Round Robbers Part 2Zero and Callum

As the bat on the other side of the screen tapped away at his keyboard with practiced ease, Callum listened as Zero discussed the finer points of the heist with David as easily as he might’ve conversed on a day’s tour through the city. Though, in the back of the doughy drake’s mind, he was well aware of which he’d rather listen to. Leaning forward, the corpulent reptile watched as the supple skunk belied the abundant mass of adipose residing in his lap by flickering his paws along the computer’s keys to bring up diagrams, building plans, information of the security networks, and even the shifts of the guards on duty. Callum imagined one of the two was a highly skilled hacker to ascertain such information, deepening his awe further. “This is incredible,” he murmured, feeling the armrest of his chair dig into his gut as he leaned forward, “Is this your common process for planning heists?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Zero and David responded simultaneously. The hefty skunk took a break and leaned back in his chair, pinning his squishy stomach between his lap and the table as he spoke. “David does most of the technical stuff, like hacking into company files and bank records. I’m just here to do little tidbits of research here and there. I’m not a computer nerd like David,” Zero chuckled as he smiled at the bat, who looked unamused.

“Whatever, if your fingers weren’t too fat I’m sure you could be doing half of this typing yourself,” the orange bat scoffed bat, sipping away at one of his endless supply of milkshakes before continuing his own typing, his stretchy, nimble bat fingers making him practically built for the job. The two partners-in-crime continued on in solace, quietly searching and researching info about the museum, only to be interrupted as a large grumble emanated from Zero’s gut, followed by a similar rumble resonating from the nearby dragon’s belly, as if reacting to the skunk’s stomach.

A soft blush seeped into Callum’s muzzle as he looked to Zero in understanding, pressing his paws along the three-foot distortion of his middle and jostling it knowingly. He could only hope David hadn’t detected the dual-sided rumble or, if he had, only assumed it was static on the microphone. Flicking a paw through the skunk’s tail as it flickered from the sounds, he offered a sheepish grin to the pear-shaped mustelid and shuffled idly in his chair. “Ahm, would you be interested in taking a short lunch break, Zero?” he inquired as politely as possible.

Zero nodded and rubbed his fluffy belly with a finger, twirling his tummy fat and fur around with a claw. “Yeah, we’ve been working for a while. It’s been awhile since we last ate,” the obese skunk smiled, apparently forgetting about the cake he consumed earlier. Turning towards his computer monitor, Zero issued out a few more commands. “Alrighty, David. Me and Callum are gonna take a 10 minute break. You keep digging up info for us, got it?”

“Yes sir,” the fruit bat responded mockingly. “Shall I arrange a podiatrist as well to massage your aching feet?” he added as sarcastically as possible.

“Oh, that’d be lovely! How’d you know my feet were hurting?” Zero beamed happily as he quickly shut his laptop before David could say another word. Grabbing the edges of the table, the bloated skunk slowly heaved himself upward, the wooden surface leaning dangerously before stabilizing once he stood upright. Pushing his chair back with his fluffy tail, Zero slowly waddled towards the massive fridge and opened it up, the giant fridge light illuminating the entire room despite it being daylight outside. “See anything you like?”

The drake looked to the incredible array of foods with a grin, unable to comprehend the abundance until his belly loosed another rumble that sent the mass jiggling. “Hmm,” he said, before reaching in and taking out a large, chilled pie from the fridge and padding over to the microwave to heat it up. The drake’s ponderous middle swayed in tandem with his desire to sate his appetite, a notion he could tell Zero held in common with the skunk’s ransacking of several edibles from the fridge. Callum watched the numbers count down on the timer and kneaded his middle in anticipation. Once the meal was ready, he sat down at the table once more, grunting as his belly conformed with his position heavily. “Nothing like some decent English food,” he said conversationally to the fluffy mustelid still working on their meal.

