Belly Literary Universe (part 2)

Cozca's Devils part 16: Sidelines

Evan looked through the blinds of Kelri and Connor's town house as if the group of belly aligned infiltrators would return at any moment. With a sigh, he trudged back and collapsed on the loveseat diagonal from Connor. "How do you think it's going?" he asked.

Connor only shrugged in response to the question. It was all he could muster after answering it a dozen times already.

"I'm just worried something went wrong - that we haven't heard anything yet," Evan chewed his knuckle.

Connor sat up and cracked his back. "They're probably fine. It's not like they have time to live post about breaking into a secure server room."

Evan groaned at the characterization of events.

"You know what though? I'm glad they didn't put us in the text conversation. I for sure would have been as worried as you watching it all play out."

"Right. It's probably for the best..." Evan said and settled into an awkward silence.

Connor made vague suggestions about playing a game or watching tv, but they both decided they were too stressed.

Evan took a deep breath and looked right at Connor. A few times he opened his mouth to speak, and gestured with his hands, but didn't actually say anything. It took Connor almost prying the words out of him to restart the conversation.

"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" Evan finally asked.

As if annoyed that Evan had to even ask, he waved him on. "Go ahead."

"So how are you and Kelri doin? I mean with the whole weight gain thing..."

Connor smirked and looked up at the ceiling. "Things are great, man. Better than that even."

Evan smiled, expressing happiness for him. "Really? That good?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask? Is there something you think shouldn't be going well?"

"No! I don't mean like that at all. What I do mean is that she's been gaining really very fast hasn't she? That hasn't caused problems?"

"I didn't say there weren't 'problems'," He chuckled at the innuendo. "Getting so big? They're lots of new difficulties, but we both enjoy them. But listen man, I know you weren't talking about that. Her weight - high or low - was never a make or break thing for me. I had a crush on her for months before I made any kind of move. She was this skinny little thing. So when she put on a few pounds, I saw that as a reason to say something. And then she put on a few more pounds. And we started dating. And then she put on even more. Dude. Listen. It's heaven. Her gaining weight was never the reason I wanted to be with her, but holy hell did it intensify what I already felt. I love how..." Connor faltered and blushed a little. "I love how she's changed."

"That's really good. And none of the downsides bother you?"

Connor shrugged. "They've got those fancy nanobot treatments to deal with a lot of the health issues, so I'm not worried about that. Plus apparently those genes she has keep her in good health too."

"But what about her mobility? Or how people look in public?"

"Dude, fuck what other people think." Connor gestured angrily like he was stuck in traffic.

"It's not that easy."

Connor leaned forward toward Evan giving him a long understanding look. "Yeah of course. In the moment it can be embarrassing or socially scary. Terrifying even. Hell, my parents don't know anything yet. They're tech illiterate. And i'm not about to say over the phones that my girlfriend is a blob. And my old roommate gave me a lot of shit till I moved out. But you deal with it. And the good times together make it so worth it. The mobility though?"