Somewhere on the rooftops of the stretchiest city in the world...

“Oh sweet AC! It’s way too hot out there..”

Max shlepped into his apartment, drenched in sweat. It was the height of summer, and the city was in the middle of a heat wave.

“I can’t believe it’s so hot outside. At least I got home early for yoga night. I haven’t seen her all week. I need something good to happen this week.”

Indeed, Max had not seen his mysterious neighbor across the street all week. He was getting home late from work, and she was nowhere to be seen.

“I hope she’s alright…” he thought to himself. “She must be doing something, the pool had puddles around yesterday, so she must be doing something in the afternoons.”

He quickly got changed, ditching the sweat soaked office clothes in favor of his yoga outfit. He had a new one for tonight, figuring his friend would want to see him wear something different, but he had his doubts. “Oh man I hope she’s okay with this. This feels too tight, she’s going to think I’m trying too hard…but I can’t just wear the same stuff forever!”

Max checked himself in the mirror, made sure his shorts weren’t too short, adjusted his hair, and triple checked 5 other things. He took a deep breath, nodded at his reflection, and walked over to his whiteboard easel to write a greeting for his neighbor.

He grabbed a marker, replaced the date and added “Hey, been there…long?”

He finally looked across the skyline to see if she was out relaxing in the sun, to see that smile, her stretch, her…

Where was she?

“That’s weird, she hasn’t missed one of these in a while. And what’s all that stuff lying around her roof? Such a weird color too and…”

Something clicked for Max. The liquid rippling in the breeze was skin colored. A blot near the end was her hair color. And floating in the middle of it all was her swimsuit.

“...And it’s all stretched around like she…holy shit! Is she okay?!”

His mind panicked. “I mean I know I’ve seen some e-gals get weak near heat sources and sometimes on the news you see stuff or hear about elastic girls melting but - does that hurt - can she get up - usually one of the other heroes gets them and finishes the villain but they never show how they recover and does she...oh no…”

He started hopping in place. “I…uh…”

Max scribbled under the white board, “I’M COMING TO HELP” and sprinted to his room. “I think I still have that uniform from my side gig…”

* * *

“Oooooh this feels nice. I needed a day off like this.”

It wasn’t just the two long nights on patrol. It was staying solid in the heat. It felt so much better to stretch out across the hot stones on her roof, let the sun’s warmth permeate her entire being, and just let go. She wasn’t even sure when she melted, but she remembered the feeling of floating on the tiles when she fell asleep.

Now she was waking up and only wanted to go back to sleep. She felt bubbles forming around her liquid form, meaning it was still really hot out. She must have spread out double width too, she could feel much more of the patio than normal. Not worth the effort to reform.

There was one other thing she could feel. She realized her swim suit was floating around the goop that was her hips. “Whoops! That’s one for laundry now. I forgot even had that on. I guess I wore it because Max always stares extra long at that one and…”

Max…

She felt a rush thinking about her newest admirer…was he a friend now? It felt weird having a civilian know she lived here, even if she was careful not to tell him anything about her. He didn’t even have her name or a hero identity. But having someone to just … have normal conversations with the last few months had been amazing for her mental health.

Even if it devolved into her showing off for a guy trying to show off their normie yoga skills.

Her face formed floating near her hair, giggling. “I hope he’s home today. It is Yoga Night and…wait what does that say?”

“He’s coming to help?! What’s wrong?!”

Her face stretched into a head on a tendril, looking back at herself. “I mean…everything looks okay. This looks…oh no! He’s never seen me melt! And if he wrote that…” She looked at the sun, lower in the sky than she expected. “Fuck how long was I asleep?! I should get-”

CLICK Are you there? Miss? Hello?”

She heard the fire escape door clicking open. She hadn’t heard Max’s voice very much, despite their constant communication - she was careful to keep her distance and she was rarely close enough to hear him. Only some early cries of “Hello.”

She decided against answering, and thought to herself. This could be interesting…Alright Max. You want to be cute and play the hero? Let’s see what you’ve got. *Sigh…** Save me!*

SPLASH

She let her head collapse back into rubbery soup. Fortunately it was so hot that it did not take much effort to melt herself again.

She heard the hurried footsteps. She felt around for bits of herself floating in hidden parts of the roof so she could form her eyes there and get a look.

