Hi everybody! This fic is a spin-off of my fic "Bring Over" (that in turn is a crossover spin-off of my other fic "Overwhelm"). In this one, instead of the Ao no Exorcist universe, Shizuka is sent to the Venom movie!verse (mixed with my on homebrew stuff and maybe with the spiderverse too, because both are sony's? and MCU, but the symbiote is a bit more like its comic counterpart even if I'm cherry-picking the lore so much and you can't stop me, and Eddie's backstory is a bit more like comics!Eddie's too and there are mutants around and Deadpool, probably, but that's all off-camera). I don't recommend to read this fic on it's own, but if you really, really want to do it, to understand it you need to know that Shizuka is a female alternate universe version of Uchiha Sasuke, that one day woke up with the memories of a past life as a Mexican girl from basically-our-reality who technically died around 2016, but maybe where she's from the venom movie came out earlier or something.

Bring Together

Phrasal verb

: to cause (people) to join or meet

To believe that Drake Carlton was the only powerful dangerous asshole in the Life Foundation was a naive mistake they realise too late as they are ambushed, separated and captured. Their attackers keep the symbiote in a translucent, vacuum sealed container, made of some fancy super strong polymer, but it's technically a glorified glass jar and so humiliating that Eddie will never know about if the symbiote can help it.

The symbiote doesn't know what happened to Eddie but it is getting back to him no matter what (and it doesn't even contemplate the possibility that Eddie's dead, because if he is, the symbiote will kill everybody in this planet and then itself, as the popular saying goes).

Its jar is attached to the floor of the van their attackers are transporting it in, and it doesn't have enough mass or momentum to capsize the jar if it throws itself against the walls, but the action sure makes the men guarding it nervous, so it keeps moving around following them and trying to unseal the jar from inside like the octopuses in nature documentaries.

Suddenly the van veers and spins. While the symbiote sticks to the surface of the jar and the centrifugal force doesn't have a negative effect on it, the same can not be said for its captors, who tumble around the cabin, along their unsecured equipment, until the van comes to a stop.

The stupid jar remains intact.

The symbiote lets itself pool at the bottom of the jar while it tries to figure out a plan, so it doesn't perish along its now unconscious captors if the van happens to explode.

Its musings are interrupted as the van's doors open and a human —a girl for what it can see— climbs up and looks around in an apparently dispassionate way, sunglasses cover her eyes and they obscure her expression; inside the vacuum of the jar and without the shortcut of Eddie's senses, the symbiote has to rely on visual information gleaned from parts of its surface mass that mimic photoreceptor animal cells.

Ignoring the symbiote's captors, the girl crouches next to the jar and doesn't startle when the symbiote climbs a side to "face" her. She rises her hands, palms out, the gesture that according to Eddie means "I'm harmless". She also points at herself and mimes unscrewing a lid, then looks expectantly at the symbiote.

She is an unknow third party. She is not here to help the men that captured the symbiote and she is probably the cause of the car crash. The symbiote's captors were aware that the symbiote is a sentient being, but they regarded it as little more than an animal, while this girl appears to know that it is a highly cognizant being with personhood, as Eddie would say. If she is aware of this much, she may also know about the symbiote's weaknesses and she must be connected to the Life Foundation in some way.

Well, the best way to know for sure is taking her as a host and the symbiote could always overpower her if necessary, so it couldn't be that much of a risk to forego attacking her immediately when she opens the jar.

The symbiote retreats to the bottom of the jar, makes a piece of its mass elongate to form a pseudopod, moves the tip of its temporary appendage up and down to mimic a nod, and waits.

The girl smiles at it and answers with a nod on her own. Then she removes the fasteners that keep the jar from opening and unscrews the lid of the stupid thing. When the seal breaks, air and, consequently, oxygen quickly begin to fill up the vacuum. Now, since the symbiote has decided to stay on a planet with an oxygen rich atmosphere and in an oxygen dependent host, it has been working in building a resistance to the substance when un-hosted, so it isn't in immediate danger, just uncomfortable. That doesn't mean that it doesn't hastily permeates the girl's skin when she offers it a hand.

