Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Note: I did this in a contest a year or so ago and forgot I didn't put it up here because I suck and haven't been logged in for a long time. Anyhow, this is my one and only m-preg which is not something I normally do (since it's usually not realistic unless there is a reason given) so this was different.
Feeling ill yet again, he immediately jumped up and ran out of the room, not bothering to ask permission from the teacher first. If he had, he probably wouldn't have made it and it was a close call running to the bathroom and making it to a stall that was thankfully unoccupied before spewing. Groaning, he hugged his knees to his chest as he balanced on his feet over the toilet as the last bits of vomit came forth. Waiting a few moments to see if anymore was coming, he shakily stood up and pinched his nose against the smell with one hand as he flushed. That was nasty. His entire week had been nasty as he'd been throwing up at least once every day during it, sometimes multiple times and he didn't know why that was. He was beginning to be concerned by it as this wasn't normal. The first few times it was assumed he was sick and it was just his body's natural way of getting rid of it. He didn't get sick often, if he had ever gotten sick which he honestly wasn't sure about, so this was a surprise but at first not such a troublesome one. Maybe he had some sort of bug or stomach flu that would be gone in a few days. He had hoped that but now that it had been going on for so long, he wasn't so sure anymore. This was starting to get really serious and it was really impeding his ability to function as he couldn't sleep as well or consistently eat or think. Plus, he was starting to have an obsession with chocolate and wanted to have it at seemingly random times of the day. He had to be sick, he had never desired chocolate so fiercely before and between that and throwing up so many times, there was definitely something going on with him.
"Thrown up again?" came a voice behind him and Alejandro weakly growled which turned into a moan as he leaned over and threw up one last bit before sobbing. Well damn it, late to the party weren't ya? He weakly nodded as he wiped his mouth.
"Yeah. It fucking sucks," Alejandro shuddered a little. The other raised their eyebrows in a shocked manner.
"I can't believe it," he said wonderingly. Alejandro raised his head and looked at him.
"Can't believe what?" He asked tiredly. He was feeling miserable and he wanted nothing more than to go someplace and lie down, maybe even have some chocolate. God he was sick, thinking of chocolate after he had thrown up for what felt like the bajillionth time but was actually if he was counting correctly the tenth in only six days. Or was it the eleventh? It didn't really matter anyhow what the exact number was so why was he obsessing? The point was that something was very, very wrong with him.
"That you cursed, you have never cursed before," the other said in astonishment.
"Well, I am not feeling the best I could possibly be, so sue me if I drop a few f-bombs every now and then. I feel so damn shitty right now asshole."
"Yeah, you are sick. Are you going to finally go see the doctor like I suggested now?"
"Ugh, fine. But only because something is really wrong and I'm getting desperate."
"If you want, I'll cover for you with the teacher while you make an appointment to see the doctor. Miss Coe will understand because you really look ill and she always did have a soft spot for you anyhow." He smirked. "It's too bad she's a teacher, she's smoking hot. I wouldn't mind being taught a private 'lesson' of my own as well." Alejandro rolled his eyes.
"So did not need to hear that. If there was anything left in my stomach to throw up, I would have. I can't believe that you want to sleep with Miss Coe. That's just weird."
"Hey, no judging. She's smoking hot and have you seen her legs in those short dresses? I don't comment on your liking dick so no talking on our uber hot English teacher. Every other guy who isn't like you lusts after her as well."
"It's still weird and disgusting but fair enough. At least you're less graphic about it than some of the other comments I've heard. It's yet another reason I love being a dude and not a chick." Alejandro washed his hands as he looked in the mirror and saw the circles around his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping well lately. It really was past time to get the doctor, even if he hated having to being weak enough to consent to it. He looked back over to his brother.
"I'm going to see the doctor, today hopefully. I'm tired of being so sick with nary a reason for it."
