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Kimiko was not used to thinking about non-life-threatening injuries, convalescence, or the vulnerability that followed these periods; because of her powers she had never had to experience them fully; like, she had been in a hospital bed for how long? Twenty-four hours before she longed for V again?
For her it had always been a matter of life or death, either you were perfectly healthy or you were twenty feet underground, no middle ground; maybe that was why it was hurting so much to see Frenchie's recovery, along with the guilt she felt, after all, if she had fought better, if she had tried to protect him instead of having fun killing those guards the boy wouldn't have gotten a bullet in his leg.
"Oh Mon Coeur, it's not your fault at all." he insisted on repeating to her "And besides that, it doesn't hurt that bad, I mean, I've survived worse wounds."
The girl would have loved to believe it, but she understood that he was only saying it to try to assuage her guilt, and also, she wasn't blind; she could see the grimace of pain he made as soon as he had to move his leg.
In those days her mind was constantly working to make her feel guilty, to the point that even the others had noticed; that was why Annie had decided to confront her
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" the blonde had asked her one afternoon.
Kimiko had agreed and sat down on the couch next to the supe.
"Listen, I know you feel guilty about what happened to Frenchie…" she told her, trying to use the most neutral and calm tone possible "But you know it's not your fault right?"
The brunette shook her head, and picked up her phone dialing for Annie "Of course it's my fault! I asked for my powers back just to protect him, and I'm not even able to do it."
The blonde had moved a little closer to her and then smiled genuinely "Hey, you don't have to be so hard on yourself, he will heal very soon, as much as you want to help him you can't stop him from jumping into the fray."
Kimiko nodded, but that phrase began to camp in her mind more frequently than expected, perhaps Annie was wrong, and that was the best idea she had ever had albeit unintentionally, the boy could not have been hurt if he no longer took part in their stupid missions.
That said, however, she would have to find a way to make it happen; Frenchie liked to participate in their exploits; he was proud of it even, and he would never stop just because the girl asked him to, or at least he wouldn't keep that intention very long.
So she decided to give herself time to think, after all, the boy was formally at rest until the end of his convalescence.
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The epiphany had come to her one morning, around three o'clock, she and Frenchie were snuggled on the couch, he was sitting kinda straight with his injured leg resting on the coffee table as he lazily ran his fingers through the dark locks of the girl, who was lying by his side and had her head resting in his lap.
The two of them were watching Real Time, the best that TV had to offer at that time, outside of 'Golden girls' of course, but Kimiko wasn't ready for the tenth rewatch of the TV series, so they had fallen back on that garbage channel.
Currently a show that the girl had never seen 'My 600-lbs life' was on the air.
"What is it?" she signed at the boy.
He shook his head slightly "It's some kind of documentary about very fat people who want to lose weight, it's kinda disgusting at times...do you want me to change the channel?"
The girl shook her head, they were in a too comfortable and twisted position to move, so they would just watch that program.
"It must be weird you know…" Frenchie muttered half-heartedly during the episode.
"What?" remarked Kimiko.
"To be so fat, you can hardly do anything." explained the boy wearily "I mean, I don't think I could live like that."
The young woman shrugged her shoulders, though an idea began to form in her mind, an idea that perhaps should have stayed in there.
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"Wow, you sure have bought a lot of things!" Chuckled the clerk as he passed Kimiko's items over the counter "Do you need to plan a dinner party by any chance?"
The girl nodded, before mentally cursing herself for deciding to go to that tiny store instead of the supermarket, at least there no one would comment on the amount of food she had bought, but she didn't have much choice, the supermarket was far away and she would have need a ride for going there, which would lead to more questions and comments.
Yes, definitely that was the best idea, at least the remarks came from a stranger, who was easier to lie to than her teammates.
The cashier luckly did not detain her for long, so she paid for her food and left as quickly as possible.
When she arrived at her apartment a smile bloomed impulsively on her lips, Frenchie was sitting on their kitchen island reading a cookbook, the girl had practically begged him to finally teach her how to cook, and he had been more than happy to share that passion with her.
