Owls hooted in the background outside the building as Sarge explored the bakery. He yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Starting a brand new job was hard, but starting a night shift was proving to be even harder. He was pretty sure the only reason he got this job was that fennecs had a stereotype for being nocturnal. But he wasn’t about to complain. Had to make money somehow after all. It would just take a few weeks to adjust to the new sleeping schedule probably.

He pushed the security guard’s hat out of his eyes with the butt of his flashlight and readjusted the new dress shirt of his uniform. Not super comfortable, but that was just another thing to get used to. The job wasn’t exactly going to be difficult. Who would ever break into a donut factory? Some thieving bandits with a severe case of the munchies? Nah, this job would be a cake walk.

Speaking of cake though, where were all the donuts anyway? He’d been walking the circuit through the building for a good hour and a half now, but no sign of the sweet treats anywhere. Maybe they didn’t keep them out on the bakery floor at night? There was nothing sitting on the conveyor belts or in the machinery, not even any ingredients. That was a shame. Sarge partially took the job because he loved Go Nuts Donuts so much. Since he was the only night guard, that meant there was no one to yell at him if he happened to sample the merchandise. No one would miss a single donut going missing.

The hours stretched on, and Sarge found himself getting bored quickly. It was only his first shift and he’d already looked over the entire factory dozens of times. Bakers’ dozens even. He started to deviate from the path he’d been told to walk, exploring new corners of the bakery. There wasn’t anything interesting to look at anyway.

That is until he came across a new part of the factory. The tiles were clean, sparkling white and sterile in this room. Much different from the rest of the building, which although clean didn’t have quite such a laboratory-esque feel to it. Sarge flipped on a light, covering his eyes to avoid being blinded by the sudden change in brightness. Yup, it definitely looked like a testing room of some kind. Maybe this was where the workers tried to come up with new donut flavors. Different vats of glaze sat in the corner, along with half-eaten donuts along the countertops. Some had big green checkmarks beneath them while others didn’t.

And as Sarge explored further, he noticed a huge box hastily pushed to the side. Written in block letters across the side was “Experiment F47” along with a whole bunch of sciencey sounding words that he couldn’t make heads or tails of. There was one part that did catch his attention though: “Experimental Donut Taste Enhancer.”

The fennec’s ears perked. What a strange thing to have just pushed up to the side like that. Out of the way. Almost as if no one would notice if it was accidentally opened and something went missing from inside. He scanned his eyes across the room to see if anyone was watching, which of course there weren’t; he was the only night shift security officer.

“Maybe just one…” he whispered. His swiss-army knife made short work of the packing tape holding the lid shut. As soon as the top was open Sarge was assaulted with a wave of sweet smells. The four foot tall box was completely filled with donuts from top to bottom. Glazed, jelly-filled, blueberry, powdered sugar, chocolate. Donuts of every shape and size he could imagine were represented. It was amazing. So much so that Sarge didn’t even question why these delicious treats had been set aside in a corner and sealed up. He simply picked out the closest one to the top.

It didn’t even seem stale. Maybe this was where all the leftover donuts got stored once the day was finished. Not every donut got bought in the bakery after all. That just meant they were free for the taking. He took a bite. Sarge’s eyes lit up.

“Woah,” he muttered. This was easily the best donut he’d ever tasted before. It took only seconds for the fennec to wolf down the rest of it. He greedily licked the leftover glaze from his brown fingers. Delicious, and exactly what he needed to make his way through the rest of the shift. He started to walk away when his gaze was drawn back to the box of donuts. Seemed a shame to just let them all go to waste. No one would eat all of these before they went stale.

Sarge picked out two more of the sweet treats, keeping them on two of his fingers while he continued his rounds. The minutes passed uneventfully, but each time he made a circle around the factory he made sure to drop by that research room to pick up yet another donut. He wasn’t making much progress through the enormous box anyway. Sarge just reasoned to himself that they were going to be thrown out, and no one would miss a few extra donuts. They didn’t seem to last nearly as long after each trip round the building, and he was running out of fingers to put donuts on for each successive trip.

