Lander - Before vs. After

The Spider

This scene is inspired by the picture above. Image belongs to RosyClozy.

"AAAHHH!" Zander yelled, jumping back from the table.

"Relax, Zander," Luke said, trying to calm him down. "I'll get rid of it."

"KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!!" Zander shouted.

Luke turned away to hide his grin. Zander is always jumpy when it comes to spiders.

He looked around for it, but apparently it had moved while he wasn't looking. He turned back to Zander.

"I think it ran away," he said tentatively.

Zander started frantically looking around for it on the floor. Luke searched for it, too, while putting an arm around Zander to comfort him at the same time.

Just then Zander screeched, "There!" And jumped behind Luke to hide from it.

Before:

Luke could feel his face turning red. I'm getting deja vu, he thought. He tried to shake the feeling off and help Zander.

"Where is it?" He asked.

Zander pointed to a spot near the table leg, and Luke's gaze zeroed in on a small spider, its body no larger than a dime.

He tried to walk over to it, before discovering that Zander was clutching his arm. Luke could feel his face get tomato-red, but he didn't want to pull away.

"Z-Zander? I need to be able to move to go over there," he said as gently as he could.

Zander sighed, but reluctantly let go of Luke's arm. Luke couldn't help but notice how cold his arm felt now that Zander wasn't holding on to it.

Snap out of it, Luke! You're trying to get rid of a spider right now.

He crept towards it carefully, taking slow, big steps. He lifted his hand, slammed it down and...whap! It was dead. (F in the comments for the spider)

Zander let out a breath of relief. "Thanks, Luke."

"Of course!" Luke responded cheerfully.

I would do anything for you.

After:

Luke could feel his cheeks grow warm. He smiled and hugged Zander. "Don't worry, I'll get it. Where is it?"

Zander pointed and Luke's eyes followed his finger to a spot on the floor near a table leg.

"Alright." He reluctantly pulled away from the embrace and stealthily moved towards it, step by step.

He crouched by it, slowly raised his hand and smushed it.

"There," he said. "It's gone."

Zander's face melted from a tense expression to a relieved one. "Thank you, Lukey!" He exclaimed, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.

Luke's cheeks turned red, flustered from the pet name, but he hugged him back.

"Of course," he said once he recovered. "I'll always be here for you."