Harmless bonding

"Whatcha doin?"

Matt sighed for the seventh time today and said, "I'm busy, Opal."

"Busy doin what?"

"Building things, Opal."

"Oh. Okay."

Matt sat in silence, knowing that she wasn't done with her questioning, because this was all she did since she got her an hour ago. He counted to ten in his head before preparing his answer as she asked, "Whatcha building?"

"Models, Opal."

Opal sighed and said, "Awww come on Matt! You're always building models!"

"Not always, sometimes I paint them."

"'Cha, well, that's not... always... is it?" Opal said, losing her train of thought. Bless her heart, but Opal wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, though this was average for her species of Monster. No one could ever say that Wurms were smart, no one that had ever met one anyway.

"No, it isn't." Matt said, picking up the bottle of super glue again. He gently placed a bead of glue upon the neatly trimmed legs of a space marine and then attached the torso. Thirty-three degrees to the left and... perfect. Yes, this grav cannon, like the twelve others, will look excellent in this pose.

Matt gloated smugly in his own mind as a shadow fell over him. He blinked a few times before turning up to see Opal's face above his own. She blinked her large, green eyes which sat in her unnaturally beautiful face and said, "Where's his arms?"

"Buwaaa!" Matt shouted, throwing his arms up and knocking the super glue into the air as he fell backward from his stool. His fall was arrested was something soft and pillowy and he groaned, looking up at what stopped him from hitting the ground.

Right before his face were Opal's large, well formed breasts, barely covered the sheer T-shirt that still revealed way too much cleavage. Matt could feel his cheeks heat up and he tried pulled away, but before he could fully exit he felt a massive, sticky pressure as Opal's claws clasped his hands.

"I'LL SAVE YOU!" Opal shouted, squeezing her powerful, reptilian claws down and shaking him. "DON'T WORRY, YOU'RE SAFE NOW!"

"O-O-O-OPAAAAL! STOOOOPPPP!" Matt yelped as he was jostled back and forth. "I'M SSSSAAAAFFFEE!"

"Oh." Opal said, stopping abruptly. Mat's head slammed forward again into her chest and he groaned as the world began to swim all around him. Opal chuckled, her chest bouncing his face off her as she said, "See, I can still be of help! Are you alright?"

"Uhng... like balloons..." Matt muttered, shaking the last of his stupor away. He took in a deep breath before scowling at Opal and saying, "What the hell was that about? You could have killed me!"
Opal blinked a few times, looking confused. She lifted him into the air, still gripping his hands with her insanely powerful claws and said, "But... but I saved you!"

"Opal! You caused me to fall in the first place!"

"But... I just wanted to see what you were doing."

"Damnit Opal, you're always like this, you never can seem to take a hint!" Matt growled, losing his temper. "Look, I know we've been friends since we were kids, but we're growing up! I have other things I like to do! Sometimes, just sometimes, I don't want to play with you!"

Opal stared at Matt, her expression growing downcast until she looked nothing so much like a kicked puppy. Her shoulders slumped and he dropped down to the floor, grunting as he did so. Her long, brown hair fell down over her face, obscuring the green scales that grew on her cheeks and chin while exposing her finned ears and the long, sharp horns on her head.

Matt groaned, knowing he went too far. Opal has always been like this though, never getting the hints and causing trouble whether she meant to or not. As kids it was fun, but now that they were older, he had found solace in his models and gaming, though Opal never really figured it out and thought things hadn't changed. He bet she didn't even realize that her body had changed so much as well, which was why...

He blinked and looked at Opal who was still sitting there, sulking. He glanced down at his encased hands and frowned before asking, "Opal, you can let me go now."

"Oh... right." Opal said, making to open her claws. Her claws shook a little but remained closed, and she looked surprised before trying again, a look of deep concentration coming over her face.

"Opal, this isn't funny." Matt said, wincing as he felt a tug on his skin. It kind of hurt she more she tried to pull away. When she began to start swinging him about he shouted, "STOP STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"I'M TRYING TO LET GO BUT YOU WON'T!"

"GAHHH!" Matt shouted as she dropped him again and he let out a ragged breath as he said, "What are you doooiiinngg?!"

