Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was a point in his life, not too long ago, in which he truly believed he reached the proverbial rock bottom. One wrong move, one simple mistake and instead of living on top of the hill, he was soaring down into the deep and dark abyss faster than he could comprehend.

It was scary and left him shaken to the core. As most heights and falls make him feel.

No job, no girlfriend, no friends, no home…just a loud neighbor, a couple cockroaches and a bottle of beer to keep him company.

Things couldn’t get any worse – not without him ending up dead or at least on suicide watch. In the end, things got better.

He got better.

As it turns out, when two losers join forces it can only go one of two ways – either they touch a brand new and deeper rock bottom, or they get up and climb up.

And from what Eddie had the opportunity to observe, Venom is all about the climb. It’s just his luck to end up with an alien entity that revels in climbing up high buildings to enjoy the view. It’s also just his luck to consider that the weirdest part of the whole thing.

Other people would be freaked out by the alien entity part – and even more freaked out by said alien entity living inside them 24/7 and on occasion turning into a giant lizard-y creature that bites people’s heads off and eats them for dessert.

Eddie is not like other humans, is what Venom told him before, when he mused about it during one of their little snack hunts.

Because that’s a thing…snack hunts. And no, it’s not tater tots. As Hannibal would put it – it’s people.

But as usual, when something in his life goes right, there’s about ten things waiting around the corner to go wrong. In this case, the ten things were ten thugs hired by some shady supersecret agency that got wind of what happened in the Life foundation all those months ago and decided an alien entity is exactly what they need.

Usually, Eddie would just smirk and let Venom do what Venom does best – have the ten thugs for dinner. Usually, thugs don’t know every single one of their weaknesses and exploit them right away.

So when he though he reached the bottomest of bottoms after losing his job and Annie, he thought wrong. There is always a new deep bottom of the pit to reach no matter how far down people think they are already. Or how high they think they managed to climb back up.

That is how he now finds himself in what he started to refer to as Agent Smith’s personal torture dungeon. Cold, hungry and worst of all – alone.

The word gained a new meaning after Venom found his home slithering around his organs. With Venom, he could never truly be alone.

But he’s not with Venom now.

In fact, he’s not been with Venom for a while. His tired brain can’t even pinpoint how many days it’s been – courtesy of the torture dungeon having no windows. It feels like weeks, but maybe it’s been just days.

Or it’s been months and he is slowly but surely losing his mind in this quiet, dark solitary.

He remembers the awful, piercing sound that rippled through the air and caused Venom to separate from him. He remembers the black blob Venom was reduced to helplessly smudge across the pavement until caught into a container one of the thugs carried.

That was the last time he saw Venom.

Most of all, he remembers Agent Smith or whatever he actually introduced himself as, telling him the one simple sentence that will haunt his nightmares for the rest of his long and miserable days.

“Make yourself comfortable here, Mr. Brock – this will be your home for a loooong time.”

He didn’t understand at first. What could they possibly need him for? His tiny pathetic human husk…naturally, he had to find out the hard way.

After some time, he just refused to eat any of the clearly left-over food they brought him and eventually refused the muddy water, too.

Maybe he had a death wish…maybe he was looking for an opportunity – an opening that could get him out of this damn place. Maybe he was getting tired of waiting for a rescue that wasn’t coming.

Who would miss him anyway? Annie? Perhaps. But he can’t expect her to bust into some secret military outpost in the middle of nowhere and save him. Venom? He had no idea what was going on with Venom at that point.

He just knew if Venom could get him out of here, they already would have. So he starved and when that wasn’t enough to do the trick, he moved onto thirst.

No water – no life – no Eddie.

And that equation really pissed his captors off. Agent Smith all but kicked the doors leading to his cell down as he stormed to the steel bars.

“I don’t know what you think you are trying to achieve here, Mr. Brock, but it won’t work,” Smith said with a lot more calm and composure than he looked capable of at the time.

“No idea wh’t you’re talkin’ about. I’m on a diet, s’all,” he responded in jest, the thought of riling the man up being just about the last tether of reason to stay awake and alive.

