Borrowed Time Chapter 1 - Part 4 (Patreon)

 Continuing the new collaboration between myself, and my dear friend Firefox!

Written by Firefox 

Illustrated by Me

Full story here:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/31918817 

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Loretta waited until the footsteps had faded before hiking up her tail feathers and tensing her guts. A rude, flat sound reached her ears, drawn out long enough that the smell reached her before she had finished releasing. She waved her feathery hand in front of beak in hopes of fanning it away. This was something she did not feel at all comfortable doing in the presence of others, even as a joke, but the relief was gratifying enough to put farting into guilty pleasure territory.

She remained on the mattress for a while longer, gathering her strength for the struggle of standing up. This time, as she grunted and heaved her weight forward, her knees buckled under the strain before she could steady herself. She fell back with a groan of dismay, her wide rump crashing down against the mattress, making it squeal and creak in protest yet again. A light sweat had broken across her brow, a hint of dampness under the heavy slabs of her arms. Loretta sat there for a few minutes to recuperate, and when she was ready, she took a deep breath and began to rock. Her breasts quivered in their cups, her backside sinking deeper into the bed every time she rolled back, and with a final push, she successfully shifted her weight onto her overburdened claws. She kept her arms spread wide until she had stopped swaying. 

Her thick wrist brushed across her face, wiping away the sweat, beak parted slightly as she caught her breath. Her next stop was not the pile of clothes in front of her mirror, but the opened soda can on her nightstand. It was flat, of course, but Loretta cared more about drinking something than whether or not it was carbonated. She set the empty can back down and shuffled around in a half circle, rocking from side to side as her elephantine thighs pushed past one another, making her belly bounce and sway.

Digging and sniffing through her clothes yielded a grey pair of sweatpants and a black, zip-up hoodie. Someone had told her once that black was both slimming and good at hiding stains. Because she knew what to look for, however, the grubby state of her clothing was instantly recognizable. She also sincerely doubted that the color of her clothing would make her look any smaller; that was a luxury she had foregone a few hundred pounds ago. Wearing jeans was similarly something she had decided she was too fat to partake in. Denim was simply not worth the effort required to wear it. The stretchy nature of sweat pants was extremely helpful in that regard. 

As carefully as she could, she set herself down on the edge of her bed, listening to another round of creaks from the mattress and wishing that she had planned her actions more efficiently. She had just recently woken up and she was already feeling tired.

“Then again”, Loretta reminded herself, “I hadn’t been planning on going out.”

Loretta held her sweat pants by the front, letting the rest of the waistband hang down like a gaping mouth. She took a few deep breaths to ready herself, and then leaned as far forward as she could. Carefully, she shifted her weight to one side, lifting her unburdened claw and slipping it into her pants. She repeated this process with her other claw, getting them close to the legs, but not yet sliding them in. Loretta had to lean back and take all her weight off them for that, and as she did so, her thick calves and even thicker thighs filled the garment until it clung to her heavy curves. After a bit of tugging and kicking, her talons wiggled free at the other end of the sweatpants, and the elastic waistband settled between the thick folds of her belly, but she wasn’t finished yet.

Her stance widened, and she went through the motions of rising from bed for the third time in under an hour; two times too many as far as she was concerned. She got to her claws without incident and finished what she had started. Her fingertips slid along the inside of the waistband, as far around herself as she could reach. She tucked her tail feathers and tugged the pants up over her rump, fidgeting and wobbling to get the fabric to fit her comfortably. Her tail feathers bent as she lifted them inside her pants, feeling them springing out straight again as they reached the slot under the waistband.

As Loretta continued to tug here and there, she inspected herself in the mirror again. A sliver of black-feathered belly protruded beneath the torn hemming of her shirt, her flab sagging just slightly over the elastic of her sweatpants. She tried to tug her shirt down, but the abused fabric just rolled back up again. Pulling her sweatpants up in the front made it ride up her rump. She wiggled her hips to get rid of her self-inflicted wedgie, watching the upper lip of her belly slide into view, triumphant. Loretta sighed and slipped into her hoodie. It was both long and loose enough that it concealed her belly effectively when zipped up. 