He might have continued like that if it weren’t for the rising sun. Light filtered into the bakery through the windows, brighter and brighter. Sarge’s phone alarm went off with a beep, signaling that 6 AM was here. Time to pack it in and go home. He stretched his arms up and yawned. What a long night. His shirt untucked revealing the start of a brown belly under the security uniform. Huh, that was odd. He was sure these clothes fit just fine when he started his shift. Patting at his distended tum, it gurgled and grumbled. Sarge covered his mouth as a belch rose through his throat. “BWAAARP.” He blushed heavily, looking around to be sure he was alone. Maybe he’d overdone it a bit on the donuts tonight. There would be other uniforms in larger sizes though so nothing to worry about too much.

The fennec changed back to his regular outfit and handed off the building’s keys to the incoming security officer. His dogtags clanked against each other as he started to leave pausing only for a second at the research wing. The open box of donuts was still there, beckoning. He shouldn’t. He’d already had way more donuts than was probably appropriate. But his stomach grumbled hungrily. That was strange; still hungry after a whole night of snacking? Maybe his body was still adjusting to the new waking schedule.

Sarge shrugged and took one last donut for the road. It would be another day before he’d be back for his next shift. What was the harm in another roadie?

The fennec didn’t pay much attention as he closed up the top of the box. Scrawled across the top in big black letters was “DO NOT OPEN, EXTRA STRENGTH METABOLISM ENHANCER. Side effects include exponentially increased appetite. Send to Research for immediate destruction, too dangerous.”

---

The next day was a bit of a blur to Sarge. He passed out right away once he got home, and woke up feeling absolutely ravenous. He’d slept the entire day through, waking up in the evening, which didn’t help his plan for going out to get food at a restaurant. Guess that wasn’t as much of an option for people on the night shift. He was pretty sure there was enough food in his pantry for a day or two though.

As if to remind him, his stomach grumbled again. No time to mess around, breakfast first. Sarge pulled out his cereal and poured a bowl… only to find it gone in minutes flat. And still his belly growled at him. Okay, so maybe he was extra hungry today. No problem.

An hour later and he’d gone through every box of cereal he owned before his stomach finally gave him a break. He’d run out of milk after box three and resorted instead to just pouring the cereal into his mouth. What a rush. It didn’t feel bad either, more like he was just resting after a pleasantly stuffing meal. He rubbed tenderly at his tum, contemplating going straight back to bed after his meal.

The rest of the evening went pretty similarly to his breakfast, overeating at both lunch and dinner along with a nice rest afterward. Thankfully he lived alone or he might be a little more embarrassed, both by the eating and the burps that accompanied it.

It wasn’t until he woke up the next day that Sarge realized that something might have been wrong after the previous day’s gluttony. His PJs were stretched across his thighs and waist much more than usual. That didn’t matter much for a piece of clothing meant to stretch, but the shirt he’d worn to sleep definitely hadn’t stretched. It was pulled up across his tum, revealing the fennec paunch he was working on. Sarge pressed at it, half curious what was going on and half wanting to rub at the extra belly weight. He’d have to be a little more careful about how much he ate during his meals now. The new size wasn’t unwelcome, but the speed it appeared was a little troublesome.

There wasn’t much time to waste focusing on that though. Tonight was another shift at the bakery. The largest shirt he owned still showed off a bit of his tan and brown furred tum, but there was nothing he could do. The other guards didn’t seem to notice anyway; they just handed the keys to Sarge and left without a word. He had to put on a uniform a whole size larger this evening. That solved his paunch peek problem easily.