"Good," said Carlos. "We're all worried about you, even Jose." Alejandro wanted to chomp at Carlos for even mentioning that dick but he was right. Jose was their other brother and the oldest and while he and Alejandro had never been particularly close or even got along very well, this week even he had been concerned with Alejandro's health and well-being and was uncharacteristically nice to him. The first few times of course he had mocked and had jokingly implied that clearly Alejandro was drinking too much or had discovered bulimia or something but after the fourth time, even he began to sound worried whenever he asked if Alejandro was feeling alright. It was almost freakier than this bizarre spell of sickness to have Jose not being an ass for once. Not quite, though Jose not being a total douche did rank quite high on the 'this is freaky' scale. Alejandro straightened his hair a little and fixed his somewhat askew clothes. Taking a deep breath, he swelled his chest, loving the way he filled out his shirt. He looked spiffy and good. As long as one didn't look too closely, one could not see that anything was wrong and looking good helped him in feeling better. This would all be over soon and life could go on as normal. He nodded over at his brother Carlos as he walked to the office to ask to call his parents to please excuse him from school.
Once permission had been obtained, he carefully drove to the nearby general hospital. It would have been bad had he gotten sick on the way there and he had feared the possibility, but fortunately he made it without incident. Checking in with the bored nurse, it was apparently a slow day at the time, he snagged a close appointment and waited. He lasted 5 minutes before becoming bored out of his mind and wondering when he'd get to go in already. Alejandro wasn't known for his patience on waiting for other people and despised it. He was tired and cranky and he still had another 25 long minutes before he even met the doctor. He picked up a magazine from the pile of magazines that always seemed to be kept in hospitals and tried to read it. Actually, it was pretty good and he was absorbed in reading the article when his name was called.
"Alejandro Burromuerto?" Getting up, he walked into the checkup room where he met Dr. Brady.
"Hi Alejandro, how are you?" Dr. Brady asked. He seemed nice and Alejandro was relieved. He tried to avoid doctors as much as possible if he could help it. It wasn't that he disliked doctors as a whole but he didn't really trust them. Some were also mean and he couldn't help but suspect ulterior motives. The closest to a doctor he had ever gotten before now was when he was born and watching House on tv. Of course, Dr. House is totally what he should base one's experience of doctors on but he didn't know. He had been really lucky growing up, never breaking a single bone or getting sick once. While his brothers had gotten multiple bone fractures and concussions from playing soccer and football, he somehow never did despite playing those same sports and other activities. And now he was getting sick for no understandable reason and vomiting continuously.
"What seems to be the trouble?" Dr. Brady asked and Alejandro decided he was acceptable. Of course, he also realized that even if he hadn't been he would have been desperate enough to not care at this point but Dr. Brady really did seem nice.
"I've been having…issues," Alejandro said delicately, not quite sure where to go from there? Dr. Brady nodded encouragingly.
"What type of issues? Health, family, friends…?"
"Health of course, otherwise I wouldn't be here. If I had been having mental issues, which I'm not by the way, I would have gone to see someone else. Anyhow, I've been vomiting, a lot lately."
"Bulimia?" inquired Dr. Brady and Alejandro shook his head vigorously.
"No no no no, not eating disorder. Just vomiting, for no apparent reason. Over the last week, I've thrown up every day in multiple times as well. I don't have allergies or whatever and it's getting concerning. Can you make it stop?"
"Well, I can prescribe you something and if it doesn't stop the puking, I could have some tests done if you want. Unless you feel there is a bigger issue? Any other symptoms I should know about or is it just vomiting?"
"No issues, just vomiting. You fix it yes?" When flustered or excited, Alejandro occasionally slipped into an accent and proper English grammar flew right out the window just like that. Dr. Brady nodded as he filled out a prescription form.
"Just take this for a while and if it doesn't stop, come right back in." Alejandro nodded as he ran out of the room and went off to the nearest over the counter or Walgreens he could find.
