What Big Teeth You Have! (The Better to Save You With)
word-count: ~1,400
characters: Eddie Brock, Venom,
genre:gen, PG-13
warnings: schmoop and angst
story summary: Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear sentient alien goo.
Written for CaptainJake for the Symbrock Holiday Gift Exchange 2018
Thank you to luckyraeve for the beta and help with the title and summary <3
Venom grabbed the mugger by his neck and slammed him against the side of the building. “No more preying on the innocent.”
The mugger’s eyes widened as he blinked up at them, and stammered, “What the hell are you?”
Venom opened their mouth wide, tongue lashing in a warning. “We are your conscience.”
The mugger nodded wildly. “Yeah, okay, whatever you say, just don’t eat me.”
“We do not believe you.” Venom snapped their mouth shut, slammed him against the wall once more for good measure, and let the now-unconscious man fall, then reached a hand down to the mugger’s would-be targets: a mom clutching her daughter, who couldn’t have been more than six years old--she had lopsided pigtails and her eyes were clenched firmly shut.
“Stay away from us!” the mom said, scrambling away. She stood, stepping in front of her daughter, shielding her. “Leave us alone, you monster,” her voice broke on the last word and she turned, scooped her daughter up in her arms and hurried down the block.
“You’re welcome.” Venom withdrew on the last word, leaving Eddie standing next to the unconscious mugger. “Hey, we still have to get out of here,” Eddie said, waiting for Venom to surround him again, so they could scale back up the building and head home via the rooftops, but Venom didn’t answer, beyond twisting angrily in Eddie’s gut. They’d done this before, a few weeks ago after stopping a gun-running crew. Venom had begged to eat them all, but Eddie’d insisted on turning them over to the police. But this felt different; this wasn’t pouting, it was something else entirely.
Eddie turned a corner and another, and finally gave up on Venom coming back out at all, pulled up his hood and headed down to the subway.
#
They’d been home for over an hour, and Venom still hadn’t stopped giving Eddie the silent treatment.
“I told you, we can’t eat muggers. Usually they’re just thieves. Desperate for cash, but not killers. Even though this a-hole attacked a mom with a kid. Maybe we should’ve eaten a few of his fingers.”
Even that didn’t get a reaction.
“Hey, you okay?”
Still nothing.
Eddie made himself a microwave burrito and ate it in worried silence. He couldn’t feel anything from Venom, like they’d put up a wall between themselves and Eddie, like they’d locked themselves in a room.
He’d done it often enough himself as a teenager, so Eddie decided to give Venom space, and didn’t bother them for the rest of the night. But then bedtime came, when Venom usually settled next to Eddie, becoming a living hug and a blanket all in one. Instead, they stayed locked inside, and Eddie couldn’t take it anymore. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
There was nothing at first, no answer, not even a hint of a feeling, and then in a jagged, almost painful motion, Venom spilled out of Eddie in a rush, pooling on the floor next to the bed, flat and amorphous. The thinnest tendril, no thicker than spider-silk, still connected the two of them.
Eddie sat up. “Okay, now you’re scaring me.”
“Like I do everyone else.”
“What? No, that’s not what I-“
“Monster, Eddie,” Venom’s head formed in the center of the puddle, teeth drowning in the mass of black. Their eyes were narrow and half closed, like they couldn’t bear to look at Eddie. “Even when we save them, we’re still a monster.”
“Oh. Oh, that’s why...” Eddie’s heart sank and he stepped off the bed, sitting down carefully next to Venom on the floor. He reached his hand out instinctively, letting it hover above Venom, but when the inky puddle shied away from his touch, he pulled his knees close to his chest instead, resting his chin on them. There’d been plenty of times in his life when he couldn’t stand being touched either. Sometimes talking was better.
“You said we were heroes.”
“We are,” Eddie paused. “You are. We’ve done a lot of good, these last six months alone-“
“The newspapers and websites call us monster. The woman we saved calls us monster.”
“She was just scared. She went through a lot, had her daughter to protect, and she saw what we did to that mugger.”
“We did not even eat him. We showed mercy!”
“True.” Eddie sighed, mulling over his words. “People-especially when they’re scared-it can be hard to win their trust. And looking like we do-“
“What’s wrong with how we look?” Venom’s head rose from the ooze, teeth bared.
“Nothing.” Eddie reached out to run his fingers over the top of Venom’s head, but hesitated, until Venom pushed up against his hand. He trailed his fingers down, with the gentlest touch he could manage. “Nothing at all.”
“They are cowards! They call everything they do not understand a monster.”
“You’re not wrong.” He pulled Venom in closer, until the symbiote leaned against Eddie’s knees. “But also we look kind of scary to people. We’re ten feet tall, with a mouthful of really sharp teeth-“
“How else are we supposed to eat?”
Eddie stopped himself from explaining how effective molars could be. “Most of the time, when we’re tracking down bad guys, it’s good that we scare people. Especially the ones we let go, like that mugger tonight. He knows we’re out there now.”
