Story [Venom] "Chewing Through the Ropes", Post-credits, Vignette

Title: "Chewing Through the Ropes"
Author: Mira_Jade

Fandom: Venom (2018 Film)
Genre: Humor, Drama
Rating: PG
Characters: Eddie Brock | Venom Symbiote, Anne Weying/Dan Lewis

Summary: It was still a work in progress, their existence together, but Eddie was learning.

Notes: So, um - surprise! I'm here, writing for yet another fandom. I usually adore Marvel movies, that's no secret, but Venom has never really snagged my interest as a character . . . until now. With all of the mixed reviews, I honestly just went to see the movie for a few hours of Tom Hardy and a decent antihero romp. I had no expectations. But now - ignoring all of the pacing and plotting issues, shh - I'm absolutely grateful that I have this ridiculously wonderful film in my life for just how much these losers love each other. Seriously guys, I'm smitten. So, have a few thousand words on the subject.

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, but for the words.

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"Chewing Through the Ropes"
by Mira_Jade
​

In the end, it was his own big mouth that gave his – their – secret away.

Of course it was; that was just typical. Or, if he was being grudgingly honest, maybe it was just that Anne always knew exactly what buttons to push and in what particular order to get the results she wanted - especially where he was concerned. She had a gift for insight, punctuated by a talent for argument; it's what made her the best of the best in her field. Eddie was a fool to think he ever stood a chance.

It all started with him sitting on her stoop with his newspaper in hand, content to pass the time until she came home and unlocked the door. Somehow, fending off an alien invasion together hadn’t quite ignited the old flame between them, but it was certainly enough to convince Anne that he wasn’t taking care of himself properly in her absence. Following his recovery – when Anne and Dan had insisted on taking care of him, and Eddie hadn’t really cared what happened next since they were gone, or so he'd thought – he'd developed an odd sorta friendship with his ex and her new fiancé. Their relationship wasn’t typical in the slightest; it could be considered downright bizarre by most social norms, even. But bizarre was starting to have less and less relevance when it came to his life. All that he chose to care about was Anne – and, to a surprising extent, Dan, who was the epitome of a good man and probably the only person on the planet actually worthy of Anne. Eddie hadn't realized just how isolated he’d become the last six months, and he thrived for the interaction he kept up with the other two actual human beings. He didn’t want to turn Anne’s invitations down, and so he accepted them as they came. It was simple as that.

The only possible complication in their new relationship, of course, was that he was now showing up plus one. Even if he hadn’t told Anne about Venom’s recovery outright, he was pretty certain that she knew – or she had her suspicions, at the very least. And a suspicious Anne was always an Anne who was just one step away from uncovering the truth.

So she knows; big deal. We still fail to see the problem.

“The problem,” Eddie muttered, trying to duck his chin into his collar so that no one would see him talking to himself, “is that you’re still a terrifying mass of black space goo,” he just barely swallowed back the word parasite – apparently it was offensive, and after getting to know Venom he finally understood why. “You're an alien who’s kinda bonded to my insides and currently digesting any of my organs that you don’t deem necessary. Then, there’s just the teensy little fact that you and your buddies had plans to invade the Earth - ”

- we had plans, Eddie - had, his symbiote all but whined directly into in his ears to protest. Those plans were gone as soon as we found you. You are our host, our one true host; you know that.

What was his life if those words had the ability to plaster such a cheesy grin to his face? It was like the sun had just come out in his heart, and he meant each and every sweetly saccharine word of that. A fluttering of happiness pulsed through his gut, or at least he thought so - in all honesty that could have been Venom pressing down on his intestines as they slithered about his insides. It was still a learning process, their existence together, but Eddie was learning.

Anne knows our thoughts and feelings, though, so you should worry less. She knows we would never hurt you – you are ours and your Earth is ours as well, Venom was clearly proud to declare. She accepted us once before – even welcomed us, and she will again.

“Yeah, well, let’s not test that theory right away,” Eddie covered his words in a fit of coughing as he saw Anne reach the crest of the street. She was much too close now, close enough to wave at him while a sweet smile lit up her face in greeting. He stood up from the steps to walk over and give her a hand with the groceries she was carrying. “We need to give her time to adjust to the idea,” he patiently continued to explain under his breath. “You have to admit that this is an . . . unusual arrangement.”

