And the Snakes Start to Sing (Part 1)

Pairing: Eddie Brock/Venom x former military/mutant!OC (Kasey Eliades)

Series summary: Eddie and Kasey go to a Society of Professional Journalists holiday party together, and their insecurities threaten to tear them apart. Featuring an appearance from the one and only James Buchanan Barnes!

Word count:3,200

Author’s note: Title from the Bring Me the Horizon song of the same name (highly recommend checking out the lyrics). We starting off mostly fluffy and then dissolving into a deep pit of angst. I love sweetheart Eddy as much as the next gal, but y'all, where is the brokenness?? The ego?? The flaws?? We stan an imperfect relationship in this house. Also, Kasey has geokinetic powers as a result of military experimentation that I may cover in some future piece

—

It was the perfect lazy Sunday morning, with no obligations and bright sunlight streaming in through the window blinds in Eddie’s bedroom.

Kasey smiled as she looked up at a still-sleeping Eddie. There he was, peaceful and sweet and dreamy in the early light that illuminated his full eyelashes, the soft lips she could never get enough of. Tattooed arms and inky-black tendrils encircled her waist, rising and falling with each breath she took.

She felt safe, secure. Home.

For a group that was well accustomed to, and even thrived in, chaos, these quiet little moments together were some of the ones they cherished the most.

Kasey sighed happily, savoring Eddie and Venom’s warm embrace for another few minutes before she untangled herself from them and slid out of bed.

She tiptoed into the kitchen, waving at the plants on the windowsill that swayed slightly as she drew nearer, her power stirring the energy inside them.

She opened the cupboards quietly, scanning for ingredients to make the perfect chocolate-chip pancakes to surprise her boys. She assembled everything in a few short minutes and had just opened a bag of coffee grounds when she heard her boyfriend shuffling across the living room floor.

She looked up and grinned at a half-awake Eddie, who had thrown on his tattered orange bathrobe over his pajamas. His hair was sticking up in all directions, and he gave her the kind of adorable, sleepy smile that softened every part of her, a visceral gratitude that they had wound up in each others’ lives.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Kasey said. “I was just about to put coffee on.”

Eddie yawned in response and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder as she turned her attention to the batter.

“Pancakes?,” he mumbled happily.

Venom’s head quickly popped out next to Eddie, his red tongue running eagerly over his teeth.

“With chocolate?”

“You bet.”

“You’re the best, babe.“ Eddie pressed his lips against Kasey’s cheek. "‘M gonna go check the mail.”

Venom was agitated. “But Eddie, she is making us pancakes!”

Kasey shook her head. “They aren’t done, V, and I don’t think even you would like raw batter.”

“We want a taste, now!”

Kasey rolled her eyes, simultaneously exasperated and amused about how the hulking symbiote so frequently behaved like a small child. She reached into the bag of chocolate chips, tossing a handful at Venom, who snatched them out of the air with a grin.

“Delicious. Thank you, sweetest.”

“You’re welcome.”

Venom then retracted back into Eddie, knocking him off balance as he flew from the kitchen to where Eddie was standing at the door.

“Jesus, V, would it kill you to be gentle?”

“Probably.”

Kasey chuckled as the door shut, perfectly used to their squabbling. She turned the coffee maker on and started dolling out generous spoonfuls of sticky batter, letting herself savor the resulting sizzle on the griddle and the delicious, comforting aroma that filled the room.

She had just started stacking a few finished products on the plate, slathering them in butter, when the door flung open.

“Eddie Brock is not cancelled!”

Kasey turned to see a grinning Eddie waving a piece of mail around.

“What do you mean?” she asked, flipping another pancake over.

Eddie rushed into the kitchen, pushing himself up onto the counter next to where Kasey was cooking.

“The Society of Professional Journalists for North Cal does a Christmas party every year. All the big names go and hang out, swap sources, get drunk. I normally avoid these things like the plague, but after everything with the Life Foundation and my very public lobster tank breakdown, I thought I’d be in permanent exile.” He smiled wide, rapping the card with his ring-clad knuckles. “But I’m back in the game.”

Kasey inwardly shared his relief. She knew how devastated Eddie was after losing his show, and she saw how frustrated he was picking up light-hearted freelance pieces that were a far cry from his normal investigative work. But he worked his ass off on them just the same, and she respected him for it. Hopefully, this would be a chance for him to get back doing the work he loved.

She slid another pancake onto the plate and abandoned her post, jumping up onto the counter next to Eddie to bring him into a big hug.

“Hell yeah, you are!” She pulled back to kiss him, smiling at the hum of contentment it elicited from Eddie. “I’m happy for you. Now this breakfast is a celebratory breakfast!”

Venom emerged, planting a deliberately sloppy kiss on Eddie’s cheek. Kasey giggled as Eddie wiped his face, but he was still grinning. It was endearing, seeing him come so alive.

“Yes, congrats, you are not such a loser after all, Eddie!”

“Thanks, buddy.”

Eddie placed a hand on Kasey’s thigh, his thumb rubbing gentle circles against her sweatpants. “Will you come with me?”

“I thought it was a thing for journalists?”

“Yeah, but people bring their partners and spouses.” He paused, rubbing at the back of his neck, a particular nervous tic that Kasey noticed occurred whenever his ex-fiancé was about to come up in conversation. “I took Anne before. And I always feel better when you’re around,” he added hurriedly. A mischievous glint came into his eyes. “And I also selfishly wanna see you in a really hot dress.”

“Oooo, we cannot wait to see either and ravish you, pretty girl,” Venom purred.

“At least you’re both transparent,” Kasey replied. She dropped her head onto Eddie’s shoulder, interlacing her fingers with his. She didn’t want to admit it, but she felt nervous about going. Particularly as Eddie’s first relationship after Anne.

