Chapter 4: After the Garden
She knew something was wrong immediately. She woke up slowly, the world a dim haze around her, not yet separate from her dreams. She realized what it was. Sunlight. She blinked. Harley knew where she was now. Not the garden, but a tiny apartment on Gotham's south side. Warm, golden sunlight filled the room through the cheap, busted blinds. Her heart sank.
It had been three months since she had escaped the garden. At the same time it felt like years ago and just yesterday. The inevitable had happened the night Ivy felt the food inside her. Immense pleasure followed by wild panic. Then it was all over. She'd gotten away, but she still didn't know what happened to Ivy.
All over. Well, at least one thing had continued. Harley sat up in bed, and her heavy belly settled on her thighs. She rubbed her hand over it, feeling how soft it was. She dug her fingers into the thick rolls of fat and thought fondly of the woman who'd stuffed her for those amazing days in the garden. She'd been stuffing herself since, getting bigger and bigger out here.
Finally, she forced herself to get up, only because she wanted to have a look in the mirror. She'd really outdone herself gorging this week. The money for all those feasts came from simple jobs, robberies, stickups. Just business, no fun at all. No "super villain" plots or anything like that. Maybe getting back into that would help her move on. But that wasn't worth fretting about now.
Harley stepped up to her full-length mirror with the big duct-taped crack running across it and turned sideways. Her pale, doughy stomach poked out from under her tee shirt and sagged over the hem of her ratty flannel pajama pants. She bounced on the balls of her feet and watched with glee as her whole body jiggled.
She had plumped up so much in just a few months. Her arms were huge and soft. Her breasts were full, round, and heavy. Her sides had ballooned out into thick, squishy love handles. Her butt was getting huge, forcing her to keep getting bigger and bigger jeans until she gave up and stuck with sweats. She pulled off her pants to get a better look at how her hips and thighs were coming along. Nicely was the answer. She'd never imagined what it was like to be this wide. These days she was constantly bumping into things, knocking stuff off tables with her ass.
Her face was so full now, with a clear double chin. She wondered if people would even recognize her. She could hide in plain sight. It was the perfect disguise. That thought left her feeling sour, though. She didn't want to hide, not even in plain sight. No, she realized, she wanted to debut her big, plump self, the new Harley Quinn. Fierce, fat, and sexy.
Harley went into the bathroom. She had an old analog scale in there. She hadn't weighed herself in a couple weeks. It was more fun if she resisted the urge to weigh herself for longer spans. Made the results more of a surprise. She got on the scale and was delighted to hear it creak slightly as she got on. It was an old piece of shit, though. The needle swung up and landed on 196. She frowned. She'd hoped to break 200. Well, only one way to make that happen.
She went into the kitchen and started heating a frying pan. She pulled a half-full bag of frozen hash browns from the freezer and dumped all of it onto a plate and tossed it in the microwave to defrost. She set about getting eggs and sausages to go in after the potatoes, starting making toast, and while all this was underway, she poured herself a bowl of cereal, ate it, and then poured another.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. She looked up in surprise. She couldn't remember anyone ever knocking on that door since she'd moved in. This could only be bad. Or maybe… She forced the wishful thought out of her head. No sense getting her hopes up. She got up, leaving her meal on the stove, and cautiously approached the door. She checked the peephole and saw no one out there. She put the chain on the door and opened it slowly. There was a package. She quickly undid the chain and reopened the door, sticking her head into the hall and looking both ways. Nobody in sight. She snatched the package and shut the door again, locking it behind her.
Back at her tiny kitchen table, Harley set the package down and inspected it. It was from Amazon, and it looked legit. She hadn't ordered anything, though. Didn't have any accounts anywhere online—part of the whole lying low thing. She got a knife and weighed the risk of opening it. It could be a trap. Something lethal. Or maybe just… a joke. She took a deep breath and slit the package open with a practiced slash of the knife. Oh well. If it was either, she was screwed already.
Inside the box was a single flower, pale red fading into black at the tips of each petal. She stared in awe, completely motionless for what felt like an eternity. Then tears started to well in her eyes. "Ivy… where are you?" she whispered to herself. Then, another knock at the door.
She rushed to the peephole and immediately gasped. She threw open the door, and there stood Ivy. She was wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a high-collared coat to disguise herself, but Harley knew it was her right away. She lunged at her, grabbing her in a long-awaited hug. Ivy buried her head against Harley's shoulder. They didn't say a word at first.
