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Sometimes Eddie needed space. Sometimes Eddie needed some peace and quiet, a moment alone to sort through his own mind. Sometimes Eddie needed a chance to be just him so that he could be more content when they were them. This was all normal and healthy – necessary, even – in any human relationship.
Didn’t mean Venom had to like it.
“But Eddie…” they were whining, inky tendrils wrapping tight around their host’s limbs as if trying to physically prevent him from leaving, “I will be lonely without you! Don’t leave, please, Eddie.”
“I know, love, I know,” Eddie replied as he tried to peel those tentacles away from himself. But they were like some kind of Symbiote hydra; for each one he managed to remove, it seemed like three more took its place. “But I need some alone time sometimes, we’ve talked about this! And you’ll have Dan here to keep you company, you’ll be fine.”
As mentioned, Dan was bustling about the kitchen collecting popcorn and snacks for whatever film he and Venom would choose this evening (well, Venom would choose and he would just go along with it). He brought the final armful – a bowl of M&Ms and an ungodly amount of hot chocolate – then plopped himself onto the sofa to watch scene with some combination of amusement, fondness, and concern.
“But I don’t want Dan, I want Eddie! I don’t even like Dan,” they said with an expression that could have been called a pout if it didn’t come on a face with knife-like teeth the length of a human hand.
“I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that, shall I?”
“That was rude, V. Apologise, right now.”
“I am sorry, Dan.”
“No no, that’s alright,” he waved them off, more than used to such banter after living with Venom and Eddie for two years.
“I do like you, Dan. But I want Eddie to stay.”
“I really won’t be gone long, V. Just a few hours at most. And when I get back we can, uhh,” he trailed off, glancing at Dan, “go out and grab some food together, yeah?”
The first time they’d mentioned Venom’s usual diet of human brains, all the blood had drained from Dan’s face and he’d passed out. Venom didn’t understand how a man so squeamish could have become a doctor – from what they’d gleaned from watching shitty TV shows while Eddie slept, being a doctor usually involved cutting people open. But, since they did actually care about Dan, they both agreed to go easy on the dinnertime details.
Venom gave a long-suffering sigh, but the promise of food never failed to win them over. How rude of Eddie to use their weaknesses against them. “Fine!”
Relieved, Eddie released his own answering sigh. But despite their agreement, Venom deliberately took as long as possible retracting their limbs back into their main mass and slouching down their host’s arm.
Eddie rolled his eyes at the theatrics. “Ridiculous parasite,” he muttered.
“Not a parasite!” Venom growled before stretching out a tendril and making the jump into Dan’s body. They felt him shudder as they seeped through his skin, stretching to test the boundaries of their new temporary home.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Venom stuck their head out of Dan’s shoulder just to blow a raspberry, long tongue flinging saliva everywhere, before disappearing with a slimy fwick!
“Real mature,” Eddie retorted but Venom didn’t bother to respond to that. Not audibly, at least – Dan certainly heard a few colourful phrases. They chose to bury themself in Dan’s small intestine instead, sulking.
Eddie gave an exasperated shake of his head. “Right, well I’m off.” He clapped Dan on the shoulder that Venom had just disappeared into. “Thanks for doing this, man, I’ll be back before too long. And if you have any issues, make sure to call me, I’ll come straight back.”
“I know, Eddie,” Dan responded gently. Venom could feel that he’d picked up on the anxiety hidden in Eddie’s voice. “We’ll be fine.”
“Sorry, sorry. It’s just…”
“No need to apologise. Now go have fun! Shoo!”
Eddie laughed as he was ushered out of the front door, some of the tension leaving his body.
While he tried to pretend otherwise, being separated could make Eddie just as nervous as it made Venom. He said it made him feel empty, and a little vulnerable, without that comforting presence in the back of his mind. They both needed a little time to settle into it, to get used to the idea of being without one another for a little bit.
Despite vehement protests, Venom knew that they – Anne and Dan included – were much happier when they got a chance to spend a few hours away from each other every now and then. It wasn’t healthy for Eddie to have his whole life centre around one person, after all, no matter how much he loved them. Humans needed time alone, he had explained. Their minds weren’t made for constant companionship like a Symbiote’s is.
