So this is something that's been on my mind for a while now, and I finally decided to put pen to paper (or in this case fingers to keyboard) and write it. I'm putting my other fic, Walls Are Meant To Be Climbed, on hold for a bit, until I've written maybe two or three chapters for this story.

The characteristics of Venom are similar to ones shown in the 2018 Venom movie, with a couple elements taken from the comics. Some minor aspects of the character have also been changed or bent slightly for the sake of convenience. As the story progresses, we'll venture into the broader Marvel-DC world. Lots to explore, lots to do!

Enjoy!

[…][…][…]

I looked at my watch. Only five minutes till school let out, then I can finally go home. It was a Friday, and all I wanted to do was relax and watch Netflix.

But unfortunately, that was not the way my evening would probably go. Trying to balance school work while working a minimum wage job to keep a roof over my head wasn't easy, but that's just how it was. That's how it had been for almost two years, ever since my dad had died.

I had grieved over his death, but not for long. There wasn't any room for it, because unfortunately the world didn't give a shit about my excuses. I had no family stateside, nor any contact with someone who could take me in. I was seventeen so it was too late for adoption to work out. Becoming a ward of the state was also out of the question.

To add to that, I had less than a year of high school left to go, and even if I somehow got into college after that, no way would I be able to pay my way through.

I was shaken out of these rather depressing thoughts by the school bell. Well, there were a couple hours till my shift started. Maybe I'll be able to squeeze some Netflix into my schedule after all.

After school, I passed a convenience store on my way to the subway, and decided some snacks sounded nice. I may be a bit low on cash overall but I doubted a couple bucks would make a difference. A few minutes later, I walked out of the store with a pack of Doritos, a bar of chocolate and some Coca Cola.

Twenty minutes and one train ride later, I arrived outside the apartment complex where I lived. I climbed the steps outside the front door, and my foot stepped on something sticky on the top step, probably a piece of gum. Fantastic.

Scraping off whatever it was with the edge of the stair, I went inside. I climbed four flights of stairs and entered my apartment. It was modest, a small living room with cheap furniture, the kitchen to the left, and two bedrooms to the right. I put the snacks on the kitchen counter and went to my room to get changed.

I kicked off my shoes, but saw that there was still something sticking to the bottom of one of them. I picked the shoe up. It looked like some kind of black goo or slime on the bottom.

I was about to look for something to scrape it off with but then the goo started moving. Like some kind of weird insect, it began to crawl towards my hand, which took me by surprise. I yelped and dropped the shoe, but the thing jumped off it and stuck to my hand anyway. I tried to shake it off but it wouldn't budge. It started to expand, slowly covering all my hand, then my arm. I tried to frantically pull it off but it was too tough to break.

It slowly covered my arm then moved on to the rest of my body. I stumbled out of my room to try and get help. But before I could get to the door or even let out a cry for help, the thing covered my mouth, and the rest of my face. Eventually my whole body was covered in the cool, liquid-ish substance. Weirdly enough, I felt the panic almost entirely vanish. I became a lot calmer.

"Hmm… a host at last," a deep, raspy voice said in my head.

"What the fuck- who said that?"

"I did,"

"Gee thanks, that clears it up," I said dryly.

"The thing that's covering your body, that you stepped on and then tried to scrape off with the edge of a stair," the voice said.

"Oh… sorry about that, I guess?"

Despite the fact that I had just been possessed by a weird talking goo, I was surprisingly okay with it. It felt oddly… refreshing, in a way, kinda like the feeling you get when you turn over a pillow and place your head on the cool side. I almost… didn't want it to end. It was still very freaky though.

"Who are you calling freaky?" the voice said.

"Wha- you can read my thoughts?!"

"In a way, and because of that, I know that you, Adrian Pryce, are still upset about the way Game of Thrones ended, you have a crush on one of your classmates, and have thought about resorting to petty theft in order to get by, but never actually did it because you knew you would likely get caught,"

Fan-fucking-tastic. The goo can read my mind too. At that moment there was a knock on the front door. I walked towards it, but caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and holy shit!

Like seriously… holy shit!

I looked like something straight out of a horror movie. My whole body was covered in the black substance. But what's more was my face. I had large, triangular white patches that I assumed were my eyes, an elongated chin, and a horrifying mouth with long sharp teeth.

