"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.