Smith’s frustrated inhale was definitely worth it. “I see. It’s my fault, really,” he gave him a gloating smile and that’s where Eddie knew he wouldn’t like whatever comes out of the man’s mouth next. “I should have been more specific about your…accommodation here. You see, you have to live, Mr. Brock. You must stay alive.”

All the more reasons to die, he thought.

“Because if you die, we will have one very uncooperative and angry alien on our hands and we would very much prefer to keep it nice and calm.”

“Venom?” he whispered out loud without thinking, hating how blatantly hopeful he sounded.

“Is that what you call it? Interesting. You see, here’s the deal, Eddie – can I call you Eddie? I think I can. The deal is…we keep you alive, nice and unharmed and the alien does what we want it to do. And if it doesn’t…well, you wouldn’t be so nice and unharmed. Now that really did the trick, you know?”

He didn’t know. Not only was his brain too busy dying, but on top of that there was no way he would believe Agent Smith’s highly unlikely story of Venom playing nice just to keep him safe.

“Yeah right.”

“Trust me, it surprised us the most. See, torture didn’t do the trick. Promises of…human food didn’t do it either. But try threatening your life in that thing’s presence and it will tear the whole room down. Unbelievable,” he chuckled, approaching the bars to leer down on Eddie. “A predator that would rather die of hunger or be tortured than see its very own human pet slash prey be harmed. Now that was something I could work with – and I did.”

He never quite acquired the taste for humans but the thought of biting Smith’s head off and feasting on him if only to make sure none of him will ever exist in a living form ever again on Earth was very, very tempting.

“It does what we want it to do and in return we keep its precious human safe. It gets to see every morning, bright and early that you’re alive. And then its new host takes it for a spin somewhere…to do our bidding. So you see how this little stunt of yours is jeopardizing our deal here,” he growled, glaring at Eddie’s collapsed form with all his might.

There wasn’t much to think about. He was better off dead. If he was the only thing stopping Venom from tearing this place down and eating everyone from the inside out then that’s what Eddie had to do – he had to die.

“Too bad. G’d luck keepin’ that deal alive when I’m dead.”

Instead of infuriating the guy, his defiant statement only made him laugh some more.

“Let me put this into perspective for you – if you starve yourself, we will starve it. You refuse to drink? Fine. You don’t have to, we have ways to keep you alive whether you want to live or not – but know that every time you act out, you’re only punishing your alien friend. And I have spent a lot of time finding out exactly what to do to make it suffer.”

That’s where Eddie decided to definitely eat this guy, with or without Venom.

The doors opened and one of Smith’s lackeys brought the usual tray of food and drink.

“Eat. Drink,” Smith commanded. “Or I will bring it here and make you watch me take it apart in all the ways that I know how. Slooooowly.”

Eddie could have lied. Could have bluffed and tell him to go on and do it – bring Venom there and torture them. He could have stubbornly continued his mission to wither and die.

But of course he didn’t. Because once upon a time, he was a great investigator and part of his job was to be a good judge of character.

Smith meant every single word he said. And Eddie was nowhere near strong enough in will or conviction to watch the sicko do God knows what to Venom. There was no point in bluffing…a toddler could see through it.

Eddie cares about the damn gooey black blob of murder, power and appetite – that’s a fact. Something he found out even before a space ship blew up in their face, causing him to live and mourn Venom for days before they grew strong enough to communicate their lingering presence.

It’s not something he ever told Venom but that’s the beauty of their…symbiosis. Words are not necessary. At least not for him. Venom always knows – his thoughts, his feelings, his everything. The other way around is a bit tricky for his skeptical human brain.

So the realization took him quite some time – days after the exchange with Smith and after he reluctantly agreed to play nice and eat and drink and sleep, just to protect the symbiote in return.

In return.

Because that’s what Venom was doing. They were protecting Eddie. Not hunger, not torture but the threat of harm done to him was how they got to Venom in the end.

