Chapter Text
One bright Saturday morning in the Destiny Islands, Sora woke up with a yawn, steadily rolling himself out of bed to make breakfast… which was going to be quite the grand undertaking, considering his circumstances, and his roommates…
Particularly Riku, the seven foot tall, silver-haired behemoth still sleeping on the other side of their massive bed... But also Kairi, sleeping in the room across the hall, who could put away quite a respectable amount herself.
Sora wasn’t all that small himself, really. 5’7 wasn’t terribly impressive, but he was happily to have reached a plump 185.
After finishing up in the bathroom, Sora took a minute in the mirror to absentmindedly play with the soft, squishy bulge of his tummy, blushing a bit at the way it’d been slowly growing lately… but remembered his original task when it gave a steady rumble for food.
With that, Sora went downstairs, heading for the kitchen, already imagining the rich, fattening feast it’d be.
It might’ve all seemed a bit odd to the uninitiated, but it was really all rather normal for an islander like Sora.
Despite being relatively unassuming in overall landmass and population, the Destiny Islands were a wealthy and notable island nation for one thing above all, and that was the uniquely unparalleled soil and farming potential… although it was also the location of some excellent fishing and mining locations, the terrestrial plant and animal life was what most people knew when it came to the Islands.
It was a combination of three main factors. One was the steady tropical climate, pleasant and receiving plentiful rain. Perhaps the least surprising or unusual of the three. The second was the almost unnaturally rich volcanic soil… bolstered even further by the fact that the specific soil found in Destiny Island had exceptionally rare minerals with powerful positive effects on plant life, found in only a handful of other places in the world.
The islands also had multiple special, native species of plants, fungi, and microbes that naturally contributed to soil health in unique and exceptional ways, maximizing the amount of nutrients and minerals available while thoroughly regulating any excesses that might end up harming plants instead. There were even microbes that directly altered plant development, forming symbiotic relationships and causing fundamental changes that wouldn’t typically occur, regardless of the level of nutrition. Most of those changes were designed to take full advantage of the high availability of light and nutrients. Even non-domesticated plants would grow much faster and yield much larger, fleshier, higher calorie produce.
Such enticing food was a massive aid to the spread and development of the microbes, because many of them had a life cycle that involved being eaten by particular species… and the island consistently provided the conditions for such a high-energy strategy to succeed where it would normally be much too resource intensive.
On the negative side, Destiny Islands had been the site of multiple attempts at hostile takeover, colonization, or exploitation in its history, but it’d managed to eventually resist or at least compromise each time. There’d been times where it was much worse off, but it’d been found that keeping its ecosystem reasonably intact was necessary to maintain its value and unique properties. Therefore, the Islands were eventually backed by extensive lists of legal protections and restrictions.
In the modern day, the Islands were relatively peaceful, and had achieved independence and many important positive alliances, while also boasting a high standard of living and little crime.
Still, the people of Destiny Islands were perhaps just as noteworthy as its flora and fauna. It was well known that most people native to Destiny Islands wound up getting big in at least some way , after a lifetime of its unique food and environment. Whether that meant unusually tall, broad, fat, or all three, it was a common enough occurrence that none of it was particularly unusual in the context of Destiny Islands.
Like with the plants, the interplay of rich nutrients, minerals, and unique microbes affected animals as well… Some of those microbes formed symbiosis with humans as well, and the end goal of such microbes was still quite simple.
A stronger, hardier, hungrier host would eat more, ingest more microbes, and live longer to see as many of them through their life cycles as possible. And humans were no exception to that agenda. After generations and generations of life of the islands, the physiologies of the natives had only further adapted to support this symbiosis and bring out the best aspects of it.
Therefore, on the Islands, big was not only completely normal, but good.
Still, the way the effects manifested, and their intensity, seemed to vary considerably with genetics and lifestyle. Many islanders had heritage from outsiders too, which could potentially dilute its effects to a degree. Sora, his brothers Roxas and Ventus, then Kairi and much of her family… They had always been some of the smallest and lightest on the islands, even though they were actually rather normal in mainland terms. But even then, certain effects were still evident. Sora’s only personal experience with illness was getting stomach aches from too much food. Otherwise, he’d never even gotten a headache. His lung capacity was phenomenal, his bones were stronger, and his muscles were much more efficient than usual, giving him twice the strength and stamina he’d typically have.
