(Contains sexual activity, extreme male inflation, and disobedient research participants.)
“Are American soldiers getting too fat to fight? A new report shows that more than half of all active duty servicemen are classified as overweight -- and unless something changes, they’re expected to keep getting fatter.”
Ryan shook his head in disgust as the same old headless, flabby bodies bounced across his TV screen. He hardly needed the news to tell him what he saw every day. Between his roommate Drew and the countless other porkers in the unit, he could barely believe half of them had been passing their physicals. Months of unlimited food and a lack of emphasis on physical activity had left him surrounded by an army of overfed pigs.
This was never a problem for Ryan. Not that he didn’t take advantage of the food as much as anyone, but he worked it all off: first thing in the morning, again before dinner, and sometimes a third time before bed. Every time he saw a fat comrade waddle by, it motivated him to be the exact opposite. And every time he saw a guy outdoing him at the gym, it motivated him to catch up.
The reporter was talking to a man whose uniform looked ready to burst at the seams. Just as Ryan changed the channel, the door opened and Drew appeared, looking not unlike the interviewee. He silently greeted Ryan, breathless from the walk home, as he made a beeline for the stash of care package snacks his parents were all too faithful in replenishing. He began stuffing his face in the most repulsive display.
Ryan had found his motivation. He turned off the TV and headed for his room to change back into his workout clothes. As he walked past his obese roommate, he felt a perverse urge to reach out and touch that puffy gut. He gave it a firm poke.
“Watch out Drew, don’t wanna grow out of your third uniform.”
“Oh, fuck off, Ryan,” Drew mumbled through a mouthful of Cheetos.
Ryan smiled. That poke had given him an unexpected rush of blood. He had to admit: being the alpha male sort of turned him on. With this much motivation, he knew it would be a great workout.
Ryan rowed and rowed, the sweat flying off him. His mind raced in a self-congratulatory loop as he remembered that this hard work was the price for his incredible physique. At this point, he would technically be counted among the majority who were overweight -- but no one would think of him that way. He knew everyone considered him to have the perfect body: 6’2”, nine percent body fat, eight-pack abs, and solid bulges of muscle sticking out from his appendages every which way.
He kept himself going, thinking about how many people saw him as the toughest in the unit. The biggest in the whole unit. So much bigger than any of these guys. Constantly growing and gaining and stretching out his tight t-shirts. His mind kept revisiting all the physical challenges he’d won. The guys he’d beaten in arm wrestling. That time he squatted down and his massive bubble butt ripped the seat of his pants wide open. The thoughts rushed through his mind over and over and over as he rowed, egging him on. Even under this much exertion, he was starting to get a semi. Then Peter walked into the room.
Peter hadn’t been much of a threat until two months ago. Somehow he’d caught the workout bug and his stamina seemed to have no limit. Whenever the two were in the gym at the same time, they’d keep going at it, trying not to be the first to leave. Ryan frequently had to concede, even when Peter had been there first. Now Peter was quickly catching up to Ryan’s size, and made a point of it whenever he could. His biceps were his specialty, and had already surpassed Ryan’s. He smirked over his shoulder as he added several weights to the barbell that had just maxed Ryan out. Ryan went at it even harder than before, but his mood was dropping like one of those weights.
Once again, Ryan wore himself out before Peter. At least this time he’d been there first. Still, he felt defeated and sulked back toward his room. Approaching the mess hall, he saw Tyler emerge, moving slowly after a large meal. Tyler had been in decent shape when they first met, but he seemed to get fatter every day. Ryan gawked at a gut that was particularly noticeable in this old high school shirt. As they passed, he couldn’t help himself. He slapped the side of Tyler’s paunch and was thrilled by the resulting, resonant sound. Tyler winced.
“Dude! I just ate!”
“Sorry bro, that gut is an easy target. Maybe you oughta try cutting back to two dinners a day.”
Tyler walked away, rubbing his sore skin. Ryan felt a little better. Most people here were like Tyler -- undisciplined. Peter couldn’t keep this show up like Ryan could.
The next day, Ryan reported to a different building’s gym for a special meeting. It was an unusual venue, but he hoped that at least if it was boring he could get a little extra workout time in. As he entered, he saw a new guy standing at the front of the room, looking scrawny and uncomfortable. No doubt a lame guest speaker from HR command, probably here for yet another sensitivity training triggered by an innocent joke. As Ryan joined a crowd of men from various units, he couldn’t help noticing that, aside from that guy, everyone in the room was in excellent shape. Were these guys all in trouble for making the fatties feel bad too? And why were there so many pussies who can’t take a joke in the Army?
“Okay, looks like everyone’s here, so we can get started,” the man began nervously. As Ryan stretched his arms over his head, he observed the speaker’s eyes linger on his flexing bicep.
“Yep, another HR fag,” thought Ryan.