We protect Eddie! Always protect! Never harm! Never again, Venom insisted once, when Eddie joked about Venom eating his kidney for breakfast.

Hearing them say it was one thing. Deep down, he still harbored a dark brain cell that believed Venom would ditch his human skin for a better match if presented with one; that if it ever came down to Venom starving to death or eating Eddie, Venom would eat him.

It’s a survival thing and predators are all about survival. That’s what Smith thought as well - they were both wrong.

Venom cares about him – enough to agree to be a powersuit to some meatbag, if that’s what it takes to protect him.

The realization reduced him to a heaving, sobbing mess for hours. Afterwards, he almost prayed Venom wouldn’t think of him as anything more than a human container needed for them to survive.

That way, Venom wouldn’t have to do a thing for the bastards. Venom could wait for an opportunity, break free and have them all for dinner eventually. That way, Eddie could die in peace knowing the damn alien blob he became so attached to will be just fine.

Instead, they are both cornered against the wall by Smith, holding them and their apparently mutual feelings hostage against each other.

It works for a while. Days merging into weeks, weeks merging into who-the-fuck-knows what anymore.

He spends every waking minute trying to figure a way out of this. For both him and Venom. For them. But he’s not the smartest cookie on Earth, never been.

He’s not any kind of superhuman – he doesn’t have Spiderman’s strength to break down every door that stands closed between him and freedom. He doesn’t have Tony Stark’s brain to McGuyver his way out of the cell. He doesn’t even have Black Widow’s spy techniques, charms or her deadly thighs to deal with their captors.

He’s just Eddie Brock – the average, loser human.

So all he has is a plastic spork and the stupidest idea he’s ever came up with. More stupid than going through Anne’s private correspondence. More stupid than going after Drake in his show.

In fact, if there was an award for the stupidest plan in history of all stupid plans, he would now not only be just a nominee but an all-time winner.

During his quiet, cooperative days slash weeks slash months, he learnt three things.

There are two lackeys that bring him food and drinks twice a day – morning and night. He didn’t bother counting, but he knows the tall ginger one is his morning meal bringer and the muscle-y bald one is his dinner dude.

There are four cameras in his cell. As intimidating as that may be, it’s nothing more than that – an intimidation. Nobody is watching him through those four cameras all day long. Maybe a quick look here and there. He’s tested it – sharpening that spork in clear view of all the cameras, yet nobody came for a shakedown.

And finally, there is one Venom allowed to see him through those four cameras as the one morning lackey brings him breakfast. That ginger son of a bitch is going to regret ever uttering the cheery “Smile for your alien pet!”, waving at the cameras as he droped the tray into the cell.  

Eddie will make sure of that. Or Venom will. Or maybe, they both will.

That’s the whole point of really stupid plans – they are unlikely to work the way they are planned out. Thankfully, Eddie isn’t big on planning.

He’s a gambler - so he bets everything on this stupid plan; not to necessarily work, no. He’s too big of a pessimist for that.

He just needs it to create an opening. A chance. A window of opportunity. Just a tiny one will do. And if all fails then…it’s just his life hanging in the balance, really. The window is not for him after all.

Morning ginger will be here any moment now. It’s hard to tell without a watch, but he did the math through the last few cycles. Tonight, he counted extra carefully.

Smith was right about one thing. They can keep Venom in line for as long as Eddie is alive. If Venom sees Eddie alive, they will continue being their puppet.

The equation is easy for his average, loser brain.

Venom sees Eddie alive = Venom and Eddie will continue to be slaves forever.

Venom sees Eddie dead = ?????? = xyz will happen. Something else will happen and that’s all that really matters.

So he shifts to the right side where he lays, takes a shuddering breath and plunges the spork as deep into his stomach as he can.

It’s a slow, shit way to die…but moments later, as the morning ginger finally arrives and instead of some asshole remark, he drops the tray and starts fumbling for the keys to the cell, Eddie knows the huge pool of blood forming underneath him and his labored breathing might just do the trick.

