Chapter 1) Midnight Fuzz
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Eddie Brock has never been a balanced out, respectful law-abiding citizen. He paid his taxes, sure. And his parking tickets, eventually. And rent, if he was able to scrape enough aside. He still managed to pay his electric bills before they pulled the plug. At times, he even manages to tip the pizza guy, if there was some change between the cushions and Dorito crumbs of his couch.
Point being is, he had good intentions but mostly lacked proper focus and discipline. But he was still learning, as a very enlightened, spiritual dude once said: it's about the journey, not the destination. Which was reassuring, because Eddie had no clue what he was supposed to do with his life ever since his body got inhabited by an amorphous -slightly parasitical- Symbiote named Venom.
Eddie tried to take care of their shared flesh suit. He took a shower, almost every day. Well, mainly when V snarled that his armpits started to attract flies. So, he showered. It wasn't for V's bullying per se, his mind partner tended to belittle and order him around on a daily basis. A man gets used to that.
But ever since V flicked a fly into Eddie's mouth like a god damn Chameleon, Eddie paid better attention to their shared state of personal hygiene. He could still feel those little wings flutter against his uvula.
On a more positive note, his body roomie has had a fantastic effect on his physical condition; the alien could fix every little muscle ache, cramp and physical discomfort, though the he had to suffer being called a baby or pussy; but Eddie didn't mind as long as Venom healed his baby toe after he'd accidentally crashed into the few pieces of furniture he owned. It happened on a daily basis; Eddie hurting himself because he was a total klutz, which made Venom wonder how its petty little human had made it to the marvelous age of thirty four.
Their co-relationship still spooked Eddie and at times; it simply freaked him the fuck out. There was no privacy; Eddie could always feel those huge opal teardrop eyes scan every single move he made. Every thought would be narrowly pulled apart and examined. He didn't even want to get started on the things Venom probed and pulled at underneath his skin.
The alien was like a newborn baby, although Eddie wouldn't call it that out loud, in fear of immediate decapitation. But in many ways, Venom was much like a newborn, being fairly new on Earth. It had started to understand and recognize a few simple feelings, such as anger, sadness and happiness. It started to understand how to conceive that starter box of feelings; exploring Eddie's mindset during daily events.
Maybe Venom was more like a toddler, because of the constant overflow of questions that filled up Eddie's cranium. After fearing for an emotional meltdown, Eddie introduced Venom to the wonderful invention of the World Wide Web, in which Venom learned to read in half a day.
Its curiosity knew no limits.
Eddie still regretted informing Venom about yawning: which was basically involuntarily opening your mouth wide and inhaling deeply due to tiredness or boredom or because you happened to notice another human yawning. This had stirred up Venom's curiosity and had questioned its human about it. Eddie had shrugged and explained that there was no deeper meaning but Venom didn't take that for an answer, so they got into an argument like the two thick headed assholes they were and googled it.
Like a bickering wife, Venom's tendrils tapped on the screen of his laptop, drifting over a line stating: contagious yawning is not strongly related to variables like empathy, tiredness, or energy levels.
In response, Eddie had yawned and called it a night, but Venom gained a new task: to understand the mystery of contagious yawning in the mammal kingdom, because apparently dogs and chimpanzees did it too.
This basically meant that Eddie had to hook himself around poles, corners and bus stop signs every time Venom noticed someone yawning from afar, resulting in a bunch of unflattering head crashes with strangers because V found it necessary to examine the human race very up close and personal.
Life with an alien parasite wasn't easy, but it had its perks.
"You've been awfully quiet tonight, love," Eddie slurred, digging his hands into his pockets and feeling his knees get a bit wobbly.
That's because ONE of us is filtering our organs from the poison you kept downing in OUR system, the sulky voice of Venom bubbled up from within his ears.
Venom was the father figure he should have had around in his teens, because V had the ability to make him feel guilty, without being a shitty deadbeat dad. Most of the time, V would get through to him if he one of his harmful self-inflicting tendencies bubbled up.
Without the stench of Whiskey on his breath or a row of knuckles, V managed to keep him on the safe side of the sidewalk. Most of the time.
Tonight had been one of the few occasions Eddie got smashed. He had the chronic need to fix and please everyone around him, in a faint attempt to fill up the gaping hole the lack of parental love caused. Friends, colleagues, strangers, he even asked a telemarketer how he was doing.
