What Constitutes an Ingredient

Stacky and TLink settle in for a relaxing day in the sun. But TLink's fresh lemonade has an unexpected effect on Stacky.

Life was good. Birds sang their joy to a brightly shining sun as gentle breezes caressed them in the trees. It was a perfect day, and for once TLink and Stacky had the opportunity to enjoy it together.

Stacky emerged from the bedroom clad in her bathrobe. She found TLink frantically at work in the kitchen making his way through a bag full of lemons.

TLink looked up excitedly. "Stacky, you'll never guess what just happened!"

"Our neighbors finally harvested their lemon tree, had way too many, and gave you the extras?"

He blinked. "Okay, maybe slightly faster than never."

She glanced at the pile of crushed lemon halves TLink was building on the counter. "Making lemonade?"

"Well, life's given me lemons. The prescribed course of action in this scenario is well documented, and I would deviate from conventional wisdom at my own peril."

Stacky nodded in assent. "I certainly wouldn't want to distract you from your destiny."

TLink noticed her attire and the mischievous grin on her face. He was having some serious doubts about her intentions. "What's with the robe?"

"It's such a gorgeous day, I thought I'd try on my new bikini and catch some sun by the pool." She smiled. "I've got it on under this. Wanna see?"

TLink paused in his juicing efforts. "Um, that would be a yes."

"Okay, but first you have to promise me something."

Stacky could make a good living teaching courses on mate management. Prefacing a request by expressing the intent to get nearly naked was a devastatingly effective way for her to get almost anything she wanted. There was only way TLink could respond. "Of course, my darling."

"I just want to enjoy a quiet afternoon by the pool. So there will be no blowing up of Stacky today," she said sternly.

TLink held up his hands. "I promise, I'm not going to blow you up," he agreed.

"No hoses, no balloons, no air tanks."

"How about lemonade?"

"I think the lemonade's okay."

"Excellent." TLink was relieved. He was quite proud of his lemonade recipe. Surely anyone could combine the four basic ingredients, but could any do it as masterfully as he? TLink lost himself in thought, pondering whether water and ice really constituted two separate ingredients. He was interrupted by the sight of Stacky's robe hitting the floor.

His jaw quickly followed it.

The garment was deep green in color. TLink assumed that Stacky had chosen it to match the ever-present pendant around her neck. It wasn't particularly brief, but the very nature of it being a bikini meant that it showed off the vast majority of Stacky's delightful form. His reaction might indicate to some that the image before him was an unfamiliar one. But this wasn't the case. While this was the first time he'd seen her in this particular outfit, TLink's privileged position in life afforded him the opportunity to see Stacky wearing bikinis and less on a fairly regular basis. But when your girlfriend is blonde, beautiful and incredibly curvaceous, seeing those incredible curves prominently displayed in a swimsuit never gets old.

Never.

And make no mistake, it was those curves that made the bikini impressive, not the other way around. The bikini itself would have been fairly unremarkable were it not for the fact that Stacky was wearing it. This resulted in an amusing paradox. TLink was witness to a most remarkable sight, and yet was entirely at a loss to form any remarks. He was certain that Stacky would step in to fill the void. She was quite good at filling voids. And bikinis.

A sly smirk crept across Stacky's lips. "Tell your pants it's not polite to point."

TLink glanced down at himself, not the least bit embarrassed by his reaction. "I'm sorry, but these are the insolent pants. I've instructed them on proper etiquette many times in the past, but they don't respond to scolding. I doubt that's going to change any time soon."

"Well if they won't change, then maybe you should change them out for something more appropriate." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Then you can join me outside and we can rub sunscreen on each other's hard-to-reach bits."

"Will do," TLink nodded. "Would you like some lemonade? It's fresh."

"That would be wonderful."

Stacky was laying out by the pool when TLink emerged with two glasses. They took turns and took their time thoroughly applying sunscreen on all of their exposed parts, then settled in to relax in the sun.

TLink was convinced that there must be a part of heaven where people simply laid about sipping cold drinks and soaking up sunshine in the company of beautiful scantily clad women. It simply wouldn't be heaven if there weren't. But in case he was mistaken, he was going to fully savor any and all such situations as they arose in his mortal existence.

