A/N: Part two done, woot!
Eddie tries to comfort Lilith, Venom thinks he has a cure.
Part two
Once inside Eddie makes a beeline for the bathroom. Sitting her carefully next to the toilet in case she vomits again he begins filling the tub with warm water.
Eddie. His cohabitant whispers across his mind. She's dying, Eddie. Eddie is quiet, pondering that revelation.
"How bad?" He speaks quietly, not wanting to disturb her.
"Stage four," her reply is whispered, one hand covering her face. "A few months at best." He hums again his heart plummeting.
A few months.
We can heal her.
How?
Join with her.
You would leave me?
No, never. An offspring. Grow within her, less traumatic than if I did it.
You...you want to impregnate her?
I want to save her, Eddie. This is different than human impregnation. Do you have a better way?
He doesn't.
"Eddie." He must have been lost in his monologue for a few minutes because Lilith is leaning against the tub next to him. "Lost you there for a minute." She smiles, but it isn't her smile. Its pained, forced. Her teeth are stained with blood from her fit on the stoop.
"Let's get you warm." He peels her shirt over her head and she hugs her arms against herself tightly against the chill. The jeans are more difficult. Lilith can barely stand on two feet let alone hop out of denim that is suctioned to her skin. Without thinking Venoms tendrils snake out around her, lifting her off her feet sith a small gasp. Eddie peels her pants and underwear off and they lower her into the water together.
"Thanks, guys." She manages a warm smile and squeezes a tendril gently.
"I'll be right back, ok?" Eddie grasps her shoulder. "Try to relax." Lilith just nods, sinking down into the warm water up to her neck.
Eddie strips out of his jacket and shirt tossing them into the washing machine along with Liliths soaked clothes. Her keys and phone laid out on the counter.
Pants are wet too. Venom growls, tendrils undoing Eddie's belt. Once free those went to the washer too. He finds a pair of sweatpants and a tee for Lilith whike dressing himself, then fills a glass with water and digs a clean towel out of the 'clean' pile.
Tell her.
Not now. She's been through a lot today. We'll tell her tomorrow.
Might be too late. A lot to heal.
Eddie grumbles at that. Venom is right, her condition is serious. For months she had been reclusing, drawing away from everyone. She worked from home a lot, stopped going out with friends, even cut back on how often she visited them. He knew something was wrong and he had been too hesitant to bring it up.
If you don't, I will. The Klyntar warned.
Be patient, parasite.
Be honest, loser.
Eddie rolls his eyes and composes himself before going back to check on Lilith. "Hey," he kneels beside the tub and offers her the glass of water. She drinks greedily and he notes how gray her skin has become. Why hadn't he said something?!
"Thanks again." She smiles sheepishly. "I uh...didn't mean to fall into your lap like this."
"Don't worry about it. I'm just happy you're safe." He takes the glass back and offers her the towel. She braces the tub sides and tries to stand, but can't hold her weight. She starts to slip when tendrils of blackness catch her again. "We got you." Eddie smiles, but theres more Venom than Eddie in his words.
They help her dry off and get dressed wordlessly, even wringing the water from her hair and offering her a toothbrush. Lilith quietly lets them, a light blush on her pale cheeks. "This means a lot to me. I uh...don't really know what to do with myself so this is giving me a purpose right now." She spits into the sink and wipes her mouth. Eddie sighs and pulls her close, hugging her tightly with arms and tendrils. Lilith begins to cry and they pull her closer, Venom seeping out of Eddie's skin to surround them in a liquid hug. She laughs a little. "Thanks, big guy." Venom bubbles inside him, purring at the moniker.
"You can stay here. If you want to." Eddie murmurs into her hair, Venoms tendrils writhe excitedly at the thought.
Tell her.
Wait.
"I can't do that, I can't make you watch me die." She speaks into his chest, wiping tears and snot from her face. "Looks like I ruined another shirt."
Eddie sighs and hooks a finger under her chin, ignoring the push to tell her about Venoms 'cure'. "You probably shouldn't be alone right now. We're happy to have you here." Lilith starts to make more excuses, but Eddie interrupts. "Please...don't be alone right now. We're worried about you. Just… stay here for a little while so we know you're safe." His forehead drops to hers and Venom pulses within him at the contact.
Tell her, Eddie.
WAIT.
"Ok." Lilith relents, being alone didn't make her feel any better anyway. If she was dying better to spend it with Eddie and Venom than anyone else. Eddie lifts her again bridal style and carries her to the bedroom. He lays her down and pulls the comforter over her tightly.
