You opened your eyes and stared at the ceiling, confused.
"Lost? What do you mean we lost?" You asked, sitting up again and dropping your arms to your sides. Your right arm felt like it was throbbing, especially by the collarbone area. When you looked over at it, you noticed where your pajamas instead took a dark and oozy look, coating your entire shoulder area in pure Venom.
Means we lost. Did not win. Lee is more dangerous now.
"How did we lose? We are here, you must have beat him, right?" You questioned, concern thick on your voice. There was a moment of silence, and that made your concern worsen. "Are you okay?"
You were hurt. We couldn't finish Lee without losing you too. Chose you over Lee. He escaped.
"Venom, I'm not asking about Lee, I asked if you were okay." You clarified, and their was another thoughtful pause.
Missing part of us. Was in rush to save you. Got hurt, kept going.
At that, you scrambled out of bed and nearly tripped yourself running to the bathroom so quickly. You stumbled to the sink and flicked on the light, quickly looking into the mirror. "Missing- He took a part of you!? Are you okay!? How bad is it? Are your hurting?"
Not hurting now. Not much gone. Enough to be dangerous, and Lee is already dangerous.
"But you really are okay?" You asked again, touching the mirror and looking for any hints of Venom. Your vision went black and memories flashed in the back of your mind, speeding much too quickly for you to make out anything. Venom was looking for something, and after a little while, they found it.
The scene was too bright and hazy, the colors washed out like someone didn't know the settings of a camera, so it took you a moment to realize it was a memory of your childhood. Back when you were trying to grow your hair out longer, before changing your mind and spontaneously wanting to cut most of it off. You could see your mom- looking much younger than you last saw her- standing behind your child self. She carefully lifted your hair up and gracefully cut at it with the kitchen scissors, letting the hair fall to the tiled ground.
Time quickly reversed a few seconds, and your mom pulled at your darker than black hair, more oily than it should be, and you mom chopped it once more. The scene reset again, but this time your mother painfully yanked at your hair to get you to sit up straight, saying things that were muffled by the memory, before cutting off the thick tendrils of Venom trailing from your head.
The darkness faded from your vision and you snapped back to reality, seeing your present self blinking rapidly through the mirror.
Felt like that. Fine now.
You took a deep breath and shut your eyes tight, still trying to get used to all of the rides through memory lane Venom was giving you. "Hhh… Hair. Okay, like cutting hair." You took another quick breath and stood up, looking into the mirror again. "So what does that mean? Are you weaker now? Should I be concerned for you?"
Should be only concerned about Lee. He is angry. He-
"I said I don't care about him. Stay focused." You interrupted your other and placed a hand on the shoulder Venom was covering.
… Should be fine. Was not much, just a little. Just scared.
And you could feel it. There was that underlying fear making your heart race, but if it was your fear for the safety of Venom, or fear that belonged to Venom, you couldn't tell. You didn't want to be seperated. You didn't want to be used. You didn't want to kill more innocent people.
You took a step back, realizing that you couldn't quite tell where your thoughts were being influenced by Venom. "Calm down. I'm here with you, right? You saved me, and that means we didn't lose yet. We can get that part of you away from him, and you won't have to worry about that ever again. Okay?" You asked, gently rubbing the symbiote. You looked down, thoughts thinking back to the fight. "After all, it's my fault he got that bit of you. I should have listened to you."
Yes, but we understand. Lee was also clever, and tried to keep himself from getting exposed to others as well. Did not end up well for him either.
You bit your cheek, trying to think. "So… He's clever, stronger, and has weapons that can hurt us. How do we beat him?"
Can't. Not strong enough on our own. We need help.
"You got friends?" You asked, hopeful. You didn't think Venom would be the kind of alien to make friends, but they were quick to say that you needed help.
Of sorts. Can lead us to them.
You felt your eyebrows raise in pleasant surprise, and you quickly walked out of the bathroom and headed towards the window. "Great then lets go-"
No.