Cautiously she approached him, he smiled at her "So, did you get everything?" he asked.
She nodded, proudly displaying all the ingredients she had bought; the boy nevertheless raised an eyebrow "Didn't you go a little overboard?" he asked, and then started looking in the bag "Why did you take ice cream? You never told me you liked it."
Kimiko shrugged "I had never tried it, I saw it and wanted to know what it was like." she signed.
The boy smiled at her "Fair enough, shall we start, then?"
They baked some chocolate chip cookies, or at least they were supposed to be, they were a bit burnt and they had completely different size, not exactly the best of desserts to look at, but the two of them ate a couple anyway with a smile on their faces "There is room for improvement." Frenchie told the girl sweetly "But they are delicious, especially for your first time."
Kimiko reciprocated with a proud smile.
"I'm hungry!" she signed later that evening.
"Ah, really?" The boy asked "Is it dinner time yet?" in fact, he realized that he had a decent appetite too "What do you want?" he asked as he got up from the couch.
"Can we order from the fast food restaurant down the street?" signed the girl exaggerating a pleading expression.
Frenchie gave a conspiratorial smile at the sight of the sign she had used for 'fast food' he and the girl had invented it together recently, in fact they had invented several new signs, mostly related to things the young woman couldn't have known when she had first invented the language.
"Of course, good idea, I didn't really feel like cooking after today's cookies, anyway." agreed the boy cheerfully.
"And we can watch a movie too?" proposed the brunette.
"What were you thinking?" he asked.
She pulled out her phone to type, things like movie names were still arduous to 'translate' into her language "How does Beauty and the Beast sound?"
"Great choice Mon Coeur, let me order first."
To his surprise the girl asked for some strange XXL menu, she usually preferred a children's menu, but he made no comment, he would do anything to make her happy, and surely a strange request in food was nothing.
Without thinking too much about the meaning behind the choice he ordered what he and Kimiko wanted, then dropped heavily on the couch next to her, perhaps his leg hurted a little more than he liked to admit around the brunette.
"You want me to make some popcorn for the movie?" the girl proposed a moment later, after linking a site on the TV on which to watch the cartoon.
The boy nodded, although at that point he began to wrinkle his nose slightly "What's with all the hunger tonight?"
She shrugged her shoulders casually "I think baking those cookies has made me a little hungry, I don't know…"
The boy took the explanation for granted and decided not to ask any more questions.
About half an hour later the coffee table in their apartment looked like a real miniature restaurant, in addition to the fast food menus, and popcorn Kimiko had insisted on adding their cookies and the stracciatella ice cream she had bought, as dessert.
As the movie played in the background the two began to demolish the pile of food in front of them, or at least Frenchie did, the girl ate a quarter of her fries, took two or three bites of her hamburger, and pastored a bit with ice cream, popcorn, and cookies, then declared she was full, and pushed the remains of her fast food toward the boy, he sighed slightly, already clearly struggling with his own food, but told himself not to worry, after all if they didn't finish it they would freeze it, and eat it another time.
Obviously it didn't turn out that way, perhaps the boy was too overthinking because of the movie, or more likely he was lost in watching Kimiko's expressions as she reacted to the movie, but the fact is that soon, when he absentmindedly picked up the spoon to dig into the jar of stracciatella ice cream he encountered only a layer of plastic, with surprise he returned to pay attention to the table, and realized that there was practically nothing left, embarrassed he looked at his stomach, realizing that it was in fact a bit swollen and sore, even the girl seemed to notice his discomfort because she looked at him genuinely concerned "Are you all right?" she signed.
"Yes" he replied feeling rather embarrassed "I just think...I think I ate too much...my stomach hurts a little...nothing serious really...-"
She didn't change her expression, but tried to smile at him "Would you like me to rub your belly?" she asked hesitantly.
Frenchie was surprised by the proposal, physical contact had always been something peculiar in his relationship with Kimiko, it wasn't something the girl ever seemed to seek voluntarily, sure sometimes when they watched TV they would curl up together in twisted positions, but it almost always happened involuntarily, as well as when their hands and hips almost accidentally touched each other while walking close together.
