At last, through many weeks of dieting and exercising (or lack-of), Denya has finally reached Arro's size! Now, it's finally time to admit the reason behind his incredible growth to the dragon...but is he really ready? Will Arro feel grateful or horrified that someone willingly put on hundreds of pounds for his sake? And is Denya really doing all of this just for Arro's sake?

A shorter chapter, but still plenty of fatty goodness. It's getting harder describing how fat these two are getting :p

 Rangavar is co-writer and co-fatty. 6k words. I hope you all enjoy~

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“Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!”

Denya was about to have a stroke, the sound of Trin’s voice really starting to wear him down. He was doing the best he could, the hybrid’s flabby arms scooping through the water just like the roo had taught him. It was so easy for Trin to swim like that; he didn’t have arms wider than his head with thick folds that made it hard to bend and move them like Denya did, nor did he have to deal with his hanging armfat slapping him in the face with every stroke. The roo also had a more dynamic body that had little resistance moving through the water, despite those broad shoulders, while Denya was the shape (and size) of a submarine. And...and...and…

Damn, Denya was so fat.

He wheezed as he finally gripped the edge of the pool, his broad chest huffing up and down. Soon, Trin paddled over to the front of his friend, grinning. “Alright, alright, good effort. Just do three more laps back and forth, and I think we can call it a day.”

“Three more?!” Denya groaned. He swore he felt his spirit leaving his body. “Why don’t you make me dig my own grave, while you’re at it?”

The roo chuckled. He was having way too much fun. “You’re the one who suggested we go swimming today. Besides,” Trin dropped his voice to a whisper. “This way, Arro will never suspect you’re trying to gain weight. You need to work out more, anyways. How are you supposed to move all that flab if there’s no muscle beneath it?”

Oh, that’s right. Denya sighed, wishing he hadn’t suggested it at all. He wished he could have just spent the last hour casually floating around in the water, or even lying on one of the beach chairs like Rangavar. Well, he’d need to push two or three beach chairs together to hold him at this point, but still.

Trin slapped the side of his pudgy body, sending ripples across the draolf’s form. “Alright, now kick off!”

Denya did, but rather than continuing his laps, the bloated hybrid continued drifting on his back. He looked down at himself, past those thick chins and dimpled cheeks encroaching on his peripheral vision, and stared at that white mound of fluff rising out of the water. His waterproof suspenders, with rubber duck patterns, rubbed firmly against his squishy mass, a feeling he was all too familiar with at this point. He needed help from both Trin and Rangavar to help squeeze him into his new swimpants as well. He felt every bit the fatty he looked, with his gut bulging out of the water like an island. Or rather like an iceberg, given a big portion of him was still underwater.

Seeing the lazy lump of lard drifting away, Trin paddled over to Denya and grabbed onto his doughy sides, hardly lowering the floating fatty. “Where’s the draolf who was always ready to run laps during football practice?”

Denya rolled his eyes. “Oh, he’s in there. Why don’t you shove your face deeper in there and try calling out for him?” he snarked, squeezing his flabby belly. He really wished he could be on the couch back home with Rangavar stuffing him stupid now.

Trin snickered. “Alright, alright, I’ll leave you be.” The roo turned to the other large landmass in the pool. “Hey, Arro! I think Denya’s done for the day. How are you feeling?”

Arro glanced over, the rings of fat around his own neck bunching up as his horns trailed brief rivets through the water. “I feel great,” he rumbled in amusement as he watched Denya straining to make it from one end of the pool to the other. He almost felt sort of bad that the hybrid didn’t have the type one gene, and really had to work for his strength.

Still, at least he was making an effort. In contrast, Arro had been floating on his back the whole time, and sort of felt guilty about that. He didn’t want to flail around in the water like a whale in public. Although there fortunately weren’t many people around today. The water level in the pool was ‘unusually high’ for some reason, making what was supposed to be the shallow end, uninhabitable. He supposed he could fully submerge himself and turn the shallow end into another deep end, but the damage had already been done.

Now, he rolled over slowly, his scaly, sprawling gut collapsing into the water in slow motion as he turned. It sagged towards the water until he was over his belly, letting the buoyancy push him upwards. The water felt refreshingly cool on his frontside, warmed by the sun a moment ago, as he finally paddled past his two friends toward the steps.

