The Quarantine 15: Chapter 10

6 months of Quarantine

After six months of surviving a global pandemic, civil unrest, and natural disasters together, Alex and Emilio were permanently separated. This was simply the cherry on top of what had already been a trying year. It felt as though someone had ripped the security blanket right off them, leaving them cold, exposed, and fat. They couldn’t imagine things getting any worse, yet at the same time they assumed it would.

Alex sat in the empty apartment, no Asia, no Emilio, and barely any furniture. He was moving in about a week and had packed up most of his belongings. The TV, now resting on the floor, and the couch remained. This was where Alex now spent his days, eating fast food and watching mindless television whenever he wasn’t working. Anything he could do to distract himself.

With no one around, Alex’s scruff became an unkempt beard and his hair a greasy mess. His gut spread out before him and seemed to grow bigger and heavier with each passing day. Beer cans and candy wrappers lay scattered on the floor, a testament to his expansion and laziness. He kept himself constantly stuffed full of the most fattening and unhealthy foods as a desperate attempt to find solace now that his love was gone. Lately, he barely even bothered to put on clothes or shower. Alex had become the epitome of a slovenly couch potato. Picking up his phone, he decided to FaceTime Emilio.

After driving for several days, Emilio was now ten miles outside of his parents’ Dallas, Texas home. He looked at his phone and reluctantly ignored Alex’s call. He needed a moment before facing his parents for the first time as a fat guy. Parking his car in the driveway he took a deep breath. His parent’s, Greg and Susan, emerged from the front door before he was even out of the car.

Emilio opened the car door and lurched forward, feeling the full heft of his belly pressing into his lap as he bent over to get out. Standing up, Emilio felt painfully aware of how fat he must appear. What would his parents think? His gut hung forward over his waistband and his T-shirt clung to the love handles and belly that surged outward from his frame. He regretted not buying a looser T-shirt to wear when they met. He also realized he should have thrown out all the fast food bags littering his car. Emilio’s face grew red hot as he stepped out from behind the car door and up to his parents. This was the moment of truth.

“Oh… my,” his mother said with an awkward grin, her eyes locked on his significant midsection. “I’m so happy you’re home.”

They hugged and for the first time in his life Emilio felt larger than both his parents. As his mom’s arms were wrapped around him they slyly patted around, evaluating the firmness of his love handles and the folds of his back fat. Emilio regretted not updating his wardrobe, regretted all the fast food he had eaten on the drive, regretted how fat he had become.

“Emilio, son,” his father gave him a gruff hug, “you’ve grown a bit to say the least. How long has it been? A year?”

“Since Christmas, so nine months.”

“Oh,” his father looked surprised, “a lot can change in nine months, huh? I think we’ve all learned that lesson this year. Let me help with your bags.”

“No, I got it, don’t worry about it,” Emilio blurted out, nervous for them to see the remains of his gluttony inside the car.

“Don’t be silly, your car is packed,” his father said and swung open the passenger door.

For a moment Greg looked at all the fast food wrappers in awe. Was this the same son who would never finish his meals growing up? Accepting the reality before him, Greg brushed the wrappers aside and grabbed a bag. Emilio followed suit, hyperconscious of how his body wobbled with every movement. He felt obscenely fat. If only he had warned his parents in advance.

After unloading his car, Emilio sat alone in his childhood bedroom, his chest burning from the physical activity. In a perfect world he’d be drinking some wine and baking a cake with Alex, but instead he sat amongst the relics of his prior life in Dallas. It took several minutes for Emilio to catch his breath, during which he imagined the conversations his clearly concerned parents were likely having about his weight. Anxiety mounted as he looked at himself in the mirror.

“Fuck,” Emilio muttered aloud to himself when he noticed the food stains around the collar of his grey T-shirt.

He looked like such a pig; his car a feeding trough and his shirt a napkin. He couldn’t imagine what Greg and Susan were saying. Emilio’s extended family were also overweight and his parents incessantly spoke ill of their eating habits. Now, he had joined their ranks. Placing both hands on his gut, he bounced it up and down like Alex used to do. That used to bring him so much joy and now his heart sank with humiliation. His stomach growled with hunger and Emilio sighed.

For dinner, Emilio wore a loose fitting shirt with his baggiest sweatshirt over it. When he sat down at the table there was an odd silence. Before him was a plate with steamed vegetables and a chicken breast. No carbs, no alcohol. There was no question Emilio would be going hungry tonight.

“Honey, please don’t take this the wrong way,” his mom nervously began, “we just wanted to ask how you are doing. Is everything okay? I know it’s been a difficult year.”

“Yeah… I’m fine. I’m doing well.”

“Well, son,” Greg stepped in without hesitation, “let’s not beat around the bush. You’ve gained quite a bit of weight in a short amount of time. Either you’re depressed or you have a medical problem and we just want to help no matter what it is.”

“Seriously, I’m fine… It’s the quarantine fifteen you know. Working from home and all… Working at the ice cream shop. I just, I’ve gained some weight,” Emilio muttered, his face bright red and his appetite waning.

“Come on, that’s more than fifteen pounds, we're not blind,” Greg chuckled. “You just don’t expect your bony gay son to run off to California and become obese. You know, it’s usually the opposite.”

“I know you were laid off sweetie, that’s not easy,” his mom tried to soften the blow and change gears. “Have you been seeing friends? Are you dating?”

“Yeah, sorta… You know it’s hard when everything is locked down.”

“These damn liberal cities. They terrorize their citizens and then wonder why they have health issues. I mean what else are you supposed to do locked inside all day but eat? Christ!”

Greg continued on a political tangent for some time before circling back to the subject of Emilio’s weight, concluding that a doctor’s visit was in order. Emilio accepted this demand in an effort to finish up dinner and escape this conversation. As he excused himself from the table he could sense his parent’s eyes on his body, and as he walked away he knew they were staring. His shelf-like ass that had so many admirers was now on trial. Depressed and forlorn, he slumped into bed and called Alex back.

Alex’s phone vibrated silently on the couch as Alex drunkenly stumbled into Emilio’s old room. Naked, intoxicated, and sorrowful, tears emerged from Alex’s eyes. All that remained in the room was Emilio’s old dresser. Alex flung open a drawer, and then another, and another, hoping to find something, anything. With the last one he was rewarded. A pair of Emilio’s briefs lay wadded in the corner.

He picked them up amorously. They appeared worn and stretched out from the extravagant curves of Emilio’s overgrown butt. Alex held them up to his face. He could still smell Emilio on them. The scent of Emilio’s ripened ass and foreskin after a long day electrified Alex’s senses. He breathed them in long and hard, the fabric plastered against his face. Huffing the thin cotton like it was a drug, Alex became hard as a rock.

He slumped on the floor, the underwear wrapped around his face, and pulled at his cock. He was far from sober and losing himself in the fantasy of Emilio. He could taste the former twink’s hairy hole on his lips and those unbelievable ass cheeks wrapped around his face, nearly suffocating him with their girth. How he yearned for that unbelievable behind.

Alex’s pace quickened causing his body to convulse and jiggle. Gripping his dick, his hand nearly disappeared under the soft pudge of his inner thighs, fat pad, and underbelly. A gutteral moan emanated from his throat like an animal as he imagined Emilio’s ass bouncing on his cock. How he wished he could grip his boy’s fat rolls while badgering his hole once again. The way Emilio’s belly would bounce in tandem with his ass or how his thighs would clap together as they fucked brought Alex close to orgasm.

Taking in another deep breath of the dirty underwear, Alex shot his load across the room. It landed with a splat where Emilio’s bed once stood.