usm . story dump

Just You | Involves Ship [ ]

Yes, this is very self-indulgent.
Yes, it is Scarvenom. This is going to get shippy very quickly, but it's Valentine's day and I've s t a r v e d myself for too long, so time to make some food.
If the ship ain't for you, ye can always skip it-

—

Things didn't need to be perfect.

But goddamn, if it was for his boyfriend, it had to be perfect. If not, Flash Thompson wouldn't be a man worthy of the other's time.

Truth be told, Flash rarely ever considers Valentine's day to be too important: if anything, these special occasions are only ever special because of classmates who make them so much fun. Valentine's day has always been a sort of antithesis to friendship, where couples are usually encouraged to focus more on their partner than their friends.

But he's found a loophole: he's dating a friend. It wouldn't be ditching his friends in favour of the relationship, especially if the relationship was built on a prior friendship.

Genius, right?

Side tangent out of the way: he had to make this perfect for Ben. Nothing short of that, especially after he learned that the mentioned enjoyed a special day since... well... since his creation.

And he had to make it especially perfect, what with this very new relationship only barely starting. Yes, he had to make this perfect, down to each event and minute; he's planned everything, which is... very unlike him but meticulous plans usually worked for Peter so it should work in this case-

"So... you brought me here... why again?" the voice drew him out of his internal rant, holding no malice more than it held curiosity. The masked face turned to Agent Venom's more visibly, the sunlight of the golden hour draped over his silhouette. It must've been ordained by fate, how ethereal the view appeared-

"Oh, oh! Right," he spoke, stopping himself from stumbling over his words, "it's been a while since we've had a proper break. I asked Spidey a while back and he said we could have today off."

He cleared his throat, unable to properly face the other when he continued, "and since it's Valentine's day... I thought we could spend it together."

A beat of hesitation.

"That's sweet of you... thanks," there was that slight smile to his voice, the one that gave Flash that pleasant fluttery feeling in his chest.

"Mhmm! You can count on me!" he spoke, thumb pointed to himself, "now then, let's head off! Hang onto me-"

"What, why-" before he could respond properly, Agent Venom wrapped a hand around Scarlet's arm, other arm extended to shoot a web to start slinging. The jock could feel the other's free arm wrap around his shoulders.

They were incredibly close, feeling the other's warmth draped over his figure. It send pleasant tingling over his skin, and it seemed the Venom symbiote felt it as well.

"I had my own webs-" came the synthezoid's somewhat sheepish response; his tone was dry, though Agent Venom knew better than to take his prickly teammate's words at surface level.

"But isn't this nicer? All you have to do is hang on," came his curt answer. He thought he could hear a hesitant hum of agreement from the other, though it could very well just be the faint whistle to wind rushing past his covered ears. The grip around his shoulders only tightened, their proximity increasing even more so.

So far, it was going according to plan!

Nothing was going to stop him now-

Nope, nope, nope: a building was on fire in front of him and Scarlet. It was already an unspoken agreement to help, was it not? It was their responsibility.

It doesn't matter. It was one fire, one little speed bump. Things were going to go alright in the end.

ㅈㅉㅈ

Anyone can tell where this went: it didn't go as planned.

Who knew meticulous planning of every single variable and step wasn't as good of an idea? Couldn't be him.

"You seem a little down," Scarlet commented offhandedly, pressing a cold bottle of water over his cheek. They spent the entire day preventing disaster after disaster: first was the fire, next was a series of bank robberies, and the token usually evil villain that went loose and ran rampant in New York City.

To think that villains and bad guys would take an actual break on such a special occasion... though, in hindsight, it probably shouldn't have been so unexpected.

It was still a shame.

"It's... alright," he sighed with conviction, taking the bottle. Venom lowered the mask to reveal his face, allowing him to better drink. The cold liquid running down this throat felt frigid, but refreshing after such a day.

"Just a shame we didn't do much on our break," he said offhandedly.

"Hmm? That's what you're worried about?" came the remark, followed by a light chuckle.

"What's so funny about that-?"

"The day was still fun with you, even if it was just chasing down criminals," he sighed, sitting cross-legged next to the blonde, "I'm glad we got this break, it's just the time spent with you that mattered."

There was a beat of silence where Flash looked at the other, still masked and seemingly unresponsive. The awkwardness crept over their shoulders before he cleared his throat and spoke. "Wait- that sounds cliche, does i-"

A quick peck over the other's mask, just to stop him from going on a nervous spiral.

"It's just right; it's perfect," Flash wore that dorky smile as he usually did, the one specially reserved for his friends, extending to those he holds dearest. While the mask held no emotion, the taller could practically see smoke billowing from over Scarlet's head.

Wordlessly, he rested his head against Flash's shoulder. "Though... we should get back," he suggested, "as comfortable as your arms are, I want to sleep in an actual bed."