Riku, meanwhile, had always received the full brunt of the effect. He’d always been the biggest and strongest out of their group, which’d always been handy when it came to bullies, or needing someone strong when it came to their various games and activities.
Still, it always drove Sora up a wall when it came to the fact that the two were competitive, but there were so many forms of competition against Riku that it was simply impossible for him to win.
Riku could not only eat more than Sora, he could outeat Sora, Roxas, and Kairi combined.
The height difference between them was over a foot, and yet Riku had never looked gangly a day in his life. Sora was 21 years old, 5’7, and 185 pounds... but Riku was 22, a full 7’0, and 470. Of course, that wasn’t exactly a surprise to Sora. Proportionately, they’d had a similar size gap ever since they were ten… and then there was the matter of Riku’s sheer strength. Riku was like five or six of him when it came to that, which in turn meant he was like ten or twelve regular mainland men.
But the odd thing was that in Destiny Islands, Riku was the one treated the most nonchalantly. To them, it was about as odd as someone wearing glasses, or having freckles. If anything, Sora and Kairi were the ones who drew special attention. She was Sora’s other roommate, and even smaller than him at just 5’4… although she still weighed about the same as him, definitely able to put away more than her fair share at the dinner table.
As much as Sora envied Riku’s size, he also greatly admired it… And with that admiration came a less-than-subtle desire to see Riku get bigger, competing with Sora’s desire to catch up to him.
Sora had always wondered just how big Riku could get, considering that Riku hadn’t even tried particularly hard to get as big as he was. He practically seemed to get stronger every time he even so much as touched or thought about a weight, and his stomach was practically bottomless.
Even more conveniently, there hadn’t ever been anyone interested in trying to reign in Riku’s appetite, given the differences in Destiny Island’s culture and health norms.
Due to both the unique nature of the food available, as well as successive generations of adaptation, natives of the islands were highly resistant to the negative effects of getting too big, whether it was height, muscle, or fat. Notably, the incredible resistance didn’t disappear even with the advent of modern life and processed junk food.
So, Riku was as healthy as a horse… and in general, Destiny Islands had very little concept of portion control. There were many a joke about teasing other countries for their smaller portions, and standard hospitality involved intentionally overfeeding guests. Even among tourists, the islands were known for the huge portions.
As far as how well Riku’s lifestyle could support his appetite, there was no issue there either.
Sora, Riku, and Kairi all shared a modest two-story house, nestled in plenty of vegetation. Kairi had inherited it from a relative, but even in other cases, the cost of living was generally reasonable. Destiny Islands was economically stable, and plenty wealthy in spite of its relatively small size. What was more was that bad past history with greed and exploitation had created sizable pushback against such things, and led to a lot of helpful social and economic reform. Still, the islands weren’t quite as densely populated as one might expect for a place so fertile and potentially lucrative.
After all, Destiny Islands had plenty of natural features that made it somewhat less desirable as a place to live. Although incredibly fertile, it was also full of large insects and potentially dangerous creatures, as even many prey species were forced to develop stronger defenses in the face of unusually strong, robust, and greedy predators. It was also rather remote, compared to other nations.
Island natives were so hardy and well-adapted as to have resistance to many of its natural dangers, but outsiders weren’t so fortunate.
On the cultural end, while the islands didn’t outright reject immigrants, their tumultuous past history had also caused both mainlanders and islanders to be wary of the idea. Such ideas largely came out of respect for the local environment and culture, and desire to avoid further sociopolitical issues as well.
Sora casually gathered fruit from the backyard garden for breakfast, which was mostly Kairi's job to maintain, but he and Riku at least knew a decent amount about it themselves.
Personal gardens and fruit trees were very common for households in the islands, given that the soil made it too difficult for the idea of perfectly manicured lawns and backyards to really catch on. Not only was it more difficult to manage weeds, but the grass itself would tend to rapidly grow right back to an unruly state if you tried to force it short.
The three took turns making breakfast, but Sora always tended to cook the most, being the most fond of the duty… especially cooking as a means of caring for others.