She didn’t have anything against Anne personally,—well, except her telling Eddie he was incapable of love. Which Kasey had firmly told him was bullshit and just Anne lashing out at not getting the reaction she wanted from him. But Anne was a good person. Kasey just found it hard to not compare herself to someone that beautiful, that accomplished, that witty. Someone that Eddie had fully intended to spend the rest of his life with. Someone he had still been in love with long after she had dumped him.

On the whole, Kasey did actually believe him when he said he had moved on and that it ended up being for the best, that he thought Anne was more in love with who she wanted Eddie to be than the actual guy in front of her. But still, the tiniest drop of gnawing, insecurity-fueled doubt would sneak in every now and then. And this was one of those times.

Kasey kept her tone light, feigning nonchalance. “You sure I can hang among the sea of the well-educated liberal elite?”

“What, are you kidding?” Eddie asked incredulously, tilting Kasey’s chin up to face him. “You’re easily smarter than 90% of the people that will be there, myself included.”

“And if anyone is mean to you, we will rip out their brains so they can see just how stupid they are,” Venom added in a growl.

Kasey relaxed a little, reminding herself that Eddie Brock wasn’t someone who forced himself to do things unless he genuinely wanted to do them. He wouldn’t have asked her to go if he didn’t want her there beside him.

The corner of her mouth lifted. “Ok. I’ll go.” Her grin widened. “I too would like to see you looking all professional and extra handsome.”

“Is that so?” Eddie asked in reply, dropping Kasey’s hand so he could slide his along her waist. He leaned in closer and Kasey embraced the dopamine surge as she breathed in his familiar scent, deep and warm and distinctly masculine.

“Mhm.” Their lips met and she framed his face with her hands, deepening the kiss, a soft sigh of pleasure escaping her as Eddie’s tongue slipped into her mouth.

BANG.

The two of them jumped apart, startled, before realizing the source of the noise was the now-empty plate of pancakes clattering to the floor.

“V, you seriously couldn’t have waited?” Eddie huffed.

Venom swiveled to look at his host, narrowing his normally wide, milky-white eyes.

“You two were too busy eating each other’s faces! I wanted pancakes!”

Kasey sighed, smiling. “And I’ll make more, V, don’t worry your pretty little gooey head.” She reached out her hand and Venom slid past Eddie and right into her touch, purring as she scratched at him like a cat.

Eddie grimaced. "You are one hell of a spoiled symbiote, you know that?”

Venom just flashed a toothy grin, sticking out his tongue in response.

“You’re just jealous because I’m her favorite.”

Eddie opened his mouth to retort while Kasey flicked Venom against the side of the head and quickly slid her palm over Eddie’s lips.

“No, no, none of this. We are having a quiet, happy little Sunday together. Be nice.”

“I’malways nice,” Eddie replied.

“I’m nicer,”Venom countered.

“You literally eat people!”

“Only the ones who deserve to be eaten!”

Kasey didn’t even bother to protest this time. She jumped off the counter, grabbing the plate off the floor before heading back to grab more pancake ingredients while the two continued bickering.

By the time she finished the next batch and loaded up three plates, the two of them had moved to the couch but were still at it – something about Venom wanting to go to the duck pond later to see if he could find a new friend for Sonny and Cher. She dropped their plates on the coffee table and took a bite from her own stack, pleased with the fluffy, syrupy final product.

“Thanks, beautiful,” Eddie and Venom said in unison.

A happy little Sunday, indeed.

—

Two weeks went by in a blink, and suddenly it was the night of the SPJ party. Kasey was nervous. She took the day off, knowing she didn’t want to be rushed when trying to get herself fully dolled up – something she was relatively out of practice with. If she wasn’t in her chef jacket, she was either in activewear or some kind of flannel and t-shirt, her hair tied in a high ponytail or bun. Sure, she could do her hair and some make-up on date nights and throw on a cute top and a real bra, but this felt different.

This was a full-scale professional holiday party, with dignified reporters and networking and social scrutinizing. This was something that meant something to Eddie, and while she normally didn’t concern herself with the opinions of strangers (outside of her cooking), tonight, she wanted to make a good impression.

She sighed, thinking of what Eddie had told her.

“I took Anne before.”

Of course, Anne would have been able to mingle effortlessly, gorgeous and eloquent and charming as she was – no one would question why Eddie was with her, it would be apparent. Kasey bit at her lip, then swore when she remembered she had just swiped on a creamy nude color that was now a quarter missing.

“Goddammit.”

She grabbed the tube off her dresser and reapplied it in the mirror. Slapping her cheeks lightly in an attempt to fend off her sense of impending doom, Kasey took a few steps back to appraise her full reflection.

She turned slightly to admire the way the wine-colored dress clung to her curves, the asymmetrical cut across her thighs that showed off just enough skin, the muscle of her toned legs.

The sweetheart neckline and off-the-shoulder cut accentuated her breasts, and the dark mesh sleeves strategically only showed the faintest outlines of her litany of tattoos. Her long hair was done in simple waves, pulled back behind one ear to reveal sparkling studs. She finished the look with strappy black heels, borrowed from a co-worker.

She smiled. She had done it—she looked good, she looked sophisticated, and she felt pretty. Like she was worthy of being Eddie’s date to a gathering like this.

She clapped her hands, hyping herself up in the mirror.

“You are beautiful! You are strong! You are a Kelly Clarkson song! You have parleyed with hostile insurgents, surveyed genetic experimentation, and have been called up as a temporary Avenger! All before age 30! You can handle one fancy Christmas party with a bunch of strangers!

Kasey was pulled out of her pep talk by the rhythmic sound of knocking on her door. Taking one last look at herself in the mirror, she gave herself a quick hug of encouragement. Then she grabbed her jacket and clutch from the table, steadying herself as her heels clicked across the hardwood floor as she walked toward the door.

—

Eddie was nervous. He’d been working tirelessly to rebuild his career over the past few years, and he felt like this was his first chance in a while to show his peers that he still had it. That he wasn’t just some washed-up nobody.