"Hello", she—Shizuka, the symbiote now knows, says out loud. "I'm here to take you back home".

Thank you, tells her the symbiote. From what it can pick up from her surface thoughts, the symbiote knows who she is, and it has the impression that she somehow knows the symbiote, but manners are important. Nice to meet you Shizuka, we are Venom.

"Nice to meet you, and well, I suppose that for the moment we are." So she gets it, and the symbiote also picks up an impression of how it is that she gets it. Mismatched, sometimes contradictory, fictional knowledge. The symbiote digs a bit deeper in her consciousness, and she notices. Go ahead, take a look, it's ok, she thinks, enveloping the symbiote in the (both psychic and deliciously chemical) feeling of fondness/amusement, and the symbiote can detect their facial muscles configurating into a smile. What a peculiar host is Shizuka.

They jump out of the van. They can't smell any fuel leak, all the men in the cabin are unconscious, as is the driver, so their retreat is only as pressing as the symbiote's need to be back with Eddie, and well, they need some fuel for their own. No, that's unnecessary, we can get to Eddie as we are, Shizuka thinks.

We are hungry. Not as strong as it should be. Lost a lot of mass. I'm not only used go hungry, but really strong on my own, so we are still pretty strong right now. (And yes, she is strong. And being with her, is like—if Eddie is home: known, lived in, comfortable and safe, Shizuka is that vacation Eddie and Anne took some years back to a fancy resort at Riviera Maya, or maybe, flying first class in a combat jet.) If you need to rebuild your mass, you can help yourself of half my liver and some blood. There would be no difference for us and that would weaken your body once we separate, but if we eat them, we will be stronger even after we come apart.

They walk away as they debate the merits of eating or not eating the men in the van. Shizuka has made her mind already, so they will not eat them, but the discussion is fun (and nurturing and delicious) on itself.

But we don't need it, and those men aren't really bad. They think they where doing Eddie a favour in taking you from him. They think they are containing a danger for this planet. There is no purpose in eating them. They have never killed someone. Just hired muscle and scientists. But you hurt them. We aren't offering them aid, either. They may still die from their wounds or the van may explode after we are gone. Well, they didn't take the time to make sure Eddie was ok after they took you. They left him behind unconscious and hurt. They weren't releasing you with no fight. This are the consequences of their own actions. So there is a difference between harm you actively choose to do and choosing to do something that may result in harm? You only help them as much as you think they deserve. You don't hurt them more than you think they deserve. You leave the rest to chance. I have lines I don't cross, I try to don't harm innocents, but sometimes... I have learned to compromise.

Some events where Shizuka couldn't compromise float free to the surface of her consciousness, knowing that she doesn't like to dwell on those, the symbiote latches to other interesting thing discovered while exploring her mind.

A multiverse. Infinite versions of ourselves. That's how you knew, but how did you know weren't a Venom obsessed with a spider-person. That we weren't a villain. That we weren't evil. By your logic you shouldn't have helped us. I could have been a villain. Other versions of me have been villains for a while. She-who-I-was-before used to say that God didn't grant her great powers for she would have used them for evil. She loved the villain versions of me, and she loved you, villain or not. I suppose we—me and youandEddie— are antiheros. And you love us. And I love you.

They walk for a while until they reach the motor scooter she left hidden in the foliage. They take off the leather jacket and reflective sunglasses and put on a polka-dotted wind breaker and a pastel pink helmet. They attempt at calling Eddie, but the symbiote clearly remembers his phone clattering against the floor in the struggle and Eddie doesn't answer. They push the scooter to the road and start the ride back to the city. From the pockets of the wind breaker they retrieve a dark chocolate bar, the good fancy stuff, that she had stored there for them. She knows them very well.