“Goodbye, Venom,” he drawls out, returning the courtesy of a farewell and hopes with his entire fading being, that the symbiote will make the most out of this.

Chapter Text

It was their fault. Everything was their fault – the ambush, the kidnapping…if they only paid more attention to their surroundings, they could still be free.

They could still be together at their apartment, munching on tater tots and watching reality TV. Instead they are apart, imprisoned and it’s all Venom’s fault.

But if nothing else, Eddie is safe.

Venom made sure he would be. Even if he now has to be with another host and obey their orders, Eddie is safe. They can live with that for as long as Eddie is safe. They can play nice and pretend to be an obedient little symbiote while in reality, they will be waiting for the opportunity to break free.

And eat every single last one of them.

Even now they can’t help but nibble on their current host’s kidney – just a tiny little bit. Out of spite rather than hunger.

He’s not the most compatible of hosts and the symbiosis is taking a lot out of them – they will bear with it though. Because they failed to protect their perfect host and now it’s their job to remedy that. To reunite with him and get them out of here.

Eddie is suffering. At one point he looked so small, impossibly small…he was dying. And they were so close to taking over their host and biting everyone’s heads off. Eddie got better eventually, but they are not fooled by the improvement.

Venom must get them out of here and fast.

So they take their chance on the many missions with their host outside of the military outpost they are being held at. They have to reach out to someone capable of helping them – voluntarily or not.

All they need is an opportunity…a distraction. Something, anything to take their captors’ focus off them for just a bit…otherwise, they will exploit their weakness, preventing their escape. Venom tried of course – one blast of the high-pitched sound from the audio system all over the base and their attempt was foiled.

Venom wouldn’t dare repeat the act, not with Eddie’s well-being on the line. So they plot their escape one step at a time, one small message or a detour at a time. Quick and subtle enough for their host not to notice. It takes some time this way, but eventually they notice their subtle messages being answered – just as subtle and just as cautious. Eventually, there are new faces around the base, giving them curious – yet pointed looks.

Their plan was slowly taking shape – soon, they would seize any opportunity given to them and reign hell upon everyone that dared to hurt Eddie.

Then one morning, the opportunity is suddenly there – and it’s everything it wasn’t supposed to be. The very last possible one of all the opportunities.

Venom’s host takes them to the security room, just like every morning. But when the guard switches on the camera feed, they don’t see the usual image – Eddie asleep, Eddie sitting bundled in the corner, Eddie pacing around the cell.

They see him dying, bleeding out all over the floor from a wound of his own making.

Venom barely hears as the guard drops the breakfast tray and shouts for help on the other side of the cell doors. They barely hear the whispered goodbye.

They are too busy taking over their frightened host’s body and ripping the two security operators to little pieces. Maybe the fear isn’t all their host, because one more look at the screen instills a terrifying feeling in their mind, one they’ve never felt before.

Eddie cannot die. He dies – they die. Because what is the point of them living, if it’s not with Eddie?

Venom must fix this. It’s now or never.

When he wakes up hurting and alone in the same stinking cell, it’s all the proof he needs to know his stupid plan failed in all the possible ways it could. If nothing else, he should be dead.

Couldn’t even do that right.

He tries to move his hands, but they are in restraints as well as his feet. Smith obviously wasn’t humored by his escalated dying plan – the restraints and the couple of guards standing right by the cell are a dead giveaway of that.

The thought alone must have somehow summoned the man from wherever he was lurking because he’s suddenly right there with him, towering over his lying and bound form.

Either that or he’s losing time. Probably both.

“Finally awake? Good. Very good. I don’t need to tell you this stunt of yours won’t be without consequences. I do not make empty promises, Eddie. As soon as you can stay conscious for more than a minute at a time, I have a very special show prepared, just for you. Now rest. We’ll be watching – making sure you’re only getting better. Anton here will be very thorough now when it comes to your well-being,” he nods at the Brad Pitt wannabie doctor next to him and leaves.

Eddie closes his eyes and falls back asleep, hoping to never wake again.