It was also the first real chance Kasey had to see him around other people in his field, and even though she repeatedly told him how talented she thought he was, he still found himself feeling like he had something to prove. He desperately craved the certainty that he was enough for her, that she could be proud of him. Andjusthim, just regular old Eddie, separate from the Eddie with the swirling vortex of extraterrestrial power inside him.

Eddie stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror as Venom floated next to him. Feeling his host’s apprehension, Venom did his best to be encouraging:

“Eddie, you need to relax. We are going to be the center of attention, Kasey will not be able to keep her hands off us! We look great!”

“You’re just saying that,” Eddie grumbled, but he was secretly pleased. ‘Formal’ for Eddie was usually just a leather jacket and his least-faded jeans, but tonight, he figured he might as well look the part of someone in a prestigious reporter crowd. He’d attacked his normally disheveled brown locks with pomade to keep them neatly in place and pulled out one of his rarely worn suits from the back of his closet. It was a deep navy color, offset against a grey t-shirt underneath.

He looked down at his phone’s lockscreen (a candid he took of Kasey gleefully devouring a massive pile of nachos on one of their first dates) and saw it was 6:30, meaning it was time to grab his girlfriend and head out. This was one of those times when Eddie was extra glad they lived in the same building – he didn’t need to fight the end of rush hour traffic, and his hair wasn’t about to get messed up from his helmet.

“Ready, bud?” Eddie asked the symbiote, who bobbed his head vigorously in response.

“Ready!”Eddie grabbed his jacket and walked to the door, waiting before Venom had merged back into his body before he exited and walked down the hall to the elevator.

His anxiety morphed into curiosity as he got off on Kasey’s floor, wondering what she ended up deciding to wear. He had asked a few days earlier, but she had said she wanted it to be a surprise.

Always in sync with his host, Venom filled his head as Eddie approached Kasey’s door, knocking in quick succession.

“This is the most exciting part of today! We have never seen our Kasey in a dress! We already cannot wait to tear it off her.”

Eddie chuckled. “Easy there, Casanova, we still have the whole night ahead of us.”

But then Kasey opened the door, and Eddie was instantly on the same page as Venom. He thought his heart physically skipped a beat or three when he saw her standing there so pretty, so damnsexy. For him.

His wide eyes drank in every part of her, roaming over her breasts, her curves, her thighs. He was always attracted to her, but seeing her this girly was really doing something to him. He forced himself to focus on her face and that the two of them needed to leave, fighting against the growing hardness between his legs.

Venom, on the other hand, could not give two shits about the party.

“Eddie, take her. Now. Look at that beautiful, delicious flesh, just begging for us to taste it.”

“Later, V, definitely later,” he muttered, still awestruck at the stunning woman in front of him. HisKasey.

Kasey didn’t have to hear Venom to get the context of Eddie’s response – judging by the way Eddie was looking at her, the faintest hint of swirling black and white just around the edges, she could tell her boys were happy with how she looked. Veryhappy.

Eddie exhaled, taking Kasey’s hand in his and guiding her into a twirl so he could see her from every angle. shaking his head slightly with a lopsided grin. “You are …”

“Stunning. Beautiful. Perfect. Ours,”Venom interrupted.

Eddie nodded. “Yeah, all of that.”

“Thank you,” Kasey replied, grinning. She ran her hands up his chest, eyeing him up and down. “You look so, so good. How lucky am I to show off the hottest reporter in North Cal?”

She meant it. He had put something in his hair to keep the normally disheveled points in check, and he swapped out his rumpled hoodie and jeans for a crisp grey t-shirt underneath a fitted navy suit, one that made his ocean-blue eyes all the more prominent. Kasey smiled slightly at the sight of his usual bracelets peeking out under the sleeves, the scuffs on his brown sneakers. Still her Eddie.

Venom grinned as his humans kissed, sidling up to Kasey and sneaking a tendril underneath where Eddie’s hand was around her waist.

“I helped style him! Much better than those sad, sweaty t-shirts.”

Eddie pulled back, swatting at the rippling black form.

“Dude, you don’t wear clothes, don’t pretend you’re qualified to give fashion advice.”

“I still have eyes, idiot. And we look great. Our Kasey looks great. We should do something about that.”

Suddenly, Venom’s tendril was caressing her ass, sneakily creeping up the back of her dress before Kasey dragged him off.

“Nope, nope, not now, V.“ She lowered her voice, relishing how Eddie’s grip on her hips tightened in response. "Like this one said, later.”

“100%,” Eddie breathed out, lust straining his tone. He kissed her again, and pulled back, grinning and a little dazed, as he grabbed her hand. “You ready?”

“Mhm.” Kasey turned her attention to Venom. “V? before you disappear, remember that tonight is about Eddie, ok? So best behavior. From both of us.” 

“Fine,”Venom conceded. For you, sweetest. But he better find me chocolate for my silence.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Once Venom was out of sight, the two walked out the door and down the hall, the reassurance of their intertwined fingers bolstering both of them in the deepest places where their hurt and fear lived, unseen.

♥️ Venom love Eddie ❤️

Thanks for over 6k! And also to my best friends, that you are always there for me! You are the best! Slashpanda loves you too: 3

Solitaire - LMTYL__Lye - Venom (Marvel Movies) [Archive of Our Own]

I wrote a short little thing

I heard you guys loved my pic of Venom & Goose/Chewie so… here.

Heheheh. Hohohoho. This chapter was a butt to start but I had a lot of fun towards the end. 

Ao3|Ko-fi|Patreon

Venom-o-us Chapters

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A violent crack outside of your window wakes you up with a start.

You sat up and reached for your bat instinctively, hand just grabbing it when you woke up enough to register the sound of rain hitting your window. It was almost completely dark around you, only for a flicker of brilliant white to come from outside and illuminate everything in your room for a second. Another violent crack and rumble gradually rolling through the cityscape, and you finally put two and two together in your half-asleep mind. It’s been a while since you’ve seen weather other than bright or muggy days in New York, you almost forgot that it could even storm here. You felt your pajamas coil around you in a comforting manner, and the tension in your shoulders loosened.

