End Racism in the OTW | Something Like A Pipe Bomb
by imp

End Racism in the OTW | Something Like A Pipe Bomb

imp

Summary

Eddie already had enough problems, what with being a busy reporter with an alien parasite, when he caught one of his neighbors holding a fridge above her head. Now he has twice as many problems, including a kid who won't stop treating him like the big brother she never had and a moody alien parasite. Or: you can totally secretly pine while sharing a brain with someone else, as Venom and Eddie are both determined to prove.

Notes

Chapter 1

In his defense, he was deep in on the HUD fraud case, and he'd just gotten a call back from Mrs. Gutierrez about the giant fuckin holes they'd put in her wall as "improvements", and so when he went up two flights of stairs instead of three, he didn't notice, and then he stuck his key in the lock and Venom made it turn -

I'm being helpful!

- and so he totally did do a little B&E that he did not intend to do.

"Oh, shit," he said to the girl standing in the middle of the kitchen, holding her refrigerator above her head with one hand. "Sorry, I don't know how I got in - wait, what the fuck?"

"Get out of here!" she shouted, and recoiled from them. "Oh my God, what is that - get out! Get out!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Eddie said, and booked it upstairs. When he was safely in his own apartment - directly below that super-strong weirdo, great, wonderful - he said, "Hey, why did you materialize? Were you trying to scare her?"

There was a weird silence in his head, then, like Venom wanted him to know it was thinking. Finally, it said, I didn't.

"Then how -"

Not all human.

"No shit, Sherlock. Humans can't lift fridges like that. Well, most of us can't." Definitely not a tiny girl who looked maybe sixteen, tops.

Speaking of - these apartments were all studios, one-bedrooms. Was she living there alone? Had she been abandoned? What the fuck was the deal with all that?

Who cares? She's a danger to our planet, Eddie. We should eat her.

"No. Absolutely not. She's just a kid."

An alien kid.

"Yeah, and I didn't kill you, either, so count your blessings." Eddie poured himself some of this morning's coffee and tossed it into the microwave. "Look, we can't - I told you already, okay? Only bad people. Not some kid who likes to overhead press 300-pound appliances."

She could be bad!

"She's not." Eddie chugged his coffee. "Come on, let's just let it go, all right? I'll go to the TJ's and get us some of the Swiss chocolate you like."

He felt a stirring of pleasure in the back of his head, just as weird as it'd been a couple months ago when this all started. When they bonded.

You'd buy it anyway.

He couldn't stop himself from smiling, even though he knew what a dick he must look like, staring into the distance and grinning at nothing. "But I would've waited a couple days. We got a deal?"

Yes. Fine. He felt the sinuous movement, curling around him. Not moving his limbs, exactly, but reminding him it was there, that his limbs were actually -

Ours.

"Yeah, yeah," Eddie muttered, and went to type up his notes on Mrs. Gutierrez's call.

A major downside to being an investigative reporter was that his brain just couldn't let shit go. Even as he met with the neighbors two buildings over, a low-rise that had sixteen complaints on the books in the last two months and exactly nil enforcement in response, he couldn't stop thinking about the kid he'd walked in on.

Is she like Anne?

Ugh, gross. No, Eddie thought in the general direction of his symbiote. It didn't get it, of course, because humans mostly looked the same to it -

Except you, Eddie. You're special. We're special.

"Okay, okay, I get it, but I'm gonna figure out what's going on there and you can't distract me with your jealous babble," Eddie hissed.

"Eddie? Everything okay over there?"

Not a good time to come off like this. Eddie forced himself to smile at the building super. "Nah, all good, Alan. Just, uh, I got a bluetooth mic - someone trying to call me. That's all."

Alan looked at Eddie's ear and shook his head. "They make 'em smaller and smaller these days."

"Sure do. You have a good day now. I think I've got what I need here." A single picture of black mold should've been enough, but Eddie had about 20 pictures and three times as many damning quotes, which might - might! - be enough to trigger an investigation. "Thanks, man."

"Any time, Eddie. You come on down to the bar soon, hear me?"

"Sure, sure." He'd been anti-social lately, what with the parasite and all.

Friends are good. We like friends.

He waited till he was safely back home to say, "We could make friends with the kid downstairs."

I don't like her.

Eddie rolled his eyes. "You didn't like me at first, either."

We were perfect from the beginning.

The nice thing about having Venom in his head was he couldn't fight with it like he used to with Anne, where they were both saying shit without understanding the other one. He knew Venom could feel his eye-rolling, and was aware that Eddie thought it was being ridiculous. "If we're perfect, then you can let up with the competitive bullshit, okay? Whatever else she is, alien or whatever, she's a kid living alone, and that's fucked-up, see what I'm saying? It's not how it should be. I'm gonna find out why."

He was halfway through his email to his editor when Venom spoke up again. Are we being good?

There was no way Eddie'd be able to explain the way that was a trick question, how basically no definition of 'good' probably included harboring an alien parasite that liked to eat people. "Sure, buddy. We're being great, actually."

Well, then. Why didn't you say?

Which, he did not need permission to investigate an anomaly in his own fucking apartment building. Absolutely, he did not. But it was good they were on the same page, anyway.

He waited a couple days, because he had to plan his approach. He couldn't just walk in again; for starters, he'd either get his ass kicked or they'd kill the girl. But then, hanging around waiting for a fifteen-year-old to come home was really, really weird, and not the kind of rep that'd be good for his career. Also, he might scare her, returning him to Problem One: getting his ass kicked.

He hadn't made much headway when luck intervened for him. Ugggghhhhhhh, Venom hissed in his head, even as he opened his front door. "Oh. Hey, uh, neighbor."

"How much did you see?" the girl said, brushing past him.

"Yeah, sure, come on in," he muttered. "Do I know you?"

"You live above me. Which it took me a few days to figure out." She crossed her arms and glared at him. "How. Much. Did. You. See?"

"Oh, you know, nothing, really." Only a display of dangerous strength.

"I'm laying low, okay? That's what I told - it doesn't matter. Part of laying low means when random dudes break into my apartment -"

"I didn't break in!"

"- I have to make sure they're not cops. Or reporters." She glared at the news clippings on the wall. "So you see my problem."

"Oh, these? They're, um, a friend's."

Can we eat her now?

Eddie clenched his jaw and didn't answer.

"No, they're totally not. You're Eddie Brock. Of the Brock Report, which, bee-tee-dubs, dumb name. But, seriously, pivoting to print? Dumber. Are you even getting paid anymore?"

"What would you know about it?"

She sniffed. "Before I got all weird, I was an influencer, thankyouverymuch."

He couldn't quite hold back a laugh.

"I was!"

"You're like fifteen. Can you even legally -"

"Okay, first of all, the age limit on YouTube is thirteen, so yes, I can, and I wouldn't even need a momager. Second of all, I'm seventeen! And like I said, I was laying low." She scowled, her voice getting small and pathetic. "I don't need a reporter blowing my cover."

We could eat her liver. Then she wouldn't need a cover.

"Shut up!"

"Excuse me?"

"Not you. It's, ah, it's complicated."

"Oh, right. The monster that's inside you."

"I'm not gonna write an article about- wait, what? How do you know about it?"

We are not a monster!

"I can see it on you." She looked at him a little more closely and frowned. "I guess you can't, huh."

"Nope."

"Right." She looked over his shoulder, suddenly a hell of a lot less confident. What was that all about? She didn't even know what she could do?

"So, what's your deal? On the run from something?" Shit. Real subtle, Brock.

"No. I told you, I'm an influencer. Or...I was." She shrugged. "Now I wash dishes at the Green Bean Cafe."

"They pay you good there?"

"Why, going to offer me a little something on the side?" She rolled her eyes while Eddie spluttered indignantly. "Look, I've got a lot going on, okay? There's lots of weird people in the city. Write about them instead."

"Or you'll what, bench press me?"

"No! I'll -" She squinted at him again. "You could totally try to kill me, actually."

It would be our pleasure.

"No," Eddie said, a little too loud. "No. I wouldn't. We wouldn't."

"Right." She looked like she thought he was a few pieces short of a full puzzle, which Eddie guessed he couldn't blame her for. "Whatever. Look, just leave me alone, okay? I have other stuff to do and I don't want to have to kick your ass."

She flounced out while Eddie tried to keep a hold on Venom. As soon as his front door closed, he felt it rip out of his skin. The rush that always came with its materialization was dampened by his own - righteous, thank you very much! - fury.

"I told you we should just eat her."

"She's not a threat."

"She could be."

Eddie stared at Venom's ever-shifting face and tried to figure out if it thought it was being funny. "Seriously? She's tiny. And like, super young. Really don't think she'll be a problem here."

"We could be sure by -"

"Do not say 'eating her' again. Do not." Eddie stabbed a finger in its face. "I told you, bad people! She's not a bad person, okay? Not yet, maybe not ever, so don't even bring it up."

He could feel its frustration. "Fine. But when she gets a very tall tower with henchmen and a laser to shoot down your moon, don't come crying to me."

"What kind of shit have you been pulling from my memory?"

"Justice League!"

"Great. Love it." Eddie shook his head. He didn't want to - make it weird, alright, that was a good way to put it. This whole thing was weird. Obviously. Still though, he had boundaries, right? Lines and shit.

But he kind of thought he knew what to do, here. "C'mere," he said, gesturing with a finger.

Radiating suspicion, Venom crept over to him. Eddie reached out the last few inches and touched it, trying to tamp down on his reaction when its viscous face rubbed against him. It wasn't bad, exactly, just strange. He could feel the touch, or Venom's reaction, in the back of his mind.

"I think it's good to have friends," Eddie said, rubbing behind Venom's - well. It wasn't an ear. "Y'know? It's good for humans to have friends."

"I am the only friend you need, Eddie."

"Yeah, sure, only not really, 'cause most humans have lots of friends. You ever seen Facebook in my memory?"

"Facebook is for racist uncles." It wrapped itself around Eddie's wrist, fluidly sliding up his arm. "I am the best friend."

It was actually really depressing how true that was. "Sure. Yeah, sure, you're my best friend."

"Fine." Up his bicep, now, and covering his shoulder. It didn't breathe, but it was weirdly wet, and right now that weird wetness brushed Eddie's neck and made him shiver. "Friends," it hissed into his ear, and sank back into his skin.

It was quiet the rest of the night, which was all good by Eddie. He woke up hard, and as alone as he ever was these days. Venom was still quiet. Sleeping, maybe, or doing the alien equivalent. That meant it was safe, he told himself, to slide a hand down his stomach, press his palm against his dick.

He'd been dreaming about something really fucked-up and violent. He put it out of his mind, now, in favor of thinking about the last time he'd fucked Anne, before he'd messed it all up - her strong hands pushing him down to the bed, the way she'd ridden him and used him but hadn't quite let him get off. Not until she'd slapped him, holding her tie tight around his neck -

Kind of like Venom had been wrapped around him yesterday, his traitor fucking brain thought.

This was private time. Eddie had tried to explain that to Venom and failed, but Venom understood that Eddie wanted it to be quiet, or gone, when he did this. So it would probably stay quiet, it wouldn't look at his thoughts, and if it poked fun at his feelings that would be later. Not now. It wouldn't know, couldn't know.

Eddie closed his eyes and bit his lip. Like Venom had appeared from his skin today, he let the thoughts into his conscious mind. Just a bit. He thought about it - helping him. Wrapped around him, wrapped around his hand, stroking him.

And, fuck, if he was hard before it was nothing compared to now. His heart raced as he fucked his fist. He pinched his nipples viciously, reached back and yanked his own hair, so fucking close he could almost taste it.

We could do a lot more together, Eddie.

"Holy fucking shit," Eddie said, and came all over himself.

End Notes

tst

Chapter 2

Notes

Suzy here is loosely, VERY loosely, based on Tsu-Zana.

