I felt the need to post and so I just made this randomly. It's set at some point during the movie, probably earlier on... And I don't know why I say badass so much but I just... this was really random okay and I had no real plan and so just roll with it? But yeah. It's my birthday present to myself (because I'm officially an old lady today) and I don't care what anyone says (ahem, you know who you are), posting on your birthday is a cool thing to do.

THE CURSE OF JUSTIN BIEBER

Make no mistake.

Beca is a badass.

A 100% pure, unadulterated badass.

She is so badass that a lot of people find it pretty intimidating, not that she really cares all that much but she just does not fancy all that clingy friendship stuff most girls are into. And okay, so the Bella's are pretty clingy when they want to be and yes, alright, she'll admit she's starting to see a little why girls are into said clinginess, but that doesn't make her any less of a badass.

Beca is so badass its her middle name.

(Well technically, legally, its Vivienne, but no one else needs to know that, especially a certain Treble Maker...)

Its just that occasionally, and by that she means very rarely... Well, Beca is a little less badass than normal.

Like, for instance, when she's innocently wandering about the station, searching for a place to put the Justin Bieber CD that means it will never be found and therefore used again, and she pushes a row of disc cases over to make them a little neater and it reveals probably the most giant spider to ever have existed.

Beca's ear-piercing scream is close to cracking all the windows and the CDs within a hundred foot radius and the inhumanely large distance she jumps back is pretty impressive too. She is crouched over, her palms pressing tightly into her eyes, faster than Jesse (who is also stacking CDs about a dozen paces away) can even blink and register that Beca is on the verge of a mental shutdown.

So, okay, it's not her finest moment, but she is really fucking terrified of spiders.

"What the -" Luke dives out of the booth, staring at her in alarm as hot tears streak down her face and land on her shoes. She doesn't think he can see her out-of-character full on freak out that has currently taken charge of her facial expression, which is probably a really good thing, because she doesn't want her reputation as being Class B for Badass ruined.

Even if her shrill scream has just reverberated around the building a good dozen times.

By this point, Jesse is at side, his fingers gently prying her hands away her face under her loose hair. Resisting, she tries to hide because she is naturally pretty mortified, and she hopes that if she doesn't let him get caught up trying to calm her down, he will notice the gigantic monster to her left and actually get rid of it before she passes out -

It isn't there anymore.

She's looking through her fingers - through Jesse's fingers - and its gone.

Her yelp is muffled by the two pairs of hands over her face as she shudders, desperately trying to look it. Its not on the shelves or the floor or -

Oh my god its on me.

"Get it off get it off get it off!" she cries, her legs kicking out and her arms flailing as she tries to find where it could possibly be on her.

"Woah, Beca! Beca!" Jesse manages to capture her wrists. "Calm down! Chill for a minute okay, it's fine, you're fine!"

"I can feel it," she insists, swaying her head wildly to try and see her back. Her skin is tingling and there is definitely something crawling up her shirt and -

"Beca there is nothing on you, okay? Just stop!"

All of a sudden her cheek is pressed to his chest and his arms are around her and its like someone has pulled out the plug that is holding all her tension in, as she feels her muscles relax and her mind start to slow down from its whirring speed. Her hands twitch at her sides but otherwise she accepts the comfort he brings her, letting him stroke her hair and soothe her frazzled nerves. Its nice, the few moments that pass spent engulfed by his body heat, so she gives in just this once to the comfort, not really caring about the teasing she'll no doubt get later on.

"You good now?"

"Yeah," she says a little breathlessly - and she hates it because its just chipping away at her already damaged reputation but, if there is anyone Beca doesn't mind so much having to know it, it's Jesse - and pulls away just a little to offer him a shaky smile.

"How about you tell me what got you so spooked," he suggests, his thumb rubbing over the discs of her spine over her shirt. It's a little distracting, so it takes a moment to respond properly.

"Uh... Spider. There was a spider." Beca feels a little juvenile at her confession, because he's probably going to hold this against her, but someone has to deal with that thing and its not going to be her.

But he just nods seriously, looking across to the shelf she had been sorting. "Alright, I'll take a look."

Jesse walks leisurely over to the six foot shelves, peering into the gap she had made and beginning to shake the CDs to coax it out. Huddling towards the wall, she watches him intently, ready to run away at any second if she spots it again. Jesse works methodically, his shoulders relaxed and his stance at ease. Beca hates him a little for it, how he's just so calm about it all, but the fact he's helping her easily makes up for it.

Jesse's hand suddenly shoots out and she whimpers quietly, shrinking back further. Most would pretend to throw it in her face, would goad her with it, but Jesse goes straight for the door, glancing over his shoulder only to offer her an encouraging smile. He is gone for a long minute, Beca watching the door with baited breathe and up on the balls of her feet, and as soon as he's back into the station she rushes to him, throwing her arms around his neck gratefully.

"Thank you." Beca's lip graze his cheek and he flushes, scratching his neck nervously when she pulls back and smiles up at him.

"It's no problem, really," he says after a beat of silence. "Just call me your knight in shining armour."

Beca rolls her eyes, already settling back into her usual badass self, trying not to laugh at his cocky grin. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," she says casually, waving him off and heading back to the shelf, Justin Bieber looking up at her from the floor, forgotten and cracked.

But a few seconds later she's looking back over at him, the smile still lingering on his face as he works quietly, and okay, so its stupid really that she's so petrified of spiders, but she thinks the fright is almost worth to see this new side of her friend (because yes, she admits, Jesse is her friend); how he's sweet and caring and already seems to know her so well. So really she's okay with the whole thing - now her heart rate has almost returned to normal - because even a badass can have a 'knight in a shining armour', right?