From behind the dragon, Zero nodded his head eagerly as he fixed himself a large plate of leftover hash browns, eggs, toast, sausages, and ham. “I second that. Their breakfast food makes great dinner,” the corpulent skunk noted with a smile. As soon as the microwave beeped and Callum removed his pie, Zero quickly tossed his meal into the metal box and pressed a few buttons, having to redo the number a few times due to his pudgy fingers pressing multiple small buttons at once. Soon, Zero was in the same position the obese dragon was in, staring as the digital numbers counted down, each second feeling like hours to the impatient skunk. By the time the microwaved finally did beep, he quickly yanked his steaming meal from the tray and slammed the door shut, carrying his delicious-smelling food to the table next to Callum.

Callum had already consumed a solid portion of the industrious pie when his fluffy companion settled into the seat next to him with a creak. Taking a moment to tug his shirt over the ponderous bulge of his gut once more, the drake waited for Zero to enjoy at least some of his meal before engaging in a bit more conversation on their upcoming plan. The chair creaked softly as he settled back, only taking an occasional bite of the pie before asking, “By the way, how long does the preparation for these heists usually take?”

Zero was doing an excellent job of breaking the stereotype that all multimillionaires had great table manners. The rotund skunk was currently sitting hunched over his plate, minimizing the distance between the food and his mouth as his fork quickly scooped up as much eggs as possible into his greedy maw. Hearing Callum initiate a conversation, the self centered mustelid remembered that he had company over. Sitting a bit more upright, Zero swallowed the vast quantities of food he was storing in his cheeks before replying. “Well, the really big heists we pull can take nearly a month to plan out, but this place is surprisingly less fortified than what I expected. I guess that just goes to show how much of an actual ‘museum’ it is,” Zero chuckled, holding up two fingers to be used as air quotations when he said the word “museum.”

Callum nodded, maneuvering another portion of his own food to his muzzle and murring as his soft grey middle settled against the lip of the table. He was subtly impressed and surprised at the notion of a national museum being lightly guarded, but could understand the lack of security given the fact the London’s nationally sanctioned museums and galleries hadn’t reported a heist in decades. Squeezing his bulk in thought, another inquiry blossomed in his mind, his eyes flickering between their two respective middles. “And, er...how effective would we be able to combat the security systems in place with our..padded physiques?”

Zero shrugged mindlessly as he stuffed a whole slice of toast with jam into his mouth, his chubby cheeks bulging out even further. “Don’t worry,” the greedy skunk muttered before swallowing his bread. “This will be a piece of cake. Normally I’d try and work off this extra weight before going on a heist, but from the looks of things, we don’t need to do anything too physically straining. This is nothing more than an exercise for me to see if I can get away with stealing something even if I look like a big green balloon,” he smirked, reaching for more toast. What he didn’t mention was how the last time he tried pulling off a heist while still massively overweight, he was almost caught multiple times and had to leave empty handed. Hopefully tonight would prove

to be a learning experience for the spherical skunk to see if he could learn how to properly pull off a heist while staying round.

The drake grinned in return, his mind processing the information and boosting his confidence slightly in regards to the bulk squishing against his thighs. Given the fact that the skunk was almost exactly the same size as him provided much needed reassurance for the upcoming robbery. As he reclined, a rush of excitement trickled down his padded spine, considering the advantages of a professional robber on his side against an outdated security mod. “Were there any specific roles you needed me to fill?”

After finishing his eggs and toast, Zero moved onto the hash browns and sausages, cramming both delicacies into his maw at the same time. Taking some time to savor the overwhelming flavor, the green skunk held up a pudgy paw before swallowing and continuing. “Well, it’s never a bad idea to have a lookout. Although if anything goes wrong, I might need a strongman to help bust us out of trouble. Dragons are supposed to be strong, right?” Zero teased as he grabbed Callum’s arm, squeezing the doughy underside.

The drake blushed as his arm promptly squished from the skunk’s grip, the appendage offering as much resistance as his silver scaled belly. Despite the copious amounts of pudge encasing his form, he smiled and flexed humorously. “Heh, of course we are!” he agreed, hoping the blue tint to his countenance betrayed nothing too notable. “I should be relatively capable in that department.”