The boy respected all this, but he certainly wouldn't refuse contact when she herself proposed it, so he just nodded, moving just enough to allow the brunette to reach into his dilated bowels, and begin lovingly drawing large, delicate circles, and tearing moans from him that he didn't even think he could produce to be honest.
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The more time that passed since that evening, the more undeniable it became, Frenchie was gaining weight, and not even too subtly, the thing in fact was rather obvious, especially for someone like him, who liked to wear skimpy clothes, which at that point always hinted at a layer of soft flab.
Kimiko felt indescribable waves of happiness every time this happened, her plan was taking shape, the boy had not yet removed his cast, yet he had already gained, at a guess, about 25 pounds, at this speed by the time his leg would be usable again, he would no longer be able to participate in those stupid missions.
What's more, the girl was sincerely beginning to appreciate his extra weight, she enjoyed playing with his newly formed love handles while he was distracted, loved massaging his painfully stuffed belly, which by now required more and more food to actually be, and she had found herself more than once imagining what his figure would look like once he reached heavier weights, at that point she no longer saw it as simply a way to keep him out of the action, sure, that was still the main purpose, but by now she found herself increasingly indulging in fantasies she hadn't even known she had until recently.
The girl, however, had not been the only one to realize the boy's weight gain, although no one had had the courage to point it out to him, no one except Butcher at least.
It had been one evening, that he had decided to point it out to Frenchie; that time they were all gathered in MM's apartment for a 'friendly' pizza dinner, although, looking around the table that was not the first word that would be used to describe the scene, 'awkward' was much more fitting.
The discomfort of the present was tangible: it appeared clear that any of them would have preferred to be anywhere else, including twenty feet underground.
The conversation was sluggish and boring, no one really had anything to say, or at least nothing they would have wanted to share with anyone, or to be precise with Butcher; they occasionally recounted events that were as least personal as possible, in which no one was really interested.
When the pizzas were finally finished Frenchie had brought out the dessert he and Kimiko had made, cinnamon cookies, the sooner they finished them the sooner they would all go home.
"Wow!" exclaimed Hugie "You baked these? They are delicious!"
The two smiled as the girl nodded proudly; she had improved exponentially since the first burnt chocolate chip cookies.
"And you notice it!" asserted Butcher out of the blue, in that tone that suggested the evening would end with a furious group of people or directly with a corpse to hide.
No one spoke, hoping that the statement would fall on deaf ears, preventing the evening from prolonging any further; but Butcher longed for it apparently, because he immediately recoiled "Really no one is going to talk about it, we've been here all evening complaining about bullshit and no one can think of talking about the real gossip!"
The man gave Frenchie a faux-friendly pat straight on the belly, producing a dry sound that made everyone present uncomfortable.
"Come on!" The man continued with a cruel laugh "Tell me, how much did you gain, twenty? Thirty Pounds? Who would have thought that a single bullet would bring you down so low!"
The boy feigned his usual indifferent air, but he clearly felt humiliated, who wouldn't.
Again they all tried to ignore Butcher's statement, and this time it seemed to work because the man stopped talking; they all left a few minutes later.
"Am I really that fat?" asked Frenchie out of the blue as they walked back to their apartment.
"I think you're beautiful." signed the girl, trying to keep her movements smooth, though she was furious with Butcher for trying to ruin her plan.
The boy did not seem to notice, but sighed "That's not what I asked you…" he muttered, feeling like a baby.
Suddenly Kimiko stopped walking and stopped him as well, cupping his face with her hands and stroking his cheek gently; after a moment she broke away to sign
"I think you are beautiful, and absolutely not fat, Butcher is just an idiot." she paused for a moment to regroup her thoughts, before resuming more calmly
"If you want to lose weight once your leg is healed I won't stop you, but I can assure you, you have no need to."