Rangavar adjusted the sunglasses on his nose as he watched Arro heave his body up the steps and flare his wings to dry. “Done having fun?”

Arro shot him a look as he flapped his wings a few times to shake off the water. “I’m just a bit tired.”

“After lying around for hours? How exhausting.”

Arro made a face at him. Rangavar just grinned.

When Arro turned back to the pool, the lazy hybrid was still floating on his back, while Trin stood by looking exasperated. “I think I’m gonna shower off,” he called over to them.

“Alright, we’ll join you in a sec, dude!” Trin responded, before looking back at the heavy hybrid. “C’mon, Tubbs. At least swim to the steps on your own.”

Denya shook his head like a defiant child, jiggling his chins. “Nope. I’m too weak. Any more exercise will kill me.”

“Vaugh, help me.” Trin pinched his brow. “We’ll get food afterwards, ok?”

“Nope, not good enough.”

With another annoyed sigh, the roo finally decided he’d had enough. Grabbing the tip of Denya’s pudgy tail, Trin marched towards the shallow end, dragging the lazy draolf behind him. Man, even with his type 1 strength, it was getting harder to move Denya around, despite the blob lying on the water. He had to be close to breaking some records, at this point.

Trin flinched when he heard Denya cry out suddenly, before realizing the poor hybrid’s butt had accidentally scraped against the first step. The draolf whimpered. “That hurt!”

“My bad. I forgot your ass was that big, dude,” Trin snickered. “Now bring that ass out of the water and shower off, or we’ll get food without you!”

Denya pouted, rolling himself onto his feet. “Don’t have to be an ass about it…”


Denya didn’t waddle anymore, or rather he couldn’t. That was made apparent when the hybrid had trouble lifting his legs high enough to walk up the large steps, thanks to his ponderous belly blocking his knees. When he was finally out, the hybrid shuffled towards where the showers were, water dripping off his enormous, spherical body. It could have just been his damp fur or all the exercises, but Denya felt exceptionally heavy lumbering across the pool grounds. All of his movements involved jiggling, wobbling, or creasing his flabby self in one way or another. Each step he took had a slight thump to it, now. He was getting obscenely fat, thanks in part to Rangavar and Trin; Not just in body, but in mind too. Denya remembered how hard it was for him to sit still on the couch when he first came to Rangavar for help, but now all he could think about was how nice it would be to take a load off his chubby feet, relax with a cuddle partner, order in a few meals, and watch a movie or play video games. Getting fat was getting fun.

It was also getting hard, given he had to squeeze through doorways that weren’t a doublewide. While movement was becoming a bit of a chore lately, the draolf was still determined to keep gaining until he finally surpassed Arro. He would have outweighed the dragon by now if Arro himself hadn’t put on any weight since when he first started gaining. It seemed like the milestone Denya wanted to meet was always moving just out of reach, but he’d reach it one day, for sure.

Denya hummed to himself as he waddled into the shower room, carrying with him a change of clothes and several towels (it took several to dry off all that fur, after all). Thankfully, Arro was the only other occupant in the area, meaning they had the entire room all to themselves. Fortunate, given the two of them alone took up a large amount of that room.

The draolf couldn’t help but smirk as Trin came in after him, turning to face the muscular roo. “You gonna be ok, showering with the two of us?”

Trin chuckled. “Just don’t make a move on me, and you’re fine.”

“That’s not what I meant. I don’t want you to feel, you know...small.” Denya glanced down.

He narrowly avoided getting smacked by a very strong tail as the roo turned around to undress. Still smirking, Denya did the same, unclasping his suspenders and letting his swim trunks fall to the floor.

Arro was struggling a bit with his own. He couldn’t just ‘let them’ fall to the floor after some monumental release of pressure; they were practically pasted there over his wide ass. He glanced over at Denya and the muscular roo, hoping his face wasn’t turning too red. Or, redder than pale-red. He tried to shimmy a bit so they’d slide down, but still wasn’t having much luck, swishing his tail a bit. Great. All of this in front of Trin, no less.

Denya noticed the situation rather quickly. It was hard not to; Arro was basically the centerpiece of the room. That, and Trin still had his back to them as the roo went to shower; hopefully he hadn’t been too offended by Denya’s comment.

