Well I've had the opportunity to chat about a lot of fun stuff with  artfulreggie recently, and wanted to return the inspiration favor by writing up a little surprise story for him! Contains a nice mix of weight gain, hypnosis, and one very, very large fox! This story's also my first attempt at writing story variants: a vore version was uploaded right before this.

Frustrated with his recent lack of sleep, Reggie decides to try out hypnosis as a last resort, with unexpected results...

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Reggie's Sleeping Aide:
By: IndigoRho

The morning sun lit up a cozy living room on what should have been a rather delightful Saturday. No cheerful humming or even a smile accompanied the hefty fox who soon trudged into the warm room that awaited him, though. He squinted and glared at the sunlight breaching his curtains, grumbled about the not-so-distant bird songs and faint sounds of the rest of the neighborhood going about their business. With a grumpy huff he dropped into his recliner, his round middle jiggling and straining the buttons of his light-blue pajamas as the chair groaned in dismay. The previous night had simply not been kind to Reggie. Nor had the night before that, or the one before that. For weeks Reggie had struggled to get a good night's rest, despite attempting every solution he could think of. He'd slept on his back, his belly, and both sides—though in the case of the latter he was still mostly on his gut anyways. Sheets had been changed, pillows had been swapped out. Soft music and audiobooks proved worthless, while a brand new white noise machine was stuffed in its box on the coffee table, waiting to be returned. Eating less—or more for that matter—hadn't made a difference, and neither had going to sleep earlier or later. At this point Reggie had tried everything short of outright replacing his mattress. Well, almost everything.

A couple days earlier a friend had raved about how his own sleeping problems were cured by a self-hypnosis program, and had offered to let Reggie borrow it free-of-charge. At first Reggie had scoffed at the idea, unconvinced that hypnosis of all things would finally give him a good night's rest again. After a couple more terrible evenings, though, he'd reluctantly reconsidered. Reggie had planned on using the program the previous night, but had found himself too embarrassed to try it, even in the privacy of his own apartment. Now he was desperate, and more than willing to see if he could at least get a comfortable nap out of the ridiculous thing.

The program came pre-loaded onto what Reggie felt was a cheaply made VR headset, which the fox put on before sinking back into the recliner and hitting play. Windchimes and a fuzzy vista of a boring hillside gave a poor first-impression, but Reggie decided to hear it out till the end. Eventually a gentle—and vaguely familiar—voice pushed away the bad music. “Why hello. If you're listening to this, then you have chosen to take the first step towards a more fulfilling life. For that I applaud you.”

“Hmph! I don't need a pat on the back I need a nap,” Reggie mumbled under his breath.

“To begin, simply continue staring at the peaceful scenery and take three very, very deep breaths,” the mysterious voice said.

Reggie obliged, the white mound of his gut swelling and deflating like a flabby balloon with each breath, his pajamas struggling to hold on. By the time he'd finished, the hillside had been replaced by the CGI surface of a pond disrupted by the occasional ripple.

“Keep your eyes on the ripples. They're lovely, aren't they?” the voice said, as more and more ripples began to appear in the fake water. Reggie did, in fact, find himself transfixed on them, his mind gradually dedicating itself to nothing else. “They start off so small, but then rapidly grow.”

Reggie was completely lost in the ripples. “So...pretty.”

“The solution to all your problems is to be like the ripple; grow larger, grow swiftly, grow...rounder.” There was an almost sinister switch in the voice's tone towards the end, though Reggie was in no condition to notice.

“That...that sounds perfect,” Reggie mumbled to himself.

“You're too small Reggie, you need to eat. Gorge Reggie, gorge until you're as wide as you are tall, till you're incapable of moving, till you're just a fat blimp of a fox!” The ripples intensified along with the voice. “The feast begins now Reggie, EAT!”

The ripples abruptly vanished and the voice silenced. Reggie snapped back to reality a couple seconds later, shaking his head before pulling the headset off and letting it drop to the floor. He rubbed his eyes as he tried to remember the contents of the video he'd just finished, his memory a strange haze of flashes and jumbled words. “Ugh, all that thing did was give me a headache, why'd I even try it! I need breakfast, at least that never fails me.”

Reggie lifted himself off the recliner, which creaked a sigh of relief, and waddled to the kitchen as fast as he could manage. He couldn't quite shake away his sleep frustrations, though, and continued silently fuming about the situation while almost instinctively grabbing food from the fridge and pantry. A nearly overflowing bowl of cereal was first, which Reggie eagerly dug into while he started mixing up an unusually large amount of waffle batter. In between bites and stirs he also took deep gulps from a fresh carton of orange juice to quench his thirst. The bowl was quickly wiped out so he simply poured himself another...then another, and another. Reggie looked down in confusion after hearing nothing but crumbs fall into his latest bowl, convinced he'd cracked open the box just the other day. Oh well, having a bowl of cereal with his waffle was a bit unnecessary. The wider gaps between his pajama buttons went completely unnoticed.

