»Eddie.«

No answer.

»Eddie.«

»I know you're awake«, he heard a dark voice say.

Eddie grumbled softly. He was lying in bed, sleepy, and had actually been awake for several minutes, but was still too tired to move a finger. He would have much preferred to fly back into his dream. Turns out that five hours are not nearly enough to get a good rest. He had gone to bed late because had been determined to finish writing his article. And 11pm had soon become 1am and then 2am and because he had drunk coffee to stay awake (big mistake) then 3am.

And he immediately regretted it. He could hardly open his eyes, let alone raise his head. Then he would have seen what Venom was doing in the kitchen.

But Eddie stayed lying there and didn't move a bit. Only slowly did his thoughts become clearer and his spirit more awake. And to his horror, he noticed noises, as well as tentacles that Venom was sending out from his back.

»What are you doing?«, he murmured quietly.

»Breakfast.«

»Oh God…«, Eddie mumbled into the pillow.

He could still remember the last breakfast. Venom hadn't quite understood how the pan worked and had let the fried eggs burn. And that in turn had set off the smoke alarm. Venom and Eddie had writhed in pain until Venom had managed to rip the thing off the ceiling and hand it to Eddie, who had then quickly removed the batteries. He definitely didn't want this to happen again.

He looked up in surprise when he smelled the wonderful smell of coffee.

»I don't want that either.«

A tentacle came out of the kitchen again and held out his favorite cup to him. He sat up in bed and took it gratefully.

Meanwhile, Venom manifested himself in his snake-like form next to him and looked at him with a grin.

»Why are you looking at me like that?«, Eddie asked suspiciously.

»How do I look at you?«

Hard to say. Venom hadn't been with him long and Eddie still had a hard time interpreting his facial expressions. But today he definitely had a big grin on his face.

»I don't know... Like you're planning something…«

»Then you forgot what we wanted to do today.«

Excitement flooded his body.

»No, I didn't«, Eddie replied with a grin as he took a sip of coffee.

»When were you going to tell me about the presents?«,Venom burst out.

Eddie frowned at Venom.

»What presents?«

»It's customary to give presents at Christmas. You didn't tell me that.«

»Then how do you know?«

»I used that weird computer-thingy of yours«, he said, pointing a tentacle at Eddie's laptop.

»Hmm, I guess I forgot… But it doesn't really matter«, he replied with a shrug. Venom looked at him confused.

»Why?«

»Because I'm not spending Christmas with anyone this year, apart from you. So I don't need to stress about buying presents.«

Venom's big grin disappeared suddenly and he even looked a little disappointed. Eddie noticed that immediately.

»What? Should we give each other something?«

»Why not? I thought you give presents to people you like?«

»But how do you imagine how this is supposed to work? Usually you buy the gifts secretly, without the others knowing, so that it is a surprise when they open it.«

»That would work somehow.«

»If you're thinking about stealing something again, then-«

»I haven't forgotten what you think of it!«, Venom interrupted him.

»Good«, Eddie replied shortly.

Venom hadn't quite understood the principle of money at first and had once almost secretly taken chocolate from the supermarket. Eddie had just managed to stop him before they were caught. And after that Eddie had given him a loooong lecture that he wouldn't forget so soon.

»But are we giving each other presents now, or not?«, he asked cautiously.

»To be honest, I don't know how we will make that work. I wouldn't even know what to get you.«

Venom looked dejected. He had spent the whole night researching Christmas and customs and had been so excited when he found out about the presents. He had waited hours until Eddie woke up to finally ask him about them. And now the waiting was completely in vain.

Eddie looked at Venom and sighed loudly.

»Maybe we can think of a solution... But today we have something else on the agenda.«

»The Christmas tree!«, Venom shouted excitedly.

»Exactly! And I thought we'd take a detour via Union Square.«

»Uhh, I'd read about that too!«

»Guess that's settled then«, he said and got out of bed.

He took another sip of coffee as he went into the kitchen and grabbed a cookie from the plate and put it in his mouth. He then opened the cupboard and took a bar of chocolate from the pile. He handed it to Venom, who took it with a smile and started eating it. This time Eddie had waffles for breakfast, which he had of course bought ready-made and only had to put in the toaster.

A little later they were on their way. Since Eddie didn't have a car and they couldn't transport a tree on his motorcycle, they had to walk. But Eddie decided to take the cable car for at least a part of the way. They were even decorated with colourful lights and garlands to suit the Christmas season.

Eddie had actually wanted to avoid public transport since the incident with Venom.

»I'll be very quiet. I promise!«, he promised as they waited at the stop.

