In dealing with his break up with Liam, Aaron finds a friend in Nate.

---

Freshman Year: March

Aaron's phone buzzed for the fifth time that day. It was yet another text from Lucille. Not feeling in a mood to talk, he tossed the phone away. It bounced off of his mattress and landed on the carpeted floor with a soft thud.

“You, uh, dropped your phone,” Nate said, taking his eyes away from the television for a brief moment. The German Shepherd laid with his back turned to him covered in a small mountain of pillows and blankets. He didn't replied. “You alright? You haven't left your bed all weekend?” That was true. Since Liam broke up with Aaron that Friday evening, the pup didn't feel like leaving his bed, not even to eat as his stomach barked for food. Too depressed to even eat, he simply laid there replaying the final minutes of the relationship in his head over and over again.

“... I'm fine,” Aaron muttered.

“You sure? Is something wrong?”

“...Yeah.”

“...wanna talk about it?”

“...No.”

“Okay, alright. Um, I think I should give you some, uh, space…” Aaron remained motionless and silent as he heard the Golden Retriever get dressed, put on his shoes, and head out of the dorm room.

He woke up a couple of hours later from yet another dreamless nap. It was his second that day. Or third? The pup had lost track. Peeking his head from under the covers, Aaron checked to see if Nate was still around. He wasn't. But sitting on a chair parked right next to his bed was a half dozen boxes of Honey Buns. A small note sat on top of the pile.

Hope these make you feel better. - N

***

“Sure you don't want any?”

“Nah. Besides, it sounds like you need them more than I do.”

A mountain of mozzarella sticks and a proverbial bucket of marinara sauce sat in front of Aaron. The German Shepherd grabbed several of them and dunked them in the sauce before shoving them into his mouth. A spot of sauce landed on his hoodie which looked painted on to his thick chest and bloated belly. It had been a long time since Aaron went to Blue Jay's. Liam thought the place was tacky and never took the German Shepherd there despite it being one of his favorite places to go. When Nate offered to take him there, the dog jumped at the opportunity. Depression, he always thought, could be remedied with enough greasy appetizers.

“I didn't know you and Liam McGillitcutty were going out,” said Nate.

“Yeah, he asked me to kinda keep it between us and some close friends,” Aaron replied before grabbing for more sticks.

“Why? Because he didn't want people thinking he was gay?”

“Uh, no. It was for other reasons, I'm sure,” Aaron said, avoiding having to talk about Liam's hatred of fat.

“Huh. Didn't really like that guy anyways. I only talked to him a few times and he always came off like a pompous jackass,” Nate stated.

“Really? He was always nice to me.” The pup shoveled another half dozen sticks into his mouth.

“That's because he was trying to get into your pants!” teased Nate. “Hell, that's why I stuck around with Tammy, after all.”

“Yeah, I didn't know what you saw in her,” Aaron. “Well, aside from her boobs.”

“Bingo,” said Nate with a wink. He grabbed his glass of soda and raised it up. “To the single life!”

Aaron brought up his own glass and clanked it. “To the single life! Where I eat as many mozzarella sticks as I fucking want!”

“Here, here! Speaking of which…” Nate flagged down a waitress walking by. “Can we get him another order of sticks, please? This one goes on my tab, too.”

***

“Fuck the fucker!” said Lucille, slamming down the shot glass full of whiskey.

“To…urp...that!” Even though Aaron was not a fan of either taking shots or of whiskey, he made a special exception when Lucille invited him over to her place the next weekend for a night of drinking and talking shit about Liam.

“Rubbing alcohol for the outside boo-boos, drinking alcohol for the inside boo-boos…” muttered Lucille as she refilled both of their shot glasses. Moments later and another bit of whiskey was in Aaron's belly. “So, gonna tell me why he broke up with you?”

Aaron leaned back into the couch, laying a paw lazily on his balloon of a belly. “Hmm...can you keep a secret?”

“You know I can!”

“You sure?”

“Try me!”

“Alright…” Aaron told her everything. He told her about being a gainer, about how Liam hated the idea of having a fat boyfriend, about only losing weight to please him. He told the red panda everything. She listened in silence, a half-drunk look on her face. While the German Shepherd expected some kind of disgust from Lucille when he told her about his desire to fatten up, she was remarkable understandable

“Eh, we're all into our own thing,” she said while shrugging. “I went to high school with a guy who was probably a gainer. He got a new girlfriend before summer break one year and came back in the fall twice his size. I'm sure one of the two was into it.”

Aaron smiled. “Thanks for being so understanding. It's kind of a weird thing to, you know, put out there.”

“I can see that. But I'm still going to drag you to the gym! You can still get fat but you should do some basic exercises!”

“Oh, come on…” whined the German Shepherd.

“Aaron, you got winded walked up the stairs to my apartment,” the red panda said. “That's a bit silly. One of my neighbors is way bigger than you and he can get up and down them just fine.”

“Alright, alright…” Aaron said defeated.

“It's not that bad! And I'll show you how to do some serious squats! You'll have a butt all the boys will be chasing after in no time!”

***

“Want one?” Andrew asked, holding a candy bar up towards the chubby pup.

“Always!” Aaron grabbed a Chocolate Apocalypse bar from the pudgy panther and greedily bit into it.