With the first waffle now cooking, Reggie busied himself by whipping up some scrambled eggs, though he had to carefully angle the skillet onto the stove-top's last free burner past the bacon, hash browns, and grilled cheese sizzling on the other spots. His pajamas tightened around his gut as he tossed a second empty orange juice carton into the recycling, annoyed that he'd left it in the fridge with barely a sip remaining. Fortunately there was still a full gallon jug of milk to ensure breakfast wasn't a failure. The sound of the toaster finishing up four new pieces of toast only momentarily distracted him from the constant stirring, flipping, and shifting of food he was engrossed in. He swiftly tossed them onto a crumb-laden plate and spread a little butter before chowing down on them, four new pieces already toasting.

Reggie's poor pajamas tried their best to contain the fox's swelling gut, but the onslaught of food was too much, and the first button popped and ricocheted off the counter just as he finished a heaping plate of scrambled eggs. He gave no thought to the odd noise, far too baffled by his lack of milk. A re-check of the fridge confirmed its absence, and he rolled his eyes at the possibility that he'd somehow forgotten to pick some up while grocery shopping yet was good on chocolate milk and eggnog of all things. Still, something was better than nothing. Reggie didn't bother grabbing a glass—there weren't any clean ones for some reason—and just chugged the chocolate milk. A second button flew off his pajamas, causing his gut to jiggle, while Reggie cleared off the last of the bacon and hash browns just in time as the oven dinged.

The fox's gut sagged as he bent over and pulled out a large pan of muffins, breathing in their pleasant aroma before setting them on the counter to cool next to the tower of waffles he'd been grazing on. Cookware clattered and clanged as Reggie continued making a breakfast fit for a party, one paw always shoveling food into his mouth while the other diligently worked to cook something new. Only the top two buttons of his pajamas remained intact, his fluffy, well-stuffed belly fully exposed and bumping into everything. Reggie was oblivious to all this, of course. In his mind, he was still working on his lone waffle, concerned only with the odd shortage of drinks in the house. He sighed as he scanned the desolate interior of his fridge—now devoid of anything but condiments and a pitcher of water—grabbing the pitcher and bringing the last waffle over to the table so he could finally have his breakfast and move on with the day.

The chair screeched along the floor as Reggie slid himself onto it, frowning as his middle nearly flowed over the table. He scooted back and nudged the excess pudge away so he could eat in peace. Soon his plate was clear and the water pitcher dry, and Reggie was regretting having such a light meal. With the fridge empty, Reggie waddled into the pantry in search of a quick snack to tide himself over till lunch. Half-an-hour later he left, barely able to squeeze his immense belly through the door as he crushed empty boxes of crackers and bags of chips. His pantry had been even sparser than his fridge, much to his disappointment; usually he was far better about planning shopping trips.

With nothing to eat in the apartment, Reggie decided a little take-out was the ideal way to lazily sate his hunger. A few quick swipes and clicks were all it took to order a small pizza from the nearest joint. He still craved something to snack on, though, and Reggie soon found himself waddling back into the kitchen to investigate the freezer. While most of its contents were useless on such short notice, the two large tubs of ice-cream had promise. A small scoop of each would be more than enough to tide him over until the pizza arrived. Both tubs were greedily snatched and carried off to the living room, where Reggie plopped them down on the coffee table before falling back into his abused recliner. The chair had protested his presence quite a bit earlier, but now Reggie held most of his kitchen in his gut, and a horrible screeching sound rung out the second his butt made contact. Reggie yipped as the sides of the recliner fell away amidst creaks and snaps, his thankfully brief plummet softened both by the flattened seat cushion and his own considerable flab.

Reggie sat in the ruins of his recliner, stunned and sore. He'd suspected the chair was poorly made—after all the darn thing made noise every time he got on it—but he'd never thought it'd come apart so catastrophically. It was a miracle he hadn't been injured! Standing back up took more effort than expected, though Reggie shrugged that off as a side-effect of the fall. The chair was a total loss, so the fox simply moved over to the much sturdier couch and began eating his ice-cream snack to improve his mood. Some light groans from the couch gave Reggie pause since he'd never heard them before, but in the end food won out over more furniture worries. He didn't want to ruin his appetite by overindulging, limiting himself to only a couple generous spoonfulls of each tub, which he took slowly and savored as long as he could. His plan worked liked a charm, and by the time he'd finished a few bites the doorbell was ringing. He gently dropped the spoon into one of the empty tubs of ice-cream and hefted himself up off the couch, his gut nearly knocking over a lamp as he waddled to the door.