Breakfast was all made with island ingredients, and consisted of bacon, pancakes loaded with butter and syrup, toast thick with homemade jam, and slices of fresh paopu, picked right from the backyard.
Paopu was the hallmark of Destiny Islands, and a famed cultural symbol… Although it was vaguely similar to starfruit, paopu wasn't found anywhere else in the world, nor did it grow as well when planted elsewhere. Therefore, it stood out well as a shining example of Destiny Islands' unique produce, especially when an already native species became partially domesticated, as was the case with paopu.
Paopu trees only grew several fruit at once, but in peak season and ideal conditions, a mature paopu tree could regrow its fruit to full size and ripeness nearly every day, boasting a nigh-unbelievable growth rate. This cycle would only continue each time the fruit was picked, or fell off. Although highly nutritious, each fruit was also mildly addictive and packed with fat and sugar, making them at least 400 calories each, not even considering variation in size or cultivar.
By time Sora was finished gathering paopu and making breakfast, the smell and sounds had woken everyone, and they all dug in. As usual, Sora and Kairi were reasonably full after a bit over one large plate each, just grabbing a bit of extra bacon and a couple more slices of paopu. …But Riku didn’t stop until he’d demolished three and a half full plates, representing over a dozen pancakes, 3 paopu fruit, 15 thick-cut slices of bacon, and over 1/3rd of a loaf of toast… not to mention nearly half a gallon of milk to drink. But even so, he hadn’t actually eaten everything. There was actually still over a plate’s worth left, in case anyone wanted to finish it off before lunch. Despite the size of the meal, it hadn't been too much trouble to make, or keep all of its components around. Kitchens with large fridges, freezers, and tons of cabinet space were yet another norm of Destiny Islands.
Riku just contentedly rubbed his stomach and gave a wet, unapologetic belch, eliciting a giggle from Sora and an answering burp from Kairi. On the Islands, there was nothing wrong with burping. It was often even expected after large meals.
All told, Riku had polished off at least 7,000 calories, just for breakfast.
From such a perspective, in spite of his massive size, you’d start to wonder why he wasn’t already even heavier… but ironically, islanders actually had impressive metabolisms, especially tall, muscular men like Riku. Not to mention, Riku tended to eat more on the weekends.
After generations of practically unlimited food, conserving calories became less important. So, in conjunction with the special effects of island food, many of the excess resources could instead be put towards increasing the body’s physical abilities and regeneration, rather than merely accumulating as fat. Still, this aspect of their biology wasn’t always particularly obvious in the face of their sheer gluttony.
Riku took a few minutes to rest and finish up a tall glass of milk before standing to full height and lazily stretching. He typically slept in his old clothes and showered after breakfast… meaning he was wearing a snug grey t-shirt, marked with several old stains from food and condiments.
Even with an islander metabolism, that didn’t mean his gluttony didn’t touch his figure at all…
An impressively round, wobbly gut jutted outwards, and both a hearty overhang and soft lovehandles oozed out over a snug pair of gym shorts that would completely fall off of Sora. Moving upwards, Riku’s thick, broad chest and wide, powerful shoulders strained his shirt as well, making his fat pecs readily apparent beneath it. The sleeves had been cut off manually, making way for huge biceps, further thickened by a generous layer of fat. Riku’s chunky bubble butt and tree-trunk thighs made for a clear contrast, still constrained by tight fabric that was slowly starting to pull apart.
Riku made a brief effort to tug his shirt back down, but it just rode right back up to his belly button. He looked down at the failed attempt in mild amusement, briefly patting his bloated gut with one hand and smiling at the modest jiggle created.
“Guess it’s about time to throw this outfit out…” Riku said casually, before letting out a long, low belch.
“It could be my night outfit from now on,” Sora suggested. “At least the shirt, I’m not sure if the shorts can get tight enough for me,”
“I dunno… I’m the best at laundry out of us… and I’m still really not sure I can ever get all those stains out,” Kairi said.
“It’s not like they’re real dirt anymore, they’re just some colors left behind,” Sora said with a shrug.
“So that’s your plan? Fatten me up so you can swim in all my baggy clothes?” Riku joked.