»Good, because I can't start talking to myself once we're on it. Otherwise everyone will think I'm crazy.«

The cable car slowly rolled up and Eddie got on. He was glad that it wasn't too full and that he got a seat. Normally the cable cars were full of tourists who came from all over the world.

»We could also travel to another country one day.«

»…«

»Oh, I see. Yes... I'm quiet…«

Eddie nodded barely noticeable in relief.

»Buuuuut on the other hand it's not really necessary for you to answer me? Nobody would notice if I talk to you…«

Eddie had a bad feeling. You could practically hear Venom's grin.

»So I thought about the bucket list again and thought that we could travel somewhere. Like a vacation! I heard there are a lot of criminals in Mexico…«

Eddie closed his eyes in resignation. What had he done to deserve this?

»...and I thought there might be interesting things to see and the food is supposed to be delicious…-«

»Shut. Up!«, Eddie thought with all his willpower.

»Hey!«

Eddie's eyes widened. Had he really been able to answer Venom in his mind?

»Can. You. Hear. Me?«, he asked cautiously.

»Yes, loud and clear. It's impossible to ignore when you throw your thoughts at me like that!«

Eddie couldn't believe it. Was that the solution to stop everyone staring at him? He tried not to show it and didn't say a word. At least not physically.

»Since. When. Is. That. Possible?«

»Since you're practically shouting at me?«

»Sorry.«

»It's fine. Doesn't seem to be easy?«

»No.«

Eddie had to concentrate really hard to say the words he wanted to Venom. Venom had been able to read his mind so far, but Eddie had never tried to answer him in his head. It wasn't that easy to keep his thoughts so clear.

He was suddenly torn from his concentration when the train stopped abruptly and he noticed that they had to get off. He jumped up a little hastily and got out. When he continued walking and didn't see any other pedestrians in the immediate vicinity, he spoke to Venom again.

»That was crazy. Why didn't you tell me right away that I could talk to you in my thoughts? That would have saved me a lot of stares in the last few weeks!«

»I didn't know either. I usually always see what you're thinking, but just now it was completely quiet. I only heard your voice.«

»So you couldn't read my thoughts?«, he asked.

»No.«

»Hm, that's interesting. So I can prevent you from reading my thoughts if I just concentrate hard enough…«, Eddie thought out loud.

Venom grumbled quietly. He didn't like the idea that Eddie wanted to keep something from him.

»Calm down.«

He growled a little louder.

»We have no secrets!«

»Nobody said otherwise. But that could very well be the solution to our present-problem…«

Joy flooded his body. The prospect of presents noticeably appeased Venom.

Eddie kept walking and turned the corner of a building that gave a view of a large square. In the middle stood a huge Christmas tree. It was decorated with thousands of small lights and a yellow star was perched on top.

»Welcome to Union Square, buddy.«

»Is that the tree you were talking about?«

»Yes, that's a Christmas tree.«

The huge tree looked beautiful. Venom would have loved to see it with his own eyes, but he wasn't allowed to show himself in public.

»Will ours look like that?«

»Well, ours will definitely be smaller,« laughed Eddie.

»But yeah, the lights should be similar.«

»Can we get closer?«

»Sure!«

Eddie walked across the square and stopped in front of the fence. Tourists were milling around, enthusiastically taking photos and selfies.

Up close, it looked much bigger and even more impressive.

It had become suspiciously quiet in Eddie's head.

»Do you like it?«, he asked cautiously.

»Yes…«

Eddie looked around to make sure no one could hear him.

»Ready to buy your own?«

An enthusiastic "Yes!" was the answer.

They didn't have to walk far before they came to a stall. It was fenced in and if there hadn't been high-rise buildings in the background, you would have thought they were about to enter a forest at any moment.

They went through the entrance and Eddie immediately made a sharp right turn so that he could start off at the side.

»So when buying a Christmas tree, there are a few things you have to consider. There are different types of fir, and it should also look fresh so that it lasts a long time. It also shouldn't be too big, otherwise we won't be able to carry it home or upstairs. And above all, it has to look nice«, he whispered.

»What do you consider too big?«

»Well…maybe 7 feet?«

Eddie wandered through the narrow aisles, helpless. His eyes darted from right to left.

With so much choice, he was overwhelmed. He had no idea which type he should choose first. They all had their advantages and disadvantages. But now that he thought about it carefully, he should probably look for the sturdiest fir. Who knows what awaits it at home.

»I read that the Fraser fir is the sturdiest. And it smells wonderful.«

Eddie looked up in surprise.

