Commission: Elastigirl's Stay-At-Home Stretch

[Story Listing]

Summary: Following a day of exhausting superheroics, Helen Parr can't pull herself back together, and is stuck all stretched out; the doctor advised a few days of bed-rest, but Helen can't sit around doing nothing for too long. Commissioned by an anonymous user.

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---

As long as there were superpowered beings, there would always be a need for superheroes. Bob and Helen Parr were the alter-egos of two of the most prominent heroes of the fifties. Back in the day they were always a hot item; when the feds came down on superpowered vigilantism, it was little surprise that they forged new, mundane, suburbanite lives together.

"Alright Helen, I'm taking the kids."

"To school."

"That's what I said!"

"And don't forget to swing by the grocery on your way back, we need beef for spaghetti and meatballs."

"I got it, I got it, don't worry about it, just rest up for the day, okay?"

"You sure you got this under control, Bob?"

"Being a dad doesn't have to be tough, I'm a grown man, I can take care of things, have a run of my house."

"Your house."

"Yeah, my house, because I'm the man of the house!"

"...Bob."

...But there would always be rulebreakers on both sides. Even in peacetime, it's not like the bad guys were going to take a break. So Bob and Helen had done their fair share of down-low superheroics.

"Okay okay, didn't come out right, but the doctor was pretty clear about all the bed rest you needed!"

"Tch, yeah... yeah, that ship was going to plough right through the drawbridge if I didn't catch it in time..."

"How many muscles did you pull, sweetheart?"

"All of them."

Helen flopped along the sofa like a throw rug. She was having difficulties pulling herself back together; her arms and legs stretched at least twice as long as they ought to be, her elbows and knees melting into long, boneless limbs. Her robe didn't quite fit to her added height, her midriff taking up almost the whole couch on its own. And her head, adorned by a messy case of bedhead, rolled along a stack of six pillows as her neck arced, its elongated shape marking a weaving trail back down to the sofa.

Her legs effortlessly reached the floor in her current state, flopping into piles; her arms slithered along her form, fingers tensing.

"This is stupid," Helen arched her back, as she tried to push herself up.

"Uhp uhp uhp, remember what the doctor ordered!" Bob lowered an enormous hand to her chest, barring her with a tutting expression.

Helen rolled her eyes. "Couple days of bed rest until the body sorts itself out, yada yada... Bob, I'm a superhero! Well, was a superhero, I can get a handle on this!"

"Listen, hon, just keep your head down and relax, okay?" Bob smiled reassuringly. "I think the doctor knows what's best for you here."

"...You're saying Dr. Highbeam knows more about my body than I do." Helen's eyebrow perked up; she was dying to hear more from Bob.

"N-no, it's just, he went to school for eight years so people could call him Dr. Highbeam, right??" Bob shrugged. "It's just a-"

"He shoots laser beams out of his eyes, Bob." Helen cocked her head to the side. "Doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two-and-two together."

"L-look, just... take it easy today, okay Helen?" Bob bent over to tuck her legs back onto the sofa. "You haven't had a real vacation since-"

"Since the relocation..." Helen sighed. "Alright, alright, I won't twist your arm about it. Just get the kids to lend a hand if you break anything, okay?"

"Pfft. Never broke a thing in my life." Bob chuckled.

"..." His comment got a wry look from Helen; he blinked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"...nothing that I didn't mean to break." Bob corrected himself.

"Hey, big guy." Helen beckoned him closer with a curling finger. "If I can't get to you to kiss you goodbye, the least you can do is come down to my level~"

Bob chuckled, before leaning over to kiss Helen tenderly on the cheek.

"Be back by 5:30." Helen reminded Bob.

"And not a minute later!" He echoed, pacing towards the door with heavy footsteps. He at least sounded pretty energized to get going.

Soon enough, Helen was left alone to her own devices. She clasped her hands together in her lap, trying to relax against the pillowed; her malleable body sunk into the creases and gaps between the pillows.

She exhaled, her eyelids fluttering. Helen suddenly had a lot more time on her hands than usual. She considered napping, but it was already daylight out, and she'd have trouble falling back asleep.

Helen reached for the remote and settled in for a long day...

---

The jungle is a delicate biome that sustains many different species, hundreds of animals who use the damp...

