Chapter Text
The library they found was a quiet place with little to no people coming inside. Eddie chose the computer located at the farthest corner of the room, then he searched every news website he knew of and tried to find the few people who were safe enough for him to contact.
He soon discovered that his mail adress didn't exist. So far, none of his usual means of communication worked: his phone was disconnected, his mail addresses and messenger apps accounts did not exist, and the very name of Edward Charles Allan Brock was unknown to the search engines he used. He leaned onto his chair, feeling pretty much like a male Dorothy and his monstrous dog. What a bummer.
"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
"Why do you call me Toto, Eddie?"
"No reason. I hope you have a plan B, V. We're in California but it's not the California we know."
"Try to contact Anne!"
"I don't know if it will help. I don't exist here. Besides..."
"What?"
Eddie pointed to one of the tab he had opened in the browser. It was the website of a flowershop located near the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. On the front page, you could clearly see the photo of a smiling Anne in an apron, a huge bouquet of sunflowers in her arms.
"She's not a lawyer here, she's the owner of a small flowershop in San Francisco with her husband Dan."
"Dan is here too?"
"Yeah, and according to the website, he's a landscape architect."
"Weird."
"Tell me about it."
Venom coiled around Eddie's neck to put his head on his shoulder. Eddie glanced at the librarian he had passed at the entrance, but she had not moved at all since he sat down in front of the computer. She was busy reading something on her phone.
"What are we going to do, Eddie?"
"I don't have a fucking idea."
The internet was a good source of informations, but if the thing he was searching for didn't exist in the first place, there was no way he could find the answers to all the numerous questions he had. It was hopeless. He distractedly snuggled against Venom.
"That's crazy," he sighed. "There's nothing about Cletus Kasady and Frances Barrison in the internet. It's as if they don't exist here. Or if they do, they're not famous."
"I don't really care about those losers."
"I don't either, but I thought we could start from there. Hey, now that I think about it, you told me you didn't know how we came here, right?"
"Yeah. I didn't do it."
"I know, I know. What I don't understand is why you licked the TV when this guy appeared onscreen. Is he like, an old partner or something?"
Eddie tried to look nonchalant when he said that, but his heart was beating fast and his palms were sweating. He hoped Venom didn't notice.
"I never met him," Venom said, strangely calm. "The other Us did."
"The other... Us?"
"The Hive did. We share the memory, and our memory told me I know him."
"O... kay?"
"That's the thing I wanted to show you before we came here. The memory of the Hive. The knowledge we shared for millions of years. This person is one of the forces we hunt."
"Forces?"
"He's one of the many units of his kind. He never met me and I never met him, but his existence is linked to Us. That's how it is. That's how it will always be. There was no one like him in your world, but now he's here and I must find him."
Eddie made a face, scratched his head in wonder. The Hive. Symbiotes. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something big at play here, something he could almost touch but at the same time, it felt like it was out of his reach. What a weird feeling.
"I'm not sure I understand. You're telling me you don't know him, you never met this guy and he doesn't know who you are either, but somehow you have some sort of... intergalactic bond? And you need to find him?"
Venom curled around his body, rocked him against his black mass to comfort him. Why he needed to get comforted was a notion Eddie didn't quite grasp, but it was nice nonetheless. He leaned against his partner and let him lick his neck. It gave him goosebumps.
"We should stop, V. We're in public."
"No one is looking. I'm trying to make you feel better."
Eddie let himself get coddled by his partner, just a little. Venom was right: he was a sack of nerves right now. He needed something to calm down, and there was nothing better for that than one of his other half's special hugs.
"You're such a big softie," Eddie smiled.
That didn't solve their problem, but if there was anything that Eddie was good at, it was deluding himself into believing that his life was on the right tracks. He already did it several times before, what's one more? He just needed to tell himself that he was not alone in this endeavor. Easy, right? Venom and him were a force to be reckoned with. They would overcome this ordeal with a few flicks of Venom's body and they would go home to celebrate their triumphant return with Anne and Dan.
