet around could only stay so interesting after an hour or longer, and with the meal digesting, his belly was shrinking back to its normal size. In addition, Steven had to go back and forth between his truck and Eli’s sink, giving Eli even more time to work undistracted. By the time 5:00 came and Eli was ready to call it quits, he’d spent the previous two hours in an uninterrupted groove.
It was a groove that had kept him from wondering whether Steven really still had to be there. With a suspicious look, he closed his work laptop as he looked at Steven, getting up from the floor with his gut still hanging out of his shirt. This time, he tried in vain to pull his shirt, only for it to spring back up once he let go. “Okay, so I haven’t been keeping you updated on my progress because you looked really focused, so here’s what happened.”
At that, Eli was a little surprised and very relieved to know that he looked less distracted than he was.
“This pipe is going to have to be replaced after all. I’d brought a replacement length of pipe based on your landlord’s description because I had a suspicion it would come to this. I’ve been trying to get it to fit for the longer than I’d like to admit, but it’s just too big to stuff in there. Your landlord gave me the wrong measurements.”
Eli had to consciously stop himself from reacting the Steven calling anything “too big to stuff in there”. Based on the size of his lunch, it seemed he wasn’t familiar with the concept.
“So I’m going to have to go out and get a new length of pipe cut. If I can work on this for a couple more hours, I can have it done tonight. But I don’t want to stay here longer than I’m welcome, especially if you have anything going on tonight. So I’d also be happy to come back tomorrow to work on it.”
Wear out his welcome? The only thing he was wearing out was the capacity of that shirt. “Let’s get it done tonight. The sooner I can use my sink again, the better.”
“Let’s do it. Would you mind if I ordered some delivery for dinner?”
“Not at all.”
“Thanks, bud,” Steven said appreciatively, before he pulled out his phone and started tapping at the screen. Eli wasn’t sure just how much he ordered, but based on how long he stood there, it must have been a lot. Once he was finally done, he pocketed his phone and said, “If they get here before I do, can you take the food in? You won’t have to sign anything.”
“Sure thing.”
“Great. I’ll go get that pipe.”
After Steven left, Eli packed up his work laptop and brought his own laptop into the kitchen, so he could still oversee the process, in exactly the way he wanted to. As he spent his time catching up on his social media, time passed rather quickly until he heard a pair of boots coming up the stairs to his place. Soon he heard Steven walking in, as well as the crinkling of paper bags.
“Alright, I got the pipe, and I had the good luck of catching the delivery guy outside, so I’ve got everything I need,” Steven said as he rounded the corner into the kitchen, carrying four large, grease stained paper bags that looked like they each held several smaller bags. Eli’s eyes opened wide, before he realized he really shouldn’t have been surprised. Above all else, he was excited.
“Great.”
“You still working?” Steven asked in a tone that was half concern and half amusement.
“Oh no, this is my own laptop. I’d just rather stay in here to… oversee things, you know?”
After a moment of looking at Eli with a neutral expression, a smirk spread across Steven’s face. “Whatever floats your boat, bud.”
As Eli watched with glee, Steven settled in under the sink again, his toolbox right up against the cabinets to his left, two bags of food on each side of him, and his belly hanging several inches out of his shirt, ready to creep out even more. Eli found he couldn’t keep an eye on Steven all the time; even a belly that wonderful got boring to look at for as long as Steven had to work on the pipe. But every time he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, he looked over to see what Steven was doing. Occasionally he would reach for a tool from his toolbox. More often, he’d reach for one of his bags and take out something to eat. Perhaps a sub, or a calzone, or some wings, or mozzarella sticks, or chicken fingers. It seemed Steven had just ordered one of everything his heart desired. Eli certainly wasn’t going to judge him for that.
Still, Eli didn’t take much especial notice of Steven until, with a grunt, Steven pushed himself out from under the sink. As he did, his belly jostled up and down with his efforts, creeping even farther out of his shirt, until his belly button was exposed. Eli wasn’t sure how much Steven had eaten, but there was no way he’d eaten all four giant bags of food. If that much food could make his belly hang that far out of his shirt, he wondered, how much bigger would finishing the food make it?
“Alright, the new pipe is in. Can you do me a favor and run the water in the sink so I can check for drips?”
“Sure thing,” Eli said, getting up from his chair before stepping over Steven’s tree trunk legs. Taking a glimpse under the sink, he saw several towels laid down where Steven was lying before, which explained how he could stay down there so long, and how he planned to deal with it if this pipe leaked. After turning on the water, he looked down to Steven’s belly and asked, “Does the temperature matter?”
“Nope.”
“Sweet,” Eli said, his eyes still locked on Steven’s belly. It was only moving up and down with his breathing as he watched the pipe for any leaks, but it was still a sight to behold, especially from this new, closer angle. It was hard to not take his eyes off of the way the weave of his tank top spread out as it moved up his gut, following the grooves in the cloth as it spread out the farther down his belly. It was a sight that made Eli’s own breathing go a little bit faster.
“Enjoying the view?”
Eli froze. But as he stayed still, eyes still locked on Steven’s gut and not helping matters, he realized there wasn’t any malice in the way Steven had asked the question. As his eyes slowly traveled to look at Steven’s face, he was met by a knowing smile and half-closed eyelids, before he saw Steven’s eyebrows hop up when their eyes met. “Would, uh… would you be… would you mind if I said ‘yes’?”
“Not at all. I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t ready for the answer.”
Taking a deep breath, Eli let out a sigh and admitted, “Yeah, I am.”
