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Hennessy Marquillo

Summary:

Hennessy, Maximus, and KyJuan really need to work on themselves and figure out what they want from life, and from each other. They go together like gunpowder, flint, and steel, but damn can they each fuck. Hennessy accidentally ends up with the worst part of the deal, but the attachment to toxic sex and overfeeding Max is too strong to break things off. Things start going sideways, as stomachs and opinions turn.
(Title changed 04/24)

Notes:

I play some pronoun games in this, so to preemptively clarify: In Order Of Appearance…
- Hennessy is genderfluid and afab, attracted to any man, regardless of own current gender presentation.
- KyJuan is cisgendered with a taste for being called female terms in sexual situations. He's attracted to anyone on the male end of the gender spectrum up until the rubicon of fluidity; however, he's said he is willing to date any person who asks.
- Maximus doesn’t give a shit about his gender, but uses male pronouns because they’re what people seem to go for and fastest to say. He can be attracted to any other adult.

Chapter 1: Desirae's Birthday, (Hennessy)

Summary:

Closing down the bakery with KyJuan, Hennessy doesn't use her brain, and instead thinks with her stomach--the dumbest part of her body. Unsurprisingly, the results are catastrophic and leave her digestive system a quaking wreck. But hey, maybe it wasn't so bad.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Food service was all Hennessy Marquillo had ever worked in. During middle school she worked with her grandfather in his food truck in the city, high school she worked at Qdoba, and then at Moe’s. And now, in college, she spent the last three years as part of FDR Millenium Hospitality and Catering as a part time server. During the times the dining hall was open, she could be seen refilling napkin dispensers, spooning out meatloaf onto plates she would later wash, or at night, like tonight, working the bakery kiosk. At least KyJuan was on this shift to keep her company. He was leaning back against the counter, staring at the far away ceiling tiles and chewing on his lip. 

“Ky.” 

“Mm.” 

“There’s a customer.” 

KyJuan sighed and stood up, cracking his neck and turning around to greet the meandering, dark haired student who was coming around the dining hall far too late to be sober. Hennessy went back to pre-closing, putting away packaging and wiping down glass boxes. The food in the display boxes needed to be changed monthly, so as soon as Ky had rung up the guy for the last thing they hadn’t sold that day, a birthday cake with someone’s name already on it that had never got picked up, she started taking old cupcakes out of clear cases. 

“We’ve sold everything, my lady, we can finally close.” Ky said, tossing the rejected receipt and pulling out the cash drawer. “Are you working breakfast tomorrow?” 

Hennessy stacked cupcakes in a cardboard box to throw them out. “I’m not bussing during breakfast again until December.” 

“Lucky you.” He muttered, pulling a display eclair out of its glass house and tossing it into her box with a thud. “You ever think about how gross it is to let food sit out for a month? These things are like rocks.” He banged a croissant on the counter to prove his point. 

Hennessy shrugged. “It’s just sugar and flour. And they look fine, it’s the consistency that’s off.” 

“Yeah, just the consistency. A tad firm, perhaps it was not a light enough dough.” He joked, throwing a handful of donut holes into the box like golf balls. When the display was cleared and the bakery was empty of baked goods, Hennessy carried the box outside, hefting it onto her hip to shove open the doors to the parking lot dumpsters. 

Cold October air slid over the parking lot and touched her like a good massage, flushing out all the tension of standing for hours. She breathed it in in gallons and smiled, taking a much needed break to sit on the curb and look at stars. It was easy to forget how nice the world itself was while standing inside a dining hall and counting coins from tired, penniless students all day, but this reminded her that she was in a good place. She was chasing her dreams of being a zoologist and selling cupcakes. She looked at the box of baked goods quizzically. They really did look normal. It didn’t speak very well of the quality that they lasted a month without undergoing any major visual changes, but the pink and yellow icing with sprinkles still delicately stuck to the swirl on a vanilla cupcake was always going to be irresistible. 