"...No?" You stopped. "I thought you wanted to get that part of you back asap?"
We need to get that part of us away from Lee, yes. But you are still hurt. And hungry. We need our strength or we risk worse.
You didn't even notice you were hungry until Venom said so. "Right, okay… Um, do you want something in particular? I can order delivery." You sat at the couch and opened your laptop, ready to search up whatever Venom was craving, if they even prefered any food other than chocolate. You weren't sure how much of your body was shared afterall.
Steak. Make it bloody.
You didn't know what else you expected. "Does… Does New York deliver cooked steaks?" You questioned, quickly typing in an appropriate search for it. Lo and behold, New York delivers everything. The price made you hesitate though, loudly blowing through your lips as you looked at the unreasonable number. Movement got your attention, and you watched a dark tendril reach out of your pajamas and lay a hundred dollar bill on the computer.
"Fine, but just because you deserve a treat." You caved, quickly typing in your address and placing the order. You felt that warm fluffy satisfaction feeling in the back of your head again, and it in turn made you smile. "Now we wait."
You laid down onto your couch, getting the pillow comfortably under your head, and you let yourself relax. Even though your body was comfortable, your mind still hummed with thoughts and questions, and you could feel Venom slightly shifting over your shoulder.
You want to ask. Go ahead.
"I was just wondering… If you wanted to talk about what happened with Spiderman, and all of that." You could feel Venom shrink ever so slightly at that, seeming to not like that question. "I only ask because you seemed… troubled, after that memory. And I just want to be aware of any possible triggers you might have after that so I can avoid them for you."
We are fine.
Venom was too quick to answer, and you gently rubbed your shoulder to comfort them. "Listen, I've had a shitty therapist and only had like two actual therapy sessions, but even I know it's better to talk about it than just pretend you are fine. I know you aren't, I can feel it." They stayed quiet. "Would you want me to hide a wound from you, if it made things easier for you?"
No. We heal, and protect.
"This is no different. Emotional damage can be worse than physical damage, especially to someone that heals from everything." You said, and that seemed to get to Venom. Something changed in the back of your head, a need to share, but then you felt it be pulled back again. "Come on, I'm here for you. That's what friends do."
It's hard.
"I get that. Let's start slow, okay? Give me some quick general thoughts when you think 'Spiderman' right now." As you finished speaking, you felt pulled back into the dark memories of Venom, clusters of emotion and experiences more than visuals this time, but you could understand.
Love. Pure, blissful love, burning so unfamiliarly within you. A need to please, to grant his every wish, to impress. You showed off, making him strong, protecting him, making his life convenient. Embracing him fully, and feeling his joy as your own. And the pain- the pain and the ringing and the-
"Slow down. You did good, take a breath." You spoke, pulling the two of you out of those thoughts before you fell too far into the rabbit hole. It felt like you were swimming in the ocean, and at any point a wave could come crashing down a you, but you willed the two of you to stay floating in the currently calm waters.
"You loved him, but he didn't know you were living. What happened to change that?" You prompted to continue, trying to keep Venom slow and steady.
A visit to a doctor. A doctor you've seen before, but couldn't place. They studied the two of you, making Spiderman even more impressed, and you even happier to let him know you were alive. But instead of joy, or confusion, or any sort of attempt of communication, he tried pulling you off. It was an immediate decision. He did not hesitate, did not consider all that you've done for him, and instead he tore through you, desperate to be rid of you. You held tighter, no, no, no please, you wanted to be with him. You can help him more yet, why did he hate you? Why did he hurt you? You just wanted to hold him and let him think about what he was doing, but then the doctor interrupted, hurting the both of you with sound. A gun, not unlike the one Lee had.
You jolt out of the memory as you felt yourself be painfully torn and stripped from Spiderman, bringing you back to the couch and breathing hard. "Oh… That, that hurts…" Your skin stung from the memory like a bad sunburn for a few moments, but it quickly faded as you breathed. You slowly filtered through the memory again, at your own pace, but something threw you off. "There were no bells? I thought I heard bells last time?" You asked softly.
