Venom

FOUR: Tater Tots and Chocolate

"Thank you, Mr. Venom," Maisie thanked Venom before he turned back into Eddie.

"Maybe we should get out of here," Eddie suggested. Maisie nodded in agreement.

"That's probably the best idea," she agreed. So, Eddie and Maisie left. It was almost the end of the day, anyway.

"Eddie..." Venom started, snaking out from Eddie's back.

"What?" Eddie asked.

"...We're hungry. We need food," Venom demanded.

"What do you want to eat?" Eddie asked.

"Tater tots and chocolate," Venom replied without hesitation.

"Seriously?! We just had that yesterday!" Eddie reminded Venom.

"I know. I want it again," Venom stated. Eddie turned to Maisie.

"What do you think, kid?" He wondered aloud. Maisie shrugged.

"It's all the same to me," she answered before tripping over a rock on the sidewalk. She quickly stood back up.

"Alright. Chocolate and tater tots it is," Venom decided aloud. Eddie looked at Venom with a slightly annoyed expression.

"Who made you the deciding vote?" Eddie questioned.

"I did, Eddie," Venom responded with a slight nod. "Besides, that is a healthy meal for a little girl."

"It's really....not...." Eddie argued.

"What do you think about my choice, little one?" Venom asked, turning away from Eddie and toward where Maisie had been standing. She wasn't there anymore. "....Little one...?"

"Not again!" Eddie shouted.

"This better not become a regular thing, Eddie, or we won't be allowed to babysit anymore," Venom remarked.

"Shut up and help me look," Eddie ordered, looking around for Maisie. "And I didn't think you were enjoying this."

"Of course I am. She has been helping me attract and distract my meals," Venom responded.

"Wait, what?!" Eddie yelled in the middle of a crowd of people. "You've been taking her out to kill people with you?"

"Yes," Venom confirmed.

"I thought we agreed that she would not go help you eat people. It's too dangerous for a little girl at night," Eddie pointed out.

"Do not worry. She is safe. I am very careful," Venom assured Eddie.

"We'll discuss this further when we get back to the apartment. For now, let's just find her," Eddie commanded.

"Agreed," Venom agreed. Both Venom and Eddie looked around for Maisie, and eventually found her walking out of a store with a few bags in her hands. "There she is!"

"Maisie! What are you doing?! Get over here!" Eddie called. Maisie complied and met up with Eddie and Venom.

"I got groceries for us....since you couldn't make up your minds," Maisie explained.

"Why did you wander off to get..." Eddie started as he and Venom looked through the three bags full of chocolate and tater tots.

"Lots of chocolate and tater tots...." Venom finished.

"My daddy had me go on my own all the time before he was taken away," Maisie told Eddie and Venom in an attempt to calm them.

"Well, we aren't your dad. You can't just run off, or you could get seriously hurt," Eddie responded.

"I apologize, Mr. Brock....I didn't mean to make you upset...." Maisie apologized with a slight bow.

"It's fine. Just don't do it again," Eddie warned before taking the bags in one hand, and Maisie's hand in the other to make sure that she wouldn't run away again.

"Welcome back, Eddie," Mrs. Chen welcomed Eddie when he arrived back at the store that he lived above.

"Hey, Mrs. Chen," Eddie responded.

"I see you went shopping," Mrs. Chen tried to start a conversation. Eddie nodded.

"Well, she did, at least. It took us a while to find her," Eddie explained, gesturing to Maisie, who kept her head tilted toward the ground.

"Well, you better be careful out there on your own. A cute little girl like yourself would sell for a pretty penny," Mrs. Chen informed Maisie.

"Yes, ma'am," Maisie replied. Mrs. Chen smiled slightly.

"Well, you be safe, okay? And try to be good with Eddie. He's not very good with other people," Mrs. Chen remarked with a wink. Maisie giggled.

"Okay," she agreed. "Oh hey! Pinch right here!" Maisie exclaimed, approaching the counter, holding out her skinny little arm, and pointing to the spot where she had been healed. Mrs. Chen pinched Maisie's arm, and she flinched.

"You feel that?" Mrs. Chen asked. Maisie nodded happily.

"Yeah! I've never felt anything since I was really little!" Maisie said. Mrs. Chen smiled.

"That's great! I'm happy for you," Mrs. Chen replied. Maisie grinned so wide that her eyes were pinched shut.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed.

Once they arrived back at the apartment, Eddie put the tater tots in the microwave before sitting on the couch next to Maisie.

"Alright, I don't know when Anne and Dan are going to come take you back, so I wanna lay down some ground rules, because you could be here for a while. One: you can't keep running off on your own because there are bad people here who can kill you. Two: bed time is 10:00 because I have work every day, and I have to get up early. So it would be beneficial to not wait too long for you to get up and get dressed because you spent the night doing God knows what with Venom. Three: no sleeping with that gun. I really don't want to wake up to gun shots in the middle of the night. And four: Please...for the love of God! Don't listen to a single thing that Venom tells you to do, because it will likely get both of us killed," Eddie announced.

"Hey! That's insulting!" Venom yelled, snaking from Eddie's back.

"Well, it's true," Eddie responded.

".....I don't appreciate this conversation...." Venom stated.

"Get over it, Parasite," Eddie remarked.

"I can still eat you!" Venom retorted.

"Then what will you do?" Eddie asked. "Take over a seven year old who likely isn't compatible with a homicidal maniac like you?"

".....Well played, Brock....well played," Venom congratulated Eddie, who smiled triumphantly.

"Nice try, Mr. Venom," Maisie said, patting Venom on the head pitifully. Suddenly, the microwave went off, signaling that the tater tots were done. Eddie took them out of the microwave and sat them down on the counter. Venom ate some when Eddie wasn't looking.

Eddie and Maisie sat on the couch and ate tater tots. Eddie shared with Venom, who was still protruding from Eddie's back. Maisie couldn't taste the food, but despite this, she told Eddie that the food was great. He didn't catch on, but Venom did.

"Moron...." both Venom and Maisie thought with smiles.