"Ugh…"
Kitty sighs as he gets comfortable atop the push cart in the kitchen, finally having a chance to get off his feet after an exhausting morning.
The human had taken a summer job at the local grill in the anthro college town of Stekhoph. He applied, having figured it'd be relatively easy money to wait tables or something of that sort. But on his first day, he was instead given a bulky burger costume to wear for entertaining and attracting customers! While not the most ideal position in his mind, he generally still has fun with the job, happy to give the patrons a smile. Though he has particularly less fun when he's being harassed by drunk uni students. They like to party as much as human students, it would seem.
This morning had been long, as it seemed classes had been canceled, and his boss had him performing his routine out on the sidewalk to draw in more potential customers. After several hours of this, he was ready for a break – Only to then be told to entertain a table on the patio for someone's birthday!
Another cycle of his performance later, and Kitty felt ready to collapse, so when nobody was looking, he waddled to the back door, before closing his eyes and focusing. His body, as well as the costume, both shrank in size until he was about five inches tall, at which point he made his way inside and asked for a boost onto the cart so he could sit and catch his breath in the air-conditioned room. He had opted to keep wearing his costume, as getting in and out of it would be a cumbersome pain; he figured it'd be easier to just shrink himself to keep out of the way while he took his much-needed break.
After a few minutes, the human stands, feeling about ready to head back to work. But the moment he gets up, the cart shakes and knocks him off-balance, making him fall backward – Right onto a platter of burgers that had just been set down! Before he can stand up, a few more burgers get added to the plate, burying him and surrounding him in the warm aroma of grease and cooked meat.
Not an unpleasant position, but not exactly ideal. But he can't adjust to find his balance, nor is he able to lift the food atop him, and he realizes he's going to have to wait until the cart is pushed out and he's uncovered. Hopefully, the customer and wait employee both will be understanding of the awkward situation…
Unable to see anything beyond the side of the burger in front of him, Kitty can only guess his current relative position within the restaurant by the feel of the cart's movements and the audio reaching him. He can tell that a few burgers are being distributed within the building, before he gets pushed out onto the patio. Once it comes to a stop, the burger on top of him gets lifted, followed by him himself!
Laid on a serving platter, Kitty blinks and looks up, about to explain himself, but he freezes when he sees who he's been served to – In front of him sit two anthro lions whom he immediately recognizes as Simba and Nala, from the local stage production based on one of his favorite movies! He's heard the pair were attending one of the nearby schools, but he never thought he'd actually see them for himself!
Simba is wearing a plain white muscle shirt and a pair of denim shorts, looking as though he had just come from the gym. Nala, meanwhile, is wearing an aquamarine tank top that matches her eyes, and a pair of black yoga pants. Kitty can't see from here, but he reckons they're both barefoot, as a lot of the anthros he's met seem to go without footwear.
He looks back up at them, still amazed to see two of his favorite lions before him. A blush fills his cheeks as he-
"Oh, thank you!"
Kitty blinks as Nala reaches and picks him up, setting him on her plate along with two other burgers. Simba takes the rest.
"Mmm, a feast for a king, eh?" Simba says with a cocky grin.
Nala shakes her head. "Oh please – The school gives you an award, and you act like you're on top of the world."
The male lion scoffs playfully. "Aw, c'mon; no need to act jealous! You got the award too!"
"Yeah, but I'm not letting it go to my head, you dork." Nala pauses, then grins as she adds "Though I suppose for you, there ought to be something in there…"
While the two tease back and forth, Kitty remains quiet; naturally shy, he doesn't want to interrupt their conversation, even given the position he's currently in. He'll get their attention when they-
"Mhhf, I'm hungry!"
Simba grins as he grabs a burger and shoves the entire thing into his mouth all at once, chomping messily on it, much to Nala's chagrin.
"Really? Do you have to eat like an animal?"
"Muh huh fuff nuh!" Gulping loudly, Simba chuckles. "We're all animals, silly!"