"Oh, sweet Jesus! can't you change the way you look? This is hideous!" I exclaimed.

"Rude,"

"Please?" I pleaded

"Fine,"

The blackness morphed and changed into regular clothes. My face looked like my face again, with pale skin, messy jet-black hair, a slightly pointed chin and violet eyes.

So, it can shapeshift. Not bad, I guess.

Choosing not to question this convenient new ability, I went to the door and opened it. The landlady, a middle-aged lady called Mrs. Lee, was standing outside, looking a bit concerned.

"Adrian, is everything okay? I thought I heard something," she said.

"Hmm, food. Let me eat her,"

"NO!" Judging by Mrs. Lee's reaction, I had yelled that out loud. Also, she hadn't reacted to whatever-it-was's words, so that meant he was only speaking inside my head. "I mean, no I'm okay. Don't worry,"

"Okay… then. Well, I was just checking,"

"Right, thanks," I said.

"Oh, and remember to pay your rent on time Adrian!" she said.

"Okay, will do!" I said as I slammed the door shut and locked it.

"What the fuck was that?!" I demanded.

"I was hungry,"

"Okay, listen, I don't know which sewer or- or lab you came from but-"

"Planet,"

"What?"

"I'm from a different planet. I'm what your kind call, an 'alien',"

"An alien- okay, whatever, that's beside the point! Here, on Earth, we do not eat other people,"

"Then how else do you feed?"

My gaze shifted to the snacks I had bought earlier. I rushed over, opened the bar of chocolate and took a bite of it.

"That's how we eat," I said through a mouthful of chocolate.

"What was that?!"

"What, chocolate?"

"Yes, that, chocolate. Give me more! It's even better than flesh!"

"Wait, so if I eat, you get fed too?"

"Obviously,"

Yes, of course that would be obvious. Why would it not be? I munched down the rest of the bar.

"MORE!"

"I don't have any more chocolate,"

"Well then we must get some surely, or else…"

There was a store a five-minute walk away where I could get some chocolate from. I had second thoughts about going out of my home with an alien goo that might eat others, but I didn't really have a choice.

"Okay, I'll get some more chocolate, but promise me you won't eat anyone,"

[…]

I was outside the entrance of the store, when I saw a dude inside pull out a gun and point it at the cashier. The cashier grabbed a bag from behind the counter and started stuffing cash from the register into it frantically. He handed him the bag, and the robber made his way out but saw me standing at the doorway.

"Shouldn't we do something, Adrian?" the voice said.

"Can you fight?" I whispered under my breath.

"I can do a lot of things,"

I felt the cold, fluid blackness cover my right hand again. My mind went a bit numb as I entered the store and approached the robber.

"Woah, kiddo, slow down," the robber said, pointing his gun at me. "No need to play the hero, just step aside as no one gets hurt,"

I didn't stop. I was only vaguely aware of what I was doing at this point.

"Kid, I'm warning you! I don't wanna hurt anyone!" he said.

I covered the muzzle of the gun with my right hand. The robber fired the gun, and I felt a sharp, but not unbearable pain, in the palm of my hand. I yanked the pistol out of his grip and threw it aside. Grabbing the robber by the neck, I lifted him up and threw him out the window.

I felt the cool blackness move up my arm and realized that it was spreading again. I didn't want to transform into an alien/monster/thing in public, so I mustered as much willpower as I could to force the alien goo to disappear. I looked at the palm of my hand. The bullet hadn't been able to penetrate the goo. In fact, the bullet was almost flattened. So apart from being able to change appearance, it was bulletproof too.

I gazed at the robber who was on the sidewalk, unconscious, then back to the cashier who was stunned.

"Oh, one sec," I said as I ran outside and grabbed the bag of cash. The thought of running away with it crossed my mind but I disregarded it. My face hadn't been covered, so there was probably security camera footage. Granted, most security cameras sucked ass, but the cashier had still seen my face. I grabbed the bag and went back inside the store.

"Here ya go, I didn't take any, in case you're wondering. You can count it,"

"Gee… I dunno how you did that," the cashier said. "But great work, man! Take whatever you need, it's on the house,"

Huh. Neat.