Over the last month, the two had been warming up to each other and becoming fast friends since that fateful day in their Psychology course when the panther helped soothe Aaron's ravenously hungry belly. And this was something the dog certainly appreciated, not just having another friend, but now having a fat friend. A fat friend who he can gorge himself with. A fat friend whose eating habits were bound to rub off on Aaron. A fat friend that, one of these days, he's going to be bigger than.

“Hey, there's a question I've been meaning to ask you,” Aaron said as they talked before the lecture began.

“Shoot.” The panther bit his own candy bar in half. The wooden auditorium chair he sat in creaked under his weight. Rolls of pudge spilled over the armrests that he was barely able to squeeze himself in between.

“Did you ever, uh, hook up with guy named Nate last month? Skinny Golden Retriever, lives over in MacDonald Hall?”

Andrew shook his head. “Nope. I'm straight as an arrow. But it was last month? That may have been my twin brother Michael.”

“You have a twin?” Aaron asked.

“Yep!” Andrew grabbed his phone out or his backpack and pulled up a photo of himself and his identical brother. They looked exactly the same, facially and in terms of their waistline. Well over a quarter ton of fat feline was in the photo of the two standing next to each other. “He doesn't go to this school, though. Some place way across the country. Michael visited last month for a week, so it could be him. He’s into dudes. Why?”

“Oh, just a, uh, friend of mine. I saw him, um, 'with’ a guy who looked a lot like you.”

The obese panther chuckled. “Yeah, that's probably Michael then. He's pretty good at picking out the chubby chasers! It's almost like a sport for him! Seriously. It's scary!”

“Huh. He's that good at figuring out who's into big guys?” asked the German Shepherd.

“Yeah, it's freaky. But Michael is totally accurate,” he replied. “Get him in a room full of guys and he'll walk out with one on each arm wanting a piece of his big ol’ butt. If he hooked up with your friend, he just might be into big boys too!”

“Hmm...maybe…”

***

“Ugh! 199! So close!”

Aaron had just gotten back from the gym where he finished a workout of minor cardio and some light weight lifting. Lucille was right. Exercising made him feel loads better. While the idea of getting winded doing ordinary things like walking was hot, in actuality Aaron was getting tired of sweat dripping off his face as he tried to climb the stairs to his dorm room. And the weight lifting was already having a positive impact. All the squats he had been doing have firmed up and rounded out his rear. While Aaron wanted his body absolutely covered in flab, he realized that he much prefer having a more shapely booty than a sagging butt of cellulite.

The downside, of course, was that his weight gain was coming along more slowly.

The German Shepherd let out a sigh as he stared at the numbers on the scale again, his work out clothes laid discarded in a corner of his room. If Aaron wanted to get back to blowing up like a balloon (and he most certainly wanted to), he'd have to find a way of sucking down even more calories to make up for all those he burned off while exercising. Rubbing a paw along the distinct curve of his gut, the pup pondered as to how he could fit more calories into his already caloric diet. He already snacked loads during class. He always got thirds or fourths during dinner. Dessert was al-

“Oh, uh, hey Aaron.”

The German Shepherd whirled around startled. His soft body wobbling as he turned to see Nate entering their dorm room, shutting the door behind him before tossing his backpack onto his bed. Aaron felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment as he stepped off the scale and looked for something to cover himself with for he weighed himself only wearing white briefs which stretched tight over his pudgy rump and thick thighs.

“Oh, uh, hey Nate! Just got back from the gym!” he explained as he waddled over to his drawers to pull out a towel. “Was just about to head to the shower!”

“Ah, okay.” Nate replied, his eyes spying the scale. “So, uh, what'd the scale say?”

“Oh, heh. 199 pounds,” Aaron replied.

“Wow, oof. Time to, uh, lay off the Honey Buns, huh?” The Golden Retriever's glance lowered towards the soft furry mound of lard that was Aaron's gut. He saw what his roommate was looking at and the German Shepherd's cheeks burned again. Yet before covering his chubby body with the towel, he remembered what Andrew had said, he remembered the obese panther he saw Nate with the previous month, and Aaron decided to try something out.

“Yeah, I know, right?” Aaron slapped his gut causing his flabby torso and abdomen to jiggle. “You better cut me off before this gets too big!”

“Heh. I-...uh... yeah! Probably should!” Nate stammered.

“Keep this big pup away from them! Otherwise you'll have to roll me out of here when summer comes around!” Aaron tossed his towel over his shoulder. But it sailed right over him, flying over to his desk, knocking his empty water bottle to the floor. He spun around and bent down to pick it up, giving Nate a good look at his butt. The material of his briefs groaned as it struggled to contain Aaron's rear. The Golden Retriever let out a soft moan at the sight. Nate's tail started slowly wagging as he tugged his baggy shirt down to cover the stirring in his loins.

“I-I-I think you, um, got a ways to go before that,” the Golden Retriever sputtered out.

Aaron placed the water bottle back onto his desk and wrapped the towel around his waist before grabbing his shower supplies from his closet. “That’s good! I need my Honey Buns! Even if they keep blowing me up!”

As he was about to head out to the showers, Nate yelled after him. “Hey, you wanna go to Blue Jay's when you're done? They, uh, have a special on mozzarella sticks I think!”

Aaron smiled. “Yeah, yeah. I deserve a cheat day!”