»So now you're an expert on Christmas trees too?«

»I was bored and had time while you were sleeping, so I thought I'd do some research beforehand...«

»Tell me, do you even sleep? You seem to have spent the whole night researching...«

»Only very rarely…«

»Don't you need sleep?«

»Not as much as you. I'm usually awake when you're sleeping.«

»That's a bit creepy,« he said slowly.

Eddie immediately noticed a woman looking confused through the needles of a fir tree next to him. He hadn't even noticed that he had stopped whispering.

He smiled awkwardly at her, who then turned away in shock and preferred to look for the right tree a little further away.

»Great«, Eddie murmured quietly.

»You should really practice answering me in your head, then that wouldn't happen to you again.«

A silent nod and eye roll was the answer.

He walked on and came to a sign that said "Fraser firs".

»Then we'll probably find here what we're looking for.«

He examined one fir tree after the other. But none of them seemed special enough to him.

He kept searching until Venom turned Eddie's head to the left and fixed his eyes on one. His gaze wandered upwards as he admired the fir tree.

»Wow.«

»Hm-hm«, Venom grumbled in agreement.

»It's a bit big though...«

»But our ceiling is high enough.«

»Yes, but we still have to carry it home.«

»It's only 20 minutes.«

»I don't know, Venom...«

»I'll help you carry it!«

»And how are you going to do that without anyone seeing you?«

»Pleaaaaase«, he begged.

Eddie sighed loudly and admitted defeat. It was Venom's first Christmas, after all.

»Is that a yes?«, he asked excitedly.

»Yes, you pain in the ass«, he replied, suppressing a grin.

Once again, pure joy flooded his body, so that this time he even had to grin himself.

The purchase was processed quickly. In no time at all, he had the wrapped fir tree pressed into his hand and set off for home. It was not easy to balance due to its size, but he would manage to get home. But considering its size, he was surprised at how light it was.

»I told you I'd help you carry it.«

»Oh... Er, thanks.«

»You're welcome.«

There was a brief silence as Eddie thought.

»Do you do that all the time? Like secretly help me with things?«

»Depends…«

Eddie frowned.

»What do you mean?«

»If you're referring to carrying it, then no. But for other things, yes.«

»Those are?«

»Have you noticed that you haven't had a single cold recently? Even though you're walking around in the middle of winter with your jacket open and no scarf or hat?«

»W-what? Why didn't you tell me?«

»It's not important.«

»Yes, it is.«

»Does it change anything?«

»I think so.«

»Why?«

»Because that means you're protecting me from getting sick, right?«

»Hm-hm«, he said.

»Well thanks, buddy.«

This positive feeling spread through Venom again. Eddie thanked him for something he was doing anyway. After all, it was in his interest that his host stayed healthy. But he had never received a thank you for that.

A little later they slowly approached their apartment and Eddie exhaled loudly as he looked worriedly from the front door to the tree in his arms.

»It'll fit through, don't worry.«

»I'm more worried about what happens after that…«

In fact the fir tree went through the door beautifully, but Eddie stopped when he saw the stairs.

»That's going to take a while…«

»There's no one in the stairwell, I can help you.«

Eddie's eyes widened as he felt Venom's black mass spread across his skin.

»N-n-n-no, wait. That's far too risky-«, he managed to say before he completely disappeared into it and Venom appeared in his full size.

»We had an agreement! You only show yourself in the apartment and outside at night! If anyone sees us-«

»Don't be silly. There's no one here.«

Venom looked around. No one in sight and no one could be heard on the upper floors.

»Because of you, we'll end up in Area 51 as guinea pigs one day!«

»That's almost certainly a myth«, he replied calmly and walked leisurely up the stairs. When he got upstairs, he saw a package in front of their door, which made him grin broadly.

He reached for it when suddenly the door lock of their neighbour opposite clicked. Venom jerked his head in shock.

The door opened and the annoying neighbour, who had initially loved playing heavy metal music loudly, stopped in the doorway in shock when he saw Eddie standing in front of him, hugging a Christmas tree very awkwardly and smiling innocently at him.

The neighbour had not forgotten what had happened the last time he had seen Eddie. And even though he blamed it on the joint he had smoked the day before, he had had a strange feeling about him since then and had avoided meeting him.

And so he decided to quickly step out of his door and sneak quickly along the wall until he had passed him and could dash down the stairs.

»He thinks you're crazy too«, laughed Venom in his head.

»And whose fault is that, huh?«, he asked with a sarcastic undertone as he dug out his keys from his pocket.

And rightly so! Eddie even had to laugh a little. Ever since he moved into the apartment, his neighbour had driven him almost crazy with his music. But he had never done anything. And Venom had barely been with him for a day when he had given him the fright of his life and since then the house had been quiet.

