Experiment

Author's note: Third and last fic written as a gift for a fellow artist and cartoon belly fan. Based on DHMIS (ver. TV) episode 6, with a cyborg Bigger Boy Red as a protagonist.

Once again you watch Red with a mixture of fear and wonder — as you did during his last experiment, when he ate a live boa constrictor and spent almost two days in the lab, anchored to the floor with his bloated bulk, so packed with serpentine coils it could barely let out a burble, his velvety red fur stretched almost to bursting.
The boa suffocated in the thick magic and was reduced to atoms. (Who knows how many citizens would have ended up in the snake's own stomach, had it still been on the loose.)
This time it's six large jars of water and two spotted koi, also alive, each as long as his forearm and as thick as his shoulder. How all of this disappears into the monster scientist's mouth (hidden somewhere in that big floating red jewel of his head) to flow into his belly, instantly transforming it into part giant water balloon, part see-through fish tank, is truly amazing.

Tiny red satellites leave his head and begin to circle the newly discovered orbit as he lets out a contented sigh and sinks to the floor of the lab. A faint eye movement follows, an invitation for you to sit by his side and touch him. Take a handful of his midsection and squeeze, even. Red doesn't say it out loud, you just guess — by the way the facets on his ruby head glow and the warmth... if camera eyes are capable of radiating warmth at all.

"It would not burst over the boa," he tells you telepathically, "and it will not burst now. Feel for yourself."

It doesn't, not even when you lightly tap the velvety surface, not wanting to test it too much, sending ripples across it. Not even when one of the carps notices a stray satellite through Red's belly skin and lurches forward to catch it — Mblrpk~ — almost, almost topples Red himself over you, but in reality lets his fish tank of a belly slosh heavily against you.

And you have no choice but to hug and hold him before a few more strong blu~~p, this time from both koi and from different sides, send his belly spilling over his lap and onto the floor once again. "They want to play with the satellites". But to stop even one of them would be like stopping Red's breathing.

"They're a couple," Red telepathizes, apparently having inadvertently guessed the carp's thoughts. "A he and a she, like us. He wants to give her — ah! — Mpbl-k~ — a present, "that pretty red thing, edible maybe?", he thinks — ah! — Pla~p — How do I calm them down now? Or distract- or-"

But thank God, you already know how. A cyborg monster can have any sci-fi food for lunch, but for a human like you, today it's a small bag of ordinary cherries and a cup of equally ordinary fruit salad with yogurt.

Luckily for Red, koi are supposed to like soft fruit, and the cherries you brought for lunch look similar enough to his own satellites. Six cherries, one after the other, disappear as he brings each one to his invisible mouth, landing in the water with a faint splash. That should be enough for a present.

"...Of course not," Red telepathizes, even before the slightest thought of whether or not he's going to dissolve the carps in his magic appears in your head. "This experiment is more about me being a temporary tank for emergencies. I will teleport them both to our laboratory pond later." He suddenly stops himself, embarrassed, and lowers his camera eyes. "And it looks like…"

Your gaze follows his, and just as you notice a male carp gently picking up one of the floating cherries to give it to his mate, it dawns on you.

It seems that whatever the koi couple is feeling, is contagious. Why else would facets of Red's jewel head start to glow pink right under his eyes, and the voice — this time his actual speaking voice, only slightly gurgling because he's full to the brim — sounds unusually embarrassed and warm for a level-headed scientist.

"A few degrees, give or take..." He shifts his gaze from the koi back to you and sticks his belly out slightly, as if inviting you to rub it. "Yeah, maybe just a few, so the water gets a little warmer, wouldn't hurt... I reckon."

January 2023