Just weather.

Venom offered quietly, and you felt your racing heart slow at their voice. “Yeah. Hell of a storm though.” You let go of the wooden bat and brought your hands to your face, rubbing the sleep from your eyes. Throwing your legs over the edge of the bed and letting out a powerful yawn, you slowly properly woke up. “Anything new with you?” You smacked your lips together and stood, walking to the kitchen for a drink. Another lightning strike lit up your room, the thunder sounding just a few seconds after. Must have been close.

Not at the moment.

“Mhm.” You passed your microwave and noticed the electronic clock flashing a little after four. “Huh, shit. Rather early to be waking up.” Rubbing your eyes again, you regretted not just staying in bed. You needed to be well rested to deal with Spiderman tomorrow- well, today- and you weren’t sure if the storm was going to let you sleep. Rain was soothing, sure, but loud cracks of sound always made you flinch. One of your old friends said that was a trait of a guilty conscious, which to that you called bull, since you knew plenty of pieces of shit that never reacted to someone dropping a book too loud like you did.

Perhaps they didn’t hold guilt.

That was a fair point. You shrugged, quickly pouring yourself some water and downing it. If you were going to sleep with this weather, you needed to distance yourself from the sounds. Tv was the safest option, but you knew nothing good would be playing at this hour. Probably just old movies if you were lucky. While that wouldn’t affect you any, you didn’t want to leave Venom watching something… potentially like The Fly. You were pretty sure Venom didn’t sleep, and that had to be incredibly boring for them. “Oh.” You glanced towards your tv, getting an idea. “Venom, have you played video games before?”

Watched others play.

“Then you are in for a treat.” You grabbed a pillow from your bed and threw it onto the couch before going to your game console. “Let’s see… Something easy to get you started, something with a good soundtrack so I can sleep… ah! Here.” You grabbed the game with a creature that had a very long red scarf standing in a desert on the cover. “There is no real loss of progress in this game, so you won’t have to worry about doing something wrong.” You could feel Venom’s curiosity building as you put the disk in and sat on the couch. The game quickly loaded and you held the controller out in your hands, clear for Venom to see.

“To give you a quick tutorial, move this to move in game-” You pushed the joystick around and made the little creature run in circles. “-then press this to jump, and this… to sing? You’ll figure it out.”  You held up the controller. Slowly Venom’s tendrils reached out from behind you, carefully grabbing ahold of the cheap plastic like it was made of glass. The tendrils coiled messily over the controller, giving experimental presses and successfully moving the character around.

What is the objective?

Venom asked, jumping and running through the sand aimlessly. You shrugged and laid down on the couch, getting comfortable with your pillow. “Just enjoy the journey.” Venom made their confusion clear to you by making the robed creature run in circles, and you laughed a little. Eventually they started wandering and sliding down the sand dunes, letting the beautiful atmospheric music fill the room and make the storm happening outside not quite as noticeable. You smiled, and drifted back to sleep.

.

Your dreams were filled with strands of red webbing tangling through your hair and leading you through an oversized forest, leaving you very confused at where this was coming from. When you woke up however, you realized the cause for the dream. At some point Venom must have finished the game you had set up, and somehow figured out how to start another one. They currently were playing as another red creature, except this time it was a little man made of red yarn.

“Having fun?” You asked, sitting up and rubbing your eyes again as you felt a stretch travel through your legs. Light was filtering through your apartment from outside, but you could still hear the light tapping of rain continuing from the other side of your window. Seemed like the bulk of the storm had passed, at least. Bubbles of happiness filled the back of your head, making you smile as you stretched.

Like these games.

“Glad to hear. I bought that game and never really got around to playing it, so I’m glad someone gets to enjoy it.” You stood and watched a moment, impressed that Venom seemed to have learned how to solve complex problems in video games so quickly. They took a few leaps and tried to grab a ledge, gradually making a trampoline for the yarn man to jump from ledge to ledge. You hummed, happy that they were enjoying the solution, and got up to get yourself breakfast.

The pajamas you were wearing shrunk as you felt a slight pulling come from behind you, and when you turned around you could see Venom still sitting on the couch. The inky blackness gathered and built itself up, looking vaguely humanoid all on its own. It was uncanny to see Venom take shape without being worn, looking like an empty suit somehow sitting and defying gravity. The milky white eyes formed at the “head” and you watched as they shifted and focused on the tv screen as their tendrils, now looking more hand like, intently tapped and controlled the remote.

“Ven… Venom?” You asked, confused as you looked down to see yourself now nearly nude- only a few strands of Venom still connected the two of you, despite the couple feet of distance. Venom didn’t seem to take notice in your questioning, contently pressing buttons and trying to solve the puzzle.

Venom wasn’t as dependent on you as it would seem. You could tell that they surely were lacking without a host, but they looked like they could almost be their own being right now. That left you with mixed feelings, but you backed out of those thoughts before you could identify them. If Venom wanted to play a little longer, then fine, you were just going to get some breakfast. No sense if making yourself feel bad for not being as needed as you thought.

You took a step further away, feeling the tendrils that were connecting the two of you tighten and snap, and the world violently shifted to its side. Gasping for air, you barely managed to put your hands down to soften your landing as you fell to the floor that was currently acting like a wall, and you felt yourself break into a cold sweat as the room gently spun around. Your lungs expanded, the action feeling almost alien in your own chest, and your vision was just out of focus enough to not help your dizziness.

Looking around wildly trying to figure out what was going on, you saw the dark mass of Venom look at you, drop the controller, and surge towards you. Like a tidal wave, they crashed and surrounded you, pulling themselves tight to your skin. Instantly dousing your feverish skin and the room flopped back to its proper position, leaving you laying on the ground only confused- not so much dazed anymore.