The draolf waddled to Arro, trying not to get a nosebleed seeing the enormously fat dragon struggle in his swimsuit. “Do you need any help?” he asked when Trin’s shower turned on, hoping the sound of the rushing water would drown out his voice so the roo couldn’t overhear.

Well, Arro knew he was definitely turning red by now. Redder than pale-red. “Uh, sure.” He supposed it wasn’t anything they hadn’t done before. Admittedly, never in public, and especially not with Denya’s straight friend nearby. The roo was thankfully distracted, though, so Arro stood and waited as the slow-moving draolf made his way over and leaned down to help wriggle off the unfortunate swimtrunks.

He tried not to look at Denya as his pudgy paws gripped the edges and yanked down, putting even more stress on the seams for a second until the fabric managed to slide over the smooth scales. At least Arro had that going for him. “Thanks.” He was suddenly aware of the fact that he was very, very naked, with a very, very naked draolf crouched in front of him.

“No problem.” Denya didn’t get up right away, partly because his chunky legs were aching, but mainly to hide his own blushing face. Being able to help rub and squeeze those curves in order to pull down those swim trunks was just...mrrf. Arro always looked amazing, but he looked even better without any clothes detracting from his natural beauty.

He slowly got up, yelping as he brushed against that huge hanging belly on the way up. “Heh, sorry,” he muttered, his heart racing. This wasn’t the first time he had seen Arro naked, or Arro at this size, but he’d never seen Arro naked at this size. Oh, if only Trin weren’t here…

Denya swallowed. “I’m, uh… I’m gonna shower now,” he muttered. Why was he still so awkward around the dragon he slept with? Ever since Trin showed up, he found it hard to just...relax around the large red drake. Even after Trin explained he was accepting of gay couples, the draolf still struggled to relax. Why? What was happening? What was-

Denya’s belly pressed against the wall of the shower before he could reach the handle.

Oh, that’s right. Denya was still gaining intentionally, and he was keeping it a secret of Arro.

What Denya didn’t realize was that Arro was checking out the draolf just as much, watching the wobbling rolls of fat shake with every thudding step as the large hybrid reached the shower wall. Well, his belly reached first, Arro saw. He forced himself to turn away and head for his own side of the shower, knowing that even though he’d seen the hybrid naked multiple times, it would probably be rude to stare.

As he started to lather up, he couldn’t help but be hyper-aware of the way that his fat fingers dug through his own soft body, which he’d noticed had been steadily increasing in size. Eating constantly was probably part of the issue. He wasn’t unaware of that. He was hoping that getting into the swing of regular exercise and working out might be able to help, but swimming probably wasn’t for him. Not enough clothing involved.

He pushed aside a few rolls to wash under, taking note of the way that soft pudge sat in his palms. There was enough of him to hold and grip all over. He cast a side-glance at the roo, who would never understand the feeling, and then Denya, who was practically there himself. Out of the three of them, Arro still felt monstrously big, having both the roo’s height, and Denya’s… girth.

The draolf still couldn’t get over his own incredible gains, noticing the additional weight he’d managed to squeeze on even after their trip to the fair. He had joked with Trin that the original draolf was buried deep beneath it all, but that really was the best way to describe it. He felt like he was just wearing a massive suit outside his own body. A soft, squishy, wobbly suit. A part of him could understand why feeling so heavy and sluggish could be a bit off putting, but he was way more interested in just how big he felt. It was quite the feeling. A squishy feeling. He was very squishy.

He was busy rubbing shampoo through his hair, the easiest part of him to reach, when he heard Trin’s shower turn off. Casting a confused look, the draolf frowned when he saw the roo make his way to his towel and clothes. “You’re done already?”

“Yup.” Trin didn’t even look their way, quickly rubbing the towel across his thin, muscular body. “Because unlike you, I’m very small.”

Denya rolled his eyes. “I was just kidding, Trin. You’re very large.”

“Uh huh.” The roo made no further comment as he hopped into his clothes and left, perhaps to rejoin Rangavar and talk more about sports.

The two fatties were alone in the shower now. Denya’s chubby tail rubbed against his thick thighs as he looked at Arro shyly. Dangit, his heart was pounding again.