"You're a fuckup," he muttered as he cleaned up after. It had taken ten minutes for his hands to just stop shaking. How gross could one guy be? Really fucking gross, apparently. "You're a dumbass and a fuckup."

I help you urinate. How is this any different?

"It just is! Also, you do not help me piss. I can more than handle that on my own, thanks."

Everything is better with us. The thing had the nerve to sound smug, like it'd - what, known this would happen? What a crock. Even this. Especially this.

"Whatever. I gotta go to work."

We!

"We! Yes, okay, fine! Christ. Motherfucking - fuck." He grabbed his keys and ran out to his bike. Any more of this and he'd have to take a sick day.

Venom mostly left him alone that day. He did his work, submitted his next article, then went home to do his laundry, because he was a responsible person and Venom kept telling him about all the microbes on his shirts when he wore them too many times in a row. He was halfway through loading the dryers when someone in the doorway made a half-choked squeaking noise.

He turned to see the girl from downstairs clinging to the door jam. "Relax, kid. I'm not gonna call the cops."

For starters, Venom hated the cops. Pigs, Venom agreed. But, also - "They'd probably take you home, huh?"

She looked away from him. "Why are you so obsessed with that? Are you, like, some kind of perv procurer?"

"It's 'cause I worry about runaways. Which, fyi, if you know what a procurer is? I got a reason to worry."

She shrugged. "It was just once. I can punch my way out of basically any problem, and I can forge my parents' signature well enough to get this apartment, so."

Jesus Christ.

Eddie. Let's feed her snacks.

He didn't bother asking what had changed its mind. "Hey, I got more lo mein than I can eat upstairs. You want some?"

"Creepy."

"You could beat the crap out of me. Even with my, you know." He waved a hand in front of his face. "But my guess is you didn't really line up a lot of work before leaving, and you only got so many people willing to pay you under the table for shit you can stand to do, right?"

The way her eyes slid away from him confirmed his suspicions, and fuck, why'd it have to break his heart like that, anyway? "Hey. Lo mein. Not creeper lo mein, just literally some food, okay? Turn me down again, I'll forget I ever saw you, I'll leave you alone. But it kind of seems like you could use a friend."

"Millennials are so thirsty," she said, which made no sense to Eddie. He was born in '82, for fuck's sake. "Whatever. Fine."

So they went up to his apartment, and he pointed her to the kitchen while he went to hang up his clothes. By the time he got back out, she'd demolished his lo mein and was starting on his leftovers, or Venom's lo mein, really. He almost objected, but - Let her eat it.

"Okie doke, this is weird as fuck," Eddie muttered. Venom didn't respond. Maybe it was finally growing a soul, or something.

"My name's Suzy, by the way," she said as the second box of lo mein dwindled. "Suzanna, actually, but I go by Suzy."

"Cool. You still hungry?"

For a second she looked like she was going to deny it - lie her ass off - but then she grimaced and nodded. Eddie pulled out his phone and hit the Chinese place's speed dial.

"Oh my God, just use Seamless," she said, staring at him like he was about to bite someone's head off.

He waved a dismissive hand at her as the place picked up. "Hey, Alice, what's up?"

"Eddie! But we just delivered to you yesterday. I thought you said you had a new girlfriend."

The new girlfriend was Venom and there was no fuckin way he was having that conversation or anything remotely adjacent to it. "Ah, well, you know, sometimes you gotta eat. I was hoping to order some orange chicken and beef with broccoli?"

"Sure, of course. It'll be ready in 15 minutes."

"Great, thanks, Alice. How's Teddy doing?"

"He's finishing up his degree, and he's got interviews at three top architecture firms! I told him about your final exam trick with the note copying, he loves it."

"Old reporter stuff, gotta come in handy. Thanks, Alice."

"Of course."

When he hung up the phone, the girl - Suzy - was staring at him with a bizarre look on her face. "Yeah? What?"

"Seriously. Seamless."

Eddie shrugged. He didn't know how to explain - didn't think he could explain - that he'd never been good at making close friends, and the ones he'd had, he'd mostly lost when he moved. For Anne. Who had dumped him, which he couldn't really blame her for. "I like talking to people," he said finally. "You know, finding out shit about the neighborhood and all that. It's kind of my job, being a reporter and all."

"You're a weird time traveler and it wouldn't surprise me if you were a serial killer," she told him. But she finished her food, and she ate the orange chicken, too, after Eddie ran and grabbed it.

"Hey, you said you're friends with a lot of people," she said, picking at her beef.

"Tons." He bit his tongue before he could add something stupid like 'tell me what you need'.

Her mouth turned down. "You know anyone who's hiring semi-legally?"

"I only know people who hire with identification." Eddie shrugged. "But get a note from your parents and they'll give you 40 hours."

She was out-and-out staring, now. For a kid with superpowers, a kid who might be an alien, she sure as fuck was easy to read. "Wait, seriously?"

"Janitors at work are looking for someone. Decent pay. How are you with cleaning toilets?"

"I could get good at it, I swear."

"Great. Well, don't fall all over yourself thanking me. Either they have something or they don't, I'll ask Rick tomorrow."

"I - " She scowled down at the beef. "Thank you."

Was she trying not to cry? Maybe, Eddie thought with a reporter's detached judgment. "Yeah, sure, no problem."

She skedaddled pretty quick after that. Eddie did his normal nighttime routine, whistling to himself, feeling pretty good about doing the right thing. It wasn't till he was lying in bed that Venom decided to toss in his two cents.

Eddie.

"Yeah?"

Being nice. It feels okay.

He held back a laugh, barely. "Sure. It's my limbic system or whatever, you know, rewarding me for being a good member of the community."

Let's keep being nice.

He stroked a hand over his hip, enjoying the light tickle. "Can do."

Something was going on. He felt it at the point they were joined. It wasn't like being on the phone with someone, or even like how his own thoughts felt. It was kind of like shaking hands with someone he couldn't see, or the way you know what everyone on the train's thinking when some jackass starts yelling.

Only, a lot more intimate than that, because that knowing was embedded under his skin. Fucked up.

But hey: Venom wanted to eat heads and be nice now. Progress! Eddie couldn't wait to tell Anne.

-

There was in fact an opening on the janitor staff. Eddie passed on Suzy's contact info and went back to his usual tricks, chasing down the makers of some bullshit Uber for milk crap who were ignoring that their milk was full of dangerous heavy metals. He had a story to write and he also kept having to talk Venom down from just eating the Uber-for-milk CEO, some douche named Brad who Eddie was mostly just sure would taste really bad. So, between one thing and another, he didn't check in with Suzy before he went home.

It worked out okay, though, in that she was standing outside his door when he got upstairs. "Oh. Hi."

"Eddie! Omigod, thank you so much, I seriously don't know how to thank you, I was running out of money like whoa. You're a lifesaver!"

She could bring us someone to eat. Maybe the person who made her leave home.

Eddie was super not gonna get into that. "Hey, no problem. I got a frozen pizza, wanna split it?"

No! That's our food!

"Or, um, actually what if I made some...spaghetti," he said, his voice not-quite-cracking from the way Venom was almost-materializing, almost-clawing him. Why was this a problem when the lo mein hadn't been? Jesus, it needed to learn when to let up.

I will let up when you stop feeding other humans our food! We can only be good if we've eaten first!

"Spaghetti would be great." Suzy gave him one of those looks kids gave adults sometimes, the ones that said they weren't sure if this was a really weird thing or just an adult-weird thing. Eddie couldn't blame her.

"Yeah, so, I'm just a little, ah. I'm tired from work, 'sall. Here, lemme open the door." He half-shoved past her, aware that he was acting like a lunatic, even as Venom grumbled in the back of his mind and receded into - wherever it went when it was being quiet, Eddie wasn't a neurologist.

"Is this because of that weird monster you have?"

"Yeah, kinda. I mean, I was a weird guy before that, but, uh." He jiggled his doorknob, and the lock finally slid free. "Yeah, basically. Hey, make yourself comfortable, I gotta chop some onions."

He kept an eye on her as he grabbed his supplies. Not like he thought she was going to start helping herself to the family silver, or whatever, but it was hard not to watch someone when they were in his house and also a literal kid.

She looks like a human to me.

She was a kid. Her wrists were all bony and her eyes were too big for her face; she looked nervous and like she thought she was too cool to be nervous, and she kept glancing at Eddie like she thought he might ground her. Clearly a kid.

It's good to protect her. But why is it good to protect a young human who isn't even ours?

Eddie wasn't a reporter so he could make distinctions like that. The whole of humanity was kind of the same. Eddie's parents had passed awhile back. He just had him. But -

Us. You have us, Eddie.

All right, so he had Venom now, too. But anyone in this building, this city, was fair game as family. Especially a runaway with a fucked-up amount of power she clearly wasn't ready to deal with.

We should eat her parents!

Eddie distracted himself by dumping the onions into the pan, because if he thought about it pretty much at all, that idea suddenly got really, really appealing. "Meatballs, yes or no?"

"Sure. You can talk to him, you know."

Eddie almost dropped the knife. "I don't - what? What are you talking about? I'm not talking to anyone, you're off your rocker, what do you even mean? Who? No one else is here."

"Overprotest much? The thing that's in you, or on you or whatever."

In us.

Christ, it was chatty tonight. "Well, thanks for the permission, but I'm actually fine."

"Whatever." She went back to flipping through his records. Kid probably didn't even know what they were.

"You know, you could really stand to get a better turntable. This thing is entry level."

"Excuse me?"

She shrugged. "Pitchfork has a guide about it, you know."

"Jesus." He ripped the ground beef open and plopped it in the pan, watching it sizzle. He thought about the cow it had come from, figuring Venom would like the contrast between that and the meat.

It would be better if we killed it.

"Next time, buddy," he muttered.

Of course, he immediately glanced at Suzy to see if she had a problem with him talking to himself. But true to her word, she didn't say shit. Didn't even flinch.

What the fuck had already happened to her if she thought this was normal? Christ, it wasn't Eddie's problem, but he doubled down on the food, making it as good as he could, because she clearly needed it.

"This is good," she said when he served her.

"Thanks, I can tell you had a lot of faith in me."

"I totally didn't. Millennials can't cook."

"Whoa, wait, hang on. Why do you keep calling me that? You're a Millennial, I'm...whatever the generation before that was."

"Generation X. The grunge generation."

"Ha, yeah, that's me."

"No, it's not. You were in like fifth grade when Kurt Cobain died."

"You weren't even born yet!"

"So?" She stabbed her forkful of spaghetti at him. "You're a poser."

"You're a pain in my ass. See if I invite you up for dinner again."

"I'll be too busy ordering it, via my phone like a person not from the Dark Ages, because of my job." She grinned at him, smug as all get-out.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

They ate in mostly-silence after that. She helped him clean up - a kid with manners, would wonders never cease - and then they were alone again.

"Thanks for rolling with the punches back there," he said as he settled in for his nightly ritual of Netflix and beer.

Well. That wasn't quite right. It was Netflix, beer, and chocolate, now.

We're being good.

"Sure. Helping someone who needs it, all that." He flipped over to one of the cooking shows. Who knew making cakes was this hard? "You okay with her knowing about you, though?"

It was a stupid fucking question, and he deserved what came next: Venom creeping over his skin, materializing just a little to close around his wrist. Eddie, everyone should know about us. Together, we are perfect.

Don't be weird, Eddie told himself. Don't be weird, don't ask questions, don't be weird. "Good," he croaked out.

It didn't do any good, though. Venom knew, could feel, what it did to him. It lurked on the edge of his consciousness till he went to bed, tipsier than he'd intended to get, because apparently nervousness about his parasite-slash-other-half could be treated with booze. And apparently Venom had known he wanted this, and hadn't prevented him from feeling the effects of the booze, which was a whole other bundle of problems he'd have to deal with at some point.