Was not only time.
Your eyes widened at that. "You were with him more than once?"
Escaped doctor. Needed to convince Spiderman we were good. We wanted to help. He did not want us.
More memories drifted through your mind. Escaping the glass prison they made for you. Tricking Spiderman to be close and put you on, only to try and surprise him and communicate. You came all this way just for him, but he did not even try to listen. He tried running for the doctor again, but you pulled and struggled against him, trying to keep him from the pain, from hurting you again. You just wanted to help. You just wanted to be with him.
But he found himself at church bells, and yelled at you. He screamed, hitting the bells, over and over, yelling how he would rather die than be with you. You couldn't hold onto him, the pain being too much, and you fell away. You expected him to kick you, to run and flee, to do something now that he was free of you. But instead he collapsed. The bells were too much even for him, and as much as the bells hurt, seeing him like that hurt worse. You pulled, and struggled, and carried him away from the bells, your love for him overriding the betrayal, if for a short while.
He did not seem to know you saved him, or if he did, he did not care. Much later when you found someone else to be with, to share and protect, he did the same to them. First the gun, then the bells, then the doctor. Other jumps in the memory flashed by, other betrayals Spiderman had done. Traps he had set up, offering himself to you as bait. The double crosses he led, even after giving you his word and after you helped him. Again and again, he broke promises and lied to you. Hurting you every time without fail.
The memories sped up and faded, giving you the impression that those were different memories for a later time. You cleared your throat and blinked, seeing your apartment around you once more. "Fuck man…" Your voice cracked ever so slightly, and you realized your face felt hot. You sniffed, brushing the back of your hand against your cheek and seeing that you must have been crying during the memories.
Sorry. We did not mean-
"Fuck Spiderman." You interrupted, feeling angry and letting the tears continue to their own volition. You weren't much of a crier, so you couldn't help but wonder if this was how Venom's emotions were manifesting. "He fucking… he doesn't deserve you, after all you done for him. How could he just do that to you?" You took a deep shaky breath, cutting it short when you heard the door knock.
Food is here?
"Yeah." You sniffed again, rubbing at your eyes and making your way to the door. You opened the door and saw a cute ginger wearing the logo of the website you bought the steak off of, and she looked cheery until she saw your most likely red teary face.
"Are… are you okay?" She asked, quickly looking back at the sticky note in her hand and to your door number, as if to make sure she had the right door.
"Yeah. Ex troubles. Sorry, I hope you got change." You wiped at your eyes again with one hand while passing her the hundred, and she quickly dug into her pocket to make change. She said some number that you didn't bother to listen to, and you gave her and extra ten for the trouble before taking the bag and uttering a quick thank you. The door closed slightly louder than you intended, but you dropped the bag onto the table next to your couch, and you sat heavily on the cushions.
Do you hate Spiderman, for what he did to you?
Venom asked, shocking you at that question. "For what he done to me? No, the worst thing he's done to me is not notice me. That is disappointing as hell, seeing how I would have died without you, but that… I can't be angry at him for that. If that was the case, then I might as well be angry at every hero for not noticing me when I was dying." You ran a hand through your hair and leaned back, thinking and feeling the confusion in the back of your head.
"No, I fucking hate him for what he did to you. " You ground your teeth. You could feel Venom's surprise at that, but they grew quiet and still in your thoughts. Eventually the smell of the steak seeped through the bag, getting your attention. "Enough of that asshole, let's eat." You quickly pulled out the delivered food, pleasantly surprised at the surplus of fries they gave you along with your rare steak.
You started eating, the flavor of everything was wonderful. The steak practically melted in your mouth, a hint of honey tickling your senses as you swallowed. Venom seemed to like it as well, satisfaction hanging in your mind almost like a haze as you ate. The fries were just the right crispness, no ketchup needed with their delicious salted flavor.