Besides, since they started separating for reasons other than a massive row or life-threatening danger, the couple fought far less, so Venom wasn’t complaining (much).
And with each time they separated, they grew more accustomed to the sudden shift into isolation. Which meant that any time they were forcibly split apart, they could recover much faster – and whatever fucker had dared to tear them apart would get dismembered much sooner.
Of course, Venom couldn’t survive long in this atmosphere without a host, but it hadn’t taken them long to figure out a solution to that issue. Some combination of their consent to it and the lucky fact that they were better matched to Venom than the average human meant that Venom could occupy Anne or Dan’s bodies for a short period of time without them experiencing any of the side-effects of an imperfect match. Plus, the more they hosted Venom, the more their bodies adapted to it. While Dan could only manage a couple of hours before he started to get feverish still, Anne could last for nearly twice that long now if need be.
But Anne was working on a major case at the moment so she was spending longer hours at work (something none of them were happy about), meaning that Dan was on alien-sitting duty today. And although all four of them were gradually getting used to Venom being passed around from time to time, last time Dan had hosted Eddie’s bike had broken down on his way back. By the time he’d made it home, Dan had been shuddering and glassy-eyed, and Venom had worked themself into a frenzy about it. Dan had been bedridden for days after that, his mind in a constant state of fog and distress.
Everyone was understandably on edge this time. None of them wanted to see him so unwell again, confused and in pain. Strangely, Dan seemed to be the only one of them who wasn’t worried – he’d had to work hard persuading them all to even consider letting him host Venom again.
Venom still felt a spike of guilt shoot through them when they thought of how badly they’d hurt their friend. That was the kind of thing a parasite would do.
At this thought, they began to twitch agitatedly in their nest of intestines. Dan reached for the remote, then paused as he felt movement soon becoming violent thrashing. Venom could feel their host’s concern, but it only made them feel worse. Now they had ruined Dan’s mood too, after he’d been nice enough to lend them his body again!
(If this is what Eddie meant when he said they ‘needed to grow some kind of conscience’ then Venom wished they’d never listened to him about that.)
“Hey V? You okay?”
Of course. What are we watching?
“You say that like you won’t just put on something else if you don’t like my choice,” Dan laughed lightly before he grew serious again. “But seriously. Don’t try to change the subject, what’s up?”
Venom stayed silent.
“Is it Eddie? Do you want me to ask him to come back?”
NO!
The sudden volume of the shout startled the both of them. Venom seized control of Dan’s hand, freezing it where he had been pulling up Eddie’s contact on his phone.
But the last thing they wanted was to call Eddie back from his fun night out just because they felt bad.
“Are you sure, Venom?” Dan asked hesitatingly, slowly drawing his hand back. “I’m sure if he knew you missed him this much, he would want to come back.”
…It’s not that.
“Then what is it?” When there was no response, he sighed. “Come out where I can see you, please.”
Sheepish, Venom’s head manifested out of Dan’s shoulder. They couldn’t meet his eyes.
“What’s wrong, V? You can tell me.”
There was so much sincerity in those words, so much care, that something in Venom unravelled. It left them feeling both vulnerable, and warm – they didn’t know whether that was good or not.
They could tell Dan. They could trust him to answer honestly.
Finally, Venom gathered their courage and asked.
“Am I… a parasite?”
Dan took his time considering the question. Not the answer – Venom could already feel his certainty about the answer – but why the question had been asked in the first place. How best to respond. How best to help.
Venom would never admit it for fear of losing their reputation of Intimidating Alien Predator, but their favourite part of symbiosis would always be feeling how much their family cared for them. It meant a lot, after the cold hostility that they had always been treated with before coming to this planet.
Even so, they felt anticipation building in them. Dan was a doctor, he would know what a parasite is better than anyone they knew. But what if they didn’t like the answer?
Then they remembered: Dan had called Venom a parasite before. In the hospital, he had said Eddie needed to get rid of them, that they were killing him.