It slowly occurs to him that Anton – a really weird name for a guy with a suspiciously subtle Swedish accent – is a shitty doctor. Or at least a really shitty villain doctor.

Smith pays them a visit every day, promising more and more disturbing and torturous events and instructing Anton to just patch him up enough to get him ready for all the fun to come, even ordering him to cut back on the morphine – probably budget cuts or something.

And Anton is either deaf or he doesn’t give a single fuck about Smith’s orders.

Instead of cutting back on the morphine, he wordlessly fiddles with the little machine and ups the dose in full view of Eddie’s curious gaze. Instead of just changing his bandage and checking for infections, Anton regularly cleans the wound, applies some expensive looking ointment to it and makes sure the bandage is all fluffy and comfy.

Eddie has no idea what sort of new reverse psychology is this supposed to be…but he doesn’t complain. He also doesn’t entertain the thought of believing Anton to be anything else but Smith’s loyal underling. There’s no room for trust in his kind of situation.

And yet…

As the days go by – and he can finally tell how many, because Anton always mumbles the date when he writes something into Eddies chart – Eddie is nowhere near full health but he’s definitely lucid enough to enjoy whatever awful theatre Smith has planned.

The shady agent still appears on a daily basis and every day, Eddie expects him to walk into the cell with Venom packed inside a tiny container and fulfill all those horror-filled promises – only he never does.

Even two weeks after first waking up and Eddie is well enough to sit up – as far as the restraints allow him anyway – and Smith just waltzes in again with a dreadful speech and leaves.

Something about Smith’s not right anymore. It’s different – the way he delivers his evil plans. Where there was once absolute certainty and intent lacing his words, there’s now doubt.

And a barely tangible sliver of fear.

That little piece of information gets Eddie’s brain spinning again. Why is Smith not delivering on his promises? Why is he so skittish all of a sudden? Why is Eddie picking up on the good old smell of bullshit?

It’s pretty straightforward. If Smith can’t fulfill his endless threats, it’s because he can’t. Because maybe – just maybe – Eddie’s stupid plan wasn’t a complete failure after all.

He gathers all his courage and when Smith arrives the next day and depicts another story of torture to him, Eddie just tilts his head, narrows his eyes at the man and dares him: “Go on then. Bring it all on. I’m ready.”

Smith grins and spits out some more promises before quickly disappearing again – but Eddie has seen enough. The brief widening of his eyes, the empty gulp – that one extra second he had to take to come up with a response. And most importantly, the continuous lack of any torture.

The continuous lack of Venom.

Smith doesn’t have them. He doesn’t have Venom. That’s why he can’t torture them, that’s why he’s suddenly all talk, no show.

The thought makes him so happy he could cry. Nope – he is crying already. He laughs, ignoring the weirded-out look Anton sends him and lies back down on the hospital bed, crying and chuckling to himself like a madman.

“They’re free,” he mumbles and lets the thought of Venom escaping their captivity warm his shattered and cold soul.

Venom is alive and free – because if they were dead, there would be absolutely no point in keeping him alive. Smith would just throw his dead ass into a ditch somewhere and be done with them both. This way, Smith is still hoping to get his dirty hands back on the symbiote.

And Eddie prays that by now, Venom is somewhere far far away from here, feasting on some deserving human snacks. There’s a tiny pang of hurt at the thought of the parasite leaving him behind – but that’s what Eddie wanted. There was hardly any possibility of them both ever escaping so he couldn’t wish for a better outcome.

Venom lives and Eddie can die happy knowing that for once, his pathetic human being was the one that helped something.

Another week passes by and nothing changes, other than his wound mending and the pain reducing to just a dull ache. It shouldn’t be long now – without Venom and not even the chance of getting them back anywhere on the horizon, they will soon have little to no use for him.

He slowly braces himself for it – surely Smith will let him go with quite a bang. If he can’t torture Venom, he’ll probably have his way with him at least.

On second thoughts – something does change.

He watches Anton enter the cell – just like every morning and notices the suspicious lack of guards anywhere in sight. He thinks this is it – no guards, so he’s not even worth guarding anymore. Today’s probably the day.