Arro had been trying to scrub lower on his body and struggling. He found himself looking back at Denya, too, their eyes meeting when Trin had gone. “Hey. Uh. How are you doing?” he asked. Shit. That was awkward. What the fuck, they’d been together all day. “Did you have fun swimming?” That was better. “I had fun swimming. Better than showering, heh. I can’t really reach anything.” Wait. Shit. He made it worse again. He wanted to bang his head against the shower wall. Denya was staring at him oddly. “I mean, like, when I shower, I’m so big, I can’t always shower off by myself completely. I mean, I can’t reach everything while I’m showering. And it takes a really long time. Because of my size, I mean. I mean, sometimes Rangavar helps scrub me down.” No no no no no. Vaugh, he was embarrassing himself worse than ever. He couldn’t believe Denya stayed friends with him. “...So here, there’s, uh, I can’t…” Vaugh dammit.

“I can help, if you’d like,” Denya cut in. He hated to see Arro get so worked up about his size; seeing the stress on the dragon’s pudgy face made his heart ache. “There’s nothing wrong with it. I mean...do you really think I can reach everything on myself,” he chuckled, patting his rippling tum. He was hesitant to bring up his own size around Arro, in fear of being found out, but, well...maybe it was time. He couldn’t stand to see Arro upset a moment longer. “So, I’ll help scrub you if you help me, deal?”

Hesitantly, Arro nodded. He still wanted to bury his face somewhere. Would anybody believe him if he said it was just red from the steam of the shower? Probably not. “Deal.”

He waddled over to the draolf, his heavy legs squeezing by each other, and rubbed some soap into the large, furry body. Everything he touched gave way beneath his probing paws, his fingers sinking deeply through the fur into the chub that shrouded the hybrid’s form. He started to rub along the sides of Denya’s belly, shaking the love handles. He couldn’t help it; everything he touched just sent ripples all over the draolf’s wide body when he pushed against the soft flesh.

He worked his paws lower, beyond what Denya could obviously reach, making sure to work the soap into the underhang of the massive paunch and the entire area around his deep navel. With his fingers under the largest roll of gut and his thumbs sinking in on top, he smoothed the soap through the white belly fur.


Denya, meanwhile, tried hard not to breathe heavily as he returned the favor. His paws squeezed and kneaded into that overhanging scaly ball like it was a mound of pudding. It had so much yield to it, and yet it also had weight behind it. There was no way Denya could even hope to budge the entirety of that gut up in one go. Thankfully, he didn’t need to if they were just cleaning each other off, but he had fun picturing it. Hopefully, Arro wouldn’t notice Denya having fun with mental images once the dragon started rubbing beneath Denya’s belly.

As Denya’s soapy paws continued to explore more and more of the dragon’s broad sides, thick folds, and curvaceous curves, it was becoming more apparent to Denya how heavy he himself was. Arro was unbelievably large, there was no denying that, the pale-red dragon practically dominating Denya’s field of vision. And yet Arro was cleaning areas that the draolf had forgotten were that far out of his arms reach, while Arro himself could still almost reach those very same areas on himself! With folded ears, the hybrid came to a startling revelation.

He wasn’t just fatter than Arro: he was also wider!

Gradually, a smile started to sneak its way onto his muzzle, dimpling those fist-sized cheeks. Looks like he had met his goal a long time ago. “Heheh...I’ve gotten kinda chunky, huh?” Denya snickered, glancing down at himself. This was it. “I must weigh nearly as much as you, now.” And at a two foot height deficit, that would really be saying something!

Arro blushed. “Er… with my horns, and my wings, I’d doubt that,” he laughed awkwardly. The truth was, he wasn’t sure either, and the uncertainty kept him from being more direct. He didn’t want to make Denya feel bad, but also…

Vaugh damn was that draolf huge.

As he dug his paws around in all that pudge, he couldn’t help but notice the way that no matter where he scrubbed, the bulging blubber all over Denya’s body would not stop moving and jiggling. It hung heavily around him, drooping past Arro’s arms as he tried to wash it - although admittedly, that was in part due to Arro himself being unable to bend over much farther - but getting his fingers under that overhang and hauling it up to wash was a workout in and of itself. When the hybrid suggested that he might be rivaling Arro in terms of size, well…

Arro slightly shook his head to himself. He was in NO position to judge, whatsoever, end of story.

