Today was a special day for Lieutenant Duke DeTain. It was his 26th birthday. Usually to the average person, turning 26 really isn't something that matters, it's just 4 more years till you're 30. However, Duke wasn't the average person, and something within him would change on the molecular scale. 

 Duke woke up, assuming that today was going to be normal like the other birthdays he'd had in the past. However, he felt somewhat... bloated. 

"Ugh, why am I so bloated...?" He sleepily asked himself, trying to rub the eye crusties from his eyes. That was when he noticed.His body was inflated into a sphere, only his head, hands, and feet were exposed. "What the heck!?" He exclaimed as he tried to move his spherical body. The lieutenant rocked himself towards his nightstand, grabbing his walkie-talkie.

With how round he was, once he started rolling he didn't know how to stop. He bounced off one of the walls of his room, rolling right to the other end, walkie-talkie in hand. "Ah! Umm, Chief Wheeler? Are you there? I.. umm, I require assistance at the moment." He squeaked, he didn't know how he was going to explain to the station that he just inflated overnight. 

Wheeler didn't even need to respond, he was off on his board and skating towards Duke's apartment in a flash. He did practically adopt the lieutenant eleven years ago after all, his fatherly instincts could kick in in a matter of seconds. "Hold on Dukester, I'm on the way!"

"Eep!! Wait, don't come-" But before Duke could finish his sentence, the police chief knocked down the door to his apartment. After awkwardly putting the door back in its place, Wheeler skated around to look for the inflated man. "I.. I'm in my bedroom." 

"Oh, right, lemme just." The chief stated before doing a kickflip as he entered the room. Then, as his eye landed on the younger policeman, he paused. Duke, embarrassed about his current state, tried to turn away but couldn't. And what Wheeler said during this situation was, "Oh, shoot, I forgot you're turning 26 today. I should have brought you a gift-" 

"What does me turning 26 have to do with anything?" Duke asked, panicking a bit. "Whoa, whoa, dude. Don't you know about the gene thing? That awakens when you turn 26? Do they not teach about that anymore?" 

"Wh...What Gene?" 

"Bruh, I guess they don't. Alright, Imma have to go into science mode for this. So, basically, there's this gene that 1 in every 100 people get where they blow up like a balloon like you are right now. Now, Dukester the important thing to remember is that to return to normal, you just gotta think it." The skater boi explained. "Wait this was a commonly known thing?" Duke asked as he tried to think about deflating. 

"Well, sorta. It was reeeally frowned upon since it wasn't 'normal', like you were convicted of being a witch and shit." The older of the two stated.

The lieutenant started to deflate as he listened, a stream of air could be heard coming out of his mouth. He couldn't imagine he could have a gene that would result in suddenly inflating one day, once he was fully deflated Duke noticed a mark appear on his palm. It was shaped like a cloud. "I guess this is some kind of indicator as to who has the gene, but what if I can't go to work anymore? What if I suddenly bloat up during an arrest and end up being chased out of town? What if-" 

He would have continued if Wheeler didn't give him his Cubby doll to hug. "Hey, chill Dukester. Ain't nobody's gonna find out, if ya want I could teach you the ropes about this inflating stuff. Of course not out in the open or a cramped room." 

"Uh, how can you help? Is there any expert about this gene?" 

Wheeler took a seat beside the younger man, rubbing what looked like concealer off his own palm to reveal the exact same marking. "You have it too?" 

"Yeah, better believe I was just as shocked when I suddenly puffed up overnight. Must have completely trashed my room before I found out how to deflate." The police chief chuckled. "The only one who knew was Bennett, and I guess you too now." 

"Wow." Duke was amazed that some people could be able to inflate at will, but then he remembered they were accused of witchcraft before. "It must have been hard."

"Totes dude, especially since they didn't have smudge-proof concealer in my skin tone then! Bruh I had to wear uncomfortable fingerless gloves until they made it. It was the worst. Also controlling it took a while since I had to learn by myself. However, you don't have to suffer like I did. A, because there are better selections of concealer of more diverse shades, and B, I will tell you everything you need to know about this." Wheeler exclaimed. 

"Thank you for the support, but I wear gloves already as a part of my uniform." Duke commented. "Alright rad! Now then, we gotta find somewhere to show ya the ropes. And I think I know just the place." The chief smiled before getting on his board, gesturing for Duke to grab on.   

Once the lieutenant was on, the two sped off to the sewers since that's the only place that was secluded and big, while also not being in the open. "Alright, not the greatest place, but it'll do for your training." Wheeler stated.

The city prided itself for running completely on green energy, stated as being so clean their sewers often housed dolphins coming in from the ocean. The sea mammals would be the only company for the two policemen down there. "Whew, believe me, before Fleck got elected this place smelt like a-" 

"I don't think I want to know. Um, what will happen to my clothes? I lost two buttons off my pajama shirt this morning." Duke asked, he quickly got into a pair of baggy pants and his loosest shirt once he deflated. 

