"Uh, Sarge?" The blue dragon asked, doing his best to lean over the table.
"Hmm?" Replied the person across the table, a rather portly werewolf, who was laying his head on the table, seeming to be drifting off to sleep.
"I don' mean ta bother you, Sarge, but I thinks people are staring at us. Is this a normal thing? Have they been doing this always?"
The werewolf opened an eye, staring out across the diner, noticing the many eyes of the dragons around them. "You've got a point there, Syd. Didn't notice them doing this." The werewolf took his head off his arms, lazily gaping his mouth open in a tired yawn.
"Were you sleep?" Syd asked, leaning back in his seat. "I am sorry. I did not mean to waking you."
"It's alright." The werewolf said, giving a wry grin. "Just testin' somethin'." He stared out at their undesired audience, cocking a brow in the quizzical interest.
“What are you testing?” Syd asked, looking out at the many people surrounding them. He couldn’t understand the werewolf’s thoughts sometimes, and this was just another case of his confusion. All he saw were a bunch of dragons and humans yawning.
“Huh. Seems they really are starin’ at us, huh?” The werewolf asked, making Syd turn his head back to the werewolf.
“Well, yes. That’s what I had mentioned?” He scratched his head. “Sarge, what was you testing?”
“Notice them yawning?” The werewolf remarked, staring around at the diner. “Thought I’d see if I could make some people yawn. Seems I did alright!”
“Oh! Because yawning is con…” Syd felt himself give a yawn. He attempted to stifle the yawn, but found his mouth gaped open anyway.
“Exactly!” The werewolf said, slamming a fist down on the table and giving a smile. “Now, why do you think they’re staring?” He stared out at everyone again, seeming to make eye contact with them all. With each person he stared at, they quickly looked away, seeming to not want to stare the werewolf in the eyes. “Well… were staring I should say.”
Syd still had trouble understanding this werewolf’s mindset. He knew the wolf had a crazy stare that would scare most people, but this didn’t seem to be a situation he would use it in.
“I do not know, Sarge. I’m a bit worry.” Syd said, staring down at his green shirt, feeling a lack of desire to delve further into the matter. “They may be judging of me.”
“Nah. Don’t worry ‘bout it, Syd!” Sarge said, putting his head back down on the table and closing his eyes. “Whatever it is, it ain’t that important. Our food’ll be here soon! Jericho made sure of it!”
There was that oh so familiar name. “Jericho”. While not much was known about how the werewolf met this strange character, Syd had grown a mild fondness for them. Jericho, much like Syd, was a dragon. However, Jericho was more… exotic. He sported a rather odd combination of green scales with black stripes all over his body. Mixing in with the ivory horns on his head and claws, the dragon looked as if someone tried to paint a dragon to look like a jungle. Along with his strange color scheme, Jericho sported a rather giant belly – one such that would put Sarge’s girth to shame.
“Sorry for the wait, you two!” Came an overly perky and friendly voice. Syd recognized this voice as the one belonging to Jericho. The dragon had approached the table while Syd was busy thinking, making the appearance of Jericho seem sudden.
“Ahh, Jericho! Is our food ready?” He asked, cocking his head when seeing that Jericho’s hands were empty.
“Nope!” Jericho smiled in his deep, smooth voice. He placed his arms on his belly and twiddled his thumbs, a thing he did while standing idly. “Just thought I’d give you two an update. Afterall, you are the guests of honor tonight!”
“P…pardon?” Syd asked, eyes widening. “Guests of Honor? Why?”
The portly dragon shrugged. “Dunno. Just noticed how everyone’s starin’ at you two. Thought I’d relieve some of your worries.”
“I am worry, Jericho, but I am not knowing why these people are staring?” Syd mentioned, affirming his doubts.
“Well, I got a couple possible reasons!” Jericho said, taking his left hand off his belly and placing it on Syd’s back. “It’s possibly the fact that there’s a dragon sittin’ with a werewolf.”
“There is nothing strange about this.” Syd snarled.
“That is also why it may possibly because Sarge, here, is well-known.”
“So it seems. Why is he so well-known among all the people of this diner?” Syd asked, doing his best to avoid the stares they were receiving again.
“Pro’ly ‘cuz he’s well known fer trickin’ people inta getting’ fat. Most people make fun o’ him for his belly, and he retaliates by trickin’ them into growin’ a belly of their own!”
“That’s… that’s horrible! That is also impossible, is it not? How can he trick people into getting fatten?”
Jericho replied with an arched brow. “Couldn’t ya’ tell me that?”