Denya was very much mentally prepared for this moment. This was supposed to be the moment where he turns Arro’s ideology on its head, where he convinces the dragon that being fat is nothing to be ashamed of. This was going to be that chance.

But it wasn’t. The draolf’s brain nearly shut down when he heard Arro mention his wings. His wings. Arro’s large, impressive, fluffy wings. Not Denya’s tiny, pathetic, useless, disgusting fucking wings. The flashback that word alone brought with it made the draolf realize why Arro was so afraid of being seen as fat, and for a brief moment, he was about to let it go. Forget any of this happened, and not say a word any further.

“H-hey, Arro?” Denya realized he had been staring blankly at the dragon’s chest, his hands awkwardly holding onto two pawfuls of scaly chub. Stepping back, he looked up at the larger dragon. “Do you, uh...Do you...My wings…” He gave them a little flap, shaking water off of them. “Do they look weird, to you?”

Arro frowned. “Uh… no?” Denya’s wings looked fine to him. He wondered if maybe Denya just found it weird that they seemed a bit on the small side in comparison to his massive girth. The wings themselves were pretty pudgy, so Arro didn’t think they seemed out of place. “Why would they?”

“They’re fine? They look ok?” Denya asked again, trying to peer over his broad shoulders to glance at his wings. He would have had just about as much luck doing a sit up.

With folded ears, he looked back at Arro. “Sorry. It’s, uh, a bit of a habit to look at my wings to make sure they’re not...furless. And, uh, it’s a bit harder for me to look at them with all this chub, you know?” he chuckled awkwardly, patting his sides.

Crap, he was getting off point. What was he even doing anymore? Arro was looking at him weird now. The draolf sighed, looking down and holding his belly. “So, I didn’t have any fur on my wings when I was born. Or for most of my childhood, I guess. I didn’t start growing fur on them until I was, like, twelve. Till then, kids would…” He swallowed. “Some called me Chicken Wing. They’d laugh or stare at me funny. Some would pull on them cuz they thought they came off...and you know how sensitive wings are, right? And, I still get nightmares of fur falling off my wings, or my entire body, and people are pulling at me and calling me names, and-”

He took a breath in through his nose, held it, then exhaled through his mouth. Fuck. This was not at all how this conversation was supposed to go. He closed his eyes for a moment, pushing aside those bad thoughts and bringing in the ones about Arro. Coincidentally, those thoughts happened to all be positive. He looked up at the dragon again. “Honestly...I haven’t thought about checking my wings until just now, ever since I’ve started trying to get fatter. No one can notice my ugly wings if they’re too busy staring at the jiggling body they’re attached to, right?” He laughed.

“Denya…” Arro had a lot of feelings, but wasn’t really sure how to articulate them, so he ended up just drawing the fat draolf into a hug. His round body squished in Arro’s arms like a ball of dough. He rested his head over Denya’s tuft of blond hair, hoping his neck rolls didn’t suffocate him, but was as gentle as possible. “Nothing about you is ugly and you have nothing to be ashamed of.”

The large dragon rubbed his back in small circles, massaging through the chub. Arro could feel the fat limbs buried there in his folds like all of the hybrid’s other massive limbs. The black and white fur along his wings was just soft to the touch. Arro found out by running his fingers along them. “Nothing’s wrong with wings.”

He came to the startling realization that he, too, had wings. Wait a second.

He finally released the draolf and squeezed his shoulders another moment while looking down at his furry body. “Do you have a problem with my wings?”

Denya shuddered slightly from the touch to his wings, but he kept still, his doughy arms wrapped around as much Arro as he could reach. When the dragon pulled away, the hybrid looked up, chuckling softly. “No, of course not. I just, I dunno...I thought you’d find my wings kinda weird or funny looking compared to yours. Which they are.” Arro had such large, soft, powerful wings, even if they were encased in a healthy layer of pudge.

“Of course not.” Arro hadn’t ever realized that they were such a particularly huge deal to the draolf. “They’re a part of you.”

He brought his paws up to cup Denya’s chubby cheeks, every bit as soft as the rest of him. He kissed him gently on the forehead. “I love every part of you. Wings and all.”

Denya let out a little sniffle as he wrapped his arms around the dragon, holding him close. It was hard reaching Arro past both of their bellies; perhaps the only real downside to being so fat. “And there isn’t anything about you I don’t love,” he muttered back, burying his face into those soft, supple chins.