Venom didn't lurk in his dreams. Eddie wasn't sure if it couldn't or if it didn't want him to know it could, but his dreams belonged just to him. Of course, that meant that when Eddie dreamed about Venom, he knew it was just his own fucked-up subconscious and its desires.

Desires, specifically. Because Eddie was dreaming and he knew it, but in the dream he was in bed, and Venom had materialized over him.

"You're weak on your own, Eddie," not-Venom said. "But remember what I told you? Together...we can be perfect." Its tongue snaked around Eddie's dick, impossibly thick and wet, curling around him and sucking as one of its tentacles tugged on his balls. "I'll make us feel so good," it cooed to him.

And Eddie, fully aware of what a massive fucking dipshit he was, rocked up into not-Venom's mouth, cursing as it sucked him harder, its tongue the perfect amount of rough, the suction it gave him absolutely unreal. "Fuck, fuck, babe, that's so good. Harder, come on, baby please, just break me apart, make me feel -"

It whipped him, a gooey black tentacle marking up his pec, and Eddie felt need roar through him. He arched his back, so close to coming he could taste it -

And he woke up, opening his eyes on a gasp to see Venom hovering over him, waiting.

His Venom. The real one.

"Hi, Eddie," it said. Its grin looked more ghoulish than usual, which - Eddie really should've anticipated this. But he hadn't. He was horny as fuck and the deeply fucked up cause of his horniness was looking him in the face, apparently super fucking happy with its host having a massive boner.

Maybe it didn't realize what he'd been dreaming about. Hell, it thought jacking off and pissing were the same thing. Maybe it had no idea Eddie was on the verge of coming all over himself. Maybe -

"I'm going to fuck you."

- nope. It knew.

"That's not something we're gonna do." He struggled to sit up, but his arms wouldn't hold him. "Stop fucking around."

"Why not?"

"Because you're in my head. I don't...separation. There has to be some separation." Fuck, he wasn't awake enough for this. "I'm gonna go back to sleep," he said, and fortunately, his years of travel for his stories meant he was able to do it as easy as think about it.

Venom stayed pretty quiet the whole next day. Eddie decided not to look a gift parasite in the mouth.

Chapter 3

Notes

please note: warning for violence during/after sex applies to this chapter.

To his shock, it was Anne who called him to go out for coffee this time.

It wasn't like Eddie wasn't aware that he was kinda pathetic. Even if he hadn't known already, he had his other half - other person? whatever. His other, hanging out in his head, reminding him of how pathetic all his worst moments are. Venom was of the opinion, and Eddie was inclined to agree, that constantly asking Anne out for coffee was kind of pathetic. That's why he'd avoided doing it, mostly, once Venom'd taken up residence in his head.

But apparently she'd actually been enjoying the coffee dates, because she texted him to set one up just a couple days after he got Suzy her job.

"How've you been?" she said, smiling at him over a cappuccino.

"Aw, you know." He sipped his coffee. "Around. Doin' stuff. You ever heard of Milq?"

"Like, from a cow? Yeah, I'm familiar."

"No, with a q. It's this new startup. They bill themselves as Uber for milk, or AirBnb for cows, depending on which marketing person you talk to."

"Never heard of them. I'm guessing they're bad news, though, if you're investigating them."

Eddie tipped his drink towards her. "Right in one. I'm chasing down all kinds of leads about that, plus this housing thing. The usual bullshit. How 'bout you?"

"I'm good, I'm...really good." She bit her lip, eyes sliding away from his. "Things are going really well with Dan."

"Yeah? Hey, that's good. I thought maybe I'd fucked that up too."

In the past if he said something self-deprecating, she'd roll her eyes and snipe at him. And thinking back, with the benefit of time, he couldn't really blame her. But now he meant it seriously. Plenty of guys would turn tail and run at the first sign of aliens, much less the second or third. Plus, Eddie'd really made a scene at that place with the lobster.

That was nice. We should go back there. I like the eyes.

"No, you didn't. I mean, he was definitely shaken, and I'm kind of surprised he's willing to let it go. There are plenty of papers he could write to get his name in the history books. But he's okay with it. His heart is in his work, really, not his reputation."

There it was. "Not like me, huh?"

And maybe they'd gotten farther than Eddie thought. Maybe it was gonna be more okay than he'd hoped. She smiled at him, entirely without anger, and said, "Yeah. Not like you."

In the back of his mind, Venom was very, very quiet.

He was halfway through reading up on the housing report from Mrs. Gutierrez's building when Anne texted him. Funny story about that thing we talked about. Can we meet?

'That thing' could be Uber for milk douche, Dan, or his fucking alien, and given the gamut of choices he figured he shouldn't put her off. He met her in a corner store a flew blocks from her work, trying - and failing - not to think of Dr. Skirth.

God, if the same thing happened to Anne - no. "Hey, what's going on?"

"You mentioned heavy metals. Remember?"

Uber for milk douche. He felt relief course through him. "Yep."

"It's a lot worse than that. I can't give you more detail -"

"And I won't try to take it from you," Eddie said hastily.

She actually smiled at that, a little. "I know. Thanks. But here - go talk to these people. Third-party processors for the company, down in the Central Valley." She handed him a bit of folded-up paper. "There are answers there, probably."

And probably people they could eat. Yeesh, Eddie didn't like how the prospect kind of excited him. "Hey. Thanks, Anne. This means a lot."

She smiled a little, even as her eyes darted around, scanning for someone watching or listening in. "Don't mention it. Seriously, don't; I could get disbarred for this." And then she was gone.

"Guess we're gonna go for a ride."

Venom cackled in the back of Eddie's mind. It loved the bike, maybe more than Eddie himself did. As soon as they got free of the worst of the traffic, it wrapped itself around his neck, warm and wet in a way that should've been weird - that was weird, okay - but was also -

Not the time, Eddie told himself, taking a sharp curve on the road. But then, when would be? There wasn't really an appropriate time to admit that he liked it when Venom materialized, liked being touched and held.

I like it too, Eddie.

"None of that." It felt better to talk out loud, shouting into the wind. "I'm gonna get you a book on what buddies means. Buddies is not cuddling on a motorcycle."

In response, Venom offered up an image of Anne clinging to him, yelping in delight as they crested a hill.

"Yeah, exactly! Anne and me weren't buddies!"

But you're friends now.

"Breakup'll do that to you. If you're lucky." He sighed, then tried something a little different, reaching out with his brain instead of talking. Listen. Let's just enjoy the ride, okay? I don't know what you're trying to do with all the touching, but I don't want to argue about it when we could just be enjoying ourselves.

We are enjoying ourselves. As if to prove it, Venom wrapped around his shoulders, sending sinuous bits of darkness up his chest.

It was way, way inappropriate for two buddies on a bike. But Venom was warm, and Eddie knew it well enough to be able to tell when it thought it was compromising. He'd bring up boundaries again later. For now, he grinned and revved his engine.

Their contact was in an old fakey general store, one of the places that had been a real general store once upon a time, then a gas station, then a tourist trap. Eddie ducked past a bunch of bullshit California memorabilia and asked the lady at the counter, "Hey, I'm looking for Scottie Michaels?"

Her eyes widened and she barely restrained a flinch. "He's, uh, he's actually out. I could take a message."

"Nah. It's cool." Eddie leaned on the counter and looked around, putting on a show of laziness. "I got all day, I can just wait for him here."

She is brave. Venom sounded kinda pissed about it. We should try to convince her.

It said a lot about how fucked-up Eddie's life had gotten that he knew exactly what Venom meant. It wanted to suit up and scare the woman. She'd tell them what they needed to know and then they could be on their way. And Venom would love it; it'd be happy afterwards, lighting up Eddie's prefrontal cortex with joy.

Eddie wanted to make it happy. Fucking fuck.

Let's do it, Eddie.

They could - if, Eddie thought firmly, Scottie didn't show after a couple hours.

"Hey. Hey. Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the woman behind the counter said loudly.

He refocused. It felt fucked up every time, like the moment after a roller coaster starts, when you can barely breathe because of the change in speed. "I don't think so," he said. "I really need to talk to Scottie."

Her face froze. She raised both hands.

Humans can't do that, Venom said as fire burst over both her palms.

Eddie didn't have to ask for Venom. It was on him as soon as they saw the fire, swallowing him up. Eddie was still there, though; he just wasn't - quite - himself.

We. A hiss, a roar, surrounding him and filling him.

"What are you?" they snarled, advancing on the woman. The first still burned from her palms, but she'd gone ashen. Realized she was in over her head, probably.

"Never mind," they said. Eddie felt a bolt of perverse pleasure. "You still look tasty, after all."

"Get away from me!" The woman brandished fire, which they easily bat aside. "I don't give a shit what your boss is CEO of, you can't take me!"

"Wait," they said. "What?"

Venom vanished from Eddie as soon as it'd emerged. Eddie was left reeling, and then -

"Oh shit," he said, and dodged the fire.

Eddie! She is innocent!

"She's trying to burn us!" Eddie said, ducking behind a giant taxidermied bear.

We can't hurt innocent people! You said!

Which was a good point: he had said. But he didn't want to end up in the burn unit, either. "Wait, wait!" he shouted. "I'm not who you think I am!"

"Not some piece of shit thug trying to kidnap me?" Fireball, singeing Eddie's jacket. "Not some Silicon Valley motherfucker who's going to lock me up and try to drain my blood for your stupid immortality project?"

"No! I'm - ah, fuck." He came out from behind the bear, hands in the air. Venom curled out of his shirt, wrapping around both his wrists. Fuck, it was really comforting, this whole thing was so much more fucked up than he'd been planning on this morning. "I'm a reporter. Actually. You ever see the Brock Report?"

She didn't look convinced, but at least she didn't crispy fry him. "That lunatic who quit his job to join a paper? My sister loved his shit."

"You have a sister? Is she an alien too?"

"Wait, holy shit," she said. "You're the lunatic."

"Guilty as charged."

"My sister's human." Her expression contorted. "I thought I was, too."

Boring, Venom hissed. If we could shoot fire, that would be the best.

"Yeah? That's, uh. Lotta weird shit happening lately. Speaking of. I'm doing a story on Milq - with a q. And Scottie's a source, or, a potential source. Hard to explain. But someone tipped me off that he might have some information for me."

She lowered her hands, looking suddenly exhausted. "Your tip was a little off. Scottie's not a man. Scottie's me."

Eddie had kind of suspected. "All right. How about we sit down and talk some?"

"What's that thing in you?"

"A...friend. My other half, you know."

For some reason, that made her snort. "Sure. Fine, come on."

She led him into the back, where old papers teetered in massive piles over a single desk. Eddie sat down across from her and pulled out his recorder. "All right?"

"Sure, fuck it." She sighed. "Milq approached us awhile back about doing some processing for them. My family owns this land, the store's just to have something facing the highway. We have dairy facilities further back in. The business was stupid, frankly, but the money was good. So we said yes."

She went on to tell the story Eddie'd thought he came down here for: corruption, Silicon Valley dickfucks trying to lean on them to let health and safety standards slip, trying to make the facility a sub-sub-contractor, trying to straight up not pay them when the contracting scheme failed. All the usual shit.

It was good material. Incredibly good, actually, a massive breakthrough compared to what he had before. He owed Anne like fifty coffees. But at the same time -

"Thanks, this is all really good. I have a couple questions, though."

"Shoot."

"Why'd you think I'd come to kidnap you? Please don't, you know." He motioned with his hands, not wanting to say 'light me on fire' on the record.

She looked at him, then down at the recorder. She reached down and shut it off.

"Brad Treit wants to live forever."

"Don't we all?"

About that.

"I mean," Eddie said, ignoring Venom's shit as best he could, "humans are scared of dying. It's kind of normal."

"Sure. But Treit attended the auction of Carlton Drake's personal effects six months ago. He paid fifteen million dollars for his laptop."

Eddie remembered. That'd put him on to Milq in the first place, how stupid the name was. "Sure. It's encrypted, though."