“My name’s Alex Jessup and I’m with Medical Research at Fort Detrick. You were all asked to come here because I’m looking for volunteers for a new research project, and you’re some of our fittest guys.”
Ryan couldn’t argue that he didn’t meet that standard. And while there was no one else quite as big as him (aside from Peter‘s biceps), he could see that he had some potentially stiff competition.
“You may have seen some recent headlines about our men being too out of shape. We’re working on a few programs to address this, and this one is Project GAINS, or ‘Growth from Anabolic Implanted Nanotech Supplements,’ which is focused on building more muscle. We want to try it out on a group that’s already more muscular than average, which is where all of you come in. If you sign up for the program, you will be relieved of your regular duties for the next twelve weeks as we observe your results.”
The men seemed excited about this opportunity, but Ryan felt a little threatened. He already pushed himself to the limit most days. If this program gave everyone else a leg up by making them work out more, it might not be able to do anything for him. This might be just the unfair advantage Peter needed.
“This is very new technology, but we have every reason to believe that it is perfectly safe. We will be giving you a pre-workout supplement that targets your muscles as you work out using custom-built nanotechnology. The idea is to get this supplement into your muscles and then activate it using an ultrasonic frequency that is only played in the gym. This gym is already isolated, so during the next twelve weeks, it will be just for you guys.”
Alex turned on a high-tech speaker, which made no apparent sound but flashed red.
“This machine was developed for Project GAINS. You can turn it on whenever you’re in here and just turn it off if you’re the last one out.”
Ryan tuned Alex out for a moment as he looked around. Maybe he should be coming here anyway: although this gym was kind of a hike from his room, it had a much better selection of equipment than his own. Both gyms had two rows of equipment, but this one was very long. It definitely catered more to the serious athletes like him. Ryan turned back to Alex.
“...Another benefit of the supplement is that it softens and enriches your skin to allow fast growth without stretch marks. We are also trying to see whether this technology can prevent atrophy completely...”
Alex’s description made the project sound a little goofy and a little too good to be true, but Ryan wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to get even bigger with the same workouts, and no other duties. And neither was anyone else. All 24 men signed up on the spot. Ryan was all too happy to sign away his right to sue for any risks. He skimmed through waivers, strict warnings about taking too much or not working out enough, as if that could be a problem for him, and he signed each page.
Over the following weeks, the program supercharged Ryan’s workouts. With his new free time, he spent even longer in the gym, and the results he was getting were incredible. He’d put on six pounds in the first month, and without stretch marks. It was like a dream come true. Or it would have been, if he weren’t able to see the same thing happening to his 23 competitors.
Having to contend with Peter was one thing, but every guy in this program was a gym rat already, and had seen the same amazing gains as Ryan. He was a big fish in a big pond now. He’d come home absolutely exhausted, knowing he looked like a god but wondering whether he’d be able to keep it up. The euphoria of watching himself grow was so much more elusive than before the program started. Sometimes Ryan would sit on the couch waiting for Drew to come out just so he could give the tub of lard a smack and a good razzing. That was just about the only time he still felt as elite as before.
Truthfully, Ryan was the only one viewing this study as a competition. His co-participants were working hard, but only because they had little else to do and wanted to gain regardless of the others’ progress. Unfortunately, Ryan’s extreme competitive spirit was making him even ruder and more selfish in the gym than usual; he was especially aggressive toward anyone who posed a threat. Given that he was the only one behaving this way, he began to make enemies of just about everyone.
At the sixth weekly check-in, Ryan made sure to hang back so he could go last. The men weren’t supposed to see each other’s progress, but Alex wasn’t too careful in keeping the numbers secret as he entered them. When Alex pulled up the spreadsheet to enter Ryan’s impressive new weight, Ryan got a good look at the BMIs in the other rows, and went from proud to stunned. Jake had finally pulled ahead. It wasn’t by much, but this was the first time Ryan hadn’t been in the lead. He tried not to look disappointed as he stood for a physical examination. Normally he rolled his eyes through Alex’s perverted gropings (supposedly for scientific purposes), but after this news he kind of needed the admiration.
For once, the conceited, homophobic jock was actually right about a guy checking him out. Alex had tried to get assigned to any other project, knowing that this one would present some awkwardness given his sexuality. But at the last minute, he’d had to take over this one. He didn’t admit to anyone how much he enjoyed these examinations, and for the other 23 men, he was totally professional. But there was something about Ryan’s unbearable arrogance that made him want to take advantage while he had it. So, whenever it was Ryan’s turn, Alex stifled a boner and enjoyed himself a little.
The examination ended and Ryan left, reluctantly. He suddenly felt aimless. At this point, he was performing no other work to feel good about, and getting bigger was what occupied his mind for most of the day. He didn’t think he could be working at this any harder.