The real change though, is Anton.

He’s not wearing the white doctor’s coat, he’s not carrying any of his medical supplies…and he walks into the cell, leaving the doors open and addresses him directly for the first time ever.

“I was instructed to ask just one single question, Mr. Brock. And trust me, you want to answer this one as honestly as you can,” he speaks, the accent getting even more prominent. “If you get out of this place, can you control it?”

“What?” Eddie blurts out after his brain goes all kinds of blank.

“Just answer the question. If you get out of here, can you control the alien – yes or no?”

He slowly sits up, staring at the doctor with all his investigative might. What’s the point of asking him that? Did reverse psychology undergo some serious update while he’s been here?!

What could Smith possibly gain by having him ask this? The answer to that is – nothing. So Eddie decides whoever it was that instructed Anton to ask, it wasn’t Smith.

“Control is not the word I would use,” he answers with caution. “We don’t control each other. We…coexist. That’s the whole point of the symbiosis part of the deal – which you should know all about by now. Right?”

Anton lowers his eyes for a moment and nods a couple times. “But it listens to you, correct? If, say…you are reunited, we won’t have to worry about any further…incidents?” he asks, raising his eyebrows, uncertainty written all over his contorted face.

“Incid…what the actual fuck, man? Just tell me what’s going on! You couldn’t be more cryptic if you tried!”

He does it again – lowers his gaze, nodding…it takes Eddie a moment to realize that’s Anton listening to someone over the radio subtly planted in his ear.

“Who the hell are you?!”

Not-Anton ignores him for just a moment in favor of listening to whoever’s voice is talking to him on the radio and then looks up, straightening his posture. “I’m agent Avebo, I work for Nick Fury.”

“Who?”

“A…close associate of the Avengers. I’ve been sent here to investigate your disappearance, based on a very peculiar series of messages left around a number of crime scenes in the area. When I confirmed you were being held here, Fury forwarded the case directly to Mr. Stark who was able to secure further information on what was happening in this base – and why are you a prisoner of a government sanctioned operation.”

“Government sanctioned, my ass,” Eddie mumbles but there’s a fire igniting in his cold, old bones. Fury, the Avengers…he can get out of here now…right? This is it. He can get out and…be with Venom again. Right? “Where’s Venom then?”

“The uh…alien managed to escape the day you attempted to…kill yourself. It almost managed to get to you, but General Penner expected it to come straight here and secured the cell first with that sound frequency the alien is sensitive to.”

“Son of a bitch,” he curses, fingers balling into fists.

“It however managed to get out of the base and seek the Avengers out…uhm,” he pauses, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

Ah oh. “What did they do?”

“It…they took over Spiderman and pretty much threatened every single Avenger they could find to either help them save you or watch them wreak havoc in New York.”

“Atta boy,” he chuckles.

“Needless to say, Mr. Stark is…beyond pissed.”

“Guess that’s who’s screaming down your ear over there?”

“Yes…he and his team are tearing through the base as we speak – but he only agreed to do so under one condition.”

“That Venom will leave Spiderman alone and we’ll not be trouble afterwards?”

“Something like that. He wants a word with you once this is over.”

“Of course he does.”

“Apparently the al…Venom had other ideas about the base’s take-over.”

“Let me guess – he wanted to bite everyone’s head off and Stark told him no.”

“Actually, I said I don’t care who’s head he bites off around here as long as he doesn’t do it in the kid’s body.”

Eddie stands up on his wobbly legs, spotting the armored figure walking into the room behind the doctor…agent…whoever. “Mr. Stark,” he blurts out, half hoping the next person to enter the room would be Venom…in Spiderman’s body. Wait…kid’s body? What?!

“Mr. Brock. You know, I thought I’ve seen it all,” Stark sighs, his helmet seeming melting away. “But then a gooey alien body-snatches my…protégé and threatens everyone and their mothers with all sorts of violence unless we save ‘his human’.”