"I don't know!" Opal said, wilting. "Our hands are stuck together!"

"What do you mean stuck to...geth...er..." Matt said before a slow horror dawned on him. He craned his neck slowly to the side to see the open bottle of super glue on the floor, only small amount left in the bottle. He turned slowly back to Opal and whispered, "You didn't..."

"I tried to save the bottle but it got everywhere instead!" She said before her eyes went wide as dinner plates in realization. "Ohhhhh! We're glued together!"

"No shit." Matt groaned and shook his head. "Damnit all to hell, what are we going to do?"

"Uh, uhhh." Opal said, looking about in worry. "D...don't worry, I'll get us loose!" She turned quickly to the side as her long, serpentine lower body allowed her to twist at the hips with surprising speed. Of course, being glued at the hands to her, Matt went with her. The extreme force of her absurdly strong physique caused him to fly farther than she expected and he had to throw himself down to avoid slamming into a display case with his prized Tau collection.

"Waaah! Sorry, sorry!" She squealed before throwing him the other direction in a delayed reaction. He was unable to stop it this time, but ended up hitting something soft at least, his bed. He groaned as his back bounced off the mattress to have him hit bottom first on the floor.

"Oh no, uhm, sorry, let me uh-" Opal fretted but was cut off as Matt shook his head frantically.

"No, no, stop stop, just stop." He said, sighing. "We have to thinking of this constructively."

"Didn't we get into this mess because of building things?"

"What? No, I..." Matt said with confusion before groaning. "Look, there has to be a way out of this which doesn't involve you throwing me across the room."

"Hrrrrmmm." Opal said, lifting her claw to her chin in thought. This had the unintended effect of dragging Matt up to her chest again, and he cried out,

"Stop doing that!"

She blinked in surprise and looked down at him before cocking her head. "Doing what?"

"Pulling me into your chest!"

She looked even more puzzled and turned her head to a near ninety degree angle. "Is that bad?"

"Yes! It's bad!" Matt said, cheeks flushing. "You're a girl, have some dignity!"

"Dig... like a shovel?" She said, looking utterly baffled.

"How can you live being so stupid? I'm surprised you can put pants on in the morning."
Opal gave him a look like he was an idiot. "Uh, Matt, I don't wear pants, I don't have legs." She waggled her rather alluring hips, green scales shimmering in the fluorescent lights above the short skirt she wore. "Geez, and you called me stupid."

"That's not... ugh." Matt said. "Alright, alright, you got me there. But what I really meant before was we should calm down and think this through."

"Like... those puzzles we used to play together?"

Matt's eyes went wide at the suggestion and he nodded his head vigorously. "Yes, yes, like that." He felt a little relieved, able to give her something to concentrate on while he figured a way out. "Alright, so we have our hands glued together, how does one remove glue?"

"We jam something thin between our hands and pry it apart?" She said, looking at a replica sword in the corner of the room.

"Yeah, I think not. I kind of like having skin on my hands."

"It's overrated." She said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, it will grow back."

"I don't have scales like you do." He said, frowning. "Let's think of something that keeps us intact here."

She sighed, a look of annoyance on her face as Matt mused things over. "Hrrm. Usually I just use hot water and soap to clean it off, but-"

"Oh! I can do that!" Opal shouted, dragging him hurriedly to the bathroom. He didn't even shout this time, taken off guard as she flung him down the hall, almost slamming him into the door. He did knock a few pictures off the wall as she slithered into the bathroom like a freight train though, and he only stopped when she plopped him into the bathtub with a thud.

Matt was about to question how she was going to turn on the shower when she leaned down and used her teeth to turn the faucet. At once, cold water poured out onto both of them and Matt shouted in surprise at the shock. Opal shuddered but looked pleased with herself as the water heated up. She looked down at the soap and leaned over to grab it with her teeth, managing to press body onto Matt's.

"Don't bite that!" He shouted, and she blinked wet hair clinging to her forehead and obscuring her vision.

"Why? How else am I supposed to use the soap and hot water to get it off?"

"I never said we should do this!" Matt said, looking straight at her before his eyes drifted down to her T-shirt, which had become transparent from the water. A black-lace bra sat underneath, keeping her chest from exploding out everywhere, and he quickly averted his gaze, cheeks heating up.