Finally, they parted, and Harley ushered Ivy hastily inside. "Quick, quick, come in. Before someone sees you."
Ivy walked in and took off her hat and shades. There were tears in her green-tinted eyes. "Harley, it's… it's so good to see you…"
Harley looked both ways down the hall then, seeing it was clear, shut the door and hugged Ivy again. "Where've you been? What happened? I was so worried, I thought I'd never see you again."
"I don't want to talk about it. Not now, at least," Ivy replied. She held Harley at arms length and looked her up and down. A wicked grin spread across her face. "Wow, you look gorgeous."
Harley smiled too and gave her belly a little squeeze and a jiggle. "This new look's really 'growing' on me."
"Oh, fuck off," Ivy laughed. She kissed Harley, though, and took her voluptuous love handles in her hands, pulling Harley's soft body against hers. "Is that breakfast I smell?" Ivy asked.
"Yeah, I was just about to eat." Harley went back to the stove to get her meal off the burner. "I've got quite a feast here… I might, uh, outdo myself."
Ivy looked at what she was dishing out onto her plate and shook her head. "Oh, I know you, and I know your appetite. You can do much better than that, darling."
"Only with your help," said Harley with a devilish look. It was on. Ivy went to the kitchen to throw together more food while Harley started devouring her heaping pile of a breakfast. Every once in a while Ivy would come over, wrap her arms around Harley's midsection or giver her stomach a hearty rub and tell her, "Keep eating. I know you can take more."
And she was right. Harley wolfed down her second bowl of cereal as well as the hash browns, sausage, and eggs and two pieces of toast. As soon as that toast was gone, Ivy set down two more slices on her plate, slathered in butter and strawberry jam. No sooner was that gone than Ivy came back with the frying pan loaded with more hash browns and eggs and dished it out.
"Oh, sugar…" Harley said, patting her big, swollen stomach. "I think I'm gonna pop." She let out a big belch and giggled.
"You've had enough?" asked Ivy, lazily running her fingernails over Harley's stuffed gut. It had certainly expanded, pulling her shirt way up past her belly button, and even though she had gotten very doughy, it still looked (and felt) very hard and taught. It felt like there was a ton of bricks settled inside her, weighing her down to the kitchen chair.
Harley eyed the second plateful and decided. "No," she said, picking up her fork again. "I haven't had enough. I've got some more room in me."
"You do, do you?" teased Ivy. She poked her upper belly. "Right here? A little more room."
"Mmhmm," answered Harley through a mouthful.
"Good. Lemme get you something to wash this down with." Ivy went to the fridge.
"Thanks!"
A few minutes later, Ivy was resting on her bed, her stomach feeling like it was about to burst. She'd never eaten so much in one sitting in her life. Ivy had had the brilliant idea to weigh her after the stuffing—she was now 116 lbs. She'd put away eight pounds of food!
Ivy laid down on the bed, spooning her, and rubbed her giant belly tenderly, massaging away a little of the discomfort. "That was amazing, Harls," she whispered in her ear.
"I feel huge," said Harley.
"You are huge." Ivy dug her fingers into the soft flab on Harley's side and sighed contentedly. "This feels… normal."
Harley rolled over so they were face-to-face. She brushed Ivy's hair aside and held her slender face lightly. "I'm glad. I needed normal. Or, our normal. Funny, we were only in the garden for such a short time but… I don't know. I'm just glad you're okay."
"Same." They kissed. Ivy smiled and cupped Harley's stomach again. "You are getting so chubby. I love it."
"I love it too. But I've been thinking about something…" That devilish grin again.
"What's that?" asked Ivy, very intrigued.
"Well…" Harley ran her hand across Ivy's bare stomach, feeling the abs beneath her pale green skin. "You've done such a good job fattening me up, but you're still so skinny. You might not, and that's fine of course, but… don't you want a little of this?" She squeezed her own jiggly thigh for emphasis.
"I've never really tried to gain weight," Ivy admitted. "But… I do envy you right now." She rubbed her own stomach idly. "You're so soft, it must feel really, really good."
"I love lying on my back first thing in the morning and seeing how much higher my belly rises each morning. I love feeling my pants press so tight as I swell out from stuffing myself. I even love bumping into things with my fat ass, even though it can get annoying."
"I don't think I want to be… very big. But how hot would it be for us to stuff our faces together?"
Harley kissed Ivy once again. "That would be the best."
"And we'll have plenty of time for it," Ivy promised. "Trust me."
The End