He took the drug the doctor recommended and while he did not stop vomiting entirely, there was a major reduction in the occurrence and feelings of nausea that proceeded and for the rest he ate Saltine crackers and drank ginger ale which he heard were good when feeling nauseous. The bizarre vomiting spells eventually stopped within two weeks which was a relief. Alejandro was tired of the dry mouth and drowsiness that accompanied the treatment but he infinitely preferred that to the continuous puking. Still, it was good to no longer need the drug. He was a bit concerned though for a whole other reason. He seemed to be getting hungrier and eating more than he was used to. Now that the vomiting subsided, he really dug into his food which was both a delight and a bit of a question to his mom. A delight because she was a cook and always a pusher for people eating good food but also a question because as much as she loved that her son was breaking his self-imposed dietary restrictions, she was also concerned as it was completely out of character. She had tried for years to get him to eat more or at least have a sugary treat once in a while which wouldn't kill him, but now she didn't even have to beg. He asked her for sweet sugary stuff, especially chocolate. It was nice that she didn't have to force him now to eat it but it was just too bizarre.
Alejandro looked down in disbelief and then at the mirror. His once glorious abs were disappearing under a load of unsightly fat. His hard cut stomach was getting all soft and squishy and he had trouble putting on his tight jeans that barely fit him anymore. His family reassured him that he was being paranoid, that he actually wasn't that fat, that compared to most he was still in phenomenal shape. It was also pointed out to him that those jeans had always been ridiculous and clung to him even earlier from his hard muscled legs, which admittedly had been the point. He didn't even fall under slightly chubby and he was still by far the thinnest one waist wise by far in the family. So the slightest disappearance of abs wasn't all that big a deal for them like it was for him. Jose was happy since although he had always been large, he had never ever been cut enough to have a six pack, the closest was a slight four (around 25 or more pounds and a few years back), and always had been jealous of Alejandro that he had been. Carlos didn't particularly care but was more sympathetic to Alejandro's feelings whereas Jose was busy celebrating and rubbing it in. He did suppose they were right, that he wasn't as fat as he imagined, hell it wasn't even noticeable at all with his shirt on and was just the barest pinch, but it was still hideous. As soon as he had grown into the teen stage and all the child fat melted off his body, he had never once allowed for extra fat. Now he could feel a slight difference and it greatly disturbed him.
He had to get rid of all the tight pants that had shown off how fit he was. He couldn't even hope to zipper them up anymore. He had to switch to blue jeans that he borrowed from Carlos for a day while his mom went shopping. They were looser than what Alejandro was used to and he continuously had to check to see if they were still on. Having borrowed from Carlos, they fit okay enough he guessed although Carlos definitely had a wider waist than him that he had to wear a belt for a purpose other than fashion. It also provided a bit of comfort that although he was undeniably getting bigger he was still far from fat. Although thinking like this made his family sound fat which they weren't, at least not only. A lot of his family fell under the large but husky side and he had been a rare exception in being both acceptably muscular and yet not having a fairly hefty belly to go along with it unlike his brothers, dad, uncles, granddads…pretty much everyone. They even had some large women. His mother was ironically fairly petite but on her side she also had a number of large men and so meeting Señor Burromuerto was love at first sight because he was everything she admired in a guy and was handsomely big enough to fit with her family as well. So he was stuck on both sides of the family with people who were big in all dimensions. He really didn't have a problem with that, he just didn't want to have a belly having learned that it was weird to most people. Life is funny in a way considering now, but then it was the worst thing in the world. Besides, he didn't like almost everyone affectionately or otherwise ribbing on him, telling him he was 'skinny and needed to eat more. He was absolutely tiny'. Only among them would he have been considered tiny and many a joke was pulled on his expense for it. He just learned to live with it and just bare his teeth and force a smile, even if he wanted to scream or shout or hit something,
The invitation came in the mail one day and Alejandro was surprised when he found it while sorting through their mail. It was addressed from the Total Drama Network station and it had been a while since he thought of them. He had once participated as part of a reality show along with other contestants in a contest to win a million dollars. He didn't win and he was sure that was because the contest was rigged. He knew that because behind the scenes it really was and it was all scripted. Every word, every action, it was more like a movie or tv series than an actual game show because there was no million dollar prize. On the other hand, all participants were well-paid for the acting and that was cool. The show had a surprisingly large fan base that divided themselves into teams over who or what couple they supported which to him seemed rather absurd although that was because he knew there was no real game, that it was all an act, most of it. There were some parts that were real and not scripted but overall, it was mostly oriented to drive excitement and publicity. It was where he met some of the greatest and worst people he had ever met in his life, it was where he met…. He made many friends, enemies, pseudo-friends and enemies that were really the opposite behind the scenes, it was an interesting experience and he had been sad when the show axed his character in some dramatic sequence (what the hell, trampled and burned on a volcano? He could have written a better script than that).