Sorry. We are Sorry. Forgot ourselves. We are here.

“Wh… What. Was. That.” You sat up and brought a hand to your head. You could feel Venom’s tendrils reach up and stroke through your hair, gently giving you more comforting contact than you thought you needed. There was a pit in your stomach building at your thoughts that were already trying to figure what just happened out, but you really hoped they were wrong.

Wasn’t expecting to lose us. That’s all. We are fine.

Before you could open your mouth to ask for more of a clarification, you felt a pressure in your hand. Looking down, you could see chocolate kiss sitting in your palm. Already knowing that meant Venom wanted you to eat one, you quickly unwrapped it and threw it in your mouth. As you flattened the foil and allowed the chocolate to melt on your tongue, you could feel relief slowly shift through your brain. Thanks to Venom’s caressing and the bit of chocolate, you quickly felt back to normal. Other than the lingering confusion, of course.

Venom stayed quiet though, and you weren’t sure if you wanted to ask if you were… well, the dependent one in this relationship. You had presumed the Alien was the one that would need a host, not the other way around.

Everything is okay now. Won’t happen again. Please, eat.

Feeling less sure of yourself, you chose to try and ignore what just happened. Venom was right, you needed to just eat something. You could ask what exactly happened later with a full stomach.

You opened your fridge to see that it was mostly barren, but luckily it looked like you had enough milk to last breakfast. You pulled it out, quietly considering options. “We should go get groceries before Parker calls. We probably won’t feel like shopping after dealing with him. Or Lee.” You added on, mind still lingering on-

Right, you were pretending that nothing happened, you reminded yourself and served yourself a bowl of cereal.

.

“Ugh, how can people just afford this shit?” You looked down at the overpriced frozen meat in your hands and glared at the price tag. Sighing at the futility of glaring at something that isn’t alive, you put it down and continued looking around the grocery store for something a little more in your budget. You could feel Venom gently urging you towards the steaks, but they were much too expensive here. Maybe you could find someplace cheaper further into town…

“Did your previous hosts keep you well fed? The way you act around food, I would assume you were starved.” You asked, reaching for a tub of frozen chicken gizzards. They were cheap, and you were sure you would be able to look up your mom’s old recipe to make them tasty enough for Venom.

Mostly relied on… other food sources.  

“Othersources?”

As if you said the magic words you were instantly thrown back into memories, though these ones seemed slightly different than the others. Everything seemed so much smaller than you, and washed out- but not so much in the sense that it was being forgotten. You were just the most important thing around. And not to mention the overwhelming stink of… Testosterone?

Webbing around was familiar enough, fighting thugs was the same- but then instead of simply webbing the bad guys to be found by cops later, you found yourself biting off limbs as punishment- and for pleasure. They tasted absolutely bland, completely unsatisfactory in the flavor department, but doing it for the sake of doing it was what made it worth it.

The memories vanished as you brought a hand to your mouth, feeling your eyes widen.

Other sources.

“That is… revolting. Someone actually went out of their way to eat limbs just because they could?” You asked, having a hard time keeping your voice low. It was early enough in the morning that there weren’t too many people around in this part of the shop at least.

We also ate squirrels-

“Stop. I just realized I really don’t want to know.” You held up a hand, instantly regretting asking. “We’ll keep well fed using traditional methods, alright? No brains, no limbs, and no squirrels. Just… Empty wallets.” You muttered the last bit as you grabbed more of the gizzards and stuffed them into your basket.

And with that, your grocery list was complete. You made your way quickly to a self checkout and properly rung yourself up, heart sinking every time the number jumped higher than you expected. With the last item scanned, you found it hard to pull your eyes from the final cost. “I can’t believe we didn’t remember to loot those guys last night.” You muttered, regretfully grabbing your credit card from your wallet and sticking it into the machine.

This one trip was a much bigger dent to your wallet than usual, and you couldn’t help but to blame the bags of chocolate Venom were having you buy. Well, in reality they insisted on just taking it- but you weren’t going to become a thief just because your living situation has become just slightly more demanding. Even if it would be insanely easy to just have Venom absorb it when no one was looking…

You sighed with relief as the machine beeped up at you, and you saw your card was approved. You took your card back and gathered the bags, ready to get home and relax a bit before Parker called.

Unfortunately that didn’t seem like it was going to happen. The two of you were just leaving the grocery store when you felt the phone in your pocket go off, and you struggled a moment to move all the bags to one hand so you could answer it. “Yessss?” You dragged out the word as you brought the phone to your ear, and you thought you heard a sigh come from the other side.

“Central park, north-west corner. Forty minutes.” Parker’s voice said, though it was slightly muffled with other morning-rush sounds coming from his end. Sounded busy, though you knew it wasn’t the cause for him being so short with his words.

“We’re sorry, who is this?” You asked with a smile, adjusting the bags in your hand so you could start walking and get out of other people’s ways. Edging on Spiderman when you were asking for help was probably not the smartest thing, but hearing the agitated breath through the speaker was absolutely satisfying for both you and Venom.

“It’s Peter.”

“Oh hey Peter. Good morning, nice to talk to you.” You acted like you were starting the conversation properly, as if you were offended he didn’t give a proper greeting before snapping out orders. You dropped it quickly enough though, trying not to let him sour your mood too much. “No problem. We’ll be there soon.” Beeping on your phone let you know he dropped the call. Part of you wondered if he was this short with everyone, but you highly doubted it.

You took your time walking home with your groceries, knowing that Central Park wasn’t actually that far now that you could just web yourself over there. A few minutes, tops. Thank goodness you actually knew what direction it was in, there was actually some relief at the fact that Parker didn’t say some streets and expect you to know where the hell he was.

There were no incidents on the way home, and you made it into your apartment with plenty of time to spare. You carefully sorted through all of the food you bought, and for the first time in a while you fridge looked properly stocked. You hoped it would last, but honestly who knows how much you would eat now if you were to let loose. Not that you ever really felt hungry now though. You were more eating out of habit or because Venom brought attention to needing food than anything else.