“That’s good,” the skunk chuckled, “Let’s hope you’re not just a big pile of blubber,” he teased, playfully pinching a handful of the dragon’s scaly belly and wobbling it around. Flicking his tail around excitedly, Zero quickly finished off the rest of his food and burped, rubbing a paw along his equally massive stomach. “Aaaah, nothing like English breakfast for dinner,” the rotund skunk smiled as he flipped open his laptop again, reopening his programs. “Any other questions you have before we finalize our plans?”

Blushing once more before they both fell back into business mode, the bulging drake shook his head and looked at the various programs strewn over the mustelid’s computer. Generous posterior conforming to the chair once more as he sat, Callum grinned, “I think I’ve been briefed as much as I could wish for.” He scanned the intricate layout of the building and shuddered with excitement as he realized he would most likely have been visiting another relic of historic times if not for the intriguingly unexpected encounter with the corpulent skunk. “At this point, I’m completely ready and willing to follow

your lead,” he chuckled and playfully gripped Zero’s ponderous heft in return, “As tight a squeeze as that lead might be.”

“Don’t be silly, we’re gonna make the holes extra big for us,” Zero wobbled as he brought up his chat window with David, who was now slurping on a strawberry shake. “Isn’t that right, David?”

Without looking back into his computer’s monitor, the brown bat tossed away his shake and grabbed another. “At the rate you’ve been gaining, you’ll need to remove the entire roof just to fit through.”

And with that remark, Zero slammed his laptop shut, his tail shaking with agitation. “I think we’ve worked enough for tonight,” the obese skunk muttered.

A snort and a covering of a pudgy muzzle with his paws composed Callum’s reaction as he heard the bat’s words. Internally, he realized David wasn’t too far from the truth with the impressive girth the skunk sported.

Grinning amusedly to the flustered thief, he jiggled a fluffy roll residing on the armrest of the chair playfully and tittered. “I can certainly tell he’s been working with you for a long time, given the architectural rigors he must have to work around in these type of heists.”

Zero sighed and leaned back in his chair, unintentionally pinning his flabby gut between his knees and the table. “Yeah, you could say we’re childhood friends, although we used to hate each other as kids,” the skunk chuckled at the memory. “I have an extremely low metabolism, so I put on weight extremely easy. Shocking, right? Anyways, David has some sort of weird strain of diabetes, where his blood sugar is constantly low, so he has to make up for it by bringing sweets with him wherever we go. Of course, the skunk who can’t eat junk food was jealous of the bat who had to eat sweets all the time. I’ve tried stealing his candy multiple times, but the teacher kept catching me and sending me to detention. After a while, David told me he’d help me steal someone else's candy if I promised not to stay jealous of him anymore, and that’s how our weird alliance started,” Zero explained, smiling from nostalgia.

Callum smiled at the eccentric reverie, chuckling softly at how appropriately it fit the pair and, in particular, the doughy skunk before him. He’d never really considered how one might find themselves in the criminal enterprise, but Zero’s origins provided a rather endearing quality to his presence, one

that familiarized the skunk as much as his soft proportions. “Sounds like the inception of a good heist team if I’ve ever heard of one,” the heavy drake replied.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Zero agreed, picking at his teeth with his pinkie claw. Before he could finish cleaning his chompers, the fat skunk let loose a huge yawn, smacking his lips. “Phew, I’m more tired than I thought. We should get to bed early so we’re well rested when we leave for our heist,” Zero suggested as he stood up from the table… and froze in place. “Aw, crap, I completely forgot! I don’t have a second bed!” he exclaimed, giving himself an epic face palm. Rubbing his head furiously, the pudgy mustelid quickly tried thinking of a solution. It wouldn’t be right to send his guest home when it’s dark, and it’d be rude to make him sleep on the couch. There also was definitely no way Zero would settle for the couch as well.

Raising an eyebrow at the qualm, Callum tilted his head in thought. Kneading his ponderous belly in contemplatively, he reclined in his chair and smiled to the genial skunk across from him. "I have no issue with the notion of sharing," he said, rubbing his horns gently, "Though it's entirely up to you, seeing as you were kind enough to host me. Plus, we are rather hefty in that regard," he joked, wobbling his ponderous middle softly.