But you don't like that one version. That's the one I don't like. Don't like that one either. Couldn't do that to Eddie. Manipulate him like that. Lie to him like that… And him, too, to use his Other like that… I don't believe in that one, don't worry. You love Eddie.I love him. He loves you too. But what about the others. What about Flash, Peter. Aren't you curious? Don't know them. May like them. Do like you, after all. But Eddie is special. You learned from them, though. Could learn from you, though. And you should, all you can and from my carefully curated genes too. Keep your boy safe. Maybe not the firebreathing. Maybe not the firebreathing.

Once they arrive into the city they park and leave the scooter behind to continue by foot (the thing doesn't belong to Shizuka and the owner may be missing it by now). If concealing meta-human abilities were not important, they could have reached the city by foot, running, and they couldn't be tired. Shizuka's body is in such a peak condition and she has so many nifty tricks. Maybe, should they exist in this reality, Flash Thompson and Peter Parker would have things like that, that could be learned and copied and brought back to Eddie, to make them stronger. The symbiote had, indeed, learned from Anne in the short while they have been together and it was thanks to Maria that it started to learn Eddie even before meeting him, but like better that Eddie was first. This way he doesn't second guess. He doesn't feel a second choice. But… wouldn't mind meeting them now because Eddie is first. You'll keep away from Lee, though. No Lee, though. You should make sure Eddie knows. Don't take for granted he knows. Them Eddie Brocks sure are insecure. And ask how he feels about you, because you, my dear, sure are insecure too.

It was already late in the evening when Eddie and the symbiote had been attacked, so it is well into the night when they reach Eddie's apartment building. Further attempts at calling were fruitless but the light on his window is on and they stop for a moment, looking up for movement inside. The symbiote is suddenly assaulted by the idea that maybe Eddie doesn't want it back. But that's bullshit. You saw what I saw, he's worried. He was glad to have you back after the rocket thing. Things could be easier for him. Our diet doesn't always agree with him and he would have less people after him. And you know he will always find problems on his own, better to have you with him. You can compromise on the other things.

The symbiote knows it is being silly, but humans are complicated and weird.

They climb the stairs with no further conversation until they reach the door, there they debate the cons and pros of just picking the lock and entering, versus knocking so Eddie lets them in.

Knocking wins because Eddie gets paranoid for a couple days each time someone breaks into the apartment.

They end up having to heavily bang on the door with their open palm because Eddie is seriously ignoring them.

Eddie violently opens the door to yell "WHAT?!" right to their face. He looks a complete mess, not counting the fact that he is still roughed up from the attack. He frowns heavily at them, he only sees a random stranger the door. "What do you want?", he asks again. The symbiote metaphorically swells with love and literally gorges himself in the chemicals of Shizuka's fondness and care.

"Hi Mr. Brock," she says bubbly, it throws Eddie off balance enough for him to listen. "I found your partner stranded on a backroad some miles out of the city, so I gave them a ride back home". Eddie's shoulders drop and hugs them.

"Oh thank God", he mumbles and the symbiote uses the physical contact to finally, finally go home. Eddie and the symbiote let out a sob. "Thank you, thank you." Shizuka pats them on the back.

They release Shizuka and invite her in.

-0-

Eddie allowed himself to relax for the first time in hours. He had not taken the separation well after months of sharing his very existence with his Other. Every minute where he hadn't been able to find anything about V's abductors, had just brought forth feelings of uselessness and inadequacy, a little insidious voice that whispered to him things like "you can't do anything on your own" and "you are supposed to be a journalist but you can't even do research" and "this wouldn't happened if you were a better host them", a voice that was his own, because V wasn't there. Not that V would ever say something like that! They often called him a pussy and called him out on his bullshit, but they also think that Eddie is the perfect host, no one understands so well, complements so well, Eddie is tenacious and clever, Eddie makes us so strong and makes us good. Feared you wouldn't want us back, feared you could be better alone, but I love you, I love us.

Eddie clears his throat, touched, reassured, so very glad to be together, so very in love, and gives the girl a glass of orange juice to distract himself and his Other.

