A cold January rain tapped against the window of Marco's room, adding a dreary soundtrack to a truly ridiculous fight.
"It's not even a debate, Marco! The thermodynamic efficiency of a turbocharger is objectively superior to a supercharger at high RPMs!" Alex argued, gesturing sharply with the textbook she'd been trying to read before he'd started messing with her.
Marco, lounging on his bed like a king holding court, snorted. "Mami, please. Supercharger gives you instant power. No lag. It's about feeling, not your nerdy numbers."
"'Feeling'?" Alex repeated, her voice dripping with academic disdain. "You can't measure 'feeling'! You can measure boost pressure and volumetric efficiency!"
"You can measure my foot on the gas pedal and the smile on my face!" he shot back, grinning that infuriatingly charming grin.
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"
"Your face is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"
Alex stared at him, her mouth agape. "That doesn't even make sense!"
"It makes perfect sense! You're just too busy being a genius to understand poetry!"
Frustrated beyond belief, Alex swung her legs off the bed and started pulling on her boots. "You know what? I'm done. I'm not having a factual debate with someone who thinks 'vroom vroom' is a valid technical term."
Marco sat up, his playful demeanor shifting to confusion. "Whoa, whoa, where you going?"
"Home. Where people respect the laws of physics." She stood up and grabbed her jacket.
"You're really about to leave?" he asked, his tone a mix of disbelief and amusement. "Over superchargers?"
"Yes, Marco. I am leaving over superchargers." She zipped her jacket up with a definitive zzzip.
"You can't."
"Give me one reason why not." She crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently.
Marco paused. He scrunched up his face in deep, theatrical thought. He looked at the ceiling, then at Ava's terrarium, then back at Alex. A slow, utterly shameless smile spread across his face.
"…Cuz I'm pregnant."
The silence that followed was broken only by the sound of rain on the glass.
Alex's eye twitched. Without breaking eye contact, she bent down, pulled off her boot, and hurled it directly at his head.
Marco yelped, ducking just in time. The boot smacked against the wall behind him with a satisfying thud.
"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" he cried, clutching his heart like he'd been shot.
"FOR BEING AN IDIOT!" Alex yelled, though a laugh was already fighting its way through her anger. "You can't just say that!"
"Why not? It's a reason!" he insisted, crawling off the bed to retrieve her boot. "A really, really good one! Think of the baby, Alex! Think of the baby's need for turbocharger debates!"
He held out her boot like a peace offering, his expression so ridiculously earnest she couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.
"You're impossible." She took the boot from him.
"But you love me." He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close despite her half-on, half-off boot.
"Against my better judgment," she mumbled into his shoulder.
"So… you'll stay? I promise I'll try to understand your nerd words."
"Fine," she sighed, faux-annoyed. "But only because your… condition… requires stability."
Marco beamed and kissed her forehead. "The baby thanks you."
******
The January gloom was still clinging to the world outside, but inside Marco's room, the atmosphere was tense with a different kind of energy. Alex was perched on the edge of his bed, her posture rigid, eyes wide with a mixture of horror and scientific curiosity. Marco knelt in front of his tarantula's terrarium, his expression unnervingly serene.
"Okay, mami," he said, his voice a low, coaxing murmur. "It's time. Today, you become a real woman."
"I became a 'real woman' when I got my PhD acceptance letter, Marco, not by holding your eight-legged nightmare," Alex retorted, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
"That's just paper. This is bravery." He unlatched the lid of the enclosure. Ava, sensing the disturbance, shifted her fuzzy bulk slightly. Alex flinched.
"See? She's excited to meet you."
"She looks like she's planning my murder."
"That's just her face. She has resting murder face. It's a family trait." He grinned at her, then turned his attention back to the terrarium. With a tenderness Alex had only ever seen him reserve for his car's engine, he gently coaxed Ava onto his hand. She moved with a slow, deliberate grace that was somehow more terrifying than if she'd scuttled.
