Most people have an irrational fear of spiders. It was something Hunter knew well. He'd known it all his life, ever since he'd hatched, and tried to crawl away and look for someplace warm. He'd found it, in an old wood shed. It had also been his first taste of pain when he'd been found and beaten away with a broom.

Trying to explain he didn't mean to harm anyone, only earned him harder whacks and a crack to one of new fangs, still soft and growing, but sharp enough to slice on the way out. He still had a scar on his lip that had never gone away. It was a reminder to stay away from people.

But, sometimes people find him. In webs, and in dark corners, people would come looking and scream when they saw him, run, and come back with various things to squash him.

Sometimes, it wasn't even in the privacy of his webs. Straying too close to a public park had caused the last encounter.

He knew better, but seeing someone play with a golden retriever had him leaving the darkness of a tree. He was roughly the same size, could be even smaller, why couldn't he be loved like the pup? Was it because he wasn't a mammal? Or was it the extra legs?

There was a scream, and something hard was thrown, hitting one of those extra legs. He scurried away.

*

He couldn't cry in this form, but he plucked at his web, high in the tree, making the saddest vibrations he could. The leg was twisted against his abdomen, useless and throbbing.

It was his plucking that made him miss the figure below him, a hand on the trees bark. "What did they do to you?" The figure looked up, thick shades on his eyes, but still looked directly at Hunter. "You're the most beautiful cyan I've ever seen."

Hunter looked at himself, he was mostly black and brown, with some orange around the top of his legs.  Liar! He screamed in his mind, tucking himself further into his web.

The figure shook his head, "I wasn't lying."

Hunter's abdomen clenched as the figure started to climb the trees, seemingly just using his hands to do so.

Go away! He rubbed two legs together, the legs making a hissing noise in warning.

"But you're hurt, I want to help."

I'll be fine. Hunter said, it would hurt for a while, but it would sort itself out.

The man stopped at the edge of the web, and Hunter's mouth opened wider in his version of a smile. If he entered his web, he'd be stuck.

"This won't stop me," he said, and Hunter watched as a long tail formed behind the man, a tail plated with armor, with a long stinger at the very end. "I'm taking you home until you've healed, then you can leave."

It reached forward, wrapping around Hunter's fragile abdomen, and Hunter panicked, his teeth sinking in deep to the tail.

The man grunted in pain, "I've had worse, Cyan." He said, pulling Hunter effortlessly from his web, and into his arms.

Hunter only fought him a moment before relaxing, something about the man made him feel safe, even if he had been pulled from his web. They hit the ground, the man lurching forward a bit, but staying upright.

*I've seen a few stories about snakes, but not any about spiders. I figured I'd write one.

P.s.- I'm also writing this story to help me get over my fear of spiders.*