Arro held him for a moment and gently stroked his fur until he had a thought. “Wait. ‘Trying’ to get fatter?”

Fuck.

Denya really said that, didn’t he? These past few minutes had been such an emotional roller coaster.

Reluctantly, he pulled himself away from the dragon’s embrace, their stomachs still rubbing against each other. “Remember our talk we had at the back of Trin’s truck when we first met him? And I said I was gonna try and gain weight so you’d feel less bad? I don’t think you thought I was serious, but…”

He started talking. He mentioned going to Rangavar for help, with the smaller dragon getting him to laze around more while feeding him to help conserve as many calories as possible. He mentioned how Trin even got involved and wanted to help Arro gain some self confidence, while bringing up the buffet as a strange coincidence. He mentioned wanting to hide it from Arro, in case the large dragon felt responsible and guilty of it all. He mentioned it all.

“...But that’s the thing! I actually don’t mind being so fat! In fact, I kinda like it!” Denya continued, his heart pounding anxiously. He was so scared he was about to offend Arro here. “I haven’t worried about my wings in so long, ever since I started trying. I’m just...I like being seen as fat! Like, when I see myself in the mirror, I look soft, approachable, gentle, attractive. I look... like you.”

At Denya’s words, Arro did something that everyone, everywhere, could sense coming: He blushed.

“I…” In actuality, he wasn’t quite sure what to say. He was certainly flattered. But was the draolf right about him feeling guilty? Arro had done this to him, and yet he seemed so… happy. It was a tentative-guilt, perhaps. “So, you plan to stay like this? And get… bigger? On purpose?” It seemed so unreal.

As he looked over the obese drake in all his naked, blubbery glory, he couldn’t even imagine him with even more weight on his frame.

“Sure!” Denya exclaimed, patting the side of his quivering middle. He himself struggled to think about how much bigger he could manage to grow, but it was an interesting thought. “I won’t stop gaining weight until you finally feel better about yours. I have no problem whatsoever being the fattest guy in the room.”

The thought of someone in the same room as Arro being even fatter than he was, was just as foreign an idea to him as the idea of Denya covered in even more lard. Arro pressed his chubby fingers together. “I’m just…” There were a million ways to finish that sentence. Surprised? Worried? ...Grateful? He was absolutely honored that Denya would go to such extreme lengths to help. “I want you to be happy. Not making choices just because of me.”

“I am happy, Arro! I’ve always been happy when I’m with you!” Denya pleaded. Arro seemed way too concerned, like the draolf had severed a limb just for the other dragon’s sake. He couldn’t imagine how being this big was a big deal for him.

Denya continued. “I’m also happy being fat! You remember what I looked like when we first met, right? And you remember how big I was when Trin came, and all the fat jokes he made at my expense. Do you really think I’d make the decision to get fatter if I didn’t benefit from it? Because, not only am I trying to make you feel better, but I also got to spend more time with Rangavar, I got an excuse to eat as much as I want, I don’t have to worry about people judging my wings as much anymore...this is pretty great! Hell, I might even put on another twenty-ish pounds later, just for the fun of it! It’d be really hard for anyone to tell my wings apart from another fold of back fat, right?”

Despite himself, Arro laughed a bit. “You might need more than another twenty pounds to do that,” he teased. Then he wondered if he should be encouraging him. “I’m just… I’m glad you’re happy with it. I’m okay that you’re okay.” He wasn’t really sure that made sense, but didn’t know how else to convey the fact that he was worried for Denya’s sake, but also relieved that the draolf was enjoying the results of his hard work. Or ‘easy’ work, Arro supposed, depending on how one might look at it. Arro himself did absolutely nothing to get the same results, but it was beside the point.

He was tempted to hug the draolf again, but remembered how much of a reach it had been a few moments ago. They were just so… fat. He’d have to give out his hugs more sparingly so that he didn’t strain either of their backs. He supposed that was probably a downside Denya hadn’t thought of.