Venom stayed silent for a moment, winding up Eddie’s legs and torso to fold over his shoulders. “And his fear of us will make him good?”
“Maybe.”
“But the mother and child we saved-they are good, and they fear us. Does that make us evil?”
“No. No absolutely not.” Eddie watched Venom seep into and out of his arm, tracing the patterns in his tattoos. “It’s not about who we are, or the size of our teeth. It’s what we do that matters.”
Venom reached out of Eddie’s wrist, entwining their smooth, black fingers with Eddie’s. They sat in companionable silence for another minute, before Eddie asked. “Ready for bed?”
Extending another tendril, Venom shoved the comforter back, waited until Eddie climbed into bed and folded themselves around him, a far better blanket than any made of cloth.
#
They went patrolling again the next night, just after sunset, even though Venom initially resisted-making excuses that they were too hungry to fight crime, and too tired. Eddie wasn’t convinced, particularly since he knew Venom never slept.
But the night was warm, and though they found barely any villainous activity, Eddie was enjoying just being outside, encased safely by Venom, fearlessly leaping from one building to the next, for the sheer joy of it.
They circled back around, dropping down to the ground in the small alley closest to Mrs. Chen’s deli. No criminals to eat meant Eddie had to buy something, unless they wanted to try to make dinner out of the half-bottle of mustard and leftover fried rice at the back of the fridge.
They turned the corner, and just before Venom started to retract, a small voice said, “Hey!” and something poked their knee. Venom bent down, and saw a little girl, with lopsided pigtails and a big grin. “It’s you!”
She leapt up, throwing her arms out towards them, startling Venom, who was positive they should not engage in combat with a small child. But to their shock, she wrapped her tiny arms around their neck and leaned up into a hug.
“You saved us,” the girl said, as she released her hold and dropped back down to the ground, still smiling. “Yesterday-you saved me and my mom.”
“Casey?” a woman’s voice called.
“Thank you!” Casey said with a wave, before spinning on her heel and heading towards the voice, into the restaurant, after her mom.
“You’re-you’re welcome,” Venom said. But the restaurant door had already closed.
Eddie had to mentally jostle them to keep walking, but Venom stopped again, just in front of Mrs. Chen’s, retracting inside Eddie. “She thanked us.”
“Yeah, she did.”
“She hugged us.”
“Yup.”
“We are heroes, Eddie.”
“Damn right we are.” Eddie smiled, and felt a warm flush of happy pride as Venom sunk back into his skin and wrapped themselves around his heart.
characters: Eddie Brock, Venom,
genre:gen, PG-13
warnings: schmoop and angst
story summary: Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear sentient alien goo.
Written for CaptainJake for the Symbrock Holiday Gift Exchange 2018
Thank you to luckyraeve for the beta and help with the title and summary <3
Venom grabbed the mugger by his neck and slammed him against the side of the building. “No more preying on the innocent.”
The mugger’s eyes widened as he blinked up at them, and stammered, “What the hell are you?”
Venom opened their mouth wide, tongue lashing in a warning. “We are your conscience.”
The mugger nodded wildly. “Yeah, okay, whatever you say, just don’t eat me.”
“We do not believe you.” Venom snapped their mouth shut, slammed him against the wall once more for good measure, and let the now-unconscious man fall, then reached a hand down to the mugger’s would-be targets: a mom clutching her daughter, who couldn’t have been more than six years old--she had lopsided pigtails and her eyes were clenched firmly shut.
“Stay away from us!” the mom said, scrambling away. She stood, stepping in front of her daughter, shielding her. “Leave us alone, you monster,” her voice broke on the last word and she turned, scooped her daughter up in her arms and hurried down the block.
“You’re welcome.” Venom withdrew on the last word, leaving Eddie standing next to the unconscious mugger. “Hey, we still have to get out of here,” Eddie said, waiting for Venom to surround him again, so they could scale back up the building and head home via the rooftops, but Venom didn’t answer, beyond twisting angrily in Eddie’s gut. They’d done this before, a few weeks ago after stopping a gun-running crew. Venom had begged to eat them all, but Eddie’d insisted on turning them over to the police. But this felt different; this wasn’t pouting, it was something else entirely.
Eddie turned a corner and another, and finally gave up on Venom coming back out at all, pulled up his hood and headed down to the subway.
#
They’d been home for over an hour, and Venom still hadn’t stopped giving Eddie the silent treatment.
“I told you, we can’t eat muggers. Usually they’re just thieves. Desperate for cash, but not killers. Even though this a-hole attacked a mom with a kid. Maybe we should’ve eaten a few of his fingers.”
Even that didn’t get a reaction.
“Hey, you okay?”
Still nothing.
Eddie made himself a microwave burrito and ate it in worried silence. He couldn’t feel anything from Venom, like they’d put up a wall between themselves and Eddie, like they’d locked themselves in a room.
