Chapter Text
Anne’s mind was full of confusion and panic. That was to be expected, since the symbiote had just jumped out from a small dog and bonded with her body. But the fact that such emotions were reasonable didn’t make the situation any less frustrating.
Too rushed to explain to Anne verbally, the symbiote conveyed its message through memories: being forced out of Eddie’s body; bonding with the annoying animal; watching helplessly as Eddie was dragged into an elevator by Drake’s men; running with the dog’s tiny, annoying legs to find Anne.
The symbiote could feel her panic deepen. She cared about Eddie, of course she did, they had been—
Oh.
The symbiote had seen these memories through Eddie. Sometimes there were evenings with fancy dinners, other times there were evenings with reruns on the TV. Most of it was old news, things that the symbiote already knew. It knew that they had cared about each other, that they still did.
But this was different. The memories in Eddie’s mind had emotions attached, all of them directed at Anne. Anne’s memories had emotions too, but this time they were all for Eddie. Something inside her was content and nervous and warm all at the same time when they kissed, or when they laughed, or when they talked.
Anne had (and still did, somewhere inside her) appreciated all these small details about Eddie. She enjoyed his smile, and the tattoo on his arm that he usually kept covered. Sometimes she would watch his shows while she was at work, and she would marvel at how outspoken he was. That had ended up being a problem more than once, but she had stuck with him, because…well, she couldn’t be mad at him for trying to help people with his work (that is, until recently).
Before this, the symbiote hadn’t seen the way Eddie would absentmindedly thumb at the ring on his pointer finger. Or how he would play with his necklace when he was nervous; how he laughed at his own unfunny jokes; how when he was explaining something he was passionate about, his hand motions got even more dramatic than usual; how he screamed more than anyone Anne knew when it came to horror movies.
The symbiote hadn’t seen these actions in person. It had hardly spent two days with Eddie, not nearly long enough to even hear him laugh.
So its plan of action was clearer now. Hardly different, really, but this washed away any doubts in its mind. Its form surrounded Anne, and as they barreled toward the Life Foundation it made a suggestion based on the memories it had scanned.
“What? No, I don’t want to kiss Eddie!” she said.
Yes we do, it said. And we should! It could speed up the process of transferring me back to him.
“I...” She paused. “Okay, if it will help him, then okay.” Then, offhandedly, “Jeez, what has he been teaching you?”
All my hosts have given me information, the symbiote said. Including you, Anne.
“Do not blame me for you getting some sort of weird crush on my ex,” Anne said.
A crush? the symbiote said. I don’t think you understand, Anne. I’m going to spend the rest of my life with him.
“Holy shit,” Anne choked out. The symbiote could feel her shock and confusion. Likewise she could sense its conviction, which helped her to melt into a feeling of understanding.
“Are you…?” Anne said, not needing to finish the statement.
Yes, the symbiote replied.
“Oh,” Anne said.
She was silent the rest of their way there, leaving the symbiote more time to look into her mind. There were similar memories of Dan as there were Eddie, but even as the symbiote replayed those it found no interest in them, besides a growing appreciation for Dan’s character.
It scanned through memories of kisses, because if it was going to do this (and it was), it was going to do this right. Frankly, kissing was still a somewhat alien concept to the symbiote. It understood that it was meant for human courtship, but its own species had no need for romance, as their reproduction was semi-asexual—while it did rely on a host’s DNA somewhat, there was no need for any other relationship besides the simple one of host and symbiote.
Anne’s nervousness about saving Eddie had obviously rubbed off on the symbiote, because as it swiped through memory after memory it grew increasingly anxious at the prospect. Kissing, bonding, betraying its species…they were relatively simple tasks, but in its mind they grew complicated.
Once they reached the forest, those thoughts quieted somewhat. They blended into the shadows, swiping the men away like a creature from one of those horror movies. With the final man standing alone, and the symbiote feeling a bit peckish, it closed their jaw around his head and cleanly bit it off. It threw the body to the side.
“Hi, Eddie,” it said, scooping him up to lock their lips. That alone was difficult enough, considering its current form hardly had lips, but it proved itself not to be a problem.
The symbiote was almost hesitant to go back to Eddie, only because there was a warmth in its and Anne’s chest cavity when they kissed Eddie, one that might disappear as it went back. But the hesitation was momentary, because of course it knew the host it wanted to be with.
And to its surprise, that warmth was carried with it to Eddie. The realization of this only made it spread wider through their chest, and the symbiote wanted to process the feeling for just a second, but Eddie’s recent memories informed it of the urgency of their situation. Maybe later, if they survived this, they could talk. Maybe they could get that warmth back.
Considering that feeling was still close to their shared heart, the symbiote got the sense it wouldn’t be too hard to replicate again, not as long as it held these emotions regarding Eddie. And with everything it had seen, everything it wanted to see, it was sure that those feelings weren’t going away anytime soon.