Gwen smiled all the way home, didn't stop smiling when she entered her house, or when she snuck through the living room, hoping to not wake her dad.

She'd decided that was what he was, her dad. Not just Gwendolyn's dad, hers, Gwen's . Gwenom's relatives, she'd decided, were less a family and more just a collection of related organisms, one where the members barely ever interacted at that, so the only family Gwen had was Gwendolyn's.

That might be sad in a way, though considering Gwenom's biological dad had to be one of several super villains or Anti-venom it was probably for the best that he doesn't try raising her, or gets involved in her life at all.

"Welcome home, Gwen." Looking at him it was clear he hadn't just been asleep.

"Hi dad." She stopped trying to sneak and went to get herself a plate of food. She'd eaten a shwarma, Chinese takeout and more than half a pizza, so it was only a taste of her dad's cooking she was after, but she still took a small portion in her plate.

She'd noticed lately that she needed more food as Gwen than Gwendolyn had, which made sense since Gwenom also needed food, but she wouldn't have thought it'd be that much more.

"You've been avoiding me, haven't you?"

"Yeah." She put her plate in the microwave then sat down on the couch next to her dad. "Really didn't want to have that talk I promised you."

"Are you going to tell me what happened or will I have to keep worrying?"

"I honestly rather wouldn't." Her dad didn't frown, but he also didn't smile, he just sighed.

"Have you at least talked to somebody about this?"

"Yeah, I talked with Glory."

He sighed again. "Alright then."

Gwen wasn't sure what to do with that answer; she had honestly expected that he'd force her to talk about it regardless of what she wanted.

"Thanks, dad." She gave him a sideways hug. "And for the record I've decided that you'll always be my dad."

"I didn't know that was up for debate. Unless you've taken a daddy test and have something to tell me."

"No, that's not it." Fuck it . She swallowed hard before continuing, "I just recently stopped being Gwendolyn."

"What do you mean 'stopped being Gwendolyn'? How Can you stop being yourself?" Her dad was taken aback, but he wasn't mad at her. Yet. Small victories.

"By becoming someone new." Her voice trembled, but she pushed on, she had to. "In my case: Gwendolyn and an alien called Gwenom bonded in a way that fused their minds together, which resulted in me."

"An alien?"

She changed her outer layer, forming her Bite-size suit, but leaving Gwendolyn's face exposed.

Was it even right to call it a suit? Probably. After all, she didn't have to look that way, she looked however she wanted to, so the shape her surface took was a disguise of sorts regardless of how it looked and-she-should-really-be-focusing-on-her-dad.

"...Is that one of the Symbiotes? Like Venom?" She tried to read his face, but he was keeping it carefully neutral. Almost blank.

"Yes?" She hadn't meant to make it a question.

"As in 'We are Venom'?" her dad said, deepening his voice to mimic what he thought Venom would sound like.

"No, uh... more as in 'I'm Gwen'." That doesn't explain anything! "I can't tell a difference between my halves." She let that hang for a moment but her dad didn't say anything, he just stared blankly into thin air. She searched for something more to say before she blurted out "Also-that's-what-Gwendolyn-was-talking-about-yesterday. They tore Gwenom from her."

"Okay..." He took a moment to compose himself, maybe get his thoughts in order? Gwen wasn't sure. "I looked this up last Saturday, in case you were in the closet, but I think it applies here too, so here I go.

"I still love you," he counted '1' on his fingers. "This might take some getting used to, so forgive me if I forget sometimes, It won't be on purpose," '2'. "It doesn't have to change things between us if you don't want to," '3'. "And I'm supposed to ask you if it's still a secret to others, but I'm guessing that doesn't really apply here." He unfolded is pinky, counting '4'.

Gwen let out a little laugh. "Yeah, please don't go around telling people I'm half alien. Oh! The band already knows by the way."

"So I can mention it around them then, got'cha," he said with a nod. She thought he'd make a bigger deal about it, but it probably hadn't really sunk in yet. She was still happy with how he had taken it.

"So why did you look up what to say if your kid comes out to you?"

"You got upset after I asked if a boy was in your room so I thought you might be gay?" He rubbed the back of his head. "I guess it was silly."

"Yeah, that was a bit silly, but you were right about me being into girls so I can't really judge."

"Oh. Well that list of things still applies to this as well," he said. "Just F.Y.I."

"I know." She got up to get her food from the microwave, or to put it on again since it might have gotten cold by then.

"Also: closet or no closet?"

"No closet, you can tell everyone."