Satisfied, she turned away from the mirror and lumbered to her nightstand. In the drawer, nestled amidst unopened candy and crumpled wrappers, were her keys and wallet. Her phone sat on top of the nightstand, beside a greasy, empty carton that had once held lo mein. She stashed the keys and wallet in the pockets of her hoodie, which were deep enough that there was little risk of them falling out, but kept the phone on hand.

Loretta unlocked her phone and froze. Someone had left her a voicemail. She took a deep breath and tapped the icon, exhaling sharply when she saw that it was not from an unknown number that might be her father’s. It was, however, from a friend that had since moved away for college. Now smiling, she pressed play and held the phone to her ear.

“Hey there birthday girl! Sorry in advance but tradition is tradition.”

Loretta could just imagine the chubby mouse cautiously glancing around, big ears perked, and then grinning awkwardly as she quietly sang happy birthday.

“Sorry that I’m missing it again this year, but, you know, I gotta take these dumb finals if I wanna pass my courses, and my internship means I have to stay here and work over breaks. It's going great, by the way! My boss is really, really cool! I get to do all kinds of stuff with historical artifacts and— Er, whoops, sorry! Haha! Anyway, there’s a little surprise on its way to your doorstep that will totally make up for it. Oh, and I got a fansub for the new Star-Crossed. Hot off the… uh… After Effects, I guess? Anyway, if you’re up for it I’ll stream it for you tonight, with and without subtitles so we can practice. That’s not the surprise though, just so we’re clear! The surprise should be there by like, tuesday at the latest! I dunno how much time I have left for this message so in case you missed it the first time, happy—”

Loretta waited for a few moments, but that was apparently the end of the message.

“Oh, Katie,” she said with a chuckle.

Loretta tapped through a few screens and stared down at her contacts list. It was a very short list. She hesitated to make the call, dreading the thought of disturbing and potentially inconveniencing anyone, especially him. But, he was the only one with a car. He was also very, very cute. She sighed and pressed send, anxiously hoping that the call would ring itself to voicemail so that she could just hang up and stay home.

It did not. 

“Yeah,” a voice bluntly stated on the other end.

“H-hi Kyle.” She swallowed, eyes darting around her room as she struggled to find the words. “I um… well, it’s kind of a funny story—”

“Lorrie, I’m about to start a ranked match.”

“Oh! Okay, uh, it’s my birthday today—”

There was a split second pause. “Cool. Happy b-day.”

Loretta felt her heart soar. She smiled and clutched the phone a little tighter. “T-thanks. So… when your match is over—“ She gritted her beak and cleared her throat. “I mean, when you don’t feel like playing anymore, would you maybe… maybe want to go to the mall?”

Another pause on Kyle’s end, followed by, “No! You absolute stupid bitch!” 

Loretta's heart lurched, her eyes wide. She had been bracing herself to be blown off, but not this aggressively. 

"You need to fucking peel them off me with your stun, you cunt!" Another pause, peppered by the sound of furious clicking. “Yes, good, do your fucking job." Kyle sighed frustratedly. "Uh, the mall? Yeah, sure,” was his actual answer, delivered unapologetically.

Loretta brought her fist to her chest, squirming excitedly and fighting the urge to squeal. “Okay! Great! When will you—”

Kyle cut her off with, “Listen, I told you I'm kind of in the middle of something, so—”

“Oh, sorry! When will you be here, though?” She waited several seconds before asking again, following with, “Kyle?”

Loretta glanced at her phone, finding herself back on the contacts screen. She had wished for a call from her father, but an afternoon with her crush would do just fine. Her smile was so intense, her puffy cheeks forced her into a squint. She made her way to the door, barely remembering to grab the credit card off her dresser, and reluctantly left the safety and comfort of her room.