She sank her teeth in one. Or, she attempted to, it was hard as rocks. For some reason though, that didn’t stop her; the visuals of a good cupcake were overpowering the knowledge that it wasn’t supposed to break like a hardtack biscuit. She chewed and swallowed one bite, finding that the sugar still tasted sweet, but beyond that and dust, there wasn’t much flavor. A lack of other flavoring was good, right? That meant it wasn’t rotten or anything, she assumed, biting into another one. It was like eating sugar, which, granted, wasn’t great for you, but couldn’t be too bad. 

She finished that cupcake and picked up an eclair, biting into it, chewing on the crumbly bread and mushing her way through the filling, which was disconcertingly still liquidy, picking up another one before she gave herself a minute to think about it. 

Her stomach grumbled a bit, and she picked up a cookie, snapping it in her teeth like a thick potato chip and struggling to chew it up enough to swallow it down. She tore through a croissant that bit more like beef jerky and devoured three of them in rapid succession, finding the lack of flavor comforting, but the odd sensation in her waist slightly off-putting. She rubbed her stomach inside her skinny jeans and felt a bit of stabbing pain as the very hard food stacked up in her. She went back to the cupcakes after swallowing down the last dusty eclair from the bottom of the box, noticing that her belly was getting uncomfortably full. 

Cupcakes kept finding their way into hands, and her hand kept finding its way to her mouth, until she lost track of how many she was eating, and simply filled her belly until she was so full and bloated she couldn’t swallow. Her stomach pressed over the waistband of her jeans with throbbing pain and a sharp line constricted her enlarged tummy. It gurgled sickly and a hint of gas escaped her.

Hennessy palmed her lower stomach. “Oh,” she mumbled, feeling her full guts squirm. “I can’t eat any more.” She put down the cupcake and leaned back onto the sidewalk, stretching her legs off of the curb, letting the distention of her stomach rise up to the sky. “My belly feels…” How did it feel? “I can feel my belly moving with my hands. That’s bad.” She rubbed it and burped. “I think I shouldn’t have eaten those.” She could feel some churning and some burbling deep inside her guts and groaned a little. She had to get back inside and finish closing. 

She sat up and threw out the remainder of the cupcakes, feeling her belly twist just looking at them, and undoing the button on her jeans subtly, trying to give her roiling stomach some space to fix the damage. 

“Ough--” She doubled over as she opened the back door. “I don’t feel good.” Her intestines squelched with pain. She pulled her shirt down over the roiling bloat and went pack to work, burping subtly and trying to work quickly, the pain in her guts increasing with every passing moment. Unable to keep going, she put her hand to her belly. It was swollen, something was getting bigger in there, and she knew she didn’t have time to find out what it was. 

“Hey Ky?” She turned, and he stopped spraying the inside of the empty display case glass with windex. 

“Yeah?” 

“Can I go home early today? I know we’re not done, but--” she stifled a hiccup. “Can I let you finish up here?” 

KyJuan put down his rag. “I guess so, there’s not too much left to do. But why do you want to leave early?” 

“I-- this is gonna sound crazy, but I had a moment of insanity and I ate those cupcakes, and now my gut is making me feel things I didn’t even know it had the capacity to do.” 

KyJuan’s eyes went wide. “Why did you eat those? They’re like a month old, display only.” 

“Yes I know, KyJuan, that’s why I said it was crazy; and I don’t know why I ate them, they just looked good, like normal cupcakes.” 

“But surely when you bit into the first one you would’ve realized they were hard and dusty, right?” 

“Yes.” She cringed as her belly roiled. 

“And you kept going?” 

