Fears

How had he gotten here again? The day had started so harmlessly and he had to fear for his life just because of this little thing. What shit!

On Sunday morning Eddie had decided to show Venom a little more of the things that people do on Earth. And since it was almost Christmas, he had bought something especially, but he would have to get up first.

His alarm was set to go off at any moment, but Eddie had a special roommate who didn't sleep much, was active, eager to learn, and had an excellent sense of time. In short: Venom was pretty much the opposite of Eddie, at least in the early hours of the morning. He could be a real grump who didn't like being shooed out of bed.

And that's why his para-, no: symbiote came up with a new method every day to get him out of bed. Today it was the washcloth's turn.

While Eddie turned comfortably onto his other side, Venom used a tentacle that he secretly manifested from Eddie's back to get a cold, wet washcloth from the bathroom, which dripped halfway across the floor on the way back. Venom slowly guided him under the blanket and then~

»AHHH!«, Eddie screamed.

Venom laughed his ass off as Eddie reached over to his stomach in annoyance and removed the rag. This miserable bastard had simply laid it on his bare stomach and he was still half asleep!

»You miserable…«, he started to curse but swallowed his anger. He didn't want a second round and to be stressed for the rest of the day.

»Get up«, Venom demanded in his head, but he could hear the suppressed laughter.

»Yeah, damn it. I would have liked a few more minutes~«, he began when he heard his alarm.

Sighing, Eddie pushed the blanket away and stood up. He went into the kitchen, got a bar of chocolate from the cupboard as usual, which he held over his left shoulder to a tentacle that grabbed it greedily, as he did every morning. Venom then manifested himself in his snake-like form, sticking out of Eddie's shoulder. He got a large cup of coffee and a few ready-made waffles for himself, because he wasn't a great cook after all. With that, he sat down at his table and watched Venom as he finished off the chocolate bar in a few bites. He could easily devour it in one breath, but this way he could enjoy it longer until impatience won out again.

»Since you haven't been on earth for very long, you probably don't know what Christmas is and what customs we have?«, Eddie asked Venom with a grin.

»No«, he replied.

Although Venom could easily get into Eddie's head and figure it out quicker, like with so many things, he decided not to do it so as not to spoil the fun for himself. He liked learning new things.

»Okay, so it's already the beginning of December and Christmas is coming up soon. So I thought I'd get us a few things to get us in the Christmas spirit...

»Is that why everything in the streets and shops is so colourfully decorated?«

»Yes. But since I don't have any decorations and I'm sure I'll go crazy if I hear "Last Christmas" one more time, I've ordered us something else.«

He stood up and took a small box and a lighter out of a small chest of drawers.

He put them on the table and sat down again. Since he wasn't a smoker and never needed one, he had had to buy a lighter specially for this. For safety reasons (Venom), only a stick lighter. He didn't want to test what it would be like if his alien friend went crazy because he was too close to the fire…

He opened the package and took out a few candles. Fittingly, they were all in red, green or gold tones. He picked up the lighter and let the flame appear. He then lowered it to the first candle and waited until it burned on its own.

Venom watched everything with wide eyes (which was hard to see) and watched with excitement.

»And now?«

»And now we'll let them burn. They're scented candles that are supposed to spread Christmas scents around the apartment. And generally they're supposed to have a meditative and calming effect,« Eddie assured him.

When he ordered something online a few days ago, the candles had been suggested to him.

Normally he would never have bought something like that, but they promised to have a calming effect. Something he definitely needed with Venom! It really wasn't easy to cope with everyday life with him, especially because he was constantly hungry. And then he often interrupted him during his work, mostly because Venom was bored...

So if there was something that might keep him busy, he tried it out.

To say that Venom was disappointed would be an understatement. He loved learning new things about his new home.

Even though some of them were really weird, he was still willing to participate, but this was just boring.

On top of that, it involved fire, which he didn't like at all. That was the only thing that could harm him, besides high frequencies.

»You don't like it?«

Eddie looked worriedly over at Venom, who was still staring wordlessly at the candle.

»It's kind of...boring. It smells good, but you can't eat it, right?«

»Uh, no, you can't eat it«, Eddie confirmed.

»Is there anything you can eat at Christmas?«

»Yeah, there's some seasonal food, but I don't have anything…«

Eddie looked at the candles and got an idea.

»Hey Venom, want to see a trick?«, Eddie asked with a grin.

Venom nodded.

Eddie moved his hand to the small flame and put his index finger right in front of it. He didn't get any further, because before he could perform the trick, Venom jerked his hand away.

»What was that about? Were you just about to put your hand in the fire?«

»Calm down. It was only supposed to be a trick«, Eddie replied, laughing. Venom seemed rather annoyed.

