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Buck felt useless.
He'd done it all. Dry cleaning, babysitting, volunteer work, house cleaning- everything! And still the day wasn't over. His eyes open, like there was some invisible force holding them open to stop Buck from sleeping.
Sleep was the only time he could escape it all, the constant nagging in his brain as he sat in the silence- wondering what would happen to him. Would he get his job back? Would he go back to the 118? What if they already decided they liked the placeholder better? Seriously, who even was that guy? Max? Sam? It didn't matter, they wouldn't abandon him, right? He had to be worth more to the 118 than some no name floater, his team loved him. They cared about him. They wouldn't leave him.
For what felt like days, Buck had been pacing. Just pacing. He was probably wearing a hole into his floor with all of his pacing, but he couldn't stop. He needed to move or he would lose it, "taking it easy" was horrible. He didn't need to "recover," he was fine. The drugs were out of his system, he felt fine. Totally fine. He should go to court already, his case should be made. He should be back at work. Not worrying about Max- or whatever his name was.
His pacing led him into the kitchen, his hands moving on their own accord. Grabbing bowls, measuring cups, spoons, whisks, eggs- everything needed to bake a cake. "Bet whats-his-face doesn't know how to bake a cake from scratch." Buck grumbled under his breath, ignoring the mess of flour as he dumped it into the bowl. "I bet he uses box recipes."
"You are a loser." A deep voice jeered.
Normally Buck was good at ignoring his negative thoughts, but ever since he got back from New Mexico they felt so much... more. They were always in the same voice, this deep, grumbling kind of voice. But sometimes they just got weird. Like really bad intrusive thoughts. Really, really bad.
Buck waved it off, it probably wasn't anything to worry about. Definitely.
He put the cake into the oven, his brain still turning the same thoughts over and over like a salad mixer. Before he even realized, all of his dishes were done. Usually they took him longer. Strange...
As the cake continued to bake, Buck scrolled mindlessly on his phone. He wanted to text Eddie, but whenever he got to his messages he would pause. 'He's probably busy.' He would tell himself, clicking away.
An hour later, Buck stood outside of the fire station. His knuckles white with how tightly he was clenching the cake platter.
He took a deep breath as he crossed into the threshold, he could hear people talking up on the loft so that's where he went next. Seeing Chimney, Hen, Eddie, Ravi, and Harry all at the table. Oh, and the other guy. He was there too.
"We should bite his head off."
The voice was so loud Buck almost dropped the cake. "N- No, we should not." He mumbled quietly, looking around. No one else seemed to hear it. Man, New Mexico really messed him up. He was hearing voices.
"Who are you talking to?" Ravi asked, staring at Buck like he'd grown another head.
"Huh? Oh, ha. No one... I didn't say anything."
"Did you hit your head coming here?"
"Nope! Anyways-" Buck held out the cake. "I brought cake, who's hungry?"
"What's the occasion?" Hen asked, not that it really mattered. She'd eat the cake no matter the reason.
"Just thought you all might want some." Buck explained, placing the platter onto the table.
A hand landed on his shoulder, thumb digging into his collarbone. "All that time alone finally drive you crazy?"
"Who is he? Your heart rate picked up."
"Eddie!" Buck's voice sounded shakier than he'd hoped.
"You like him."
"NO!" Buck nearly shouted, stepping back from Eddie He cleared his throat. "No, uh, it's fine. I've actually gotten a lot done."
Eddie's brows furrowed, the corner of his lip turned down disapprovingly. "You alright, Buck?"
"I'm fine, never better."
"Liar."
"Would you shut up?" Buck whispered, glancing away from Eddie.
Eddie stepped to the side, reentering Buck's field of vision. "Are you sure? You're not sick, are you?" The brunette asked, placing the back of his hand against Buck's forehead. "Dios, you're burning up."
"I'm fine, Eddie. I-"
"Stop ruining this! You ruin everything!"
"Stop! Shut up!" Buck whisper-yelled, covering his ears. That didn't help.
"This is why you are alone in your house!"
"No one was asking you!" Buck shot back, still whispering.
"Buck, you need to go to the hospital, okay? We'll get you treated." Eddie said, looking very concerned as he tried to keep the blonde still. Hands tightly gripping Buck's trembling arms.
"No!"
"No!" Buck blurted out, barely able to control the words coming out of his mouth. "We are fine. And we are going back home."
"We? Buck, who's we?" Eddie asked, sounding a little bit frightened.
"Eddie, he's having some sort of psychotic break. We needed to get him to the hospital as fast as possible, they can help there." Hen chimed in, her silhouette lingering in Buck's peripheral vision.
Eddie only nodded
Buck didn't remember the ride to the hospital, he didn't remember being led to a scanning room, or what scan they were doing.
He was in pain, it felt like his body was getting ripped to shreds- it felt like the ladder truck, the tsunami, the lightning strike, and the car crash were all happening at the same time.
There was screaming, he was pretty sure it was his. His throat felt raw like he had been screaming for a long time already.
When it stopped, the scanning table moved and he fell off. He crashed to the ground and laid there, curled in on himself as his body ached in pain.