"So uhm—" Shizuka. "Shizuka. How did you know to help V? I mean, we are very thankful, but it is awfully convenient".

"Uhmm, well, they, uh, I was hired to capture you, I mean, ah, they wanted to hire me to capture you. I declined and they had to send those other guys. I was keeping an eye on them, but they got you before I was able to stop them, so uhm, sorry about that." Shizuka sips at her juice, not looking at them.

"She is also from an alternate universe where you are a comic book character and like to wear crop tops and booty shorts", says V, manifesting themselves dripping and draping over Eddie's head. They also do the thing where Eddie suddenly knows things, and well, if he had a body like that Eddie Brock, he would also wear crop tops, but more importantly…

"Why do I suddenly know Spider-man's secret identity? All possible secret identities! A pig! Several hundred spiders in a suit!"

"It's, ah, it's in case this universe Spider-man is your archenemy. I think this Spider-man is one of the teenaged ones and you don't live in New York anymore, so you, uhmm, are probably ok, but better safe than sorry."

"And all those Venoms are villains and most of them don't even eat people anymore, we…". V wraps themselves several times around Eddie's body, making themselves a face to stare at Eddie's eyes.

"Said the same thing, Shizuka thinks we are good, anti-heros at worse, like Frank Castle."

"That's not really a good comparison, love."

"I like you better than Spider-man and I am no hero, either," Shizuka says with a shrug and drinks half of her juice at once before continuing: "I mean, I really appreciate and admire Spider-man, but uhm, my past life's top three favourite marvel characters where you, the Winter Soldier and Wolverine, so I'm a bit biased."

"I don't like that I also know that the Winter Soldier is a brainwashed Bucky Barnes. Is there more new knowledge you need to bring to my attention before it surprises me at a bad moment?"

"Shizuka can walk on water and call down lighting, so now do we, Eddie".V sinks into Eddie's body, just to materialize again around Eddie's torso as an incredibly fashionable looking jacket. "She also passed along many great ideas from our fictional counterparts".

Shizuka puts her glass down to clap her hands, her face showing more emotion than Eddie had seen until now. "Ohh, that's one of my favourite habilities of you! You should do the spider symbol too! You'll look even cooler!"

"It won't make any sense, we don't have anything to do with Spider-man! Now that I think about it, why does V look like an edgy Spider-man?—" "We do not look like an edgy Spider-man!" "—Oh my God we are fictional!" "We look like a cooler Spider-man!" "—We are fictional and our reality is full of plotholes!" "If anything Spider-man looks like us but less cool" "—Is this even really happening? Is there a version of us who is not fictional?" "Eddie! Eddie stop panicking! This is important! Spider-man is not cooler than us!"

- After that they went out for food, exchanged contact info and keep in touch. This is, like, the only version of Shizuka that doesn't obsess over somebody in specific and it's more like a deadpooly agent of chaos that goes around doing her own thing (now that I think about it basically she is Gwenpool but with cool magic ninja powers, uhm, you know what, now Shizuka's past life is actually from Earth-TRN565). Still, the Venom symbiote and Shizuka are kindred souls and text each other frequently.

-The venom they don't like is the newest one from Donny Cates' run as writer, like, I haven't read it (all I have actually read is parts of Mike Costa's run) but it sounds awful and based on shock value, what did the symbiote ever did to you Mr. Cates? I bet you don't like the original Yugioh either. Can we just accept that Eddie is an asshole and responsible of his own mistakes and becoming a better person? I mean, I don't care for canon, but yikes

-Also, the thing where I write the symbiote referring to itself with no pronouns is me exploiting a thing someone posted on tumblr about the symbiote's speech pattern and completely on purpose. MY symbiote thinks the most accurate pronouns found in English to refer to it are none, it or singular them (in that order), and rarely even refers of itself as "I". In Spanish it sounds super natural to me to don't use personal pronouns unless you are trying to be really specific or give emphasis.