Sora’s cheeks colored a bit at that. “Well, you should be thanking me. The weight looks better on you than that shirt,” he said, not outright denying the joking accusation. It was at least partly correct. He did like to watch Riku grow, and he liked enabling the whole process with his cooking, and being able to see how much Riku liked it. To say he was actively fattening Riku up was a bit of an overstatement, even if it was kind of what he secretly wanted, but he would certainly provide as much food as Riku liked.
Riku grew a bit flustered too, but not particularly suspicious or alarmed. Thanks to the culture of the islands, such remarks genuinely seemed like something a friend would say, about as normal as complimenting someone’s muscles. With that, breakfast concluded in a mostly uneventful fashion.
After breakfast, Riku went down to the basement, to the home gym he’d managed to steadily build up over time… it was equipped with a heavy duty treadmill, dumbbells and barbells, and a couple of weight machines, including a leg press.
The main notable factor was that each weight machine and barbell went up to what would seem like freakishly high weight to most mainlanders, a good four times the average amounts.
Part of the routine involved Riku repeatedly benching over 1200 pounds, in spite of him being only 22, and in spite of it being only a semi-serious hobby of his… Another part of it involved a leisurely ten minute run, and then push-ups with both Kairi and Sora on his back, completed quite smoothly and easily in spite of their combined weight. Not that they really participated much otherwise. Half of Kairi’s reason for participating was because she’d developed a weakness for Riku’s chocolate protein bars… the chocolate being especially rich and fatty even before sweetening, as it was locally sourced.
After nearly an hour and a half, Riku was satisfied… but all the exertion had already started working up his appetite again. He’d already drained a protein shake and eaten a protein bar during his routine, but it didn’t stop him from wiping out the rest of breakfast before going to shower, an action which more than made up for any calories burned… not that Riku really minded, since cardio was the shortest segment of his routine, and he clearly wasn’t actually after burning calories.
The rest of the day was a relatively slow and lazy one. Sora and Kairi made lunch together, and Riku happily plowed through even more food than he had at breakfast, as if breakfast and brunch never existed. He shrugged off the mildly uncomfortable bloat he felt in favor of basking in the deep, heavy satisfaction of a huge meal.
After some digestion, everyone enjoyed a mid-afternoon treat of thick milkshakes and half-melted ice cream with nuts and chocolate syrup, to combat the heat… The heavy “snack” bloated Riku right back up, especially when he paired his ice cream up with an entire chocolate pie and half a pack of cookies, but he still stubbornly gorged himself at dinner… paying the price when he could hardly move after he went through four overloaded plates of dinner.
Sora and Kairi managed to help him over to the living room, where he laid on a big, heavy-duty couch large enough to fit him if he wanted to stretch out on it… Sora sat near his legs and rubbed his distended belly, while Riku just belched and moaned a few times, feeling some heat rise to his cheeks.
“Jeez, Riku, no wonder you’re groaning, you feel like you’re about to pop!” Sora said, as he rubbed tenderly at Riku’s belly, still beyond bloated with too much dinner on top of too many undigested remains from his past meals.
Riku just blushed a bit more, knowing such gestures of affection were pretty normal with close friends, but he didn’t always know what to make of him and Sora. They weren’t exactly together together, but they tended to get really affectionate and comfortable with one another… Kairi joined in a lot too, which only made it more confusing.
“It’s your fault for being too good at cooking,” Riku jokingly complained… although really, most islanders in general were taught how to be at least decent cooks. After all, there was nothing like being unable to satisfy a naturally oversized appetite.
Kairi brought Riku a glass of something vaguely similar to ginger-ale. It was made with gularian root, a common and quite potent digestive aid on the islands. Riku slowly drank it, belching loudly and starting to feel a bit of relief as moderate warmth suffused his abdominal region. The drink began soothing his stomach, while also encouraging the lining to stretch further and release more digestive enzymes.
Riku couldn’t help but appreciate that Kairi was also wearing one of her loosest t-shirts, but it was still snug from her distended belly. He supposed he wasn’t the only one who ate more than usual that day.
From there, it wasn’t too much longer until Riku steadily and happily drifted off to sleep... and Sora joined him, as he also began to realize he was a bit more full and sleepy than originally planned. Sora supposed it was one of the benefits of being so much smaller than Riku, considering that their couch was designed for someone huge... giving Sora enough extra room to squeeze in and use Riku's gurgling belly like a pillow.