"So what now?" Eddie said. "We find your friend?"
"He's not my friend."
"Let me look at this guy's info. I believe his name was... Peter Parter?"
"Parker," Venom corrected him. "He's the Spider-Man."
"What kind of freak calls himself after the name of an insect?"
"Spiders are not insects."
"You know what I mean."
Eddie did not have to search for long: the news about the revelation of Spider-Man's secret identity was on the front page of every news website he found in the internet, starting from the Daily Bugle, a New York newspaper that seemed very biased towards the vigilante. Eddie found several articles criticizing Peter Parker, the boy behind the persona of Spider-Man.
"Wow, this guy had done a lot of damage according to those people," Eddie frowned. "He created fake giants with elemental powers using drones he inherited from a billionaire who died during a war? I don't have the reference here, but the man who gave him the drones is treated like a hero? Weird."
"It's him," Venom typed a few words on the browser. "Tony Stark. Iron Man."
The search showed a middle-aged man with black hair and a stylish beard, a businessman. On other photos, Stark was inside a red and gold armor he had created himself, according to the very consequent sources about his life. A genius billionaire, a superhero. For Eddie, it didn't count as such.
"Another freak in a costume? he groaned. "How many of them do they have in this world?"
"Apparently a lot," Venom opened another page. "Look at all those losers."
Eddie did look. The image he saw was unbelievable: there were at least a dozen of people dressed in strange clothes or with strange bodies, posing together in front of a giant red logo that said "Avengers". According to the article, these people were official superheroes who saved the world at multiple times.
"Wow, we're really not in our world anymore," Eddie breathed. "Would you look at that? Superheroes, like in the comics."
"They don't exist in your world?"
"If they do, the public is not in the confidence. Imagine all the scoops I could have with these freaks at home!"
"And Spider-Man? Is he a superhero too?"
Eddie read a few other articles about Spider-Man. It took a little time, because the amount of informations he had to go through was huge, but he managed to get a grasp of his personal history.
"Yeah, looks like he is, until today. He's this Iron-Man's successor? Looks like he became conceited with all the power he had in his hands. He decided to become some sort of superior superhero, but he killed a lot of people in the process."
"That means he's a villain, right? Can we eat his brain?"
"Didn't you say that his existence was linked to yours?"
"It will be when we'll eat his brain."
Eddie shook his head, annoyed. When Venom was in his brain-eater alien mode, it was hard to make him concentrate at the task at hand. He ignored him to read all the informations he could find about this boy. One detail made him tick.
"Wait a minute... He's only sixteen?"
"Is that important?"
Eddie pursed his lips. Good grief. Now he had to explain the difference between a child and an adult to Venom. He hated his life.
"He's a kid! He already has superpowers then a dead billionaire gave him the equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction? Who decided he was mature enough to use it?"
"Why does it matter?"
"It does, a lot. At sixteen, I was trying to impress the girls in my class, I was not fighting supervillains! He's the equivalent of a child soldier. Of course he would be unhinged!"
"I thought people could drive at sixteen."
"It's not the same. You can't compare driving a car and fighting... an army of alien warriors? Holy shit! This world is fucking mad! Thanos, the Snap, the Blip, wow... They're all crazy here! No wonder he became a villain himself!"
Page after page, Eddie read about the huge events that happened in this world, the most of them taking place in the last fifteen years. Superheroes and villains and alien conquerors were real here, as well as nordic gods and... a Captain America? Was that a joke?
"I feel like I stumbled into the Twilight Zone. Is this the real life? Or is it fantasy?"
"We need to find Spider-Man. We will have our answers."
"You think he knows something?"
Venom didn't answer. Eddie sighed. Great. Now they were chasing after a sixteen year-old kid. As if they needed the attention.
"Okay, I'll listen to you this time. And before you ask again, we're not eating his brain and we're not killing him, even if he's really evil."