But it wasn’t, for all that it should have been. If that was the honest truth of the matter for Eddie, then it was all the more so for Venom.

You have never trusted her as you should, Venom bluntly chided, one step from sulking now. It’s why you lost her in the first place.

Hey, low blow, buddy, Eddie thought when he could no longer say so aloud. He was still trying to get the hang of communicating with his symbiote through the privacy of his – of their own mind. So far, long term conversations still tended to leave him with a migraine for his efforts, and Venom had an annoying tendency to pretend they didn’t hear him when he knew full well they did. It was like sharing his body with a five year old sometimes.

When his attempts at reasoning failed, he could feel the exact moment where Venom crossed their proverbial arms and taunted:

Chicken.

Well, if his symbiote wanted to be adolescent about this, Eddie was more than game. With a shake of his head he projected the rudest gesture he could think of loud and clear. That was that: message received.

“Eddie!” Anne was happy to welcome him – and even happier to let him handle the groceries. He took the brown paper bags from her with a smile, and turned his cheek to accept the kiss she gave in greeting. He felt a muscle jump underneath his skin where her lips touched, and mentally narrowed his eyes when Anne pulled away, a furrowed expression knotting between her brows. She was much too smart on a good day, and crap like that would definitely give them away. Venom would spill their secret without saying a single word out loud if they kept it up.

What? Venom sounded much too innocent in his mind – just like the aforementioned five-year old with their hand caught in the cookie jar. It was an accident, Eddie. Honest.

It there are any more accidents, Eddie couldn’t say the words aloud, but he could think them loud and clear, there won’t be any tater tots for a week. At least.

You wouldn’t, Venom, at least, sounded horrified by the prospect. As they well should have been – Eddie knew not to bring frozen potatoes into the argument unless it was serious. Eddie, that is cruel.

Just try me, buddy – see if I’m joking.

“Hey, are you feeling okay?” Anne cut into his thoughts to ask. Thankfully, Venom retreated from the forefront of his consciousness in defeat, leaving his mind blessedly quiet. Eddie felt a shiver quite literally go up and down his spine before a distinct pressure settled over his bladder, right where his symbiote liked to curl up and squeeze when they were unhappy and wanted him to know it. She pushed her hair behind her ear, her expression still searching. For a moment, caught in the Californian sunshine like a memory, he couldn’t help but stare.

“Yeah,” Eddie assured her, ignoring his discomfort to summon an honest smile. “Never better.”

And that much was true, at least. Almost as much as Anne his fiancée, the woman he'd wanted to marry, he missed Anne his friend. He missed her, and he was grateful to have her back in any capacity. It was a simple, familiar routine between them to go inside and start dinner. Dan had a surgery that was going late due to complications, she told him as they put away the groceries, and wouldn’t be home before the table was set. It was just the two of them until then, chatting and catching up as if the months apart had never separated them. Sure, there were a few close calls along the way, like: V, that ham is for dinner, you’re not eating it now! – and, more alarmingly: The cat is off limits too, do you hear me? Honest to goodness, V, we’re a guest, so show some respect! But Eddie was reasonably certain that he had things under control.

Mostly.

We do not understand your restrictions. The cat does not like you, and you do not like the cat, Venom had not agreed with his decision to spare Mr. Belvedere in the slightest. It stalks us with its primitive little eyes, thinking itself to be the apex predator in the room. Its lack of respect is insulting, so it will be a tasty treat before dinner.

But Anne likes the cat for some ridiculous reason I can’t explain, Eddie raced to properly project his thoughts. And if you ever want Anne to accept you – to accept the both of us, you cannot eat her pets. Got it?

A heartbeat passed.

. . . not even the goldfish?

“No, not the goldfish, either!” Eddie finally snapped, pushed to his limit. Anne chose that exact moment to come into the dining room behind him, of course, holding three wine glasses in one hand and a bottle of Merlot in the other. She raised a brow, clearly taken aback by his outburst.

“What was that, Eddie?” she asked. “I think I missed exactly what you said.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he scrambled to recover. “It’s only,” he blurted the first thing he could think of, “you got a fish. That’s new.”