She shook her head. "He knows. I don't know how, I'm a farmer, but he knows. He's convinced aliens are the secret to eternal life."

I will never let us die, Eddie.

"That's crazy," Eddie said. "He knows that's crazy, right?"

She shrugged. "I'm going to have to leave the state soon. I saw him - he wanted us to process his...specimens. I watched him drink alien remains. He doesn't know about me, but he knows I saw, and he wants to kill me."

"Christ." Wait a second. "How'd you know they were alien remains?"

She smiled, small and bitter. "I watched him kill the alien, Mr. Brock. His name was Gary, and he was my friend. He just also happened to be not from around here."

At some point, Eddie thought, he was going to have to deal with the fact that there were apparently aliens just - all over the fucking place. "Right. Okay. Well, you know I believe you." He held up his right hand, where Venom still tingled against his wrist. "But that probably won't make it into the story."

"As long as he gets put away, I don't care."

"Great. So here's what we're gonna do." Eddie went through the ethical stuff - safe file transfer, verifying her as a source, fact-checking, all the good stuff. Venom sat quiet through all of it, didn't say a fucking word till they were back on the road.

My kind came here because we feared others would beat us to the punch.

"I didn't ask."

I can feel your curiosity.

Which meant it could feel other stuff, too. But then, Eddie'd already known that, what with the late-night hookup attempts and all. "I'm not too worried about it."

You're worried about everything. You shouldn't be. We can do -

"Whatever we want, I know."

Frustration. You don't know. You don't listen. Eddie, I will keep us safe. I will kill everyone who threatens you.

Eddie didn't answer. He couldn't; there was nothing to say. Maybe he didn't understand - actually, he probably didn't, because from where he was sitting, Venom'd already told him that same shit over and over. He knew Venom needed a body. Eddie was that body. It really was that simple.

We are not simple!

At least being on the defensive like this felt kind of familiar. "I know, babe. I know."

You don't. But Venom retreated, back to the darkest recesses of Eddie's mind. Fine by Eddie. Absolutely peachy.

It was almost nine by the time he got back home. He had notes to type up and he needed to sleep, but he didn't feel like doing either of those things. He felt like he had during college, equal parts wired and exhausted, strung along by caffeine and nerves. Well, and overwhelming horniness, in college. Less so these days.

Eddie. Let's go out.

"I'm tired."

We're not tired. We're restless.

And damn it, it was right. Eddie felt like his limbs were on fire. "Fine, fine. Where you wanna go?"

He figured it'd take him to a nightclub, or maybe a dark alley where they could eat a criminal. Instead, Venom showed him...

"The movies? Seriously?"

Popcorn. Darkness. Just us.

Eddie closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths and did not think about how many movie dates Venom'd probably pulled out his memories. "Sure. Whatever you want."

Fuck, he meant it, too.

So they went to the movies. They watched some Tom Cruise bullshit, and Venom asked him weird questions, and Eddie laughed, and they shared popcorn. They could do that, in a dark and mostly-empty theater; no one would realize what Venom was. No one even glanced twice at them. Halfway through the movie, Venom snaked a tendril around Eddie's waist, warm and absolutely unavoidable.

Eddie decided he'd have a breakdown later. He let Venom drag him out of the theater after, asking questions about the feasibility of weak humans scaling skyscrapers alone, without help from superior beings. ("Yeah, yeah, you're really something else," Eddie said, suffused with warm fondness.) Venom took them to a bar, and Eddie had a couple fingers of whiskey with Venom stroking his neck, where no one else could see. Then someone sat down across from him - Tad, who worked in a healthcare startup. Sure, Eddie thought. Fuck it. He was horny and frustrated and the subject of all those feelings was an alien with a shaky grasp on human behavior and an affection for cannibalism that Eddie didn't really know how to deal with. Hooking up with Tad in a bar bathroom was so much simpler than that.

Tad had longer hair and the kind of kissing style that brought Eddie viciously, viscerally into the present. He bit Eddie's lip and shoved him against the stall, pressed their hips together and then pushed Eddie to his knees.

And Eddie, who had fucking dreams about being forced, about being held still and used, went. He pulled Tad's dick out and sucked it, more eager than he remembered being for a long fucking time. He was drooling, hard in his jeans, Venom pressed against his lower back and watching with avid, silent attention.

So - he had excuses. Horniness, for one. A fucked-up crush. Alcohol. An alien parasite who'd let him get drunk. Lots of excuses.

But still, he didn't notice the knife against his neck soon enough. Venom didn't realize this wasn't part of normal human sex fast enough. Tad smiled, his eyes suddenly empty, and said, "Brad says hi."

Then he flicked the knife and slit Eddie's throat. Eddie's blood soaked the bathroom door as Tad fled the scene.

Chapter 4

Summary

Venom saves Eddie, and Eddie immediately complicates things.

Notes

haha jeez this chapter really reveals my tech hangups. OH WELL. canon-typical techbrophobia, right here.

also - updated the chapter count because too many feelings happened, such is life. Thank you so much for all the lovely comments. ♥

No, no, no. Eddie. Eddie, wake up. Eddie, I am still here. We are still here! Eddie, no. Eddie!

"What the fuck," Eddie said. Or tried to say. It came out kinda garbled thanks to his mouth being stuck together with -

No! I worked hard to fix you! You have to keep your nutrients inside!

Too late. Eddie finished barfing in the toilet and stumbled to his feet, shaking.

We should have eaten him. It would've been easier to fix you then.

"Well...there's always next time." Venom must've just comprehensively fixed him up. His throat was whole, for which he was very appreciative, and he was also sober as a fucking judge. "Fuck. Motherfucker, I am so fucking stupid."

We were hungry. It's understandable. But there was a frantic undertone to Venom's voice, like it was lying to make Eddie feel better about himself.

Or, whispered a traitorous part of Eddie's brain, like it was lying to hide how freaked out it was.

"Well, I'm fine. So. Thanks for that."

You're welcome. Unusually cautious, unusually formal. Kinda like it had been at the very beginning, which made Eddie's heart twist.

"Seriously. I'm fine."

As you said. Venom materialized, wrapping itself around Eddie as he shivered. But you don't feel fine. You feel tired and almost - unfixable.

"But only almost, right? So it's okay." Eddie's hands were starting to shake, actually. Adrenalin, probably. He walked out of the stall and took a look at the damage. Blood on his shirt, easy enough to camouflage given how dark the shirt was. Blood on his face, ugh. He splashed water on himself and wiped his face and arms down.

Eddie. Still the semi-frantic undertone. I want to go home.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. There's nowhere else I'd take us." He rubbed the shadows plastered against his thigh. "It's been a long fucking day."

He took them home, got them cleaned up. In the shower, Venom was the one who scrubbed the blood off his chest and upper arms. Eddie shivered in the boiling hot spray as it slithered around his neck, tiny tendrils checking the skin there, verifying it remained sealed.

"You did a good job," he said as they lay in bed.

He felt Venom's dissatisfaction. We should have stopped him before he had a chance to strike.

Eddie didn't say it, but he did wonder, and he knew Venom could feel his thoughts. Why hadn't Venom stopped Tad? Probably because he'd been distracted. Eddie sure as fuck had been. Tad had been nothing he wanted, a complete douche, except where it mattered: he was willing to fuck Eddie's throat. In Eddie's books that counted for a lot.

Fuck, he was fucked up.

He fell asleep after that, finally. Venom spent the night curled around his throat. The next morning was a Thursday and Eddie couldn't afford to call in, so he hauled ass out of bed and made it to the office.

In the old days he might've charged into his boss's office and tried to get 'Brad says hi' into a next-day article. But now Eddie knew that to get it on the page he'd have to go through fact-checking, and he had no proof that the guy who'd tried to kill him was acting on Milq's orders. Or even that he'd tried to kill him, really, given Venom's work.

We know he tried to kill us. We could just eat him.Only bad people. He's bad. He's the worst.

"I'll grant he's definitely, uh, edible. But he's not the worst. There's tons of people -"

He tried to kill you. He abused your trust. Venom presented Eddie with a graphic picture of himself on the floor of the bar bathroom, bleeding out. It had a dizzying overlay of some strange emotion, nothing remotely like what Eddie himself might feel.

But he knew what it was anyway, from the way Venom felt in his head right now. Venom had been in a sheer, blind panic. "Okay. Yeah, you're right. But he's also a lead right now, which means we need to keep him alive for the time being."

Fine. But when you're done, we will kill him for what he did to you. I will cherish the memory of his bones crunching beneath our teeth forever.

"Aw. Sweet of you."

So Eddie thought they were fine. They had to be, right? Venom could technically find a new body to inhabit, but Eddie didn't think it wanted to. And Eddie definitely didn't want it to, despite the fact that he knew that was kind of messed up. Or super messed up, whatever. Point was, they kind of had to be okay with each other, and Eddie figured they were.

Shows how much he knew. Suzy stopped by for dinner the next night, and because she was a freaky alien - or because she was a teen girl - she picked up that something had happened right away.

"What's up with you?" she said, twirling her spoon in her tomato soup.

"Long day at work."

"Seriously? You look like you got hit by a truck."

"What, you never feel crappy after janitoring? How's that going, anyway?"

"You're not going to deflect me." She crossed her arms and glared at him. "Are you okay?"

Eddie had been a kid once. He wasn't dense - okay, he was, but he knew what was happening here. She was worried about him and didn't know how to express it except by being a dick. It was sweet, actually, but there was nothing she could do. Venom'd fixed him up anyway, so he really was fine.

In the back of his head, he felt Venom's annoyance. You are only fine because of luck. She should use her super-strength to find Brad and then we can eat him together. Like a family.

"That's not how family works," Eddie muttered.

Suzy heard, of course, and her expression flickered, too quick for Eddie to see what she was thinking. "Well, anyway," she said. "I'm glad you're okay, I guess." She took a vicious bite of her grilled cheese, chewing with the attitude of someone who expected to be reprimanded.

Couldn't be Eddie. She even helped him do the dishes. Aside from not being bugged by a teen runaway at all, this was basically the next best thing. Even Venom was coming around to her, mostly.

It was a fine night. Good, even. Everything, Eddie told himself, was fine.

Then came the nightmares.

He'd been having them since before Carlton Drake. It wasn't Venom's fault. But sharing his brain, and having some really messed-up and violent experiences with his other, meant that the nightmares had gotten a lot worse lately. Viscera, screaming, people Eddie loved dying, all the good stuff. One where he ate Doctor Dan, which should've been enjoyable but just made him sick.

And tonight, he got to experience a new one: Tad standing over him, stabbing him over and over, while Venom screamed helplessly.

"Stop it! This is just a fucked-up dream!"

Eddie! No! Eddie Eddie Eddie -

He woke up screaming, his heart racing. Venom, too, screamed in his ear, a kind of shrill roar that made his eardrums ring. "God fucking damn it," he said. "Venom -"

Eddie!

"Venom. It's a dream. You've seen 'em before." He winced as the roar crescendoed and then died down. "Let me - come out of me for a sec, okay?"

Eddie?

Their heart was still racing, adrenalin peaking, but he knew how to handle this - or he thought he did. Eddie reached into their mind and said, Venom. Hey, baby, it's okay. We were just dreaming.

I've seen your dreams! That was not a dream! You were dead. We were separated!

"Still just a dream, okay? I'm still here." I promise, okay? I'm right here.

When the panic in his mind barely abated, he realized he'd been wrong. Venom wasn't reacting to Eddie's dream.

It had been Venom's dream.

Heart pounding, Eddie reached up, touching his collarbones. He felt fucking dumb but he didn't know what else he could do; he needed to offer Venom comfort, but it wasn't materialized. So he stroked himself, sinking into the feeling, sharing the shivers of sensation with Venom. I'm here, babe. We're both here. I'm still breathing, see? We're together. We're never gonna not be together. Shh, it's okay.