Lost for a second in his memories, Alejandro shook his head and opened it, pulling out the card and quickly read it, a grin growing on his face. They wanted everyone back for a reunion cast meeting and potential casting for a future season. He could see the friends he made again. He could even reunite with one special someone and they could reconnect. They had a bit of a fling while the show was going on but when the show was over, they left without a word or goodbye. That thought however made him freeze after the joyous thoughts of seeing them again. The fact that they left him and never called or explained…he was still mad over that. He could feel the rage and anger rising up from where they lurked over that. Could he even stand to see them again? Maybe he should just not go. That was a possibility other than the fact that this meeting was actually required as part of the contract. To not go would be to take a pay cut and not be able to join back in if they (and the studio) wants them. He still was getting paid because the studio paid in weekly allotments based on the participation. Since they were still paying it out, turning them down would allow them to annul the contract and whatever he felt, Alejandro did not want that. Gritting his teeth, Alejandro falsely smiled.
"Okay, let's get going. TD central, here I come."
Whatever the trepidation he felt in coming back because of them, he did have to say he was shockingly surprised to find himself happy to be back and realize just how much he missed this. Probably because he always did enjoy being behind a camera. Too bad there wasn't going to be much of that anymore. If he did, all that would be published would be him getting fat and millions of people who didn't know him would be gloating over it. He had mostly accepted the inevitability since he had come, but that doesn't mean he wanted to go through that with strangers. It had taken a lot of courage for him to come psyching himself up for both convincing himself that it wasn't bad and that the large Owen was way larger and people wouldn't judge on that, and to see their other. Did they still like him? Were they with someone else? The thought of them being with someone else almost made him turn back and leave but he was finally there and it was too late to go back. Besides, he was Alejandro the Great, not some pussy wannabe. Taking one last breath and holding it, he walked in.
It was almost a letdown. He wasn't sure what he expected to happen, if there was going to be some mob of people or everyone jumping out and yelling 'surprise!' or something. Now that he was finally in though, he felt better than he had in a while, since he had first been sick and then started to gain a bit of weight. He looked down and patted it slightly. Sure it was ugly and was certainly not a ripped washboard set of abs, but he did grudgingly admit that it did have its own advantage, mainly that it was fun to play with and lay on. After the initial couple weeks of freak-out and depression, he had gotten over it since as it didn't look like it was going anywhere soon, he might as well accept it. Stupid genetics, but at least he still had nice muscles. It was actually a relief to essentially cut cardio and running (other than the minimum necessary) out. After weeks of vomiting and missing it, going on his runs had felt like hell and he just didn't have the energy. Between that and his sudden upsurge in eating after the vomiting period and subsequent weight gain, he just couldn't be bothered. That was okay, he never really liked running in the first place. It was mainly to keep trim but since that worked out so well, there really was no other point in doing it. He switched to powerlifting and it was going well. He had to avoid squats and deadlifts for a while after a near injuring himself, but he greatly improved on the presses, bench, dumbbell lifts, etc. At least the extra food was contributing to other things than flabbiness unlike say Owen. And the jokes of him being so skinny were finally beginning to mainly trickle off which actually felt really good and that he was beginning to belong. He was still the smallest one of course but at the last family reunion a week before, the cousins on mom's side of the family were actually impressed and had fun playing with his newfound belly. A bit too much fun for him and embarrassing, but at the same time really nice since it was better than being overlooked like he wasn't there or mocked. They played games and had a good time and stuffed themselves silly. He had even caused surprise by actually doing well in the food eating contest. Not first, second, or even third, but he astonishingly came in fourth place which was unbelievable. He wouldn't have believed it himself if he hadn't felt his poor stomach close to popping and suffering for who knows how long in intestinal agony.