He made an admittedly awkward gesture to the glass bowl with the clueless fish swimming about inside. The little guy had no idea of just how close he'd come to a quick and violent end - or how that end still threatened. Venom was pressing against his stomach, all but salivating through his mouth with impatience and insistence, but Eddie held his ground. Of all the things he had to pick out of his teeth when Venom was done with his body – most of which he simply did not think about before gurgling mouthwash straight from the bottle, scales were the worst. He just barely suppressed a shudder, looking at the fish’s bulbous orange cheeks and flat, vacant eyes. Eugh, thanks but no thanks.

“Claudius was here when you left,” Anne’s expression thinned to point out. She carefully put the glasses down as if nothing was wrong, but her words were cool. “He was a gift from the paralegals for my last promotion – remember? I kept him at my office before.”

. . . before.

Rightfully chastised, Eddie cringed to remember exactly what and who had sent her packing from her last firm to begin with. Obviously, this particular desk ornament hadn’t followed to her new job as part of Stark Industry's legal team just yet.

Now you’ve done it, stupid – she’s angry with you, Venom quivered against his lungs in a way that Eddie recognized as his symbiote’s version of laughter. It never boded well when they said you instead of we. Can we eat the fish now? She's already mad; what would the difference in her anger be?

Eddie squared his shoulders, instinctively ready to fight his symbiote if they tried to take over – but for all their bluster Venom truly was learning manners. And they understood that rule number three of Eddie’s top ten conditions for leasing out his body: No Assuming Control Without Explicit Consent, Except in Moments of Imminent Danger was important. If Venom couldn’t stick to that rule, it was a deal breaker for Eddie.

But this, Venom pointed out helpfully, picking up on his thoughts anyway, is getting dangerous. She is hurt and angry. She still has not wholly forgiven you for violating her trust, and she -

“ - I knew you had a fish,” Eddie interrupted, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. He pointedly ignored Venom in favor of turning his attention back to Anne. “This one just looked . . . different. It’s been a while.”

“No, he’s the same,” Anne’s hazel eyes narrowed even further, but that was all she said aloud before turning her back on him and walking back into the kitchen.

Eddie blew out a breath, knowing that he had his work cut out for him to sooth over that particular hurt, but he was more than determined to do so, no matter how long it took. Anne deserved nothing less from him. But, instead of drudging up the ugly corpse of their break-up then and there, he finished setting out the plates and silverware for dinner. By the time he returned to the kitchen, Anne had more or less forgiven him, or she was at least determined to ignore his less than sterling moment, for which he was grateful. He didn’t want to ruin the night with a sour note – especially one that was his fault.

By the time they were cutting up the salad, Anne was back to smiling at him and even laughing at his jokes. Venom roused from the back of his mind to squirm in disgust as Anne shredded the romaine hearts. It’s bad enough that you prefer dead meat, and then cook that dead meat, wasting all the tasty bits, they grumbled as Eddie peeled the carrots. But eating dead plants is just the height of idiocy.

You’re in my body, V – you know how vitamins work. Vegetables have fiber and potassium and folic acid and all sorts of good stuff. Thus, I need to eat vegetables. Trust me, if I could live on tater tots and chocolate alone, you know I would.

And Mrs. Chen says you must eat more of these dead plants, Venom nodded smartly, as does Dan. Both are credible experts in human health, so we will listen to them and make sure you eat all the green things for your own body’s sake . . . it just doesn’t mean we have to like it.

Yeah, well, Eddie had absolutely no sympathy on that point, now you know how I feel about burping up leftovers from your feeding frenzies -

“ - hey, Eddie, did you hear me?” Anne asked, calling him back to himself. “You spaced out for a moment there.”

“No, I’m listening. You have my full, undivided attention,” he assured Anne, grinning his best grin. You, he did his best to push Venom into the corners of his mind, are being rude. Can’t you just back off for a bit? Anne is already suspicious and you aren’t helping.