He’d done it often enough himself as a teenager, so Eddie decided to give Venom space, and didn’t bother them for the rest of the night. But then bedtime came, when Venom usually settled next to Eddie, becoming a living hug and a blanket all in one. Instead, they stayed locked inside, and Eddie couldn’t take it anymore. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
There was nothing at first, no answer, not even a hint of a feeling, and then in a jagged, almost painful motion, Venom spilled out of Eddie in a rush, pooling on the floor next to the bed, flat and amorphous. The thinnest tendril, no thicker than spider-silk, still connected the two of them.
Eddie sat up. “Okay, now you’re scaring me.”
“Like I do everyone else.”
“What? No, that’s not what I-“
“Monster, Eddie,” Venom’s head formed in the center of the puddle, teeth drowning in the mass of black. Their eyes were narrow and half closed, like they couldn’t bear to look at Eddie. “Even when we save them, we’re still a monster.”
“Oh. Oh, that’s why...” Eddie’s heart sank and he stepped off the bed, sitting down carefully next to Venom on the floor. He reached his hand out instinctively, letting it hover above Venom, but when the inky puddle shied away from his touch, he pulled his knees close to his chest instead, resting his chin on them. There’d been plenty of times in his life when he couldn’t stand being touched either. Sometimes talking was better.
“You said we were heroes.”
“We are,” Eddie paused. “You are. We’ve done a lot of good, these last six months alone-“
“The newspapers and websites call us monster. The woman we saved calls us monster.”
“She was just scared. She went through a lot, had her daughter to protect, and she saw what we did to that mugger.”
“We did not even eat him. We showed mercy!”
“True.” Eddie sighed, mulling over his words. “People-especially when they’re scared-it can be hard to win their trust. And looking like we do-“
“What’s wrong with how we look?” Venom’s head rose from the ooze, teeth bared.
“Nothing.” Eddie reached out to run his fingers over the top of Venom’s head, but hesitated, until Venom pushed up against his hand. He trailed his fingers down, with the gentlest touch he could manage. “Nothing at all.”
“They are cowards! They call everything they do not understand a monster.”
“You’re not wrong.” He pulled Venom in closer, until the symbiote leaned against Eddie’s knees. “But also we look kind of scary to people. We’re ten feet tall, with a mouthful of really sharp teeth-“
“How else are we supposed to eat?”
Eddie stopped himself from explaining how effective molars could be. “Most of the time, when we’re tracking down bad guys, it’s good that we scare people. Especially the ones we let go, like that mugger tonight. He knows we’re out there now.”
Venom stayed silent for a moment, winding up Eddie’s legs and torso to fold over his shoulders. “And his fear of us will make him good?”
“Maybe.”
“But the mother and child we saved-they are good, and they fear us. Does that make us evil?”
“No. No absolutely not.” Eddie watched Venom seep into and out of his arm, tracing the patterns in his tattoos. “It’s not about who we are, or the size of our teeth. It’s what we do that matters.”
Venom reached out of Eddie’s wrist, entwining their smooth, black fingers with Eddie’s. They sat in companionable silence for another minute, before Eddie asked. “Ready for bed?”
Extending another tendril, Venom shoved the comforter back, waited until Eddie climbed into bed and folded themselves around him, a far better blanket than any made of cloth.
#
They went patrolling again the next night, just after sunset, even though Venom initially resisted-making excuses that they were too hungry to fight crime, and too tired. Eddie wasn’t convinced, particularly since he knew Venom never slept.
But the night was warm, and though they found barely any villainous activity, Eddie was enjoying just being outside, encased safely by Venom, fearlessly leaping from one building to the next, for the sheer joy of it.
They circled back around, dropping down to the ground in the small alley closest to Mrs. Chen’s deli. No criminals to eat meant Eddie had to buy something, unless they wanted to try to make dinner out of the half-bottle of mustard and leftover fried rice at the back of the fridge.
They turned the corner, and just before Venom started to retract, a small voice said, “Hey!” and something poked their knee. Venom bent down, and saw a little girl, with lopsided pigtails and a big grin. “It’s you!”
She leapt up, throwing her arms out towards them, startling Venom, who was positive they should not engage in combat with a small child. But to their shock, she wrapped her tiny arms around their neck and leaned up into a hug.
“You saved us,” the girl said, as she released her hold and dropped back down to the ground, still smiling. “Yesterday-you saved me and my mom.”
“Casey?” a woman’s voice called.
“Thank you!” Casey said with a wave, before spinning on her heel and heading towards the voice, into the restaurant, after her mom.
“You’re-you’re welcome,” Venom said. But the restaurant door had already closed.
Eddie had to mentally jostle them to keep walking, but Venom stopped again, just in front of Mrs. Chen’s, retracting inside Eddie. “She thanked us.”
“Yeah, she did.”
“She hugged us.”
“Yup.”
“We are heroes, Eddie.”
“Damn right we are.” Eddie smiled, and felt a warm flush of happy pride as Venom sunk back into his skin and wrapped themselves around his heart.