Slowly, slowly, the screaming quieted. Eddie's heart was still racing, though, and it wasn't until Venom materialized that he realized he was hard.

"Adrenalin," he said, a useless and stupid explanation when Venom was staring at him like -

Like it could just eat him up.

"I don't think I like dreaming," it said, curling around Eddie's neck. It could make itself as light as a silk scarf or as heavy as a chain; right now it was going for heavy. Impossible to ignore.

"Yeah," Eddie said. "Well, there's nice dreams, too. Not as many lately. Sorry."

"I read a book while you slept about how to fix dreams. It was annoying to stop watching you, but I learned quite a bit."

Eddie tried and failed not to let his nervousness out. He swallowed hard. "Yeah?"

"Oh, yes." It grew larger, sending darkness pooling on Eddie's stomach. He couldn't stop himself from shivering. It felt electric where they touched. "Memories of pleasure can supersede memories of pain."

"Do you feel that?" he blurted out, like an idiot.

"I am we, Eddie. I can feel your heart pounding. I could move your legs if I wanted, because I am in your tendons, buried into your marrow. There is no part of you we do not share."

Which it'd told Eddie before. Eddie had a distant memory of finding it kinda creepy and offputting. If only he could get back to that, in retrospect, really nice past. "But, I mean. Do you want..."

Venom tilted its not-head. "Say it."

"I -"

"Say it."

Even if the compulsion hadn't been hot, and God help him it was, but even if it hadn't been, Eddie would've done it. There was a weird edge to it order, like Venom was desperate.

Like it needed Eddie as much as Eddie knew he needed it.

"Do you want to fuck? Can you even understand what it means? Do you seriously want to make this weirder by having sex, all of this?"

"Weirder?" It stroked his thighs, oddly liquid. "How can indulging another physical desire be weird?"

Eddie screwed his eyes shut, desperately trying not to share what lived in a horrible corner of his fucked-up mind. It wasn't just the physical. It was what he wanted, the softness, gentleness. Care. He could never let Venom see that. "It just would be, okay? Think of it like a weird human thing."

"Like how you won't let me eat a dog."

"Right."

"Or how you insist on killing dead flesh even deader before putting it in our mouth."

"Raw fish is nasty, okay, it just is!"

"I can kill the bacteria, Eddie. We don't have to worry about that." It moved closer to him, making unsettling - and unsettlingly hot, oh God - sticky noises. "I keep telling you. We can do whatever we want: nothing will ever hurt you again."

Except the dreams, of course. And Venom's own cluelessness. And Eddie's stupid, stupid feelings.

"I know," he said. He flopped back against his pillows, screwing his eyes shut. "I know, I just..."

"What?"

"Human feelings. They're stupid. That's all." And that was close enough to the truth that Venom wouldn't go poking around for more information, probably.

"I'm going to learn how to fix those, too," Venom said. Eddie expected it to sink back into his skin, but instead it curled around him, blanketing him to the waist, its body just a few degrees warmer than Eddie. It felt possessive, and heavy; tiny points of pain at his shoulder and down his pec told him just how many teeth it had right now. In other words, it felt entirely alien.

Eddie fucking loved it.

"Go to sleep," Venom said. "If there is another dream, I will know, and I will fix it."

"Not gonna join me?"

"You're the one with synapses."

"Fair enough." Eddie took a deep breath, then another, feeling Venom move over and with him.

Nah, it wasn't quite what he wanted. But for now he figured it was close enough.

-

The next day was a Saturday, so Eddie decided to break the law.

He wasn't really getting anywhere with Milq using normal reporter methods. Or, rather, he'd gotten somewhere, and that place was Carlton Drake levels of creepy and thus outside the bounds of what Eddie figured he could do during a weekday. He needed information, and as far as he could tell the only way to get it was to go to the source.

You don't have to make excuses for us to break into a building, you know. I'm hungry. We could eat five, maybe six or seven security guards easily.

"Listen, I feel better if I have a reason, okay? And we're not gonna eat some schmucks who just need a job. If we see Brad the douche we can eat him."

Normally, any concession to cannibalism made Venom happy. Right now, it just grumbled in the back of Eddie's mind, bent out of shape over something else. "Anyway," Eddie said, "it's not like we're breaking in in the dead of night. We're just a Milq, uh, database guy, doin' database stuff."

"You're not a database guy," Suzy said from the stairwell.

Eddie jumped and almost tripped. "Jesus. Warn a guy."

"If you're breaking into somewhere, don't you need to be stealthy?"

"If you're hanging out on stairwells talking to people, shouldn't you be friendly?"

She crossed her arms. "I asked you first."

"I will be stealthy." We will be. "When we get there."

She tilted her head. "How's your buddy doing?"

"He's good. We're both great, okay, thank you." Eddie slipped past her.

"I could help you!" she called as he finally hit the first floor.

"Not into child endangerment, thanks," he shot back, and made his exit.

She's right, you know. We could use her. She could help us find the captives.

"We don't know there are captives, you'd probably just get weird and jealous if there were, and she's a kid, which is the most important part of this. We're being good, remember? That means we don't bring kids into fights."

He felt Venom perk up in the back of his mind. So there will be a fight?

"Seems likely at this point."

He did all the usual shit: hoodie, scarf, and glasses to obscure his face while also looking like a hipster dickfuck, parking his bike a ways away and using one of those asshole scooters to get the last mile and change, et cetera. After all that, it turned out they didn't even have turnstiles or security guards. What the fuck?

All the computers were locked, he saw as he wandered deeper into the office building. And all the meeting rooms had key card swipes. It wasn't totally insecure, but still, there had to be something else going on.

Eddie.

Hush. We're sneaking, see?

Eddie. There are men at the end of the hallway. They have someone with them who isn't a human. They're coming this way.

Right. Holy shit. Eddie pulled up his camera on his phone and got ready for the money shot.

No.

Venom yanked them back into an office and somehow silently slammed the door shut behind Eddie. The walls were frosted glass; with the lights turned off, no one could see them. Which was for the best, Eddie though, because Venom had them pinned to a wall, spread-eagle like it had the first time they'd gone out together, and Eddie -

Was furious. But he was feeling some other stuff too. Stuff related to the way Venom held their limbs perfectly still, not even letting Eddie tremble as the men walked by.

"Whew, that was close," Eddie whispered. "Wanna let me go now, buddy?"

No.

Eddie didn't need this. Eddie really, super, extensively, undeniably did not need this. Venom sounded pissed again, and Eddie's heart was pounding, and he just fucking wanted all kinds of shit he couldn't or shouldn't have. It sucked. And they were in a den of criminals, so having this breakdown right now sucked even more, really.

"Let me rephrase that," he hissed. "Let. Me. Go."

Us. The hiss rolled through Eddie's mind, leaving him shaking in its wake.

"Fine. Us. Let us go. We'll get our evidence and leave."

I don't think you've been listening to me.

A shivery feeling in his leg, and then Venom materialized, wrapping itself around both of Eddie's calves. Pinning him, even more thoroughly than when it moved Eddie's limbs without his permission.

Fuck. "Venom, buddy, c'mon."

You don't hide when you should. You don't listen to what I say. This is a partnership, Eddie. We have to work together.

"I know that, but -"

I don't think you do. It sent tendrils up his chest, wrapping around his waist, warm and prickly. And Eddie figured maybe it just didn't know, maybe it had somehow missed the connection between Eddie's boner now and the wet dreams it'd tried to fuck him after.

I suppose I will have to teach you, Venom said, and wrapped itself around Eddie's cock.

Shit. Shit, he'd misplayed this. He tugged his arms and legs, trying to get free. No dice; Venom held him firmly and sucked, teeth pricking Eddie's wrists and drawing blood as Eddie moaned.

You don't want to stop. You like this. You like the danger, too. One of the tendrils resting against his waist turned into a head, eyes blinking up at Eddie. You could tell me to stop and I would. I'd take us out of here. But you have needs you've been ignoring, even after I offered to solve the problem.

"That is a vast oversimplification of roughly everything," Eddie snarled. He realized how loud he'd gotten and winced, lowering his voice to a whisper. "But -"

It smiled, sticky and weird and fucking knowing. "But?"

Now was the time. Eddie knew it. He still had a chance to get this whole thing back on track, and preserve his own dumbass feelings in the process. All he had to do was tell Venom to knock it off, find the nearest laptop to steal, and leave.

His throat worked silently. He couldn't even think the words. After a horrible, silent moment, Eddie thumped his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "Please."

Yes. Good. Tendrils became clawed, uncanny hands, which undressed Eddie bizarrely politely. Eddie had a moment to stare in disbelief at his pants neatly folded on the desk, and then Venom was back, covering him, forcing his head back to give him a messy kiss.

Anyone could walk in. Boy, did it sound pleased with itself about that. I don't want them to think we're rude.

"Rude." Eddie couldn't stop the laugh rising in his chest. "You...you're getting me off in some schmuck's office and you're worried about being rude."

Venom tightened around his arms and legs. "Yes."

"Fine." He thumped his head back against the wall. "Fuck, just...touch me more. Please." He hoped it couldn't feel the desperation, or didn't know what it meant. Stupid, cruel, but he did hope, because he was so exposed in every possible way just now. It almost hurt - and then Venom viciously pinched his nipple and it did hurt, in a new and different way.

"Oh, fuck, please," he breathed, rocking his hips into the not-quite-friction Venom gave him.

I like this. Your heart is racing and your sweat is delicious. Say 'please' again.

Nothing could've made it more obvious that Venom didn't understand sex, really, remotely like how Eddie did. But Eddie didn't give a fuck. Venom understood him, them; Venom knew their body and what it needed.

Venom was their body. Fuck, fuck.

Eddie. Pressure on his thighs, just this side of mean. Say please again.

There was really no point in holding back. Why was that such a turn-on? "Please. Baby, please, I need it. Give it to me, please, I'll be so good for you. Please."

Yes. Good. Delight shivered down Eddie's spine. It's a pity we can't get someone in here. I think you'd like that. If other people could see.

Fuck, it was plucking this bullshit right out of his dumbest fantasies. Eddie didn't even have time to argue, because Venom was sucking on him, and its not-quite-claws had dug into his skin and were sending shocks up and down his arms. Eddie was trapped between almost too much pain up top and alien wetness below the waist, and all he could think was that he wanted more.

I've never done this before. Fake innocent bullshit, and Eddie would've told it, if he wasn't too busy moaning. You'll have to explain what you mean.

"You can feel it. We need -"

He couldn't say it, not so much because he was a prude as because it was too close to the truth. They needed to get fucked and he, Eddie, needed to be held. Caressed. Loved. Fuck, it'd been too long since even a facsimile of that, and Venom didn't quite -

A thick, strong thing, not quite a finger and not a tentacle either, pressed inside. Slowly, sure, but inexorable, stealing the breath straight from his lungs. "Oh fuck. Fuck, sweetheart, that's -"

Too much?

"No." Fuck it, he'd just sound desperate. He was desperate. "Harder, please."

I told you. It thrust in so hard Eddie choked back a scream. Anything we want, we can have. I want you here, begging me. So here you are. You want me in you. Here. I. Am. Punctuated with thrusts that threw Eddie back into the wall, driving him so crazy he dented the plaster throwing his head back.

Anything you want, I want. Everything you are, we are. We are Venom, and you are mine.

Eddie came with a scream, right into the alien mouth Venom provided to muffle the sound. He came and he came, and at some point he lost consciousness, but it didn't really matter: Venom held him up, had been holding him up the whole time. Later he'd dwell on how obvious and pathetic it was, but right then he just slumped against Venom, let it embrace him and curl around him until he saw more alien than skin when he looked down at himself.

God. He was so, so fucked.

Your heart is beating strongly again. Venom licked his neck stickily. This is good for humans.

"Yeah. You fixed me. Congrats."