"Okay. But don't complain if he attacks you."
"Why would he attack me? We don't know each other. I don't even know if it will change anything to find him or not. Maybe there's no special reason why we're here. Maybe we just needed a place to hide, and the universe fulfilled our wish. He just happens to be someone your Hive knows."
Eddie closed his eyes and leaned against his chair. A new world, with none of the people he knew and loved, but also none of the problems Venom and him encountered. They could have a fresh start here, with no one knowing who they were and nothing to stop them from doing what they wanted. He stroke one of Venom's tendrils, one that came out of his shirt to wrap itself around his hand.
"Everything will be okay," he said, half for Venom and half for himself. "We'll find a way to go home, and if that doesn't work, we'll make this place our new home. You're used to travel around, right?"
"I don't care about the place," Venom rubbed Eddie's cheek with his face. "As long as I'm with you, Eddie."
"You'll make me cry, you goof."
Eddie stood up, stretched himself and went out of the library without looking back. He had only the bare minimum with him when they came into this world. His clothes consisted of one hawaiian shirt, a dirty t-shirt and shorts with his wallet inside. Even his shoes were a pair of flip-flops he found in a trash can. He still had his passport and a few dollars to spare, but without an official identity in this world, he would not go very far with them. He already tried to use his credit card, to no avail: there was no Eddie Brock in this world, so no bank account existed. Disappointing, but expected.
"What now, Eddie?"
"Now, we have to find a way to make some money," Eddie groaned. "I'm not sure I can work as a journalist without any accreditation... Forget about it, I don't even have an existence here. People will wonder where I come from. We're literally illegal immigrants here."
"Is that the case?"
"Not sure, I don't want to find out and attract anyone's attention. They have superheroes here, their government must be used to people with powers. You remember what happened to Barrison? She was detained in this top-secret institute for freaks for twenty-five years. No thanks."
Venom growled, but did not reply. He knew Eddie was right.
"First thing first," Eddie said. "I'm starving. What about using a few dollars to buy something with chicken for me and a bar of chocolate for you?"
Venom wriggled under his clothes.
"Now you're talking!"
Eddie went to a food truck he saw outside the library and ordered a chicken burger with a chocolate brownie that he gave to Venom. The symbiote ate the whole cake with an excited snap of his tongue. Eddie felt his cheeks getting hot.
Did he just find Venom... cute? These feelings he started to develop for his symbiote since the fight against Carnage were getting out of control. What would come next? A one-sided crush?
"Eddie, you're red," Venom said. "Are you sick?"
"No, it's... nothing. It's hot, no? Yeah, I'm just hot."
He resisted the urge to facepalm. Real smooth here, Brock.
"Do you want me to cool you down? We could go swimming."
"I'm fine."
Eddie threw away the rest of his burger: he had lost his appetite. Venom was staring at him. It was at times like these that Eddie regretted his bond with his partner. He sometimes wondered if Venom could guess what was on his mind.
"We should find a place to crash," he croaked, his voice trembling with emotion. "I feel like I can drop at any moment now."
"Do you know a place?"
"I think I do. You don't mind being taken for a homeless?"
"We are homeless, Eddie."
"I guess we are."
Fortunately, Eddie knew the town of San Luis Obispo and nothing seemed to have changed between his original world and this one. He went to a shelter located in the worst neighborhood of the town and registered his name with the volunteer at the entrance, a black man named Joe. He was allowed to stay for a few days and to eat two meals per day, which was more than he hoped for. He thanked Joe and went to take a shower with the soap he was offered for his stay.
"We're safe for now," he told Venom. "We have a place to stay and even a few meals. I'll start to find a job tomorrow."
"Yes, Eddie."
Eddie found Venom strangely tame, but he thought it was because of the situation: they were in a foreign yet familiar place, with little choice but to improvise. He needed to know this world better before doing anything rash.
