Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"You're going into the office today?" Peggedra asked Atawon as he adorned his brown long-coat and work boots.

"Indeed I am. I find it easier to focus on my work when I'm at the office, without such a beautiful lady distracting me," he pecked her on the cheek and picked up his briefcase.

"Well, I packed you some food to take! Please, enjoy it!" Peggedra blushed and held out a bag towards him. "It's some experimental stuff for the bakery that I'm trying out...you're like my beta tester," she smiled.

"Well, I can't say no to that," Atawon smiled and took the bag from her hands. "I'll look forward to trying it on my break." Peggedra smiled widely, waving off her partner.

"Oh, good morning, Atawon!" Atawon's colleague, Ax, greeted him as he walked into the main office space.

"Morning, Ax!" Atawon smiled and waved back at him.

"You seem cheery today. More than usual..." Ax raised an eyebrow, sizing up Atawon, trying to find some sort of visual indication of his newfound pep.

"Really? I think I'm just eager to work on the next chapter," Atawon bluffed. "Actually, I've started seeing someone—"

"No shot! I'm happy for ya, Atawon!" Ax pat Atawon on the back and made his way to his own desk. "Hey, try some of the mini chocolate croissants in the lunch room. They're really good. But try them ASAP, since they are better when they're fresher!" Ax called out from his desk.
Forgetting about his packed food, Atawon immediately stood back up.

"Croissants?! Don't mind if I do~!"

"I seriously thought you'd wait until your break," Ax laughed to himself.

"Mm, no way!" Atawon interjected as he popped two mini croissants into his mouth. "Hah, these are pretty great! Okay, back to—back to work," Atawon quickly grabbed a third croissant and skipped back to his own seat.

"Pfft, I forgot you had such a sweet tooth," Ax cracked up.

"Break time~ finally!" Ax stretched his arms behind his back. "Whoa no way, you ate those croissants earlier when you had that waitin' for you!" Ax gawked at the contents of Atawon's packed lunch.

"I totally forgot that my girlfriend made me desserts...and if she finds out I ate some store-bought stuff and didn't eat hers..." Atawon gloomed, taking a bite of the oversized cupcake. "Whoa, this is amazing!"
He had only planned to eat half of the cupcake to compensate for the one-too-many croissants he'd had earlier in the day, but the deliciousness of his girlfriend's baking was irresistible. And then he realized...

"She packed me a cookie, a scone, and a blueberry tart too?!"

"Whoa, lucky guy!" Ax whistled.

"I'm only taking one bite of each so I can give her the feedback she wants..." Atawon gulped, taking a bite of each dessert individually.

"What happened to one bite?" Atawon was snapped out of his daze by the snide voice of Ax. He looked in front of him to see all the food demolished.

"Oh gosh...burp..." Atawon covered his mouth, horrified by his own actions.

"Welcome home, Atawon~! How were the desserts? Did your co-workers like them?" Peggedra asked as he walked through the door.

"My co-workers?" Atawon asked.

"I assumed you'd share with your co-workers since I packed so much," Peggedra said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, right...yeah, they loved them. Everything was de—delicious..." Atawon sweat a little, feeling incredibly silly.

"Oh, good! I'll make more for you tomorrow. I have a lot of new recipes to test!" Peggedra smiled. "Anyway, shall we get started on dinner? It's evening now," Peggedra smiled, grabbing Atawon's arm.

"D-Dinner!" Atawon felt sick at the mere mention of more food. "Certainly...truthfully, I'm not feeling too hungry, so I'll have to eat light," Atawon understated how truly full he felt.

"P-Pasta, huh?" Atawon nervously looked at the decadent dish prepared by his girlfriend. On the first bite, all feelings of fullness went away, and before he knew it, he had eaten two servings of alfredo pasta.

"I thought you said you would eat light," Peggedra smirked at her boyfriend who had just eaten 3 times as much as her.

"It was really g-good," Atawon struggled to speak after gorging himself on the most filling foods imaginable. "Excuse me, I think I need to turn in for the night. Thank you for the wonderful food, and the even more wonderful company, Peggedra," Atawon smiled sincerely, slowly standing up from the table.