Max was actually there. She had him figured as a salary man, but there he was wearing a janitor uniform. Looked a little too small and a little too wrinkled though, like it hadn’t been used in a long time.

It didn’t take her long to figure it out. Oooh, he talked his way in. Note to self, contact building management next week.

He was also armed with a mop, a bucket, and a pile of towels. He entered the patio nervously, stepping cautiously around her. His face showed he was completely out of his element.

“Uuuuh, hello? You’re making me regret not pushing harder for a name. Are you okay? Can you hear me?”

She and the other elastic heroes had long established with each other that the answer to that was to make themselves blow bubbles as if they were rising to a boil for a half second.

BUBBLE

Relief swept over Max’s face. “Good? Is that a yes?”

BUBBLE

“Okay. Uuuh, I don’t know if I should be mopping you up or…”

She giggled to herself. Everyone goes for a mop. I better help him before I get stuck in whatever that thing is. Hmmm…

She focused on the gooey parts of herself nearest to Max. She mixed and moved whatever part of her that was, sliding a band of herself towards him. Better stay connected, he’s probably not ready for that yet. Gotta concentrate now, it’s been a while since I had to move slime around.

Her melted flesh bubbled together into a drawing of a hand, pointing to a large metal box next to the door to her apartment door.

Max hurried over and opened it. There were all sorts of gadgets inside, many labeled, including a wet-vac with a sign “In case of excessive melting.”

Naturally Max opened the huge chest near the bottom that felt cold, opening the ice box. He dumped most of what he was holding on the ground, save for a smaller bucket he used to grab as much ice as he could.

“Okay, hold tight. This ought to cool you down.”

She could hear the ice crunching around, and braced herself. Oh shit he’s going-EEEEEEP!

CRASH

The frigid ice cut through her, forcing a lump of her back into a solid state. It was a bit of a shock to her system, but her body’s pleasure sensors tingled from being forced into shape. A large beach towel sized lump of tanned elastic skin sat inside the band of melted woman on the roof, shrinking imperceptibly towards it.

Max saw the results though. “It worked! I need more!”

She saw where this was going. A good first effort but not what she wanted him to do today. She tried to form her face again, but everything came out underwater burbly. “Wait, Max!”

CRASH

She felt another chill pull her together. Another lump of rubbery flesh on the roof, more shudders as her body gelled back together. It was enough to make her head sink back into the rest of her and enjoy the ride.

I better help though, before I’m really frozen.

She began pulling herself together in earnest as Max continued shoveling ice in. It made her move it fits and bursts, processing the joys of shifting back together with every blast of cool on the hot summer day. It made the rest of her liquid shape splash around like small waves, while a combined blob of elastic flesh grew into a beanbag chair near Max.

He did notice the movement. “It’s working! Oh thank goodness you’re okay!”

She was mentally smiling, but if she could roll her eyes, she would. Silly normies. Okay…I think it’s time he’s earned some fun?

Max stopped shoveling once she was 90% back to a giant pile of clay, or something like it. She was still bigger at the bottom, just solid now. She smoothed out enough of one surface for writing, flexing whatever bits of herself were nearby to carve in words.

Thanks for the assist. You know there’s a wet vac there right?

Max blinked, relief turned to embarrassment. “Oh shit should I have used that? Oh my God I’m sorry I just…”

She “erased” herself while Max stammered through an apology. It’s cool…no wait…

Max laughed at the unintended pun. She didn’t bother changing it.

There’s a tanning table you can fold out the side. Good as a pottery workspace. Can you put me on it and get me back into shape?

Max gulped. He walked over to her, walking extremely tentatively. “Uuuuh, sure? Here, let me…uh…one, two, three!”

She could tell he was afraid to touch her, but it was nice that he gave her a countdown. His hands were rough, solid textures digging into her moldable mass. But they were warm, caring. She could feel him trying to pick her up, not dig into her like a lifeless pile of nothing.

Being pressed up against his chest and feeling how quick his heart was beating didn’t hurt either. Oh he’s adorable! He’s being so nice and careful and ACK!