»He's probably already looking for a new apartment.«

Eddie unlocked the door and went in with the tree, which he laid on the ground.

»I'm just glad he didn't went to the police.«

»Nobody would believe him anyway.«

»Lucky for us. But we can't pull off something like that ever again.«

He ran back to the door and grabbed the package on the floor.

»Are the string lights in there?« asked Venom excitedly.

»Yes, and the rest of the decorations.«

Eddie closed the door behind him and as soon as it had closed, Venom manifested himself in his snake-like form from his shoulder.

»Are we going to put up the Christmas tree now?«

»Yes, but first I have to unpack the tree stand from the package.«

Eddie put the package on the floor and was about to go into the kitchen to get a pair of scissors.

»You won't need them.«

Venom took control of Eddie's hands and turned them into his razor-sharp claws.

»It's so creepy when you do that…«, he commented as Venom slit the parcel tape. A transparent package with Christmas tree decorations appeared. Next to it were four smaller boxes, including string lights, and on the side was a large one, the pictures of which revealed that it was the tree stand. Venom's claws disappeared again so that Eddie could take the box out and open it.

»But we still have to decide beforehand where the tree should be.«

Eddie looked around.

»There's room next to the window at the desk or here at the front by the dining table.«

»At the back by the window. That's where it will look best.«

»Yes, I would have said so too«, Eddie nodded in agreement.

He placed the tree stand in the spot in question and turned to their still-wrapped tree. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Venom's big white eyes fixed on it.

»Do you want to put it up?«

Venom turned around, astonished.

»Can I?«

»Sure, why not. Can't really go wrong«, Eddie said.

Venom immediately withdrew and just seconds later wrapped himself around Eddie's body and reappeared with a big grin.

He bent down to grab the tree and carefully lifted it up. Then he walked to the window and put it in the device so that the clamps snapped shut and the tree could stand on its own. He carefully let go of him and took a step back.

»Very good, now you can carefully cut open the net with your claws and then we can decorate it.«

Venom didn't need to be told twice and put his right hand up and began to run his index finger along it from top to bottom.

Something happened halfway through and the green branches appeared underneath. When he reached the bottom, the net burst open with a *pop* and the tree appeared again in all its glory.

Venom's anticipation couldn't have been greater. However, he now noticed that the tree looked quite small next to him.

From Eddie's perspective, things looked always different.

»It looks so small now…«

»That will change«, Eddie promised.

»Hmm«, he just grumbled.

Venom withdrew and Eddie appeared again, from whose perspective the tree looked huge again. In the end they had chosen one that was well over 7 feet (and thus far beyond Eddie's limit). At first he had been worried about decorating it because the string lights would be difficult to manage with a ladder, but he had discarded the idea in the same moment.

Eddie reached into the box again and fumbled the fairy lights out of their packaging. He had ordered three of them, which was really necessary given the size of the tree.

»Here, you can arrange them«, suggested Eddie, holding them up in the air to the side.

A tentacle that had appeared on his back immediately grabbed them, followed by Venom's head, which inspected them curiously.

»You can wrap them around. But make sure that the end reaches the socket. I'll hang the rest of the decoration up.«

»Copy.«

Eddie nodded and grabbed the transparent box with the red and gold Christmas balls. He had chosen a simple set in different sizes. And made of plastic, of course, because he didn't feel like constantly sweeping up broken pieces. Who knows whether Venom might target the tree the next time he has a fit of rage.

»That's only happened once so far!«, Venom tore him out of his thoughts.

»Yes, reason enough to be careful. It wasn't that long ago...«

»It was by accident and I had already apologized. Why are you still holding it against me?«

»Because I've only known you for two months and in the first few days you showed me what you're capable of.«

The anticipation that had shone so brightly in Venom's eyes until now was gone. Instead, Eddie saw disappointment...or betrayal.

He immediately felt guilty.

»Okay, wait. Now please don't get me wrong. I meant that you scared the shit out of me back then. The crazy chase in the Life Foundation, the thing with the organ-consuming, which you somehow fixed. Then the whole fight with Riot... That wasn't easy for me, okay? But you also showed me that I can count on you. I mean, you saved my life when Drake's men tried to shoot me in the forest. That's why I agreed that you could stay. But your outburst in the kitchen happened afterwards and that scared me a bit again. I just want to be careful…«

»I didn't mean to... I don't know what drove me to do that, but I've already explained the thing about the brains.«

»Yes, that you need this phenylethyl stuff«, Eddie nodded.

»And you didn't let me go outside and hunt for bad guys and then you forgot to buy the chocolate...«

»But in my defense: the thing with the bodies at the police station was still not over at that point and I was still considered one of the main suspects. They would have caught us immediately.«

»Yes, I know...«

»I just had so much anger inside me…«, he muttered.

