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The corner store is practically deserted this time of night, which is good. Fewer witnesses mean fewer complications. Venom scuttles out of the shadows and through the doorway, annoyed as always by just how bright the lights here are kept.
"Oh, hey Eddie," Mrs. Chen says with a nod.
"Shh," Venom replies, even as it nods in reply. Eddie always returns gestures like that, though other humans don't always. "Eddie is sleeping."
Mrs. Chen pulls a strange face before seeming to accept this. Venom likes her, she doesn't put up a fuss at things like this, or even when they eat criminals in her store.
It walks through the aisles, wondering what to get for Eddie. Something delicious, it thinks- but Eddie eats things Venom doesn't like, sometimes, and thinks unhappy feelings about some of the things that Venom does like. Like that small animal it'd nearly eaten in the park the other week.
Maybe something other than food?
Venom turns down the aisles they don't usually go down as often. Here the smells of chemicals are stronger, though the packages are just as bright. Soap? Sponges? What is- Venom nearly prods at Eddie's mind for clarification, sleepily held safe in its embrace, but stops itself. It can't ask Eddie for help with this when Eddie's the one being given the present! The TV-box was very clear on that point.
Instead Venom retreats to more familiar aisles. This one has its favorite type of chocolate in it, it notes, which is one that Eddie always makes happy noises at eating as well.
"This will do," Venom says out loud, forgetting again that Eddie isn't able to answer; that having Eddie unaware is the whole point. It holds its breath- a metaphor! It learned that from the TV-box, too, though Eddie had rolled his eyes when he'd discovered Venom watching that show- but Eddie doesn't wake up.
It grabs the box and strolls towards the front door.
"Hey!" Mrs. Chen calls out, "You gonna pay for that?"
Venom contemplates her. She's frail, the way all humans are frail, and it would be so easy to reach out and snap her neck, to take what it wants and the rest of the store besides. "Your life is payment enough," it says. Eddie would be sad if she was dead, and sadder still to know that Venom was the one to do it.
She mutters a word in a language that Eddie doesn't consciously know, but Venom easily translates to 'Assholes.' "This is going on Eddie's tab, you hear me?"
"Good day Mrs. Chen," Venom says politely as it exits the store, just as Eddie (usually) does.
The way home is easier. People are scared of them as they pass, but Venom doesn't mind their fear so much when they're just faceless innocents, rather than people Eddie considers friends.
The problem is that Venom is always, always hungry, and the box of chocolates in its hands smells so good.
"No," Venom says sternly. "These are for Eddie."
Inside its embrace, Eddie makes a quiet noise in his sleep, like he heard his name.
Four more blocks until home. The chocolate swings from its claws, and Venom has decided not to look at it anymore. Not to smell it.
Two blocks. Its tongue keeps creeping out of its mouth, drool gathering at the thought of eating just a little piece. Eddie won't notice a little bit missing, would he?
"No," Venom repeats with a shake of its head, and firmly drags its eyes away from the box of chocolates. One more block. And then- there! Home.
Venom sets the box of chocolates down on the table and brings them back to Eddie's bed, retreating inside his body instead of wrapping around him like a suit. Eddie snorts, and turns over onto his stomach immediately, but doesn't show any other signs of waking.
Venom doesn't need to breathe but it sighs in relief anyway, another habit picked up from- actually, it doesn't know if this is from Eddie or the TV-box. Maybe both?
The night is quiet, and peaceful, and long.
Venom watches TV for a little bit while Eddie sleeps, but the box can't hold its attention the way it usually does. There's that package of chocolates just sitting out in the open, smelling up the place with deliciousness... Surely Eddie wouldn't mind if it had just a nibble. He'd understand.
"No!" Venom says to itself, tearing itself away from the sight of the chocolate sitting out in the open like that. Maybe... Maybe something else. Eddie doesn't really mind if Venom eats his food, though he likes it when they eat together more. Venom likes it when they eat together, too, but it's so hungry now...
Just a nibble, Venom thinks as it catches sight of the tempting, wonderful chocolates again, tongue lashing where lips would be on a human. Just a little bite...
In the morning, Eddie wakes up to an apartment strewn with trash, and the still-sometimes-strange feeling of someone else's emotions inside his head. Right now said emotions are mostly guilty.
"What did you do?" he asks around a yawn, scratching at his hair blearily. Nothing's on fire, or covered in blood, so it couldn't have been that bad, surely?
"Sorry, Eddie," Venom says, lurking around the edges of his awareness. "Was supposed to be a surprise."
"What, that you went dumpster diving?" Eddie says, eyeing the trash with newfound suspicion. It doesn't look like dumpster trash, it looks like- well, like dozens of packages of chocolate, is what it looks like. "Did you take my body out without telling me?"
"Sorry," Venom says again, this time quieter and nearly petulant.
"We talked about this," he says, crossing his arms and trying to tell himself it's not ridiculous to argue with the alien symbiote living inside oneself like this.
"You said no fighting, Eddie," it points out. "Never said we couldn't get presents."
"Presents?" Eddie says, catching the important word in that sentence first try. "Empty candy wrappers are presents now?" He can't help but feel a swell of affection for his not-a-parasite, even if its ideas of presents are a bit lacking.
"There was chocolate!" Venom says defensively. "...But I ate it."
"Aww," Eddie coos, partly taking the piss and partly honest. He claps a hand over his chest and then holds the other out for Venom to coalesce into, looking as contrite as a ball of goo is capable of. "Thank you, love," he says, and feels Venom perk up happily.
"Not upset?" it asks.
"We're gonna have another long talk about hijacking my body while I'm asleep," Eddie promises, but he shakes his head, a smile tugging at his lips. "But no. I'm not angry."
"Good," Venom says, relaxing contentedly to butt against his shoulder like an affectionate cat. "Because Mrs. Chen says we are banned from the store until we pay our bill."
Well, at least that explains where all the chocolate came from.