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Tendrils elongated from Eddie's shirt and attaches themselves to the brim of the helicopter door, tugging the almost lifeless body of Eddie Brock regrettably through the dirt.
The pained moans and whines of the host below makes Venom seeth with anger. This was not his fight, this was between Venom and his Creator. Now the lives on earth were in danger because of him.
Venom’s tendrils hoist Eddie up from the dirt and into the helicopter, allowing the weakened man to grasp for leverage before being hoisted inside and onto his butt, comfortably pushed against the wall. Eddie lets out a strangled gasp caught in his throat at the burning he felt in his left hip.
Reaching down, Eddie could feel the deep wound that stretched from his abdomen to where his kidney was. It was a very near miss.
The pain that ripples through their bond makes Venom wince where he floats there watching the world fall apart around them. Xenophages prowl the deserted military base hunting for the Codex, the only thing on their minds.
“I am proud of you, Eddie.” Venom coax quietly, understanding that he was in too much pain to listen. It was taking an awfully long time for Venom to regenerate enough strength to heal such a wound. “You did it all yourself. Well, some of it.” They try to tease. But again, Eddie was not having it, understandably.
Bazookas and explosions ring around them in the helicopter. There was no escape.
Venom watches fretfully through the tiny window that was just behind Eddie, flinching back whenever an explosion would go off, startling both of them the same.
The Xenophages were becoming more frustrated at the loss of the Codex. But they will not stop this destruction until they got it. They will keep regenerating and spawning no matter how long they try to run away from it.
Venom shuts his eyes regrettably and turns to face Eddie again, boring his eyes into the Host who sits there with a blank stare almost. Like his very life force was being drained. “I really would have liked to see her, Eddie.”
He looks up now, tears prickled in his eyes and running down his cheeks. “..Who?”
“Lady Liberty.” They murmur in response, edging their face a little closer.
“Oh… Oh yeah.” Eddie bobs his head unenthusiastically, almost drooping to the left while his hand cups his injured side. “Yeah, well… W… We’re goin’, love, okay? Just… J–Just as soon as we get outta here…”
Venom glances down slowly to the blood stained blouse and the open gash, their eyes furrowing sadly at the sight of their Host, their partner in so much pain.
“They will just keep coming. We will never leave this place, Eddie.” Venom softens their gruff tone, flinching away as an explosion blasts from somewhere behind them.
Eddie swallows thickly at his words, eyes shut tight. He was trying his hardest to ignore the possibility that this was it. That there was no escape from their fate.
Eddie’s hands cup over the thickened tendril that pressed into his wound, holding onto what he assumed was almost like a hand of Venom. He grasps it close and leans his head back against the wall of the helicopter, taking the time to catch his breath.
“You will be fine, as long as I am here. Nothing will hurt you forever.” Venom murmurs again, almost like a purr. They clasp Eddie’s hands back tightly, staring at his tear-stained face.
“I thought…” Eddie takes a deep inhale, “I thought we were going to be the Lethal Protector.”
“We are.” Venom weakens a gentle smile at Eddie, “That’s what this is.”
Eddie’s body flinches at another explosion from elsewhere, the two of them staring at one another intently now. Neither of them had realised it, but Eddie had started to stroke his thumb over the top of the thick tendril pressed into his wound, soothing himself.
There was a period of silence that washed over the pair who looked at one another, as if trying to read the other person despite being a single being in this vulnerable moment. They were no longer separate beings, one could not survive without the other. Ever since that tragic moment at the LIFE Foundation where Eddie lost his first life, they had been intertwined since.
“I, uh.” Eddie starts with a husky cough, his mouth dry and croaky. “I… Never got the chance to say it back, but…” Eddie licks his lips nervously, clutching the tendril tighter in his calloused grasp. “I love you too.”
Venom stares in disbelief and bewilderment, pearlescent eyes starting to tear unexpectedly.
“And, I’m sorry for everything I said to you. You didn’t ruin my life a year ago. You made it better.” Eddie was tricking his fingers along the tendril now, slowly pulling Venom towards him inch by inch with the little strength he had left. “I’m an asshole, and I’m mean, and I know you deserve better. But no one could ever love you more than I do.”
Eddie tugs Venom towards him now, and bumps their heads together gently just as another explosion went off, but neither of them flinched now. Eddie’s body physically relaxes against the strength of his partner that buries their heads together, eyes shut. The most peaceful moment within the most chaotic environment. But it was bliss.
“I love you, Eddie. But you already knew that.” Venom purrs louder this time, gently adjusting their head and nuzzling their cheeks together, their taught rubbery skin brushing the stubbled side of Eddie’s jaw. “I wish we could wake up from this nightmare. In your apartment, in your bed. The safest place in the world, aside from your heart.”
“My heart isn’t that safe, Vee.” Eddie mumbles, keeping the side of his face pressed against his. “It’s cold, and it’s dark, and it’s-”
“Home. It’s home, Eddie. It has been my home for the last two years, and its where I will forever belong.” Venom whispers gently against his ear, white eyes shutting tight while they embrace. Subconsciously, they began to gently rock side to side with one another, their common self-soothing technique whenever Eddie was in distress.
Eddie’s face turns slightly into Venom’s jaw and he pecks gently at the side of his mouth, a few times as if to test the waters. The Symbiote purrs quietly to themself at the attention, slowly turning their head more towards Eddie while he continues to kiss his teeth, before finally meeting his lips.
“Too long, Eddie.” Venom whines quietly against his mouth, pulling the Host closer towards them, feeling like they could just wrap Eddie up in their tentacles and shield him from the world forever, ksising him until the end of time. “You took too long.”
“I know, my love, I’m so sorry.” Eddie’s tears were imminent now, and they dribble down his cheeks and into his lap. He regret ever taking so long for this, because it was the most bliss Eddie had felt in his entire life. “I’m so sorry for everything.”
“Nothing to apologise for, Eddie. We are here together, it is all that matters.” Venom rumbles against the side of Eddie’s face like a cat head-butting their owner for attention. They rub the comforting stubble on Eddie’s cheeks. “I just wish our circumstances were better. Just wanted to be human. Wanted to find my place on this planet, but it could not love me back.”
“I love you. That’s all the love you will ever need.” Eddie smiles at them sadly, his lips trembling while his hands grasp the many tendrils entwined around his fingers.
“It is all the love I could ever ask for.”