"Of course, any time, Atawon," she smiled up at him, lightly waving. Atawon's smile immediately faded once he turned around and left Peggedra's sight.

'Oh man, this was a mistake,' he held a hand over his belly as he made his way up the stairs. Atawon was a relatively trim man, working out a couple times a week and routinely meal-prepping. He managed to drag himself into his bedroom. He belched into his arm, and began undressing from his work clothes. He put on his pajamas and got into bed. He felt a subtle rumbling in his abdomen, but managed to fall asleep despite it.

Chapter Text

Atawon entered the office the next day, looking rather haggard.

"Whoa, buddy! You alright? Those pastries didn't sit well, huh?" Ax laughed a little, trying to show genuine concern for his coworker.

"Urp. Save it," Atawon belched under his breath and swiftly made his way to his seat. "Hey, can you take a look at this draft? I want to do a spinoff of Meldrama. It was very successful, and I think it would sell if we did a spinoff focusing on Collie and her time in Goralen," Atawon turned his laptop on and set it down next to Ax's.

He looked over the screen for a moment before nodding. "They hired you for a reason, Atawon. I think it's great," he smiled at Atawon, who now looked slightly less gloomy. "Just double check that we still have all the rights to Meldrama. It's been a bit so the IP could've changed hands."

"Will do. Thanks, Ax." Atawon smiled and sat down. As he was about to begin working, something caught his eye. A plate of muffins sat at the far end of the room. "Hey, who brought in muffins?" He asked the room. Cenha, one of the newest writers, raised their hand.

"I made those this morning. Blueberry cinnamon," they smiled. "Help yourself. I heard from Ax that you have a sweet tooth," they grinned innocently. Atawon blushed lightly and shot a glare at Ax, who looked up a the ceiling to avoid any confrontation.

"That's very nice of you, Cenha," Atawon said before turning his attention back to his laptop, eager to dispel any rumours about him. After the disaster the previous night, needless to say, Atawon was having a rough time. He had awoken before his alarm clock to the feeling of his stomach rumbling away, more than likely due to the large amounts of pastry and heavy pasta he had devoured. He ate a piece of toast before leaving for work so as to not disturb his belly. He took the lunch Peggedra had packed for him as usual, though. Those muffins were awfully appealing to him, despite his incident. He eyed the muffins, before feeling his belly growl lightly. Against his better judgement, Atawon got up and took a muffin from the plate before sitting back down.

He bit into the muffin, it was perfectly moist and spongey throughout. The blueberries were tart and the cake was just sweet enough to satisfy his apparent 'sweet tooth'. Before he knew it, he had eaten the whole thing. He dusted off his hands and began typing, working on the next chapter of Roaring Rain. Soon enough, lunch time came.

"How was the muffin, by the way, Atawon?" Cenha asked finally, now that everyone had pulled away from their work.

"It was lovely," Atawon complimented them on their baking, not fully realizing how dangerous it would be for him to have such talented bakers in both parts of his life. He opened up his lunch and gawked.

"What do you have today?" Ax asked, licking his lips as he pulled out his own lunch: a veggie sandwich.

"U-Um, my girlfriend runs a bakery and packed a lot of baked stuff. She sent a lot so we can all share. I'll give her the feedback when I go home. If you guys don't mind..." Atawon trembled. He was sharing something about his personal life, sitting with a lot of sugary treats at his fingertips.

"Oh boy, she packed a lot! How many people does she think works here? This is enough for at least ten!" Ax exclaimed, looking at the inside of the bag. The office only had four people, one of whom was not in-office that day. "I'll take this cookie I guess. Thanks, man. Mm!" Ax's eyes lit up as he took a bite. "Chocolate chunk?! Careful, Atawon. If I meet your girlfriend I might just have to snatch her up for myself!"

Atawon scoffed and elbowed Ax gently in the rib. "Seriously, you need to tell me what bakery she runs."