There was already a queue at the shower. Eddie didn't really care. The men present were not openly hostile, but a few of them glanced at him with a look of suspicion. An old man with a white beard even clutched his bag with a panicky expression on his face. Eddie shrugged.
"Calm down, I just want to take a shower, not to rob you."
The old man rushed inside when a shower stall became available. Eddie patiently waited for his turn, then he went into the shower stall and began to scrub his body as vigorously as possible. The day had been long, he needed to get rid of the feeling of helplessness he had since he came into this new and confusing world.
Their diner was served in the dining room: a watered down vegetable soup with a dry tuna sandwich. Eddie sat alone on a bench to eat, then he headed to the dormitory. The bed they gave him was a simple canvas bed in the middle of a huge room with several people shoved inside, but it was dry and he didn't need to look for bed bugs and vermins. He lay down with a groan of delight and immediately fell asleep.
The next day, he woke up with a start: one of his neighbors had tried to rummage in his pockets but before he could even touch him, Venom had knocked him out. Eddie stared at the guy's body laying on the ground.
"You really needed to hit him that hard?"
"He was trying to take your wallet, Eddie!" Venom roared. "Be glad I didn't eat his brain! I'm getting hungry!"
"We're lucky we were the last people in the room. What if people saw you?"
Venom pouted. Eddie sighed, then he put on his shoes and went to the dining room. The breakfast was a simple peanut butter and jam sandwich, something he hated with a passion. He heard Venom protest, but he just ignored it and ate his awful sandwich with the most awkward smile he ever put on his face while eating. Then, he went to the entrance of the building.
Joe was reading a magazine at the desk. Eddie coughed to attract his attention.
"Morning, dude!" the man said with an easy smile. "Slept well?"
"That was okay. Say, Joe, do you know where I can find a job around here? I'd do anything, as long as it's legal and I'm paid."
"Hah, that's the million dollars question!" Joe shook his head. "Do you have a talent in a domain? Can you cook, or clean, or do anything more specific?"
"I'm a decent cook but don't ask me for too much, I know how to clean and I guess I write well? Oh, and I can drive a motorcycle. Just don't place me next to a fire because I'm not good with them. And loud sounds, too."
"That's a lot of conditions, man."
"It's my health, I can't compromise with it."
Joe shrugged, wrote a few words on a piece of paper and gave it to Eddie.
"Here, I wrote three addresses here. I know they're hiring, try over there."
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
The three places Joe gave him were a restaurant, a toy shop and a supermarket. Eddie didn't really have the clothes to work in a shop or a supermarket so he tried the restaurant first. It was a modest Italian restaurant that was searching for a dishwasher and it was not too far from the shelter. Perfect.
Angelo, the owner, was a grumpy middle-aged man who always moved his hands while he talked. Eddie saw him as soon as he came into the restaurant and went to ask him about the job. Angelo observed Eddie's body with a serious face before nodding reluctantly.
"You'll do. I don't have a choice, there's no one else and we open in fifteen minutes."
"Good to know I'm the perfect choice for the job."
"You're a smartass, huh? I don't hate that. Just do your job and we're good."
Angelo gave him an apron, showed him the huge double sink he used for washing the dishes and he let him work by himself for the rest of the lunch. Eddie spent the next four hours scrubbing pots, plates and glasses until his hands hurt and he couldn't look at a spoon anymore without gagging. At the end of the shift, Angelo came to see him with his pay and a paper bag.
"Good job! I thought you were a wimp but you did well. Here, your pay. Can you come back tonight at 6pm?"
"Yeah, sure."
Eddie looked at his pay. Forty-four dollars for four hours of work. It was not much, but it would pay for a few chocolates and a maybe a better meal than what he ate at the shelter.
"Here," Angelo gave him the paper bag. "Leftover lasagna and chocolate mousse. You told me you lived at the shelter at the end of Lincoln Street, right?"
"Yes, Sir. Thanks!"
"Don't forget to come back tonight!"