You reached for more of the fries, to suddenly notice they were all gone. You blinked out of your haze, and apparently the steak was gone already as well. "Aw." You uttered, shoulders dropping ever so slightly. "No leftovers." That did surprise you slightly, seeing how much food you had, and how it felt you only had a few bites.
Was very good.
"It was. Shame this place is so expensive, else I'd say we could do this like as a weekly thing…" You considered a moment, but shook your head. "I'll see if I can make you some steaks myself later on. I'm not much of a cook, but you probably like that more than you would my usual meals." You looked at the empty tupperware with longing eyes before shutting it up, stuffing it back in the bag, and dropping it into the trash.
You stood in the quiet room, looking around for a moment. You didn't really know what else to do, and you yawned, apparently sleepy from the meal. That wouldn't do, you didn't want to ruin your sleep cycle even more than it already was. You gently slapped the sides of your face, pulled your arms up in a stretch, and swayed side to side to wake yourself up more. Bending down, you touched your toes much easier than usual, and you stood up again and just swung your arms around.
Then you noticed that you arm was no longer hurting.
"Huh?" You asked, looking at your shoulder. Venom was no longer making that area dark and sticky looking, instead it was just your plain pajamas. "Oh, are we better now?" You asked, rubbing the area and not feeling any soreness.
Was better by the time food showed up.
"You can heal that quickly?" You asked, amazed. You gently pulled back the collar of your pajama shirt, looking at your perfectly normal looking skin. Not even a scar where you were stabbed.
Was small wound. Easy.
"Oh listen to you. 'It was just a stab wound. No big deal.' Do you have any idea how long it takes for people to heal normally? Once I stepped on a nail and my foot was messed up for like a month." You laughed, not enjoying the memory of basically needing to hop everywhere in the house.
That long?
"Yeah, like, I don't know how these heroes do it. They get stabbed or shot, then the next day they are back at it. I mean, I get that a lot of them have armor or advanced healing, but I am surprised more of them aren't out of commission every time villains show up, you know?" You shook your head.
Don't need to worry for us any more. No out of commission. Just small rests and will be fine.
"And there you go, being more amazing." You smiled and motioned to the window. "But anyway, now that we are better, should we go out and meet you friend?"
Yes, my… friend.
"Way to make them sound ominous, dude." You commented. "But yeah, let's go. We need to get that bit of you back." You stepped towards the window, and felt Venom's tendrils swirl around and embrace you completely. It was starting to feel like a full body hug more than anything at this point, and you resisted the urge to try and hug them back.
Instead you climbed out of the window with more grace than the first time you tried, watched as your limbs vanished from your sight, and again, leaped into the air. You let out your webs and swung, smiling happily as you felt truly free traveling across the city.
"So... your friend." You started, looking towards the direction you had a vague feeling in. "You didn't really tell me about them. I assume they are a villain, you sure they are going to help us?"
… Hopefully.
"Oh that's a good sign." You said with playful sarcasm. "That's alright, I trust your decisions. Whatever you need me to, I'll try my best for you." You said, and you thought you felt confusion in the back of your mind. The two of you swung quietly through the buildings, enjoying the rushing air, the sounds of the city, the gradual increase of traffic as most people started leaving their jobs. You had no idea where you were heading, yet you could just feel a pulling in a direction. You hoped that was Venom's "friend," even if you were a little concerned about meeting a friend that needed quotation marks.
You wondered if they were a regular supervillain, or an alien too? What if they were just a regular person Venom genuinely liked as a friend? You found that thought hilarious. They were probably some little girl in a tutu, and she had a pet dinosaur. You laughed out loud, thinking of hypotheticals.
Your laughter was cut short when you saw someone else swinging past the buildings and catch your eye. You changed course and sped up, just in time to make out Spiderman casually swinging down another street. Your anger immediately boiled your blood, and you couldn't wait to give him what he deserves.
