“I uh,” Alexa stammered. “I mean, you, er, just suddenly turned into a giant spider!” It took all her will not to follow up with “and it was totally hot!”
Groggily, Flint shook his head. Without pupils, Alexa couldn’t quite tell if any of his eyes were on her as he shakily rose up on his four long legs. He looked down, holding out all four of his hands in front of him, and gasped, tumbling and losing his balance again as he started hyperventilating. Alexa did her best to catch him in her lap, (well, most of his upper torso, anyway,) and wrapped her arms around him, patting his back, savoring the strange feeling of his stiff covering of hair.
That seemed to ease his breathing slightly. At least, until he turned his head, and looked back to see his massive abdomen and lengthy legs resting on the ground.
He let out an eerie, high-pitched screeching wail, clutching at his face as he started hyperventilating.
“What the hell? Why am I a spider!? Why do I have four legs!? Am I drugged? Am I dreaming? I can’t-! This can't-! I’m losing my mind!!”
Alexa tried to calm him with soothing words and gentle touches, but his panicked mutters and gasps drowned her out.
Remembering her power over him again, Alexa spoke, in a firm voice. “Flint, as I will it, take some deep breaths and calm down!”
Flint’s posture straightened up, and he took a slow, deep breath, then another. He slowly stopped digging his claws into his face, and looked down at her. “I… I’m sorry. I just… W-well look!” He gestured back over himself. “How DOES something like this happen? This is the end of my life as I know it! I can’t go back home, or to work, looking like this. Can I even eat the same kind of food anymore? I don’t even think I could fit in my car, much less drive it, with these…” He shuffled his legs slightly for emphasis. His eyes turned back towards her. Her heart pounded as the eight red orbs bore into her for several seconds, before turning away, looking ashamed. “I can’t even…”
He trailed off. One of his claws idly twirled through her hair, before he suddenly seemed to realize it, and he pulled it away. Alexa tried to hide her disappointment.
Flint took another deep breath. “I’m surprised you didn’t run at the sight of me. And that you’re still so calm. You’re a lot braver than me.”
“Bravery doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Alexa said, resting a hand on his chest. “I love you no matter what you look like.” She wasn’t lying. She loved him in his usual human look, too, she really did. But now, the coarse hair, the piercing red eyes, the claws, the sheer size of him, it was like something out of her darkest dreams.
“Th-thanks.” He sighed, the worry almost completely faded. His breathing went back to normal, he seemed calm, and a look of determination grew on his face. “We need to figure out what caused it. If we can do that, maybe we can undo it, too. Do you have any ideas?”
Alexa found her mind running back and forth; should she tell him the truth or leave him in the dark? Even if she’d gotten him to calm down, he was still clearly worried about what had happened, and as he gained control of himself he seemed hesitant to touch her, probably worried he’d hurt her by accident, and she didn’t want him anxious. On the other hand, telling him the truth might just creep him out more.
After a minute that felt like an hour, she decided to try the honest approach. “I know for sure what caused it, and even better, I know how to undo it at any time. I changed you.”
His expression, even as inhuman as his face was, still conveyed surprise and confusion. “You changed me? How would you even do that?”
Alexa took a deep breath, now, and stood up. “I went to a strange shop, where a lady said she’d cast a spell on me. A spell that let me control anything about my boyfriend. I changed you into a spider, and I can change you back before we have to go home.”
He stared incredulously at her. “Alexa, if this is a joke, it isn’t funny. I know this is a weird situation, but-”
“Flint, grow to thirty feet tall, as I will it!”
Flint’s body shuddered, and he rose to his feet as he felt his body grew taller and wider, a sensation of power flowing into him as his head rose further and further up. He scrambled to move his legs to avoid knocking down any trees, with some difficulty, as his body was rapidly getting too large for the clearing.
Flint desperately struggled to stabilize his suddenly much larger and already unfamiliar frame. “Wh-what the-”
“Say ‘I’m Mr. Big,’ as I will it!”
Flint reached to cover his mouth, but said “I’m Mr. Big” anyway. “H-how did-?”
“Shrink back to normal size, as I will it!”
In a rush that felt like a rollercoaster drop, Flint saw the trees rise above him, and felt the clearing opening up for him, the strength that had filled him vanishing, leaving him as he was before A he regained his bearings, he stepped back, stunned at the revelation.
“Alexa… Why? Why are you doing this to me? Did I do something wrong?”
Alexa shook her head. She had worried he’d freak out. But she’d taken the honest path this far. Might as well stick it to the end. (After all, if what the woman had said was true, she could just undo everything, erase his memories, and make it as if this had never happened if it didn’t pay off.)
“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I just…” She blushed. “I didn’t take the spell seriously at first, so I kind of jokingly tested it with a secret fantasy of mine, and-”
“A secret fantasy?” Flint said, eyes even wider.