Eddie took the paper bag and went to a deserted park to eat his lasagna. Angelo put it in a small cardboard box and he even added a bamboo knife and fork inside, as if he was a real customer. He looked grumpy and mean at the first impression, but maybe there was more to him than his cold exterior? Whatever it was, Eddie was thankful.
Venom came out to sniff at the food. His eyes sparkled at the sight of the chocolate mousse.
"He likes you," he said. "He gave you a fresh meal."
"Yeah, nice people still exist, huh? Or is it something they do in this world? Oh, yummy!"
The lasagna was indeed delicious. Eddie ate everything in ten minutes while it only took a moment for Venom to gobble the chocolate mousse. Both of them burped after their excellent meal; Eddie even went to lie down on the grass. The work tired him out, he needed to keep his strength for the evening.
"Hey V, wake me up before we go back to work, right? And take care of our money."
"Yes, Eddie. Sweet dreams."
Venom coiled around his body, put his head on Eddie's chest, just under his clothes. Eddie tried very hard not to blush. He didn't know if he pulled it off or not.
Note to himself: buy a portable mirror later. Eddie wasn't one to blush easily (not to his knowledge anyway), but Venom's constant presence changed a lot of things in him, the first being his sexual orientation. He didn't even know he could develop any romantic or sexual feeling for anything other than a pretty young woman before, but his horizon seemed to have broadened these last months. Now, he was considering the possibility of dating a giant black alien with too many teeth and a taste for brains. That was scary and if he was a little bit honest, exciting too.
"I'm glad you're here with me, V," he whispered to his partner. "In this hell of a mess. I'm glad I'm not alone."
"I'm glad it's you," Venom said.
Eddie covered his face with his hands. He was sure of it now: he was probably blushing, because his cheeks felt really hot. God, his feelings for this pile of goo increased every day and he didn't know if Venom had some way to read his mind but if that was the case, he was screwed. Any moment now, his feelings could gush out of him like a pot boiling over the fire (the fire being his love, yeah, his mind was cringey enough to imagine such a cheesy comparison).
"Hey, it's okay, are you scared, Eddie?"
Eddie didn't answer. His voice was stuck in his throat.
"Eddie? You're sleeping?"
"Stay with me," Eddie finally managed to say. "Never leave me."
"Silly Eddie, of course I won't leave you!" Venom said happily. "We're an item!"
Eddie's body shook. Were aliens able to understand the subtext in human language? An item. What a word to use.
"Yeah," Eddie croaked. "You and I, V. Us."
After that, Eddie wanted to nap but sleep eluded him. He tossed and turned on the grass, to no avail: he was constantly thinking about Venom's last words. An item. Were they? Or was he deluding himself again?
Eddie stood up and decided to look for a phone store. He needed a way to have access to internet, even without wifi. He had just enough money to purchase a prepaid SIM card and a charger for his phone, that he tucked inside the pocket of his shorts for good measure.
"I need to buy a good bag with my next pay," he told Venom once he came out of the store. "And portable food. We don't have the money to go to New York for now, maybe we'll need to walk and work along the way."
"It will take a long time to go by feet. You'll need better shoes."
"That's why we need a job, V," Eddie sighed. "That's capitalism for you."
"Can we have Angelo's chocolate mousse again? It was very yummy."
"Let's get back to work for now. At the end of the shift, I'll ask him if I can have another pot, okay?"
"Yeah!"
Angelo was waiting for him when he came back, at 6pm sharp. Eddie directly went to the sink and started to wash the first ustensils the cooks used for the first service, as well as a few glasses and cutlery the waitresses needed for the restaurant. One of them, a pretty blonde named Mandy, winked at Eddie when she came to take the a few glasses directly from the drying rack.
"I think she likes you," one of the line cooks said.
His name was Donnie, he was Angelo's nephew. Eddie shrugged. He wasn't really attracted to the girl, but it was one thing he had noticed with his own love life: once he had set his sight on someone, others didn't appeal to him anymore. That thought comforted him in the fact that he was indeed attracted to Venom, or at least he saw him in a romantic prospect.