“I did say it was a moment of insanity.” KyJuan nodded slowly, looking her up and down as she began to sweat. He stepped aside and let her pass, dropping her gloves into the trash can and rushing out of the building. The cool night air washed over her and helped calm her sweat glands, but her stomach ache was worsening quickly. She held her bloated belly as she rushed back to her dorm, queasily burping and rubbing the distended bubble, wondering what the rest of her evening would be like, how her body would choose to handle this challenge she’d given it. Her tummy’s current plan of: ache and make Hennessy swear she would never eat display cupcakes again, was successful; she would never put herself through this again, that was for sure. She swiped her card on her building and pulled open the door, engaging her core muscles for a split second. 

Everything changed inside her. The pain doubled, her squelching guts moved, and her bloated pelvis hardened with firming contents. She grabbed her stomach and ran through the lobby, swiping her card and pressing the elevator button, dancing from foot to foot. The elevator beeped unbothered as she tried to keep her insides calm before she could get to her room. Her belly churned and gurgled, impatient to get this out of here. It was pulling rotten cupcakes down her intestines like putty, and her tight skinny jeans were worse than uncomfortable for her level sickness. She ran into the elevator and rode it up to her floor, cupping her distended pelvis and rubbing it carefully. The elevator stopped to let someone else on. They nodded to her and stood in the opposite corner, tucking their mask up. Her stomach ached. She closed her eyes and rubbed the sides, palming the filling portion and trying not to groan. She had to do something, the elevator was stopping again to let the person off. At a loss for other options, she farted. Her stomach gurgled angrily, and the person looked over. 

“You good?” 

“I don’t think so.” She replied, watching them get off, still looking at her dancing as the doors closed and they travelled to her floor. Once there, she waddled down the hall, hard undergut aching incredibly as she swiped her card and pushed into her dorm, running for her bathroom. She ripped off her jeans and slammed the door, glancing at the mirror. She was so swollen, like she was carrying a baby low. Her insides squirmed with impatience and she doubled over. It made no sense to shit herself this close to a toilet, she shoved her ass on the seat and squeezed her belly muscles hard. 

“Ungh!” 

Diarrhea was her stomach’s solution, apparently, and she sweat with pain and effort, pulling off her shirt and folding over, hugging her waist. Don’t eat rotten cupcakes, got it. Her bloated guts roiled sickly and she put a sweaty hand to her sweaty stomach and felt it twisting painfully. 

“My st-stupid belly,” She moaned. “Ugh, this hurts.” Her guts squeezed and she jerked. “Ohhh…” This night was going to be hell. By the time she heaved off the toilet, legs asleep, and got in the shower hugging her sick stomach, she was exhausted. Light headed and woozy, she staggered out and into bed, and slept instantly. 

When she woke in the morning, she felt like she’d been wrung out. A bowl of chex mix replenished the lost calories as watched an online lecture absentmindedly. Suddenly, she squirmed. She felt funny from head to toe, hot and cold, both sick to her empty stomach and full. She leaned over and hugged her squirming guts, trying to focus on the lecture. Nope, belly hurt too bad. She went back to her bathroom and sat down on the toilet, panting, holding her stomach. 

She expelled the chex mix and groaned, feeling the angry rumbling in her lower abdomen. How long would this last? A PB&J ran through her like acid, and left her in the bathroom completely naked, folded in half, moaning. A bowl of ramen came up and not down, keeling her over at her desk, heaving up out of her stomach and denying her any nutrients. She laid down on her back and stared at the ceiling, running her hands over her belly, feeling bubbles and churns beneath her fingers. She just couldn’t eat any breakfast, then. That was that. There was a knock on the door. 

“Fuck off.” She called. She had enough to deal with already. 

“It’s Ky?” Came the voice. She was about to double down on the fuck off, but remembered Ky had a way of knowing things that most people didn’t, and conceded that he might know how to fix this. She wasn’t getting up though. Another one of the odd things Ky knew was lock picking, so she laid on her back until he picked her lock and came in. He was understandably surprised to see her in her underwear sipping a Capri Sun. He asked what was up.

“You ever ate something that fucked you up so bad you couldn’t eat for twelve hours after it?” She answered, belly bubbling again, interrupting the Capri Sun intake for a moment. Ky looked at her stomach.