So, when his longtime friend Brian asked him for a night out to drink themselves into complete oblivion, Eddie, full heartedly, said yes, while V's low gravelly voice screamed NO so loud it made his ears ring.
They'd seen one bar too many. Brian's long-term girlfriend had cheated on him so Brian had been a mess. The three of them, Brian Eddie and their good friend Jack Daniels took the entire night to swear off dating. Bro's before hoes had been their motto, up until the shots. That bitch as Brian put it, broke my fucking heart, and in front of a line of empty tequila glasses Brain started weeping. Their masculine bravado turned into a sobbing frenzy because Eddie was a total tear jerker too if he saw close friends in pain. Eddie operated as an intoxicated Dr. Phil, handing out shitty ass life lessons about mindfulness, yoga and all the other helpful trash he kept postponing himself. As Brian's tears soaked through his t-shirt, sniffling into his shoulder, heading into a comatose state, Eddie turned into a taxi finder slash payer for an Uber.
Fearing Brian would get sick along the way and spray paint an entire liquor store on the backseat of the car, Eddie declined getting in and decided to walk -stagger- home. It would be a nice way to clear his head and repent, because he could feel V's angry foot thumping somewhere around his liver.
"Oh c'mon, when was the last time I had a night out with the boys?" Eddie whined, fully aware he was acting like a man-child, shrugging his shoulders and tripping over his own feet.
His reflexes were a wee-bit off and were it not for two tendrils sprouting from his chest; he'd be planting his face into San Francisco concrete.
You are hopeless, Venom scolded, using it's tendrils to get Eddie back on his feet.
"Oh so it's a 'me' when I fuck things up but a 'we' if you fuck things up," Eddie retorted, "that does sound like a double standard, don't you agree?"
We never fuck things up Eddie; we've improved everything inside of you. Every nerve, cell, molecule, there is nothing more perfect on this planet then us.
"Oh you're just saying that to make me blush," Eddie said, waving his hand in the air.
Nonsense, just stating the obvious. We are the perfect symbiote, compatible, powerful and-
"-Drunk, yup. We are drunk. Definitely drunk!" Eddie exclaimed loudly and twirled on his feet like a ballerina. A very intoxicated ballerina, who ungracefully banged his head against a lamppost.
"Ah, fuck, that hurts!" Eddie howled, grabbing his forehead where a big thumping ache started to grow. "V!"
Oh excuse us, forgot to babysit your ass, Venom sneered and Eddie could feel V's eyes roll, Got distracted for a moment, neutralizing your infected liver and all!
"Enough with the talkie, do the fixie please," Eddie pleaded through gritted teeth.
Pathetic human being… a frustrated growl rattled through Eddie's ribcage, but the sore spot on his head started to meld like snow in the sun.
His feet involuntarily shot forward and with a zombie stagger, Eddie started walking again.
They bickered about Eddie's upcoming hangover; apparently Venom had been watching some kind of Nanny programme during the nights; because 'you've made your bed and now you have to lie in it' was too much of a human phrase to be coming straight from the alien.
"V, I'm sorry alright, I've let myself go a little bit."
There is no excuse for a bad choices, Venom lectured on a holier-than-thou stance.
"But if I'm hung over, how can we get groceries?" Eddie whined, playing a wild card.
It was quiet, which mostly meant Venom was thinking, in this case, weighing out its options.
Venom could stick with its principles and let Eddie endure the mother of hangovers, but the direct consequence would be that they wouldn't be able to buy those chocolate chip cookies it had been craving ever since it saw that Milka commercial on TV today.
"I'm waiting…" Eddie whispered, high-pitched as he headed into the hallway of their apartment complex.
Venom didn't make a sound and yanked their feet up the stairs, indicating he was sulking and being a very sour loser.
"I've heard those cookies are filled up with praline…" Eddie hummed and felt the pit of their stomach growl.
You're lying.
"I might be, I might not…" Eddie muttered mysterious.
No idiot, you are lying, we can read your thoughts, Venom retorted.
"Oh, yeah, right," Eddie muttered, after a drink he wasn't the sharpest tool in the box.
After their symbiosis almost two months ago, Eddie still forgot that there wasn't much of a barrier between their minds. It was a constant blending and entwining of each other's thought processes. In theory it sounded like hell, an endless battle of fighting between being the alpha or the omega.
