Days of Future Fat (Patreon)

"I love shopping as much as the next girl, but Britney always takes it to the extreme,” Beth sighed as she sat alone on a bench, her head in her hands. The panther was grumbling mostly because she was hungry, but also because Britney had dragged her to the mall that morning with the promise of a shopping trip and lunch. It was now well past lunch time, and the squirrel was still shopping. She had been inside her favorite accessory store for nearly two hours.

“How can one girl spend so much time deciding what purse to get?” the panther groused, getting off the bench to go and pace around the mall again. “It's not even a long-term commitment. She buys a new one every month.”

Beth was about halfway through her lap when an antique store caught her eye. It wasn’t her usual scene, but it would at least provide a distraction from her from her current food-deprived state. She shrugged and went inside.

The store was small and cramped, the shelves crammed with various bins, boxes, dusty books, and other bric-a-brac. Careful not to bump anything, Beth slowly made her way down the aisles, nodding to the bored-looking clerk behind the desk when he came into sight.

He looks as bored as I am, Beth thought, sighing. She pulled out her phone to see if Britney had messaged her yet, but there was nothing.

“Come on, girlfriend…” Beth moaned, her stomach rumbling in protest. She was seriously considering hitting the food court without her friend when a small box caught her eye. Most of the items in the shop were antiques, worn and weathered, but this particular item looked crisp and modern – almost new. Carefully, Beth pulled the box off the shelf and lifted the lid.

Inside was a pristine-looking watch, with elegant gold inlay around the bezel, and a soft leather band on each end. Ordinarily, Beth wasn’t one for watches, but this one seemed to call to her, somehow.

After admiring it for a few moments, she finally shrugged and headed to the counter. The bored looking clerk took her money – a modest five dollars – and gave her a receipt.

Beth tucked the box under her arm and walked back out into the atrium, where – mercifully – she saw Britney heading her way.

“There you are!” the squirrel said. “Sorry I took so long! They had the same bag in two different shades of lilac, and I couldn’t decide which one would better match my car.” She held up not one, but two bags. “I finally just bought both!”

Beth forced a smile. “That’s great. Now, can we go get lunch?”

Before the squirrel could reply, her own stomach let out a rumble. "Heh. I guess I worked up an appetite," Britney said, patting her flat tummy and slinging her shopping bags over one shoulder, "Let's hit it!"

---

“Beth?” Marianne poked her head through her daughter’s bedroom doorway. “I’m going shopping today. Did you want to come?”

Beth stirred under the covers, lifting her head up to gaze blearily at her mother. “No thanks, Mom, I had all the shopping I could take yesterday.”

Marianne chuckled, “I should take Britney with me sometime, huh?”

“I think she might have you beat, Mom,” Beth replied.

As the door closed, Beth slowly rolled over in bed, her eyes staring at her nightstand…where she’d left the watch yesterday.

Yawning, Beth threw back the sheets, sliding her lean legs across the bed to the floor. She padded across her bedroom floor to admire her flat abs and slender thighs in the mirror. Her current trim state had lasted a surprisingly long time, at least compared to her usual standard. For once, her mother was off her case, and Beth had been enjoying the peace and quiet.

Beth picked up the watch box and carried it downstairs into the living room, setting it on the coffee table while she went into the kitchen to scrounge up some breakfast.

She returned, carrying a croissant with hazelnut spread on it – an indulgence, and one her mother would have frowned upon. She set the plate down, turned on the TV, and picked up the watch box again.

She’d been too tired to do much with it last night, but now that she was more or less awake, she slowly pulled the watch out of the box and held it. It was surprisingly heavy given its size. The leather was soft and supple, and it felt good against her fur. The watch was running, but it was off by about an hour. She pulled the crown out and spun the hands backwards, letting off to double check the correct minute.

Immediately, Beth knew something was amiss. She felt things around her blur as the watch grew hot in her hand. She tried to drop it but found that she couldn’t move. Beth was forced to watch as the last year of her life went by in reverse. She saw herself at various different weights, blurring up and down the stairs, her mother following her much of the time. She saw her friends dropping by on occasion, varying in sizes themselves.

Things went faster and faster, until Beth finally closed her eyes to keep from getting sick. When the world finally stopped spinning, she slowly opened her eyes again…and things were immediately different.

Beth looked around, rubbed her eyes, and then looked again. The house looked as it had last year, before her mother had redecorated. The couches were the older, more comfortable ones that Beth had enjoyed lounging on during summers, and she squeezed one arm fondly. As she did, she glanced downward and realized that it wasn’t just the house that had changed.

Beth was fat. Not obese – far from it – but she had a fleshy blob of a belly, which bulged over the bikini she was now wearing. Beth gasped and reached down to grope the all-too familiar pudge as she struggled to process what had just happened.