“What?” Syd asked, taken aback by Jericho’s response. “I din’t make fun of him! Sarge is my friend!” Syd looked over at the sleeping werewolf. His confusion only worsened when he saw the werewolf’s ears were erect, and his mouth was twisted into a wry smile.
“Then, why’re you…” Jericho put his right hand in front of his chest and pointing an index finger at Syd before making a circular motion with it as if referring to all of Syd.
“I am not fat! Do I have a belly? I do not!”
Jericho scoffed. “Well, surely not a big one.” He put a hand under his cheek and looked up at the ceiling. “Honestly, I enjoyed watchin’ you two come in here ta eat. Ya guys always ordered my most fattening dishes. Got ta enjoy watchin’ ya grow. You two must be gainer friends, then?”
“G…gainer friends?” Syd asked, growing irritated with Jericho’s remarks. He slammed his hands on the table and attempted to stand up… but, something was off. Though he could have sworn he fit in the booth before, he found that his front side scraped against the table as he stood up. “I… uh…. We are not…” he regained his balance and stood up tall, puffing out his chest and stretching his shoulders to make himself look imposing. “We are not gainer friends, and he is not of making me grow a belly!”
Jericho frowned. “So, that means he tricked ya? Syd, what’d ya do to hurt him?”
“H…hurt?” Syd’s angered eyes suddenly softened as worry, again, replaced his anger. “Hurt him? He is my friend. He gets upset too easy, but… he treats me like a friend. Why… well… How could I be hurt him?”
Syd looked back down at the werewolf and saw his eyes were squinted tight and his lips were curled into a frown.
“N…no! Sarge that is not what I am meaning! I am just trying to say that….”
Syd noticed the diner had gone quiet. The gentle murmur of talking he had heard before had suddenly grown quiet.
Jericho turned his head, leading Syd to believe that everyone was staring… again. Jericho sighed, pulling a pen out of his pocket and giving a loud whistle. He flicked his pen, and the whispered conversations started up again as everyone turned their attention back to themselves, rather than at Syd.
Syd sat back down in his seat, cheeks flushed hot from embarrassment. Doing his best to ignore the stares of people around him, he looked down at the table and noticed something strange.
“Jericho? Did you move the table closer in my direction?” He took note that the table was pressed up against his torso.
“I have not touched the table. You just sat back down. Seems yer belly is squished up against the table instead o’ under it.”
“But… how?” Syd asked, realization sparking inside of him. “When? Why? Who?”
Jericho’s smile slowly crept on his face as he pointed to Sergeant Wolf with the pen in his hand. “To answer, it was him.”
“But… he never tried to get me to eating a lot of food! I choose all my meals!” Syd said, lifting up his shirt and staring at his belly, dumbfounded. “I would have noticed if I was getting fatter!”
“There ain’t nothin’ to it other than Sarge here.” Jericho gently placed his hand on the werewolf’s head, giving it a rub. The werewolf smiled.
“But. I would have noticed! My shirts would be get tight?” Syd said, pulling his shirt back down to cover the grey and blue scales.
“It would… unless you were wearin’ a larger sized shirt.” Jericho smirked again, patting Syd’s belly with the hand that was previously patting the werewolf. “You two come in five times a week. Because o’ Sarge’s discount here, you get cheap food. You two always eat a lot, too. That is why I noticed you getting’ fatter. Honestly, I think it suits you!”
“No! I do not want to be fat! I do not like it! What if people would be staring at me?”
“Well, they certainly were doin’ it earlier.” Jericho said, turning his head back to the rest of the diner before turning it back to Syd. “Which brings me to the next possibility.”
“W…what?” Syd asked, finally coming to acceptance that, for whatever reason, he was now sporting a decently large belly.
“They are all starin’…” Jericho leaned in, putting his arm back around Syd, “because they’ don’ wanna be the next ones Sarge targets.”
Syd’s eyes widened as he stared up at Jericho. He didn’t know what emotion he was supposed to feel right now, whether it was anger toward the werewolf for fattening Syd up, or fear that he was oblivious to this overly obvious change. “But… how did I hurt him?”
Jericho patted Syd on the back, straightening himself back up. “Beats me. You’ll have ta’ ask him when he ‘wakes up’.” Jericho turned around, giving Syd a wink. “Whatever tha case, you certainly have grown fatter!” Jericho vanished into the kitchen.
Syd stared blankly at Sarge, still trying to wrap his mind around the werewolf’s actions, and what caused the werewolf to ‘target’ Syd for fattening up. Whatever the case….
Syd looked back down at his belly, softly pressing against the table right in front of him….
He was fat now.