Suddenly Venom wished they had never asked in the first place. But it was too late now.
Dan was already opening his mouth to respond.
“Well, yes and no. It’s complicated.”
That was… better than what Venom had expected, but….
“That doesn’t make any sense,” they grumbled. “How can I be both a parasite and not a parasite at once? You are supposed to be smart, you should know that is not possible.”
“Okay, first of all, ouch.” Venom could feel no actual hurt coming from Dan, so they assumed he was trying to lighten the mood with some humour. It didn’t work, but it was nice of him. “But I don’t mean that you’re both a parasite and not. It’s just that it sorta depends on the situation.”
“Explain.”
“You remember when you first bonded to Eddie? He got really sick and his heart atrophied, all while you were using his body to survive in our atmosphere.”
Venom remembered, no matter how hard they tried to forget.
“That was what biologists call a parasitic relationship. You were benefitting from your symbiosis, feeding off of him, but it was causing him harm.”
“So I am a parasite!” A low, distressed thrumming travelled through their shared body. Despite everything, despite how hard they tried to care for their family, they were no better than a leech after all. They thrashed at the thought, distraught.
“No, no.” Dan reached out a hand to stroke soothingly down the tendril coming from his shoulder, the touch the only reason they didn’t immediately sink back into his body. “No, V, you didn’t let me finish.”
It didn’t do much to ease the physical ache of grief that had Venom caught in its grasp, but it was a nice gesture. The least they could do is let him finish explaining before they had a complete breakdown.
“…Go on.”
“Your relationship with Eddie now is entirely different to what it was at the start. You’ve both changed. You’ve learned how to co-exist, maybe even better than you would have if it’d been a typical human relationship,” his eyes lit up, always happy to talk about the love in their polycule. “You still use Eddie’s body to survive, but now you help him too. You heal him when he’s injured, protect him from illness, defend him when he’s in danger,” Dan huffed a laugh. “Not to mention that Eddie definitely benefits from having to hear a second opinion before he makes impulsive decisions. We’re all glad for that.”
“Eddie says that he is the responsible one,” Venom countered, though their protest was probably undermined by how they automatically preened at the compliments to how well they took care of their host.
“Yeah, well. Neither of you are all that sensible – that’s what you have me and Annie for – but you make bad decisions in different ways. You give each other some much-needed perspective. You balance each other out.” He paused. “It’s inspiring, actually.”
“And this type of bond, it is not parasitic?”
“Nope!” Dan chirped and grabbed a handful of popcorn. “That’s what we call a mutualistic relationship. You each benefit from it, and nobody’s getting hurt.”
Venom studied him, watching him with an intensity that only a year ago would have started his adrenal gland pumping. But now, Dan was unbothered. He just continued to toss popcorn into his mouth, fully aware of the predator’s gaze fixated on him, yet entirely unafraid.
Nobody’s getting hurt.
Suddenly, they understood.
“So when you say that I am both parasite and not, while it is a nonsensical statement-”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it-”
“It is a nonsensical statement,” Venom continued louder, making Dan roll his eyes, “what you mean is that I could be either.”
“Exactly!” Apparently knowing that he had taught something so effectively immediately outweighed Dan’s frustration at being interrupted. “You have the potential to be a parasite, of course you do. So would any of your species, just by virtue of how you guys function. Hell, a human could be a parasite too! But you choose not to be. You choose to give as much as you take. That’s far more powerful than any kind of fact of your biology.”
“Perhaps you are smarter than I give you credit for.”
“Gee, thanks, V.”
They took a moment to chew over everything they had learned, while Dan began to scroll through movies again.
They used to be a parasite, and now they are not.
A mutualistic relationship.
Venom felt like they were glowing, a soft warmth emanating throughout their body. The feeling was so powerful that they had to check that they were not actually emitting light.
“Thank you, Dan.”
“Oh, uh. You’re welcome.” He seemed surprised by their gratitude.
Perhaps they should show him how much they appreciated him more often. Dan truly was a dear and loyal friend, the keystone in their little family that held them all up. He deserved to know that.