“Beth? Beth, get in here!”

Beth blinked. Her mother had gone shopping – hadn't she? Beth hefted herself off the couch. The difficulty of that action surprised her until she recalled what her exercise habits had been like in the old days. She padded into the next room and was greeted by her old nemesis: the burp machine.

“Oh no,” she said, groaning.

Marianne – a slightly younger Marianne – narrowed her eyes, which bore the same glint that they always did when she was dealing with her daughter’s weight. “None of that, Missy,” she said, pointing at the chair. “Take a seat. Since you don’t want to exercise, we’re going to do this the less pleasant way.”

Beth obeyed, although she wasn’t entirely convinced this was real. Perhaps she'd hit her head somehow or fallen asleep. She considered these scenarios and others as her mother strapped the burp machine around her middle.

“There,” Marianne said, stepping back to admire her handiwork. “Now you’ll get those pounds out.”

“Mom, there’s something I need to tell you…" Beth began.

“No excuses!” Marianne replied, holding up one hand. “You’re going to complete two hours of burp therapy while I go out and stock up on healthy food. Since you’ve shown a total lack of self-control when it comes to sweets, I went through the kitchen this morning and threw them all out.”

Marianne flipped on the machine, which began pumping. Beth began to feel a familiar pressure in her stomach. The burp machine worked by vaporizing fat cells in the targeted area, turning them into gas that the user burped out. It was precisely as unpleasant as it sounded. Beth began belching intermittently.

Satisfied, Marianne grabbed her keys off the table and headed out the door. “I’ll be back in an hour. I expect to see some progress, young lady.”

Marianne shut the front door, leaving Beth alone, and still very confused. She gave her arm a subtle pinch, just to confirm that she wasn’t dreaming. She wasn't. As the machine did its work, Beth tried to remove the watch from her wrist, but to no avail. Somehow, the clasp had sealed itself. She stared at the minute hand thoughtfully.

“If turning the watch back took me back in time…then turning it forward should do the reverse, right?”

Her musings were interrupted by another burp, which she let out with a sigh. She’d really forgotten how annoying this machine was. Looking forward to escaping her predicament, she pulled out the crown on the watch again and spun it forward a little. Once more, the world blurred, though Beth found it easier to tolerate this time. When the spinning stopped, she was standing near the front door, and her mother was explaining something.

“Now, I’ll be gone for two weeks. You have my number if anything goes wrong.” Marianne frowned. “I want you to stick to your workouts, Missy. You’re almost back to being skinny, and I’d hate to see you slip up just because I’m not here to keep an eye on you.”

Beth's eyes widened. She realized where she was… or rather when she was. Her mother was leaving to stay with her aunt for two weeks, and Beth was about to spend an entire week ballooning up on junk food. At the time, Beth had planned to spend the second week working off the weight, thinking her mother would be none the wiser. However, in the end, Marianne had returned home a week early, and thanks to all that overeating and a mishap with the burp machine, her daughter had been quite fat when her she arrived.

A plan began to form in Beth’s mind. She smiled. “Of course, Mom. I’ll be on my best behavior. I promise.”

Marianne smiled, “I’m glad to hear it. Give mommy a kiss, and I’ll see you in two weeks.”

As soon as Marianne pulled out of the driveway, Beth reached for her phone. “Hello? I’d like to order two large pizzas with everything. Actually, make it three, and add extra anchovies."

Beth remembered how fun this week of stuffing had been. She wanted to relive it again, this time without any consequences. She’d eat for a week, use the watch to return to the future, and leave the inevitable weight loss to Past Beth. It was a foolproof plan, and one she wasted no time implementing.

As the days passed, Beth positively gorged, her inner fat girl coming out with full force. The pressure of the restraint she’d been exercising in the present day was being let off…with the expected consequences for her waistline. By day three she was looking quite puffy. By day five, she was easily as big as she had been originally, and she showed no signs of stopping.

By day seven, there was no denying it. Beth was fat. As she snoozed off her latest stuffing on the too-comfy sofa, surrounded by wrappers and empty boxes, she looked every inch a whale. A big, round belly hung to the side, wobbling a bit as she scratched at an itch. Big round breasts tested the strength of her top, and her sweatpants were creaking at the seams from the thighs and booty they were trying to contain.

Her mother had already called to say she was coming home, but this time, Beth hadn’t panicked. After all, with one twist of the watch, she would be back in her own time, skinny and worry free. Nevertheless, Beth was still startled when she woke up a few hours later upon feeling a sudden poke in her belly.

“Beth! What is the meaning of this!?” Marianne demanded, looking madder than Beth had ever seen.