Ryan returned to his room only to see Drew pigging out once again. Drew was sick of the abuse, but Ryan couldn’t restrain himself tonight. He walked right up behind his munching roommate and wrapped both arms around the solid beer gut, squeezing and smacking Drew’s flesh.
“Shit, dude! You just keep gettin’ fatter!” Ryan laughed.
“What the fuck, man! Knock it off!” Drew protested, trying to pull away.
“Hey, I just wanted to congratulate you. It’s not every day your roommate hits his third trimester!”
Ryan knelt down and put his ear to Drew’s stomach.
“Wait a minute! I think I can hear your baby’s heart beating! It’s so beautiful...I kinda wanna cry right now.”
Ryan started to rub his face lovingly against the tummy, which was one step too far. Drew grabbed some more snacks, headed to his room, and slammed the door. Ryan was still smiling. As much as he hated living with such a whiny bitch, it was always nice to get a handful of that round, squishy gut...so useless, so weak, so different from his own shape. He looked down and suddenly realized that he had a raging hard-on that demanded immediate attention. He went to his own room to take care of it.
Over the next week, Ryan worked harder than ever before, but it wasn’t enough. He was beyond maxed out on workout time and could barely find the strength to stand when he went in for his check-up. He went in after Jake, who was the only one he cared about now. The screen indicated that Jake was pulling ever further ahead. Ryan was crushed with despair. Just as he and Alex were finishing up, Alex’s cell started to ring.
“Sorry, I need to take this. You can go.” Alex stepped out of the room, leaving Ryan to dress himself.
Ryan started putting his clothes back on. They were tighter to be sure, but it didn’t feel special anymore. How could Jake possibly be outdoing him? He looked up at the shelf of pills. Could Jake be getting a larger dose as part of the study?
And then Ryan had it. He just needed a little more of the magic. How much could he take without Alex knowing? Well, there were dozens of bottles. He would never notice if Ryan took just one. Or maybe two…
Ryan walked out of the office with a bottle stashed in each pocket. That was more than enough to double his dosage for the remaining five weeks. Alex would never know he was the thief...and he worked out enough that he needed twice as much as a normal person, anyway.
Three weeks later, Ryan was back in the lead. He’d gained an unbelievable nine pounds in the time since he started doubling up. He wasn’t too concerned with where it was going, but Alex had noticed. Alex figured going into this project that anyone exceeding the dosage would experience very specific side effects. It was natural that any excess supplement not used up by the workout would settle in the abdominal region and eventually be activated there rather than in the muscle group being exercised. Some of it would become abdominal muscle, and the rest would turn into a harmless gas.
Ryan had the exact symptoms Alex had imagined. Instead of putting on nine pounds of muscle in the same areas as before, a disproportionate amount of the weight had gone into a small roid gut. And when asked about side effects, Ryan reported serious bloating whenever he worked out, with gas that took hours to work its way out of his system. During the examination, it was clear that Ryan’s washboard abs were abnormally bloated, and when Alex pressed on them, Ryan was so caught off guard by the how good the touch felt that he couldn’t help letting a fart slip out. What he didn’t know was that the supplement’s skin softening effect had gotten concentrated in Ryan’s stomach area and had made his skin a lot more sensitive. He instantly got aroused, but figured it was just the usual result of being admired.
Alex wasn’t getting quite so much pleasure out of this development. Ryan was already his most obnoxious subject, but now he was likely to skew the numbers. Of course, Alex couldn’t strictly prove it was Ryan who’d taken the extra pills, but he knew three bottles were missing, and Ryan was the only one who’d been unsupervised in the room. Now that Alex thought about it, Jake was also looking a little bloated. It had to be Ryan though. So Alex was ready to try a new experiment on this subject.
“Oh, hey, Ryan, could you possibly do me a huge favor?” Alex asked as Ryan was about to leave.
“What is it?” Ryan was almost nervous that this might be a passive-aggressive way of calling out his theft.
Alex pulled out a grocery bag with a dozen bottles of pills in it, exaggerating his own weakness as he lifted it.
“Could you just throw out this bag on your walk back? I don’t have access to your compactor and I hate to lug all this back to my own secure disposal area.”
Ryan looked at the contents of the bag, trying not to salivate at the idea of getting even more pills.
“Uh, yeah, I guess I could. Why are you throwin' all these out?”
“In our test group of overweight subjects, a lot of participants got tired of the workouts and quit the experiment…”
“Ha, doesn’t surprise me in this unit.”
“Heh. Anyway, this older batch is losing potency, so I want to get rid of it before I accidentally give it out.”
“No prob, man. See ya next week.”
As soon as Ryan left, Alex felt a rush of guilt, but also a bit of excitement at the idea of arrogant Ryan marring his perfect figure with a roid gut and some noticeable bloat.