Sunday was similarly lax, and everyone similarly ate just a bit too much, but once Monday came, things got a bit more eventful.
Overall, life in Destiny Islands was rather simple and happy, once you got past the strange wildlife and sometimes uncomfortable humidity. No one ever went hungry, general health was excellent, and the average work week was only about 25 hours, but still enough to support oneself.
Still, it wasn’t at if everyone just did nothing, so on weekdays it was still time to get busy.
Kairi brought in decent money just by staying home and tending the garden, since she knew how to process the various crops into more specialized goods, which people were more willing to pay for than hyper-abundant produce alone… not to mention, homemade goods were quite popular in Destiny Islands, since corporate distrust was rather high after a history of exploitation.
Sora worked at a cafe/bakery combo nearby, much to the joy of Riku and Kairi, since he was freely allowed to bring the extra food home, and it also allowed him to keep practicing his cooking.
Riku had completed his first four years in college, leaving him open to have more time for glut wrestling, a sport that’d originated in Destiny Islands.
Vaguely similar to a mix of sumo and competitive eating, and often just called Glut, glut wrestling was nonetheless independently developed, an ancient tradition of the original culture. Therefore, it was largely famous and popular within the islands, but it’d garnered a good amount of international attention as well.
Glut involved a series of alternating rounds, made up of short, timed eating or chugging contests followed by wrestling focused on shoves and grapples. Unlike sumo, it ended when someone was pinned down or otherwise unable to rise within ten seconds. The food was meant to increasingly encumber the wrestlers as matches piled up, since they were typically set up back-to-back. The eating contests were unavoidable, as they made up half of your score.
Although the fusion of objectives seemed odd on the surface, the sport was symbolically designed to represent warriors receiving the energy of the earth and the blessing of harvest deities before going into battle. Furthermore, fighting while overstuffed with food was treated as a mark of skill and determination, along with being a metaphorical reminder of the importance of making the best of bad situations.
And of course, there were more shallow reasons for its popularity... By island standards, Glut wrestlers were highly attractive.
Riku knew he’d largely gotten lucky when it came to being able to get a decent Glut position, and already being able to make some money off of it at his skill level. He wasn't rich, but Glut was respected and historically important enough that it was deemed a worthy of a living wage.
He honestly hadn’t even been sure he’d like it, back when he first tried it, but it did definitely speak to a more prideful, competitive part of him… and like many of his peers, he wasn’t gonna turn down an opportunity to eat.
But Sora’s older brother Ventus had suggested it at one point... Specifically, when Riku was 17, and he and Sora had been so busy that he'd eaten a lot less than usual that day... He'd shown up at their house so hungry that they’d ordered from all his favorite takeout places… and out of sheer hunger, he’d lost control and torn his way through about 12,000 calories worth of fast food and pizza by himself.
He remembered being in heaven for the solid hour it took to finish everything… but then being too full and bloated to even go home afterwards. Back then, it’d been a ton of food even for him.
Regardless, Sora, Roxas, and Ventus were all so impressed they’d recorded a good chunk of the whole scene, and Ventus had happened to have Terra for a best friend… Terra, who was already a pro Glut player at that point.
With Terra being a Glut prodigy, he’d already passed the 750 pound mark even back then… Depending on height and build, 750-900 pounds was often considered the point where you were getting impressively big even by islander standards, roughly equivalent to weighing over 300 on the mainland.
From there, Terra had managed to hassle Riku into trying Glut for himself, insisting he had huge potential.
As it turned out, Terra was right… and he’d continued to put in good words for Riku, making it easier to rise through the ranks.
By the modern day, Riku had reached the status of local celebrity, with a semi-pro skill level. He’d been repeatedly told he could go even higher, or make faster progress if he wanted, but he had to admit to himself that he’d just sort of settled for something comfortable. Beforehand, he’d been focusing more on college… and as competitive as he was, he wasn’t really sure he wanted to base his whole life around Glut. Although history and culture had left him with a moderate distrust of the outside world, he couldn’t deny he was still curious about what else was out there.