The fennec got straight to work patrolling the factory. It was just as boring this evening as the last unfortunately. Perhaps even more boring, because now he knew the bakery inside and out. He started to play games, hopscotching across the floor tiles or using a laser pointer like a gun and whispering ‘pew pew’ at invisible enemies. His dogtags chimed between his new set of moobs, along with the tie that only barely fit around his neck. Yet another bit of clothing he’d need to buy a larger size in. Eventually even these games lost their luster, and Sarge found his thoughts drawn to that box of donuts in the research wing.

Maybe they were still there? Only one way to find out.

Unfortunately, that container didn’t seem to be around anymore. Sarge furrowed his brows. What a shame. They probably would’ve been stale after two days anyway, but they were so tasty. His stomach gurgled as if to agree, and to remind Sarge that he still hadn’t eaten anything since waking up. That wouldn’t do at all. He was positively ravenous after skipping breakfast. The point in skipping was to make up a bit of lost ground after the previous day’s gorging by not eating as much, but clearly his stomach was having none of that.

Scrounging around the bakery for a good half hour revealed a treasure trove of donuts, sitting in a basket at the end of a conveyor belt. They were obviously meant as donuts that couldn’t be sold. Most of them didn’t have the usual circular shape, some were a little too large or small or just misshapen. But a donut was a donut to a hungry fennec. Sarge dug in with gusto, filling his muzz with whole donuts at a time. They didn’t taste as good as those experimental donuts the first day but… well, they were pretty darn close. In fact everything tasted better since yesterday. It was pretty subtle but Sarge could tell a difference.

Nothing wrong with that of course. Just meant that he wanted to eat more than usual. The fennec stuffed himself with donuts for a good hour straight, picking the basket completely clean. By the time he was done his shirt was untucked yet again, and the button in front of his pants was straining to keep hold.

Sarge had no way to know of course, but the donuts he’d eaten two days prior were having quite the effect on his body. They’d been designed to slow down metabolism to a crawl and to be extra efficient at converting calories into body fat. And every extra bit of food he munched on was only compounding the effect. It also was speeding up the rate of one of the other side effects, one that hadn’t been intended when the researchers made the donuts in the first place… burping.

“BWAAARRP,” Sarge belched. He took a seat in a nearby chair for a second, resting to let his body deal with the donut meal he’d just had. His belly rumbled a bit before letting loose with yet another belch. Sarge patted at his tum, rubbing to calm it down. It sure seemed he was getting hungrier than usual these days. Peeking over his shirt, the fennec confirmed what he’d suspected; after that last belch the button on his black work pants had popped clean off. That let some of the pressure off his muffin top waist, not quite spilling over the top of his pants anymore. He rubbed carefully at his hips before pausing. His rump was definitely filling out a little more too now.

Sarge blushed bright red. Maybe that was enough food for the evening. Just one more donut and he’d have to get straight back to work.

---

Two weeks later, Sarge struggled to pull his uniform tight over his chest, forcing the buttons into place. “Come on, stupid shirt…” he mumbled. Grunting and muttering he finally pressed the last button into place. Sarge sighed and his breath out threatened to undo all his progress on the shirt by popping the buttons. But it valiantly held its place. It wasn’t super comfortable to wear though; the moobs beneath the fabric were pressed close, rubbing against the shirt with each movement. He was afraid if he lifted his arms a bit too high it might rip the seams across his arms.

This absolutely had to stop. He’d been going through new shirts nearly every other day for the past two weeks now. His supervisors were trying their best to keep up with ordering new uniforms but somehow even their best efforts didn’t seem to be having much effect. Sarge just kept outgrowing whatever was given to him. Thankfully pants were easier to come by, but even that might be a problem soon. He was reaching the limits of what they had available in ready stock. Custom ordered pants would need to happen sooner rather than later.

Triple XL shirt finally on and pants pulled tight, he was finally ready to start his shift. The fennec pulled his lunch pail up with him and started to walk through the building. Doing his rounds required much more effort these days, and not just because of how tight his clothes were. His thighs pressed together with each step and his beachball sized gut wobbled dangerously. His supervisors couldn’t move him to a stationary job though; sitting wasn’t an option on most of the chairs at the bakery these days thanks to how wide his rump had gotten.