The boy dropped his crutches to hug Kimiko; he felt a little embarrassed to rest his head on the crook of her neck, but it made him feel protected, so he didn't mind it so much.
Later the girl would feel like a horrible person for telling him all those lies, but that was a problem for her future self.
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After Butcher's comments the girl began to become slightly paranoid, she was terrified that the boy would realize what she was doing to him, and if she had to be honest she was afraid of what he would think of her at that point, would he abandon her? And maybe he would have had a point; but she was doing it for his sake, she just wanted what was best for him, she just wanted to keep him from getting hurt again, there was nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with trying to protect her loved one…
When the boy removed the cast Kimiko was stunned to find out that he had already accepted one of Butcher's stupid missions; so her plan had not worked, she had worked so hard for months only to find herself back to the start, in fact no, the situation was even worse, if the boy had decided to participate, with the mobility and size with which she had left him he would have died...she had only made things worse; at that point the girl was left with only one choice.
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Frenchie woke up lying in bed in a room he didn't recognize, with a pounding headache, blurred vision, and a dry throat; not that this was a new concept for him, but he was absolutely sure he hadn't had anything to drink the night before.
He could hold his liquor well, after years of practice, and one of the things he was most proud of was the lucidity with which, even in the morning, he could remember everything that had happened until at least the fifth drink, so there was no way he had forgotten he had even had one.
In any case this was the situation, whether he liked it or not, so he blinked a couple of times, to try to adjust his vision to the new situation, and decided to get up; but to his surprise he found himself stuck; immediately he began to panic, what the hell was going on? Had he by any chance gotten into yet another of Nina's dirty tricks? Or perhaps in that of some supe?
The panic was such that he did not even notice when Kimiko came down the stairs, that he did not remember were in the room, and approached him; he noticed her only when the girl was towering over him.
"Mon coeur!" Exclaimed the boy, surprised "You look ok...at least that…"
"Oh! I see you've finally woken up!" Signed Kimiko "I was afraid I had exaggerated with the sedative, but apparently I was wrong." she concluded the statement and then stroked Frenchie's face with the palm of her hand.
At that point the boy understood the situation even less.
"Mon coeur…" he decided to ask in a hesitant voice at last "Can you explain to me what is going on?"
The girl smiled, taking a seat next to him on the bed "I simply did what is best for us" she signed, smiling innocently.
Frenchie still looked rather confused, so the young woman began to explain again "When you were shot I...felt like it was all my fault...mine and of those missions...so I realized that in order to protect you I should have stopped you from participating in them!" her smile suddenly began to look manic from the boy's perspective "So I brought you here! We don't have to be on their terms anymore, this is Butcher's stupid crusade, not ours."
"Oh...Mon Coeur…" said the boy, beginning to feel genuinely frightened "You shouldn't have...I...we...we just need to finish helping Butcher...and then we'll be gone...I promised you…"
"Exactly!!!" Kimiko blurted out, starting to sign quickly due to anger "You promised me! Promised that we would go to Marseilles! But you keep following Butcher...there is always a new mission...if it were up to you we would never have gone…"
Frenchie sighed, the situation was becoming absurd, and Kimiko was beginning to scare him, he felt guilty just thinking about it.
After that rant the girl seemed to calm down, looked the young man in the eyes and took his hands, which he recalled being tied only at that moment.
"I don't demand that you understand everything now." she signed patiently
"But I promise you that I am doing this for your own good…"
The girl got up soon after presumably to fetch something from the next room.
Frenchie remained motionless, unable to move, more out of surprise than because of the ropes that physically blocked his movements; he did not know that he had made the girl suffer like that, he only wanted the best for her, and he would have done anything to make her happy, even indulging her at that moment, hiding the hint of disquiet that was slowly taking hold of him; the same one that made him jerk slowly when Kimiko came back to him with an unknown machine.
"What is it?" he asked, hiding the growing terror in his voice.
"You'll see." smiled the girl "But I promise it won't hurt you at all…" she added to reassure him.
Cautiously she picked up a tube, which came out of the metal dome mounted on the small platform with wheels that was the machine and then brought it closer to the boy's mouth "S...should I put it in my mouth?" he asked with wide eyes.