In the small amount of time between Ax asking his question and everyone sitting back down, Atawon had mindlessly eaten three slices of pumpkin pie before he registered Ax's request. "O-Oh, it's the Paradian Patisserie," he sputtered out, feeling a heavy weight in his gut. Atawon quickly typed out the name of the bakery in his notes before returning to his sandwich.

A couple of hours had passed, and Atawon felt a nagging feeling. He could explain to his girlfriend that there was a lot of food for the amount of people. However, he really, really liked the desserts she would send. And he knew she needed feedback. There were several items that had not been tried by anyone yet - rosemary biscuits, plum tarts, apple snaps, and carrot cake. Atawon decided to himself that he would try once more to take a bite of each item, simply so that he could give his thoughts to his lover. And he wouldn't dare pressure either of his co-workers to eat more than they wanted.

And so, he continued working away, mindlessly munching on various treats. He didn't realize it at the time, but Ax was staring at him in awe, noticing how he ate an entire slice of carrot cake in three quick bites. He eventually felt his belt tightening around his middle, his button-up shirt feeling more fitted than he was used to. He came to a rather difficult part of the chapter he was writing and opened his mouth to ask Ax about it.

"Hey Ax, I—uuurp!" Atawon covered his mouth in shock. Ax simply laughed.

"Yeah? What is it, buddy?" He smiled.

"Um...t-this scene when Maria is at the window sill..." the conversation carried on as normal. Well, as normal as it could. Once the end of the day rolled around, everyone swiftly packed up. Except for Atawon.

"Urgh..." Atawon sat in his chair, groaning and rubbing his stomach.

"Are you okay?" Ax asked gently, making his way over to the struggling man.

"Yeah," Atawon panted, "I'll be alright. Get home safe, Ax."

After he was alone in the office, he gingerly packed up his belongings and dragged himself out of the building, feeling what must have been six people's worth of dessert weighing down his usually flat middle. He clutched his belly in an awkward way, not sure how he should feel.

Chapter Text

As Atawon eventually stumbled his way into his home, he saw a light on in the kitchen.

<She must've forgotten to turn it off before she left,> he thought. The two of them were still only newly dating, and so they still lived separately. Cradling his full stomach, Atawon put down his briefcase and made his way to the kitchen to shut off the light so he could go to bed. As it turns out, there was no forgetfulness at all.

A note was left on the counter, clearly from Peggedra. It read, 'check the fridge :)'. Atawon's already full gut felt even heavier with dread upon reading this note. Why was his girlfriend so sweet to him? He opened the fridge and saw a container with a sticky note on the front that said 'take this to work tomorrow'. Atawon slowly removed the heavy container and placed it on the counter. When he opened it, his jaw dropped.

A beautiful, decadent chocolate pie, fit to serve twelve people. <She really overestimates how big our team is,> Atawon smiled sheepishly to himself. He packed everything up quickly and got into his sleep clothes. His sleepwear was loose-fitting as that was the most comfortable type of garment to rest in for Atawon. However, the top seemed to fit more snug than usual. He placed a hand to his belly and felt it groaning under his touch. <Dang, I really overdid it today. How stupid could I be? This bloating better go down by tomorrow...> he stewed with the thoughts as he drifted to sleep.

Apparently, Atawon moved around a lot more in his sleep than he realized. This was shamefully discovered when he awoke in the middle of the night. He didn't wake himself up by having cut off circulation to one of his limbs, or being face-down for too long, no. He awoke himself upon shifting to lay on his stomach at a certain angle. Suddenly, a sharp pressure was felt, jolting him awake. Before he could even recognize that he was, in fact, awake, a loud belch erupted from his mouth, to which he immediately gasped and smacked his palm to his mouth and froze.