He came across an assistant who looked familiar although he was a bit ashamed to have absolutely no idea what the guy's name was. The assistant, seeming to pick up on the abrupt confusion since many people forgot, just sighed and lead him to the meeting room. As soon as he was done through medical school, he was going to quit this crappy job with no respect but he was just going to have to keep putting up with it for now. It would be nice though once in a while if someone would just remember his name. Even some of the other assistants had no idea who he was and he worked with them!
"Thank you," Alejandro said to the assistant guy's name he couldn't remember and the guy just sneered and walked off. Okay, that was rude. There were a few other people there: Harold, Geoff, Bridgette, Courtney, Heather, and Noah. Everyone else had yet to arrive. Bridgette and Geoff were bored and spending the time making out. One of the things that had been real and not scripted was Geoff and Bridgette's (cute the first few times and then just disgusting) public displays of affection. At first it was a bit scripted but during the show they had actually become interested in one another and what was real and what was fake blended. And the overly sexual posturing was unfortunately real. It was astonishing how enthusiastic a girl like Bridgette, one who would seem almost puritan in sex with her vegetarianism and save the world ideals, would be with one of the horniest guys Alejandro had ever met, and he had met plenty. Geoff outranked them all. Before falling in love with Bridgette, Geoff with his good looks and his disarmingly charming personality had slept with hordes of ladies. He still did in fact because as deeply in love with each other Bridgette and Geoff were, they had a weird open-ended relationship thing going on where they were granted permission to sleep with someone else and had weird threesomes and other relationship things. Geoff was also so sickeningly straight he paradoxically slept with guys as well because to deprive the world of his skills and beauty would be a sin.
Bridgette was also aroused by watching male on male action. Geoff had told him that once when they were alone and nearly terrified Alejandro when Geoff tried to kiss him. Alejandro slapped Geoff and told him in no uncertain terms to never do that again and he wasn't interested. Geoff just shrugged and said 'sure dude, whatever you want. If you change your mind, you know where to find us.' Geoff was admittedly attractive and Alejandro had wondered what it would be like to kiss a boy for a while. Still, he wasn't going to sleep with Geoff and Bridgette because who knows what diseases Geoff could potentially carry. Bridgette told him at another point of time that she made Geoff be checked out regularly to make sure he was clean and that he had none because Geoff was very careful in that regard, but that wasn't the issue for Alejandro, although that was a relief to hear. Call him old fashioned but Alejandro wanted somebody to love him for him and not just for the sex, although the sex would be fantastic and very nice and he wouldn't turn that down if it was offered. It just wasn't the same for him if he was sleeping with Geoff and or Bridgette (possibly both, he wasn't sure what a threesome or more with them would entail and nor did he want to). He would be aware that it wasn't so much as him bringing them to ecstasy so much as being used as some disposable object. As tempting as the sex would be, he wanted to know he was at least important enough in it that he couldn't just be replaced by somebody else and it being the same. So he politely rejected the offer.
"Hey you," Courtney said as she walked over to him being the first one to notice him. She wasn't quite as insane as she acted on the show but she wasn't far from it either. At least he knew for a fact that she wouldn't actually try to kill people in real life for a million dollars, probably. Now if no one would know, he could realistically see her doing it for real. But at least she wasn't as openly insane as she had appeared and he had always loved her singing voice. She spread her arms open wide and he hugged her. She leaned against him for a moment and the giggled as she pushed away.
"Someone's been eating well lately I see," she said poking his belly. "Good for you." He blushed a little and shuffled his feet.
"So how have you been?" She asked curiously. "Me, I won an award for my phenomenal acting skills of course and I've been getting quite a large quantity of fan mail saying how Duncan sucks for cheating on me and I need to take revenge, stuff like that. It's both flattering and a bit disturbing that people are convinced that I would love an obnoxious pig like that but it must be because of my acting too much in love with him. On the other hand, the death threats I've received are both cleverly brilliant and scary as hell, it is quite impressive." Alejandro smirked.