She nodded, proud that he understood.
"M...mon coeur…" he stammered "I don't understand...please tell me what exactly you want to do to me!"
But the girl did not do so, instead she took advantage of the boy's open mouth, to start shoving the tube down his throat, as a first impulse to the intrusion he coughed, trying to expel the foreign body, but Kimiko held him in place preventing him "Don't take it out please, I don't want to hurt you."
The boy tried to mumble around the tube, but the attempt made the tube move in his stomach slightly, causing him a terrible pain in the belly, which only caused him to fidget more.
"It will be alright" she signed with a sweet expression "You just need to relax, and don't move, otherwise you will hurt yourself, and none of us want that."
Frenchie remained perfectly still, and Kimiko took this as a good sign, so she approached the machine again and operated a small lever that stood on it; immediately a hot, liquid mush began to pour into the boy's empty stomach.
Although terrified he chose not to move, but tried to look at the girl questioningly, she smiled sweetly, before starting to explain "Don't you understand yet?" she asked calmly "Ok, don't worry I'll explain everything, you know, my idea was just to fatten you up a bit so you couldn't join Butcher's missions, but I realized you would never stop even that way...so I thought I'd bring you here." she gave a bitter smile 'But alas, I know you would never agree to stay of your own free will, but it's okay, I'm not angry with you, rather I decided to make it more comfortable, for both of us, you won't have to do anything, just be good and eat, so it can be just you and me, happy, it will be like being at home!"
The young woman decided not to make explicit the part where his weight gain had become a real obsession for her, she considered that explanation, not only, more than enough, but also perfectly plausible.
Frenchie for his part was terrified, the madwoman who was rambling at that moment could in no way be his Kimiko, such an idea would never have occurred to her; immediately he thought it might be a supe, yes, a shape-shifter must have taken her form, but immediately he realized that was impossible, she knew her sign language too well.
The second guess was that the girl could have been under mind control, but again it couldn't be, she knew too many details, so he had to force himself to believe what seemed to be the most plausible truth, the one in front of him was indeed Kimiko, and he would be tortured by the woman he loves.
In fact, he had already done so in a way; like a bolt of lightning, all the girl's strange behavior came back to his mind, the ways she had been touching his body lately, the huge amounts of food, and to his chagrin, even Butcher's comments at the dinner a few weeks earlier.
Rousing him from his thoughts was a sharp intermittent sound, the infernal machine had run out of liquid.
"Oh,you did so well!" Kimiko praised him, before heading to detach the tube from his mouth, Frenchie coughed a couple of times, but quickly tried to regain control; he was already quite vulnerable in that state; what's more, he was beginning to feel a sharp pain in his belly, understandable given the amount of liquid that had just been forced into him.
"Oh what's wrong?" cooed the young woman "Does your belly hurt? Would you like me to massage it for you?"
The boy would have liked to refuse, but the pain was so persistent that he could do nothing but nod pathetically, and remain helpless as the brunette drew soft, wide circles on his belly, collapsing soon after into a food coma.
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Frenchie was awakened the next morning by a squeaking sound, as soon as he opened his eyes he realized it was Kimiko pushing a food cart into the room "Good morning!- the girl signed to him enthusiastically "Are you ready for breakfast?"
The boy was surprised, breakfast? Had he really slept that long?
The answer must have been yes, because the trolley was indeed full of sweets, and with a squeeze of his heart Frenchie realized that these were sweets he had taught the girl to bake, cookies, pastries, macarons and even Brownie, all in large quantities.
"So are you ready?" the girl asked without abandoning her smile.
The boy stood still, maybe if she didn't answer she would leave him alone, yes, a pretty ridiculous plan, but at that point it was the only lifeline he could lean on.
Of course, it didn't work.
"So?" Signed the young woman again, this time more impatiently.
When the boy did not respond again she softened her movements "Look, I know it's a big change, but I promise I'm only doing this for your sake, so let's do this, now you promise to be good and eat everything I've prepared for you, and in return I'll untie one of your hands."