That didn't help to appease his worries at all.
"We barely exchanged three words," he distractedly said. "I'm not really dressed to seduce anyone. Did I do anything to make her think I was interested?"
Donnie chuckled.
"Don't mind her. I know how she is, she likes bad boys and lost causes. Her last boyfriend was a junkie."
"Thanks for the tip."
"No, it's not what I meant!" Donnie winced. "I mean... Okay, it was exactly what I meant, but I didn't want to offend you, okay? You're a good guy."
"Don't worry, I know I'm not the best dating choice in town," Eddie chuckled. "Thanks for the good guy part."
"And Mandy, even if she's tacky, she still has good taste with her crushes' looks."
That made Eddie laugh out loud. Now he knew why Donnie was staring at him in the morning. That was flattering, in a way. He winked at the cook.
"Did I hear you well? Did you just say I'm handsome?"
"It's not... Well, you're... fine."
"Fine?"
"Yeah. I would totally tap that ass, no offense."
Eddie was not surprised, but he still froze. Fortunately, he was saved from answering by Angelo's intervention. Their boss glared at Donnie, threw a dishcloth at him and growled:
"Don't flirt with the new guy, Donnie, do I have to tell you that again?"
"Mandy did it first!"
"I'll talk to her, do your job! And stop being a damn flirt, I don't pay you for that!"
Both Eddie and Donnie went back to work in a hurry. Venom's head came out from under Eddie's shirt to discreetly look at the surroundings.
"Eddie, is that person a male?"
"Yeah, don't come out."
"Why was he flirting with you?"
Eddie stopped washing the plate he had in his hands to stare at Venom.
"Why not? He's probably gay or bi, and he told me he's single."
"What's gay or bi?"
"You know, when... someone is attracted to people of the same gender?"
"Oh. Is that a thing on Earth?"
"Yeah, why? You didn't know?"
"I studied the social norms in your memory, but I didn't know you humans had several ways to reproduce."
"We don't," Eddie sighed. "We can't reproduce with people of the same gender. Usually not, but there are very few exceptions."
"You can't? So why are you flirting? Isn't that a courting ritual you need to do in order to reproduce?"
Eddie's mind went blank. Did Venom just say... He was supposed to have access to Eddie's memories, so how could he not know what gay or bi was? They lived in San Francisco for god's sake!
"It's not always for reproductive purposes," he whispered, glancing around to see if people heard him. "We also flirt because we want sex, or a romantic connection."
Venom's pupils blinked rapidly, then he suddenly came back into Eddie's body. Eddie was about to call him when Angelo appeared behind him.
"Hey, you okay, newbie? Your hands are not moving."
"Yeah, I just... zoned out for a moment."
"Snap out of it! We don't have time for daydreams!"
"Yes, okay, I'm washing the dishes!"
Eddie didn't dare to stop working to see what Venom was up to. It would have to wait for the end of the job, after he got paid. Maybe he could beg Angelo for another chocolate mousse? Venom seemed to like it.
In the end, Eddie did not need to do that. Angelo gave him another bag with some leftover spaghetti carbonara and the same chocolate mousse Venom liked so much. Eddie took the bag with his pay and profusely thanked Angelo.
"I won't need you tomorrow, Franck comes back from the hospital. If you find another job elsewhere, tell them I'm recommending you, they can even call me if they want."
"Okay, thanks again."
"Don't mention it, kid. Now scram."
Eddie happily followed his advice. He went back to the park where he was in the afternoon, found a bench under a street light to sit on and opened the bag. It was better to eat this while it was still hot.
"V, it's diner time! Wash your hands!"
No answer. Eddie started to feel uneasy.
"V? There's chocolate mousse."
Finally, a head and a tendril came out of his shirt. Venom grabbed the pot, ate the entirety of the dessert in one bite and came back into Eddie's body.
