Mr. Perfect: Chapter 4

Six months later

Ricardo took a massive bong rip and slouched back on the couch as he exhaled.

What started as smoking weed a few times a week became a nightly habit for Ricardo. Even if Gavin wasn’t around, Ricardo was sparking up. What started as skipping the gym here and there became only attending here and there. At this point, Ricardo reckoned he hadn’t worked out in over a month. What started as arriving late to class turned into skipping class altogether. In the last nine months since he started seeing Gavin, Ricardo was slipping.

“I take it you’re not going to your afternoon class?” Gavin asked.

“Nah, that shit is pointless. Let’s order a pizza.”

His grades were slipping, his cleanliness was slipping, and most of all his diet was slipping. All of the food he had restricted himself from eating for so many years was now a regular part of his diet. Fried foods, baked goods, fast food, second servings, desserts, pizza, pizza, and more pizza; Ricardo couldn’t get enough. Eating was becoming his favorite pastime.

In the last six months he had grown properly fat and it was now impossible to hide. At first, the weight crept up on him. His pants stopped buttoning, his shirts got snug, but nothing too dramatic. He was able to brush off the weight gain as an anomaly, just a few pounds here and there, nothing serious. Denial, however, could only last so long.

Eventually, Ricardo busted out of almost every pair of jeans in his closet. At one point, he was wearing the same pair of elastic faux denim joggers every single day as nothing else fit. He continued to squeeze into his old medium and large T-shirts out of sheer laziness. They clung to him like a second skin and revealed his actual skin with the slightest move. Furniture groaned under his heft and he broke a sweat with the drop of a hat. There was no denying it: Ricardo was becoming a big guy. And he didn’t really mind it. In fact, part of him even enjoyed it.

“Hey I have an idea,” Ricardo spoke slowly. “We hang out like every day you know… What if we, like, moved in together?”

Ricardo turned to  his boyfriend, grinned, and wobbled Gavin’s stomach lovingly. Altogether, both Ricardo and Gavin had packed on a considerable amount of weight and were probably sitting with similar body fat percentages. Only Ricardo had a base of muscle so he appeared larger, sometimes even hulking from the right angle. Together, they practically filled the couch with their girth.

“Hell yeah, let’s do it,” Gavin kissed Ricardo on the lips.

Lately, Ricardo’s house looked increasingly like Gavin’s anyway. Empty food vessels littered the countertops, the couch had accrued some food and beer stains, and weed crumbs covered the coffee table. Gavin moving in would be a seamless transition.

“Ugghh, the only thing though,” Ricardo continued, “is my fucking parents. They’re gonna wanna meet you. I mean it’s no big deal, they’re just… a lot sometimes.”

“No worries, hon. I’m sure I’ll love them.”

Ricardo leaned forward, his love handles fully spilling out of his shirt, and nuzzled his face atop Gavin’s chest. It was great to have a counterpart as easygoing and cuddly as Gavin. He felt thankful for having him in his life. As they lay snuggled, Ricardo received a message on his Apple Watch.

“Ah shit, I forgot I’m supposed to catch a happy hour with some old friends from undergrad. Christ, I haven’t seen them in years, it's gonna be interesting.”

Ricardo squeezed into some straight leg jeans that fit like skinny jeans and one of his overly snug shirts and headed out. He was the first to arrive and parked himself at the bar, ordering a beer and a shot of whiskey. He needed a head start for what was coming.

Leaning atop the bar, his taut belly pressed against the edge, Ricardo’s shirt once again rode up around his love handles giving everyone behind him a flash of some skin. His bubble butt spread out beneath him and sagged off the edges of the bar stool. He scratched at the supple fat around his navel where some stretch marks were coming in.

“Ricardo…? Is that you?”

Ricardo turned around, “Stewy! Good to see you!”

“I almost didn’t recognize you sitting here. You’re lookin’ beefy these days! Hitting the gym hard?”

Ricardo chuckled, “And the pantry.”

“Oh, Samantha, we’re over here,” Stewy yelled. “Samantha can you believe what a beefcake Ricardo is these days? Look at that shirt, it can barely contain those biceps.”

Ricardo was growing uncomfortable with all the attention he was receiving about his body. In the last few minutes he’d guzzled down about half his beer out of anxiety and the bloat was probably making him appear even larger. Once they all had drinks in hand they headed off to find a table of their own. Unbeknownst to Ricardo, the front of his shirt had ridden up just an inch or so exposing his beer belly.

“Let me help ya out there bud,” Stewy said and tugged down Ricardo’s shirt.

Ricardo blushed and mumbled a reply. The touch of Stewy’s warm fingertips against his pudge sent a quiver through his loins. Was Stewy trying to embarrass him or something? If he was, then it was working. As they sat down and examined the food menu, Ricardo found himself holding back. Normally, he’d take full advantage of a happy hour prices but instead he let his friends order a single basket of fries.

For the rest of the evening Stewy peppered comments on Ricardo’s physique into almost every conversation. It was beginning to verge on inappropriate and finally Samantha spoke up.

“Leave the man alone! He looks great,” she said.

“I agree! It’s just quite the transformation is all,” Stewy exclaimed.

By the time Ricardo returned to his apartment he was quite drunk and incredibly starving. Luckily, Gavin was waiting on the couch with a freshly delivered pizza. That’s when Ricardo knew it was love. He dug into the pie with gusto complaining to Gavin about Stewy in between stuffing his face.

“Can you believe it?” Ricardo said. “Who does that? Like one comment is fine, I get it I’ve gained some weight.”

“Some?” Gavin jokingly prodded.

Ricardo laughed, “okay a lot of weight! But still!”

“Sounds like he was into it if you ask me. You are quite irresistible.”