Work Text:
This one, Eddie.
A tendril slides out of the collar of Eddie’s shirt and up the side of his neck, pushing at his jaw until he’s looking at whatever Venom wants to show him. It’s a canvas, about twenty-four by thirty-two, covered in a stark black and white portrait.
“Oh. Okay. That’s… different.”
The image of an attractive woman with long black hair and dark eyes under a fringe of bangs looks back at Eddie. Her face is almost in profile, eyes staring off to the right of the frame, and she has an enigmatic smile on her face. Well… on one side of her face. The other side of her face seems to be stretching away from her skull, the eyes on that side white with pinpoint pupils, where a second face appears. Same woman, different eyes and mouth, something about them that strikes Eddie as predatory.
It is us, Eddie.
He coughs out a laugh. “What?”
It is us. Two sides. You are cute and harmless and we are a terrifying predator.
“I’m not— that’s just— whatever,” Eddie grumbles, stepping closer to the print.
It would look very good against the brick.
Tendrils wind around Eddie’s torso under his shirt, squeezing him gently, as he nods at Venom’s observation. The black and white would stand out against the brick wall. While parts of the image are macabre and gruesome, there’s something about it that draws Eddie in.
He’s got to be out of his fucking mind if he’s letting the murderous goo alien that co-habitats his body pick out art for their apartment. But it had occurred to Eddie one day while he was laying on the couch reading transcripts that his apartment is plain. Boring. He had never really made himself at home when he moved in after Anne and then he had just kept not making himself at home.
It had never bothered him before but it bothers him now. He wants it to feel like home. And he is very much not interrogating the reasons for that, thankyouverymuch.
“You don’t think it’s weird,” Eddie asks as he tips his head to the side, eyes still fixed on the dark, predatory eyes of the woman.
You like weird.
Venom pinches his side as they say it and Eddie jolts.
“Can you not grope me in public?”
Mmmmmm, Venom hums inside his skull, filling up all the empty places in his brain. We will consider your request.
A tendril immediately slides up Eddie’s sternum, across his collarbone, and then down to pinch his nipple. He tenses his jaw to keep the hiss of pleasure/pain from escaping.
I can’t take you anywhere, Eddie thinks at Venom, smoothing a hand down the front of his shirt in an attempt to brush the tendrils away.
You take us everywhere, Eddie.
“Because I don’t have a choice,” he grumbles.
Mmmmmm. We think that even if you did have a choice, you would still take us everywhere.
Venom’s hand smoothes up Eddie’s spine to the nape of his neck and then back down, claws scraping lightly over his skin, drawing a shiver out of him.
And that’s the rub, isn’t it?
That Eddie has finally gotten used to having Venom with him, in him, and he likes it. He likes the weight of them in his chest and the back of his brain. He likes the constant reminder that he’s not alone. He likes that they see him, know him, all of him, and they still want to wind themself around him and never let go.
He more than likes it and he wonders how long it will be before Venom figures him out.
“Fine. Fuck you. You’re right.”
“Are you considering this piece, sir?”
Eddie turns to see an older woman with long, gray hair framing a stunning face. She’s dressed in a flowing dress that Eddie would probably describe as “bohemian” in an article. She looks approachable and professional in equal measure and Eddie wonders if he should take notes.
“Yeah. My… roommate likes it.”
“Oh?” She smiles a bit quizzically. “Was that who you were talking to?”
“On the phone.” Eddie holds up his phone like it’s a lifeline and waggles it a little too close to the woman’s face. “Sent them some pictures of the prints. Shit. Hope that was okay.”
You are a terrible liar.
I am not. It’s practically my job.
Her smile morphs into something more friendly. “We discourage it but understand that you can’t always shop in person with everyone involved in the decision-making process.”
“I’ll delete them all now.” Eddie fiddles with his phone for a minute pretending to delete the photos he didn’t take before he looks back up at the picture that feels like it’s looking back at him. “So, yeah, I think we want this one. In this size.”
Yes. Venom’s voice vibrates which excitement which makes Eddie’s smile soften and spread. It will fit perfectly above the desk.
“It’s an unusual print,” she hums next to him, tilting her head like it will help reveal more secrets about the image. “I think one of our interns loved the artist and ordered us one. It’s really just been sitting here waiting for the right owner to come along.” She turns her gaze to Eddie and peers at him critically. “I guess that’s you.”
Us.
Eddie glances back at the print. A year ago, it would have repulsed him but now he sees something beautiful in the woman’s inhumanness. Something familiar. Something that looks a lot like home. He swallows hard and manages to drag a response up from somewhere, past the feelings he’s been suppressing for far too long, past the three words that seem to live inside him all the time. Past what he wants to say to Venom but just can’t.
“Yeah. I guess it is.”