Ryan couldn’t help grinning as he headed back to his room. He didn’t want to break the rules by too much, now that Alex could get suspicious. Besides, he needed to save some for the future, since he might not be able to get his hands on this supplement after the study ended. But if the double dose hadn’t caused him any issues, he could totally handle a triple dose, right?
Eight days from the final weigh-in, Ryan knew he had it all locked up. Every time he started working out he’d get fiercely bloated, but he could work through that. Of course, the fact that he’d start working out again before he’d even lost the bloat from the previous workout made it hard to keep track of, and easy to miss the fact that his roid gut kept getting bigger. He couldn’t wait for the penultimate check-in tomorrow, when Alex would be shocked by how much he grew in a single week.
Ryan was heading back from his third exhausting workout of the day when he got a phone call from an unknown number.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Ryan? It’s Alex, from the study. I’m glad I caught you.”
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Sorry for the short notice, but the higher-ups at USAMRMC want to tour our program and see everyone’s results tomorrow. I’d like all of you to come to the gym around noon.”
“Oh, okay. Cool. Do you know who’s comin'?”
Alex rattled off a few names as Ryan heard no one familiar and started to zone out...until he realized that he’d heard a familiar name.
“Wait, did you just say John Thorne?”
“Yeah, he’s actually Peter’s father...you know Peter? John is my boss’s boss’s boss.”
Ryan smiled. Here he had a chance to show off to the top brass, and showing up his gym rival in front of his father was a nice bonus. Ryan ended the conversation, looking forward to the main event. He was far too tired to go in for another workout before bed, but he ate a big dinner and went to bed early, preparing for the mother of all workouts the next morning.
Ryan’s excitement, his big dinner, and the now-typical bloating all made for a pretty restless night. He dreamed about being naked at the demo, still in the scrawny body he’d had in middle school, but surrounded by hulking 400-pound comrades. His dreams usually lent themselves to a pretty obvious interpretation.
Following this, Ryan slept through his alarm and woke up at 9:10. Shit. Well, three hours is more than enough for some last-minute gains. He quickly grabbed a couple granola bars from Drew’s endless stash (he’d never notice) and washed them down with ten daily doses of pills. He thought again and figured he should take ten more just to maximize his workout. He looked in the mirror and flexed, impressed by his reflection. Then he had a flash of Peter flexing even bigger. Ryan finished off the bottle, now bloated just from taking a month’s worth of pills and the water to wash them down.
Ryan was on his way out the door when an announcement came over the PA system.
All participants in Project GAINS please report to the specialty gym in service uniform at ten hundred hours...again, all participants…
Ryan was pissed. Yes, technically he was on shift and wasn’t allowed to make other plans, but he’d been told noon. Now he was just full of pills and waiting for a demo. Well, at least he was still unmistakably larger than any of the other guys in the study.
Ryan stood in a line of subjects in the gym as Alex explained the project and the study methodology. Since he didn’t need to hear any of this, his mind kept going over how everyone else looked as they entered the room. It was harder to make out their bodies in uniform, but most of the uniforms looked pretty tight. He was sure that he was the biggest by a good margin. No one could have caught up in the week since he’d last seen the spreadsheet.
Alex turned off a projector he’d been using for his PowerPoint presentation and walked over to the ultrasonic machine, explaining the technical details. Ryan couldn’t wait to strip off his confining uniform and show his big guns to the big guns. Ryan saw Alex switch on the machine. Only nerdy little Alex would even bother to turn it off in the first place.
As Ryan listened to Alex continue blabbing about whatever scientific mumbo jumbo, he began to feel his abs tighten as if he were doing crunches. It felt nice...like he was getting a free workout just standing there. Actually, he recognized this feeling from a few times when he came into the gym and didn’t start working out right away; it was just the intensity that was different today. That was when his stomach let out a little gurgle, and the pressure started.
Over the past few weeks of overdosing, Ryan had found that his bloating kicked in as soon as he started working out, and lasted for a few hours. It was abnormal for it to happen in the middle of rest time like this. It was more abnormal for it to come on so hard all at once.
Ryan’s stomach gurgled again, this time loudly enough that he worried his comrades were hearing it. Fortunately everyone remained stationary as commanded, but Ryan was finding it increasingly difficult as the bloating escalated. Shit, I’ve NEVER been this bloated. Feels like I just chugged five gallons of beer...
More than anything, Ryan wanted to run to the bathroom and let this all out, but he couldn’t leave. And it wouldn’t have done a thing anyway; he could never manage to belch or fart until hours after it came on. That was always a good thing, since a rigorous public workout was a bad time for gas. But now all he wanted was to release this pressure.
Ryan didn’t know what to do, as the worst bloat he’d ever had kept getting worse, with no relief in sight. How much longer would this presentation go on? He fought the urge to wince as the discomfort crossed over into actual pain.
Ryan had to glance down as he felt and heard a long, loud groan emanating from his midsection. When he did, he could hardly believe his eyes. His jacket, which had admittedly already been snug on his beefed-up frame, was definitely looking tighter than it had been half an hour ago.
