This lithe fox's new job seems like easy money. Maybe not for long, though, if he begins getting too large to work...

Commission for  jarven :)

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The small, slender fox pulled on his collar nervously as he stared into the hatch.

“Well I can’t train you from out there!” his coworker called from inside, turning around to gesture at him. “How are you supposed to learn anything without looking?”

Andy stopped fidgeting and put a tentative foot on the ladder. It was his first day as a maintenance worker. Well, not even a full maintenance worker, if he was honest with himself. They just needed someone to check the gauge to the machine, check off some notes on a clipboard, and he was all set for each month with a little extra money to slip into his pocket. It was the perfect side job.

“Andy? Let’s go!” his coworker called impatiently from inside. Andy’s coworker was a rather burly badger. He was much larger than Andy, and the smaller fox had noticed the badger have to suck in and squeeze to fit through the hatch. Andy’s own body was short and slim, perfect for fitting into rather small spaces. He was certain it was part of the reason he’d been hired so readily for such a quick, easy job.

Snapped out of his thoughts by the impatient calling from below, he finally scurried down the ladder and easily slipped into the room.

The badger watched with folded arms as the fox went over to the gauge, flipped some switches next to the valve, and took a few notes on the clipboard with his coworker’s guidance.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” the badger nodded. “Easy as cake.”

Judging by the badger’s figure, Andy was sure that he considered cake to be quite easy. “Okay, great.”

He was more than happy to have his first paycheck in his paws at the end of the day, adding a bit of spending money to his monthly budget. He briefly wondered how to celebrate. Well, he didn’t usually have extra money for going out to eat, so maybe he could treat himself to some fast food for once. Obviously, the fox’s slim figure wasn’t used to an influx of fatty calories, but he decided he deserved a little extra treat. Just for today, of course. It would just be a little celebration. He would never go overboard on such a thing.

He already knew he was going to like this job.

~

Andy was in a good mood when he showed up to the same shift again a month later. At his other job, he spent all of his time sitting around in an office, so it was nice to stretch his legs walking around the small facility for a bit more manual work.

The badger who trained him gave a brief nod as they happened to walk by each other in the hallway. They had no reason to talk since the badger had been promoted from Andy’s job in the valve room, but Andy was extremely grateful the company had chosen him to replace the butterball in such a hurry. It really was working out best for both of them.

Descending the ladder, Andy didn’t notice his own belly bunching up slightly beneath his work shirt with each step. He was still definitely thin, but had a bit more meat on his bones than last time. The amount of takeout afforded by his new side-job had become a steady influx of calories throughout the month. He was aware that he was eating more than usual, of course. The greasy, fatty food he’d always denied himself was extremely satisfying to his canine instincts.

Still, it didn’t really matter as he checked the gauge and marked off some boxes on the checklist as the badger had shown him. The job was easy, the pay was good. It was nice to relax his strict routine a little. He didn’t have to worry about spending a little extra money now and then, now that he had a little extra in his wallet. What could possibly go wrong?

~

The fox loosened his belt a little while pulling on his work clothes that morning. After another month, the maintenance clothes felt a bit snug on his way to work, but he wasn’t too surprised, since he’d been eating out so often. He knew he should cut back a little, before things got out of control, but kept telling himself he could quit the fast food at any time. Every day, he asked himself, what did it matter if he ate a little extra when he could just eat healthy food tomorrow? And then the next day, he still knew he could just eat healthy food the next. And the next… and the next…

Since his figure started so small just a couple months ago, the amount of weight was noticeable, but not inconvenient. The white fur of his cheeks looked a bit puffier, perhaps the curves of his hips and thighs were, well, curvier. The main difference was the extra weight that settled softly on his front side, the defined bulge pressing up against the front of his shirt. Not that it was really causing him any problems, other than making him give the hem a few extra tugs to keep it from riding up throughout the day.

Overall, Andy wasn’t worried. He’d started out skinny enough that putting a little extra weight on his frame wasn’t doing any harm. Right?