"Okay, what's your problem? Is there something bothering you?"
"No. Eat your meal."
That was the whole extent of his conversation. Eddie was so hungry he didn't wait to eat the whole dish. After he finished and threw away the trash, he was ready to confront Venom.
"Hey, V, I'm full now. Wanna talk?"
Venom timidly came out. He was looking sheepish for once.
"What was that? Why are you acting so weird?"
"I went to check your memories."
"Hah? And what did you discover?"
Venom looked even more uneasy.
"I only studied your species on the surface. I thought Anne was your exclusive mate."
"My exclusive mate? What the hell?"
"It's something that happened with one of the species I got into. They had mates they shared their life with, and once my host's mate died he was so distressed he let himself die too."
Eddie stared at his symbiote. That was a strange story, but when he thought about the obsessive behavior Venom developed with Anne, it explained a lot.
"So that's why you insisted I go back with Anne? Because you thought she was my... mate?"
"Yeah. Kasady did it with this crazy woman."
"They were nuts," Eddie groaned. "Couples devoted to each other do exist, but in that specific case, they were psychopaths. Not a good model."
"I think I understand. So you don't need to stay all your life with the same mate?"
"Nah. We don't even need to choose someone from the opposite sex. You can be with whoever you want to be, as long as you don't hurt anyone. There are people who choose to remain alone, or to live with animals rather than other humans."
"Like us?"
"What?"
"You choose to live with me, an alien."
"Oh, right. Like that. Yeah, platonic partners in crime."
"We're platonic?"
Eddie froze. Was that a question? Why did Venom formulate that as a question?
"What do you mean?"
"We live in the same body. Platonic is when you don't touch each other, right?"
"Not really," Eddie sighed in relief. "It's complicated."
"Is it another human thing I don't get?"
"Platonic means you don't have... huh... any sexual intercourse."
"Oh. Those people exist?"
"Yeah, but I'm not one of them."
Eddie wanted to hit himself. Why did he add this last part? Venom could draw wrong conclusions from his statement! What if he guessed what Eddie was saying? What if he hated that? What if...
"Eddie... EDDIE!!!"
"Present!" Eddie stiffened on the bench. "I mean, yes? What is it?"
"You were panicking in your head."
"No I wasn't!"
"You were. You always look more stupid than usual when you do that."
"What do you mean, more stupid than usual?"
"Why are you like that, Eddie?"
Eddie didn't look at his partner. He was too embarrassed for that. He coughed, walked around to hide his shame, but it was probably looking weird from an outside view. He then took a deep breath, tried to smile but something told him it was looking more like a crooked smile or a grimace than a real, happy and sincere smile. Great, now he was ranting in his head. Was there anything he could do to make Venom forget whatever expression he had?
"If I tell you I'm having an existential crisis right now, will you leave me alone?"
"Why are you having an existential crisis?"
"Don't ask me! Please! Leave me alone!"
"But..."
"Shut up!"
Venom growled and slithered around his body, suddenly very agitated.
"Not again? I thought we were past that! We are an item now! A team! Partners in crime!"
"That's the problem! I don't want to be an item!"
"WHAT?!"
"Do you even know what it means? Of course not! You didn't even know that people could be gay or bi!"
"Nonsense! I know all about it now!"
"OF COURSE YOU DON'T, YOU BIG AMOEBA BLOB!!! YOU PROBABLY NEVER HAD SEX IN YOUR RIDICULOUSLY LONG LIFE!!!"
"I DON'T NEED TO HAVE YOUR SEX, STUPID EDDIE!!! DIDN'T YOU TELL ME IT WAS SEX OR A ROMANTIC CONNECTION?!"
Eddie froze in shock.
"What?"
"I SAID..."
"No, I heard you the first time," Eddie interrupted him. "Why did you say it was sex or a romantic connection?"
"Is it not one or the other? I choose the romantic connection!"