He looked back up and then looked down again. Not only was the uniform tighter than before; it actually appeared to be growing tighter before his eyes. What the FUCK?! His abdomen was clearly and steadily pushing forward, creating a spherical impression in the jacket and, increasingly, straining the bottom button.
Ryan was frozen in shock. No! Stop it! What the fuck is happening?! His stomach wasn’t slowing down; given the constantly increasing pressure of bloat and of clothing, it showed no sign of stopping any time soon. He broke out of his trance to glance up and down the line; no one else was looking at him. But how long would that last?
It would last about another thirty seconds. The strained button pressed tighter and tighter against his body as the thread fought valiantly to hold back Ryan’s steadily swelling gut. But it couldn’t do any more than his silent pleas could to stem the tide of growth. Ryan heard a soft ripping sound and felt a brief moment of relief as the button popped off and fell onto the concrete floor. Ping. The hairs on Ryan’s neck stood straight up.
The sound was quiet enough to go unnoticed, except to those within clear view of the button. Dane and Jake stood on Ryan’s left and right. Each stole a glance at the floor long enough to trace the sound, and in doing so caught a bizarre sight in between them: Ryan’s jacket parted open at the bottom, the second button already straining to its limit, and a perfectly round protrusion pushing his dress shirt out through the jacket. Ryan began to perspire all over, and to breathe more heavily from the still-building pressure.
“Ryan, what the fuck do you think you’re doin'? Stop screwin’ around! Do you know who these guys are?” whispered Dane.
“I’m not...uhn...screwin’ around...I don’t know...ugh...what the fuck’s happenin' to me!” Ryan mumbled back, scared and in pain but not moving a muscle. A core-shaking groan came from his stomach and he couldn’t help moaning quietly.
A couple more guys turned to see what all the noise was about.
“Holy shit, Ryan!” Kevin failed to whisper, quickly getting the attention of everyone else in the room.
The whole group turned to Ryan, bringing his worst nightmare to fruition.
“Damn, son! What in the HELL did you put in that stomach of yours this morning?” called out an astonished general, shaking his head angrily.
“Sir! Two granola bars, sir!” Ryan tried to mask his deep embarrassment.
“I don’t think so, Private. You look like you ate just about a whole goddamn cow!” replied Peter’s dad, flustered by the sight in front of him. A few of the young men suppressed snickers. “I didn’t think anyone could outgrow a uniform in the fifteen minutes we’ve been in here!”
Ryan was speechless with humiliation. As if to speak for him, the second button burst off his jacket. Ryan turned even deeper red as his well-trained body continued to defy him. His dress shirt protruded further outward, its own buttons appearing to be headed toward the same fate.
“Well, I’ll be damned if he isn’t still gettin' fatter right before my eyes!” shouted another general. “Private Ecker, you’d better explain yourself right this second!”
Ryan didn’t know what to say. The relentlessly inflating gut stunned him more than anyone as he cradled it incredulously in his hands. He groaned from the continually mounting pressure, his sweaty face looking more agonized than during even his toughest workouts. He’d never felt this full, and with each passing second the feeling intensified. As he pressed firmly against his abs, his expansion refusing to cede to his desperate wishes, he could feel that even his ab muscles were swollen, having gotten big enough to stick half his index finger between the ridges.
Alex spoke up in Ryan’s place. “Gentlemen, you will have to pardon the disruption. I have no idea what Private Ecker is doing at the moment, but I can assure you that this is not related to the experiment.”
“You sure about that, Private Jessup? In all my years before your study, I’ve never once seen a man blowing up like a goddamn balloon. Private Ecker, is this your idea of a sick joke?”
“Sir!...no sir!” Ryan was struggling to keep his voice professional. “I...don’t know...WHAT...is happening...to....mmmm...”
Ryan winced as he found he could no longer speak. He let out a growl of anguish and then relief as three of his shirt buttons reached their limit and scattered across the floor. His favorite white Under Armour tee now showed through, soaked in sweat and stretched thin against his impeccably defined abdominals, which kept pushing outward on a now-basketball-sized stomach. The group’s gasps and chuckles were becoming harder to suppress.
Alex walked over to Ryan to examine him more closely, removing his jacket, shirt, tie, and hat. Ryan now stood in his bulging spandex shirt, tucked snugly into a tight pair of pants that had been pushed down by the swelling ball gut. Alex looked perplexed. He poked it firmly, eliciting an angry grunt from the stupefied Ryan. It was tight as a drum but kept pushing ahead nonetheless. Alex rubbed it more gently and put his ear up to it, hearing the churn of muscle and gas. Ryan felt waves of pleasure wash over him and realized that his dick was, inexplicably, raging through this horrific experience.
“He...help...me…” he mumbled to Alex.
