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Eddie would not even have heard the soft meowing coming from the alley if Venom wouldn’t have begged him to go check out the rats hanging around this place. They were hungry, but to be fair, they were always hungry.
Eddie, what’s that sound?
Eddie was still recovering from eating a living rat (don’t think about it too much, he’d learned) and didn’t really hear anything before focusing hard. It sounded like a faint meow, maybe from an alley cat. No. Too high for that.
“A kitten maybe.”
What’s a kitten, Eddie?
“Well,” Eddie said, looking around to find where the sound came from, “remember Mr.Belvedere?”
That triangle-eared creature we weren’t allowed to eat?
“Yes.” He kneels down by a pile of boxes. “Kittens are the baby version of one of those.”
Can we eat those?
“No, we can’t.”
Why not, Eddie?
“Because they’re cute.” He lifts up a box and the meows get louder. “And we don’t eat cute things.”
That’s why we don’t eat Eddie.
“Yeah.” He blushed heavily. “That’s – yeah.”
He blinked and shook his head, trying very hard to not think about the fact that his alien symbiote called him cute. And that he actually thinks his alien symbiote is sorta cute too. And oh, his alien symbiote feels his feelings, so…
Kitten. He removes another box and the meowing gets even louder. At first he sees nothing in the dark, but then he sees the black shadow in the corner. The tiniest black shadow, almost smaller than a mouse. A meowing mouse.
“There you are,” he says. “All alone.”
Is that the kitten, Eddie?
“Yup,” he says, sticking his hand out slowly. “Hey, buddy.”
We like him.
“You do?”
The kitten lets out another meow but doesn’t come out. He doesn’t attack either. So that’s a good sign. When Eddie touches his fur he doesn’t lash out, just meows again.
What are we doing, Eddie?
“I gotta get him out of here,” he replies. “He’ll die here.”
Die?
“Yes, it’s cold and wet and he doesn’t have food.”
He doesn’t really know what happens, but he suddenly feels very cold and hungry and most of all, alone. It’s like the water after his fight with Riot. And then he realizes it’s not his own memory. It’s Venom’s.
“Is that how you felt too?”
Venom doesn’t have to say anything to make it clear that he did.
Eddie came. We’re us again.
“Yes,” Eddie said. “We are.”
He carefully picked up the kitten and the tiny teeth bit into the skin of his hands, but he wasn’t bothered much.
“It’s okay,” he said out loud. “I’m here to help.”
The kitten didn’t really fight much. Maybe it was too weak or it had accepted its faith already. Eddie pressed it softly against his chest.
“What are we gonna do with it?”
We keep, Eddie.
“Keep?” He never thought of keeping him. Who’d keep a cat in a house like his.
We keep.
“So you can eat him, right?”
We don’t eat cute.
He means it. Eddie can feel it. Venom really, truly wants them to have this kitten.
“I guess we can keep him…”
Having a kitten in the house was quite a change. When he first moved in here it’d been so quiet, but since Venom his mind was never quite quiet again. And now, there was a little roommate. Venom had kept his promise and had never even suggested eating the kitten.
At first he had kept its distance from Eddie, shivering under the couch, only coming out to eat, but he’d come out more and more and now the kitten was laying on the floor, playing with a piece of string. He hadn’t realized how much he missed having a cat around. It was like he didn’t realize how alone he’d been before Venom. It was like relaxing again after a long day, or smiling again after so much bad had happened.
Eddie?
“Yes?”
Is this “kitten” our offspring?
Eddie’s heart forgot to beat for a second. “Our what?”
We have observed some humans calling their cats their babies. Babies are human offspring, aren’t they, Eddie?
“I… have you been on the internet again?”
Irrelevant.
Eddie sighed. “It’s just a thing people say.”
Will we call kitten our offspring too?
“Anna and I never did.”
Venom huffed. We are superior. We are stronger. Our offspring will be strong.
Eddie looked over at the tiny kitten playing with the string. He did look stronger, at least. But more importantly, happier.
We are strong together. Stronger than anything.
“Yes, V,” Eddie said. “Stronger than anyone.”
I’ll protect us, Eddie, and our offspring.
Eddie had given up on trying to correct him. Yes, the kitten was their offspring now, which was… well, it felt good.
“So we’re parents now?”
Yes.
“You know, parents are usually married.”
Married? What is married?
“It’s when two people are bound together – “
Then we’re already married.
Eddie blushed and swallowed. “Bound by the law.”
We’re stronger than this law.
Eddie laughed.
We’re married and we have offspring. We are family.
“We’re family?”
Yes, my Eddie. Kitten and us.
“That sounds nice,” Eddie admits. “Do you… do you know what it means to be married?”
Bound. We’re bound.
“Yes, we are, but – ” It’s so hard to say. I think I love you. Do you love me? “But…”
We love us. We love Eddie.
Eddie falls asleep with the kitten purring next to his head and the sound of Venom purring in his head. He doesn’t even wonder if he picked it up from their pet. He’s just, for the first time, simply happy.