He sat back and enjoyed the soothing sounds of the light breeze, the singing birds, the --

"Hic!"

TLink turned to see Stacky bring a hand to her mouth daintily. "Pardon me," she said.

TLink just smiled and returned to his quiet reverie. It would take more than a mere hiccup to interrupt his--

"Hic!" This time Stacky looked slightly concerned.

"Are you alright?" TLink asked.

"Yeah, I think so," she replied. "I just feel a little strange. Hic!" A perplexed look came over Stacky's face, and she looked down at herself. Her once flat stomach was now distinctly convex. "TLink, what was in that lemonade?"

"Water, lemon juice, sugar and ice," he recited, counting off the ingredients on his fingers. "By the way, do you think ice and water count as two? They're basically the same thing in different forms."

"You buy water in bottles, but you buy ice in bags. So I'm pretty sure they count as two." She pressed her hands against her belly. "Are you sure that's all? I'm feeling a bit bloated."

"That's all. Unless you've developed a sudden citrus allergy, I doubt it's the lemonade that's causing this."

Stacky sighed. "Just in case, I'll think I'll pass on having a second glass." She laid back on her beach towel and resumed her sunning. "Regardless, I'm not going to let a simple case of gas ruin this day."

Whatever it was that was causing Stacky's hiccups must have heard her words and taken them as a challenge. Moments later, she was struck by another attack. "Hic!" Her belly swelled significantly, accompanied by a soft hissing.

The sound snapped TLink out of his meditation on the nature of lemonade. "Um, honey I don't know that it's even possible for you to have a simple case of gas." It was quite clear that Stacky was more than just feeling bloated. She was bloated, quite visibly so, and to no small degree.

"Hic!" Stacky winced as her belly hissed and grew again. But this hiccup brought with it an additional side-effect; the bikini top that had fit Stacky so wonderfully before was looking quite a bit more snug. "I think you're right. This isn't just a-- hic!" With that pretense dispelled, the rest of her body felt free to expand in sympathy with her breasts and belly. Her entire torso grew rounder while her slender arms and legs took on a noticeable plumpness.

"Crap. I'm so sorry, I promised this wouldn't happen today."

"Don't worry, dear, you're not in trouble. Hic!" Stacky's bikini grew even tighter around her burgeoning curves. Her expansion was accelerating. "But I might be if we don't figure out how to fix this soon."

"Try holding your breath," TLink suggested. "I've heard that can cure hiccups."

"Okay." Stacky took a deep breath, causing her swollen bosom to put even more strain on her bikini top, and held it in. She and TLink waited anxiously for the result. As Stacky lay there with her lips pursed and eyes clenched shut, her mind wandered. How do I wait for nothing to happen? And how long should I wait for nothing when I can't breathe while I'm waiting?

Unfortunately Stacky didn't have to wait too long for confirmation that nothing had no intention whatsoever of happening. Her hand flew to her mouth as she fought to suppress it.

"Hrk! Hrg! Hrgmph!" came the rapid series of muffled spasms. She let her breath out in a gust, but somehow a surge of gas was rapidly filling her. This hiss from earlier had graduated to a low whoosh, and Stacky's entire body billowed outward. But this time the sound of her inflating was joined by the hum and squeak of overstressed elastic. Some of the protest was coming from what had to be a thoroughly disgruntled bikini. But more concerning was soft sound of strain coming from Stacky herself.

"Okay, that didn't work," Stacky said quickly, a slight quaver of panic in her voice. "Any more ideas?"

"Um, um," TLink stammered, wracking his brain. He snapped his fingers. "Hyperventilation?"

"I think I'm pretty well ventilated already!" Stacky protested.

"No, not like that. You breathe into a paper bag, it's supposed to cure hiccups. Come on." He motioned for her to stand. "I think we have some in the kitchen."

Helping Stacky to her feet was quite a bit more work than normal. She could offer little assistance since her legs were too distended with gas to bend much. She hiccuped twice during the process, growing ever larger and ever rounder. By the time she was fully upright she was nearly as wide as she was tall. "This could be a problem," she said.