While Riku had taken it relatively easy with his gaining, often just eating and exercising for the fun of it, Terra had progressed even further, then decided to become a Glut coach himself… only increasing Riku’s luck when it turned out he would be able to coach him. In the time since Glut had originally been suggested to Riku, Terra had grown utterly enormous. He’d reached 7’6 and somewhere significantly in excess of 1,000 pounds… Between his height and the fact there was still so much dense muscle buried in his thick rolls, people often guessed lower, but he was undeniably huge. Like a walking mountain of muscles, just buried in deep lard.
Glut training took place in a large gymnasium-like building, although it also had a couple of restaurants inside, along with vending machines and places selling shakes and high-calorie energy drinks.
Terra was sitting on a heavily reinforced bench, and shirtless when Riku arrived, the traditional outfit of Glut being just a pair of spandex-like shorts. He was gleefully gorging himself on a huge stack of pizzas too, which was even less surprising. Terra’s stomach was more than a pit, it was a total black hole. Not only was he an islander, he was one who spent years intentionally honing his natural gluttony. If anything, he’d have easily gotten even fatter, but he’d started holding back a bit once he decided to switch to coaching.
Terra gulped down an impossibly big mouthful of greasy goodness at once, a skill developed with thorough practice. Mouth reasonably clear, he spoke in a booming voice. “Hey, Riku! If you want some pizza you’d better hurry, ‘cause I’m not saving any!” he said, before going right back to shoveling it down like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.
Riku quickly obliged, hurrying over to the pile with Terra. It seemed rude on the surface, but he knew it was really part of his training. Testing how fast he could pack food away on short notice.
On demand, Riku gave a powerful belch to clear some room, and dug in. He already knew the drill. He had to eat as if he was starving. He grabbed slices two or three at a time and folded them up to take huge, greedy bites, not caring if he was making a bit of a mess.
There was plenty of soda too, and milkshakes, but Riku knew to try and limit them. Your drink being carbonated or some kind of rich dairy was a very common feature of Glut, designed to further encumber you… But to get the best score, you typically had to focus on just the food as much as feasibly possible.
Before long, Riku gave a grunt of suddenly realized discomfort, belching deeply as he registered that they’d eaten through all the pizza.
“So you managed to get almost three of them down before they were all gone. Ten slices each pizza, and twenty-eight slices in that gut of yours now. Good! You’re getting better!” Terra said.
Riku flushed a bit at that, feeling the rush of pride and vanity that always came with being praised after big meals. Times like this were definitely the other reason he enjoyed Glut… There was no denying that he felt bloated and uncomfortable, and it’d been hard, and his jaws were a little sore… But at the same time, a good stuffing just felt so satisfying. Belly gurgling and sloshing, blown up all firm and round, the contentment flowing through his body, his natural piggishness temporarily satisfied.
Riku gave yet another huge burp, feeling like he had no choice if he wanted to dispel the sensation of feeling like a blimp on the verge of an explosion… even if he was just a paltry little balloon in comparison to Terra, the real blimp. Still, he felt way better afterwards, another surge of contentment and mild arousal shooting through him as he moaned in relief. He probably wouldn’t be nearly so full if he’d genuinely been hungry when he started, but that was another valuable lesson to learn in Glut… Forcing yourself to eat like you were starving, regardless of your true condition.
Terra joined in with his own contented but mammoth-sized belch, enough to briefly shake the windows of the roughly gymnasium-like room, but he just laughed afterwards.
“You know, you’d probably do even better if you hit the fridge a little harder,” Terra said, playfully poking Riku’s bloated gut and eliciting a low gurgle followed by a wet, labored belch from Riku. “Sure, mainlanders would lose it at the sight of you, but you’re still pretty average for a Glut wrestler. The main difference is all that untapped potential of yours. You’ve got a great build, you learn fast, you put on muscle easy, and your gut takes more punishment than most guys your size.”
“Well, it’s just… I’m not sure if I want to make this my whole life,” Riku said. “Like, sometimes I wonder what else is out there…”
“I get that. But you know, when you get into the higher ranks, there is more traveling involved, and you meet more people. I’ll bet you could even go international. And I can tell you do really like it, even if you want to explore other options too… So, at the very least, this could still help you figure out what you want to do once you’re done with this.” Terra said.