He didn’t really think about the way his little pot belly touched the top of his thighs with each step down the ladder. When he turned in the small space for the light switch, he barely noticed he brushed against the wall for a moment. He must have been standing closer to it than he’d thought, surely. Making his way to the gauge was simple, and nothing out of the ordinary happened as he finished up and left. He already knew what he wanted to do with his paycheck. A new little buffet had opened on the other side of town…

~

Andy felt a bit winded by the time he got to the hatch the next month. It had seemed like a more strenuous walk than usual, and he certainly wasn’t looking forward to that climb down the ladder.

He yanked down on his shirt with annoyance before going inside. He’d been telling himself it must have shrank in the wash, but deep down, knew the truth; it had a lot more to do with his body.

The increased calories, and his relatively sedentary lifestyle, had combined to give him a far more noticeable paunch by now. He’d have to order another uniform for work, as the shirt no longer came down past his belly button, and his pants no longer buttoned beneath the overhang of his belly. The last hole of his belt was doing all the work keeping them on today, and even that was a bit snug as it cut into the underside of his developing gut.

He sighed as he opened the hatch and began stepping down the hole, only to realize for the first time the edges of the hatch gently grazed his middle as he went down. The chub of his thighs shook with each step, but it was really the size of his bulky hips and the blubber that sat over them that took up a fair amount of space around him in the small room as he entered. He huffed a little from exertion when he got to the gauge, did his job, and turned to go. In the confined space, he was hyper-aware for the first time of how much larger he felt. Maybe he’d lay off the snacks. Well, starting tomorrow, of course. He could start his diet whenever he wanted. It didn’t have to be right this second. All he had to do was stop eating as much, so it could be any time he wanted. Easy, right?

~

The fox’s clothes fit much better when he showed up to work next month. Not because he’d lost weight or anything. He’d just finally ordered a larger size.

He was panting by the time he reached the hatch. His weight gain was unmistakable by now, his ball of a gut hanging lower over the top of his pants. His thighs were straining the seams below, his arms doing the same to his shirt sleeves. Even though the shirt was larger than the last, the buttons were already pulling a bit against the sides of the holes down the front, the fabric stretched tightly across his chest with hardly any room to spare. If this kept up, he knew he’d need a new size again before long. He hadn’t expected this to happen to him, but he’d been eating so much that he knew it was his own fault. He kept putting off that diet he’d ‘get around to eventually’.

He sighed as he flung open the hatch and stared down the ladder. The opening definitely seemed smaller when looked at it over the curve of his belly. He couldn’t put it off though, and began climbing downward, unsurprised when he felt cold metal brush against him and pull on the edges of his shirt. He gave himself a little shimmy to continue, letting his shirt ride up for a moment to push past the sides of the hatch. He was clearly even larger than he’d realized, but gravity helped pull him down as each quivering pawstep touched the ladder.

Once in the tiny valve room, he realized it was genuinely difficult to maneuver. He’d really packed on the pounds, his gut brushing up against… well, everything. Even bending over to read the gauges was more difficult, the padding on his body filling the space, and making it harder to bend over, too. He was more than happy to be on his way, moving quickly for the exit hatch. It wasn’t until he was starting to pull himself back through that he encountered a problem. He wasn’t too surprised, but his middle was filling the opening.

Andy began to twist a little bit, not having gravity to help this time. It took more effort than he’d expected, his extra girth jiggling with his movements. The plump fox’s figure finally managed to squeeze through the hole, although his thickened rump was his next problem. It took quite a bit of squirming and tail-whooshing to wriggle through.

“Alright… the diet starts NOW,” he panted aloud. No more putting it off. At this rate, he’d need a replacement employee like the previous one!

~

When Andy arrived a month later, it was clear that he had not, in fact, gone on a diet.

The once-slender fox was looking rounder than ever, his soft moobs resting on an even larger belly that bounced with every step, supported by wide, quaking thighs that had to squeeze around each other when he walked. His work uniform was once again stretched thin, all of the buttons down his shirt clinging for dear life, and the seams of his pants stretched almost to the point of tearing.