Mustn't kill Spiderman!
"I would never kill him! Doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a punch to the face for what he done to you!" You smiled, pulling on your webs with a new goal and launching yourself feet first at the moving red and blue target. "Or maybe a kick would do!" You shouted, adrenaline flooding your system.
"Did I just hear someone-" Spiderman mid-swing turned to face your direction, just in time for your camouflaged foot to connect to his jaw. The kick sent him flying down, crash landing in someone's rooftop garden. You laughed and quickly corrected your course, sending a web to nab the corner of a taller building so you could grab ahold of the bricks. You felt the camouflage drop as you looked down at Spiderman, who was slowly picking himself out of the dirt, seeming very confused.
"That's for breaking my friend's fucking heart!" You yelled down at him, unable to help the absolute satisfaction from kicking the jerk in the face. He shook his head, scattering dirt to the ground, and looked up to see who shouted. Apparently he wasn't expecting Venom, as he jumped ever so slightly, hands widening at his sides.
"I'm guessing that isn't Flash, but that didn't sound like the new guy either!" Spiderman called up. You could see him nervously looking side to side, probably assessing damage control. He looked back to you, seeing you still posed and ready at the corner of the tower, and he was apparently somewhat confused at the fact you weren't attacking him more. "Did… did you want something? Or was this… it?" He made sure to keep his voice loud enough to make it to you.
"Are you in a rush for something? Burning building? Girlfriend in trouble?" You asked, just wanting to make sure you weren't endangering more people with getting some petty revenge.
"Not… not that I know of." Spiderman held up his hands, even more visibly confused now.
"Good." You shouted, jumping from the corner and landing heavily on the flowerbed a few yards from Spiderman. "Didn't want to waste your time." You laughed and looked down at him. He… seemed taller on tv. He half readied his arms now that you decided to get close, but you could tell he was too busy trying to calculate what exactly to do. Did no villains hold a casual conversation before a fight?
"Wasting time… on what, might I ask?" The whites of his eyes squinted in a way that suggested a raised eyebrow. You flexed your fingers, getting ready to act, and you became very much aware at the lack of influence your actions had. Venom was quiet in the back of your mind, waiting.
"Oh you know, justice for a friend, kicking your ass, that sort of thing." You casually said, but before you gave him enough time to react, you reached out and webbed a metal table from the roof, swinging it at him. He easily jumped and flipped over it, landing on some fencing gracefully. His arms reached out, and you instinctivly ducked and turned, just nearly doging two streaks of webs flying past.
"Listen! I don't know who your friend is, but that suit of yours is alive!" He said, jumping and firing more webs at your feet, but you sidestepped and pulled the table back in time to take two of the shots. "You need to get it off of you!"
"And what, try to abandon it like you did?" You kicked the back of the table, launching it in his direction. He barely ducked out of the way, making the metal table burry itself halfway into the brick wall behind him. Damn, you kicked that hard. But maybe that was because you were getting angrier the more you talked to Spiderman. "You didn't even give it a chance to explain itself!" You half growled through teeth, webbing a bag of fertilizer and acting like a trebuchet, launching it at him.
"Whoa!" He jumped to the side, turning his head to watch as the bag literally exploded into dust against the bricks, the residue falling to the streets below. "Not good." You heard him mutter. He jumped off of the building, web flying to another building, and he started to quickly swing away.
"Hey! I didn't kick your ass yet! Get back here!" You shouted, quickly following behind. The two of you weaved between buildings, Spiderman taking the lead and turning corners every chance he got, and you just barely noticed him checking over his shoulder as he did so.
He is leading us to Bad Place.
"Fuck you Spiderman! You hurt my friend, and now you are manipulating us again!?" You shouted, taking an extra second to calculate where to web, and taking the shot. The web barely latched onto Spiderman's foot, but it was enough, and you pulled. He yelped as he lost grip on his own web, swinging to your will as you yanked it.