The benefit of still being on the walking rounds meant that he could adjust his walking path to go past all the best donuts. Sure, it wasn’t the best idea for him to be snacking all the time, but Sarge found himself caring much less about that these days. The initial worry about how much weight he was putting on was replaced only by enjoyment of it now. There was something nice about his binging sessions, the feeling of taut fullness at his gut each time. His lunch from home simply didn’t cut it anymore even if he kept making it larger each day. The donuts around the factory helped with that.

Sarge’s walking seemed to be agitating his tum, and it trembled slightly. The familiar feeling of gas built up until he let out a body shaking belch. Oof, that was a big one! Guess that was the sign that he definitely needed to break into the food.

---

The bed creaked and groaned as Sarge woke up in the morning. He struggled to pull himself out of bed, more than usual today. He couldn’t quite tell why it was so difficult to get up this morning. Sure, he’d been putting on pounds like it was going out of style, but he couldn’t possibly be bed bound.

With an awkward twist he realized what was wrong. It looked like the bed was broken. The wooden slats beneath his mattress were pressed against the floor, which meant his mattress was folded in the middle trapping him. Thankfully being atop the mattress had cushioned his fall, allowing him to still get a good night’s sleep. But that didn’t help his escaping problem.

It took the fennec a good fifteen minutes to free himself, twisting and turning and pulling. Finally freed, he made his way to the kitchen for what was his usual morning routine these days. The glasses and plates shook in their cabinets with each step he took, quaking the very floor of his house with the simple act of movement. The kitchen table was filled with boxes of donuts, several dozen in all. The bakery owners were cutting him a deal these days. Eventually they had found out about his sneaking donuts problem. But lucky for him, they weren’t mad so much as they saw a chance to sell more donuts. Half off all the donuts he wanted! Who could pass up an opportunity like that? And with the number of them he was putting away each day it definitely added up.

Sitting carefully across the industrial strength chairs, with his gut pressing past his knees and upper shins, Sarge started to dig in. One hand rubbed across his belly while the other kept the donuts coming. At three weeks in, the experimental donuts had really done a number on the fennec’s metabolism and appetite. This breakfast wouldn’t last very long, and even once it was done he’d be ready for another meal an hour or so.

The fox’s tail swished happily behind as sweet flavors danced around his tongue, warm sugar waking him up better than any coffee or hot shower could ever manage. Between the occasional donut he had to pause to belch, letting out whatever excess air his tum was dealing with to just make more room for food. He shoveled it away greedily, leaving not a single crumb behind as his booty wobbled over the sides of the chair. He could’ve simply sat on the floor, cushioned by his soft rump if he wanted. But he still didn’t want to give up chairs. He wasn’t that huge.

Yet. A fox could always have his dreams.

---

Today was a big day. Just past a whole month working here, and Sarge had completely ballooned. His neck folds held his dogtags in place now so they didn’t move much, resting between his cavernous moobs. By now he’d given up any idea of wanting to stop his weight gain. It felt too good to have more of himself to cuddle, to rub, and food all tasted fantastic these days. Doors had become a recent challenge for fitting through. He couldn’t make his way through straight, and even turning to his side had issues thanks to the combined girth of his butt and belly. He still had clothes to wear luckily, thanks to a continuing supply of uniforms from his bosses. It must’ve been quite the feat for a tailor to make fabric that could fit a gut quite that size, approaching his ankles these days. And getting the clothes on was an acrobatics act unto itself when he couldn’t see beneath his belly shelf to get the pants on, and even if he could his thighs were wide enough to make pulling them up a puzzle.

But none of that was why this was a big day for Sarge. It wasn’t even a big day because it was a month since he’d started working at Go Nuts Donuts bakery. No, there was a different reason for celebrating today.

