After the boys had eaten their fill of grass, they stood up in the mowed-down regions they'd created, wiped their mouths off as best they could, and found a nice shady spot at the end of the clearing where they could lie down and digest their meal. They made a few small-talk comments about this or that, but they mostly just peacefully sat there. Even Chris was more mellow than usual.
Lying on his back, staring up at the leaves of the tree above him, John found himself touching his oversized ears again. He was starting to take for granted the louder and more focused hearing they gave him. He'd never seen a human with ears like his own, and he really didn't want to think that they looked like animal ears. He decided it was just some astrological alignment or something that conspired to help him hear better, and tried to put out of his mind the reflection he'd seen in the stolen mirror. The fur on them was even starting to feel normal and familiar to the young thief--well, at least as normal as possible under the circumstances. He relaxed a little bit and focused on the funny feeling in his tummy.
"Hey, Chris, ya know, that grass was good, but did it feel like it only filled you up partially? Like you're full in one place and still hungry in another?"
Chris grunted idly like an old man who was barely listening. John felt his left ear raise itself towards him. John kept talking like a teenage girl who had to fill the silence.
"And maybe some kind of indigestion? I feel like I'm gonna blow chunks almost, except not really, and I guess it doesn't really feel as bad as it sounds."
Chris grunted again. John's left ear twitched again. John lifted himself up a little on his elbows and turned his head slightly to take a look at his friend. He noticed that Chris looked as spaced out as he sounded: he was sitting upright with wide eyes, holding his long tail up between his legs staring at it, stroking it ever so slightly with his right thumb, and apparently taking this opportunity to contemplate on the fact that he had one now. Maybe he was still trying to figure out what exactly it was. Maybe he already had an idea, but it just seemed too silly or superstitious or implausible. John had already decided that it looked like a tail, and what kind of tail it looked like, but he didn't say anything, because he knew Chris wouldn't like it and in any case he'd have to say something similar about his furry ears.
Chris noticed John was looking at him and jumped slightly. He let go of his extra appendage and joined in the small talk.
"Oh, what? Oh, yeah. I feel it, too. The grass feels kind of funny in my--"
Chris was interrupted in the middle by something John couldn't hear or see. He looked like he expected something to happen any second. Then, about a second later, John's wide ears zeroed in on the sound of something like a wet burp, and Chris's mouth fill up with ... something. Chris looked startled again and then just looked confused. Then his jaw moved. He seemed surprised and curious. His jaw moved again. He relaxed. John heard the sound of nervous chewing. Seemingly wanting to say something, Chris looked John in the eye again and with some effort gulped his mouth contents back down into his belly. Before he could say anything, John beat him to it:
"Chris? What the hell, man? Did you seriously throw up and just actually ENJOY it? It looked and sounded like you willfully ate your own barf."
"No, dude! ... well, maybe ... not really ... sort of? It's just ... well, remember how said you liked the grass but didn't feel totally satisfied from it? And how you felt like you were gonna barf but maybe not quite? Well, when it finally happened, it was ... different. It was just like the grass, except... I'm gonna go ahead and say it: it was like the grass but better. Softer and warmer, and more flavorful, like if we cooked it a little bit. You'll see, it--"
"Chris, enough already, you're grossin' me out, bro. Just admit that we need to get this stuff out of us and we're not supposed to eat fucking GRASS! Like, dude--" Suddenly it was John whose voice trailed off. He could feel something working its way up his chest and into his throat. This was it! He was gonna blow! Except, he didn't. Just like Chris before him, when the mass of warm, stringy mush filled up his mouth, John noticed that it actually seemed quite soothing. He shoved it toward the front of his mouth with his tongue, draining off the warm moisture and swallowing that. Then he pressed his teeth into the quarter-digested mass with and realized it felt just like eating the grass all over again, only better.
"See, I told ya," Chris smiled triumphantly, swatting his tail to the left. "It's not nearly as--*glurp!*" Chris was cut off in mid-sentence by his own regurgitation, and this time he didn't stop chewing to talk. He hadn't realized this grass he'd discovered was going to be like two meals in one! He settled back pleasantly into the rhythm of his own chewing, idly watching his partner do the same.