You wouldn’t have to divide your attention between us if she knew the truth, yet, for the first time that evening Venom’s voice sounded deadly serious as it slithered from the depths of his mind. His symbiote was not sulking or petulant in the slightest as it dug in its metaphorical heels and stood its ground. Instead, Eddie felt . . . regret and sadness and even a flickering of pain from the second heart that shadowed his own. It was still a bit of a trick, learning to interpret whose emotions were whose, but there they were, clear as day to understand. A stabbing sensation pierced his chest, twisting through his insides in a way that had nothing to do with his alien partner. It's your choice to hide us from your loved ones – who are now ours the same as they are yours, you still do not understand. You want us to hide from Anne . . . so we will hide. Goodnight, Eddie.

For a moment, Eddie just stood there with the peeler in hand, completely blindsided by the turn that had taken. Was that really what Venom thought about their bond? He wracked his brain, trying to understand just where the depths of their miscommunication had stemmed from. Did they really think that he was ashamed of them, that he wanted to hide out of some sense of pudency? The truth couldn’t have been furthest from. Through sharing his mind, he’d just assumed that Venom understood the necessity of his decision. Mankind didn’t accept what was different, end of story, and Venom didn’t have any rights here on Earth – they’d seen the inside of a lab once already, and Eddie would die himself before he allowed that to happen again. That didn’t mean that he actually liked keeping such a large part of himself closed off from others. It didn’t mean that -

- well, Eddie acknowledged, knowing someone’s thoughts didn’t necessarily equate understanding, or even agreement. This was something they should have talked about, instead of him making a decision for the both of them and just assuming that he and Venom were of the same mind. Obviously, he'd been mistaken.

Reflexively, he felt for his symbiote down by his bladder, but he couldn’t feel the tell-tale twinge of their presence anywhere. It was like they had just . . . vanished. His pulse was oddly still in his veins and his skin didn’t itch; his thoughts were unnaturally, horribly silent. In so short a time Eddie had forgotten how to be alone in his own body, and he hated the almost irrational feeling of abandonment he felt in that moment. This, he admitted somewhat ruefully, had already gone way beyond codependency in so short a time – almost frighteningly so.

As if sensing the turmoil of his thoughts, Anne put the knife down and turned to stare at him, a question in her eyes. He didn’t have the ability to pretend in that moment, and he braced himself for whatever she would ask next of him.

"Eddie," she began, her voice gentle. Eddie eyed her sideways, knowing full well how she could cross examine any story for weaknesses. "You know that you've got me worried. I've been wanting to talk to you - "

Yet, thankfully, Dan chose that exact moment to walk through the door, saving him from the chopping block. Anne leveled him with a look, as if to say that this was just postponing what was going to be a very uncomfortable conversation for him later, not dismissing it entirely. She then darted over to the door, a smile on his face to welcome home her husband-to-be. Eddie took the obvious excuse of not wanting to see his ex kiss another man – even if he liked that man and was happy for them both – to lean over the sink and whisper: “V, you know I didn’t mean it that way. C’mon, don’t hide from me. Not about this.”

Still . . . nothing; silence.

Eddie took in a deep breath, and released it, for a moment drawn back to those horrible few days following their battle with Riot and Drake. He thought he’d lost his symbiote forever, and the notion had filled him with such a terrifying, gut-wrenching sense of loss – terrifyingly so for how short a time their bond had to grow. It wasn’t just Venom who needed him, he’d since come to understand, but he who needed them. They were plurals now; they could never be singular again.

And he, Eddie thought miserably, had treated Venom like they were something unwanted – like they were something shameful that no one else could ever possibly understand. He knew . . . he knew what bonding meant to Venom, and why that desire for true symbiosis had always seen them as an outcast before. But his knowing hadn't mattered; he'd beaten his partner down without even realizing he did so. That seemed to be the story of all his relationships, summed up in one awful, brutally honest sentence.

“V,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. Can you come back to me?”

I'm in this fully committed, just the same as you are, he found his thoughts bubbling up with an emotion that was too big for words. I’m not ashamed of that. I promise you, V - you mean the world to me, and that’s the honest to goodness truth.

But still, Venom was silent. Eddie took in a deep breath, feeling his balance swerve as he gripped the counter to steady himself. But there, he could finally make out a little glow of warmth resting behind his heart, small and tiny and even vulnerable in that moment, if the massive rage monster his symbiote could materialize as could ever be described as such. Venom had just tucked in close, and was prepared to wait him out. They weren’t ready to speak to him just yet, but they were still there. Okay . . . that was fair. Eddie could give them the space they wanted.