THUD

After dropping her on the table, making her round shape flatten out a little, she changed her mind. Maybe not…

Max meanwhile was looking at the project before him. “Okay. I never was great with playdough. How do I…uh…”

She was about to write something when she felt his hands go to work. He used his arms to squish her center, spreading her out into a rectangular shape. The strong motions forcing her mass to stretch sent tingles through her. Ooooh yeah, work those knots out. Even like this he’s hitting good spots.

Even if she knew they were all good spots.

Once she was stretched across the table, he started evening out her “legs”. It’s nice, but he needs to not focus down there. Have some guts man, stop working around the-Oh!

Max dug his hands between her “feet”, then her “calves”. He was working on splitting up her legs.

Ooooh that feels nice…I forget how much I feel things sometimes. Note to self…

Max could barely see the putty person beneath him “breathing” when he worked the legs apart like dough. He hesitated. “Is this good?”

She formed a hand on her side, and gave a thumbs up.

Max kept shaping the sides of her body, but processed what he was seeing. “Okay I’ll keep working here and…wait how much can you move right now?”

She froze. Her hand briefly tried to hold up a finger in a silent show of uncertainty, then slipped back into just being another chunk of clay stuck to her side.

Max laughed. “Okay then. But no complaining when I’m as bad as I say I am.”

I guess the game’s up. Still fun to see him relaxing.

Max kept working, making her look something like a 6 foot tall and 6 inch thick giant person cutout like a warning sign. She sat there enjoying it, debating if this was better or worse than just melting in the sun all day in the first place. She hadn’t had a proper massage from someone close to her in years.

Wait, is Max close?

While she pondered that revelation, she realized something else. Max was slowing down. made enough of a womanly shape it was recognizable, but some things were off. Her legs stopped splitting at her lower thigh. Her hips and upper torso were almost completely untouched.

She was debating how to ask him what was wrong when he spoke. “So…uh, how do we…how do I mold….your…”

I guess the game is up.

She formed her face on the roughly circular head. She didn’t change its blocky shape, it was always more fun to play with someone this way. She reached out with the stick like “arm”, stretching it anyway to move Max a few steps back, and bent up to look at herself.

She felt it before but now she could see it. Whether on purpose or by accident, she had dinner plate sized breasts and a dump truck of an ass. Neither had any real definition, to Max’s credit he was keeping his hands off the merchandise, but she still looked fairly sexed up.

She laughed. “So this is what you think I look like?”

* * *

Max would later realize this was the first time he actually heard her voice. He was a little scared when she pushed him away, but the smile on her face said everything was okay.

Still, her flattened etched in face rolled her eyes. “I know you’ve seen these before. Still, I’ll take note of your…preferences.”

Max tried to laugh, but he was far too overwhelmed at this point emotionally. “Heh…I told you I was bad at this.”

She gave him a pat on the head, and stretched her other arm away from him across the street. “You’re adorable, you know that? Thanks for the assist. And next time?”

Her arms pulled back, bringing him in close to her face.

His heart skipped a beat.

“Tell the doorman you have a private lesson. Ask for June Days.”

She winked and lifted him off the ground. The next thing he knew, he was being carried high above the street between buildings, through his open window and back next to his easel.

He stood there for a full minute, sweating and wondering what just happened. She winked at me? She talked to me! She…uh…what do I…

He realized she hadn’t moved either, still standing there in her half formed shape, hands on her wide oval hips.

He scrambled to the white board with a SLAM, erasing it to write again. “So...are we still stretching tonight? Are we cool?”

He turned back, seeing her hold her hand as binoculars against her eyes. She held her arms out to look herself over, twisting in impossible ways to get a look at herself. Eventually she flicked her hand into something like a putty knife, and etched markings into herself.

Max soon realized she was drawing a sports bra and shorts on her “meeple” body.

When she finished, she shook her hand back to normal and snapped. Her body shifted back into a normal look with a bounce like a water balloon, but she kept her ridiculous proportions.

Now it was Max’s turn to slightly lose it, putting both hands against the glass to stare across at her new look.

She reached for the post-it supply and responded, handing it directly to Max. “We’re cool. Don’t get too used to this look though.”

She looked up at her waving, then sauntering inside to get her gear, curves barely contained by her outfit.

Max stood silently for a moment before going to get his yoga clothes back on. He checked the weather along the way. “How long does this heat wave last?”