It wasn’t quite lunchtime yet, so you grabbed a large chocolate bar for a quick sweet snack. You could feel the excitement building at the base of your skull as you brought it to your lips and your vision suddenly flashed black, and your sharp teeth chomped into the chocolate. Your long tongue lazily coiled around the bar, wrapping and all, and pulled the rest into your mouth to be happily chewed. Despite your fingers only coming in contact with the wrapper, you licked your claws to make sure you didn’t leave any chocolate behind.

You snapped back to attention, aware of the fact Venom was coating you now. A giggle escaped your lips and you turned to face your reflection in the turned off tv. “A bit enthusiastic, are we?” Venom’s corner of your brain filled with embarrassment, and you laughed. “It’s fine, we should go meet up with Parker now anyway. Gonna need that mood boost.” You brought up your arms and stretched your neck and shoulders while heading to the window, time to do your usual exit of your apartment. Already far too comfortable with how high your jumps sent you with no fear of falling, you leapt off of the sill and enjoyed webbing your way through the buildings in the rain.

While you were swinging, you noticed you were taking the same roads that you first kicked Spiderman in the face on. Ah, good times. You glanced down to the rooftop garden that took the blunt of that fight, only to notice a familiar face standing in the middle of the muddy mess. “Oh shit.” You muttered under your breath, slowing your swing. “It’s the flower chick.”

Camellia.

Apparently Venom had a better memory for names than you did. Camellia stood under a transparent umbrella looking defeated as she took in all of the damage, and you felt your stomach drop at realizing you were the one that did that to her.

“Shit. I need to do something.” You ground your teeth and let go of your webbing. You landed on the pathway of the roof heavily, dropping your camouflage as Camellia turned to see what made the sound. Before you could even bring your hands up to start talking, she was already screaming and running for the stairwell- nearly ripping the door off of its hinges in the process. Her umbrella lay abandoned on the patio.

Damn. You know you should feel bad for not being able to explain yourself, but how quickly she ran away was actually impressive. She has good instincts and probably would survive a horror film. No sense in scaring her more though, it’d be best if you just did your piece to fix the place and leave it at that. You shook your head and glanced about, trying to find the biggest damages to try and quickly fix. Parker was probably already at the park, but he can stand to wait some more.

The biggest thing you noticed other than the huge amount of mud scattered about was the table that was still sticking out of the next building, so you leapt to it and ripped it out, seeing that the once round metal table was a bit crumpled now. Trying to keep your guilt under check, you jumped back to the patio and carefully sat it down. The legs didn’t quite match up, leaving the table at quite a tilt. That was frustrating. You pulled at opposite ends of the table, trying to smooth it out a bit, but it appeared that wrecking things was a whole lot easier than fixing them.

After a couple minutes of struggling, you did manage to make it able to sit mostly flat, so that was good enough. Looking around to assess the rest of the damage, it seemed like it was mostly all the dirt and crushed flowerbeds left. Some bricks that lined the edges of the beds were scattered as well, but those was easy enough to put back into place. If it was dryer out you would have tried to sweep up the dirt for her, but there wasn’t a chance for you to fix that when it was raining. Maybe you could stop by later and finish the job.

Deciding to leave a note for Camellia, if she ever came back up here, you grabbed a spare brick from the corner of the patio and carefully scratched into it. “We’re Sorry” complete with a sad face. Seeing that it was the best you could offer, you left the brick on the slightly-less-wrecked-but-still-not-in-good-shape table so it would easily be seen. And with that, you jumped away.

You swung around the edges of the park using signs to guide you to the west, and eventually you found yourself carefully looking around for either Spiderman or Parker. You couldn’t see either of them anywhere, so you dropped down and ducked behind a bus stop to change into civvies. Venom quickly turned into a black hoodie and sweatpants, just enough to protect you from the light rain and keep attention off of you. You walked around a bit more, slowly getting the feeling that this was a mistake.

“Maybe he’s the one running late.” You theorized, looking around and still seeing no sight of him. You would have been more worried that it was a trap if it wasn’t so public. No way he would try anything with this many people around. So you were left with the conclusion he was just bad at keeping up with his dates. You weren’t about to stand around like an idiot waiting on a no-show in the rain, so you found a coffee shop at the corner and ordered some raspberry tea to enjoy. Most of the other customers were keeping inside, but there was a table with an umbrella just outside that you decided to take, keeping your eyes casually looking around for the hero.

Your drink was half gone when a rolled up newspaper smacked down on your table next to your arm, startling you and nearly making you drop the rest your cup. You turned and readied a fist, only to see Spiderman’s mask face to face with you. The whites of his eyes were narrowed, and you had the feeling he wasn’t happy with you. Big shocker there, but you wondered what he was upset about now specifically.

“No vigilante complex, was it?” He asked, tilting his head slightly before taking a step back, letting go of the newspaper on the table. Spiderman walked around the table to sit on the other end, and the sight of Spiderman sitting at a coffee place so openly had you smiling, but the smile dropped when you looked down at the newspaper. Big bold lettering was announcing the return of Venom, complete with a sketch of a dark and toothy Venom on the front page. Just under the sketch was an image of the robbers webbed to the wall from last night. Wow, the press moved quickly.

“Huh… Would you look at that.” You opened the newspaper to see the full article casually. “Newspapers still exist. I thought everything would be electronic-”

“Two broken ribs and a fractured larynx.” He interrupted you, and you looked up from the paper to meet his narrowed eyes. “Those could have been dangerous if the police didn’t get there so quickly. It’s strange that they thought Spiderman was responsible, don’t you think?” He asked, resting his elbows on the table and bringing his hands together.

“Yeah. Just the darndest thing.” You put the paper down and took a sip from your tea. Your response made his eyes narrow a tiny bit more and the air between the two of you was tense. You decided to try and break it before it built too much, so you waved a hand in the air and leaned back into the chair. “What was I supposed to do? Just let them rob the place? That’s messed up even for you, Mr. Man.” The name irritated him yet again.