"Ah, fan mail. I sort through it and just burn the nasty stuff. I got a pretty good bonfire going from all the hate mail and had a wicked party that was awesome. But I can't believe that some people believe some of this shit is real although, there are a number of individuals that are suspiciously divorced from reality. Plus it is incredibly awkward to get 'get well' cards from people who think you're apparently dying when you're just fine. My favorite fan letters I have framed, especially one that totally cusses Jose out for being so horrible to me as a kid. It was actually pretty funny and I had to read it out loud to him. He burned it but I made multiple copies and hid them so I would always remember such a fantastic moment."
"So how are you doing otherwise? I assume something must have happened to cause…you know, that." She ducks under him and squeezes his belly, tickling him. An unfortunate thing was that he was very ticklish when people did that and he groaned in laughter as she tickled him. Suddenly, a harsh voice interrupts them.
"Just what are you doing?" Heather said, coming over. She had been reading a fashion magazine and then she had been interrupted by a laugh she knew only too well and when she looks up, Courtney looked like she was attacking Alejandro. She had to make sure she wasn't killing him or something, especially the or something because Alejandro really was gorgeous.
"What does it look like? I'm tickling him! You wouldn't believe it but he's…" Heather raised her eyebrows slightly as she looked at them and Courtney trailed off as they both looked at her.
"Ticklish hey? That sounds…" Alejandro yelped as Heather leaped at him also tickling him and was scream/laughing his head off as two crazy chicks were seemingly trying to cause death by laughter as they tickled him ferociously. It got so loud that Bridgette and Geoff actually pulled away from ravaging each other to see what the noise was.
"Woah, dude's getting it on," Geoff said breathily as he watched lustfully as Heather and Courtney and Alejandro were all rolling on the floor in a big jumble. Bridgette elbowed him hard and he frowned.
"What?" He whined as he looked back to Bridgette as she rolled her eyes.
"Idiot. Is sex all you think of? They're not doing that so let's get back to what we're doing." Geoff smirked as he kissed Bridgette.
"I'm not the only one who has sex on the mind my beautiful blonde sexy goddess. You are as obsessive with it as I am, perhaps even more so which would be scary."
"Shut up already," Bridgette said as she licked along the abs and Geoff moaned. Suddenly Geoff felt a poking sensation and he looked up to see Harold.
"Hey, what up?" Geoff said and then hissed as Bridgette touched his lower area and she grinned.
"Gosh, finally! I had to poke you three times before you finally noticed. Stupid over-muscled back." Harold muttered and Geoff grinned proudly.
"Thanks man! Anyhow, what up? We're a bit busy and if I don't soon, Bridgette here will probably explode from need." Bridgette growled at Geoff as he laughed at that and she smacked him up the head for that comment. He was too busy laughing and hard-headed however so it didn't really do much.
"We were hoping you would either stop doing what you're doing or at least take your activity elsewhere where no one can see you. Preferably a soundproofed room as well. You guys are revolting." Noah drawled as he came up beside Harold. "It's also distracting me from writing my doctoral thesis on the rise and fall of the US Empire which I hope to have made into a book like the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire." Geoff shrugged.
"Okay, okay, see you later. By the way, sounds interesting mind if I read it?"
"No, it's not finished. Besides, I doubt a puny brain like yours would even be able to comprehend it." Geoff frowned, insulted by that remark.
"I'm too dumb to read it? Well no wonder you don't get laid. You're mean and I bet you would suck anyways. Besides, everyone thinks you're gay for Cody because of that sleep-a-thon incident." Noah groaned.
"That stupid sleep-a-thon! Because we fell asleep close together and ended up cuddling together the next day, everyone thinks me and that dweeb Cody are or should be together! I get sick of that stupid fan mail that keeps saying me and Cody should be together or wanting pictures of us as we do the x-rated things you and Bridgette do nearly 24-7! I've sent a few replies back that I am NOT gay, and if I was, especially not for Cody but people ignore me. Me and him have nothing in common!"