This is kinda like a hero's origin story. Getting powers, learning to use them for good et cetera. Only thing is, I don't want to be a hero. Don't get me wrong, heroes are awesome. Who doesn't love Superman, or Spider-Man? But I doubted being a hero was as good as it seems. Yes, you save people which is great, but I'm pretty sure the whole secret identity business messes your personal life up pretty bad.

Also, heroes don't get paid.

I bought a shit ton of chocolate and ran back to my apartment. I unwrapped one and started eating.

"Listen," I said as I ate. "If we're gonna be doing this roommate thing or whatever, we need to get a few things straight,"

"And what makes you think that I intend on staying with you?"

"Judging by the first words you said to me, I'm guessing you can't survive without a host for long. Or at least, you're better off with one," I said. "Right now, I'm your best bet, and for as long as you're with me, we need to set down some rules,"

"Rules?"

"For starters, no eating people, just in case we aren't already clear on that,"

"You keep giving me the chocolate and maybe I won't eat anyone,"

"Deal," I said. "Secondly, no taking over me. You can't cover me without my permission, like you did when you first took over, and I'm pretty sure you were controlling me back at the store. Because I sure as hell wouldn't have tried to fight a dude with a gun. This is my body, I'm in charge, okay?"

"And what if I don't go by these rules?"

"Then I won't give you chocolate,"

"Then I'll just control you and get it myself,"

Well, shit. He had a point there.

"Nah, I'm just messing with you, I only take over my host in dire situations,"

"Oh… but… you'll still follow my rules, understood?"

"Fine, so long as you kept me fed, I'll cooperate. But you're not in charge. We're a team, a partnership,"

"Okay, I can work with that," I said. "So, uh… well, tell me a bit about yourself, I guess,"

"I come from the planet Klyntar. My kind are what you might call symbiotes. We bond with other beings in a way that is beneficial to both of us. However, most of my kind desire to eventually control the host body. I, on the other hand, seek to simply coexist. I'm not sure why I'm different like this, but it's why I am a bit of an outcast back on Klyntar,"

Hmm, two loners from different worlds light-years apart found each other. What are the odds?

"How'd you end up on Earth, anyway?"

"For a long time, I was drifting in space, stuck on a tiny rock. The rock eventually entered the Earth's atmosphere and crashed to the surface, a short distance outside the city. I believe that was two, maybe three Earth-days ago,"

"Ah…" I said. I vaguely recalled hearing news of a small meteor crashing outside New York, but it hadn't been very big, and the incident had been a bit overshadowed by news of Superman saving a village in Mexico from a hurricane. "So, you got a name or something?" I asked.

"Hmm, my kind do not use names, but maybe I could think up of one," he trailed off for a minute, then said, "Venom,"

"Venom? Why?"

"Lots of negative emotions, memories of dark times, buried deep down, that feel like poison. Both of us have this in common,"

Okay… I guess. For me, it was memories of my dad, and of how much my life sucked lumped together with angsty teenager thoughts. For Venom, I dunno. Maybe he had a traumatic childhood back on Klyntar or something.

An alarm went off on my phone, telling me my shift as a waiter at the Italian restaurant I worked at started in an hour. I had forgotten about that.

So far, I had made one outing with Venom, that had been less than 10 minutes long and I had very nearly lost control. The thought of having to spend several hours outside was admittedly worrying.

"Why don't you just skip it?" Venom asked.

"I have to pay the bills, goddammit, and besides even if I skip today, I'll still have to go to eventually. And then there's school too…"

Oh fuck, there was school! I can't be around so many other people with an alien that might devour them. God, I hadn't thought this through.

Okay, today was Friday. I was already through the school week. And after tonight I wouldn't have any shifts till Monday. So, if I could dodge tonight's shift, I would have the whole weekend to figure something out.

I called the manager of the restaurant I worked at.

"Hey, Mr. Keaton, can I have tonight off please? I'm not feeling well," I threw in a cough in there as well to help sell the act.

"Adrian sorry kiddo but you can't skip tonight, we're already short on manpower here," Mr. Keaton said.

"But-"

"No buts, Adrian," he cut me off. "Listen, I'm sorry but tonight's Friday, we get a lot of customers today, and we're short-staffed as it is. Besides, you've already taken a lot of days off this month,"

Great. Just great. I had to go, because I needed the money. But I was also dangerous to others. Granted, Venom had more or less, sort of, maybe agreed to the rules I had set down, and as long as I kept him fed, we'd be alright. I'll keep some chocolate with me in case of an emergency. I had also been able to force Venom to disappear back in the store, so in case chocolate fails, I still had that option too.