I will always fix you, Eddie. We will always be together, and I will always fix you.

Man, Eddie getting banged up had really done a number on it. Or almost murdered, whichever. "Yeah, I know. Hey, thanks for the. Um." He pulled his pants back on. "Help."

Help. Yes, with your human body's needs. It's like healing you.

"Yeah, exactly. Just like that." Eddie put his coat back on and tried to ignore the squirmy liar-liar-liar feeling living somewhere beneath his ribs. "Hard drive?"

Laptop on the desk.

Having a symbiote was such a time-saver. Eddie tossed the laptop in his bag and hopped out the window, trusting Venom to catch him on the way down.

Chapter 5

"You know, it's occurring to me we should've stolen more than one computer."

You were distracted.

"You distracted me," Eddie said, "or I would've grabbed more. See, there are consequences after all."

We enjoyed some of the consequences.

True though that may be, Eddie was still fending off creeping horror in the back of his mind. Fucking Venom was weird enough - boy, was it weird - but then there was terror he still couldn't quite shake, that Venom had seen the squishier parts of his feelings, the actual love and care that he was working to repress.

Fuckin yikes. On like, six levels. "Yeah, still. I'd like to have evidence, too."

This computer has network connectivity with the others. The VPN was easy enough to slip past. There is nothing here. I would never risk our journalistic aspirations, Eddie.

"Oh, you wanna be a journalist now, too? You know we can't eat people when they agree to be on the record, right?"

But we can eat the ones who say 'no comment'.

Eddie couldn't stop himself from smiling at that, despite how annoying this whole day had been so far. "Yeah, yeah. Wise guy. Fine, what's our next step, then?"

It's Sunday. On Monday we can go back to Milq and see about getting an interview with Brad the Douche again. Today we should get food.

"What, like brunch?" Well, it was a little late for brunch. "Linner?"

He leaned back against the couch to enjoy the weird feeling of Venom flipping through his memories. That is a very large sandwich, it said when it got to the chicken & waffles Eddie'd had last Christmas. Let's eat that again!

And it was actually a place nearby, so Eddie got them all dressed up for the outside world and took them on the bike. It wasn't till he was sitting in the booth, Venom rambling about all the smells it could discern, that he realized the place was kind of...romantic?

He'd gone there on Christmas 'cause he was a sadsack with nowhere else to go. Then, it had been warm and cozy, and not too 'ooooh this is California, it's always warm, what's a snowflake?' or whatever. Now, though, it was just a nice early fall day, and the sun was just starting to dip below the buildings across the street, throwing shadows over their booth. A candle burned in a little jar against the wall. It was romantic.

Venom couldn't really materialize with so many people around, but it crept out enough to lie against the back of his neck, warm and heavy. This is good. We wanted food, so I got us food. Good job, me.

Eddie couldn't quite fight down the shiver. "Yeah, yeah, good job."

Tiny teeth pricked his ear. You should get a phone earpiece like the horrible men you write articles about. You're making us look crazy.

"Doesn't help much now, does it? On our date." Eddie smiled at the waitress as she emerged with their two plates of food. "Thanks so much."

"Uh-huh." Clearly a fake smile, but hey, she was trying and it was already getting busy in here.

He felt warm dampness curl around the shell of his ear. I'm a bluetooth, Venom told him smugly.

"Thanks, sweetheart." He cut up his sandwich and dug in.

And, fuck, it actually was really good, and it was better with Venom here. He couldn't reach out and touch - and he wanted to, even as he worked to hide how bad he wanted to - but he could feel, and Venom was apparently determined to show him a fun time. It kept touching him, dipping beneath his shirt and then his pants, moving a little further down each time. Eddie had no idea if it knew what it was doing; how was he supposed to ask his fucking symbiote if it understood foreplay?

Take another bite of that syrup. It tastes like the liver of this sandwich.

"There's a comparison I could've done without." But he obeyed, swishing his waffle around in syrup and popping it into his mouth. "Wanna watch a movie when we get home?"

We have other plans, Eddie. And then it fucking pinched his thigh, and Eddie clenched his hand around his fork and just barely avoided kicking the table in shock.

Shock and arousal, because - fuck. Fuck, he wanted this.

Yes. Good. We both want this, Eddie. Remember what I told you.

"Figured you were talking about, you know." Eddie took a big bite of chicken and tried not to think of how obvious his boner would be when he stood up.

Eating people? Sure. But you're a tasty snack all on your own. And then it started humming some rap song they'd heard on the radio the other day, Eddie didn't know. His tastes ended sometime around when all the kids stopped knowing who Luda was. Venom, on the other hand, had an incredible memory and an insatiable appetite for information about humans.

You like that about me.

"Caught me, I do." Too much, really. But Venom didn't need to know that.

You know, we could talk privately. You've done it before. Then you wouldn't have to...censor yourself. Venom punctuated the statement with a pinch of his thigh, a warm tentacle wrapping around his hip.

"Maybe I like when people look at me like I'm crazy. Or some sad, lonely, CEO whose wife won't even meet him for dinner."

I think you know we don't look like a CEO. Teeth against his ear again, then down his neck. He bit back a moan.

This was fucking ridiculous; he was gonna come in his pants. He signaled for the check.

-

And then Venom got the truth out of him.

"I like it," he gasped, spread-eagle on the bed. Venom had laid him out the second they got home, practically threw him across the room to get him here. It was hotter than it should've been, hotter than Eddie would've said it could possibly be, and Eddie had a good imagination. Venom wrapped itself around all four of his limbs; he couldn't move, except to wiggle and thrust his hips, and talk. Or beg. "Babe, please -"

"Not yet." It bit his nipple, shimmering in delight when Eddie moaned. "Tell me."

"I like people looking at us." Fuck, fuck. The thing in his ass wasn't human and it didn't feel human; it hurt even as it drove Eddie towards the edge. Eddie bucked against it and fought to finish his thought. "Thinking I'm crazy, whatever - we're different. I like it."

Too-large eyes gleamed over Eddie's chest. "Good," it said, and enveloped his cock.

It got off on this, too. That was one thing that Eddie was clinging to - evidence, maybe, that he wasn't just projecting, that he wasn't crazy. The thing that was Venom, that was his beloved, knew what pleasure was. It fed on Eddie's and gave him its own back. They were too close right now for it to lie to him about that.

He hoped.

"Eddie. Pay attention."

"I'm - oh, fucking hell -" Blood welled up from where it had bitten him, just above his hipbone. Eddie watched in near-orgasmic disbelief as its tongue materialized from the swirling black mass between his legs, licking the blood up as the wound healed.

"Better," it purred, and used the tongue on his cock.

It looked less humanoid now, Eddie thought desperately. Writhing, wet, massive between his legs and in his ass, holding him down and surrounding him -

Surrounding us.

Fuck, yes. "Talk to me," Eddie gasped. "Tell me - I don't wanna come yet, sweetheart. Please, just talk to me."

"I like when people look at us too." It was talking while sucking him off, oh god, Eddie had miscalculated. "I like watching you flounder. I like knowing your body is better with me in it." It thrust hard enough to jolt Eddie against the wall, and even as Eddie cried out, it gave him something to suck on - thick, moving, rough against his tongue. Eddie could feel himself drooling, and he could only imagine what he looked like.

"You look beautiful." It shimmered when Eddie moaned around it, like laughter. "We look beautiful."

Eddie lost his mind after that. Literally. Everything blurred together, sharp spikes of pleasure and almost-too-much waves of pain, Venom holding him and moving him as it wanted. Eddie couldn't think it - couldn't even come close, buried the last secret he had as deep as he could even as he babbled endearments and begged for release.

And then, finally, his other half let him have it: buried inside him, curled around him, it whispered, "Time to let go, Eddie."

He came so hard he blacked out. When he came to, they were lying under a blanket, reeking of sex and covered in fluids Eddie wasn't completely sure were human in origin.

"Oh, fuck."

It grinned toothily at him. "We did that already."

He couldn't help it, he blamed the whole coming-his-brains-out thing. He leaned in and kissed Venom, teeth and all, sighing in contented recognition when it sank back under his skin.

-

It took him awhile to get ready to go the next morning. Maybe if it hadn't - if he'd done his usual ten-minute routine - maybe he'd have seen them.

But he was tired, his limbs heavy, his ass aching. Based on Venom's lack of intrusive questions, he figured he'd kept his last secret even through all the intensity of yesterday, so he didn't really have any pressing problems. He enjoyed stretching out, showering, taking his fucking time.

So when he walked downstairs, Suzy's door was already hanging open. When he ran inside, her living room was already empty, eerily undisturbed. And when he found the blood on the floor of the hallway, it was already dry.

-

He called Anne. Or Venom called Anne. Eddie's squishy human bits were all fucked up, panic lighting up his neurons, and after awhile Venom just kind of...took over.

"This isn't your fault," Anne said for the fifth or sixth time. Eddie'd called in sick; he had no idea what Anne was telling the public defender's office.

"Are you talking to Eddie?" Venom said with Eddie's voice.

"I doubt you're blaming yourself," Anne said, "so - yeah."

You should talk to her, Eddie.

No. Keep driving, V. I don't - I can't.

But Venom was nothing if not a fucking prick. It ceded control to Eddie, smooth as butter, sinking into the back of his mind so Eddie had no choice but to look at Anne as himself.

Anne smiled at him. "Hey there."

"It is," Eddie said. "Trust me, you - you have no idea, how much it's my fault."

Back in the day, that was the kind of thing Anne would've told him to go fuck himself over; "Self-indulgent and not fucking helping, Eddie," he could practically hear her say. But now she just smiled a little awkwardly and patted his knee. "So you really think it's Milq, huh?"

"Unless she pissed off the mafia or something." Eddie huffed a bleak laugh. "And, you know, the Mafia somehow knew about her superpowers. They shouldn't have been able to take her."

"Unless they knew she was stronger than she should be."

His heart twisted, thinking of Suzy lifting her fucking fridge. "I barely know her. But I just - if I'd heard - they must've got the drop on her."

"They almost certainly know you live in this building," Anne said. "Which means they knew they'd need to ensure you and Venom didn't notice."

"But -"

"No, Eddie. You can't travel back in time, which means the way to fix things is to solve the problems that exist now. I think you're right; evidence points to Milq. So what are you going to do?"

Venom resurfaced just long enough to say, "We will find her, and then we will take Brad's head off and eat his brains."

"Solid plan," Anne said. "Until the board just appoints someone else CEO."

She's right, Eddie said. Venom harrumphed at him.

"Here's my suggestion. Find Brad, eat his face. Get Suzy and any others out of there. And then, bring them to me." She'd never looked quite as lawyer-y around Eddie as she did just then, cold and calm and competent as fuck. "Discovery alone will ruin Milq. They'll be out of business before they can hurt anyone else."

"God, I love you," Eddie said without thinking.

But she took it in the spirit it was meant, hugging him. "What are friends for, right? Go on, do your thing."

Eddie closed his eyes as Venom took over, roiling up and around him. Eddie disappeared; it was only them.

"We will."

They left via the balcony.

Chapter 6

Notes

^^^^ Note the modified warnings.

This extremely beautiful art by bbegrill is honestly better than the entirety of this fanfiction, please gaze upon its magnificence.

And thank you to everyone who's commented, I am slooowly replying but please know I read and treasure all comments. ♥

Eddie realized on the way over to Milq that they hadn't ever really been this angry before.

Sure, he'd been pissed. With Venom, when they caught some murderous fuck using a corporation to kill kids, he was plenty mad then. But that kind of anger faded quickly and mostly left him feeling tired. Same with Riot, really. He'd been furious with Venom after it killed Maria, but -

Venom hadn't meant to. A thought that was both of theirs, just then, as Eddie rode along in the backseat of their body. Maybe he was brainwashed or Stockholmed or whatever, but he knew Venom hadn't meant to hurt Maria and he knew that they did intend to hurt Brad from Milq, a lot, for being a dickbag generally and for taking Suzy specifically.