Riku paused at that, realizing that Terra might’ve had a point.
Tidus showed up too, a bit later. He was Riku's typical training partner, and it was quite obvious why he was late. He had a heavy sack of cheeseburgers with him, and he was still in the middle of grunting in pleasure as he scarfed one down. It was a big, messy one, weighing at least half a pound, which made it a bit tricky to actually eat cleanly... But Tidus clearly didn't mind much when a little of the sauce dripped onto his shirt… and it seemed he'd already eaten enough of them that he'd had to start walking slower. So, that not only explained why he was late, but easily explained why he had a thick, towering build similar to Riku’s... just with a rounder face, a modestly fatter chest, and an even rounder and softer gut jutting out. Luckily for him, the culture of Destiny Islands was rather laid back, and didn’t place as much importance on punctuality. Therefore, Tidus tended to get away with it pretty easily. Eating and training were essentially the same anyway, so Terra was always forgiving.
They both went to the lockers and got into uniform, Riku finding himself a bit jealous as he looked at Tidus every now and then, and saw strong evidence that Tidus was getting a good bit fatter than him lately… He jiggled more as he moved, his ass looked rounder and more snug in his Glut shorts, and it looked like there were new stretch marks when he took his shirt off. But Riku did his best to brush it aside, supposing that maybe he was just getting a little insecure and starting to imagine things.
At the very least, there was no one else to focus on, since other Glut wrestlers either came on different days or had different coaches. Outside of its few major towns and cities, the populations of Destiny Islands tended to be rather spread out, after all.
So, Riku managed to remain relatively confident as they focused on practice wrestling bouts for the day, both of their distended bellies already sufficiently encumbered with prior meals… but the confidence steadily drained as the bouts went on.
Riku’s competitive side was more than a little frustrated to remember that he and Tidus used to be pretty similar in build, with Riku having more underlying muscle and previously being a bit bigger because he was a bit older... But now, Tidus undoubtedly seemed somewhat wider and fatter than him. And Riku would normally be less bothered by that, because he was usually more skilled than Tidus anyway. Tidus had always been somewhat weaker and flabbier than Riku, still hugely strong but having a higher proportion of fat for his size.
Regardless, Tidus’ shoving force was getting more and more oppressive lately, and Riku found his hands would sink in deeper against his rolls and his great, overfed gut than before… and yet, in spite of Riku’s massive strength, Tidus was like a thick, heavy boulder… but what extra give he did have with that surrounding blubber only made him more stalwart, helping to absorb some of the force of Riku’s shoves and grapples.
Much to Riku’s irritation, Tidus won the majority of their practice bouts that day rather handily, feeding an ego as fat as Tidus himself.
“Well, what do you expect? I broke past 550 a good while ago, and I’ll bet you still haven’t broken 500 on an empty stomach!” Tidus playfully teased, much to Riku’s irritation. Getting a close look, Riku knew his mind hadn’t exaggerated just how big Tidus had gotten. Riku was still an inch taller, but Tidus’ thighs were looking thicker and softer, his arms were looking a little puffier, and his gut was much thicker and softer, drooping much lower and generally having much more jiggle to it. It was getting so thoroughly porcine that it was beginning to develop a crease in the middle, separating it into an upper section and a fatter lower section. That just further distinguished it compared to Riku’s belly, near-spherical besides the droop of his hefty overhang. Tidus proudly put a large hand on his own gut and gave it a proud shake and a couple of jiggles, only further emphasizing its superiority. Riku hated to admit it, but it looked great. He clearly wasn’t merely bloated. Tidus boasted a wealth of gelatinous lard to accompany all the food he’d packed away, and generally looked like he'd been eating like a king.
That pretty much settled it. Terra was one thing, he had a huge head start and practically perfect genes for Glut… but there was no way Riku was going to let Tidus get better than him. Not that he actually disliked Tidus, it was just the principal of the thing.
So, with Tidus’ boasted weight in mind, Riku knew was going to have to get to at least 600… Probably more, because it was unlikely that Tidus was going to slow down soon, and he was most likely gonna hit 600 well before Riku… Being at least 75 pounds behind was going to take a while to make up for.
But still… difficult and impossible weren’t quite the same thing.