The lioness pauses before sighing and shaking her head softly with a faint chuckle. "Welp, suppose you've got me there…"
While she speaks, her paw reaches to pick up the burger beside the costumed human, lifting it to her muzzle so she can take a bite. Kitty watches, knowing he should probably get their attention soon, lest he end up being chomped too. "Uh… Excuse-"
"Come on, Nala; eat the whole thing!"
The lioness rolls her eyes, swallowing her mouthful. "Why?"
"Why not?"
"Because I want to, you know, enjoy my food?"
Simba raises an eyebrow. "Sure, alright – It's not that you think you can't do it, is it?"
Midway through taking another bite, Nala pauses, her eyes narrowing as she swallows this mouthful without chewing. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The male lion smirks. "It means I don't think you could eat a burger in one bite."
"Give me a break," she says with a scoff. "I could do it if I wanted to – I just don't feel like it."
Simba watches as she tosses the last part of her burger into her mouth, commenting "Uh-huh, all talk and no action.
Again, she swallows her mouthful without chewing as she retorts "I don't need action, dickhead."
Simba snorts. "That's what she said!"
"Oh, screw off." Nala sighs, taking a sip of her water, before grabbing the burger on her plate that happens to actually be a human in a costume.
Kitty shudders as he's lifted, realizing he needs to get their attention now, before he ends up eaten! "Uh… Excuse me, Miss-"
"So, Nala…" Simba starts, smirking.
"What?" asks the lioness with a glare. Neither of them seem to notice the human in their midst.
Simba's grin only grows wider. "Does that mean you admit I'm better than you since I can do it?"
Silence falls over the table. Nala's eyes narrow almost threateningly, as Simba maintains his cocky smirk.
Kitty takes the moment to try one more time to alert the pair to his presence. "Excuse me, ah, could you please-"
Nala growls, staring the male lion directly in the eyes. "You arrogant jackass – Fine, watch me!"
"Oh no…" Kitty mutters to himself.
A blush fills his cheeks as he's treated to a front-row seat of the lioness's mouth in front of him. Her black lips part to reveal her sharp leonine teeth, white and pristine. Beyond the bottom row lies her broad tongue, quivering in anticipation of more food. The human is able to take in the details of the jagged papillae; perhaps not quite as sharp as a wild lion's tongue might be, but rather rough all the same. The muscle is coated in a nice layer of thick saliva, no doubt from enjoying her first burger and being eager for more!
He finds it a little odd that there aren't bits of burger in her mouth, but he remembers she didn't chew most of it, and her drink of water likely washed away any loose debris when she gulped it down.
Nala's mouth opens wider, allowing Kitty to see even more within that cavernous maw. Her cheeks stretch taut, the elastic flesh twitching subtly as she prepares to take in her food. Above, the ridged palate leads to the softer velum further in, and at the very back of her mouth, her throat flexes eagerly, ready for something to swallow. Directly in front of it, the lioness's uvula sways idly, lifting and lowering with every burger-scented breath she takes while exhaling directly onto the tiny human.
He's practically enamored by the sight before him, blushing deeply and finding himself unable to look away. He's secretly always found mouths to be fascinating, but he never expected he'd be getting this up close and personal with one – Much less one belonging to a lioness he's admired from afar!
His view gets closer and more personal soon enough, as she pushes the 'burger' into her mouth, plunging him into darkness, only furthering his near-trance as he feels the humid air within her maw surrounding him!
"Eugh…"
A disgusted vocalization sounds from the throat ahead of him, snapping the human's attention back to his current situation.
The male lion's voice, muffled to the human through the lioness's mouth, asks "What is it?"
"Ihh esscussihn…" comes her reply; Kitty reckons she's trying to say "It's disgusting". He quickly realizes what's happening – Instead of a warm burger bun, Nala is tasting the costume's fabric! Maybe he'll be able to escape this after all.
"Excuses, excuses…" says Simba in his cocky tone.
