Dungeons and Drive Thrus, Part 7 (Patreon)

SORRY FOR THE DELAY. Been a hell of a month. Spent most of it sick or otherwise incapacitated. BUT. Hopefully y'all like this <3

CHARACTER CAMEOS IN THIS SEQUENCE:

Bel belongs to Paris

Loretta belongs to Firefox

Katie belongs to Kagira

Vic belongs to VictorTheMaker

- - -

Loretta lived in a tidy looking trailer in a tidy looking trailer park. Jenny assumed that her mom did most of the yardwork as she’d never heard Loretta so much as talk about mowing the grass in her lot, or tending the flowers, and it was the kind of job that one ought to complain about, in Jenny’s mind. Not that she herself had touched a lawnmower in recent weeks and she was hopeful she could keep it that way.

The donkey squeezed out of her mom’s minivan, painfully aware of how her stomach smooshed against the chair in front of her enough that it creaked and groaned in its seating, and how her ass alone took up so much space that she could no longer find the seat belt buckle beneath it.  She had been able to think of little else since her revelation the night before - was she fat? Was she actually fat? She had to grip the frame of the car to find enough leverage to pull herself out, before spilling into the street. Fat was something that happened to other people. Bel, Loretta, they were fat. She was just chubby, big boned even.

But the reflection she had seen on her TV screen the other night suggested otherwise. It showed a donkey nearly Loretta’s weight, a vision that had shocked her. She had picked up the phone not moments afterwards and called Loretta, asking to visit as soon as possible, which is how she found herself now bracing the railing beside the stairs leading up to Loretta’s front porch. Huffing, panting and wheezing, Jenny conquered the stairs like she was hiking a mountain, her legs pushing against the overhang of her stomach every step of the way. Standing atop the front porch she suddenly felt naked and anxious. She had wanted to shop for bigger clothes before visiting, but Jenny’s mom had work and so she was squeezed into what she had worn the day before; a t-shirt which couldn’t stretch all the way down her stomach, with a button-up shirt worn overtop. Both had holes in them from where the seams couldn’t keep up with Jenny’s weight, and so did her pants, a pair of brown slacks with a button that was a deep breath away from shooting free. Her cheeks burned as Loretta’s mom opened the door after a few knocks, but if the woman saw anything out of place she didn’t comment. Instead, she smiled and waved Jenny in, talking about how healthy she looked and how nice it was that Loretta was having her over. Jenny was bustled all the way to Loretta’s room with promises of cookies in the oven and take-out to be ordered later on.

Any reservations Jenny held about her clothing disappeared as the door opened to Loretta’s room. Loretta’s casual wear was as worse for wear as the donkey’s own; a shirt stretched far beyond what it was meant to encompass and a pair of sweatpants that likewise seemed to be on the edge of bursting at the seams. Loretta didn’t seem to notice or mind Jenny’s stares, instead embracing the donkey as much as either of them could with armspans limited by their guts smooshing together.

Over Loretta’s shoulder Jenny saw the raven’s room, and her mind was set further at ease. Although it was obvious that Loretta had made an effort to clean up, her room was still as messy as the donkey had ever allowed her own room to get. Clothes were scrunched up in piles where-ever there was space for them and the odd cup or paper plate poked out from beneath her dresser and the futon-frame of her bed. The bed was a mess of console games, and if Jenny wasn’t mistaken there was a cheeto hiding in the folds of her sheets. The whole room smelled like Loretta, but not in an unpleasant or overwhelming way. As big and awkward as Jenny felt, she took comfort in the way the space was very lived-in.

“Hey JenJen,” Loretta cheerfully said, looking curious, and maybe a little anxious. “I feel like we haven’t hung out one on one very much since you started the campaign, so I’m really glad you wanted to stop by… though, um... I was wondering what was so urgent that it couldn’t wait until Friday night.”

Friday night was when they all got together for dungeons and dragons, and for that Jenny typically preferred the familiarity of her own home more than she did running the game at someone else’s house.

Jenny smiled, her hand rummaging through the satchel bag that hung from her shoulders at her waist. Once upon a time, she would feel the satchel bag against her hips when she walked, but now her love handles had become wide enough to almost be a shelf the bag could rest on. Almost. She fished around for a small bag of corn chips.

“Hey! I got something for your pet rat,” She said as she popped open the bag and approached the corner of the room where a large white rat sat lazily in a rat cage.

Loretta had let Jenny feed Carme in the past, so now whenever she visited Jenny brought some snack or another to feed the rat. Usually they weren’t very healthy, but she figured a rat’s diet could take most things in moderation.