<What the hell?> He was surprised and confused, a feeling all too familiar for him lately. He quickly flipped onto his back and pulled the covers aside. His belly stood up noticeably, still full of pastries. He placed both hands on his gut, rubbing it gently and groaning. <Urgh...if I don't get a hold of myself...what's going to happen to me? I just need to tell Peg that she can stop baking for me—us, the team. But, gosh...she's so talented,> he mused as he rubbed his groaning belly, his mouth watering as he remembered all the sweet things he had had the privilege of stuffing treating himself with. Eventually, he fell asleep once more, having soothed himself to sleep with the memories of baked goods and of his lovely, sweet girlfriend Peggedra.

The next morning, Atawon wakes up as usual. He does his standard routine, some would call it over-the-top, but Atawon believes that feeling and looking his best is the key to doing good work. He does up his shirt, one of his many perfectly-tailored fitted button-up dress shirts. This one is white, and he pairs it with black dress pants, as he often does. Atop his shirt rests his maroon tie, the boldest fashion choice he has made in a long time. After assuring himself that he is dressed adequately, and that his hair is perfect, he grabs his things and begins making his way to the office. Not before grabbing the pie from the fridge, of course. He leaves the sticky note attached to the sealed container, and takes the note from the counter, smiles lightly, and stuffs it in his shirt pocket before leaving. With pitch day only being two days away, Atawon felt an extra pep in his step. Or perhaps that could be attributed to the copious amounts of sugar he had consumed the day before. Whatever the case, he entered the office with an energy so high that he did not even realize that his shirt had ridden up from scaling the staircase, exposing a portion of his lower abdomen to the whole office.

"Hey, Atawonder, don't you feel a breeze in that?" Ax asked him immediately.

"Hm?" Atawon continued his resting smile as he looked down to see his exposed flesh. With a bit too much force, he pulled the shirt down and nearly tore it, blushing a little. "Guess I ran here too fast," he joked and sat down.

"What's with the good mood today, Urice?" Retria asked as she smiled. She wasn't used to Atawon being so chipper.

"Oh, right, you weren't in yesterday," Ax chimed in. "Yesterday, Atawon brought in baked stuff that his girlfriend made," he started explaining, before his face morphed into a sinister grin. "And get this, Atawon—" Ax was quickly cut off by Atawon's hand pressing over his mouth. Ax was more than startled at this action, and completely shocked. "H-Hey, what the hell?!" Ax held his own fingers over his lips after Atawon removed his hand, his face reddening and his brows creasing.

"Sorry. Slipped." Atawon lied and sat down. Ax huffed and withdrew himself from the conversation. "It's almost time for me to pitch the Meldrama spinoff," Atawon explained to Retria as if nothing had happened. "I am very eager to get it done."

"Oh, that explains it! Nice! Hopefully it'll work out. I have a pitch I'm working on today too...it's for a new series called Thundray. It's about a superhero that harnesses the power of lightning and other weather phenomena. I-I know it's a bit out there for us, but I'm really passionate about it," Retria stated bashfully, scratching at her cheek and looking to the side.

"That is...certainly 'out there'," Atawon couldn't help but agree. "Well, I hope it goes well for you. I'd say it's a good thing to branch out a little, businesswise. I think Cenha said that they're also looking into expanding the way we make promo material."

"Yeah, I think we need to do more abstract stuff to appeal to a broader audience. But it'll probably end up being considered misleading if our promo content doesn't match the material. Still workshopping it, nothing's been finalized yet." Cenha said while they continued tapping away on their keyboard.

"Well now I'm curious! Show me some of the proofs, please!" Retria practically jumped out of her seat and scurried over to Cenha's computer. With that, Atawon moved his focus to perfecting his pitch material.

<This needs to be perfect,> he thought, hammering away at his writing. Then, he felt his stomach growl. <What time is it?> Lunch time, apparently.

"I have a chocolate pie if anyone wants some..." Atawon awkwardly announced as he moved to retrieve the item from his bag.

"That thing is huge!" Ax exclaimed, speaking for the first time in a few hours.

Atawon simply gulped as he recalled the results of the previous times he had brought sweets to work. Whatever happened today, Atawon knew he needed to make his choices very, very carefully, as he preemptively placed a hand on his stomach. "Yeah. It's...yeah."