Helen was barely paying attention to the nature documentary that she had landed on, her eyes glazing over. Her arm flopped around her chest as she adjusted her seating position, trying to get a little more comfortable. The droning tone of a deadpan British narrator nearly lulled her right to sleep.

The boa constrictor is one of the most massive predators in South America; after constricting its prey, it unhinges its jaw and slowly consumes its prey whole...

She yawned, her jaw stretching wider than a mouth really ought to stretch. She smacked her lips, eyes lazily drifting to a bowl of fruit left on the table between her and the TV. She reached over, looking over an apple. She glanced at the strange sight of the snake on the TV.

...Well, nobody was watching. She opened her mouth wide and plopped the apple in her mouth, closing her mouth as she swallowed it whole; she grimaced as she felt muscles in her neck contracting in gentle, yet forceful undulations, forcing the fruit down her outstretched neck; she raised her hand, feeling a large lump traveling down before plopping into her gut.

"Well that was exciting..." She groaned. "That's a fun way to pass the time. How long have I been lying here- HALF AN HOUR!? Ugh, c'mooooon!"

She blurted in exasperation, her head flopping against the pillows, and her limbs sprawling; they writhed and twisted as her eyes stared towards the ceiling.

Helen sighed to herself, sitting up; her hands tightened into fists.

"Okay, there's stuff to do, you can't be sitting all day doing nothing. Heck, it's probably better you don't sit around all day being a lazy sack of... ahem." She cleared her throat, shifting her body forward.

"You can do this, girl. Just one leg in front of the other... suck it in a bit..."

She focused inward, trying to bring her legs back towards her. Her body squeaked obstinately as her legs' doubled length travelled towards her, shrinking back to their typical proportions. She felt her knees, defined once more as her legs restored themselves.

Helen grimaced slightly, feeling a bit of a pressure centering in her limbs and neck, and especially her midriff. It didn't hurt, she just felt a little compressed. A little stiff. She held her shape for a bit... Nothing bad was happening.

"Easy~" Helen smirked. Her arms followed suit as she rotated her shoulders and her head plopped back in place. She brushed her hair aside, planted her hands on the sofa cushions, and rose to her feet.

As she stood there, she paused, looking herself over. The pressure she was experiencing had shifted increasingly to her thighs and calves. Her legs felt especially tingly, like a wound up spring. She carefully applied weight, rocking back and forth.

"...Okay... hah!" Helen placed her hands on her hips. "The doctor really was full of sh-"

SPRONG!

Helen shouted as her legs rapidly expanded beneath her, launching her towards the ceiling! She bonked her head and crumpled to the floor, groaning as her body tingled with energy; her eyelids fluttered as she felt her limbs growing on their own, right where she had started... maybe a little bit longer.

"Gotta be kidding..." She muttered to herself, her face buried in the carpet. She cocked her head up, the lowkey droning of the nature documentary going on without her.

"Well, if my legs aren't going to work right, there are other ways of getting around the house."

She tucked her limbs in against her sides; her body, now well over ten feet in length, swivelled in gentle arcs, her legs bending in unison. Her body inched along the carpet as she pushed herself along, slithering like a snake.

"Heheh, they can't keep me in bed all day." Helen smirked to herself. "I'll just do some chores; nobody has to know..."

Helen felt a breeze on her shoulder; she blinked, pulling up her robe; her cheeks flushed scarlet.

"Tch, loose fit. I'm gonna need to slip into something with a snugger fit, but..." She glanced down at her body, stretched out, her skin smooth and shiny. She stroked her tail-like leg with an elongated arm.

"Well... I guess I only got the one outfit that would do the job."

She slithered across the carpet, moving to descend down the basement stairs... to her displeasure, once she had reached the halfway point, she slipped and slid down the remainder, collapsing into a heap of herself; grunting in annoyance, she unknotted herself and made for the washer and dryer. She reared up in front of the drying, pulling out a small, familiar red suit; she unfurled and flapped it in the air, revealing its stylish "i" logo emblazoned proudly on the chest.

"Good, the concrete dust washed off just fine." Helen smiled, satisfied. "Technology really is amazing... let's just slip into this bad boy for the day. No superheroing, just... getting around the house."