Zero’s green cheeks flushed red, making them look similar to Christmas ornaments. It had been years and years since he even slept in the same room with someone, let alone the same bed. Taking a deep sigh, the skunk started walking towards his bedroom, beckoning Callum to follow with his tail. “Well, the bed is big enough so we should be able to fit. It might be a bit of a tight squeeze however,” the portly skunk mentioned as he turned on the lights, revealing a grandiose spectacle of a room, with golden carpets, walls, and ceilings, a massive flat screen TV mounted on the wall, and a massive silver bed, full of more blankets and pillows than either chubby furs could count.

Callum chuckled and looked around at the spectacle, all thoughts of previous uncertainties erased by the abundant splendor of the room. With a central, canopied bed and decked out furniture on three sides, the dome-bellied dragon was once more left almost intimidated by the level of opulence a hotel could possess. He was unable to fathom the fanciful furnishings, and opted to simply settle his wide load on the bed to absorb it, murring as his cushioned rear sank into equally soft mattress. “You really do know how to appreciate the finer things,” he murmured to the fluffy mustelid, “I’m starting to find the appeal of becoming a thief rather enticing myself.”

Zero couldn’t help but grin widely at Callum’s words, waving his tail around happily. “Haha, I bet you would! If you want I could teach you all I know about thieving tomorrow. You could be my protégé,” the jiggly skunk stated, smiling happily. Waddling over to the other side of the bed, he propped himself onto the large mattress, rolling towards the middle. Just as Zero had predicted, it was pretty much impossible for the large bed to fit both of their overfed bodies without their sides squishing against each other. Gritting his teeth in embarrassment as his flabby stomach bounced against Callum’s blubbery girth, the pudgy skunk carefully rolled onto his side, facing away from the pudgy dragon. “Well, g’night Callum.” Zero said awkwardly, throwing the covers onto his round body.

The drake unfolded his wings softly, slightly surprised by Zero’s departure from the realm of consciousness, but shrugged nonetheless. Looking around the darkened room for a moment, he watched the shadows play along the walls, and urfed as his wide set belly squished into abundant amounts of skunk pudge. With a sigh, he simply embraced the darkness and accepted the copious tail fluff in front of him as a pillow. The supple padding creased between his doughy form and the remainder of the bed offered an endless support of comfort, and with a murr, he drifted into a companionable sleep.

Zero did everything in his power to resist twitching his tail away from Callum’s unconscious head. He certainly didn’t expect the dragon to use his fluffy appendage as a pillow, and while the skunk was guilty of doing the same with his own tail, he never would have thought he’d be using it for someone else's comfort. Of course, that was just a minor issue compared to the larger one resting right in front of him.

The skunk sighed as he looked at his bulbous green belly, the edge of which was sticking off the side of the bed. He had entered the museum with the hopes of burning a few calories (as well as possibly swiping a few people’s wallets), and while planning heists were usually the number 1 motivation he had to exercising and losing weight, the fat skunk had done nothing but sit and eat ever since he got back to the hotel. Could it be he didn’t want to appear weak and poor in front of his guest if he spent the day working out and eating cheap salad? Or maybe seeing another fur just as big as him made the fat skunk feel intimidated, therefore preventing him from even thinking about shedding a few pounds. Whatever the case was, Zero was certain he would find a way to lose his giant belly. “Enjoy the sweet freedom you have, gut, because I won’t be seeing you again for a while,” Zero whispered to his stomach, which replied with a quiet gurgle.

The moon softly rose over the waters of the river Thames and the night passed with relative ease before both corpulent figures were greeted with a slate grey sunrise the next morning, as per usual with the English weather. Callum mumbled and turned over in his sleep before feeling his gut slip over the edge of the mattress, dangling heavily in a doughy oval and embracing the clutches of gravity warmly. In short, the globe of heavily scaled flesh pulled the entire dragon to the marble floor with a grunt, thud, and exorbitant amounts of jostling along his adipose-rich form. A chuckle trickling from the opposite side of the bed indicated the reptile would receive no sympathy from the fat skunk.

