Eddie was on the verge of falling asleep in front of the TV when the question came. It wasn’t unusual for Venom to have questions for him just as he was falling asleep, but he could not have anticipated the question that would come out of their mouth even if he tried.
Eddie.
“Hmm?”
Eddie.
“I am listening,” Eddie said, though he was still half asleep.
What are we doing for Valentine’s?
Eddie frowned, looking around his messy living room and trying to make sense of the question. “What do you mean?”
The blonde person was mad because their spouse did not do anything for Valentine’s.
Eddie shook himself awake at that. “What blonde person?”
The TV, Eddie. Catch up.
The TV in question was currently showing an ad for dish soap. Eddie could not see the connection between dish soap and Valentine’s, still, he said “Valentine’s is a fake holiday invented by corporations to sell you things, V.”
So we’re not doing anything for Valentine’s?
He could hear the hurt undertone in Venom’s voice inside his head, but he didn’t back down. “What would we even do? We can’t exactly go on a date to a restaurant. And you don’t care about flowers or chocolate! Not like that anyway.”
Okay.
Eddie knew he said the wrong thing by the dry answer he got.
“Are you sure, V?”
Yes. It’s a dumb human holiday anyway.
Eddie heartily agreed. He turned off the TV and went to bed. Venom didn’t come out for a kiss goodnight, but Eddie didn’t worry. Those kinds of rituals didn’t exactly matter to the symbiote, Venom seemed to do them because Eddie found comfort in them.
He fell asleep easily, even if there was something cold and distant at the back of his mind where Venom’s form usually resided.
Eddie woke up to cabinet doors being slammed in the kitchen, which put him on high alert immediately. No one was supposed to be in his apartment at this time. No one was supposed to be in his apartment ever, period.
He sat up in a rush and noticed the tentacles coming out of his body, stretching all the way to the kitchen, where Venom was… preparing breakfast?
“V?” he asked.
There was no answer.
Eddie ran a hand down his face in frustration, quickly running through all his interactions with Venom in his head, trying to see where he fucked up. The conversation they had the previous night stood out in his foggy brain.
“Is this about Valentine’s?”
Venom’s response came by way of setting a plate down with more force than was necessary. So it was about Valentine’s.
“Look, I didn’t know you wanted to do something for Valentine’s, okay? It might be too late for a dinner reservation but we can go sit somewhere high and watch the city? We can even find you someone to eat.”
Venom stopped what he was doing in the kitchen at that, materializing his head in front of Eddie, all white eyes and teeth.
You don’t even want to do something tomorrow, Venom said. He sounded upset.
“Shit. It’s tomorrow?” Venom’s tentacles slammed something in the kitchen again. Wrong answer then. “I’m sorry, okay? It’s been a while since I celebrated anything like this.”
You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.
“I do. I want to,” Eddie said. “It might be a stupid holiday, but it’s not stupid to spend it with you.”
Warmth spread through Eddie as Venom’s feelings bled through their bond.
What are we doing tomorrow then?
“It’s a surprise.”
Venom seemed pleased enough with that and stopped slamming cabinets and plates. Now all Eddie had to do was organize them a great Valentine’s date that ended in mindblowing make-up sex. No pressure.
They were sitting on top of the Salesforce Tower, higher than they’d been in a while, watching the sunset on the horizon after Venom happily ate some tech billionaire. It wasn’t Eddie’s idea of a romantic date, but Venom had been happy to be let loose for a while. Once that was done, Venom had been more than happy to oblige Eddie’s idea of climbing a high building to watch the city.
The symbiote’s tendrils held his hand and Eddie felt Venom’s content hum in his veins.
“This is nice. Maybe Valentine’s is not so terrible after all.”
Eddie.
“Yes, love?”
I wanna give you your gift now.
Eddie was taken aback at that. “You got me a gift?”
The TV said it was a good idea.
He groaned, unsure if he would like where this was going.
You will like this, I know.
Venom surfaced, becoming flesh next to him, while a tentacle ran down his stomach, down to his groin, where it brushed his cock.
“We can’t have sex on top of a building, V,” he said, but the blood rushing to his pants told a different story.
Venom’s tentacle froze. If you don’t want to—
“Oh, I want to. I’m just being the voice of reason here.”
Laughter reverberated through his skull with Venom’s opinion on the matter. We’ll be fine.
They were not fine, by any stretch of the word.