She lowered it to the floor out of habit to stick her legs in first, as she often did. But her long, boneless limbs didn't quite act the way she expected, and brushed past the collar line. She grimaced.

"Oh, oop, forgot. Maybe I can..."

Her suit fluttered to the floor, the tiny neckhole facing her; she coiled her legs together, her toes scrunching as her legs flowed as one into the suit; she watch the fabric rise and swell as more and more of her form slipped inside in pulsating undulations, her body tingling excitedly as the form-fitting fabric hugged her skin, creeping up along her body. She sucked in her breath as her hips, midriff, and chest compressed to fit inside, her arms firmly planted at her sides.

The black and red material of her suit effortlessly grew as she entered her custom-made supersuit. It hugged her body in all the right ways; her robe shuffled to the floor listlessly as she suited up. She placed a hand to her chest, now covered by the stretched-out suit that fit her like a second layer of skin.

"Lady's gotta protect her modesty." Helen nodded to herself. "Body's still not working the way I want it to, but at least I won't get a rash... or any weird gawkers."

Helen stretched her arms skywards, and slithered up the stairwell... all fifteen feet of her stretched out, tingling body...

---

Helen's legs still weren't working the way she'd like, but she was able to get around the house just fine. There were plenty of chores to do: she gathered laundry, did some dishes... dusting was particularly easy, her long arms effortlessly slithering into dark, narrow corners and way up to the ceiling fans.

Still, the tactile sensation of her strewn-out limbs weighed in the back of her mind. Her body tingled all over, feeling as though invisible hands were tugging at her limbs, pulling her shoulders. She stopped in the living room, her eyes narrowing as they followed the length of her body disappearing into the kitchen.

She thought about trying to pull herself back together; she took a deep breath and focused inwards, her mind following the sensation of her twisting limbs as they slowly retracted. They slowed to the halfway point—she was still fifteen feet long in all respects, longer than how she started.

She frowned to herself; if Bob saw her like this, he'd probably have words about how she ignored bedrest; it wasn't like she could hide the fact that she was twice as long as she was this morning. Well, maybe with some creative use of blankets...

She shook her head; Helen opted that if she got herself into this mess, she could get herself out. It must've been a mental thing; maybe some meditation would do the trick.

Helen headed to the TV room and cleared some space for a yoga mat that was, at this moment, more of a formality than anything. She coiled herself up into a pile and closed her eyes; she tried to mentally project herself back into one of her old yoga classes...

"Okay... be where you are, not where you think you should be..." She whispered to herself. "Breathe in... breathe out... listen to your breathing, and do what comes naturally..."

Helen seemed to be relaxed; if she relaxed, assured herself with a tranquil mindset, her body would respond, and stabilize in turn.

She focused, her mouth flattening in deep concentration. "Relax... release everything that's been pent up. Live in the present..."

Her body resonated as her body slackened. She felt relaxed; that frantic energy seemed to dissipate on its own.

Bump. Her head hit the ceiling; her eyes jerked open, squinting in visible confusion.

"Wh..." She glanced downwards with a look of dread.

Maybe she relaxed too much in her exercises. Her limbs were growing rapidly beneath her, the carpet rubbing against her skin; her inhibitions were slackened as her body unlocked, growing a foot a second in all directions.

"H-hey, wait a sec, could you just- wah!"

Helen yelped as her neck grew, coiling like a vine around the ceiling fan as her limbs below slithered in all directions, pushed by her continued growth as she flailed helplessly, growing past a point where she could earnestly control it. She tried to resist her growth, but she felt helpless to her own body; she could only slow it down briefly before the noodly lengths redoubled its pace, draping across the floor in a spaghetti pile of red-and-black garbed limbs.

The world inverted for Helen as her head dangled from the light fixtures above, lowering towards the ground. She felt her arms coiling around the handrails as they crept upstairs, squeezing into door frames, pressing against windows, climbing up the kitchen countertops...

"AGH!" She screamed, feeling her foot inadvertently slide into the garbage disposer in the sink, a sharp grinding sound blaring from the kitchen. It was brief, her foot shifting free. It's not like she was worse for wear—Edna made their costumes built to last—but it was sure startling!

And still she grew; she felt her mass reach to the second floor and the basement, though she couldn't tell what went where, with her head starting to wedge itself underneath the sofa. She grunted, wresting herself free.