She's ours, Eddie.

That's a little weird, buddy. But Eddie agreed, was the fucked-up thing. For fuck's sake, she was their neighbor.

Venom was pissed about something else, too. Eddie couldn't tell exactly what - and he wasn't sure he wanted to know - but it was there, lurking between then. Kind of like Eddie himself.

Don't worry about it. Venom's voice in their head sounded nervous, almost jumpy. If they didn't have so much other shit to do, Eddie'd be chasing down exactly why.

Instead, he gritted his non-existent teeth as they climbed the Milq tower, towards the light at the very top.

Won't their murder-the-aliens lab be underground?

Not based on what we smell.

Which was how Eddie realized the sickly reek he'd noticed wasn't just the typical symptoms of poverty and exploitation, but were actually - captive aliens? Fuck. Motherfucker.

He was going to enjoy riping this guy's head off, and he didn't care what that said about him.

All it says, Eddie, is that we know the difference between wrong and right.

No way did Eddie believe that, but it didn't matter. They climbed the building in a matter of seconds. Eddie expected that they'd burst through the window with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball, but instead they sent out a single tiny tendril and popped the window glass off, almost silently. Still, there are alarms.

Not for us. They smiled toothily at their reflection as the alarm above continued to ignore their presence.

God, being bonded with an alien was so fucking useful sometimes.

They crept down the hallway, towards the stench of fear. They were itching to kill someone, but the whole floor appeared to be deserted. They couldn't even smell the usual human urine that accompanied seeing them in their true form.

Ew. Gross. But it was true: everything was empty and eerily sterile.

And then they heard her.

It was the barest whisper of a sound, quieter than their now-shared memories of the transport pod that had taken them to earth. A thin, nearly perfectly muffled sound of pain.

It wasn't Suzy. But it sounded like it could have been, and they charged in the direction of the noise.

Through a reinforced wall. Down a set of stairs that weren't on the floor plan. Down a hallway rigged with metal plates delivering massive shocks. It didn't matter: they clung to the walls, claws ripping into cement and steel. Towards the sound, further and further, and one sound became many - coughing, crying, hissing in pain. They ripped through the last wall, five feet of concrete that crumbled like paper beneath their rage, and ate the first guard they saw.

Not a guard, Eddie said. The guy had a bun - which was stuck in their teeth now - and Warby Parker glasses, a top-of-the-line Macbook that they were throwing against the wall, screaming in rage as the other people scattered.

No, not guards. Programmers. Helpers, they snarled, and leaped to prevent their escape.

As they dispatched the jailers, they smashed the locks on the walls, too. The clear, brittle material shattered, freeing the prisoners within. But none of them were Suzy. All of them looked like normal people - would have to, to hide on Earth. But where was Suzy?

Eddie. Not a wall.

Eddie followed the pressure of Venom's attention, and together they discarded the leg they'd been gnawing on and walked down to the smooth white wall at the end of the hallway. They couldn't hear or smell anything.

Not a wall, Venom hissed.

They dug their claws into it and lifted it up. It was one part of a cage. Inside stood Suzy, eyes wide in terror - and then relief. She recognized them.

"Hey, kid," they said. "Long day, huh?"

"The longest, oh my God," she said, and ran to hug them.

They'd barely managed to return the hug when Brad the douche's henchman Tad said, "What the fuck is going on here?"

"Seems obvious," they said, turning to face him. "We're hugging our neighbor, who you nearly killed."

"Go back to your room, you obnoxious brat," Tad snapped at Suzy.

Venom opened their mouth to ensure Tad the douche couldn't be a douche anymore -

And Suzy ran past them, screaming loudly enough to shake the walls.

Holy fucking shit, Eddie said, watching her punch a hole straight through his heart.

Venom only sent back a vague feeling of satisfaction. Well, fair enough; he was getting what he deserved, for sure.

"Oh my God," Suzy said when Tad's body thunked onto the floor. "Are you going to eat my head now?"

"Of course not," they said. "You don't deserve it." But Tad, on the other hand, was still warm.

"Gross," Suzy said as they licked their lips. Startup henchman brain tasted like any other scumbag.

"Let's go home. The lawyers will be here soon."

"Cool. Um." Suzy looked at Tad's headless body, then around at all the other former prisoners. "Are you guys good to go?"

"I can fly," said one.

"I can teleport," said another.

"Great." Suzy swallowed, looking suddenly wan. Eddie wished they had more heads to eat. "Could I, um, catch a ride?"

Venom knelt down. "Piggy-back. Hop on."

Suzy clung to their back the whole way home. Eddie didn't say anything when she camped out on their couch, clutching a pillow tight enough to strain the seams. She didn't even flinch when Venom let Eddie back out.

"I'm so sorry," Eddie said. "I should've been there."

"What? They kidnapped me, dude. They had like paramilitary training." She shuddered. "I'm glad you ate them. They were dicks."

"Yeah, I'm not gonna say I'm sorry for that." He grabbed a beer. "But still, we should get you a panic button or something."

"Hopefully they're the only company messing around with alien stuff."

"In the Valley?" Eddie snorted. "Ah, the optimism of youth."

"Whatever." She wrinkled her nose. "Hey, can you still taste the, um, cannibalism? When you no longer look like -" She waved her hand above her head.

"Not really. Kind of? I'm a little shaky on the physics of it all."

Because it would break your tiny human mind.

"No one asked you," Eddie retorted.

Suzy giggled. It sounded half-hysterical, but hey: Eddie was still ready to treat it as a win. "You should get an earpiece so you look less crazy when you bicker."

"I don't bicker!"

"You totally do."

Tell her I said the same thing. About the earpiece. You make us look bad!

"Venom wants you to know it said the same thing, about the earpiece."

"See? We're totally right." Her watery smile was interrupted with a yawn.

Oh, right, she was a teenager and she'd die before she admitted the whole kidnapping/murder experience had tired her out. "Oooh, boy, look at time." Eddie finished his beer and stretched. "I'm gonna hit the hay. You staying here?"

"Is that okay? I can go back to my apartment but they broke my door and the landlord's a total scumbag and totally won't replace it fast enough and -"

"Yeah, it's fine. I got an extra blanket, here." He tossed it to her. "Yell if you need anything."

"I - yeah. Thanks, Eddie."

He waved a hand. "Ah, don't mention it."

When they were in the bathroom, behind the safety of a closed door, Venom said, Were you going to call Anne?

"Not tonight. I guess she's probably pretty busy, given everything. I already texted her to let her know Suzy was safe, so."

Someday he'd figure out how Venom managed to lurk so effectively, in the back of his mind, heavy with meaning yet totally opaque. "What's going on? Spill."

Nothing.

He wagged a finger at his - their - reflection. "Liar. C'mon, tell me."

I can't tell you if there's nothing to tell. An image Eddie recognized from the tech insider gossip boards he lurked on appeared in his mind.

Great, now his symbiote was sending him memes to communicate. "Yeah, only you're lying. Come on."

You told Anne, 'I love you'. So you should call her. I would want to talk with my beloved after eating so many brainstems.

It couldn't be what it sounded like - which was that Venom was being a jealous little so-and-so. Eddie cast around for an alternative explanation and came up with, "Are you sore I haven't done more to win her back?"

A grumble in his head. No!

"Then -"

Call her if you love her so much, Venom sniped at him, and drew into itself, so that Eddie could only catch the barest echo of anger.

"What the fuck," he said to the empty air.

Suzy ignored him as he went to bed. Normally his lack of walls didn't bother him, but right then he'd've paid to have an actual bedroom. They could afford it, too; maybe something to think about when stuff was a little less - fraught.

And he was ruminating on the relative benefits of loft living because he wanted to avoid the cranky symbiote stinking up his amygdala. God, he'd made some mistakes in life.

I'm not angry with you.

Eddie screwed up his face and focused on sending the words. Kinda seems like you're lying.

We will never be parted from one another. That is the truth.

That has nothing to do with whether or not you're pissed at me, come on.

I'm not!

And boy, Eddie was feeling some deja fuckin vu. He'd had fights with Annie that played out just like this, right down to Eddie pushing too hard while she closed down. He screwed his eyes shut, trying to find his center like the meditation tapes said. Only his center was deep inside him, wasn't it? His center was Venom.

Hey. Listen. I'm sorry for pushing. It's none of my business.

You could make it your business.

We don't have that kind of relationship.

We could.

Eddie wasn't sure why Venom sounded so desperate about it. Maybe it was a symbiote thing, an alien thing. Eddie knew it was crazy - boy, did he know - but he hated that separation, the bone-deep knowledge that no matter how close he was to Venom, there would still be parts of its experiences that he didn't - couldn't - understand.

Venom let out a mental noise kind of like a sigh, materializing around Eddie enough to wrap around his neck, viscous and warm. Eddie felt calm wash over him, as alien as Venom itself.

Go to sleep.

And now Venom sounded like a tired old man. Kind of funny, actually. Eddie reached up and wrapped a hand around it, feeling it pulse warm and alive as he fell asleep.

-

They should've killed Brad. That was Eddie's first thought when he woke up immobilized, staring at Brad's sneering face. His second thought was -

"Holy fucking shit, that thing's ugly."

"You say that about so many aliens," Brad said, stroking the lizard made of eyeballs that sat on his shoulder. "But not the one that gives you immortality. Hypocrite."

"What the fuck does it even do?"

"Iki here creates powerful poison," Brad said. "You're dying of it now."

EDDIE.

Eddie tried and failed not to flinch as the scream reverberated in his skull. Brad laughed. "Oh, yes, and your little parasite won't be able to come out to help you. I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that."

"We ate Tad." Eddie smiled, showing teeth. "Sorry, I forgot to mention that."

Brad shrugged. "It's easy enough to find another CTO. Chad will step in. He's been VP of development since the last funding round, and he was dying to take on a larger role. You saved us some paperwork, for which I'm very grateful. Though, not grateful enough to let you live, of course."

"Chad?" Eddie said. "Seriously?"

EDDIE. YOU ARE DYING. I CAN'T FIX IT. EDDIE, WE NEED HELP.

"You know, mocking people's names is a microaggression." Brad tsked at him. "You'd never make it in the Valley with those chauvinistic attitudes."

Hold on, sweetheart. Fat lot of good that would do. Venom's panic filled them both - and Eddie was panicking too, of course, as convinced as he'd ever been that he was about to die.

"Listen." Eddie did his best to sound reasonable, like a guy who could be - well, reasoned with. "How about you let me and my friend go, and me and Venom won't eat your head."

YES WE WILL!

Brad cocked his head, eyes shining an inhuman yellow. "Your friend?"

"Whoops," said a shadow in the corner Eddie'd carefully avoided looking at.

Nice. She'd found the cleaver. The last thing Eddie saw before Venom ripped itself out of him was Brad's surprised head, rolling on his floor.

Not now. Not today. Not you, Eddie.

It felt like the mask coming over him, but stronger. More. His heart shivered; maybe it stopped. Eddie wasn't sure.

I don't know if I can fix this. Venom's frustration filled him. I've never seen anything like this. Your blood isn't blood anymore.

"Don't worry about me, darling," Eddie said. "Get Suzy somewhere safe. We had a good run, huh?"

No! You heard him. Immortal. Eddie, we can live forever, there's so much we can do - I just have to - It broke off, diving into his veins. And oh, it felt nice, shivery and then hot as Venom burned the poison away.

I'm sorry, Eddie.

"Wait. Why? What are you doing?"

He went unnaturally still again, but this time it was Venom in his blood, racing up and down capillaries, squeezing his heart. Venom got hotter and hotter inside him, burning like the first moment they'd joined, and Eddie screamed as pain filled him him from fingertips to gut.

He was overwhelmed with Venom, surrounded by light and care and his own stupid, hopeless, betrayed love, until he passed out.