“Alright then,” Eddie sighed. “You take all the time you need. You know where to find me when you’re ready.”

Soon after that, they sat down for dinner, and the meal passed without incident. They talked about Anne’s work and Eddie’s latest story he was investigating; they talked about Dan’s patients, and the upcoming Giant’s season. All the while, Venom didn’t once stir – not even for the baseball talk, which usually fascinated them, nor for the gore in Dan’s stories. Eddie didn’t have to swat away black tendrils that reached for extra dinner rolls to feed an insatiable extra mouth under the table, nor did he feel the impulse in the back of his mind to dive face-first into the entire pie, rather than just eating his single portion like a normal human being who had to worry about cavities and diabetes and calories and all that fun stuff.

It was, in a word, empty. Not even Anne and Dan were enough to make up for the gaping hole that suddenly existed in his chest – quite literally. He couldn’t even enjoy the opportunity he had to nurse a third glass of wine without Venom chiding him as they filtered the alcohol from his blood, and he missed the feeling of disgust his symbiote would usually scuffle as he dutifully ate his salad. Everything about the night was just empty and wrong.

Anne, meanwhile, wore a look of concern that she didn’t even bother trying to hide as the evening wore on. What was even worse was when she traded those looks with Dan. The last thing he wanted to be, on top of everything else, was pitied. So, Eddie declared himself ready to turn in earlier than he actually was following dessert and made his way towards the door. Maybe seeing something in his eyes that he himself didn’t want to admit to, Anne didn’t fight his decision to leave.

“Goodbye, Eddie.” After Dan clapped him in a hug (seriously, where did Anne even find this guy?), she turned to kiss his cheek again – her lips lingering for just a second as if searching. She let him go, and waited until his back was turned to reach for the doorknob to add, as if by casual routine, “And goodnight, Venom.”

In the end, that opening was all it took.

“GOODNIGHT, ANNE!”

A jolt of positive endorphins raced along his nerve endings like firecrackers as Venom materialized from his back in a nebulous mass of writhing black biomater. Their milky white eyes beamed as they grinned a toothy grin, freed from the confines of their host to show their face for the first time that evening.

“Dinner was delicious, even if it was cooked. We will be digesting many nutrients for quite some time!” they praised. “But, next time, may we eat your goldfish too? We behaved tonight, and Eddie says that good behavior should be rewarded.”

Anne, to her credit, didn’t so much as blink to see the undeniable proof of the alien who shared his body. Dan looked a bit pale, granted, and his eyes were almost comically wide, but he admirably kept his cool. The couple as a whole both looked as if this was nothing new and completely ordinary. What, Eddie wondered for the umpteenth time, was his life?

“V!” he finally found his voice to exclaim. As he turned, Venom shifted to perch out of his shoulders like some sort of malicious looking nightmare parrot. “I told you – you are not eating the goldfish or the cat or anything else.”

“But you were mean to us tonight,” Venom whined. “We deserve an apology.”

“So I’ll get you chocolate on the way home,” Eddie huffed. “You’re not eating Anne’s pets.”

“I don’t know, if it’s live fish they want, I’m sure we can work something out for next time,” Anne only shrugged to say. “I’d be a rude host not to take all of my guests into consideration.” With that, Eddie found himself on the receiving end of one of Anne’s more piercing stares. Her arms crossed, and her mouth thinned. Venom may have had Anne’s understanding, but he, on the other hand -

“ - you know, you could have told me,” sure enough, Anne was not going to let him go so easily. “Did you think that I wouldn’t understand? Did you think that I wouldn't want this for you, even? I know that you mourned them - I was there, remember?”

Honestly . . . he had worried – not about her acceptance, never that, but about what she would have thought of him, knowing that this was something he wanted. He’d been gutted when he’d thought Venom dead to save him, and he’d wanted them back more than anything. Did that make him deviant or amoral or disgusting or any one of the numerous adjectives that his writer’s brain could think to supply just then? He’d only just got Anne back; he didn’t want to lose her too. Selfishly, he wanted to hold on to them both.