Chapter Text

Each of Atawon's co-workers took small slivers of pie, thanking him and extending thanks to his wife. All in all, his co-workers together had taken a total of about 1/6 of this pie. In the fear that he would not be able to hold himself back, Atawon closed the container and packed up the pie before continuing to work.

"Not hungry, Atawon?" Ax asked, perplexed by this out-of-character behaviour.

"Nah, I-I ate breakfast on the way instead of when I woke up..." Atawon attempted to fabricate a convincing excuse.

"On the way...four hours ago?" Ax asked.

"Three! Three hours ago," Atawon corrected, nervously fidgeting. "Anyway, you all enjoy! I have to get some more stuff done anyway..." he turned his attention back to his computer, mindlessly typing away for what felt like hours, but in reality, was about three minutes. He felt his stomach growl. Not out of hunger, but anticipation. He so desperately wanted—no, needed—chocolate pie in his mouth. He tried to write the historical fiction scenes, the gritty, serious novel he chose to dedicate himself to, and yet, all that ran through his mind was the flaky crust and creamy chocolate filling that sat so close to him.

"Mm! Hey, this is really good pie!" Ax exclaimed.

"Yeah, I don't think I've ever had chocolate pie before, now that I think about it..." Cenha pondered.

"Looks like you've got some new competition, Cenha!" Retria joked before putting another large forkful of pie into her mouth.

<Ignore them, ignore them, ignore them, ignore them—>

"Hey!" Atawon was quickly snapped out of his daze by Ax. "Didn't you want us to give you feedback?"

"O-Oh, sorry, I was just really focused. I'm glad you all like it. Peg will be really happy," Atawon forced a smile.

"Hey, are you feeling okay?" Retria suddenly asked as she got up from her chair and began walking over to Atawon's desk.

"Yeah, of course, I'm fine!" Atawon flinched as his colleague began to examine him closely.

"You look really out of it. If there's something wrong, please tell us, okay? I don't want you fainting and breaking that keyboard," she winked. Silence fell over the office for a brief moment, before the sound of Atawon's stomach growling cut through it. His face immediately went red one he saw the acknowledgement of the sound on everyone's faces.

"You are hungry! Did you not bring food? I get it if you don't want to eat the pie right now, but come on, dude! I have some extra salad in the fridge, you have to eat something!" Ax pleaded.

"Yeah, you're right...I guess I just...I do want to have some pie. I just didn't want to take too much since, well, I get to eat Peg's baking all the time. This is a nice treat for you all," Atawon smiled grimly.

"You think the three of us are going to make any more of a dent in that giant thing!?" Cenha blurted out incredulously at Atawon's massive stretch of the truth. Atawon sighed.

"You're right. Ax, I'll have some salad, thank you. Then, maybe afterwards I'll have a little pie. I'm sorry, everyone." Atawon smiled apologetically.

"We're just concerned for you, that's all," Retria assured him as she sat back down.

"Yeah! We're a team!" Cenha smiled and gave him a cheesy thumbs-up, causing Atawon to laugh lightly.

"Yeah, every team needs at least one moron," Ax mumbled to himself. Atawon decided to ignore that comment.

Atawon munched on the mixed greens salad as he continued writing. Having some food in his system did make him feel a lot better. Come to think of it, when was the last time he ate something that wasn't obscenely rich and decadent? And here he was, eating something nice and light and fresh. After about an hour had passed, Atawon decided to make his move. He reached down under his desk and into his bag. He grabbed the box with the pie in it and set it on his counter.

He gingerly opened the box and, with a knife in his shaky hand, cut what he perceived to be a small slice of the dessert.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Atawon," Retria suddenly spoke.

"O-Oh, haha, thanks. I-I guess I haven't been taking enough care of myself..." Atawon blushed, thinking of how he'd been behaving for the past week. He dug right into the pie, trying to savour it slowly. As he tasted the first bite...his eyes lit up.