Denya himself wanted to squeeze the dragon back. He liked being held in Arro’s large, strong arms, even if he was a bit more than an armful. “I am happy with it, yeah. I just wish you were too. I mean...you don’t have to be all ‘hey, look at me! I shake the ground when I waddle’ like I am, but, like...I don’t like seeing you look so sad whenever you see your reflection, ya know? You shouldn’t hate your body.” Denya knew he was being hypocritical here, having freaked out about his wings a few moments earlier. Even so, he felt better about his wings just knowing he thought about them the same way Arro thought about his own figure. The draolf wasn’t sure he’d ever fully appreciate his wings, but he was willing to at least not loathe them, if it meant getting Arro to do the same with that giant tum of his.

That gave Denya an idea. “How about this? Once in a while, when it’s just the two of us, or Rangavar could be there too, I guess, you can rub my wings, and in exchange I squeeze your belly. We do this randomly to each other, with the goal being not to flinch, yeah? And we just keep doing it, until we’re finally less sensitive about our bodies?” Denya tried to hide his wagging tail at the thought of possibly getting an excuse to grope that tum whenever he wanted.

“Uh…” Arro had to admit, it was a pretty interesting proposition. “I… okay.” He frowned. “Like Trin? Isn’t Trin always grabbing you?” Arro clutched at his body self-consciously.

Denya frowned. “I mean, he’s never intentionally touched my wings. He knows those are off limits. “Trin isn’t trying to be mean. Like, he’s not trying to call you fat. I mean, he’s told me several times how much fun he’s had hanging out with you and Rangavar, and that he’s been a bit lonely ever since he left home.” Trin wasn’t used to not being surrounded by fanboys who looked up to him as the popular jock at school. “He wouldn’t want to alienate his first friend he’s made here, you know? It’s why he stopped calling me fat around you when I told him it made you uncomfortable.” He remembered the horrified look on Trin’s face, too, when he brought it up. “He thought you were fine with it, which I agree was wrong of him to assume right off the bat, but he’s not trying to put you down or hurt you, I promise.”

Arro pressed his index fingers together. He felt a bit uncertain. But he trusted Denya. “Alright.” He glanced down at his belly, which was still slightly brushing Denya’s. They were standing really close. The damp fur was slick against his scales as the water kept running over the two of them.

He turned his attention to the shower head. “Damn, we’re wasting a ton of water, aren’t we?” he chuckled to break the tension. He did feel in a better mood, though. He hoped Denya did too. He finally turned away, stretching and fluttering his wings a bit to shake off the water. He didn’t normally think about it, except that him and Denya were just talking about wings. “I think I’m going to dry off now. Coming?”

Denya nodded, jostling his cheeks. “Yeah. I already feel twenty pounds heavier with how much water my fur’s absorbed, heh.”

Drying off was also getting harder with the extra poundage. The draolf preferred to shake himself off like any canine would, although it was difficult just working up the inertia to shake all that draolf. There was just so much blubber and weight in the way, it was as if he were moving through Jell-O. Heavy, squishy, viscous Jell-O, his rolls flopping and rolling about. While he was able to shake off some water that way, Denya eventually went to use two of the larger towels for himself, the two draconians helping to dry off those thick rolls for each other. Denya wished he could shower with Arro every day if it meant he could do this.

All dried off and in a new set of clothes, Arro and Denya waddled out of the shower room; one at a time, of course. Trin and Rangavar were waiting for them, with their supplies all packed up and everything. The roo had been talking about sports again; he could see the exasperated look in Rangavar’s face.

Trin’s large ears perked up when he heard, or rather felt, the two doughy drakes approach. He turned and raised an eyebrow. “You guys were in there for a while.”

Denya chuckled. “No duh. There’s a lot of us to clean. Right?” He winked at Arro.

Arro blushed.

“Yeah. ‘Cleaning’. That must be what took so long,” said Rangavar with a little smirk. Arro walked up to him and gave him a tiny smack on the back of his head. “Ow!”

“Well, I guess we’re done here,” Arro said a bit loudly with a pointed look at Rangavar. He glanced back over to Denya and Trin. He grinned a bit. “I’m ready to go home and sleep from all that swimming.”

“Yeah. ‘Swimming’.”

Arro lifted his paw back up, making Rangavar duck. Arro shot him another glare. “You’re one to talk, after all of the swimming you got done today.” Arro shouldered his bag of wet clothes and turned towards the exit. His belly quivered with the motion, and he thought back on his conversation with Denya just now. He had a pretty good feeling about the day overall. “Let’s go.”