“I’m sorry, did you say kid?! Is Venom taking a ride in a kid?! Hold on…that didn’t sound right.”

Stark cringes. “Yep. I don’t think your slimy friend was aware of that, it’s not exactly public knowledge. And the kid, being as curious as he is, doesn’t actually mind…damn him,” he adds quietly. “To be honest, he might be enjoying this actually – a little too much even. So let’s go, chop chop. The last thing I need is for Spiderman to adopt a homicidal alien that eats people.”

“Bad people – seriously, he only eats bad people, I swear. We’ve got rules,” Eddie immediately defends them.

“Oh I will love hearing all about that – especially the how the hell did this even happen part. I mean…I’ve dug up some questionable footage from the Life Foundation, but I think I will need a very thorough eye-witness account of all those events. First, reunion time.”

“Where are they?”

“The last time I checked, they were making two piles of…bodies and heads,” Stark’s face scrunches up so he shakes his head and turns to Agent Anton. “Go report to Fury, he can’t wait to scrap everything about this mission from the face of the Earth.”

“Scrap everything?” Eddie frowns, knowing they must have found way too interesting stuff to just scrap.

Anton disappears into the quiet of the hallway outside with a court nod, leaving them alone in the cell Eddie can’t wait to get out of.  

“Yeah, as far as we’re concerned? None of this happened. The Life Foundation alien stuff? That didn’t happen either, at least there’s no evidence of it anymore. That said, if I ever hear any rumors about bad guys getting eaten by a gooey Lovecraftian alien…I might turn a blind eye. But there are others that most certainly won’t and that would very much love to get their hands on your freaky friend so…”

“Gotcha,” Eddie sighs, still wondering if this is just a taunting dream he’s going to wake up from any time now because since when does he have this much luck?!

“Let’s go then – you good?”

“Good enough to get outta here? Hell yeah.”

Stark leads him through the base he’s been an involuntary guest at for months but had never actually seen beyond the cell. The place is like a haunted house, too quiet, too empty…so when they encounter Vision, casually phasing through the walls, Eddie almost believes the place is haunted already.

Clearly they dealt with everybody working here and they did it fast and silent enough to not even wake him up all the way down in the torture dungeon. Difficult to imagine, knowing how Iron Man loves blowing shit up.

They enter what looks like a lounge and are greeted by an excited: “Mr. Stark! We’re almost done!” coming from nobody but Spiderman himself, red and blue suit and all.

Stark stares at the kid with about as stunned expression as Eddie. “Great! Awesome. Pile of bodies, pile of heads…I’ll just pretend I’m not seeing this. Are we seeing this FRIDAY?”

“Seeing what, boss?”

“Exactly. Go on then, say goodbye to your new pal and let’s go, E.T.’s going home now.”

“But..! Oh…okay, sure! Cool stuff, V!” he speaks to nobody in particular and Eddie’s exhausted brain finally recalls that’s Venom right there with the spiderkid.

“Venom?” Eddie breathes out, not even daring to walk a step closer.

Without warning, the black goo that is unmistakably Venom shoots out of Spiderman and pools down at Eddie’s feet – waiting. Hesitant.

Eddie reaches towards them just as a sob ripples out of his burning lungs, accompanied by a whole new strain of tears. He couldn’t even care less about reducing himself to a sobbing mess in front of New York’s two most iconic superheroes because Venom needs no further prompting and slithers up his legs, merging with him along the way.

It’s been so long Eddie almost forgot what it was like to be with them, to not be alone with an imaginary gaping hole in his chest all day every day. Venom wraps around his heart like a blanket, their tendrils immediately reaching out to repair any damage they can find.

And there’s lots to find.

Stupid human, Venom grumbles in anger, even if Eddie can feel that’s not the most prominent emotion coming off from the symbiote right now. How dare you hurt yourself?! Nobody gets to hurt you. Even you don’t get to hurt you! We will eat everyone who ever dares to hurt you!