A chuckle wasn’t the reaction he was expecting from Steven. “You don’t have to be so embarrassed to admit it.” That got Eli to stop looking away and look back at Steven, with a smile creeping across Eli’s face for the first time since he’d been caught. “Anyway, looks like there aren’t any leaks, so your sink is good to go. Could you give me a hand in getting up? I think I might have eaten enough to pin me to the floor. And that’s off of just half of what I ordered,” Steven chuckled, giving his massive belly a few pats that caused ripples to spread across the entire thing.
“I think you ought to finish that food before I let you get up. Wouldn’t want it going to waste, now would we?” Reaching down, Eli gave Steven’s belly a few pats, before concluding, “when it could go to this waist instead.”
Steven’s silence made Eli a bit nervous about how he’d react to that suggestion, but after a moment, Steven said, “So you’re into that, huh?”
“Well…”
“That makes two of us.”
At that, Eli perked up, looking up and seeing Steven’s toothy grin looking back at him. That made a smirk spread across Eli’s face. “Get eating, then, big guy. You’ve got a lot to wolf down before I’ll help you up.”
In no time at all, Steven had pulled the towels out from under the sink and set them up underneath his head like a pillow. He then immediately stuck his hands back in the bags of food and was back to stuffing his face at a precipitous rate. It seemed there’d been a ravenous beast inside of him the whole time, ready to scarf down all his food at a rate that defied belief. All he needed was the confirmation that Eli wouldn’t find it off-putting; that he’d, in fact, find it appealing.
And he did, as Eli had a very hard time taking his eyes off of Steven for anything: social media, news articles, even any messages he was receiving. They all took distant second priority to watching this portly plumber plow his way through a meal that must have been big enough to feed his extended family. And plow Steven did, seemingly giving no thought to just how much he’d already eaten. With Eli’s encouragement, he seemed to have unlimited gusto to keep stuffing his gut.
And his gut was responding to that gusto. Not only was it inching farther and farther out of his shirt as he ate more, but he ate with so much enthusiasm that his belly was bouncing off of his arms as he ate. So enthusiastic was he to cram that food in his mouth that his belly was jostling in the process. For once, Eli found the spectacle impossible to look away from, no matter how long it lasted.
To Eli’s surprise, the spectacle didn’t last as long as it took Steven to work through the first half of the food. Sure, he was eating a little more slowly as his already stuffed stomach resisted more food being shoved into it. But without a pipe to work on at the same time, and with his second wind from Eli’s encouragement, he was more than able to make up for it. And after he stuffed the last of what looked like a meatball sub in his mouth, he let his arms fall to his side, one gripping the crumpled up wrapper.
With the last of the food now in his bulbous belly, Steven was truly a sight to behold. After groggily pulling the towel out from under his head, he lay with his belly jutting out in the air like a yoga ball filled with lead, weighing him down. Nearly half of his globular gut hung out of his shirt, rising and falling rather quickly with his shallow breaths. Looking around his gut, Eli could see Steven’s half-closed eyes and his mouth hanging open. It seemed even he was surprised by how much he’d eaten.
“Well done, fatty. Now you can finally get up.”
Steven let out a groan as Eli stepped over his legs, extending his arms for Steven to grab his hands. Stradling Steven’s massive mound of blubber like that was its own kind of exciting. Slowly, Steven raised his own arms, until Eli could take Steven’s hands in his own. But as Eli tried to pull Steven up, Steven let out a loud, pained groan, before pleading, “Nope, nope, can’t do it, please.”
At that, Eli let go of Steven’s hands, which soon fell back at his side. As he breathed a little heavier, he managed to gasp out, “Too full… can’t get up… just… leave me here… a while longer…”
“What, leave you alone in my kitchen? On the floor?”
“Please…”
After considering it for a moment–and staring a while longer at Steven’s massive mound of a belly–Eli conceded, “Alright. I guess I can’t expect you to do much else.”
After a few more heavy breaths, Steven blurted out, “Thank you,” before he slowly raised his arms to give his packed belly some rubs.
Eli, meanwhile, stood transfixed at the sight of this engorged, overfed plumber on his kitchen floor. It was surreal, like something out of his fantasies, and yet here he was, pinned to the floor by all the food he couldn’t help but eat. He supposed that what made it different from his fantasies was that neither could stay there forever, Eli fattening Steven up until he was as big as Eli could possibly want. They both had jobs to go back to the next day. When Eli heard Steven quietly snoring, he let out a sigh and went about his nightly routine to get ready for bed, stepping over Steven’s legs to get to the bathroom.
Eli woke up the next morning not thinking there would be anything out of the ordinary about that day. That was, until he remembered the overfed plumber he’d left in his kitchen the night before. After getting out of bed, he threw a bathrobe on and headed to the kitchen, intent on checking up on how Steven was doing.
Except there was no Steven to check up on. The cabinet door below his sink had been closed, and all the bags and papers he’d left on the floor the night before were gone. When Eli looked at the garbage bin, he saw that it was full to the top of all the trash that Steven had created the night before. It seemed that at some point in the previous night, Steven had awoken, cleaned up after himself, and left. “That was nice of him,” Eli mumbled to himself, before he returned to his bedroom.
Upon looking at his phone, he saw his usual morning notifications, along with several picture messages from an unknown number. Opening those first, his eyes went wide at what he saw. They were from Steven, and they were photos he’d taken of himself in Eli’s kitchen once he was able to stand up. He might not have been as big as he was right after dinner, but he was close, with his belly button hanging out of his shirt by several inches. It seemed he’d propped his phone up on Eli’s counter and taken photos in several posts: one looking confidently at the camera, one rubbing his belly with an expression like it hurt, one rubbing it with a satisfied expression. All told, Steven had sent him ten photos to remember that night by, along with a text that said, “Hope you’re satisfied with your service. Let me know if you have any problems with the pipe. I’ll be happy to come by and take another look at it.”
The Plot Thickens 