<Oh. My. Gosh. What...kind of heavenly thing is this?!> His mind raced in elation. The thing about chocolate pie is that, going in, it feels very light and airy. But once it's actually in, the illusion is quickly broken. Atawon didn't have time to realize this phenomenon as he hurriedly scraped the bottom of his plate, finishing his slice in record time. Without thinking, he immediately stuck his fork in the next bit of pie he saw, which was the remaining 70% of pie in the box. He gasped as he realized what he had done. This gasp was much louder than he meant it to be, causing his co-workers' heads to whip around to him.

"How did you manage that?" Ax stifled a laugh.

"Um, I, uh...more for me, I guess!" Atawon mindlessly replied with a big grin. He started to do exactly what he feared - eat the pie right out of the box. He moved all of his attention to the pie, using his fork to get as much of the deliciousness as possible in every bite. Not bothering to savour the food, he needed it all in him. He didn't know where this urge came from, or that he was even having such an urge. And in front of his colleagues, no less.

"Um, Atawon?!" Ax exclaimed in horror as he watched his co-worker go from being unwell and frail to practically shoving the entire pie into his mouth. "P-Pace yourself, dude! What's gotten into you?!" He ran over and seized the pie from the man.

"Uh...huh?" Atawon looked up at Ax in a confused daze. "What are you doing...?"

"You have to stop this! Slow down, you're going to make yourself sick again!" He scolded. Atawon opened his mouth to retort. But all that he managed was...

"No, give it...give it—give it back!" He whined. By this point, Cenha and Retria had frozen like deer in headlights, shocked at this sudden display of pure gluttony. Ax was equally stunned at this odd loss of decorum from his usually tidy colleague. During this moment of frozen shock, Atawon snatched the pie from Ax's hands.

"I-I, sorry, I don't...I don't know what..." he stammered, finally coming back to reality. Then, his stomach growled.

"Don't tell me...you're hungry?" Ax asked in shock. In truth, he was. He was hungry for that pie. "Okay, I'm not here to baby you, but at least slow down a little before you puke on our equipment!" Ax scolded.

Atawon could only nod in shame. Everyone went back to work after spending a few moments in silence to calm down. He got back to working, nibbling on little bits of the pie as he worked.

He didn't realize, but every bite of pie was bigger than the last. And eventually, his shirt buttons began to strain against his midsection. His belly practically grew with each bite of the rich dessert. He had made it to the last quarter of dessert before long, when he felt something. A popping sound, and a sudden coolness on his skin.

He had popped one of his buttons. He looked down, horrified, to see that, yes, one of his buttons had popped out of its spot. <No...how did this...> his face reddened as he thought more about it.

"Hey, Atawon? Can you check the message I just sent you?" Cenha asked from their seat. Atawon motioned to respond.

"Buuurrrp! Oh-I'm s—excuse me!" Atawon's face contorted and flushed red. He instinctively smacked a hand to his newly partially-exposed gut. "Buuurp! Ooh...shit, I really shouldn't have—URP—done this..." He spoke softly to himself, regret filling his heart. His belly was swollen and bloated from nearly inhaling that chocolate pie, and now he was making a fool of himself in front of his team. "Yeah, um...I'll check it now, Cenha!" He tried to act like nothing was awry as he opened his messages. He felt his gut gurgling from being stuffed so quickly with rich, creamy chocolate. Yet some part of him wanted more...<No, you moron! You're making a slob of yourself in the office!> He chastised himself for the foolish desire. He simply needed to focus on his work. Which, as it turns out, is hard to do when you're stuffed out of your mind and have no one to blame but yourself.

"Hey, are you alright?" Ax asked, peeking over his monitor.

"Yeah!" Atawon turned in his chair before realizing that he was exposing his button mishap to Ax, who gasped lightly. Atawon blushed and put a hand over the gap in his shirt, wanting to simply sink into the floor. He tried to continue working, but he felt his belly pushing against the remaining buttons on his shirt. He sat there, typing away, trying to stifle the burps that would just not stop. He looked at the time: 3:35pm. He looked at the box: 25% of pie remaining.

This was going to be a long day.