“Don’t-” He sighed and leaned forward. “You could have just called me. You have my number, and it was within minutes of my apartment-”

“Oh what, every time we see a petty crime we’re supposed to just hop onto your hotline? We have the power to help stop these kind of people, and you are asking for us not to. That’s mighty hypocritical of you.” You feigned disappointment and crossed your arms. Something you said made Spiderman stiffen in his seat. “It’s not like we searched them out, they were just there at the same time we were, so we took matters into our own hands.”

“You don’t get to decide whose lives are in your hands.” He kept his volume controlled, despite how tense you could see his shoulders grow.

“No,wedon’t.They do. The second they shot us was the second we decided to turn them in. Ask the ones that we let run away. One of them threatened us and was ready to shoot, but he didn’t, so we let him go. The two that we stuck were the ones that actually shot us.” You explained, but you could tell Spiderman wasn’t completely interested in your reasoning.

He exhaled, obviously having a hard time arguing with you. He lowered his voice. “Listen, I know you think you are helping, but that thing you have is using you.” Your jaw tightened, as well as your grip on the cup of tea. “It feels good, and powerful, doesn’t it? It comes with a cost. One night you’ll wake up and realize it has been taking your body on joy rides around town without you knowing.”

Why was it whenever he spoke you wanted to punch him in the face?

Please do not. Too much attention.  

You carefully set down your cup as to not crush it, and slowly glared at him. “ They wouldn’t do that to me. We trust each other. If Venom wants something, they know all they have to do is ask. Like right now, for example.” You casually added some more salt into your voice. “I really want to punch you in the face again because you are seriously fuckin’ rude, Mr. Man, but Venom is asking me not to. So here we are.” You crossed your arms again, and what you said seemed to surprise Spiderman.

“Wait,you want to punch me in the face and it doesn’t?” He clarified, and you ground your teeth at him calling Venom “it” again. The reaction was noticed and he brought a hand up. “Okay, okay. Fine. I thought about it a lot last night, and if I’m being honest, you do seem like the least dangerous Venom host yet. I’m willing to give you a chance-”

“Howgenerous of you.”

“-If! If you don’t ditch my tracker this time.” He held up a small metal spider between two of his fingers, drawing your attention. You raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“What?” You asked, confusion overriding the last of your anger. You didn’t recall him giving you a tracker before, but he acted like you got rid of one already.

We dropped it next to the robbers last night.

Oh, Venom had your back, that’s why. Now that you thought back to last night on the roof, you realized that the tracker must have been what the clicking was that you couldn’t identify.

“Just for now, at least. You have to understand when it comes to Venom, we tend to have trust issues. Keep this on you, actually on you at all times, and maybe I’ll grow some faith in the two of you.” Spiderman answered, seeming to think your questioning was at his rather large demand.

“This little guy have a mic on it? Camera?” You asked, swiping the small metal spider from him and looking at it closely. You could just make out tiny mechanics on the legs that suggested it could actually move. “I want to make sure we’re not giving you a personal peep show every night, you know.” You looked back at him, and you could see him straighten in his seat at your implication.

“No- uh, just tracker.” His voice nearly cracked, and you half wished he wasn’t wearing the mask to see how embarrassed he would be at your question. Finding new ways to get under his skin was your new personal goal, it would seem.

You looked at it a bit longer, considering your options, before stuffing it into your pocket. “Fine. Anything to make Mr. Man more comfortable with us existing.” You shrugged sarcastically and picked up your tea, quickly downing the rest of it.

“Why do you keep calling me that?” His voice lowered in irritation again, and you took pride it the reaction.

“Cause you’re the Man, Spiderman. Would you rather we call you by your name?” You asked, feigning confusion. His eyes widened slightly but you held up your hand before he could think you were serious about the threat. “Consider it my condition. You have trust issues with aliens, and I have respect issues to abusive exes. Simple as that.”

You could see Spiderman’s mouth open under the mask, but he stopped short of what he was going to say and sighed. “Whatever. You are done with that, right?” He pointed towards your cup, and you nodded. “Then let’s get moving. My backup should be where I told him to be by now.” He stood, and you followed suit. He started walking past you to get to the exit of the gated off area but instead placed a hand on your shoulder and lowered his voice nearly to a whisper.

“One last thing.” Spiderman started, and you glanced down at his hand. He didn’t move it so you looked back up into the eyes of his mask. You hummed in questioning, urging him to continue. “How many have you killed?” That question genuinely shocked you.

“Wh- Killed? I haven’t-”

One.

Venom’s thought startled you out of your words, and you realized they were right. The first night, the first time someone shot at you. Your freeze up and hesitation was all the answer Spiderman needed. His eyes went wide for a moment before slowly turning to harsh disappointment.

“That’s what I thought.” He removed his hand and continued walking, and you felt too shaken up to follow immediately. You clinched your fists and quickly caught up, walking behind him as the few civilians walking in the rain stepped out of the way while some ran up and looked like they wanted a selfie with him.

“It was one guy, alright?” You finally spoke, but he ignored you as he posed for the selfie. You stepped out of the line of sight for the camera and pulled the hood to cover your face just to be safe, waiting for him to be done. The people thanked him and ran off, loudly talking to each other excitedly. “It was an accident-”

He stopped walking and turned towards you so quickly it nearly set off your fight or flight response. “Right. Forgot we talked about that. Accidents make everything okay.” His eyes narrowed and he raised his arm. “Two alleyways down, to the left. Be there.” He sent out webbing and pulled himself into the air, quickly vanishing around a building corner.

Your shoulders dropped as you felt your stomach twist, remembering the dead man more now. It wasn’t fair, you were just reacting to being shot at. You didn’t know he would die. Venom was still so new to you, there was no way to know.

