𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠 - 𝑒𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘 & 𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑚

𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑢𝑒 I

"HEY, I KNOW I SAID THIS BEFORE, BUT THANKS." Eddie said, shoving his hand into his pocket as they walked along, away from the coffee shop. The other was warmed by his decaf americano.

"Stop thanking me, Eddie, you know I'm always here." Lily replied, her breath fogging in the cool air as she looked up at him. Eddie gave a small shrug. "Are you... feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I feel great. Awesome." He replied, shooting her an Eddie Brock smile. Lily's lips curved up.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked.

"The network asked me to bring the show back. They want to start with a piece on Drake." He stated. "They also asked me to interview you."

"As much as I adore your probing questions, I'll pass. I haven't been Carlton's sister for a long time, and I don't want my life in the news." She replied. Eddie nodded, figuring she'd say something of the sort.

"What about you?" He asked.

"I guess I'm going back to the bar. Hopefully my manager will understand all my unexplained absences." She said, shaking her head with a laugh. Eddie smiled.

"You know, you could come work with me. We make a pretty good team." He said, tilting his head playfully.

"Oh yeah?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'll think about it." Eddie nodded, looking up at the clouded sky for a moment.

"Hey, uh. I got a question." He said.

"Hm?"

"You, uh, wanna talk about that kiss?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Lily's face flushed, and she looked down at her feet.

"Well, uh. It was Venom's idea. But I didn't necessarily object..." She trailed off, biting her lip. Eddie smirked.

"Good to know." He replied.

"It did feel good, though. I mean, the kiss was good, but the power. When he was..."

"Inside you?" Eddie filled in, raising an eyebrow with a cheeky grin. Lily scoffed, shaking her head.

"Yes, Eddie. When he was inside me." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Alright. No judgement." Eddie taunted, putting his hands up. Lily groaned, wishing she'd never said anything.

She felt good too. Soft. Warm. She liked it.

Eddie made a face at Venom's comment. A small tendril snuck out from under his sleeve, stroking Lily's wrist. She looked down, smiling at it before linking her hand with Eddie's. He raised an eyebrow at her before glancing down and seeing the warm slime snaking up her arm.

You belong with us, Lily.

Eddie's lips quirked, going with it. He turned them down a more secluded path into a park.

"Look, I have no problem with you sticking around, but if you do, we're gonna have to have some ground rules, alright?" Eddie said to Venom. "You cannot just go around eating anybody that you want to."

I cannot?

"No, you cannot. Alright, we need to... we need to reiterate this. There are good people in this world. A lot of them. And then there are bad people. You have to tell the difference. The deal is, you will only ever be allowed to touch, harm, hurt, possibly, very possibly, eat very, very bad people. But never, ever, ever good people. Alright?" Eddie explained.

Fine.

"Good." Lily's smile widened.

But how does one tell the difference?