Sure enough, Kitty feels Nala tilting her head forward, getting ready to spit him-
"Hey, no taking it back out!" The male lion snickers, and the human can practically hear the arrogant smirk on his muzzle.
Nala indignantly responds "Buh ihh no gooh!"
Parsing her muffled speech as "But it's no good!", Kitty holds his breath, able to feel her jaws loosening around-
"You spit out the burger, and you concede I'm better at this than you, Nala."
The human feels the lioness pause, and his expression falls. Surely she's not going to-
"Hmph."
Slowly, her head lifts again, raising to even, and Kitty tenses as he prepares for her to chomp down on him. But the bite never comes – Nala merely takes a deep breath through her nose before tilting even further back.
Kitty blinks. He knows she doesn't like the taste of the outfit, sure, but it's filling her entire mouth! She isn't seriously considering what he thinks she is, is she?
The tongue below extends along the underside of the costume before curling up at the rear. It adjusts, taking a steady grip on the human's burger costume, then pushes it to the back of her mouth. Kitty sputters as he's smacked in the face with the dangling uvula, shuddering as he peers into the lioness's gullet, before the tongue gives a firm shove just as she swallows.
The pressure around him increases tremendously as he's crammed into Nala's throat about a third of the way. Slick flesh squishes around him, the powerful esophageal muscles trying to draw the costumed human deeper into her body. And a second, even mightier swallow jams the burger outfit past that halfway point.
Kitty shudders at this. She's going to get him down.
A third gulp proves this true as Nala gets all of him into her esophagus, before one final swallow sends a wave of peristalsis behind him, working him along the crushing tube of flesh at a slow but steady pace. He hears the noise of wet, squishing flesh all around him, backed with the sounds of the lioness's steady heartbeat and her deep, labored breathing as she catches her breath. And ever so faintly, he's able to make out the muffled sound of Simba's voice.
"Woah… I didn't know you could swallow like that!"
Nala audibly huffs, panting as she groans "Sh… Shut up… Gah… That was awful…"
Kitty rolls his eyes, trying to think of a way out of this. He watches the flesh parting ahead of him, spreading as he's worked further through the tunnel, until he reaches a tight ring of muscle. The esophageal sphincter holds firm for a moment, before relenting to let him squish through into the digestive chamber of her stomach. The costumed human falls for a moment, then lands with a splash into the pool of fluids within Nala's belly!
Coughing and sputtering as he bobs to the surface of those fluids, the human shudders, finally having the room to work himself out of the costume. He awkwardly fumbles for the zipper in the back, tugging it down enough that he can adjust himself, then he gets it lower, before adjusting further; this cycle repeats another two or three times until he gets the zipper all the way down. At this point, he pulls his arms and legs through their respective holes and finally climbs out, able to freely move once again as he sits atop his outfit while it floats in the liquids.
Looking around, he takes in the sight of the folded stomach walls shifting idly; not moving too much just yet – Mostly, they seem to be gently mixing and swirling the contents of the lioness's stomach instead of actively churning to pulverize and digest the food within. He spots the mostly intact bites of burger floating by, having fallen apart into the different components but otherwise still in decent-sized chunks. The fluids themselves are an ominous deep green, reminding Kitty of acid pits in video games.
A description, he realizes with a chuckle, that isn't entirely inaccurate.
His attention is caught by a faint sizzling sound behind him – Turning back, he sees that his costume isn't faring well against the acids; holes are melting into the fabric, allowing the thick fluids to flow through!
Thinking quickly, Kitty spots a nearby piece of burger patty, and he aims and leaps onto it! The meat is surprisingly able to hold his weight, and he catches himself steady just in time to see his abandoned outfit sink beneath the green liquids with a blorp.
It's only at this point that he realizes how odd it is that he can see perfectly well inside Nala's stomach despite the lack of any source of light – And he further finds it unusual that it took him as long as it did to piece that observation together.
