VENOM ( moon knight.. ) ✔

003 | Fool's Paradise..

"We need to talk."

Khonshu's words haunted Marc even after he dressed himself up again and the chatter of the streets welcomed him and Clara back into the nightlife of Casablanca. A dubious transformation happened to the city after sundown, when though the walls have not moved an inch, the atmosphere grew tighter; paradoxically, though the sun was gone, the warmth lingered and the pollution stopped the stars and the moon from shining down any brighter than the thousands of lights flaring in shops.

It was for the sake of the warmth that both of them have disregarded a lot of layers which in San Francisco would have been crucial. White was widely known as perhaps the best color to wear, but they both went for more neutral tones for the comfortable clothes. Clara's blouse was the more airy one, because there was nothing which made her and her symbiote more uncomfortable than clothes sticking to their skin in a too warm climate.

They haven't forgotten their task for the following week leading to the new moon though. Blending in as tourists on the streets of Casablanca only happened after all in a radius around the El Hachim Resort. There weren't many "witness-less" streets or buildings, on their first glance around, for the last hour.

But Clara had also noticed that Marc was properly out of it.

"Should we talk about his little crisis in the room?" Venom asked. "Or about us reacting so fast? Haven't seen you care that much unless it's for Priscila."

Luckily for the two in symbiosis, the streets caught the noise of some music too at some point, so it concealed their chatter perfectly, while Clara kept her tone to a private level of sound. "I don't think he wants to talk about it, so better not bring it up. We don't talk about him saving us from Abomination either-"

"Got it!" Venom got immediately louder. There was no one who knew better that Venom disliked bringing up his low times. It had something to do with being an apex predator. "No bringing up weaknesses, as you wish, host."

And, of course, there was no one other than Venom who knew Clara's feelings and thoughts for a while now. She's been dodging his question for ages. Even then, she completely ignored his insisting on the topic of "care". So, carelessly, the symbiote took matters in his own hands; he had read somewhere, at some point in their early years together, how humans showed affection and that led right down the rabbit hole of learning this species dealt with hormones way different than his own.

Either way, Venom took control of left hand and with the help of some of his own substance, he connected her palm with Marc's.

The very sudden contact made him flinch, but for the better, because he's been anything but attentive since the beginning of their walk. Khonshu has been "punishing" him for disobedience all along; Steven, his Steven, was having a crisis unlike any other, because Khonshu didn't like his tone. Marc felt filthy and drenched in rage, yet fearful all the same, because even formless, that God had dominion over his mind and over many things out of his control. And he wanted to talk with him.

About what?

The streets haven't been helping because unfocusing from reality was one of his unwanted skills and oh, how easy mass chatter could become just background noise.

But Clara holding his hand pulled him right back to reality and he almost stumbled on thin air, trying to understand. The deep questions causing a crease on his forehead, switched to puerile worries like whether or not he should get his hand away from hers or look down at it and inspect if he really felt right and Venom made sure Clara didn't let go either.

She realized a second too late what Venom was up to and by the time she joined hands with Marc she truly just had frozen on the spot. Avoiding to look down at their hands and looking for an escape out of this awkward situation with an even more awkward explanation -not being able to control her symbiote was even worse than having to admit Moon Knight kicked their ass and saved them all in the span of a week- was all Clara could do. As the back of her neck caught the beads of the beginning of sweat, accentuated now by a three-second stress, she felt the breeze, coming from the left side, towards her right. She looked to the right and spotted a sign over which "TO SELL" was plastered over.