"You want to try and eat?" Lilith shrugs.
"More water would be nice." Eddie obliges, fetching a few bottles from the fridge and leaving some on the bedside table.
You have five seconds.
You're relentless.
Four.
Let me think of a way to break it easily!
Three.
Don't be a dick.
Two.
You fucking par-
Eddie's thought response is cut short when Venom seeps out of him, taking over the man's body with his own dark persona. Lilith's eyes widen in surprise.
You're the biggest pain in my ass.
Venom ignores the human observing Lilith with his own eyes and senses. She is already living on borrowed time. No matter how hard she tries to hide it he could see the effort it takes just to breathe.
"Eddie thinks this is brash, but we disagree. I believe we can heal you, at a cost." Lilith relaxes a little lowering the covers and taking a deep breath. For once she doesn't dissolve into coughs.
"What's the cost?" Venom draws nearer, sitting on the bed next to her. His weight dips the mattress precariously and Lilith has to scoot over to avoid falling into him.
"We would implant a part of us in you. You would become like us." Venom gestures between with a massive clawed hand. They are silent for a moment and Lilith searches the patterns on the comforter for some answer.
"So you would uh...impregnate me." She shifts a little saying it out loud. "And...I would have to eat people or you..it?...would begin to feed on my organs?" Lilith meets his gaze, wide eyes searching his.
"Yes." He nods curtly.
Lilith is quiet again pondering the implications. "Look, I don't want to die no matter what the existential posts on my Facebook feed say. If eating rapists and murderers is the only way I do that then, make me...Venom." She shrugs nonchalantly, but there is a stiffness in her shoulders.
She isn't sure.
She's scared. She should be.
"Are you sure we're compatible?" She grasps his hand in her own, needing some kind of physical comfort. Venom humors her, tendrils ghosting over her wrist affectionately.
"I am sure. You and Eddie taste the same."
A moment of silence passes before Lilith busts out laughing. She gasps for air, coughing again. "That's so...strangely comforting." She wipes her mouth, a trial of blood in its wake. Venom laps it away thoughtlessly.
"Very sure." He murmurs.
"Uh-heh...ok." Lilith pulls away, just a little uncomfortable at how good she seems to taste. Maybe slightly aroused if she's one hundred percent honest with herself. "Maybe tomorrow?" Venom hesitates, reluctant to wait.
Give her time, V. The Klyntar finally nods, inky black dissolving into Eddie's tanned skin once more.
"Sorry about that." Eddie rubs the back of his head anxiously. "He's a bit impatient." Lilith chuckles.
"It's okay." She squeezee Eddies hand in hers. "It's kind of...sweet that he cares that much." Eddie mumbles a barely audible 'yeah' in response and its quiet for a while. They sit together in the darkness thinking everything over.
"Should we talk about it?" Lilith asks, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen between them.
"I mean, are you really okay with, you know, eating people? Having a voice in your head all the time? Losing control of your own body? Never having any privacy?" Eddie's nostrils flare, his own frustration seeping into his words. Venom stirs within him, not liking the implications.
Lilith slides towards him on the bed so they are sitting side by side. She places her free hand over their clasped ones. It's quiet again while she thinks. Is she okay with this? Sharing her body and mind so intimately with something that could and would kill? If not her then someone. Yes, in an 'I should talk to my therapist about this' way she was.
"If it's that or dying like this, yes." Eddie looks at her, the sadness in her wide eyes. It goes beyond the cancer, a lifetime of crippling loneliness. Venom swells with understanding deep inside him.
"You talk about how bad it's been, but before him you were in a dark place, Eddie. Everything had fallen apart then Venom came along and suddenly you had purpose again." Lilith fiddles with the hem of her borrowed shirt anxiously. "He isn't just a monster. We think that because we are the prey, but to him he's just...surviving." She bites her cheeks wondering if Eddie's silence means she's gone too far, but too caught up in her rambling to stop now. "It's nature." She shrugs and falls quiet again not sure what else to say.
"Okay," he finally speaks, "if you're sure." He kisses her forehead, lays her back down, and tucks her in. "Get some rest, Lil." She nods, drifting off almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
A/N: Lol, yep it's happenin. I can't resist guys, I'm sorry. Trust if there is ever the opportunity to host an alien that eats bad guys, I'm signing the fuck up. I already talk to myself so no one will be the wiser! Hope y'all enjoyed it, part three in the editing phase.