Work Text:
It was a beautiful day in July and they were leaning over a railing by the water because Venom had insisted that their eyes needed a break from screens and papers. They glanced at a pair of women passing, both with marks exposed, and as the two walked away Eddie absently fidgeted with the hem of his old blue sleeve. It was starting to fray.
Why do you cover it?
Venom felt guilt stir in Eddie's thoughts, a guilt he'd sensed before but not understood.
“I thought we agreed you’d stay secret?”
Venom was trying to train Eddie out of answering in non-sequiturs. Does everyone who covers their mark have a secret alien other? He tried.
Eddie laughed softly and some of the tension in him eased. “Nah, probably just us. You mean why do people wear sleeves over their marks in general?”
Yes.
“Paradoxes, I think.”
What?
“Marks are a little piece of the future. Knowing someone’s mark makes things… complicated. Like, say you meet someone and see their mark before you say anything. Wha’d’you do then? Do you say those words? Or do you say something else on purpose? And either way, how do you know if that was always supposed to happen or if you fucked things up?
"Besides, now it's sorta a social rule, like a ring. Not wearin' a sleeve tells everyone you've found your soulmate.”
Venom could see how their marks must get confusing. It is strange to imagine a false match, he mused. Our chemical marks are so specific. Well, except Scourge’s. Their other was a species that could reproduce through self-cloning.
“Huh. How did they figure it out?”
They killed the whole line.
Eddie grimaced. “Fuck. Didn't think that question through.”
Sorry.
“No, I asked.”
They watched the water in silence for a moment. You keep us secret in many ways. Why does this one upset you? Venom asked at last.
Eddie leaned back and frowned, considering. “Well, people got a lot of opinions about someone who's got a messed up mark. Or no mark. It’s bullshit, but it’s hard not to kinda buy into it when you’re... y’know, when you got no friends and no job and twenty years of dead relationships.” He sighed. “Guess I wanted an easy explanation for what was wrong with me. It was… kinda a relief, believe it or not, to think that there was nothing I could do. And it gave me something to hate besides myself. So I hated my mark. Most times I wore the sleeve even when I was home, even when I went to bed; only took it off to shower. Didn’t wanna look at it.”
You do not hate it now, Venom said.
“No.” Eddie crossed their arms over their chest, subtly hugging the mark to their body. “That’s why it feels weird still hidin’ it. And it’s probably just more human BS, but people act like it’s this huge betrayal to hide a soulmate, for any reason. Like it means you’re ashamed of them or rejecting them or you’re not grateful. And that’s not true. I don’t want you to think—"
I know. We hide to stay safe, Eddie. It would be illogical to be angry at him for something necessary, something Venom had agreed to, but feelings weren't always logical.
“Good.”
Other people can think what they want. We will know, Venom said firmly. He let a tendril slide out of the skin, hidden under the sleeve, and curled it around the mark.