🕊️ Fit to Last

Anna's contortion performance was almost over, she was standing in a column of light in the middle of a dark room, taking one of her final poses to its ultimate form, a very compact and tight backbend, for which she had to crawl her shoulders through her own thighs and finally spread her arms out to the sides in a proud contortion stance.

Her spine was stretched so far beyond human limits that she nearly had a heart attack when among the general applause she suddenly heard a loud explosion. The sound almost deafened her, making her think that her back was broken and she would die, when suddenly someone turned on the lights in this large banqueting hall, and she saw all the people panicking and rushing to the exit.

Even through her damaged hearing, she could hear the hellish sound of breaking glass and crockery, as it was in the midst of a wedding to which she had been invited to perform. Several guests wanted to help her, but when the room began to collapse, they changed their minds and ran for their lives.

Anna was quick to unbend and get off the small circus table, but not fast enough to follow everyone before the wall collapsed. She could not believe that by this moment she was still alive, as if something protected her exclusively from all the falling beams and stones.

But she didn't have time to think about it, just as she didn't have time to massage the muscle she'd pulled in her back. Trapped alone in the room, she discovered a very small opening in the ventilation system. There was no way she could fit in there, but another explosion left her no choice but to try.

Bit by bit, she squeezed her way through the long and narrow tunnel, withstanding extreme pressure from all sides, thanks only to her incredible flexibility and the way her body was trained to contort from an early age. Her shoulder dislocating skills came in particularly handy, yet a few twists of the tube's U-shaped portions were incredibly torturous for her joints.

After the last explosion, she shivered for a long time, sitting in a dusty, dark room. Her entire contortionist outfit was in tatters, she was very lucky the holes weren't too embarrassing. As a girl, even in such situations, she would think of such things as decency.

Suddenly she heard a voice calling out: "Is anyone alive?" It was a youngful male voice.

"Me, here," she quickly rushed in that direction and ran into a young man her age.

"Hey, you are that flexible girl! So glad you're safe! Don't worry, it's all quiet now, I think it's over... But just in case, keep your voice down, okay?"

Anna nodded. She was glad to suddenly meet someone friendly in the middle of all this chaos.

She looked at him carefully as he stepped into the light... Black sneakers with yellow soles, bare legs, clean-shaved and very tanned, black shorts with bright leopard pattern around the athletic thighs...

So far, so good, everything else Anna already imagined in her head: something like a black shirt, some modern haircut and maybe even piercings in the ears, something cool like that... Her heart jumped as she realized that her expectations couldn't be more wrong.

The tanned teenager stepped forward, revealing most of his body to Anna. She couldn't describe it better, "revealing" was the right word as his torso was barely covered! His top was cropped up to his collarbones, his shoulders a bit more covered, wrapped by the same bright leopard pattern.

Being a girl, it would be a sin to complain in a different kind of situation. This guy's torso was athletic and slim, maybe even too slim, so slim that a black shadow crossed his waist in this lighting...

Anna suddenly gasped! She would have rubbed her eyes if only her hands weren't so dirty from crawling through the tunnel... But she could have sworn that the guy had a tight belt around his waist, not even a human belt, it looked more like a dog collar!

"Oh dear, how do you even..." Anna leaned over to get a better view to make sure it wasn't just a lighting game, but it wasn't her eyes failing her, his waist was indeed about the same size as his neck. "Maaan, are you from a circus or something!?"

"No, I'm a tribal fusion dancer, we don't usually perform in circuses. Well, usually... I was invited to perform at this wedding, I was supposed to bellydance shortly after your contortion act, but was a little late, so I guess that's why we haven't met... I caught some of your performance though, it was amazing! Oh, are you worried about my waist this much? If you like, I can tell you why it's like this."

"Oh... Okay," Anna squeezed the words out of her throat, feeling mesmerized by the sight of this guy's waist and the overall shape of his torso.

"Well, you see, it's a sad story actually... I had major abdominal surgery when I was a child, I had to wear a tight medical belt for 2 years after... But since children are easily impressed, I thought it was the belt that saved my life... It turned into a passion for tight belts and I started taking bellydancing lessons after I fully recovered... So I've been tight-belting and dancing for almost 10 years now, and I don't regret it a single day... Nobody believes when they see it for the first time!"

He rolled his hips a little, and it seemed unreal how his wasp body moved so easily, like two separate halves.

Anna averted her eyes, now it was too much! Only now she realized that the shape of his belly had captured all of her attention. "Uh, I'm sorry for staring..."

"Please watch as much as you want, it's my pleasure! I'm Mitra by the way!"

"I'm Anna... Nice to meet you."

"I'm glad to meet you too! Like I said, your contortions were amazing! The way you crawled through your own legs with your shoulders and spread your arms... Then everything turned into chaos, and I caught myself thinking... I don't even care if I die after seeing something so great!"

"D-don't say that!" Anna protested. "But... Thanks... Glad you liked it... You know, not many people can appreciate how much training it takes to make these postures..."

"You must be joking, it looks like a miracle to me! That coming from a bellydancer, and we are usually pretty flexible ourselves… But you have to be the most flexible person in the world, I swear!"

Talking about their passions calmed her even more. She even gained a little bit of confidence after this whole nightmare straight out of a horror movie. Although at the bottom of her spine she felt that it had only just begun.