The boy's eyes widened, sure, it might not look like much, but if he at least had a free hand he would have felt more in control, so he nodded "All right, I'll eat, but first untie my hand."
The girl fulfilled her part of the bargain, untying the rope that was on Frenchie's right hand, and then handed him a tray containing his huge breakfast "I made it all for you, with my own hands!" the girl was careful to point out "So I hope you like it."
The boy, left at that point without a choice, began to put the sweets in his mouth, they were all bloody delicious, the pastries were baked perfectly, the macarons were extremely fluffy and the Brownies tastily moist.
The boy hated every second, he only had one hand to eat, so he had to swallow the sweets practically by smearing them over his mouth, and without a chance to wipe himself.
When the tray was finally empty the boy felt that his belly was about to explode, but Kimiko did not seem to be finished
"I still have something for you!" she signed cheerfully, and then grabbed something from the lower compartment of the food rack, a box of ice cream "Stracciatella" she marked "You told me it was your favorite."
The girl wasn't lying, but at that moment Frenchie would have said no to even the most delicious of ice creams, even the handmade ones his mom cooked when he was a child, he was too stuffed for any food at that point.
"Please Mon Coeur…" he managed to plead between painful shallow breaths
"I am full, I am no longer hungry…"
This seemed to send the girl into a rage, but she quickly tried to calm herself down "It doesn't matter." she signed resolutely "It's okay." After that she left the room.
Frenchie should have celebrated, but the situation seemed wrong to him, it really could not be that simple, he knew Kimiko, she would not give up so easily.
Nevertheless he tried to calm down, maybe he could have gotten some sleep, but that would have been almost impossible with the pain in his belly, which was so swollen that it throbbed continuously, so he decided to just stay put, after all the girl would be back soon, then he would apologize, and maybe he would be able to get a belly rub.
But Kimiko was showing no signs of returning, hours had passed by that point and the boy was beginning to feel restless, where had the young woman gone, was she okay? Had something happened to her? Was it all a trick to worry him? He couldn't know, and on top of that his belly was still aching excruciatingly, sure the pain had accuietated compared to the morning, but it was still there.
In all this he could not even move, and his mouth was still disgustingly encrusted with chocolate, cream, and pastry; it was some hours later when he felt his bladder filling up, his first thought was to piss himself here and there, but he tried to tell himself that if he did that he would definitely say goodbye to his dignity, but the clock kept ticking, and there was still no sign of the girl.
It was only after hours and hours that the boy finally heard footsteps on the stairs, somehow the sound managed to make him feel as happy as he was restless.
"Oh! Mon Coeur!" He exclaimed as soon as he saw her, not even noticing the smirk that was painted on her lips "Finally you're back! I…" her voice slowly became more embarrassed "I should...I really should go to the bathroom…"
Kimiko nodded "No problem" she signed in a perfectly neutral manner "Go ahead."
The boy was confused for a moment, but then he realized, the girl would not allow him to go to the bathroom, he would really have to pee his pants "Mon Coeur…" he tried to say, but the girl interrupted him, moving closer to him and starting to press her hands hard on Frenchie's full bladder.
He tried desperately to hold back, but between the pressure, and the knowledge that the girl would not stop until he peed made him forget all inhibitions, trying not to think about it he let himself go.
Kimiko seemed proud of him, and against his will he found himself blushing slightly, despite everything he really loved the woman.
Seeing her good mood, the boy tried to dare "Look...couldn't you...I don't know...let me go to the bathroom to wash?"
The young woman's face immediately grew gloomy "No" She signed sternly
"You don't deserve it, I was offering you a reward but you decided to refuse it, this is your punishment, but maybe I could give you a bath if you agree to eat it now."
The boy nodded, the piss was already giving him a rash, and the remains of dessert on his face made him feel humiliated like few things.
Kimiko smiled, suddenly cheering up "That's my good boy!" she signed excitedly.