Except that, in the end, the only thing that had truly concerned Anne was that he had kept the truth from her . . . again. Someday, he would be able to get the hang of this whole relationship thing – with both of them. Hopefully before they tired of his fumbling too much.

“I made a mistake, Annie,” was all that Eddie could say as he bowed his head. He couldn’t have felt more contrite if he tried. “I’m sorry.”

“We told him he was wrong,” Venom crowed, completely insensitive to his misery as they flashed their maw of fangs. “You are Anne, and you love us; you will always love us.”

For that, however, Anne’s cheeks flushed, and she darted a look up at Dan. She reached over to take his hand, lacing his fingers through her own. “Yeah," she admitted softly, "well – sometimes hearts are silly like that.”

Maybe, Eddie gave, he wasn’t giving Anne enough credit from the start. Again. She always understood more than he knew.

“We like human hearts, even more so than human brains,” Venom agreed with a happy nod. Eddie blanched, thinking to know exactly where the conversation was going before his symbiote continued to say, “Humans are so open and willing to trust, with such capacity for sharing. Yours is a unique species amongst the stars. We have found our ideal host, after ages of searching.”

“Yeah, well,” Eddie muttered, feeling a blush threaten, despite himself, “you’re not too bad yourself, V.”

“Of course we’re not,” Venom all but preened. “We are Venom.”

Anne’s eyes flicked back and forth between them, and for whatever she saw something settled in her eyes. She made a decision. “Alright then,” she nodded smartly. “We’ll see you both next Saturday. Venom, would you like - ”

“ - chocolate and tater tots and the cat!”

“I can provide chocolate and . . . tater tots,” Anne’s grin was only slightly bemused, thankfully. “But the cat is off the menu. I can manage fish though.”

Venom was quiet for a long moment, slinging around his shoulders with tendrils reflexively twitching up and down his back, seeking out the comfort of his nervous system. “That is acceptable,” they finally hummed. “Your hospitality is appreciated.”

“The pleasure is mine – ours,” she said, darting a happy look at Dan. Dan was mostly quiet, but Eddie had the sense that he was biting back a dozen questions. No doubt their next dinner was going to be interesting as the surgeon got free rein to pick apart his brain - metaphorically speaking, hopefully. Eddie sighed, and resigned himself to hearing his organs discussed in detail. For now, though, he was just content that Anne was content.

“Alright, we’ll let you go now,” Anne said, shooting him one last affectionate grin. But she surprised them all when she stood on the tips of her toes and reached up to hook the curve of her index finger underneath Venom’s jaw. Without stopping to give the alien mass any time to react, she kissed the writhing, inky shape of their cheek and then bounced back down on the balls of her feet. “And . . . I’m glad you’re okay, V,” she said. “Eddie really was lost without you.”

As we were before him, too, Venom whispered in return. But that thought was for him alone.

Eddie couldn’t help but scowl - he was not going to grin and turn into a mushy mess in front of Dan. “You know," he protested, "I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself before either of you, so - ”

- that, Anne didn’t even deem worthy of a response. “See you next time,” she interrupted instead, and pointedly opened the door.

“Goodbye!” Venom chirped before slinking back to disappear through his pores again. As they turned to leave, Eddie felt his symbiote stretch out from the base of his neck to the small of his back and around his ribs. It wasn’t the worst feeling, honestly – almost like a strange, inside out hug. He felt warm, at least, and full in a way that he could never manage to describe aloud. It was a feeling he wouldn’t exchange for anything in the world.

You are buying us chocolate on the way home, Venom still rumbled to remind him. Don’t think we forgot.

“Alright – I guess you deserve anything I can give you,” Eddie rubbed the back of his neck to acknowledge as they started walking, “especially after how I acted tonight.”

We can’t take you anywhere, Venom huffed to return one of his favorite phrases. But, you’re learning.

“Yeah, I suppose I am,” Eddie gave affectionately. “We both are.”

He breathed in deep, and felt his symbiote thrum against his lungs. Grinning for the almost stupid giddiness he could feel bubbling up inside of him, knowing that everyone he cared for in the world was now at peace with him – with them – he fought the urge he had to skip down the street. For a moment, a wonderful, blissful moment, all was right between them, just a man and his monster, together in the dark.



~MJ