The Taste of Christmas

Finally the time had come. He had only been impatient to wait until the following Sunday. Especially after last week's disappointment, Venom had high hopes for this surprise. Hopefully Eddie had something better in store than a candle. Otherwise he couldn't guarantee for what might happen afterward.

Eddie was also aware that he had to come up with something more exciting to convince Venom about Christmas and everything that goes with it (he hadn't mentioned the presents yet, but that would come soon enough...). For today he had something that even Venom would like. After all, it had to do with his favourite activity! Even if not in the way he wanted.

»When can we finally start?«, he asked for what must have been the hundredth time.

»When I've finished my work, we can start.«

»Can you give me a tip?«, he asked impatiently.

»No.«

»Why not?«

»Because I'm still working and you'll see it soon anyway.«

»But it's so boring.«

»Well, that's just how it is. But it brings in the money that finances your chocolate and everything here, so I have to finish it.«

»But you've been working on it for hours. You need a break too.«

»I can take a break when I'm done with it. And now be quiet. It won't take long now.«

He continued his work on the laptop, concentrating, and diligently typing for the article he'd been working on for days. It wasn't a big job, but it was supposed to bring in a lot of money, which is why Eddie wanted to get this job done as quickly as possible. He hadn't been above working a few hours overtime to get it done. If only Venom didn't keep whining, he'd probably be finished by now. He could literally feel the Klyntar getting more and more restless by the minute. It really couldn't take much longer now, otherwise he risked an unpleasant surprise. He really didn't want a repeat of last week. But there was something good about having a whining spirit like Venom with him. He made him, or rather forced him, to take a break more often and do something else before he worked himself to death, which would inevitably happen with his workload. He was secretly grateful to him for that, and also for the variety in his everyday life, which would otherwise be very monotonous for Eddie. Venom made sure that he was always busy, but also usually had a lot to laugh about.

He sighed quietly as he concentrated again and noticed that he wasn't finished with his work after all, but still had a long way to go.

And because Venom couldn't take it any longer and had caught wind of this thought, he decided to just force Eddie to take a break now.

Without wasting any time, he manifested a tentacle, which he used to pull Eddie on his chair from the desk to the kitchen. With another, he carefully closed the laptop. Eddie had often warned him to be careful with it, after all, it cost the equivalent of 2600 bars of chocolate!

»Hey, what's that about?!«

»I'll make sure you take your break. You'll have plenty of time to work on it later.«

He wanted to protest further, but he knew it would be pointless. Venom had waited too long to be dissuaded now and to be patient, which (obviously) wasn't his strong point.

Eddie let out a long, drawn-out breath before giving in.

»Okay, okay. Alright, you won! Then let go of me so I can get it.«

He immediately let go of him and waited anxiously for Eddie to get something out of the cupboard. It wasn't long before he had a large white bag in his hand, which he brought back into the living room along with his chair. Venom then manifested his snake-like form from Eddie's shoulders so that he could see with his own eyes what he was spreading out on the dining table.

»What is that?«, he asked curiously.

»It's all kinds of Christmas cookies.«

Venom's mood immediately brightened visibly as he took a closer look at all the different, colorful bags.

»So... something to eat?«

»Uh, yes«, Eddie answered slightly confused while he sat down again.

He couldn't quite tell what Venom was thinking, but judging by his expression, at least he wasn't disappointed. That was a step forward.

He didn't have to wait long for a reaction, though, because Venom, impatient as he was, wanted to grab all the bags with some tentacles before Eddie stopped him.

»Just wait a minute. You'll be able to eat them all! They won't run away…«

»How come I didn't know about this? I don't remember you buying them…«

»Because Anne got them and was kind enough to hide them here when we weren't here.

At least you don't read my private messages as well as my thoughts…«, he added casually.

»…«

»Or do you?«, Eddie asked, stunned.

»Only occasionally«, he admitted sheepishly.

»VENOM! I told you not to do that! So all that effort was in vain?«

»I said occasionally. I didn't know anything about that, I swear!«

Eddie grumbled loudly and swallowed his anger. Now was not the time for that. The pre-Christmas period should generally not be wasted on something like that, but he had to have another serious conversation with Venom about privacy later.

»So what is that?«, Venom asked curiously, quickly changing the subject.

»Those are gingerbread men, those to the left are butter cookies with icing decorations, and those in front are Snickerdoodles. Personally, they're not my taste, but you can try them. Oh and those in the blue bag are homemade cookies from Anne and Dan, it seems…«

Venom looked wide-eyed at all the delicacies that were on the table and wanted to eat everything at once. But he had to be patient, he was supposed to taste it after all.

»I want those gingerbread men first!« he shouted and pointed to them with a tentacle.

»Of course, what else«, Eddie laughed.

He ripped the bag open. A few little men tumbled out that looked delicious. Eddie took two and held one out to Venom.

Venom saw the chance to annoy Eddie a little and slowly but grinningly moved his head closer. Eddie, who at first suspected nothing bad, continued to hold it out to him and got a queasy feeling at the grinning face. What was he planning now?

But before he could do anything, Venom opened his huge mouth and snapped shut within milliseconds. Then he had to watch as he bit off the piece of gingerbread along with his hand...

At least that's what happened in Eddie's imagination. In reality, however, Venom snapped so precisely that Eddie was able to keep his hand and only had a near heart attack.