»You don't play with fire!«

»It's just a small candle. That's what you usually impress small children with!«

Eddie couldn't stop grinning.

»Calm down and look.«

Eddie put his index finger over again and let it slide quickly over the flame. Then he held the finger right in front of Venom's face, who examined it closely.

»There, see? No injury.«

He looked grimly from the finger to the candle and then at Eddie.

»Still, you don't play with fire.«

»Oh, man... you really need to conquer your fear of that.«

»This could kill me! And being careless wouldn't exactly be an advantage!«

»So what? I'm not fireproof either.«

Venom growled again, dissatisfied.

»You have to face your fear«, Eddie spat out in high tones.

That was the moment, in retrospect, that he deeply regretted, because it was at that very point that Venom pricked up his ears and had a little idea of how he could show Eddie this in an unprecedented way. Fire. Eddie knew damn well how much he hated it! Venom didn't like being shown up, especially not by Eddie, who was no stranger to fear. But he would pay him back for his big mouth. And maybe he would awaken a memory or two in Eddie's mind, but everything in its own time. He had to wait until it got dark again. Eddie couldn't remember exactly how he got here, but that evening Venom had only said that he really wanted to go outside and look at the skyline.

Eddie had only agreed on the condition that there would be no hunting for bad guys and that it shouldn't take too long because he still had work to do.

So they set off, but as Eddie first thought, Venom hadn't chosen a rooftop outside the center. No, he was actually heading straight there.

»Why are we going this way? You get a better view from outside.«

»I've already found a nice place for us…«, he replied, looking at the Transamerica Pyramid. The tallest building in the city.

»You don't want to...? Oh no, that's out of the question! We'll be damned if we go up there!«, Eddie threatened, but he had the feeling that he had already lost.

With a powerful jump, Venom managed to get to the facade and made his way up in the shadows. Once there, he continued towards the top, which was waving with its red light. He noticed that Eddie was getting more and more uncomfortable with every jump.

Two meters before the end, he stopped and turned his gaze towards the city. It was a beautiful view to see all the bright lights, but Eddie couldn't concentrate on that. He was more concerned with hoping that they wouldn't slip and die miserably because they had fallen 853 feet. Surely not even Venom would be able to prevent that!

»It's beautiful up here. Maybe you'd like to see it for yourself?«

»Oh, no, no. It's Ok-kkkAAAYYY!«

And suddenly Eddie was crouching on the facade. He wanted to cling to it more tightly with his hands and feet, but Venom had them under control. They had to stick somehow, otherwise they would actually fall.

Eddie only noticed that in passing, because his whole focus was on the fact that he was terrified of heights.

»What is it, Eddie? You don't have to be ashamed of being afraid of heights. You just have to face your fear«, Venom teased him.

He was angry inside, but Eddie couldn't express that now. The only thing he was capable of was wide eyes and quick glances down, which only made everything worse…

and maybe a little stammering.

»L-let me get down right now«, he demanded grimly.

»And what's the magic word?«

»Bast-ard!«

»Oh, no. I don't think that was it…«

Oh, and how Eddie was seething with anger. The candle hadn't been anything compared to this! But he knew he'd been a big mouth again, so he gave in.

»Please«, he said sheepishly.

»Well, now that I think about it, there's one thing I'd like to do first.«

Eddie felt a small tentacle grab something from his pocket and hold it in front of his face. It was his phone, and the bastard knew exactly how to use it. So he had to watch helplessly as Venom put his head next to his and took a selfie like it was the most normal thing in the world. And Eddie cursed inwardly as if there was no tomorrow...

He put the cell phone away again and his head disappeared too, which Eddie saw as a sign that he would soon be back down from this building. Thank God!

But he had done the math without Venom, who had one last trick up his sleeve.

»All right. You wanted me to let them down, that's fine.«

Eddie heard the undertone and opened his eyes wide when he noticed that Venom was pulling back on his hands and feet and was sticking less and less to the facade.

»No no no no no no no no NO!«, was all he screamed as he slid down.

»It's OK, I'll never have such a big mouth again, but PLEASE! Stop«, he begged.

After a few seconds, Venom showed mercy and took full control again, letting Eddie disappear into his body. This stopped the slide towards the ground floor almost immediately.

»What a nice trip«, Venom said with a grin on the way down.

»Asshole!«, Eddie insulted him, but Venom knew that neither that nor any of the other insults Eddie had in mind before were not really meant to be malicious. Venom also knew that Eddie would always have a big mouth and nothing could ever change that.

And besides, there were plenty of other skyscrapers here in San Francisco. Not too far away was the 181 Fremont, which was a proud 810 feet high…