Immediately she picked up the ice cream box and put it on the floor "Now here's what we're going to do." she signed
"This is a test, so I'm going to free your other hand too, you're going to get on all fours and eat only with your mouth. Understood?"
The boy nodded pathetically and waited for the girl to release him.
He spent the next half hour licking the ice cream box, and just to make it more humiliating Kimiko laid down beside him groping and prodding his painfully distended belly.
He thought of running away, more than once, but he knew well that the young woman expected it, and he could only imagine what she would do to him if he disobeyed her, he had seen her fight.
When the box was finally emptied Frenchie found himself even dirtier than before, some of the now melted ice cream had spilled on his chin, and a good percentage on his chest, ruining, at that point even his tank top.
"Oh, that's the way I want you" Kimiko told him, giving his belly a final pat "Now I'm going to give you a good bath, I know you still think I'm a monster, but I certainly respect my pacts, and I really love you."
With some effort the boy managed to get up and followed his tormentor to the upstairs, where there was a small bathroom, there was not much and it was not decorated, but it had a working bathtub and that was enough for him; however, when he tried to get into it he realized, to his horror, that it was too narrow to fit his fat body.
With spirited eyes he turned to Kimiko, but she reassured him "Don't worry" without mincing words she invited him to remove his clothes, which he was more than happy to do, given how tight they had become at that point.
The girl arranged some towels on the floor, and Frenchie leaned over them, at which point she took the shower hose and aimed the jet at him, and then began to rub every roll of his huge body, then she dried him, as one would do with a dog, and without even dressing him, she took him back to his bed; she did not bother to tie him up, and indeed the boy fell asleep after only a few minutes.
The next morning as soon as he opened his eyes he found only a note, in which the young woman said she would be back soon with breakfast and gave Frenchie some new rules; in fact, he would no longer have to wear clothes, they were just uncomfortable at that point, and next to the note there was also a large diaper, since according to the girl it was the easiest way to prevent him from wetting the bed when he was so stuffed that he could not get up.
Though deeply disgusted and with that now perennial sense of humiliation he lowered himself to wearing the diaper, what was the point of fighting, especially if his opponent was a super, one he loved too.
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Frenchie wasn't sure how much time had passed at that point, but he guessed it was months, not that it mattered at all by now, his days were always the same, as soon as he woke up Kimiko would bring him the first meal of the day, and if he was lucky she would stop with him to chat, he liked those moments, they made him feel human again, at least partially.
The best days, however, were undoubtedly the ones when the girl was really in a good mood, in fact at those times the two of them would even watch movies together, and the boy really felt like they were home again, sure, he was always forced to eat snacks, but the young girl was much softer, and did not demand as much as during normal meals; perhaps in a twisted way he was beginning to appreciate the situation, as much as possible at least.
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"Are you sure this is the right place?" asked Hughie addressing Annie.
The girl nodded, the two of them, along with M.M. and Butcher were standing in front of an old house in the outskirts of Marseille, it looked like it had been completely uninhabited for years, but Annie swore that was where Frenchie and Kimiko were.
The two had been missing for a little over eight months, and since then the group had made every effort to find them, in the end Annie had been the one to put the pieces together, she had in fact already heard about the two's fantasies of running away to Marseille, because Kimiko had confided to her at one point, and a few days before their disappearance she had noticed that the brunette was visiting real estate sites, in particular she was firm on a house, and it seemed as if she was really pondering the idea of buying it.
The blonde had then gone through her friend's chronology to find the address.
"All right" Said Butcher disinterestedly
"Do we want to go in and check it out or stay here and brood?"
The group nodded.
The house inside was nothing much, it was furnished in the old style, and looked almost as if it had not been lived in for a long time, but some details betrayed that someone lived there, the oven for example was dirty, there were some shopping bags still full on top of a piece of furniture, next to a basket of fruit; but in any case there was not a soul, at least upstairs.
In fact, after almost half an hour of searching, the boys realized that a terrible smell was probably coming from the lower floor, a basement; without thinking about it they therefore descended the stairs.