“Sir, this cannot be a result of the study. Nothing we provided would cause a reaction like this...Ryan has been taking the same dosage as every other subject here.” Alex looked straight into Ryan’s eyes as he spoke, and Ryan nodded, unwilling to confess in front of the group.
“Private Jessup, it will be determined later whether this is related to the experiment. What is important right now is that we stop Private Ecker from getting any bigger. The damn bastard looks ready to bust as it is. And if you have any insight on that based on the study, you need to apply it now.”
“Gentlemen, I will do whatever I can, but I recommend you find the nearest medical attention while I look into this.”
The generals quickly moved out to locate a medical professional. In their absence, the other participants suddenly felt at liberty to laugh at the arrogant jock’s sudden predicament.
“Ryan, man, what’s goin’ on in there? You eat the whole mess hall?” Peter laughed, approaching the now beachball-sized orb to give it a sharp poke, which Ryan clearly found unpleasant. “I know you wanna be the biggest guy here, but this isn’t a great way to do it!”
“Yeah, bro, you look like you’re about to give birth to octuplets. Take one too many cocks up the ass?” Jake gave Ryan’s gut a gentle rub, causing him to moan almost orgasmically. “Shit, dude, don’t bust a nut on me. I was just kiddin!”
Alex picked up the gym’s tape measure, a device not normally used on anything of this circumference. He attempted to wrap it around, but needed Dane’s help to bring it to the other side. Pulling it tight to take a measurement of 63”, Dane could see the tape slipping steadily up the number line.
“Fuck, dude! 63...64 inches and still growing!”
Ryan grimaced, feeling his unstoppable expansion move low enough to take on his faithful leather belt. A creaking sound grew louder as Ryan began to pant and groan, helpless to do anything but grasp the stubbornly swelling belly. His comrades could see the buckle of his belt struggling to stay clasped as it twisted under the growing load.
ssssssssSNAP-POP!
All at once, the two sides of the clasp flew apart, Ryan’s sturdy pants button popped off, and his zipper flew down. The dam having crumbled, his belly seemed to lurch forward by a good two inches at once.
“Goddamn, dude!”
“Yeah, take it easy! You win, okay? Now give it a rest before you blow the fuck apart!”
Ryan’s pants stayed put, clinging tight to an ass that had once looked impressive, before his front eclipsed it by a factor of ten.
Ryan’s now-transparent shirt was no longer stretching across his girth, and had begun to slowly creep upwards, exposing his ridiculously defined washboard. The men gawked at him.
“Fuck, look at those abs! I’ve never seen anything like that, even on an infomercial!”
Dane traced the division between the bottom two rows of muscles, making Ryan shake and whimper with pleasure.
Within moments, his belly button was visible. Even as it covered less and less of the swelling gut, the shirt couldn’t handle another second of growth and it began to shred up the sides with a sickening tearing sound.
“Shit, guys, this is too freaky. Damn hog looks like he’s about to blow any minute.”
“Yeah, let’s get outta here before this blimp fuckin’ explodes. Fatass needs to learn when to stop stuffin’ his goddamn face.”
Ryan’s scoffing comrades filed out, several with mouths agape at the unbelievable size Ryan was reaching, several curiously giving him a painful jab. Chris poked him right in the navel, which was so sensitive it nearly made Ryan shoot his load.
As the men filed out, Alex worked to pull down the busted pair of pants. With only his briefs and the chest of his Under Armour still intact, the one thing left straining against his clothing was a rock-hard dick dripping gobs of pre-cum through the fabric. Ryan couldn’t see it past his gut, but he felt Alex brush against it. Jesus, why am I so fuckin’ hard? Not now!!
“Geez, Ryan. Are you sure you followed my instructions exactly?” teased Alex, tracing Ryan’s deep, now ten-pack abs with nearly his entire finger.
“Of...course...I...did…” panted Ryan, in a mixture of agony and bliss.
“Well then, I don’t know how you could end up with this kind of result. You’d have to take practically a whole month’s supply to see any side effects like this...” Alex continued, spiralling toward Ryan’s navel.
“I...just...took...the...pre...scribed...dose…man...”
“Huh, weird.”
Alex zeroed in on Ryan’s navel and pressed hard. Ryan bellowed in rapture as his dick exploded in the most overwhelming orgasm of his life. He moaned and whined, falling back against the wall and sliding downward. Barely lucid, he held his belly in both hands, no longer able to reach the far side of the massive ball as it passed three feet in diameter. Ryan spread his legs apart to allow the sphere to rest lower on the floor. He realized with shock that it already extended past his feet.
Alex grinned as he watched Ryan sit in a post-orgasmic daze, panting helplessly. “You know, I really don’t know how to stop this. If only I understood why it was happening to you, maybe I could do something. I guess we’re just gonna have to wait and see how big you can get.”