TLink nodded in agreement. Stacky was inflating at a startling pace. By the time he managed to get her turned around toward the house, it was unlikely she'd be able to move much. And fitting her through the door was going to be another problem entirely. "Maybe I should go in and bring the bag to you."

"That sounds like a good idea. Hic!" She gritted her teeth against the rising pressure. "Just be quick about it, okay?"

TLink dashed into the house, leaving Stacky alone outside. It was torture. She could only wait for him to return and hope that his latest plan would work. Stacky dreaded the passing of each second knowing that any moment could bring--

"Hic!" Stacky wondered if the sound of her filling was really that loud, or if it just seemed so to her. Her top stretched and strained to contain the huge domes of her expanding breasts. They would have appeared enormous on her had the rest of her body been normal sized. Now they were just large mounds on the ever-growing globe of her body.

"Hic!" She could feel her skin pulling tighter. Much of this surge was forced out to her arms and legs. They stuck straight out as they grew plump, then fat, then slowly began to lose their definition as their bulges slowly merged with the rest of her expanding swells. "I -- I can't move," she whimpered. "What's taking him so long?" The only response to her query was the rustling of the wind in the trees.

"TLink!" Stacky shouted. "Hurry up -- hic -- with -- hic -- that -- hic -- oh crap!" Deep within her belly there was a low rumble followed by a crescendo of rushing gas. "Oh no," she gasped. She felt the pressure flowing out through her entire body, reaching her fingers and toes, even forcing her cheeks to puff up. The flow of gas was incessant, and she was nearly out of room.

"Too much," she grunted. "Too full. TLink! TLink, help me! I'm gonna--"

BANG!

"AIIIYEE!" Stacky shrieked. She'd thought that her swollen state had rendered her largely immobile, but the noise had so startled her that she managed to jump into the air, still growing larger from the latest rush of gas. She bounced slightly when she returned to earth. She was so round, she was just barely able to regain her footing.

Heart pounding, Stacky realized that she had not exploded. Although she was still in one piece, she felt so full and tight that she didn't want to risk too much motion. She turned her head about as best she could to find the source of the sound, but was impeded by the massive bulges her body had formed around her. The mystery was soon dispelled. TLink walked around from behind her, the shattered remains of a paper bag in one hand.

"TLink!" she screamed, her face flushing with anger. "That wasn't funny! I'm sitting here blowing up like a blimp, I'm so full I'm about to burst, and you're sneaking around popping things? What the hell is wrong with you? I'm about to explode here! So help me, if I blow I'm taking you with me!" She was quivering with rage, and her inflated condition served to greatly magnify the effect.

Slightly shaken by Stacky's outburst, TLink took a step back. "How are your hiccups?" he asked meekly.

"My-- they're --" she fell quiet and paused thoughtfully. After a full minute of waiting in silence, nothing. "They're gone," she marveled.

TLink looked down sheepishly. "I was in the kitchen looking for paper bags, and I remembered that startling someone's supposed to cure hiccups, too. It would be hard to surprise you after I came back, so I figured I only had one shot to try it and so I blew up one of the bags and--" He looked at the torn brown paper in his hand, dropped it, and quickly held up the fresh bag in his other hand for Stacky to see. "I brought another bag, see? Y'know, in case the startling thing didn't work."

Stacky stared at him blankly.

"You're not too mad, are you?" he asked.

Stacky rolled forward, bringing her mouth to his in a maneuver that showed amazing agility for one so distended. She pressed against him for a long, deep kiss. "You're brilliant," she grinned.

TLink heaved a sigh of relief. Embracing Stacky as best he could, he felt how firm and full her body was. He'd arrived without much time to spare. He gazed deeply into her eyes. "You know I'd never let anything happen to you."

"I know," she sighed. Her sense of relief was palpable; she could finally relax. "But could you do me just one more favor?"

"Anything, my love."

"Fetch another bottle of sunscreen? The sun's quite bright, I won't be fitting through that door any time soon, and I suddenly have a lot more hard-to-reach bits."

"As you wish."