Gentle pressures made themselves known at the base of your skull, slowly and comfortingly traveling through your hair to try and sooth you. It helped a little, but you couldn’t stop the guilt from building in your stomach. You were in the right. Spiderman just couldn’t see it. …Right?

Right.

Venom confirmed and continued the soothing motions. You felt so thankful that you weren’t alone with your thoughts at the moment, not thinking you would be able to handle it. You relaxed into Venom for a moment, letting the rain slowly grow lighter around you before you finally continued down the walkway. Two alleyways down and to the left. You would get your chance to better explain yourself later. Right now, you needed to see who Spiderman decided to bring with to help.

You wondered if it was one of the Avengers. Spiderman had said “he” earlier, but that didn’t narrow it down much. The curiosity was eating at you the entire time you walked, but you didn’t change out of your civilian outfit. If you were potentially going into an alleyway where an Avenger would be, the last thing you wanted was to start a fight with them. Heroes tended to punch first and ask questions later when it came to villains, at least on tv shows, so you thought maybe it would be best to not show up as a well known villain for a first impression.

Eventually you found the alleyway he told you of, and you started walking down it and looked around. It was a cramped alleyway; two dumpsters with more trash surrounding them than in them took up most of a wall, with an overhanging smell of bad Mexican food. You covered your nose, not that it did you much good, and continued walking down the alleyway.

“Ay, nope!” You heard a voice call up from above you, and when you looked up you saw a man in another red suit looking down at you from a fire escape. He was holding a sword- a katana? - in one of his hands while the other lowered a burrito from his mouth. He coughed and cleared his throat before casually waving the katana in your direction, as if waving you away. “This isn’t the alleyway you are looking for.” He said in a voice slightly imitating that guy from Star Wars.

You raised an eyebrow at the man and continued to look at him. The red suit was similar to Spiderman’s, complete with large black spots around the eyes, but his suit was completely decked out with weapons. “You Spiderman’s friend?” You asked, and the man tilted his head.

“You’re saying that wrong.” He took another bite from the burrito and tossed the rest at the dumpster. It missed and splattered onto the ground.

“We’re sorry?”

“I said-” He pulled his mask back down over his mouth and leapt over the railing of the fire escape, landing on the ground with an ‘ooph.’ He quickly stood up and looked down at you much closer than you would have preferred. “You’re saying it wrong.” He said again, and you could see the whites of his eyes looking concerned.

“We heard you, but… What are we saying wrong?” You asked calmly, but suddenly you could feel excitement coming from Venom. They recognized the strange man.

“We?” He asked under his breath, an extra shine in his eyes appearing. “Spider-Man. See? There’s supposed to be a dash there. Spider-dash-capitalized-M-Man.” He put his sword back into the sheath on his back and wrote out the word in the air with his finger. “Not Spiderman . Gosh, look at what you’ve done. The writer probably realized this two chapters ago and now is suffering from anxiety about publishing the chapters before proofing something so simple.” He ‘tisk’ed at you, as if you could understand a word he said. He leaned down and brought a hand next to his mouth to whisper into your ear. “Don’t worry, I’ll start saying Spiderman so the writer doesn’t have to edit anything.”

“What the fuck is your problem?” You recoiled, staring wildly at the man. He stood to his height and started laughing, throwing back his head and bringing his hands to his stomach.

“Ohhh hohoho that’s a good one! As if I could list everything out in a timely manner! Hehehe!” He giggled like a schoolgirl and brought a hand to wipe at a non-existent tear at his cheek. You were starting to think this really was the wrong alleyway. He suddenly stopped his giggling and you felt your hair rise as he looked back down at you, almost looking like an entirely different man. “A good laugh before a fight never hurts. Now then, let’s get a good look at you.” Before you could register the movement, a gun was in his hand and three rounds fired at your chest.

You gasped and stepped back, feeling Venom course over you and protect you from the bullets, quickly changing into your more monstrous form. You readied your arms to fight more, but the red suited man didn’t continue shooting. Instead, he placed his hand and gun against his face Home-Alone style and gasped happily. You were too confused to attack him.

“Why- Look at you!!” He excitedly skipped around you, and you were sure you either were already dead, or you lost your goddamn mind. “Long time no see, my beautiful symbiotic friend! A lot has changed since I’ve last seen you! So many issues, so many hosts. And not to mention the timelines! Have you partook in Venomverse yet or are we ignoring that as canon?” He asked, and you slowly managed to convince yourself that no, you weren’t the one going crazy at the moment. He, whoever he was, was absolutely nuts.

Deadpool!

Venom shocked you by knowing the mad man’s name, followed quickly with bubbles of excitement. This had to be the first time Venom shown excitement for something other than food, and you wondered how the hell they knew this… Deadpool. You felt less inclined to fight him now, knowing that he wasn’t just some random mad man.

“Ooph! But I see something hasn’t changed! Helllllloooooooo beautiful!” You yelped as a leather gloved hand smacked onto your ass, and your inclination to fight the man rapidly changed. Whipping around, your knee swiftly connected to his groin and sent him flying into the air a few feet. He fell hard onto the concrete, landing on his hands and knees frozen. Slowly he made a sound similar to a balloon losing air as his hands ever so delicately made their way to the affected area.

“My… boys. My beautiful boys…” His voice whispered three octaves higher than it was a moment ago. He fell to his side, holding his crotch. The sound of something moving above you got your attention, and when you looked up you could see Spiderman walking down the wall.

“Ah, I see you met Deadpool. He’s our backup.” Spiderman said casually, as if the person in mention wasn’t currently suffering from nutcracker syndrome. He almost held amusement in his eyes as he looked at the fallen man.

“You can’t be serious. This is the best you got?” You asked, looking back down at the man. Deadpool held up a shaky finger.

“I’m… I’m right here.” He uttered weakly.

“Everyone else is busy. Besides, he owes me one.” Spiderman shrugged and dropped to the ground, looking up at you.

“So, you ready to do this?”