Ryan could barely think straight. He opened his eyes and was shocked to see his gut rising above his eyeline. He looked up and saw Alex recede from the horizon of belly.
“H...help…...do something...I...don’t...wanna...be...fat” he mumbled, too late. Alex wasn’t listening and had turned up the machine to its maximum setting, never used during the study.
Just as Ryan thought he couldn’t possibly get any bigger, the groans from his stomach grew into a roar, and he felt everything ramp up fivefold: the tingling in his ab muscles, the already absurd bloating, and the feeling of his belly creeping...no, rushing...far beyond his fingertips. Every part of Ryan wanted to deny it, but the conjunction of so many horrifying feelings made it clear that he was growing even faster now. Alex could see the freakish abs surging forward at a startling pace.
“What a shame, Ryan, you were doin' so well up until this week. What happened to you, man? You really let yourself go.” Alex gave the gut ball a couple jabs with his finger. Ryan’s familiar groans were turning into panicked grunts.
“Did someone lose his famous discipline? You’re lookin’ pretty fuckin’ fat these days...turnin’ into a big ol’ hog.” Alex squeezed and felt up Ryan’s impossibly huge belly from all angles as if examining him for the experiment.
“Fuck, dude! It looks like you’re actually still gettin’ fatter!” Alex feigned shock. “Maybe you need to spend more time in the gym. Or take a couple extra doses of the supplement you promised to use as directed.”
“Let...it...go...you...little...bitch!” Ryan could only grunt out as his uncontrollable inflation continued to accelerate. “Just...make...this...thing...stop...growin’…...I’m...about to...fuckin’...bust!”
Ryan’s belly had advanced past the halfway point of the gym and showed no sign of slowing down. It was pressing into a small table, which began to slide out of its way. His gut was a relentless juggernaut, seemingly determined to get as big as possible.
“The only way I could stop this was if it was caused by you overdosing. Then maybe I could help. But if this is just you pigging out and ballooning into an 800-pound whale, I don’t know what I can do about that…” Alex’s increasingly patronizing tone enraged Ryan. “You’ve gotta take care of your body, man. Otherwise, when you eat too much...”
Alex spread out his arms and smacked his hands against a tiny fraction of Ryan’s body. “...you’ll just get fatter and fatter.” Alex let his stationary hands slide across the swelling flesh as an illustration. “And fatter. And fatter. And fatter.”
“Fuck!...Fine dude! Yeah...I...took a...few...extra...pills...Now...get this...shit...outta me!”
“First...call me sir.”
“Sir...yes...sir!...”
“That’s better. So you just took a FEW extra?”
“Sir...a whole...fuckin’...lot. Almost...a...whole...bottle....sir!...”
“Well, why would you do something stupid like that?”
Ryan roared violently as his immense belly surged ahead, burying any equipment in its wake.
“GRRRRR…to...get...bigger...you...little...shit!”
“So? Did you get what you wanted?”
“NO! Fuck...oh fuck...I’m...hittin’...the fuckin’...wall!” Ryan began to whimper. “Please...man...I’ll do...anything...you...want…...don’t...let me...explode!”
Alex looked across the room at the current extent of Ryan’s gut. He could see that the perfectly spherical mass was starting to deform as it pressed up against the opposing wall, finally meeting its match. Ryan was already back against his own wall, and he sure as hell couldn’t move now. Alex looked up and saw that the enormous gut was towering over both of them, starting to lift the ceiling tiles out of place. Suddenly Alex snapped out of his revenge fantasy. Ryan was right: what the fuck was he doing? All this because one person had messed up his own results?
Alex panicked. He rushed over to the machine...wait, where was it? It had been right against this wall just a minute ago. He was horrified to realize that it had just been swallowed up by the monstrous belly that was once pressing out in all directions, and was now pressing outward even faster for lack of a forward path. Alex tried to pry the colossal gut away from the wall, but it didn’t have an inch of give. His attempts left Ryan panting and moaning.
As Alex gave up, he realized that a solid wall of tan flesh was advancing toward him. Before he could move, his foot was caught. He tugged and tugged, again causing ecstasy for Ryan, even as he began to feel an increasing pressure on nearly every side of his gargantuan body. Alex earnestly flailed his upper half, but his legs were quickly being buried in Ryan’s unyielding bulk. And then he saw what was right in front of him.
The machine was buried, but the cord was still running along the wall to an outlet in the corner. Alex yanked on the cord. It wouldn’t come out pulled from this angle. Ryan’s flesh started to move up Alex’s back, making it much harder to move. Alex angled the cord and yanked it again and again. The wave of belly crested further, starting to pin Alex and restrain his right arm. Alex used his left arm to give one more desperate yank. The cord popped out of the outlet. Seconds later, Ryan’s inflation stopped. Only Alex’s neck and head had escaped the incomprehensible expanse of Ryan’s mass. Neither man could see anything else.