Footsteps rushed in, a blurry figure stood above him. "Mr. Buckley? Sir, are you alright?"
Buck could only groan in response.
"This is why we do not go to the hospital."
"Yeah... Got it." He whimpered, "When can I go home?"
"Now. We're leaving now." Eddie said, his voice firm and his tone left no room for arguing. His dad-voice, as Buck had affectionately called it. "Call me when you get the results, doctor."
Once again, Buck was back inside of the four walls he'd grown to dread the most over the last few weeks. His own house.
He entered the bathroom, hoping to shower and finally go to sleep. Maybe he'd wake up and the last several hours would be nothing more than a bad dream. But, of course, that's not what happened.
In the mirror, he saw it.
A black alien creature with sharp teeth was staring back at him instead of his own reflection- he screamed.
He fell back, hitting his head on the door with a painful thud. It was gone.
"Buck?" Eddie's voice called out, his footsteps getting louder as he approached the bathroom. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"Eds- Eddie- I-"
"Can I open the door?"
"NO!" No, Eddie could not see that thing in the mirror. Absolutely not. He couldn't lose Eddie.
"What's going on? Buck... Please?"
"N- No, there's something wrong. Really, really wrong."
"Then let me help!"
"You should listen to him."
"Now is not the time for your commentary!" Buck hissed.
"I had an Eddie once." The sadness in the creature's tone shocked Buck, it was the only emotion it had shown other than anger. "I miss him. Do not push yours away."
"...okay." Slowly, Buck stood up from his place on the cold, hard, tiled bathroom floor. The lock clicked as he turned it, opening the bathroom door. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He wasn't sure he was ready to face Eddie.
"Are we going to talk about this?" The brunette asked. His question sounded pointed and angry, but Buck knew better. He'd worried his friend. He did that a lot, especially over these last few months.
Buck nodded, opening his eyes as he led Eddie to the bedroom just a few feet away. He sat down on his mattress, looking at his hands. "I- Something happened in New Mexico." He said, his voice quivering. "At first I thought it was just me trying to deal with what happened, so I pushed it off. But it kept happening, over and over again. The drugs helped... Until- well, you know that part. There's this thing-"
He was interrupted by the ringing of Eddie's phone.
"Sorry, it's the doctors. I have to take this." Eddie muttered, answering the phone with a less-than-thrilled tone.
He watched Eddie on the phone, following his best friend with his eyes as the man paced back and forth in the room. He wasn't listening, Eddie would probably recap anyway.
"I don't even know what you are, how am I supposed to explain this to him?" Buck whispered, glancing toward his bedroom mirror. He could see the creature again, black and gooey, sitting in his exact position.
"It would be easier if we showed him."
"Show him what?"
"Yeah, show me what?" Eddie asked, blocking his view of the mirror as he stood in front of Buck.
"I- uh- well-"
The same black goo crawled across his body, it was cold and almost damp- like tsunami water. Soon, he felt everything covered in it. Until he was nothing more than a passenger in his own body.
Eddie blinked. He didn't scream or pass out like Buck thought, because, of course not, he's Eddie Diaz. Eddie Diaz doesn't scream or faint under any circumstances. "Buck, what the hell is that thing?"
"We are Venom!" The creature sounded... happy? Buck didn't know it could feel that emotion.
"V- Venom?" Eddie scoffed, eyebrows furrowing in disbelief.
"Yes! We are Venom!"
"Great.." Eddie muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "My friend is infected with a deadly parasite- that's literally killing him- and it calls itself Venom."
"PARASITE?!" Venom screeched, standing up from the mattress.
"You're killing me?! Dude, what the fuck?" Buck yelled, not even sure if Venom could hear him if he wasn't physically using his own mouth to talk.
"I am not killing you! I am healing you! You will die without me. You were in a car crash!"
"So I'm going to die with or without you? Great! I choose without!"
"No! You will die without me, I am helping!"
"Then why does Eddie say you're killing me? Hmm?"
"Because the doctors told Eddie and the doctors are morons!"
"Okay! Okay, can you stop... whatever that is- What is going on?" Eddie's voice cut through the argument, his dad-tone present.
"Your friend got into a car crash, he was dying, I decided to help-"
"If you were going to help, why didn't you get us out of New Mexico?!"
"I am explaining! Do not interrupt me!"
"Fine. Continue."
"I need a human host to survive, he was dying without me. It seemed like a fair trade. Then those people picked us up and took us to prison!"
Eddie nodded along like this all made perfect sense to him.
"I was trying to let his body heal, but he wanted to escape. Then she hit us with that zappy stick-"
"Cattle prod."
"Yes! Cattle prod! She hit us with that. His body was too weak for us to leave, so we stayed there."
Eddie sat in silence for several minutes, Buck swore he could see the mental math equations his friend was going through. Buck felt a similar way.
"So," The brunette said, slowly looking up to meet Venom's eyes- like he was a normal person. "You saved Buck's life."
"Yes!"
"Well, I suppose I should thank you." He replied, sticking out his hand for a handshake.
How was Eddie treating this so casually?
"There is no need to thank me, but I will take your thanks anyway!" Venom's voice boomed as he shook Eddie's hand.
"Charming..."