[he was grateful for the hug, even if it did sort of hurt. He'd been kind of worried she'd slap him or scream at him. He hugged her back, tightly though not with as much strength as usual]

I missed you...

[the hug didn't really hurt his muscles, it was just his skin. She'd probably notice immediately it felt different. While it was normally sort of moist and soft except the scaly parts, it now felt very dry and stretched, like paper]