Chapter 7

"You should have let me eat him."

"I'm pretty sure the nutrients you need wouldn't even be bioavailable in a corpse already beginning rigor mortis. Though frankly, I don't really want to think about it enough to be absolutely sure. Here."

A crunching sound, very close to his ear. Eddie opened his eyes to see Dan toss Venom another piece of Almond Joy. Venom, connected to Eddie only by a very thin tentacle, caught the candy in its teeth.

"Eddie." Dan stood, dropping the rest of the chocolate bar in favor of his stethoscope. "Welcome back. Who's President?"

"Ugh."

"There you go." He bustled around checking Eddie's vitals, which was nice and all, but - "What happened? Is Suzy okay? Is Venom - are you -" It wasn't inside him hardly at all, why wasn't it inside him?

Turned out it was pretty embarrassing to have his heart spike in fear when it was hooked up to a monitor. "Easy, there," Dan said. "Everyone's fine - well, except Brad: he's dead. Anne's having a field day down at the DA's office. But your neighbor's fine, and Venom is, um, as healthy as I could confirm, given limited tools. Just waiting on you to wake up before -"

"Going back inside you," Venom said.

Eddie could feel himself turning bright red. "Okay, thanks. That basically sums it up, huh."

"Not really," Venom said.

Eddie could feel its anger, he realized suddenly. It coursed through their limbs, like the freaky version of your hands warming back up after being outside in the winter too long. A foreign sensation here in Cali, sure, but Eddie had a long memory and Venom -

Venom was messing with those memories. Digging through them.

I thought you would die, it hissed furiously.

"Now's really not the time," Eddie told the corporeal part of it.

Then when will be the time! The next time you almost die? Or the next? Or maybe when you're finally dead!

"Hey. Hey, asshole, I thought you were dying too, get off your high horse."

"Ah, technically Venom was dying." Dan held up a conciliatory hand when they both turned to glare at him. "I'm sorry, but I do actually need both of you to understand. Venom, you were dying. Eddie, you were dying too. As far as I can tell - and I really do need to stress, this is beyond the realm of my understanding and my licensing - Venom saved you, Eddie."

"And then you saved Venom."

"I did my best."

He is very talented. And for some reason Venom sounded fuckin pissed as hell about that, like it'd rather be dead.

Eddie gave Dan the best smile he could manage at the moment - strained, probably pretty crazy-looking. "Excuse us for a sec."

"Of course. I'll finish my rounds." He stood up and gave them that half-smile Eddie'd seen so many times now, like they were just another pair here for medical attention, not an alien and his girlfriend's ex. "It's been good seeing you, Eddie, in spite of the circumstances. You too, Venom."

And then Doctor Dan was gone, and Eddie had to face the music, as it were.

"So you almost died burning that poison from my veins?"

"You're the idiot who got himself poisoned." Oh, great. Time for the blame game.

"Seriously?" Eddie said. "I was trying to protect Suzy, we were trying to protect Suzy. But if we were both gonna die - I'd have rather you found a new host than go out with me, dipshit."

"You still don't understand." Venom cocked its head at Eddie. It looked almost like it had that first time, on the pier, only then Eddie had been scared shitless. Now he just felt desperate fondness spreading in his chest like some kind of messed-up feelings bronchitis.

"What don't I understand?" he said when he realized it was waiting for his reply.

"We saved the world."

"Yeah, I know, I was there."

"No." Half-roared. "We saved the world for you, Eddie."

For a second he didn't get it, and for another few seconds he got it and felt like the bottom of his stomach had fallen out. "So you're telling me," he said slowly, trying to think through every word yet totally unable to think at all - "You're telling me that if I'd died, you woulda, what? Gone and gotten all your alien buddies to blow the Earth up?"

"Of course not! I would have died too. Just like you would for Anne."

He should've expected it, but he didn't. He was left with nothing to say, and then Dan came back in, and whatever he might've said got lost in his need to repress and pretend he was fine for Annie's boyfriend.

Only he didn't care, did he? Not anymore, not since accepting that he and Anne really were history. Something about that thought made Venom snarl at him. They got discharged and Venom took them home via the rooftops, and when they got back into their apartment, with its garbage bags of broken glass and one-leg-missing couch, everything clicked into place for Eddie.

"Hey, V. Why do you think I told you never to do that again?"

I don't know. Sulky in a way it hadn't even known how to be, six months ago.

"Well, why do you think I didn't want you to kill yourself saving me?"

You like having superpowers. No hesitation there, but the hint of a growl. Venom materialized just enough to wrap around his wrist and glare at him. "You enjoy the convenience of symbiosis."

"It's pretty cool, but I wouldn't call it convenient."

"You think it will help us win Anne back."

"Anne and Dan are happy." Eddie dropped his backpack and went to sit down on the bed, staring at his hands. Here it was, the plank or ledge or whatever. The emotional vulnerability that Venom probably wouldn't even realize Eddie was expressing, given that it was an alien with more feelings than emotional IQ. He could tell from their too-tenuous connection that Venom was freaking out, just like he could tell it didn't want to admit it. So he reached out and stroked it, along the curve just below its unnatural face, hoping to communicate what he was having trouble shaping into words.

"I think we could be happy too. That's all. That's why I don't want either of us to go on some suicide mission if we don't have to, okay? Even though I appreciate, you know, not having poison where my blood should be."

Venom became thicker at the point where it entered Eddie's body, sliding over his hips the way soap-slick bathwater might. It shivered against him, leaned into his touch. The next time it spoke, its words reverberated through Eddie's bones. Are you lying?

"Course not. I can't lie to you."

I didn't know about this!

"Hiding things is a little different." He shivered as Venom grew prickly in rebuke. "Whoa, sweetheart, it's not like I'm the only one who hid shit, here."

I didn't hide anything. Asshole.

But Eddie could feel it now where he hadn't been able to before, affection and care and this awful kinda vortex of emotional need. So much for thinking Venom didn't know what human feelings were like. "I think you might've, buddy."

You love Anne! And Venom shoved the memory at him, like Eddie's own memories shoved through a funhouse mirror. "God, I love you," he'd said, right before going off to rescue Suzy.

Ah, fuck, what a stupid thing. "Not like that. Like a friend. Like - okay, yes, thank you for that image, that was long before the break-up." He did kinda miss Anne's dildo collection. But - "I moved on, okay? Generally, because that's the healthy thing to do. Specifically, with you."

Two could play the psychic game. He shoved his own feelings at Venom in an ugly pile: his weird horniness, his stupid crush, his hopeless love. It was all there, wrapped up and inextricable from their incredible, unbelievable, unsustainable togetherness.

Venom went still inside him and around him. Eddie had no idea what it was thinking and was too chickenshit to press the issue. A full three minutes passed - and Eddie knew, 'cause he could see the microwave clock from here - before Venom said, I still think I should have been allowed to eat Brad.

Eddie stroked their hip, the spot at which Venom's materialization met his skin. "Thought you said we could do whatever we want."

Doctor Dan had persuasive medications.

Eddie snorted at the image of Venom, loopy and under Dan's influence. "Uh-huh. Well, you're here now, and you still got me. And Brad's dead." Thanks to Suzy, god fuckin' bless.

We're going to give her a pony!

"Sure. Or maybe like, college tuition. But that's for later." Quit being a coward, Eddie told himself, and took a deep breath. "Right now, I wanna - I wanna know what you're going to do about what you can feel. From me. To you."

He gasped when Venom raced to cover him, pushing him back flat on the bed and stretching his limbs out. He couldn't move, but it didn't matter; one minute he was spread-eagle and bare to the world, and the next Venom had him covered head to toe, not quite masked up but not just Eddie anymore either.

"God, I love you," he said, half because it was true and half because it was fucking transcendental to be able to say. "You're so fucking perfect, I - oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck."

Venom stopped sucking and biting at his neck for long enough to grin at him. "Do you need something to do with your mouth?" it said, and then answered its own question, sliding inside Eddie slick and weird and perfect.

Eddie'd thought it was good before, when he was hiding half his own feelings from Venom. That was nothing compared to now. Venom surrounded him until Eddie forgot there was a him. They sank into each other, their nerve endings lighting up with sensation. Eddie couldn't move and he didn't care; Venom was in his ear and in his mind, whispering Eddie, Eddie, always, forever, even as he filled Eddie every possible way.

When he came, they sobbed. They blacked out together, wrapped around each other, Eddie's own flesh a nonsensical non-barrier between them.

He woke up himself again, Venom wholly inside him, smug and comfortable. The bed was disgusting; apparently they'd fallen asleep in one of several wet spots. "What the fuck, how many times did you make me come," Eddie said, heaving himself upright as his muscles screamed.

We came exactly as many times as we wanted. Warmth ran down Eddie's spine, and with it, his muscle aches disappeared.

"Ah, that's good. Thanks, babe."

Beloved.

Venom was. Eddie smiled to himself, a grin he knew was doofy even before he saw it in the mirror, and went about getting ready to go. He owed his boss some short-term disability paperwork, and he wanted to check up on Suzy.

When he opened his front door and saw someone standing there, he was shouting and tripping on his own feet before he realized it was only Suzy, who apparently hadn't felt like waiting for Eddie to get his shit together enough to visit. "Shit," he said from his spot on the floor, where he'd landed after tripping over his own feet. "V, why didn't you catch us?"

It was funny. My love.

So he was bright red when Suzy said, "Did you know the ceilings in this building are super thin? Yeah, I guess they're hundred year old wood or whatever, so if someone jumps or does karate or has loud gross feelings sex, you can totally hear."

"I didn't...we weren't...on the floor."

Yes we were. And, oh boy, those were some very explicit memories Venom was sharing with him. "Never mind, I stand corrected. Sorry."

Suzy rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Anyway, I'm glad you're okay."

"And how are you?" Eddie motioned her over to the couch, grabbing them sodas from the fridge. "Are you holding up all right?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Suzy had that belligerent tone it seemed like every teenager was a natural at, the one that said Eddie had better be careful with the assumptions he was making.

"Well, you know, you killed a guy. Two guys."

"Three," Suzy said grimly.

Eddie bit back the proud smile Venom wanted them to wear. "Yeah. So, taking human life, I hear it can fuck you up."

"Well, I'm an alien."

Eddie rolled his eyes. "So you just don't care? Pull the other one. Be serious with me, okay? Or I'll call my friend at the DA and she'll make you go to therapy."

"That's not how family law works, like, at all." But Suzy bit her lip and looked down at her Coke. "I don't know. It's messed up. It gave me bad dreams. But I feel like I should feel worse than I do."

"I hear you. That's how I feel when me and V eat some murdering asshole, too."

"Brad wanted to kill me. They all did. And I just." She shrugged. "I feel so bad about other stuff, like my friends I lost and my family. I can't feel bad about this, too."

Eddie gave in to his and Venom's shared impulse and clicked his Coke against Suzy's. "Nah. You don't need to feel bad. We're proud of you for defending yourself."

Suzy looked thoughtful. "Does this mean you guys are my gay dads?"

"No!" Eddie said, at the same time Venom materialized from his shoulder and hissed, "Yes."

"Uh-huh." Suzy grabbed Eddie's remote. "Do you have Hulu? I want to watch the newest What's Happening, Allison."

"What's - what?"

"It's huge with my Whatsapp chat. And the star went on the New Day pod a couple weeks ago and said some crazy stuff about their costumes, so." She poked at the buttons on his remote. "Oh my god, you still have all the factory installed apps on here. God, what would you do without me?"

"Not realize how old I'm getting, apparently," Eddie said. But he let her put on her weird show and laughed when they cracked jokes he only half understood. Venom stayed with him, watching both Suzy and the show intently, and outside the world kept spinning, uninvaded by aliens and slightly less populated by douchebag startup vampires.

It was kinda perfect. It felt like home.

Chapter 8

wow can you believe it