“Yes. Is this about the cupcakes? Because--”

She felt her intestines burble and interrupted him. “Yes, this is about the cupcakes. I almost shit myself after I ate a PB&J.” 

He touched her stomach and took her juice, furrowing his brow concernedly as her insides decided that was the right time to start twisting around each other within her lower belly. She cringed and took a shaky breath, desperately enjoying the feeling of his warm hand cupping her bloated guts, but he took it off and started giving her instructions. 

“Eat stuff like yogurt, pickles, dark chocolate,” He pulled her into a sitting position, upsetting her loins. “And cheeses. They have good bacteria. You might feel a little sicker for a while, the bad bacteria and the good bacteria are gonna have a little fight in your colon. To help out the good stuff, drink water and try your best not to shit for a while. Once it’s all done you’ll be able to flush your system, and it’ll be clear you’re done when you’re done.” Hennessy’s stomach expanded briefly and she burped.

“How long will it take?” 

“Depends on how much display-only cupcake you let get inside your guts.” She frowned. She'd let quite a bit of display-only cupcakes get inside her, and eclairs, and cookies, and croissants. Maybe it wasn’t so far fetched that she had tummy troubles today. Even that much in-date sweets would make you sick. KyJuan gave her some chocolate and left, and she laid back down. She didn’t want chocolate, not upon penalty of death. She’d rather eat glass. Her intestines twisted and squirmed, begging for intake, but reeling with sickness. She was so hungry. What did he say to eat? Yogurt? 

She pulled herself to her feet and opened her minifridge, taking out an activia and ripping off the cap, swallowing the portion she licked off the lid quickly. She wanted to be done with this. Her belly squirmed, upset to be taking in something sweet, but she mastered it and stuck a spoon in the yogurt, starting to eat it.

Her belly roiled with protest. She hunched over and grabbed it, bracing herself against an attack of loud digestive gurgling and swallowing another spoonful of yogurt. She felt indigestion travel up her midsection and come out as a burp, sickly sweet with strawberry activia. This was the worst. She took out another activia and broke the seal, licking off the lid and sticking her spoon in. Whatever she had to do to end this, she’d make sure to do. She trusted Ky, but her trust faltered as her tummy erupted with bubbles and made her pass long gas. 

She finished that activia and opened her fridge for more probiotics. She had a jar of pickles for sandwiches she opened and drank the juice out of. That was an old one, her grandpa had taught her the pickle juice method of killing stomach aches a long time ago. It sloshed into her rumbling bloat and she chugged the jar, slamming it down with a hard belch when she was finished. Her belly jiggled as she forced the last of the air out with a groan. It wasn’t feeling better. 

She took out a bag of shredded cheese and poured some into her mouth, staring out into her dorm with mild disbelief. She was just standing in front of her open refrigerator door eating miscellaneous detritus, hoping it would negate the fact that she ate a pound of out of date deserts. Her stomach filled with cheese, which didn’t get along well with the pickle juice, and she winced, hugged her stomach, and put away the cheese, slamming her fridge closed and lumbering to her bed. 

“Ohhh.” She held her stomach and massaged the full bloat, regretting eating so much food. He didn’t instruct her to eat everything all at once. “I’m such an idiot.” Her stomach agreed with a rumble and she curled on her side. Good thing she wasn’t working breakfast this month. If she’d had to go to the dining hall it would have been impossible. Her stomach hurt worse than she could remember it hurting since elementary school. She remembered how tummy bugs would go around then, and wished she could get it over with as quickly as a little puke. 

It burbled aggressively, pushing activia down into her colon but facing resistance. She groaned and rubbed her puffed out intestines, closing her eyes tightly as that “little fight” Ky was talking about started. She ran her fingers up and down her clenching abdomen and twitched with quiet sobs. It would’ve been bad enough, but she really did eat too much. She looked down at her bloated paunch and sighed, rubbing back and forth across it quickly. There was a knock at the door.