"Alright, lesson one: No sudden movements. You're a calm, cool tree. She's just a funky little leaf blowing in the wind."
"I'm going to be sick," Alex whispered.
"Lesson two: You don't grab. You offer a flat, steady surface. Let her come to you." He slowly brought his hand toward Alex. "Now, just put your hand next to mine. Let her walk on."
"What if she doesn't want to?"
"Then she won't. She's a lady of taste and discernment. Obviously, she'll love you."
Hesitantly, her heart hammering against her ribs, Alex unclenched one hand and laid it flat, palm up, next to Marco's. Her fingers were trembling.
"There you go," Marco whispered. "Just like that. You're doing great."
Ava paused, her front legs testing the air over Alex's hand. Time seemed to stretch. Then, with a painstakingly slow motion, she stepped off Marco's hand and onto Alex's.
The weight was shocking. It wasn't heavy, but it was substantial. Solid. And so, so alien. Alex held her breath. She could feel every tiny, delicate movement of each individual leg through her skin. It was the most terrifying and fascinating sensation of her life.
"See?" Marco's voice was soft, proud. "You're besties now."
"I'm… holding a tarantula," Alex breathed, her eyes locked on the magnificent, horrifying creature currently residing in her palm.
"Now, for the pat. This is the advanced stuff. You gotta be gentle. Use one finger, and you stroke her abdomen with the hair, not against it. Like you're petting the world's tiniest, most dangerous kitten."
Guiding her own hand with his, he helped her extend a single, shaking index finger. Together, they gently stroked Ava's back. The tarantula paused, seeming to enjoy the sensation.
"She likes you," Marco said, his smile evident in his voice.
After a few more seconds that felt like an eternity, Marco carefully guided Ava back into her terrarium and secured the lid. The moment the latch clicked, the spell broke. Alex let out a huge, shuddering breath she didn't realize she'd been holding and collapsed backward onto the bed.
"I did it. Oh my god. I actually did it."
Marco flopped down next to her, beaming. "You did! I'm so proud of you! See? Not so bad, right?"
Alex turned her head to look at him, a giddy, adrenaline-fueled smile spreading across her face. "No. It was… kinda cool."
"Told you—"
He was cut off as he suddenly shot upright, eyes wide with fake panic. "OH CRAP! ALEX, DON'T MOVE!"
She froze. "What? What is it?"
"There's another one! On your shoulder! It must've been a baby! OH GOD, IT'S MOVING!"
A blood-curdling scream ripped from Alex's throat. She launched herself off the bed, frantically swatting at her shoulder and back. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"
Marco howled with laughter, clutching his stomach and rolling on the bed. "YOUR FACE! OH, YOUR FACE!"
It took Alex a full three seconds to realize she'd been had. The swatting stopped. Her expression morphed from sheer terror into pure, unadulterated rage.
"You… JERK!"
She launched herself at him on the bed, not with kisses, but with a flurry of open-handed slaps aimed at his arms and shoulders.
"OW! OKAY! OKAY! I'M SORRY!" he yelped, fending off her attacks while still laughing uncontrollably.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! I TRUSTED YOU!" Slap. Slap.
"IT WAS FUNNY! YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN YOURSELF!" Slap. "OW! OKAY, ENOUGH!"
He finally managed to catch her wrists, pulling her down onto the mattress with him. She was still fuming, but her anger was quickly losing the battle against her own relieved laughter.
"You're the worst," she gasped, breathless from the assault and the giggles now escaping her.
"But you love me," he said, grinning that stupid, irresistible grin.
"I'm reconsidering." She tried to sound stern but failed miserably.
He kissed her quickly. "No, you're not. You're gonna brag to Haley that you held a tarantula."
"…Maybe."
He held her closer, both of them still breathing heavily from the scare and the laughter. "See? Now you have a cool story. 'How I survived the great tarantula scare of January.'"