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Whisper tied her hair up into a ponytail, as per usual before important missions. She tightened her combat gloves around her fingers and walked over to her cloak hanging up in the closet of her and Tangle’s bedroom.
But on the way was a standing mirror. Amy bought it for them a while ago as a housewarming gift. Neither of them really used it much, given neither cared that much about their outfits or appearance. Tangle only used it occasionally to see her progress in developing some muscles (or try and beat her reflection at rock paper scissors.)
Whisper only glanced at her reflection for a second. It made her stop in her tracks all the same. She stepped back and took a much closer look at herself. Something looked…different. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but for some reason her eyes instinctively moved to her body.
Her eyes caught a photo of her and the original Diamond Cutters (with a certain someone edited out) sitting next to the mirror. She picked it up and inspected herself in the photo to try and see what was wrong. She held it up against her reflection and…
“Oh…” she muttered.
She looked down and put a hand on her round stomach. She could barely see her feet under it. She then eyed her arm and noticed how much fatter it was compared to her arms in the photo. She hung her arms down low and looked at herself in the mirror again. She stared at herself for a long time before her gaze was finally broken by a lemur bursting into the room.
“Heyo, Whisper!” Tangle called cheerfully, “You ready to head out?”
Whisper jumped and turned around to Tangle, covering her stomach as if she was naked…but she was fully clothed. Tangle raised a brow at her girlfriend.
“You alright, hun? I didn’t scare you too bad, did I?”
Whisper recomposed herself quickly, “Fine…’M fine…”
Tangle was unconvinced, and walked over to her love.
“You can tell me what’s bothering you,” she said soothingly.
“…Nothing’s bothering me…”
“That’s not true,” Tangle said, rubbing Whisper’s shoulder.
Whisper looked down at her protruding gut again. Tangle looked down at it too, then gave her girlfriend a pitying look.
“Oh, Whisper,” she cooed, rubbing her back, “It’s okay.”
Whisper looked at her old photo again.
“S’not…” she whined, “I don’t know how I didn’t notice this.”
She looked at herself in the mirror again.
“I look like a whale…”
“You do not,” Tangle frowned.
“Look at me. Look at this picture.”
Tangle gently took the photo from Whisper and looked between the wolf in it and the wolf in front of her.
“Every single part of me is bigger now than it was then! My arms, my legs, and especially my belly!”
Whisper sniffled and looked away.
“How…can you possibly love someone who can’t even see her own toes?”
Tangle’s eyes widened. She looked at her girlfriend up and down, then looked back at the photo. She smiled, and held it up next to her.
“Because you are still the most beautiful girl in the world.”
Whisper looked towards Tangle just in time to see her lunge at her and wrap her in a hug. Tangle squeezed Whisper hard and wrapped her tail around the both of them. Whisper spluttered a little, but eventually put her arms around Tangle as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“You…mean that?”
“Of course I do.”
Tangle pulled away and kissed Whisper on the cheek. Whisper chuckled, but looked back at her reflection with a frown.
“I still just…don’t know how this happened. How I didn’t notice this…”
“Well…it’s probably because it’s a byproduct of your new life.”
Whisper gave Tangle a confused look.
“When you were with the Diamond Cutters, and had this picture taken,” Tangle held up the photo, “You were constantly on the move. Always fighting against Eggman’s tyranny. You had less food and more time to burn it all off.”
Tangle wrapped a hand around Whisper’s waist and softly rubbed her tummy.
“But now you’ve settled down. You’re eating three meals a day, plus all the snacks you want. You don’t fight all the time, so you don’t burn as much of it off.”
Whisper sighed and looked at her stomach again.
“So…I’ve been like this for a while?”
Tangle nodded, still rubbing Whisper’s stomach.
“And you…don’t mind it?”
Tangle smiled sheepishly.
“If I’m being honest…I love it.”
Whisper’s eyes widened in surprise.
“D-Don’t give me that look!” Tangle chuckled nervously, “I just…love how soft you are now. I mean, how can I complain about there being more of you to snuggle with?”
Whisper blushed profusely and looked away. Tangle chuckled and lightly pat Whisper’s tummy. She did her best to stifle a giggle.
“Y…You sure I-I’m not too heavy?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I-I don’t know,” Whisper said sheepishly, “M…Maybe I’m too heavy now for you to…carry…”
Tangle gasped mockingly, “Whisper!”
She then smirked smugly as she stood back and cupped Whisper with her tail. She squealed as she was effortlessly lifted off the ground.
“I’m insulted that you think I’m not that strong.”
Whisper looked away from Tangle’s incredibly close face. The lemur just snickered triumphantly.
“You don’t…think this will affect me in combat…do you?”
“It hasn’t so far,” Tangle said, setting Whisper down, “You’ve been about this chubby since the Eggperial City, and you certainly haven’t been any worse when fighting since then! You’re still the coolest, strongest, and, most importantly, the cutest person I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting!”
Whisper smiled at Tangle’s gleeful expression. She really meant it. Every single word of it. She looked back at her reflection again and finally just saw herself. Not her and an enormous body. Just…her. Tangle stood up next to her, wrapping another arm around her waist.
“But if you really want to test it, it’s about time we head out and look for that intel on Eggman’s new toy.”
Whisper turned to Tangle and nodded before taking both of her hands in her own.
“Thank you Tangle…I love you.”
“I love you too, Strawberry.”
They kissed each other before Whisper walked over to the closet and pulled out her cloak. Tangle watched her put it on, then inspect herself in the mirror again.
“I still don’t know how I could possibly have gained this much weight in so little time…” she sighed.
“It’s probably all the poundcake you eat,” Tangle shrugged.
Whisper gave her a confused look.
“Poundcake is basically a giant loaf of bread, and bread makes you fat.”
“Bread makes you fat?!” Whisper squeaked, sounding more hurt than she had before.
Tangle laughed and walked over to Whisper.
“Yeah, so…if you wanted to be rid of this pretty tummy,” Tangle lightly pat it again, “You’d have to stop eating that stuff.”
Whisper huffed and turned her head, “Never.”
“Then you must FACE MY WRATH!”
Tangle quickly leaned down, lifted up her shirt, and blew a raspberry on Whisper’s stomach. Whisper squealed and started laughing uncontrollably while her tail wagged at supersonic speed.
“Stop! STOP!” she begged, “That tickles!”
Whisper tried to push Tangle away but the lemur firmly wrapped her arms around Whisper’s waist and continued to blow raspberries on her belly. The Wisps, who had been goofing off in the living room, finally came over to see what the commotion was. They could only giggle as they saw Whisper laugh uproariously with Tangle pressing her face into her tummy.