He was fully winded by the time he’d made his way to the hatch, then stared at it doubtfully. The opening had been a slight squeeze last month. He’d also been smaller last month. Obviously, he was about to have quite a bit more of a challenge this time.

He descended slowly, his thighs immediately bunching up at the edges, and the edges only continued to dig in as the chub folded around them. His rump immediately filled the opening, the layers of blubber spilling over the sides of the hatch like rising dough. Fortunately, gravity and a bit of wriggling helped pull him downward, although his sizable belly proved an even bigger obstacle. The majority of his lard was packed onto his middle, normally drooping over his thighs, but right now it was pressed up against the hatch. He twisted and turned a bit, sucking in as hard as possible, once again letting gravity do the work of helping him down. He almost wasn’t sure he was going to make it, his legs hanging from the ladder when he tried to step off, but he finally slid through with quite a bit of bouncing and jiggling.

He sighed in relief as he slowly made his way back to the valves. He was panting from all the exertion, but still had to suck in to read the gauges past the curve of his stomach. At least the gauges never changed, even though he had.

Turning around in the confined space, he was fully aware of the way that he now filled it, his soft rolls folding up against anything his body touched. He stared up the ladder and was not at all excited at the idea of having to climb back up. Unfortunately, there was no other way out of the room, so the exertion was necessary. At least he was burning some spare calories with all the exercise. Right?

His pudgy feet carried him up the rungs, although he immediately saw his problem come into view; the hatch. This time, gravity would be working against him as he pulled his way upwards. He sighed as he took the last few steps, his head passing through, but his soft, thick shoulders grazing the sides immediately after. That already wasn’t a good sign.

Andy spread his chunky arms across the outside of the hatch, ready to push himself up as he took several more steps up the ladder. Predictably, the edges squeezed his girth as he rose, first pinching his sizable moobs, then eventually tightening around his widest part. His belly squished up against the underside of the hatch door, halting his progress, the blubber pancaking itself beneath the opening as he squirmed upward. The part of his belly that managed to get through was already beginning to form its own little roll over the edges. He sucked in his breath, continuing to twist and haul his weight through, but his paws were quickly losing traction with the floor as his arms had to bend further around his bulbous middle to reach.

He eventually paused, panting, not having made much progress. He looked around in awe at the size of his body, the bloated blubber encircling both the opening and himself. He couldn’t believe how much he’d grown since last month, remembering it hadn’t been this difficult. Actually, he remembered starting this job months and months ago thin as a rail. Seeing his pudge pooling around his figure was startling in comparison.

He gave himself another wriggle, determined to keep going, even as his paws eventually no longer brushed the floor. He started to push with his chubby legs on the ladder below, his jiggling thighs pressing up into the underside of his belly as he planted each paw on the rungs. His fluffy tail flicking in annoyance, he gave himself another shove, although it only sent more ripples through all the adipose and didn’t get him anywhere. Pulling upwards on the cushy lard with his fingers didn’t help much either, only managing to squeeze the furry flesh through a little at a time.

Andy sighed. Without the leverage to pull himself up, his gut was firmly planted on the other side of the metal opening, never mind the wobbling rump behind it, sitting over his straining, lard-coated thighs almost as thick. There was a lot of him under there.

It obviously occurred to him to call for help, but this late in the day, activity in the building was dying down and no one was nearby. He gave several more useless squirms. It looked like he was on his own. Unfortunately, every time Andy gave another shove against the hatch, his ample padding only bounced and jiggled like a ball of jello. He’d already squeezed his way too far over the top to move back downward, either, the top shelf of his belly completely obscuring the opening and keeping him from retreating back into the room below. He was officially stuck.

Andy huffed, the reality of the situation setting in. Unless someone showed up to pull him out, he was going to be here awhile. It looked like he was starting his diet after all.

Until tomorrow, that is.