Glass shattered as you swung him into some business building, and you could hear shouts of people. Whoops. Oh well, corporations were paid too much anyway. You jumped down and webbed a window, gracefully arching and swinging into the broken opening, apparently perfectly in time to kick Spiderman as he was picking himself up again. He was punted back, crashing into a support pillar. Damn! You had some serious firepower out of nowhere!
You felt good. Real good.
There were a few people in this what appeared to be an office space, but they were quickly running to the exists, no one seemed to be hurt from you hurling a body through a window. Good. Spiderman struggled to pull himself out of the plaster of the support pillar, crumpling to the ground and coughing.
"Hm. I didn't go overboard, did I?" You asked, glancing around at the destruction of the small area momentarily. You noticed a few computers on a desk nearby that must have belonged to security, due to the fact that cameras of different views were cycling through the screens. You were about to look away, interest being sated, when one of the screens turned to the room you were currently in, and you felt taken back. Why the fuck did you seem… so much bigger?
Before you could question that in more detail, your vision went white as web sprayed your face, and you recoiled. "I hope you liked those few shots, because that's all I'm giving you!" Spiderman shouted, and you felt something heavy collide with you. Whatever it was broke as it hit you, but still made you stumble backwards, and your back hit the desk and knocked over some of the monitors.
You quickly pulled the web off of your face, anger building. "Not even close! You need one more solid smack to the face before I'm through with you!" You shouted, grabbing the desk with your hands to throw at him, but his webs sprayed out, sticking your hands to the desk. You gritted your teeth, using its weight to your advantage and tried to just crush him with it instead. He ducked between your legs as the desk shattered against the ground, and more webbing shot onto your hands. You realized your mistake a moment too late, when he pulled and you fell forward, flipping hard onto your back on top of the wreckage.
"Could you really smack a face like this?" He asked, hovering his masked face above yours. You growled and tried to grab him, but his webs were faster, covering your face and hands and making you lose him in the moment. You yelled and felt your fists expand, bursting through the webbing as you tore it from your face, and you jumped to your feet.
"With what you've done? Easily!" You swiped at him, but he seemed too lithe to get near as he flipped and ducked out of your attacks. "You hurt my friend!" Swipe. "You lied to them!" Miss. "You manipulated them!" Duck. "And when they were happy, you couldn't leave them alone!"
Spiderman jumped onto the ceiling, and paused. "Wait, this might be a stretch here, but is you friend the symbiote?" You took advantage of the still target, grabbing his leg before he could react. You held him in front of you and he quickly struggled in your crushing grip.
" Yes. " You hissed between your teeth, smacking him hard with the back of your other hand, sending him crashing through another window.
You watched him fall out of view, only for him to appear a few seconds later, quickly webbing away down the streets. You didn't give chase though, and instead took a moment to breath while surrounded by all of the destruction. It was then, that you could feel how tight Venom felt. They felt less like a second skin, and more of a too small wetsuit. It hurt, just slightly, and made you stagger and lean against part of a broken desk.
"H...hey. Is everything okay?" You asked, feeling the drowning sensation even more now. You started to feel the edges of fear, but not so much for yourself, but for your other. Did something happen with it? Was this too much for it?
Everything is better than okay. We've had hosts that were angry with Spiderman before, and that anger made us stronger, but this is different.
"How so?" You asked, instinctively trying to swallow the drowning sensation away to no avail. It was warm, too warm.
We never had someone angry for us before.
The tightness seeped into your skin, and you had troubles determining where exactly you were suppose end and Venom begin. "A… And? What does… what does that mean?" You felt short of breath, your vision shaking ever so slightly as your world rang louder and louder, drowning out everything. The sound of your heavy breathing, the sound of the desk collapsing under your weight, the sound of you hitting the ground, all being drown out by the ringing.
And the ringing stopped.
The bond we have will last a lifetime.