A/N: This is my first time in a while letting anyone read my work and my first ever fic, so please go easy on me.
It was an ordinary day at the station. Beca arrived on time, Jesse arrived a minute late. Just as it had always been since day one. They stacked CDs, Jesse trying to make her smile, Beca staring at him in stony indifference. Occasionally, a smile would crack her face before she could catch it, but for the most part, Jesse's attempts at flirting were fruitless.
Beca was a badass. At least, she wanted to be. There were few things that could shake her, and she had gotten good at controlling her emotions, and for an emotional person, as in a person who naturally showed lots of emotion, not a cryer, per say, this was no easy feat. But she managed. She refused to let anything ruin her badass repertoire. And nothing ever did.
Until the day of the spider. Oh, that goddamn spider. If there was something she hated more than anything in this world, it was a spider. She'd had a bad experience with one once when she was very little, and she had been scarred ever since. Beca despised their very existence.
Jesse had just returned from getting Luke's lunch. They were stacking the last crate of CDs before their lunch break. That was when Beca saw the spider.
It was big. Including its legs, it probably the size of a quarter. Beca froze. It had woven a web right where her last CD had to go. Typical.
Jesse immediately noticed. "Becaw! What're you doing?" He chuckled. "You just froze."
"Um…" Beca's voice trailed off. She needed to find an excuse as to why she froze. 'Maybe I can hide this CD and forget about the spider,' she thought. "I realized I…um…have Bellas rehearsal today."
"And you froze because…" Jesse wasn't buying her performance, if it could even be called that.
"I have to interact with Aubrey the She-Devil today."
"Oh." Jesse paused, thinking. "Don't you have rehearsal almost every day? You always have it after your shift."
Shit. He had a point. "Well, I hadn't been–" The spider moved, causing Beca to flinch. "–mentally preparing myself."
"Okay. That's a lie. You flinched. What's going on over there?" Jesse walked around the bookcase and followed Beca's line of sight, which hadn't changed since she had first seen the spider. "Hey, there's a–hold on. Are you scared of spiders?"
"What?" Beca tugged at her hair like she always did when she was nervous. She scoffed. "No way. Why would I be scared? It's just a bug. Why would I be scared of a bug?"
Jesse just looked at her pointedly.
"Okay, I am," she sighed, her face turning red.
"Would you like me to remove it from the premises?" He gave Beca the slightest of smirks.
"Yes, please," she squeaked, turning impossibly redder.
"Okay." Jesse walked over to the booth, and after ensuring Luke wouldn't catch him, rushed in and grabbed a Pixie cup from the stack that Luke pretended didn't exist. Jesse and Beca had no idea why Luke had such a pile, but he did.
"I'm going to get the spider in the cup. Then I'm going to pinch the top closed and release the spider outside, okay?" Jesse informed Beca, who nodded slightly.
"Alright." Jesse advanced toward the offending shelf, brandishing the cup. Locating the spider and taking aim, he slammed the cup down on the shelf.
"Shit!" he exclaimed, having missed his target. The spider scurried in Beca's direction, who screeched and bolted from the aisle, shoving Jesse out of the way as she did.
When he had successfully captured the spider, he walked toward where Beca was hunched near the desk. "I have the spider in the cup. I'm going out the back door. I'll be right back." Beca nodded, paler than usual.
Jesse eventually came back inside, throwing out the cup as he did so.
"The spider is now in a bush about 100 feet from the building and sidewalk. I think you're safe."
"What about the web?"
"I'll clean it. One second." Jesse walked back to the shelf and, locating the web, brushed it off with his hand. Beca shrieked.
"Dude, no! That's nasty!" Jesse stepped toward her. "No. Don't you dare. Get your fucking hand away from me."
Jesse ran to the bathroom and came out a free moments later, brushing wet hands on his jeans. "The spider is gone now. Including its web."
"Thanks," Beca said, placing the CD where it went.
"No problem." Jesse out away his last two CDs. "So, spiders, huh?" he asked conversationally, pulling on his sweatshirt.
Beca glared.
"I'm just asking!" he defended himself quickly.
"You couldn't tell by the way I reacted?"
Jesse fell silent.
"I thought so." Beca pulled on her backpack and turned to go.
"Beca, wait," Jesse grabbed her arm lightly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have teased you."
"I didn't consider it teasing. I just have to get to Bellas rehearsal."
Jesse smirked at her. "Same excuse? And since when did you care about being on time to rehearsal?"
"I'll have you know that I do have rehearsal, which started 10 minutes ago. Off to torment Aubrey!" She slammed the door of the station behind her, causing the whole building to shake and Luke, who had come back from wherever he had eaten his lunch, to yell after her.
Jesse grinned. There was the badass Beca, acting as if nothing had happened. 'Spiders,' he thought, filing away this newfound knowledge on the mystery that was Beca Mitchell.