Eddie and Venom...post Anne.
CHOCOLATE-CHOCOLATE! I WANT! CHOCOLATE!
"You eat way too much chocolate," Eddie complained. If this kept up, Venom would drive him to live in Hersheypark, PA permanently. He'd read yesterday that a new region of the famed park would be opening up in the Summer of 2020, Chocolatetown. The symbiote would just love that. "Buddy, enough is enough. There's some pizza I can warm up. You love pizza too. Right?"
Venom leeched out from him and with sinewy shrillness petulantly demanding that more candy must be supplied.
Brock tried drowning out the constant rant of the alien bete noir, with no success.
CHOCOLATE NOW-NOW-NOW-NOW!
"What's with you today, V? I know how much you love, love, love the stuff, but seriously. You're turning into a full-blown PEA junkie."
YOU HAVE CHOCOLATE HERE FOR ME? IF NOT, WE WILL GO FIND MORE AT MRS. CHEN'S!
"No we won't." Eddie had better things to do than go chasing candy bars for his out-of-control parasite. Venom knew that term was now a quirky term of endearment. Yet, Eddie was mindful of not saying it so much out loud. "Oh, all right," Brock said, breaking down. He knew how bad it was being deprived of the thing that made life bearable. These days, it looked as though Anne was in no way interested in getting back with him any time soon. "We can go get lots and lots of mouth-watering, sinfully delicious cho-co-late."
Venom flipped his slimy-looking, vaguely prehensile tongue at his mercurial host. YES. YES. I CHOOSE CHOCOLATE. IT TASTES EVEN BETTER THAN THE WORST OF THE WORST BAD GUYS
"Somewhere in this city, hordes of bad guys are heaving deep sighs of relief," Brock quipped, shaking his head, unable to suppress a grin. "C'mon, let's go." No sooner had Eddie swung open his apartment door, he stopped dead in his tracks. What did they have here? He had come to rejoice that the long-haired, loud music-playing tenant had moved out a while ago. He wasn't aware that someone new had moved in across the hall. He looked the willowy, wide-eyed newcomer with long wavy, reddish blond hair up and down. She had a sweet, careless smile.
Venom rustled beneath Eddie's skin and pitter-pattered in his mind. KISS HER...YOU WOULD LIKE KISSING HER...
"Down, boy," Eddie murmured. He'd become exceptional at not moving his lips when Venom voiced a hot-button topic, or opinion. "Of course I'd like to, but she'd smack our faces and leave a mark."
"Oh?" the shy beauty, making her casual attire of boot jeans and gray Crewneck T-shirt look classic, uttered, giving Eddie a generous look. "Hello. I'm new to the building."
"Yeah, yeah. Uh huh..."
STOP THINKING THAT WORD! TAKE CHARGE! IF YOU DON'T I WILL!
In the semi-privacy of his own mind, where he resorted to, Brock yelled, 'I wasn't thinking I am, for your big information. And furthermore, you'll take charge over my dead body! If I come off as less than a gentleman, I won't stand a chance with her. I'd like to see if I stand a chance with her. You got that, V?'
YOU DON'T HAVE TO SHOUT. I HEAR YOU LOUDLY ENOUGH. YOUR TREMORS ARE UPSETTING ME
Brock shifted his mind that had gotten stuck in second gear. "Welcome, welcome. I'm Eddie Brock."
"The journalist," his new neighbor swiftly supplied. "I'm honored to meet you."
"And your name is?" Eddie smoothly coaxed, feeling inordinately peaceful and sure of himself, in the flow, with nothing to feel restless about. He gave a fleeting thought to Venom's having something to do with his new-found self-assurance, but promptly dismissed the idea. What was he, some clueless schoolboy? He wasn't exactly a ladies' man, but neither was he a... He'd done just fine with women, long before his being infected with Venom. Brock blinked, forced to admit to himself, that, yes, he was; a far cry from being a Romeo if truth be told.
"I'm Lisa...Lisa Fenniman." She stuck out her hand, ready, and willing for him to take it to shake. As Eddie did, she continued, "Never in a million years did I ever think that one fine day I'd meet you, Mr. Brock."
My, what a soft hand, Eddie thought. Soft and warm. He'd been without a touch like that for too long. Like an electric blanket shrouding him, Brock got hot.
WILL YOU DEVOUR HER, LIKE I DEVOUR BAD GUYS AND CHOCOLATE?
Sniffing, Eddie internally replied, 'Give me some credit, pal. A gentleman invites a lady out to dinner first. She's a lady. She gets invited out to dinner. Then...we'll see.'
MAYBE SHE HAS CHOCOLATE. IF SO, WE FORGET ABOUT GOING TO MRS. CHEN
Absentmindedly, Eddie said aloud, "Chocolate on the brain, that's what you've got. Junkie."
"Well, not on the brain," Lisa remarked, half-chuckling. "Junkie, huh? It so happens I do have a good deal of Godiva inside. Can't get enough. Would you like some?"
I LIKE THIS ONE TOO.
Jumping at the chance to step inside with her, Brock gleefully agreed. "Don't mind if we do."
GODIVA YES! GODIVA! GODIVA! GODIVA! YES-YES-YES!
'Behave yourself, and don't make us go scarfing down every last piece of chocolate Lisa has. If she thinks we don't know how to act, we're through before we even get to start. V, be good.'
CHO-CO-LATE!