"You and who have nothing in common?" They all turned to see Cody who had just walked in and heard them discussing loudly and came over to see what it was.
"You and me! People that still think you and me are gay and absurdly assume we're together." Cody rolled his eyes.
"Oh my, that again. One time of cuddling and next thing you know you're paired off together as soul mates that need to be together forever and ever. I'm not into you, no offense."
"None taken. We have nothing in common and you really aren't all that attractive or smart."
"Yeah…hey wait what?!" Cody yells as Noah just walks off. "What do you mean by that? Hey, get back here, I'm not done with you!" Cody ran after Noah who was already bored with them all leaving just Harold, Bridgette, and Geoff standing there.
"Okay, that was weird," Geoff said.
"Yeah. Let's go elsewhere," Bridgette said, tugging on the pink jacket and Geoff grinned.
"Right behind ya babe."
After tickling him mercilessly, they all were breathing heavily and a temporary truce was informally declared, only because Courtney and Heather were too tired to tickle him anymore. Alejandro was especially relieved as his chest and diaphragm really hurt from laughing so hard that he had worried about dying from too much laughter which would be a sad, sad way to go. Wiping a hand across her forehead, Heather finally managed to stop laughing and looked at him.
"Oh hey, something looks different about you," she said. "Did you get a haircut?" That sent Courtney into a fresh gale of laughter who had finally been beginning to calm down and Heather looked around confusedly. "What?" she said. "Tell me what's so funny."
"That's…haha, not-haha, what's different silly," Courtney said before continuing to giggle. Heather looked at her like Courtney was possessed because it was so out of character for this extreme bout of laughter. Alejandro gave a hoarse bark of laughter as well before wincing. They sure had given him an unexpected painful workout of his laugh ability.
"Well, I have gotten a haircut recently," Alejandro started, touching his shortened hair. "But that is not the only thing. I have gotten a little…bigger lately." Heather's mouth widened a little and she smirked.
"Oh that. I wasn't sure if you wanted that mentioned but now that you've brought it up, I had noticed. Kind of hard not to really but please don't take that statement in a bad way. It's just that after spending months filming and you having been all tan and buff earlier, it's just different. You don't mind do you?" Alejandro shrugged a bit and was startled when Heather reached out and patted it through his shirt. Laughing at his freaked out expression, she withdrew.
"Sorry if I overstepped any bounds. I just couldn't resist, you know? I was once fat myself and never felt comfortable with it. You wouldn't believe the pressure on a girl to be thin. If it's bad for guys, it's horrendous for girls to be thin. The media says if you aren't a certain body figure, thin, you aren't attractive at all and people constantly made fun of me all through middle school and early high school. It was so bad I almost once killed myself deliberately and a couple times accidentally by doing some very dangerous things in starving myself. So the fact that you finally let yourself be yourself is wonderful." Alejandro felt guilty because Heather seemed to be assuming that he was okay with this, well he was now but she should have seen him earlier, but she thought that he had an actual choice in the matter and chose to be this way.
"That's….something Heather. But I didn't choose to be this way. It just kind of happened. In fact, my entire family is delighted with this because in an ironic contrast, they pride on being big and are totally fine with it. I had actually been mocked for a long time for being too "skinny" for them, not too fat. Something just happened and I lost control and…well…you know." Alejandro gestured vaguely and Heather looked vaguely disappointed for a moment before composing her face.
"Oh, okay then. Either way, it's a nice change and your family has good taste. And I really like your belly. It adds character and you're even sexier, in my opinion. Much more…approachable and cute." She blushed. "Yeah, I'm just going to go before I embarrass myself any further since I know you don't…well, you are still adorable." She goes and leaves and Courtney grins at him. Confused, he looks at her.
"What?" he asks, confused.
"I know news that is sure to make you happy," Courtney said, still grinning.
"Really?"
"What is tall, pointy, and green?" Courtney asked. Alejandro raised his eyebrows at this.
"An elf?" he asked, not quite sure. Courtney looked shocked for a moment before giggling.