The two pizza delivery guys on the other side had obviously not anticipated their client would be a fox who looked too fat to actually leave his apartment. Then again, neither of them were remotely slim. The obese lion nearly hidden behind a furniture dolly loaded tall with pizza boxes was in desperate need of a larger uniform, a thick strip of fuzzy golden pudge peeking out, and while the dingo hybrid with him wasn't showing off any of his respectable bulk, his shirt was visibly snug around the waist. An awkward, silent stand-off ensued as the trio stared at each other.

Eventually the dingo—whom Reggie guessed was either half antelope or impala due to his horns—cleared his throat to break the silence and spoke up. “Um, we've got an order of four dozen pizzas under the name Reggie?” He spoke as if he still wasn't convinced they were at the right address.

“Yep, that'd be me!” Reggie said cheerfully, the size of his order not even remotely registering in his mind. “I'm a bit sore from an accident, can you drop it off on the coffee table inside?”

“S-sure. The other half are still in the car so it'll take a few minutes,” the dingo said, knowing he'd now have a new answer to the oft-asked “what's your strangest delivery” question. He unloaded the dolly's contents onto the floor temporarily. “Sam I'll handle these if
you'll load up the rest.”

The lion nodded, apparently eager to spend as little time with their curious customer as possible. Reggie led the way to the table, and couldn't resist nibbling on a slice while the dingo dutifully carried more boxes over. Within seconds the nibble turned into large bites, then a second slice, then the entire rest of the pizza rolled up. The dingo had never seen someone cram so much pizza down their throat so quickly. He found himself almost mesmerized by Reggie's preposterous gluttony, amazed the fox was going through whole pizzas at the same rate he'd usually scarf down a single slice. Maybe he was prepping for an eating competition or something. Reggie's belly ballooned out a little more with every pizza, and the dingo diligently watched his customer fatten up before his very eyes.

The final pizza box was tossed aside just as Sam returned with the other half of the order, his attention so focused on keeping his fragile cargo stable he didn't even realize his customer had blimped out to a ridiculous degree since he'd been gone. The lion caught one glimpse of Reggie in the corner of his eye and stammered in terror, taking a step back from the carnage and trying to figure out how the fox could have possibly consumed so much in the brief time he was away. He wouldn't have been surprised if Reggie had scarfed down a couple slices while waiting—a fox that huge likely had an immense appetite after all—but he'd have had to of swallowed the pizzas whole in order to accomplish this astounding feat.

“E-emery what the heck ha--” The lion's confusion was silenced by the dingo's paw to his muzzle.

“Don't worry about it Sam, just put the pizzas on the table and see for yourself,” Emery replied.

Sam did as he was told, nearly jumping as Reggie grabbed the first fresh box and folded the pizza within into a messy bite-sized mass and gulped it down without a second thought. While Emery appeared to be enjoying the spectacle, Sam was growing increasingly nervous by how oblivious the fox seemed to their presence. Even when Reggie was looking right at one of them he didn't seem to actually be looking at them. By now Reggie's gut had grown so large it was resting on the floor, and both delivery guys doubted their customer would be able to waddle anymore let alone walk. Curiosity eventually turned into awkwardness, and the pair decided it was best they went on their way.

Emery—still transfixed by Reggie's belly—offered their goodbyes. “Um, well, I'm glad you're enjoying the pizza sir, but we need to get back to work now.”

“Honestly these are the best couple slices of pizza I've had in forever, did the recipe change recently?” Reggie said, as if he hadn't just spent the last few minutes completely ignoring them.

“Uh, no.” Emery swore he'd just heard Reggie mention eating a couple slices when he'd been shoveling down a couple dozen boxes.

“Huh, weird,” Reggie said while on the verge of grabbing another box. A thought hit him, though, and he grabbed his wallet from the coffee table. “Oh yeah, don't forget your tip guys!”

Emery only barely managed to catch the thick wad of bills tossed in his direction, his eyes growing wide as he realized just how much he was holding. “Woah, thanks sir! C'mon Sam, let's head out.”

The delivery guys hurried off, closing the door behind them and leaving Reggie alone with what little was left of his ridiculous order. Reggie didn't know why the dingo had seemed so surprised by his modest tip, wondering if he'd been the first customer of the day to actually give them anything at all. He tried not to linger on the question too long, eager to finally enjoy his pizza. When his paw went for the box, though, he discovered it was empty. The stuffed fox looked down to confirm his suspicions, and, sure enough, all that remained were scattered crumbs and dried bits of cheese. He frowned at the surprise end to his meal—having spent so much time anticipating it—but assumed he'd simply been so lost in thought he'd scarfed the last few slices down without really realizing it.

