Sheraton Academy

Chubby Bunnies

Rating: PG. Warnings: Vomiting

Gabriel laid on the floor, his legs propped up against the bed. His head was turned in just a way that he could see Jussi popping marshmallows into his mouth, huge, fluffy things from the candy shop in the village that came in flavors like strawberry orange blossom and pistachio rose. They were delicious and Gabriel wanted one. He wanted all of them. So he said,

"A fiver says I can fit more of those in my mouth than you can."

"A fiver?" Jussi snorted. "Since when are you so fucking English?"

Gabriel pouted and rolled over onto his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows. "Livia said I needed to try to blend in better."

"You're taking advice about blending in from Livia?"

Gabriel paused. "Touché."

Jussi popped another marshmallow in his mouth. Gabriel licked his bottom lip.

"Make it ten and you're on."

"Yes!" Gabriel shot up from the floor and staggered over to Jussi and, more importantly, the marshmallows. "Gimme!"

Jussi laughed and pushed him back. "Calm down, Gabby. If this is a real serious bet, we have to make sure nobody's cheating. One at a time, as we count them. First one to stop loses."

The marshmallows were bigger than they seemed to be. They both easily got to four, but then started to struggle. Their cheeks puffed out like hamsters' and Gabriel had a bit of drool escaping from his mouth. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. He was at seven, but he wasn't really enjoying them. Maybe he should have offered to buy some of them instead.

He made sure they were all his favorite flavor, though, chocolate thyme. At least he wasn't going to overdose on sugar mixing his flavors like Jussi was!

The two boys popped another marshmallow into their mouths.

"How many?" Gabriel mumbled from behind a wall of marshmallow. Jussi held up nine fingers.

"Make it to ten and we call it a tie?"

Jussi squinted and leaned closer. Gabriel repeated himself, trying his hardest to enunciate. Jussi pursed his lips, then finally nodded.

"Mm-kay."

Jussi handed Gabriel the last chocolate thyme marshmallow. So that was what he was up to, the sneaky bastard. Oh well, Jussi had already agreed, and he was a man of his word. He stuffed a bright pink one in his mouth – that meant it was strawberry orange blossom – and they both paused for a few seconds.

Gabriel clapped and threw his hands in the air, then finally started to chew his mouth full of marshmallow. Jussi spit a few out onto the napkin the shop had given him and chewed the rest that were too dissolved to salvage for later (even though later would only be as soon as he'd finished swallowing; he wasn't about to let half-eaten marshmallows sit around).

Gabriel suddenly paled and his stomach churned. He froze, eyes wide.

"Hey, Gabby, what'cha doing?" Jussi asked. Gabriel closed his eyes and slowly swallowed.

"Gabriel?" Jussi's voice was soft, a little more serious. "Are you okay?"

Gabriel slammed his hand over his mouth and ran into the bathroom. Jussi stood and followed, politely closing the door to block out the sound of Gabriel's retching.