Beth belched, giggling. “I was hungry, I guess.”

“You’re…you’re obese!” Marianne shouted, “I trusted you, and now I come back after a week to find you’re fatter than ever! How could you do this to me, Beth?”

Grunting, Beth pushed herself upright. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve put on some weight. I’ll go get started on the burp machine.”

Marianne shot out a hand, grabbing her daughter around her fat arm. “Oh no you don’t. You and I are going to the kitchen. I’m going to make sure you never want to eat junk food again!”

Time to make my exit, Beth thought, raising her arm up as she waddled into the kitchen.

As Marianne dug through in the freezer, trying to find at least one tub of ice cream that hadn’t been eaten, Beth frowned. She was twisting the dial of the watch, but nothing was happening.

“Come on!” Beth muttered, starting to panic. Thoughts of all the hard workouts that lay ahead were flashing through her mind. “Why aren’t you working?!”

Marianne looked up, “Beth? What is that on your wrist?” she asked suspiciously.

“Umm… a watch?” Beth said, trying to sound innocent.

Marianne’s eyes narrowed, “It had better not be magical.”

“No! Just a watch!” her daughter replied as she rubbed the back of her head.

“Uh huh,” Marianne said, unconvinced. She dropped a tub of sugar-free sorbet on the table. 

“Well, I was planning to make you eat ice cream until you were sick of it. Instead, I'll give you a choice. You can be honest with me about the watch…or you can eat this whole tub."

Beth looked said tub and put a hand to her mouth. Even if her belly hadn’t been full of junk, she would have protested. She hated sorbet to begin with, and sugar-free was even worse. She felt a strong urge to vomit.

“Fine,” Beth replied. She explained everything – the watch, the plan, and the current dilemma. Marianne listened carefully, asking an occasional question. Then, she inspected the watch more closely.

"Let me get this straight. This watch sent your mind… your consciousness… back in time to the week of my trip, during which you made a complete pig of yourself?"

Beth nodded reluctantly.

Marianne continued, "And instead of doing the sensible thing and correcting your mistake, you actually gained more weight than you did originally?"

Beth's ears flattened. "I guess so."

Marianne's eyes narrowed, "How much more?"

Beth shrugged. Marianne snapped her fingers, "Get the scale."

Beth did, and after a cringeworthily weigh-in, Marianne reached a conclusion.

"Thirty big ones," she announced, poking Beth's whopper of a stomach just beneath her belly button. "Thirty pounds of pure fat that shouldn't be here. That's why you can't make the jump."

"Come again?" Beth asked, confused.

"Apparently, this watch does not allow you to make major changes to the timeline. Because you overate to such an extreme, you're now thirty pounds heavier than you should be at this point in time. As long as you're carrying that extra weight, the watch won't let you return to the present."

Beth began to panic as she cupped her big, round belly, lifting it up a few inches before allowing it to plop back down. The reservoir of fat shifted with a loud gloop!

Marianne closed her eyes and raised her index finger, "However, I think we can take care of that…" she smiled deviously, "…with a few days of strict diet and some bikini burp-aerobics."

Urglegurgle… went Beth's stomach, as if it sensed what was coming. Beth gulped. Oh, man…

---

"And one! And two! And three! And burp! And one! And two! And three! And burp!" said the instructor on the DVD that Marianne had brought home with her.

"Huff… huff… BELCH! Huff… Huff… BUUUUURRP!" Beth panted as she wobbled through the aerobic workout, her body dripping with sweat as the burp machine caused her belly to churn and jiggle. Her fat butt cheeks also bounced around, not even half-concealed by her yellow string bikini. The DVD was called Burp Your Way to a Better Beach Body, and Marianne thought it appropriate for Beth to complete the regimen in her skimpiest swimsuit.

Unfortunately for Beth, her past self was less accustomed to exercise than her future self. Her current weight and lack of conditioning made any sort of workout into a real chore, but the combination of aerobics and burp therapy made for absolute misery, and she still had 25 pounds to lose before she'd have any hope of returning to the present.

The segment ended, and Beth set down her dumbbells. After a brief respite, the instructor on the DVD transitioned to jumping jacks. Beth reluctantly complied, synchronizing her movements with her burps.

"I hope it's starting to sink in, Beth," Marianne said. She was currently reclining on the sofa eating a rice cake and reading a romance novel.

“I know… URP… no more… URP… time travel… BUUUURP…" Beth belched miserably.

Marianne looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow, “How about no more binge eating?”

Despite her predicament, Beth couldn’t help smiling. “I don’t make promises I know I can’t keep, Mom,” she replied, before letting out another belch.

Marianne rolled her eyes, and returned to her reading, "Keep burping, Missy. Keep burping."