“Not now!” She shouted, rolling onto her back and feeling her tummy gurgling freely in the air. The knock repeated itself. 

“It’s Visanya Awad, your RA. Can I come in?” 

She bolted up in bed. “One second!” She scrambled for her dresser, pulling on a loose t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants quickly, as her RA called back through the door. 

“The lock is off, I can just open it; you don’t have to get up.” The door creaked open just as Hennessy tucked the elastic band of her fuzzy pajama pants under her belly, after reconsidering the reaction in her colon to being restricted. She nervously tossed her hair behind her and stood in the middle of her messy floor, staring at Visanya, who pushed open the door slowly and looked around. 

“Hey, how are you doing?” Came the preemptive question. 

“F-fine.” Hennessy replied, belly roiling softly. “Why, did someone say I’m not?” 

Visanya walked in and looked around, glancing at Hennessy’s bathroom and wardrobe. “No, I just came to check on you because someone said they saw a guy picking your lock earlier this morning. I see that it’s disengaged now. Did you know that someone broke into your room without permission?” 

“Oh!” Hennessy cried, laughing tensely. “That was my friend KyJuan. I gave him permission.” 

Visanya raised an eyebrow. “You gave him permission to pick the lock on school property housing?” 

“Oh.” Hennessy glanced at the door. “Okay, I guess I can’t really do that.” 

“Right,” Visanya said, perching on Hennessy’s bed as she took a step back nervously. The “little fight” was becoming not so little. “So that’s one problem, but also, why are you giving people permission to break into your room? Are you worried about something happening?” 

“No,” Hennessy heard a gurgle come from under her t-shirt, and Visanya finally glanced at her stomach’s bloat. “I just didn’t feel like getting up.” 

“Are you sick or something?” Visanya asked, as Hennessy shifted her clothing and nervously played with her hair. 

“A little, yeah.” Her stomach rumbled angrily and she crossed her legs with discomfort. Visanya had to get out of here. At least her presence was keeping Hennessy from running to the bathroom, which KyJuan said not to do until it was over, to help the good stuff win. But boy, did it feel like it was losing. “Can I get you some water?” Hennessy asked tensely, already walking to her fridge. She handed a bottle to Visanya and took one for herself, opening the cap and chugging it down immediately, as the RA sipped and watched her. 

She felt her belly filling up again, and then took a moment to breathe, the cold sensation sinking through to her guts. She cupped her stomach and winced. “Ooh.” Visanya’s eyebrows went up and Hennessy quickly put her hand at her side. “So, uh, yeah. I’m-- ough --fine. I won’t let KyJuan pick my lock again, sorry about that.” She laughed tersely and started to move towards her door, insides squelching loudly with every step as her stomach started telling her to get in the bathroom sooner rather than later. “Thanks for checking in.” Her belly groaned. “See ya.” Visanya stood up slowly, tucking her mask over her nose and putting the water in her hoodie pocket, eyeing Hennessy intensely as she left the room. “Thanks again!” Hennessy called, shutting the door quickly.

“Don’t forget to trigger your lock again.” Visanya said, still sizing Hennessy up. 

“Yup, thanks!” She replied, turning the manual lock with a shaking hand as her belly let grip a thunderous rumble. Finally free, she shut the door, hearing the lock click into the socket as she ran to her bathroom. Her belly surged and she pulled off her clothes, throwing the lid of the toilet up with a clang. 

The good bacteria won, and both it and the bad bacteria came running out in a matter of forty five minutes. KyJuan was right though, when it was over, it was clearly over. She felt fine; tired, empty as a plastic bag, but right as rain. She stepped into her shower happily, and then returned to her room, hungry as all hell.  Maybe she could eat that chocolate he gave her.

Notes:

I know it seems like the title doesn't make sense, but it's a callback to chapter one of 'Li Jie Chan', the previous work in the series.