Eddie immediately pulled his hand back, of course, but unfortunately his reaction time was so slow compared to Venom's that he wouldn't have had a chance in real life.

»ARE YOU CRAZY?!«

No answer. He only got a loud, malicious laugh in response. Venom was having a lot of fun and Eddie's heart was still racing when he thought about how his hand was almost gone.

»You've lost your mind…!«

There was clearly anger in Eddie's voice. Venom hadn't meant that, but it was clearly just a little joke. Why was he making such a fuss?

»I was just kidding...« he tried to calm him down.

»Just kidding?! You almost bit my hand off!«

Venom felt guilty. Something that only happened very rarely. He hadn't wanted to upset Eddie under any circumstances.

With an innocent expression, he licked his cheek with his long tongue, to which Eddie reacted with disgust because his tongue was incredibly rough and slimy, and wrapped himself around him and placed his head next to his and mumbled »I'm sorry«.

This "hug" worked wonders. Eddie was so overwhelmed that he could no longer stay serious and be angry with him and started to laugh quietly.

»Yeah, it's okay. I'm happy to accept your apology, just...please let me go now«, Eddie asked.

Venom reacted immediately and let him go again, with a big grin on his face.

»What did I do to deserve this?«

»I've heard that you should be especially nice to people you like at Christmas time...«

»…«

»Uh, thanks«, he replied sheepishly.

»You're not that bad as a roommate, either,« he added.

Something that wasn't long ago either: The two had only known each other for two months. It was a while ago that... oh well, you know the story ;)

»Those are next«, Venom said, pointing to the Snickerdoodle and secretly stealing another gingerbread man.

»Wait, did you even like the others?« Eddie asked, taking the bag and tearing it open.

He took one out and held it out to Venom, who just swallowed the piece of gingerbread .

»Okay, here then.«

Venom carefully took the cookie with a tentacle. He put it on his tongue and let it crumble. It tasted strange, but very good.

»I don't know what you mean, they taste good!«

»Well, I think they leave a strange aftertaste.«

»I like it.«

»If you say so... So you like them?… Okay, then here come the next ones.«

He ripped the packaging open of the butter cookies and took one out. Venom did the same but chose one with lots of icing and sprinkles.

»They're more my thing, but the icing taste extremely sweet«, he noted, grimacing.

Venom, on the other hand, seemed to like the extreme sugar explosion of the sprinkles, because as the taste spread across his tongue, his eyes widened.

Eddie, who had been watching this, began to smile.

»I should have known that you would like them, considering the sugar…«, he laughed.

»They're sooo goooood…«, he raved with enjoyment.

»Okay, you want me to continue?«

»Yes!«

»Then here are the last ones: Anne and Dan's homemade cookies.«

He held out the bag, which contained all kinds of cookies with colourful decorations. He chose a colourfully decorated Christmas tree, while Eddie chose a present.

When Venom put it on his tongue, a feeling spread across his tongue that he had never experienced with any other food.

It tasted wonderful.

»What-what is that?«

»What is what?«, Eddie asked, confused.

»That flavour. I've never tasted that anywhere before.«

»Hmm, maybe the vanilla flavour?«, Eddie guessed as he chewed.

»SO GOOD«, he gushed as he was still eating and was about to take the next one out of the bag.

»You better don't get addicted to them. I can already barely deal with your chocolate consumption…«

Eddie was already grabbing the bag to the other side of the table, but he overlooked the tentacle that was already sneaking under his chair and stealing the cookies from it.

Without thinking, Venom took one after the other out of the bag until it made a suspicious noise, which made Eddie immediately look at the bag. He saw the small tentacle disappear downwards and take all the cookies with it. Before he could stop him, they had already reached Venom.

»Don't you dare!«, Eddie shouted grimly as he tried to stop him.

He stood up with too much momentum and grabbed Venom and held him by his "neck", which in this form consisted of many tentacles that connected the two together.

Eddie wanted to free one hand to stop the tentacle, but Venom made sure that it stuck to his black mass so he could calmly guide the cookies into his wide-open mouth.

»No!«, Eddie shouted as he brought Venom and himself to the ground with momentum.

Lying on the ground, Venom, who was now fluctuating above him, gave him a smug grin while Eddie gave him a death glare.

»Those were MY cookies too!«

»And they tasted delicious.«

Eddie got up from the floor and looked into the bag. Only one single cookie was left lying alone at the bottom of the pack. Out of principle, he ate the last one grimly in front of Venom's eyes.

»You quickly threw overboard your plan to be particularly nice to others who means something to you.«

»We can bake some if Anne sends us the recipe«, he suggested with a grin.

»Hmm, we'll see. I've never really baked before...« Eddie admitted.

»Why not? Homemade seems to taste particularly good.«

A good question, when Eddie thought about it.

»Probably because nobody taught me that as a child. Buying was somehow always easier…«, he concluded thoughtfully while scratching the back of his head. That gave Venom a little idea…

So I don't know what other families around the world do during December, but at my home we bake large portions of cookies every year and give lots of them away to friends and family members, which in return means we get lots of different cookies back. So it happens that we try them all.

That's why I wanted to have the two of them do the same in this story and at at the same time I wanted to prepare something for the third story ;)