Ink (Eddie/Venom; gen)
Yeah, I couldn't help myself.
~700 words
Summary: Venom admires Eddie's tattoos.
“What are these?” Venom asks, rousing Eddie from sleep. He’d been dreaming about flying-looking down for miles and miles from above the clouds with no fear to speak of.
The symbiote’s head is sticking out from between Eddie’s neck and shoulder, peering down at his chest. It’s been so hot out, he went to sleep in nothing but his boxers.
“What are what?” Eddie mutters. He yawns and props himself up on his elbows, watching Venom’s head elongate, tiny threadlike tendrils reaching out from the rest of their serpentine mass. They reach out for his chest, and trace along the edges of his tattoos.
“These,” Venom repeats, leaning closer, eyes squinting. “Ink embedded in your flesh.”
“Yeah, that’s generally how you get tattoos. Thought you knew everything about me.”
“Only when you’re thinking about it.” Venom turns their head, looks at Eddie for a moment before returning their focus to the tattoos. “You got this one a long time ago.” A tendril traces along the two masks on his chest, then lifts up and reaches for Eddie’s arm, splitting into multiple threads that draw an outline around the thick lines spanning his biceps and triceps. “And this.”
Eddie swats at the tendrils. “That tickles.”
“It hurt when you had the ink embedded,” Venom says. “Voluntary pain.”
“Eh that one wasn’t so bad,” Eddie says after some thought. “This one-” he raises his arm and nods down at the cross over the side of his ribs. “-hurt way more.”
“You avoid pain. That’s what humans do.” Venom blinks, looking at him again for a moment. “But these symbols were more important. The memories were more significant than the pain.”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
Venom dives back into Eddie’s flesh, spreading out beneath his skin. They surface again, pushing out through the contours of the tattoos, all of them at once, until the ink is raised and shining, undulating with sentience.
“You’re weird.” Eddie snorts a laugh and settles back into his pillow.
“So are you,” the symbiote says, and the words reverberate through Eddie’s body, a soft purr that’s relaxing and way more pleasant than he’s willing to admit. “We will embed ink into our skin as well. To commemorate our joining.”
“Yeah? You gotta pay for that, you know. Good tattoo’s not cheap. And I’m still in between jobs, so...”
“We do not need money. We will tell them what markings to draw and they will do it or we will-“
“No. You don’t threaten tattoo artists, come on.”
“Not threaten. Motivate.”
“Shut up.”
“No.” Venom shifts again, retreating from Eddie’s skin. They slither around his organs, settling into place right above the band of his boxers, and then push through his pores again, bleeding through in a shockingly intricate pattern of swirling, intersecting lines that form hoops and spirals.
Eddie cranes his neck to get a closer look. “Are those...letters?”
“Yes.”
“What language?”
“Ours.”
“What do they say?”
“They say that we are joined.”
Eddie flushes despite himself. “Stating the obvious, don’t you think?”
More swirls form, winding up towards Eddie’s stomach, and coalesce in a dark solid circle around his belly button.
“Joined until we are devoured.”
“Devoured? Pretty sure we do the devouring.”
“We do. But, one day, we too will be devoured. It is the way of things.”
“Not if I can help it,” Eddie says, and realizes he means it. Venom laughs, sending another rumble through Eddie’s whole body that echoes through his bones. Carefully, he traces his fingers over the new lines, pulling Venom up with his fingertips until his hand is coated in black and his stomach is a blank canvas again. He lets out a sigh. “Yeah okay, I gotta find a new job, and then we’ll go get a tattoo.”
#
~700 words
Summary: Venom admires Eddie's tattoos.
“What are these?” Venom asks, rousing Eddie from sleep. He’d been dreaming about flying-looking down for miles and miles from above the clouds with no fear to speak of.
The symbiote’s head is sticking out from between Eddie’s neck and shoulder, peering down at his chest. It’s been so hot out, he went to sleep in nothing but his boxers.
“What are what?” Eddie mutters. He yawns and props himself up on his elbows, watching Venom’s head elongate, tiny threadlike tendrils reaching out from the rest of their serpentine mass. They reach out for his chest, and trace along the edges of his tattoos.
“These,” Venom repeats, leaning closer, eyes squinting. “Ink embedded in your flesh.”
“Yeah, that’s generally how you get tattoos. Thought you knew everything about me.”
“Only when you’re thinking about it.” Venom turns their head, looks at Eddie for a moment before returning their focus to the tattoos. “You got this one a long time ago.” A tendril traces along the two masks on his chest, then lifts up and reaches for Eddie’s arm, splitting into multiple threads that draw an outline around the thick lines spanning his biceps and triceps. “And this.”
Eddie swats at the tendrils. “That tickles.”
“It hurt when you had the ink embedded,” Venom says. “Voluntary pain.”
“Eh that one wasn’t so bad,” Eddie says after some thought. “This one-” he raises his arm and nods down at the cross over the side of his ribs. “-hurt way more.”
“You avoid pain. That’s what humans do.” Venom blinks, looking at him again for a moment. “But these symbols were more important. The memories were more significant than the pain.”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
Venom dives back into Eddie’s flesh, spreading out beneath his skin. They surface again, pushing out through the contours of the tattoos, all of them at once, until the ink is raised and shining, undulating with sentience.
“You’re weird.” Eddie snorts a laugh and settles back into his pillow.
“So are you,” the symbiote says, and the words reverberate through Eddie’s body, a soft purr that’s relaxing and way more pleasant than he’s willing to admit. “We will embed ink into our skin as well. To commemorate our joining.”
“Yeah? You gotta pay for that, you know. Good tattoo’s not cheap. And I’m still in between jobs, so...”
“We do not need money. We will tell them what markings to draw and they will do it or we will-“
“No. You don’t threaten tattoo artists, come on.”
“Not threaten. Motivate.”
“Shut up.”
“No.” Venom shifts again, retreating from Eddie’s skin. They slither around his organs, settling into place right above the band of his boxers, and then push through his pores again, bleeding through in a shockingly intricate pattern of swirling, intersecting lines that form hoops and spirals.
Eddie cranes his neck to get a closer look. “Are those...letters?”
“Yes.”
“What language?”
“Ours.”
“What do they say?”
“They say that we are joined.”
Eddie flushes despite himself. “Stating the obvious, don’t you think?”
More swirls form, winding up towards Eddie’s stomach, and coalesce in a dark solid circle around his belly button.
“Joined until we are devoured.”
“Devoured? Pretty sure we do the devouring.”
“We do. But, one day, we too will be devoured. It is the way of things.”
“Not if I can help it,” Eddie says, and realizes he means it. Venom laughs, sending another rumble through Eddie’s whole body that echoes through his bones. Carefully, he traces his fingers over the new lines, pulling Venom up with his fingertips until his hand is coated in black and his stomach is a blank canvas again. He lets out a sigh. “Yeah okay, I gotta find a new job, and then we’ll go get a tattoo.”
#