Venom didn't know how to put it into words. He had been so angry at the time that he hadn't been able to control himself. He wanted to improve. He wanted to adapt to life here and to Eddie.

»I want to be better than Riot…«, he whispered quietly.

»I know. And hey, I have to admit, you're really making progress«, he praised, then sighed.

»You're right«, he admitted.

»It's only happened once so far, and that was weeks ago... And we've never run out of chocolate since then.«

»We could make sure that something like that never happens again. As a kind of emergency plan. Just to be on the safe side«, Eddie suggested.

Venom nodded almost imperceptibly. Eddie looked at Venom and it broke his heart a little to see his buddy like that. He had almost burst with anticipation just a moment ago. Now he had ruined everything just by pinning him down on a slip-up.

»Look, I'm sorry. It may not have sounded like it before, but I trust you Venom, I really do. Otherwise I wouldn't let you live in my body«, he assured him.

Venom looked up at Eddie and saw in his thoughts that he really meant it, which lifted his mood considerably.

»Thanks.«

»And the emergency plan could perhaps include a whole cupboard of chocolate…«

Just thinking about it made Venom's mouth water and he started grinning again.

»It would soon be time for lunch again... I'm dying of hunger.«

Eddie looked at the clock.

»Oh yes, absolutely. I almost forgot. It's time we finally finished decorating.«

Eddie took one ball after the other and distributed them evenly across the entire tree. At the same time, Venom wrapped the fairy lights around them using tentacles. He had to be careful not to wrap Eddie up with them.

As promised, he left enough string to reach the socket and plugged it in. The Christmas tree seemed to come to life. Venom looked at it, spellbound, as the sparkling lights reflected in his big white eyes.

»Wow, we really are a good team«, Eddie said proudly as he held out a small box to Venom.

»Are these the-«

»Yep.«

Venom ripped open the box and beamed with joy when he found the edible decoration he had begged Eddie for. It consisted of small figures made of dark chocolate wrapped in colourful aluminum foil. He immediately began hanging them one by one from the branches. Eddie watched him with a grin.

When the box was empty, he turned back to Eddie.

»Are we finished now?«

»Not quite yet. There's one last thing.«

He held out a final piece of decoration in the shape of a star.

»This is the Christmas tree topper. It has to go on top, but the tree is too big for me to reach. So you'll have the honour of putting it on top.«

Venom looked from the top to Eddie and grinned. He manifested a few tentacles from Eddie's back and stuck them to the ceiling. Eddie looked at him in surprise as he was slowly lifted into the air.

»We'll do it together«, Venom replied.

He used a small tentacle to hold the tip as well and they slowly placed the star on the top of the fir tree.

Venom then let Eddie down again, but neither of them took their eyes off the Christmas tree.

With the tip it almost reaching the ceiling, it was now as tall as Venom himself.

»I told you, it'll get even taller.«

Venom nodded in agreement.

»Now I know why people on the Internet are constantly talking about Christmas magic.«

»Hm-hm«, Eddie grunted in agreement. Venom turned his head to Eddie who returned his gaze.

»Thank you, Eddie.«

»For what?«

»For this«, Venom pointed to the Christmas tree.

»That you do this with me and let me be a part of it.«

»You're welcome, buddy.«

»You humans really have a very interesting and distinctive culture.«

»Just wait until Christmas Eve and the presents«, he replied, laughing.

Venom's eyes lit up.

»Then we'll give each other some?«, he asked excitedly.

»Yes, you nuisance.«

»We still haven't decided how we want to do this?«

»We can discuss it further over lunch«, suggested Eddie.

Half an hour later, the two were sitting at the dining table. Eddie had been persuaded to order pizza and since one pizza wouldn't have been nearly enough, he ordered two extra large ones. With lots of cheese, of course.

»So if I concentrate hard enough, you won't be able to read my thoughts, right?«

»Exactly.«

»But you would still see what I buy. Whether in the shop or on my cell phone…«, Eddie countered.

»But I could look away, like now. I only see what you do when I'm completely inside your body.«

»Okay, so ordering online would work…«

»But what about you? You would have to pay with my credit card, but I'll be informed of every payment and I'll see what I order in my emails.«

»Hm…«, Venom thought out loud as he devoured a slice of pizza.

Eddie was at a loss. Despite Venom, he could still do a lot of things independently of him, but Venom was literally tied to his body. How could he even buy anything without him noticing?

Venom secretly observed Eddie's thoughts and slowly came up with an idea. An idea that he preferred to keep to himself, as Eddie would definitely not approve of it.