The medical staff didn’t even know where to begin. They couldn’t get into the gym; the door showed only a 7’x3’ slab of Ryan’s ten-packs. They made their way in through the ceiling, and at Alex’s prescription, administered heavy antacids to help Ryan expel some of the air inside him. Temporary bloating accounted for 90% of his growth. Still, it took hours for the gas to start making its way out. Ryan had little to say for himself, and could barely speak between earth-shaking belches anyway. It wasn’t until the end of the day that Alex finally managed to get out from under the slowly abating growth.
The study was immediately shut down, but the men continued to use the gym frequently, if only to see Ryan’s comically huge belly every day and tease him for it. He couldn’t stand for a week, and he remained too big to fit through the door for another nine days. In that time, he had to watch the other participants working out, getting even fitter, and flexing proudly in front of him. Each time they walked by, they would laugh and give him a poke, which was now less painful, or a rub, which was still just as heavenly. They’d utterly lose it whenever his sensitivity caused him to moan and involuntary let out a thunderous fart. The men were thoughtful enough to bring his other long-time enemies in for the freak show: Drew, Tyler, and a parade of Ryan’s many abused chubby comrades visited regularly to revel in this long-deserved reversal. Ryan’s conscious mind despised every moment of his humiliation, but he had a near-constant erection when the guys were around. No one could see him coming like a fountain whenever he got a good poke in the navel or a belly rub that went on a moment too long.
Alex stood nervously in front of a decent-sized audience of highly decorated men.
“So, as you can see, the results as of nine months ago were off the charts for all of our participants, and they have all maintained those results since then, despite not exercising at all. We would like to begin trying this on a large scale as soon as possible, so we are submitting a request for final approval. Any questions?”
The generals looked around for a moment, all ready to ask the same question.
“Thank you, Private Jessup. I think we can all agree that these results are amazing. But I’m afraid you’re going to need to give us more detail about the highly classified incident that you mentioned for Participant #18.”
“Ah, I knew this would be the first question. Obviously I cannot discuss this publicly, but what I can say is that we had one participant who took far, far too much of the supplement and suffered some entirely predictable side effects. He is currently recovering and has not been found to have any reduced life expectancy. Obviously the takeaway here is that the supply of this powerful supplement needs to be tightly controlled on a daily basis. Users cannot be trusted to self-administer, particularly if they are so pleased with the results that they constantly demand more.”
The men nodded, not completely satisfied with the vague explanation.
Alex knocked on the door. “It’s me.”
“Come in.”
He entered Ryan’s bedroom, carrying a small bag. Ryan was lying on the bed looking at his TV, wearing a 5XL camo Under Armour tee that was stretched thin across an exercise-ball-sized gut, showing off a mountain range of abs. Even after the bloat subsided, Ryan’s overdose had left 85 pounds of atrophy-proof muscle attached to his front. The Army hadn’t been able to find an official uniform that would cover a belly like this; even the biggest combat uniform wouldn’t come close to buttoning around this thing. And he certainly wasn’t able to return to physical training. Ryan was, for all intents and purposes, too fat to fight.
“How ya doin’ today, big guy?”
“Oh, same old. Just found some hot videos.”
Alex glanced at the softcore porn playing on the screen. He pulled out some massage oils and body lotions, tugging the spandex shirt up to reveal the bare gut.
“Man, it’s still weird to have a guy do this, even if I can’t see you. Wish I could reach my own belly button. But I sure appreciate it.”
“Hey, any time. Seriously. If you wanna take it up to three or four times a day, I’ll do it. Whatever makes life enjoyable for you while we figure this out.”
Alex began to rub oil all over Ryan’s belly. Ryan’s moans drowned out the girls on the TV.
“Oooohhhhh...you know, obviously I don’t want to be seen back in civilian life until you figure out a way to fix this, but...uuuuhhhhhnnn...it’s kind of nice not havin' to do anything. Not havin' to work out and still havin' all my muscles stay...aaaahhhh...huge. That supplement is genius. I shouldn’t have messed with your recipe.”
“Well, you’ve definitely learned your lesson. And thanks to you, so has everyone else. You gave us some pretty essential data. But...I know, at some point, we’ll figure out how to get rid of this thing.”
Ryan began to shudder and spasm as he neared climax. He’d never admit as much to Alex, but he didn’t even look at the porn anymore; he just wanted those affectionate little hands on him. Alex went straight for the navel to push him over. Ryan cried out in euphoria and sprayed a huge load straight up, some landing on his abdomen. Alex pulled out a towel and started to clean up the mess.
Panting and continuing to moan as Alex touched his abs with the towel, Ryan could barely speak. “Sometimes...oooohhhhh...I...uhn...don’t know if I...huff...actually WANT...ahhh...to...get…ri...”
Ryan trailed off as he fell asleep, contentedly holding his belly.