Eddie chuckles, smearing the tears across his face with his dirty sweatshirt. “You gonna bite my head off then, is that what you’re saying?” he continues to stupidly smile through the tears, letting Venom command their wobbly legs to move over to a chair and sit down.

No! But…we might be tempted to eat whatever part of your brain that came up with that plan of yours!

Not even back for a minute and Venom’s already onto him, his memories an open book to them.

“Good luck, buddy…I’m afraid that’s like all of my brain. Stupid all me, ya know? Besides…the plan kinda worked out, right?”

Hmmmrhmmrhrmhmm, Venom grumbles some more, only this time they let down the subtle walls of their emotions and Eddie feels every bit of the anger, horror and absolute fear – all mixed up and bundled into every fiber of Venom.

We watched you die, Venom says and it’s the quietest, most vulnerable Eddie’s ever heard the symbiote speak. We watched you starve and wither and bleed.

It sounds about as broken as Eddie now feels and if he wanted to compose himself and stop crying, he gives up on the effort right there and then. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles between sobs.

We couldn’t save you…we thought you were dead.

“’m sorry,” he apologizes again, but not for what he did. No. He would do it over and over again if it meant they would be together again like this. He’s sorry for what that put Venom through and tries to communicate the message as best as he can to them.

Venom stays silent for a long time, contemplating the mess of emotions running through their joined bodies. You were protecting us. Why? We are supposed to protect you.

“And you did. We did. There’s no you, me…it’s us, remember?”

It almost wasn’t.

“Yeah…I know. Well, you obviously made some new friends. Please tell me you didn’t eat Spiderman’s kidneys or something.”

No! We like him, so no eating. We had our fill of bad guys anyway…just don’t tell this guy, Venom makes them look up at Stark, standing by the doors with a proper stunned expression.

“Ooooookay. I’m still not hearing anything, right FRIDAY? Nothing about Spiderman’s kidneys or all that…suspiciously mushy stuff before. Nope. If you two are done reuniting, I’ve got a military base to blow up so you might wanna move this party outside.”

“Right, okay…yeah,” Eddie nods. Guess this is where the blowing shit up part comes in. He gets up, shuffling to the exit.

“Oh! I’m Peter, by the way. Peter Parker,” the kid intercepts him, the mask gone and revealing the awfully young face below.

“Seriously?” Stark rolls his eyes, muttering something about ‘damned secret identities’.

“Venom would tell him anyway,” Peter protests, pouting at Stark.

Damn straight.

“I’m - ”

“Eddie Brock…yeah, I uh…I know pretty much everything about you,” Peter gives him an awkward smile and shakes his hand.

“Great. We’re talking about this later, V,” Eddie huffs, walking out of the room with the two superheroes.

What. We were afraid…we missed you. Talking helped.

Eddie deflates completely at that and smiles. “Is that so?”

Besides…he talked a lot more than us. Seriously, Eddie. The kid is never quiet…we were almost tempted to eat his tongue.

“V!”

Just tempted!

“These one-sided conversations are giving me a headache,” Stark shakes his head, squinting at the chuckling kid.

“Welcome to my life, Mr. Stark.”

“I’d rather not. And it’s Tony, please…since we’re already on first name basis with your parasite,” St…Tony smirks.

“You called him that?!” Eddie blurts out, wondering how is the man still alive.

“Parasite, E.T., Goa’uld…it’s fine. He calls me Mr. Fancy Flying Dumpster, so we’re cool.”

Ah, yes. Me and dumpster guy are cool, too.

“Unbelievable,” Eddie laughs, the only tears still forming in his eyes are of happiness.

They step outside and Eddie bathes in the gentle breeze and warm sunlight, the two things he only dreamt of for months.

That and the feeling of Venom gently wrapping around his insides like a hug, nothing but content permeating their bodies.

“Let’s go home.”

We are with you. We are home.

What is he even supposed to say to that?! Luckily, he doesn’t have to say anything. He just has to feel it and Venom will know.

So he showers the symbiote with all of what he can’t anymore deny to be love and continues to walk with Spiderman to their jet with thoughts of tomorrow.