"Oh, is the water too hot for you?" Opal said, cocking her head. "Your face is growing red."
Now that she mentioned it, the water WAS getting really hot. He didn't realize at first in his embarassment, but now that she pointed it out, it was hurting like hell! He squealed from the heat and jumped out of the shower, almost slipping on the tile floor, which was covered in water. He turned to her and shouted at her to turn the water off, and she did, once more using her teeth.

As the water trickled down into the drain, he groaned, his own energy gone like the water. "Opal, you can't just go bounding off without thinking things through, how many times have I told you this?"

"Uhm... a lot?" She said, wincing.

"Yeah, a lot." He said, sighing. "Now look at us, we're both soaked with nothing to show for it."

"I... I'm sorry. I wanted to try to fix this."

He looked at her and shook his head. "I know you do, I really do, but Opal, you're making things worse."

She closed her eyes and said, "Like I always do..."

Aww geez. Matt squeezed his eyes shut and said, "No, Opal, you don't always make things worse."

"You're just saying that!" She sniffed, and he knew she was crying. "I always mess up and I know you think I'm an idiot and just... just a bother!"

"Opal, come on, I don't... think... that."

"See!" She said, shaking her hair, which slapped into Matt's face. He grunted from the force of the wet hair and she cried out, "I did it again! All I do is mess up, and now you don't even want to spend time with me anymore! Ever since we reached high school, you don't want anything to do with me!"

"Opal, when did I ever say that?"

She sniffed, turning her head to the side. "You didn't have to! I noticed the way you avoided looking at me! The way you're avoiding looking at me now!"

Matt blinked in surprise. "You... you think I'm not looking at you because I hate you?"

"Well what other reason could it be? Or is it because I'm ugly? Covered in scales like I am?"
He barked out a laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. She looked down with an utterly defeated expression. "See? I knew it..."

"God damn, you are stupid, aren't you?" He said, still laughing. She winced from this, but he merely pressed himself close her wet body and said, "Opal, I didn't look at you because you were too ugly, but because you were too beautiful!"

Her brow knit together and she looked at him in confusion. "I don't... I don't understand."

He shook his head and said, "Look, it's... embarrassing to say, but... I stopped hanging out with you as much in high school because... because I began to notice how were you were... uhm... changing."

"Change...?" She said, cocking her head before realization hit her like a hammer. "Ohhhh! OHHHHH!"

"Yeah." He said, coughing. "You get it now, right?"

"Woooooow, I never knew you thought of it that way!" She said, blushing furiously. "I never knew you liked my scales after I shed into a darker shade of green!"

"What? No, that's not... gah." He said, shaking his head. "God, I forgot I have to be blunt with you, look Opal, all of you changed. Your hips, your breasts, your face, damnit even your scales! They all changed and turned my childhood friend into this beautiful girl and now I'm making a damn fool of myself."

His face was as warm as a furnace by this point and he pulled away from her, but didn't get far as their hands were still fused together. He looked at them again and then groaned, wishing he could escape and hide in a corner somewhere.

"You... you really feel that way?" Opal said, voice uncharacteristically quiet. A thumping noise was heard from outside the hall, and Matt realized with surprise that it was her tail slapping against the wall. He looked up at her face to see her flushed, an expression of pure joy present. "You... you think of me like that? That makes me really happy."

"Ah...erm... well." He said, feeling fluttering sensation in his chest. "Yeah?" He didn't get to say much else as she tried to pull him into a hug, which only managed to make his arms bend at a strange angle. He grunted in pain, but bore it as she pressed herself upon him. He sighed, feeling some kind of weight lifted off his chest. He never planned on really telling her what he thought, but now that he had, he felt a certain sense of elation he couldn't explain.

"Ohhh, I'm so glad!" Opal squealed, pulling away. "I wish we could stay like this forever!"

"Opal, you know that we can't do that."

"Oh. Right." She said, deflating. Her eyes looked to the side for a moment before her cheeks heated up again and she asked, "Can we... maybe hold hands like this sometimes though?"

Matt chuckled and shook his head. "Opal don't be stupid. Of course we can."