“Now, what do you want to watch?”
“You may choose this time. I will be happy with whatever you pick.”
“Really?”
“Mmhm.”
Venom nodded once, decisively. Then they dived head-first into the bowl of M&Ms, and the candy scattered everywhere like dozens of brightly coloured beetles scuttling away.
Dan didn’t even seem upset by the mess, only fond.
And when he pressed play on the film, Venom didn’t miss that it was a romcom – not Dan’s genre of choice – with plenty of ridiculous human drama to keep them entertained.
That golden glow only grew stronger.
***
Just as the credits began to roll, a set of keys jangled outside the front door. Venom’s head perked up as Eddie stumbled inside, like a puppy ready to welcome its owner home.
“Eddie!” they cried.
Immediately they stretched across the body to spring back into his body. Only a moment’s thought was spared for Dan, who was left reeling at the sensation of moving so suddenly from being two entities to only being one. Already airborne, the tail end of Venom patted his hand in apology before they were wrapping around Eddie’s knees, parts of them sinking through fabric and skin alike while some of their mass remained outside.
Two wide, gleaming eyes and a little mound of black swirled around and between his legs excitedly, all the while chanting, “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!”
Eddie laughed. “Yeah, I’m back, love, I missed you too.”
Venom squirmed up to perch on his shoulder, nuzzling under his chin. “Eddie! Dan says that I am not a parasite, Eddie!”
“Really?” An eyebrow raised. “You literally cannot survive without living in someone else’s body, isn’t that, like, the definition of a parasite?”
“Nope!” Dan spoke up from where he was watching the couple’s reunion with a soft smile. “You benefit from your symbiosis just as much as they do, and that means V isn’t a parasite.”
“See?” Venom trilled. “Now you must stop calling us that!”
Eddie frowned, and they tasted a sour pang of guilt. “You know I don’t really mean it, right?”
“You literally just said I am the definition of a parasite.”
“Yes, but not-” he huffed, frustrated, as he struggled to find his words. Venom stroked a thin tendril over his cheekbone, silently letting him know he could take his time. “I don’t mean it in a bad way, not really. It was just meant to be harmless banter, I didn’t realise it actually bothered you. I’m sorry, love, I’ll stop.”
Embarrassed despite the open warmth in his tone, Venom dragged their tongue across his face in gratitude (making his nose scrunch up adorably) and sunk back beneath his skin. When they next spoke it was private, words echoing around Eddie’s skull. For him alone.
I love you.
I love you too, darling.
***
Exhaustion was settling deep into Anne’s bones after the late hours she’d been working for the past week. Perhaps she’d stayed later than she should have, but the last details on the case needed to be worked through, and she couldn’t bring herself to stop when they were so close to the end. Just her luck that today of all days, traffic made the journey back twice as long too.
She was more than ready to just collapse into bed and sleep away the weekend. She’d only wake for meals and kisses, she decided. The only good thing about this fatigue was that it often meant her partners would dote on her for days afterwards.
When she finally made it home at half-past one, Anne found her two boys snoozing on the sofa. The idea that they had waited up for her made a tired smile flicker across her face.
They were draped in what at first glance appeared to be a thick blanket, dark as the cold between stars. But Anne knew better.
A pair of opalescent eyes peaked out at her, and a lazy tentacle waved.
“Hello, Annie. I am not a parasite!”
Anne sank down next to Eddie, leaning against him.
“Of course not,” she said, not quite comprehending the utter randomness of that statement.
Pleased, Venom curled around her and drew her closer until her head rested against Eddie’s shoulder. Happy to be pulled into the cuddle pile, Anne settled under the comforting weight of them and let her eyes slip shut.
Distantly, she remembered that sleeping on the couch would only leave them all with a backache tomorrow. But at the moment, there was nothing she would hate more than separating from her partners to get up from this warm, comfortable spot. Besides, if need be Venom would probably offer to heal them in the morning anyway.
So Anne drifted off, listening to Eddie’s snuffling snores and Dan’s steady breathing, enveloped in the feeling of Venom’s contented purring.