But in reality it was mostly a coexistence of manners and consideration. It was like holding the door open for one another and allowing each other some space and privacy. Eddie discovered there were doors inside Venom's being that needed to keep locked and in return, it granted Eddie a small place in the attic of their shared cerebrum. A place where he could store some of the memories he wasn't ready to share with anyone, not even with his blended significant other. It was a collection of picture frames, thoughts and feelings he hardly wanted to relive himself.
And Venom must have its own demons because at times, Eddie would be shut out if he lingered on the staircase that went down towards V's basement.
Which each having their own corner in their shared mind to retreat to, their 24/7 coexistence honestly didn't bother Eddie that much.
"Where are the goddamn keys?" Eddie muttered more to himself then to V.
Ahem, a set of keys jingled; held up by a squid like tendril; allow us to do the honor. And wipe your feet; we didn't clean our apartment just so you can get it dirty again.
"We did not clean the apartment, I cleaned our apartment." Eddie reminded Venom firmly.
A deep sign ruffled through his hair, Venom's head had merged from between his spinal cord and swooped around his head. There is no I in team Eddie.
"Oh there is, it's hidden in the a-hole," Eddie retorted, then rapidly pressed Venom's head into the frame of their door as he heard a sound heading towards the stairs, "ok, that wasn't human," he whispered into the thick tendons attaching to Venom's head, linked to Eddie's back.
A tendril viciously jerked against the tip of his nose, making tears prickle in the corners of his eyes.
"Don't push us into wood portals!" V roared out loud, not minding its voice or temper.
"Shush!" Eddie hissed back, pressing his hands against the massive rows of shark like teeth, "something is coming our way!"
Not impressed, V seeped back into Eddie, good, we could use a snack.
"We're not eating every single thing that might be a threat!" Eddie stated, twirling on his drunken legs. There was a sound again; one that was familiar, but Eddie was retracing it from his memory.
Suddenly, a pair of slit-shaped irises peeked over the last step of their shared apartment stairs. Startled, Eddie let out a high-pitched sound he would later deny ever making.
While V's black mass started to circle around his chest and limbs, a ball of fluffy fuzz came into view.
Abort, abort! Eddie send to V through thoughts, it's a sheep, it's a sheep! It's...a sheep?
It looks delicious, V stated hungrily, wetting both their mouths.
Unbothered by the near intergalactic attack, the sheep hopped up the final step and took the liberty to clutter their hallway with a small pile of marble shaped turds.
Can I touch it Eddie? V asked, it looks soft, bouncy.
Two calm brown eyes stared at the drunken human in front of it and the sheep bleated curiously, sticking its nose up in the air.
"Shit!" a shrill feminine voice cursed softly and in a matter of seconds, a young woman marched up the stairs. She must be somewhere in her late twenties. The dark outfit she wore was pretty banged up, covered with dust and spider webs. While blowing away strands of her blonde bangs from her face, she tried to shush the sheep to keep quiet.
"Shit!" she stated again as she noticed Eddie staring dumbfounded at the scene, with his keys halted an inch away from his lock.
Pursing her lips, she jerked her chin up and grabbed the collar of the sheep and walked towards the door facing Eddie's apartment. Without any explanation, she unlocked her door and ushered the sheep to get inside.
"You did not see a thing," she informed Eddie with a teacher-tone of voice and closed the door behind her.
"Ok, did we see the same thing or did someone roofie my last drink?" Eddie questioned out loud, "Did she just walk her sheep like it's a fucking dog?"
Who are we to judge Eddie? V commented, still extremely drawn to the fluffy farm animal.
"Judge? We're not even allowed to have pets, that sheep just took a dump in our shared living space!"
We have pets too.
"Mice don't count; those are pests, not pets!"
And snacks, V stated as it made Eddie's hand press the keys and turn.
Walking into their apartment, V's words finally sank in.
"Wait, hold on. You're telling me you've been eating those little fur coated carriers of the plague?"
Maybe…
And so another argument started, in which Eddie said some drunken things he shouldn't have said and Venom stood its ground as the perfect parental figure and informed Eddie he was going to be very hung over in the morning.
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A/N: So hi there, this is my first time in this fandom. I've started this fic a while ago when I was recovering from a small surgery. Alike the rest of the world I'm home stuck A LOT, again. So to occupy myself and hopefully bring you some entertainment I picked it back up. This is a (hopefully) fun and light story to enjoy during these shitty times. I wish you well, take care.