“Who’s a good rat? Who is?” Jenny cooed over the cage, waggling the corn chip above. “You are! Yes you are! You’re a good rat.”

Carme looked distinctly unimpressed, which was an impressive expression for a small creature like that to make. Jenny dropped the corn chip into the cage anyway and it landed among the paper rat bedding. With the donkey watching eagerly Carme gave it a few seconds before she slowly stretched out her arms to cup the sides of the chip, pulling it up and into nibbling range.

When Jenny looked back, she found Loretta watching with a bemused expression on her face. Loretta was probably used to people doting on her beautiful rat, the donkey figured as she looked around for somewhere to sit. There was a decently clear space on the bed, though she felt a chip crack beneath her as she lowered herself slowly into the sheets. She found her movement somewhat mirrored by the obese bird in front of her. Loretta braced her hands on her knees and slowly lowered herself onto her mattress, and even then the springs pinged and the sturdy, metal futon frame beneath gave a mournful creak. The exertion of the slow descent left Jenny breathless for a few moments, but Loretta seemed to handle it somewhat better, despite being even larger. The massively obese raven was used to it, surely.

“I uh...” Jenny paused to take another deep breath, then rubbed the back of her head awkwardly as her heart rate had settled. “I realised something last night,” she said, seeing the reflection of herself again in the TV screen; her stomach pushing against her clothing, hanging down to her knees. “Am I fat?”

A look of surprise flickered across the raven’s face, and a moment later Loretta donned and then tried to hide a smile. “Oh… um, Jenny, is that really what you wanted to ask me?”

The bed groaned as she leaned forward slightly, as though she were waiting for Jenny to say the punchline of a joke, but that just left the donkey confused. When it became clear that there was no punchline forthcoming, Loretta looked away, but it was clear that she was trying to hide a smile as she shook her head.

“Jenny… I… um—” She laughed, but it was quiet and nervous. “Remember that night a few weeks back when you had three pizzas to yourself while we were all fighting the briarwolves? I think that was the most I’ve ever seen you eat. It kind of seemed like you were trying to set a personal record.” She swallowed and took a breath, then continued. “And you’ve been doing that for months now, eating more each session, outdoing yourself in front of the whole tabletop group. We all… we thought you were gaining weight on purpose.”

Loretta fidgeted, brushing hair out of her face as she finally made eye contact again. “So, um… I guess that, um… Jenny... you’ve been fat for a little while now?” She flashed a nervous smile, clearly worried that she may have upset her friend.

For her part, Jenny found it all confusing. Her brow pushed downwards as she contemplated the proposition, the night in question lost to her memory. She remembered the session the party fought the briarwolves, but had she really eaten three pizzas? And if so, did that make her fat?

“Are you okay?” Loretta asked, her expression shifting to concern.“You’re not… um… you’re not mad at me, are you? I would have said something sooner, I just… I never thought you were worried about your weight. I mean, um… if it seemed like you were trying to out-eat Bel every time we got together, can you understand why we thought it was intentional? Jenny?”

With care and hesitation, Loretta gently placed a hand on Jenny’s shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“Huh? I dunno,” Jenny replied with a little shrug. “I just haven’t been fat before. Big boned maybe! But fat? That was always—” she paused a moment. That was always Loretta and Bel, they were the fat ones, had been what she was going to say. But she had always tried to avoid the topic of her friends' weight in case the topic might upset them.

Loretta seemed to read Jenny’s mind, and she smiled warmly. “I mean, if it bothers you, I could always eat your leftovers,” the raven suggested with a little bit of slyness to that smile. She gave Jenny’s shoulder a squeeze. “I just… I dunno… For me, I’ve always been big, it wasn’t a conscious decision I made. But watching you eat and eat and get bigger every session… it seemed so deliberate, like you were so confident about the way you were piling on the pounds and working up to demolishing entire pizzas.” She uttered a shy little laugh, a bashful look on her face. “I thought it was kinda cute.”

A blush spread deep across Jenny’s cheeks. Her? Cute?! Absolutely impossible. She bit her lip and looked away. Cute?!

Loretta withdrew her hand and went right back to fidgeting uncertainly. “I hope I didn’t say anything... weird,” she murmured. “And like I said, if you’re having a hard time controlling your appetite, I can um… well I can try to help remove the temptation.”

Jenny met Loretta’s gaze to reveal the big smile that had broken across her snout. She heaved herself forward and wrapped her arms around as much of Loretta as she could, squeezing the bird tight in a hug as all the weight and momentum bowled her over. The bird cawed with surprise before returning the hug just as tightly, laughing.

She thinks I’m cute! Jenny thought, her cheeks still burning.

Maybe I am?