"Okay, Venom listen," I said. "We're gonna have to go, so I want you to be on your best behavior, okay? That means sticking to the rules we just laid down,"

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child,"

"I'll give you chocolate if you behave,"

"Deal!"

Well, here goes nothing.

[…]

Six hours later, at a little over ten pm, I walked out of the restaurant, having finished my shift. The restaurant had been busy tonight, and. I had kept some chocolate with me, which I ate during bathroom breaks. Since Venom received enough of it, he more or less behaved. Also, the fact that Venom spoke inside my head and not out loud was helpful.

While I was working, I had time to reflect on how weird my whole evening had been. Only a few hours ago, I had met a bullet-proof, shapeshifting goo from another world which I was currently sharing a body with. And for some reason, I was totally… fine with it. I didn't mind having Venom around. I felt stronger, more confident than I had before, and I liked it.

I decided to take a shortcut to the subway that I normally avoided, even though it saved me almost ten minutes of walking, since it went through a rough part of town. But now I was pretty sure I could handle myself.

As I was walking, I heard a 'click' sound, like a gun being loaded. I looked to my right where the sound had come from, and saw a skinny, tired looking guy standing at the entrance of an alleyway pointing a gun at me.

Ah shit, here we go again.

"Come here," he said in a low voice. "Gimme your wallet, phone, whatever, and I'll let you go,"

"Nah, I don't think I will," I said.

"It's either your money, or your life," he said.

I looked around. The street was empty.

"Permission?" Venom asked.

"Alright," I said.

Venom changed form, taking over my body and transforming into the horrifying monster like he had earlier. The guy's eyes widened in terror and he dropped the gun.

"Wha- what the fuck?!" he stammered, and tried to back away but I grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up.

"Listen to me," I said. "If I ever catch you trying to mug someone again, if I ever catch you trying to do anything you shouldn't be doing, I'll bite off your arms, and your legs, and maybe even your head. You'll be a useless, bloody, mangled mess, understood?"

He nodded frantically, tears rolling down his cheeks. I could feel Venom wanted to eat the guy, but I fought back that urge. That particular tendency of Venom would certainly take me a while to get used to.

"Good. Now, turn out your pockets," I said.

He emptied his pockets, dropping some money and a small plastic bottle to the ground.

"Please, that's all I have, I swear, I ain't got no more!" the dude pleaded

I let him go, and he ran away. Once he was gone, I willed Venom to change back. I said, "I could tell you wanted to eat him, Venom,"

"Sorry. Sometimes I get food cravings, even if I'm not hungry. And besides, just because I wanted to do it, doesn't mean I was actually going to do it,"

"Eh, fair enough, just… keep a hold on yourself next time, alright?"

I picked up the money from the ground and counted it. Seventy-six bucks. I'll take it, especially since that was only a bit less than the money I had made working tonight. The small bottle had drugs in it; I threw it in the dumpster.

This whole incident gave me a bit of an idea. What if I started beating up criminals… and taking money from them? That way I would be using my powers for good (kind of, since it was morally sketchy a bit) while improving my financial situation at the same time.

Now there were pros and cons to this plan. For starters, it was technically illegal. Stealing from criminals is still a crime. But Venom would change appearance, so I could hide my identity well. Besides, I'd stick to street level stuff, stopping muggings and drug dealers and stuff like that. Nothing big enough to get me on the radar.

On the other hand, I'd be fighting crime. Fact is, New York had a lot of it. You'd think the city home to the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and a number of other heroes would be a bit safer, but you'd be wrong. The Fantastic Four didn't deal with street level crime. Neither did the Avengers per se, and although they did send out patrols each night, there was only so much ground those could cover. Same went to the other heroes in New York, even the ones who mostly fought street level crime, like Spider-Man, could only do so much.

In short, if I were to start doing this, I'd be playing my part in making the city a bit safer, and I'd be helping myself pay the bills on time. If I took down multiple crooks in a night, and if they each had the same or even slightly less amount of cash on them as the guy I had just dealt with, I'd be making much more money per night than my job.

I saw that as an absolute win!