Before he can try to hypothesize an explanation, he hears another bubbling sound from the piece of meat on which he's balanced, and he realizes this chunk of burger isn't going to last much longer either! He looks around for a more intact object floating by, but all he spots is a very soggy bite of bun that's actively falling apart as he watches it.
Shrugging, he realizes he doesn't have much choice but to remain on his makeshift raft until it dissolves completely, and-
Gulp!
"Hm?"
The soft swallow has the human pause his thoughts, looking up at the cardia above him; a few seconds later, it spreads and drops in a fresh bite of mostly intact burger! Kitty paddles toward it and hops on – Just in time, as the previous chunk of meat disappears beneath the stomach fluids not a moment later!
He's quite grateful that Nala seems content not to chew her food.
The burger-hopping seems to be doing him well enough for avoiding being digested, but he knows it won't last forever; he needs to find his way out if he doesn't want to disappear under the green liquids too!
Another gulp sends in another bite of burger, and Kitty jumps to it – Chuckling as he realizes his earlier video game comparison is only growing more apt the longer he has to move between disappearing platforms to avoid a hazard.
The stomach groans softly, and he realizes the gas inside is beginning to build up – She's going to let out a burp any minute now! Perhaps if he jumps at just the right time, he'll be able to escape her belly along with the air. It's worth a try!
He stands unsteadily on the piece of meat, struggling to keep his balance as he lets himself be moved toward the sphincter. Another rumble quakes the chamber, and he figures that belch is coming soon. Crouching, he readies himself to jump straight up to the exit. Any second now…
"Three… Two… One… Now!"
With a mighty push, Kitty leaps vertically, directly toward the cardia, just as it opens to let out a whoosh of stomach gases! He grins, watching as it gets closer… Before he simply falls away from it. His smile turns to confusion, then worry as he splashes into those thick green fluids!
He struggles to the surface, sputtering and choking as the liquids soak into him, before he realizes what happened.
He may be small, but he's still too heavy for the gaseous pressure to push him into Nala's esophagus and back out of her. Treading in the fluids, Kitty lets out a sigh, realizing he truly didn't have a chance to escape on his own.
As the realization settles in, though, the human merely shrugs, commenting "Suppose that's just the way it goes…" as he decides to stop actively treading to keep himself afloat, opting to instead shift onto his back and let the fluids do as they will. No point wearing himself out at this point, after all; he's nothing more than food for the lioness now.
Not an entirely bad way to go, he reckons.
A tingling numbness spreads through his legs and arms, radiating through his body. He knows he's beginning to melt in the digestive liquids, but he isn't bothering to resist. He knows it's not like it would do him any good – And honestly, as long as it remains non-painful like this, he's content to give in to his fate.
He closes his eyes as he feels himself growing drowsy, the digestion lulling him into a deep and cozy sleep. Quite cozy, in fact. Part of him almost wonders why he never let himself get eaten sooner.
"Ah well," he thinks, "better late than never!"
The human chuckles once more as he falls still, sinking beneath the surface of those fluids with a quiet glorp, his body soon being claimed fully by Nala's.
----------
"I still can't believe you got that whole thing down!"
Simba's voice is a mix of his usual cockiness and genuine admiration.
Nala smirks softly. "So I can tell."
The male lion nods. "Well, I accept defeat – You beat me fair and square."
He reaches over, offering the lioness a high-five, which she returns with a chuckle.
"Heh, you can be a dick sometimes, but it's nice to know you can admit when you've been bested. After all, you know me…"
Nala leans close, narrowing her eyes as her smirk grows wider. "I like to be on top~"
A quiet "Mhhf…" escapes Simba at this tease, followed by another as she pulls him in and gives him a playful smooch.
Though Nala quickly breaks the kiss as her eyes widen, just before she lets out a crass "Brraaap!" Her expression grows confused, and she smacks her lips softly.
"What is it, Nala?" inquires Simba.
Nala blinks. "It's really odd, but I swear that one tasted just like strawberries…"
