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.