“Good morning to you too,” Callum mumbled through gritted teeth, before using an oaken nightstand to lever him into a standing position. Having his silver gut pressed warmly against his thighs only added additional effort. Suppose this is as good a wakeup call as any, he thought, before stumbling into the kitchen to grab a pot of coffee. Looking behind him, he figured the corpulent mustelid would follow soon in his wake.

Shrugging on his leather jacket as he sat down to breakfast, the drake looked over to Zero and rose an eyebrow. “I’m guessing the next couple days will require a bit of preparation?” he inquired, grunting as his middle was squashed against the table.

Zero only offered a nod in reply, opening up his laptop and spreading out the diagrams before them. “We have a lot to cover, my friend.” Cracking his pudgy knuckles, the skunk began typing out the best entry and exit points, weak spots, implements of value and spaces that seemed easy enough for the doughy duo to access without their flab being too much of a hazard.

On Callum’s end, he retained the role of an attentive student, finding himself becoming increasingly attracted to the idea of at least playing the part of a thief and seeing where the wealth lead to.

With both minds affixed on their respective goals, the next four days passed by in a slight haze. Strategy, sessions with the bat who’d come to incorporate the drake into his weight-oriented teasing, scouting, and extensive discussions were all held in the comfort of the staggeringly fanciful hotel room. With considerable progress, the obese drake was transformed into a novice heist apprentice and corpulent mustelid into a form of instructor. Both finding additional compatibility in their interests for excitement and amusingly plush forms.

It was towards the end of the fourth night when Zero let loose a triumphant sigh. After just only a few days, the master thief had managed not only to learn everything about the museum, even the smaller things like past employee records, but he managed to also teach Callum everything he knew as well. Of course, the young dragon was quite the skillful learner, able to memorize just about everything Zero told him with little difficulty, making only a few mistakes here and there. “This is gonna be way too easy. This museum has the most out of date technology I’ve ever seen! I wouldn’t imagine their security would be a relic of ancient history as well,” Zero smirked as he grabbed at a large blueberry muffin, cramming it into his maw greedily, before pulling it back and frowning.

Zero watched as a few crumbs trickled onto his exposed belly, sticking to his thick fur. Lately, the gluttonous mustelid was paranoid that he was seeing much more green on his body. Grabbing a pawful of his tummy fat idly, the skunk squished and squeezed away before finally releasing, watching his stomach wobble and jiggle endlessly. It certainly was hard to tell, since he was quite heavy before he met Callum, but he could swear he was feeling just a little heavier lately. Of course, when he looked over at the spherical dragon sitting to his right, Zero could see that they were still relatively the same size and girth, and it’s not like Callum was putting on weight while he stayed at his hotel room… right?

Watching the skunk eye his belly quizzically, the dragon considered his own doughy form. Unlike the mustelid, he hadn't even considered putting off weight and instead helped himself to the incredible delectables provided by the hotel. Looking down, he flushed as he realized the shirts that had previously fit him were riding up ever so lightly over the smooth curvature of his silver-scaled paunch, adding a degree of thickness and heft that sagged in a heavy bow when left to the whims of gravity. Looking to Zero once more, he grinned weakly and squashed the mass. "At least I have dragon strength," he joked softly.

“Yeah, and then some,” Zero commented as he stared the fatty pile of scales over. Wanting to take his mind off his problematic weight, the worried skunk turned his attention to his laptop, looking at the bat staring back at him through the monitor. “Do you have the diagrams ready?” He asked.

Finishing up the rest of his milkshake, David tossed the empty container into the trashcan before leaning back, stretching out his nimble fingers. “You underestimate me if you think I haven’t been ready before now,” the brown bat chuckled as he typed a few codes into his computer. Soon, Zero’s screen

went completely blank, save for a few red lines that zoomed around, twisting and turning around haphazardly. Eventually, they began to make out a shape, which Zero and Callum recognized as museum, complete with the interior and everything.