A few days ago, Sarge found the donuts. That original stash of donuts from his first day.

More specifically he found the serum that was added to the donuts to make them taste so good. Sarge’s tail was practically vibrating that night. He’d been exploring the research wing for days, trying to find a clue about where that stash of donuts had gone. And it took some doing, but sure enough he was able to find whatever the scientists had added to those donuts. It took all his willpower to avoid just adding it to all his food right then and there. No, he’d made a bigger plan instead. Something to really enjoy himself with and to celebrate a whole month of working at the bakery.

In this factory, the conveyor belt that created the donuts was fairly simple to operate. Add the ingredients, hit a button, get donuts. Simple enough that it didn’t take much training at all and Sarge planned to exploit that. He’d convinced a baker to show him just what to do to work the donut making machinery, specifically where to add the ingredients.

That evening once his security shift started and he was sure everyone was gone, Sarge dumped in an entire vat of the experimental serum. This was gonna be so, so sweet. It was harder for the fennec to walk around the factory these days, but the promise of a whole ton of the best donuts he’d ever had was enough to put a spring in his step. His beanbag chair sized tum wobbled and swayed as he made his way forward, taking his time to fit through tightly packed parts of the machinery and struggling to not get his clothes caught on metal occasionally. The mere movement of his walking was getting his stomach to grumble, taking a break to belch every few minutes. Oof. Soon he’d have quite the full belly to have to rub…

And he couldn’t wait even another minute.

Once it was all in place, Sarge mashed a large red “ON” button at the conveyor belt’s end. With a loud buzz the whole factory sprung to life, machines wizzing and dough flowing. It took a few minutes for the first set of donuts to reach the end of the line where Sarge eagerly awaited. He plucked a donut and stuffed it down without a second thought, nomming with abandon.

“Even better than how I remember it,” he said. That solidified it. Sarge was still on the fence about going through with the rest of his plan up to that point. As soon as he tasted that sweet pastry there was no stopping him. The fennec hip checked a rolling cart out of the way at the end of the conveyor belt, one that was meant to catch the donuts as they fell off the belt for transport. And rather than a cart, Sarge took a seat right at the end and looked down the conveyor belt. It was right at the perfect height for his mouth and arms. His cushy fox butt made for the perfect seat even against the cold concrete, tail wagging with wild abandon. He opened his mouth and let the treats flow directly to his waiting muzz.

It was tough at first for him to keep up with the donuts as they approached. He expected it to be easier, like catching grapes or popcorn thrown toward his mouth. But donuts were a little larger than that, and they took some more chewing as well. A small pile of them started forming in front of Sarge as he struggled to eat through the onslaught of fried pastries. But slowly, surely, he started to get more into the groove. He felt a rhythm with his eating, nomming away at donuts while holding several in his hands to get them out of the way of the conveyor. It took some effort but eventually he made his way through the backlog, finally to the point of having to wait for more to arrive at his mouth.

The whole time he munched his body was responding with greedy bursts of growth. The serum had never been meant to be ingested in quite these amounts, or with such an already enormous sized fox. His gut went from beanbag chair to a couch for two in short order, and his clothes suffered with each extra bite. Soon they were shredded off entirely, his tie hanging from his neck uselessly. The space between his legs was easily filled with fox tum, plus some.

Sarge loved every moment of it. Both hands were busy patting and rubbing at what parts of his gut he could manage to reach, while his mouth waited for more donuts to approach. Absolutely the best way to celebrate a month of working here. It seemed like each donut only increased his appetite further, and the belching in between bites just made more room for the sugary treats. He didn’t feel like he was getting closer to being full at any point, with the serum in each donut just undoing and progress he’d make. At this rate he could probably eat for as long as he wanted.

Sure he might get in a little bit of trouble later, when the next shift arrived to start working. But at the moment he didn’t care too much. There was more delicious food to be had.