Once downstairs the smell became unmistakable "This smell…" began Hughie in a mixture of disgust and terror "Won't be…"
"Don't think about it boy!" M.M. intimated to him "It's not a dead body smell until you see one! It's just a stinky old basement okay? Maybe Frenchie and Kimiko aren't even here!"
Hughie nodded, albeit unconvinced, that stench really did seem too much like a dead body to simply be something like that.
The group then continued to wander around the room, at that point following the probable smell of decomposition.
After a few minutes they all heard Annie's scream, coming from a dark corner of the room, and rushed toward her, only to find that she was standing next to a bed, in which…Frenchie? Was laying?
If they were honest, none of the boys had recognized him at first glance, but how could they be blamed, the boy must have gained at least six hundred pounds, probably more, his hair and beard were much longer, and he was almost naked except for a huge diaper; worst of all he looked perfectly still, and he smelled just like a corpse, besides having that characteristic greenish color.
The group was silent for a moment, but again it was Hughie who interrupted them "Guys...what does this mean…" he stammered, frightened.
"Calm down boy." said M.M., he definitely wanted to add something, when suddenly they heard a noise coming from the stairs, Kimiko was coming downstairs.
"Girl, what have you done?" M.M. asked harshly, seeing her coming.
Obviously there was no answer, but the girl came close enough to the boys to allow them to see her, she was paler than usual, and this, combined with her black hair that had lengthened seemed almost transparent, the only color on her face was a pair of dark circles under her eyes, she had also lost a lot of weight.
"Kimiko, honey, what happened?" asked Annie again, trying to keep a calm tone; blaming her would not have helped in that situation.
The young woman immediately burst into tears, going to snuggle into the blonde's arms and burst into tears.
The group was paralyzed with surprise for a moment, with the exception of Annie, who hugged her back, stroking her back and murmuring her sweet words.
When the girl was sufficiently calm they took her upstairs, and they all sat down on the dusty sofa in the center of the living room; Annie and Kimiko in the middle of it, and M.M. Butcher and Hughie on either side.
The blonde took the young woman's hands and looked at her gently "Can you tell us what happened?"
She looked down for a moment, but finally picked up her phone to begin typing
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, it was an accident! I'm sorry."
M.M. sighed"-We know, okay, it's okay, but we need to know exactly how things went, ok?"
Kimiko nodded again, and this time she took a little more time to type out the whole story, then sent the text to Annie, the girl began to read it embarrassed, while the younger one clung to her, hiding her face in her breasts
"I just wanted to protect Frenchie, I love him, I love him so much, I thought making him too fat to fight in the missions was a good idea, but I went too far, I didn't do it on purpose…"
When Annie finished reading an unnatural silence spread over the room, no one knew what to say.
"Holy fucking shit!" Butcher exclaimed with a giggle "You killed him!"
"Shut up!" hissed M.M., before taking enough courage and addressing Kimiko directly "We're not mad at you girl, but what you did...it's scary."
Kimiko nodded while keeping her face pressed into Annie's chest.
"All right!" announced Butcher "Mystery solved, now I think we can leave."
The others looked at each other, indeed the man had a point, all the plan they had prepared had come to an end, so now they did not know what to do.
"And Frenchie...?" Hughie asked hesitantly "What are we going to do with his…" he visibly swallowed "with his corpse."
M.M. shook his head confused "I think he deserves at least a funeral, a sort of at least…"
Everyone agreed.
--------------------
None of the group knew exactly how to officiate a funeral, so they decided to simply take Frenchie's corpse, give him some clothes and then bury him in the garden, in the end they said a few words for him, Kimiko cried the whole time.
Finally, when it had become almost dark, the group began to set out for the airport.
Kimiko looked at Annie with her eyes still red from crying, showing her her phone "It's all my fault...I just wanted to protect him…"
The blonde tried to smile at her, in some ways she felt responsible, she was the one who had indirectly given the girl the idea, so she hugged her gently "It's okay; I'm sure everything will be fine…"
Said the girl, although she was not completely sure.