“I noticed something interesting while I was digging up dirt about the employees.” David’s voice could be heard as the stimulation commenced. “The two night watchmen who work on Saturday nights tend to abandon their post to watch soccer in the locker room, or should I say football, since we’re in Europe?” As the bat spoke, two red dots appeared on screen inside one of the rooms stationed towards the back of the building. “They leave to watch the game at 2:30 AM and resume their duties at 4. We should arrive at 3 AM if we want to get the most amount of time possible, as well as to be safe in case they decide watch their game late.”

Two other dots appeared to the left of the building, one blue and one green. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the blue dot represented Callum, while the green one represented Zero. “Once you’re right outside the building, send me a ping and I’ll disable any security systems they have installed. I’ll send you a ping back when they’re taken down, so you can start your operation.

“Zero will fire his Drillshot into the side of the building, creating a wire that leads all the way to the roof. The wire can support a car, but if I were you two, I’d still climb up the wire one at a time. It’d be pretty unfortunate if you accidently pulled half of the building on top of you,” David chuckled.

Zero was unamused. “Go boil your head, David. I’m not in a joking mood.”

“Fine, fine, I’m sorry,” the bat apologized, although his occasional chuckling betrayed that statement. Leaning back with a frustrated grunt, Zero crossed his doughy arms across his flabby chest as he watched the blue and green dots crawl up the walls until they were situated along the roof. As soon as they made it, the camera shifted to a bird’s eye view, showing the dots’ position on top of the museum. A yellowish dot suddenly appeared slightly left of the center of the roof. “I marked the area right above where the most expensive artifacts lay: the crowns of England’s past rulers. When you’re on the roof tonight, make sure to drill in the general area you see here.”

As the details of the heist unfolded in digitized plannings and was narrated by the practiced bat on the other side of the screen, Callum felt his weary mind begin to clear as anticipation slid down his spine with the efficiency of liquid

nitrogen. A jiggle rippled through his form as he shivered from the plan they would embark upon. David and Zero communicated on the notion with the casualness of discussing what they might plan on enjoying for dinner which, in itself, was a very common ordeal in the doughy mustelid’s case.

For the flabby drake, the experience was slightly surreal, as if all the scenes he’d watched unfold in movies were transcribed to the real thing. Though the plan they engaged in was quite simpler, something the drake was immensely grateful for. He had a feeling that fleeing from gunfire and speeding off in a conveniently placed automobile would prove questionable with regards to the adipose-rich reservoir sagging against his thighs.

“The plan seems pretty easy to grasp,” he added into the conversation currently sustained by the two individuals before him. Placing his paws on the mouse pad, he flickered over the layout of the museum curiously, his arm giving a faint wobble in the movement, while his mind slowly visualized their route with intrigue. Both Zero and David watched the reptile curiously, before Callum sat back once more and asked, “Is there anything you need of me specifically during the heist? I can follow instructions on the fly pretty well, but wanted to ensure I didn’t mess up if one of our doughy butts accidentally triggered an incidental earthquake.” He added the last part with a small smirk, acknowledging the fact that neither he nor Zero were winning any fitness competitions and pressing his paws up to the third knuckle to complete it.

“You’re the strongman, remember?” David reminded the pudgy drake, the screenshot of the museum quickly getting replaced with the bat’s face. “You’ll be carrying most of the equipment, as well as lifting anything strenuous or, in some extreme cases, busting down obstructions such as doors. This heist shouldn’t be too difficult, so you won’t need to clear anything. The heaviest thing you’ll be lifting is your own blubbery body onto the roof, as well as helping Zero if he can’t haul his own fatass up.”

“I swear to god, David, I will fly to Spain just to kick your ass,” the livid skunk yelled into his computer, tempted to throw his laptop out the window. If his own insecurity about his weight wasn’t enough to set his nerves on fire, it was David’s unending taunting about his added pudge that was sure to send him into a spiraling cycle of depression. Next time he had a moment alone with the bat, Zero was certain he would tell off his ‘friend’ about what to say and not say around his guests.