"Ohhh nooo..." Helen muttered to herself, her head swivelling back and forth as she looked around. Wherever she looked, she saw slack, writhing limbs twisting anxiously in piles, crossing over each other, draping over furniture, slipping behind, over and under every piece of furniture. She shuddered, the feeling of hundreds of feet of her body sending feedback of the tactile sensations to her brain.

She quivered, her body shook, and her limbs creaked as she stretched further and further; she could feel it, even if she couldn't see it anymore, her arms and legs long gone into separate areas of the house. She groaned, consciously steering her head so her neck coils could pile upon itself in the center of the room.

"Ohhhh, this isn't good... gotta pull yourself together, girl..." Helen grimaced to herself.

---

Later that day, Bob pulled back into the driveway. He seemed in a pretty good mood, whistling a jaunty little tune to himself as he paced around to the trunk and reached for a couple paper bags of groceries. Just a quick drop off before he'd keep going to pick up the kids...

"...?"

His mouth flattened as he raised his head. The windows to their house were... pretty red. And black. He couldn't see into them, there was just a solid layer of...

"Helen??" Bob uttered to himself. He plopped the groceries back into the car and slammed the trunk down...

...Maybe a little too hard; he momentarily forgot his own strength, and the trunk clattered to the pavement with a pathetic clunk. His large hands tensed as he looked over the damage as he groaned, making a sound between a muffled curse and a dying animal. He rubbed his temples and hurried up the walkway to the front door.

As soon as he opened the door, various indistinct red-and-black limbs spilled out over the welcome mat. He rolled his eyes in exasperation, bending over to push the limbs back inside.

"Helen! Are you okay honey!?" Bob hollered inside.

"I'm fine sweetheart, ahaha! There's just, ah, more of me to love, y'know?" Helen responded from the living room, her voice muffled as she raised her voice.

"What was all that about bed rest!?" Bob shouted, his beefy arms trying to get a handle on the noodly piles as he scooped up armful after armful, slumping Helen's coils over his shoulder. "Holy cow you're everywhere!"

"Everything's exactly where it needs to be!" Helen insisted. "H-hey, watch where you're stepping!"

"OH I'M SORRY, I'LL AIM FOR THE GAPS!" He blustered with emphasized sarcasm; there really were no gaps, he was essentially forced to wade through a solid foot of Helen's stretched out limbs.

"My mom was right, you have huge feet." Helen laughed.

"I have average sized feet, but when your wife is as long as the Mississippi..." Bob muttered to himself, stopping in the middle of the living room, squinting as he searched for Helen.

He dropped what he was carrying and reached into the criss-crossing piles of noodles, pulling out Helen's head from the sea of red; her neck flowed and disappeared between the rubbery limbs.

"Hhhheeeeeeey babe~" Helen forced a smile. Bob's eyebrows furrowed in response; an unseen limb coiled around Bob's ankle. "This is kinda like our honeymoon all over again~"

"Okay okay, you want me to call Edna? You can stay at her place until you get sorted again." Bob cocked his head to the side. "I'd need to rent a moving-van just to ship you to her, jeez..."

"I-I'm fine, really!" Helen objected, her eyes glancing downward. "I-I think I'm getting my control back and-"

"Dash and Violet are way past the point of sleeping with their mom." Bob grimaced. "I'll call up Edna, she'll know what to do, she's got space for you-"

"H-hey, what about dinner!?" Helen blurted. "You got the groceries right??"

"I'll take the kids out today, see a movie!" Bob was already headed towards the door. "Soon as I drop off the groceries-"

"Hey! Don't take Dash to see any of those monster movies, okay?" Helen grimaced, her neck flowing as Bob pulled her head along. "You know he's got an active imagination about that sort of thing!"

"Ohhhh, it's all special effects nonsense, it looks so dumb and fake! Dash isn't a dumb kid! His grades could be better, but he's got nerves! Takes after his old man..."

Helen sighed; she lost control of her body, and it seemed she was rapidly losing control over this situation as well. It appeared she would have to continue to defer to Bob on the family matters for a bit...

...And maybe Edna could come up with a new feature for her suit to control her growth spurts. She was hopeful.