Eddie remained speechless for a long minute, and there was a very good reason for that: his brain stopped functioning. At least, the part that took care of the cognitive functions did.
"Eddie? Eddie, are you broken?"
"You want... Excuse me, did I hear you well? You want a romantic connection?"
"Yes. You told me it's possible, right?"
"You... and I. We... both. Together."
"Yes. You like me, and I... like you," Venom grumbled in a softer voice. "People who like each other are an item... a couple, right?"
"We can remain friends. Really good friends."
"What kind of friends share the same body and the same digestive system?"
"I see."
"What do you mean, you see? What do you see?"
"You... do know that a romantic relationship often have sex too, right?"
Venom pouted. What a cutie, Eddie thought with a start. He was really the cutest amoeba blob in the universe.
"I... guess. That's the thing you did with Anne and other women before her. When you insert your middle member in her..."
"Nope, it's not the same!" Eddie said before Venom could utter the raunchiest parts. "Anne is a woman. None of us is one."
"So how does it work?"
"I don't have a fucking clue. You don't have a... hum... vagina, do you?"
"Do you want a vagina?"
"No! I mean... I do, but... Oh god, why do we even have this conversation when we're lost in another world? Can't my life be boring for once?"
Venom transformed into his human form but stayed out of Eddie's body. Before Eddie could protest, the symbiote took him into his arms to hug him.
"Sssh, Eddie. I'm here."
"You're such a big softie," Eddie sighed.
He leaned into Venom's body, closed his eyes and hugged his partner back. It was... nice, to be into these powerful arms, to feel Venom's presence and the tender way he cuddled him.
"You're serious?" he whispered, his mind still reeling from the discovery. "You really want to have something romantic with me?"
"If you let me. Is that allowed?"
"You want the truth? I don't know. I don't even know how to date a regular human man, so a parasitic alien who eats brains..."
"That's new territory for me too," Venom growled. "And I'm not a parasite."
Eddie raised his head to look at him, a smile on his face.
"Hey, is that shyness I hear in your voice? Oh, my big virgin alien is awkward with love, huh?"
Venom growled again but didn't answer. His eyes were cast on the side, he looked as awkward as a teenager in love. For some reason, Eddie also found this extremely cute.
God, he was so deep in this he was practically drowning in the Pacific Ocean. Such fools they were, both of them. Eddie squeezed Venom's body and buried his head into his chest.
"Let's try this one step at a time," he said, feeling happier by the second. "We're both novices in this and last time I tried to share this kind of bond with someone, it didn't end well. Now I want to take my time and be sure we're both on the same wavelength before getting... physical."
"You're scared, huh?" Venom deadpanned.
"I'm not pissing myself, but only because I'm dehydrated."
Venom laughed out loud. Eddie did too. They were two fools trying to make sense of these strange feelings. Venom had a long way to go, but so had Eddie.
"Should we go back to the shelter?" Venom said.
"Yeah, I'm beat. Tomorrow, let's buy a bag and find a way to live in this world."
"Let's go find Peter Parker," Venom said. "I have questions for him."
"Okay, if that's what you want. We should try heading to San Francisco first. From there, we can find a way to go to New York, where this boy is."
"Is it safe for us?"
"I guess so. There's no Eddie Brock and no Venom in this world, so there's also no one hunting us."
"Okay. I trust you, Eddie."
Eddie pulled Venom down to kiss him on the mouth. Venom froze, but he relaxed when he felt his host's tongue tentatively lick his face. His own enormous tongue came into Eddie's mouth, moved and wriggled inside until he transformed Eddie into a moaning mess.
"You're delicious, Eddie."
Eddie's knees became weak. Venom carried him in his arms, bridal style, before he could fell on the ground. It was the epitome of romantic. It was so embarrassing he could die. Eddie snuggled against his new boyfriend, happier than he ever was before.
"Let's go back," he breathed. "Before we go too far and I have an even bigger existential crisis."
Venom kissed him again, but without the tongue this time.
"Yes, Eddie."