Despite already eating both a waffle and a pizza for breakfast, Reggie still couldn't shake the feeling of being hungry. He didn't want to place another order of take-out so soon, and with the fridge and pantry in such a pitiful state he knew the only alternative was to make a much-needed trip to the grocery store to resupply. Reggie attempted to waddle off to his bedroom to switch into something more suitable for his outing, but the second he tried to take a step he rolled forwards onto his massive belly, yelping as he rocked back and forth atop the overfilled dome before losing his balance again and ending up on his back. His gut jiggled in the air as he blushed in embarrassment; the earlier fall must have taken a lot more out of him than he'd previously thought. Instead of letting the situation undo his good vibes, though, Reggie just laughed it off and yawned. The carpet was suddenly feeling pretty comfy, and a short nap to recharge seemed like the best idea. His eyelids slowly shut as the ridiculously stuffed fox fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

A wide shadow crept across Reggie's living room as his front door creaked open. Standing with a devious grin—and a gut practically large enough to plug the front door—was an obese midnight-blue cheetah. Indi quietly waddled into the room, his eyes shifting from the crushed recliner to the mountain of pizza boxes to the snoozing blimp. When he'd concocted his plot to hypnotize Reggie into stuffing himself silly he'd expected only a modest success at best. The fox would hopefully gorge on most of the food in his kitchen, then be so sluggish and food-comatose he'd have no way of preventing a more intense force-feeding. Reality was on a whole different level, though. Indi couldn't even begin to imagine how the fox had managed to eat so much on his own without breaking free of the VR headset's message, but he wasn't about to complain about his astounding luck. Getting Reggie out of the apartment would be an incredible challenge, though the reward would be a comfy new chair for his game room.

The cheetah loomed over Reggie and gave his gut a hearty slap, overjoyed at the wobbling that ensued. Reggie stirred and mumbled under his breath about how it was too early to be waking up before reluctantly opening his eyes...and finding his sight mostly blocked by the white furry mountain that was his gut. The fox stared at his belly in silent disbelief for a moment before making a pitiful attempt to stand that ended up merely jiggling his middle. Everything about the day before was a fuzzy blur to Reggie, who only vaguely remembered trying out the VR hypnosis thingy Indi had loaned him, having a light breakfast, and maybe ordering a pizza at some point. How he'd somehow become an immobile blob in the middle of all that was a complete mystery. At least until he spotted Indi's grinning face.

“Morning jumbo!” Indi said cheerfully.

“Morning? It's gotta be well past noon by now,” Reggie replied, unsure if he was ready to accuse the cheetah of being behind his weight gain yet.

Indi pulled out his phone and turned it towards Reggie, showing off the time. “Nope, it's not even ten yet. Though it's not surprising you'd sleep a whole day considering how much you must have eaten ya whale!”

“This is all your fault, isn't it spots!” Reggie said. “What'd you do, gas me then shove a feeding tube down my throat?”

“Ha! That was the original plan—though you'd of been wide awake for that, rest assured,” Indi laughed. “You accomplished this all on your own, with a teensy bit of help from the hypnosis program you obviously fell for.”

Reggie silently cursed himself for accepting the suspicious gift from Indi of all people. He should have known better. “Congrats, you made me fatter. I can't even claim you're the first to pull that off this month let alone ever!”

Indi didn't seem deterred. “Well turning you into a butterball may not be revolutionary, but installing you in my place as furniture for the indefinite future sure is!”

“W-what are talking about?” Reggie was suddenly very nervous.

“Well I've been trying to decide on a new chair for my game room, something to really relax on during those long sessions in front of the TV.” Indi pressed a paw into Reggie's middle, grinning as he felt it practically sink into the pudge. “Then I realized that nothing's quite as comfortable as a big blubbery fox!”

Reggie instinctively tried to flee, but of course only managed to jiggle his gut comically. “R-really funny! I'm not a chair tubbs!”

“Oh, I beg to differ.” Indi walked around to Reggie's side and slowly leaned backwards against the fox's mountainous belly, the considerable flab cushioning his descent. “Wow, this is even better than I'd hoped! Memory foam's got nothing on you!”

“Ok, ok, you proved your point! You tricked me and now I'm a whale, just take a picture for the memories and leave me be!” Reggie was beginning to fear Indi hadn't been joking about the whole chair thing.

Indi continued relaxing against the fox. “Reggie this wasn't all for some silly picture; you're being added to my game room and there's nothing you can do to convince me otherwise. Don't worry, you'll get to enjoy all the delicious food you could ever hope for. I've gotta keep my favorite chair nice and fat after all.”

Reggie let out a low whine. He wasn't going to be mobile again for a very, very long time...