The drake simply assumed a deadpan expression as the flabby skunk and wiry bat duked out their volatile tensions. Their arguing didn’t strike him as serious or overt as he’d come across similar interactions before, and they always signified a slightly quirky, but effective pairing. “I'm sure I'll manage,” he said, raising his deep voice a notch higher to smoothen out the bristles raised between the two in front of him. “After all, handling that much weight comes to me naturally,” he assured David and then nodded to Zero, gripping his thickly creased flesh in anticipation. “I think I’m ready at this point, if that gives you any peace of mind.”

Grateful for an excuse to pause the argument, Zero looked from Callum to David, smiling confidently. “See? I train my protégés well, don’t I?”

David sighed and rolled his eyes. “Whatever, just try not to mess up. If I were you two, I’d get ready to go to sleep soon so you’ll wake up bright and ready for some heisting,” the bat advised before shutting off his own webcam.

Callum smiled, looking to the fading sun and darkening clouds beyond the floor to ceiling windows. Stretching his ponderous figure and yawning, he felt the weight of the past several days settle in his mind and, with a pinch to the notably thicker pudge along his midriff, around his waist as well. Standing up, he leaned back in an attempt to alleviate the cricks that had built up in his spine, but only succeeded in bunching abundant rolls in accordion fashion. The monotony of his movements were a testament to the single track leading his mind away from the lounge and to the embrace of sleep. “I think I might follow your partner’s words on that last notion,” he chuckled to the fluffy individual beside him.

Shrugging his shoulders, Zero scooted his chairs back and stood up next to the dragon, yawning and stretching his flabby arms. “Mmmm, I guess you’re right. I’m feeling pretty sleepy myself,” the fat skunk mumbled as he turned towards his bedroom, his tail drooping tiredly. Zero quickly sat down on his usual spot on the bed, his ponderous stomach resting on his wide thighs as he felt his giant butt sink into the mattress. “Don’t be nervous about tomorrow,” the skunk said as he looked up at Callum, smiling softly. “It’s always scary the first time, but you can trust me when I say there’s no chance we’ll get caught. I’ve done this a dozen times and I know we’ll get out of this a few million bucks richer, even if we are pretty pudgy.”

The dragon chuckled as he weighed his own comically voluminous derriere onto the thickened mattress and went from a stationary position to one of prone bliss. Murring as his ample form sunk into the support of the bed with

sincere comfort. “I’m not too worried as much as excited,” he replied, rationalizing his thoughts while his snout laid buried in a pillow. “I’m more than happy for a change of pace, and as doughy as we are, I’ve accomplished plenty in a similar state.” He spread his wings out softly to ease the limbs into a better position for resting and bunkered down amid his bulky self, compressing his belly between legs and ample fluff.

“Is that so? I suppose you can add ‘successfully pulled off a heist’ to your list of accomplishments,” Zero added as he tried lay into his bed, only to flinch as his head landed on the dragon’s chubby wings. “Hey, move it, you’re hogging up the bed!” The pudgy skunk grunted as he scooted into bed, digging his broad thighs into Callum’s gut in an attempt to get him to scootch over.

Murfing in return, the drake simply decided to humor the corpulent skunk, and removed the webbed appendage. He also refrained from informing the supple mustelid that it was rather difficult not to hog the bed given that he was a drake who was almost wider than it in the first place. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, you green doughball," he muttered, chuckling as the words drew a glare from Zero in return.

“I can see why you and David get along so well,” Zero muttered as he kept nudging at Callum, only to realize that he himself was already halfway across the bed. As the realization that he could barely fit on half of the massive bed, the green doughball blushed and threw the covers on himself to hide his flushing face. Of course, he quickly regretted that decision as not only was tonight slightly warmer than usual, but the extra padding only served to make him look even bigger. Heaving a heavy sigh, the big skunk hid his face underneath the covers, slowly waiting until sleep overcame his body.