"Yeah, that's one issue. Always have a spare pair of clothes handy, I learned that the hard way, heh." The chief chuckled as he remembered the day he ended up tearing up all his clothes. He was glad he was just in his apartment when it happened. "Alright, so the big thing is keeping your cool. If you're stressed or really pissed off ya might end up inflating without realizing it." 

Wheeler closed his eyes, the lieutenant copying him. "Right, now focus on being a huge ball and inhale. Don't go too fast, take long, deep breaths." He added, swelling full of air. Duke was nervous, could he really control this? He slowly inhaled, he could feel his belly grow under his shirt. "You feeling okay, Dukinator?" 

"Uh, I am. It feels, actually nice? Like the more I'm filling up, the comfier I'm feeling? That's the best way to describe it."

"Yeah, it's like that first few times, either you lose that feeling or you just have an inflation fetish XD." The skater boy joked. Soon they were both completely round as balloons, with Wheeler being a few inches bigger than Duke. This was mainly because Wheeler stretched himself out more as a younger man.   

"BTW, Dukester, another thing to remember is that you can stretch out your body, but I wouldn't recommend it, I mean unless you're a masochist, which I don't think you are lol." The chief noted before deflating, for him, it was very quick. 

"Um... Besides that, is there anything else I should know?" Duke asked. "Hmm..." Wheeler thought about it for a second before gasping as the thought finally came.

"Oh yeah, how could I forget something important! Okay, so, y'know when you're inflating right? Well, there's a period of time before you go full blimp. Like there's just a little bump where your belly is, and you can def feel it. So if you feel it in public you can just like, take a deep breath in and let it out and it's dealt with." The skater exclaimed. 

"Oh, that's good to know. Thanks." 

Duke's clothes managed to remain intact from his inflation, minus a couple of ripped seams on his shirt. He softly rubbed his now flat belly, he still couldn't believe he had the ability to puff up his entire body. "Wait, could Daisy also have this gene? I mean I won't know until she turns 26, but could it be possible?" 

"Probs, if this gene wasn't seen as a curse or a disease that has them isolated from the entire world we could know early signs before it happens." Wheeler replied. The marking only emerged after the first inflation. "Oh wait, probably shouldn't have said that disease part... Aw well, I mean as long as you know who doesn't find out we got nothing to worry about." 

"Yeah, I guess. It still feels like isolation." The lieutenant admitted, he silently mumbled that last part. It was fun swelling up, but it didn't seem fair that something as harmless as blowing up like a pufferfish could be considered witchcraft. "It's not like we're forcing other people to inflate." He thought. 

He was lost in his thoughts until Wheeler patted his shoulder. "C'mon, how about we head back up and see if there's any crime bois on the loose? Then we can get ice cream and pizza and watch anime the rest of the day!" 

Duke smiled and nodded, getting back out into the streets. "Maybe if we told Mayor Fleck about this? He might understand, he already did a lot to stop hate crimes that were allowed by the previous mayor."

"I mean maybe. The pro of that sitch are that a small number of people believe in witchcraft nowadays, but there's a serious con, well two. The first bein' that, yknow, Fendrich is gonna make a scene about it and blah blah blah, and the second one is concerning the number of people that are affected by this." 

Duke was quizzical about the ladder of what Wheeler said. "What do you mean by that? About the number of people?" 

"Oh well, I mean, Idk but if there's like, too small of a minority, there may be an overrule or something? I'm not sure though, I'm not a lawyer. Think about it, there's only two of us, I think, so like, it's kinda slim that it's going to be solved." Wheeler stated as they climbed out of the sewers.   

Duke just followed him up. "There has to be a way to convince the mayor that we should be able to exist and not be outcasted, I'm sure of it." The lieutenant thought as he walked with Wheeler to the station.

Bennett was at his desk as always, despite being only the captain of the force he took his job much more seriously than Wheeler. "You're both late. Wheeler I understand, but you, Detain? This isn't like you at all." 

As of lately, he was starting to think the chief was a bad influence on Duke, just last week he damaged yet another car during an arrest. 

"Heehee, yeah. I guess I lost track of time, but let's give the little dude some slack. It's his birthday after all." Wheeler insisted. "Eheh, and there's a little something you ought to know. I mean if you can keep a secret, you know about my little condition right?" 

Bennett looked up, noticing Duke covering up his right hand. "Ah, I think I know what's going on. Well, lieutenant, I can assure you your secret is safe with us. You'll just have to keep your puffiness in check and try not to get too distressed." He assured the younger man. "Now, is there anything else I need to know about?" 

Duke was about to respond with no when he heard a familiar ice cream truck jingle pass by. "Ah! I better get to work now, crime never sleeps, and neither do I!" He declared, shoulder rolling to his car. Wheeler got on his board to join in on the chase. 

Bennett just took a sigh as he watched them leave. "I really should try to keep Detain from becoming a miniature version of the chief, as impossible as it sounds. Well, I better get back to sorting these files out while they're gone."