Demons [Eddie Brock] Venom

33. Venom

"Good morning."

Eddie woke with a start, a slight groan as he raised his hands to his head. The pull of the IV brought him to his senses, reminded him where he was. Rory was asleep next to him, snuggled in so tight on the small hospital bed. She didn't even stir when Eddie woke, and he was glad. He could have sworn he heard Venom speaking to him, but he knew that wasn't possible. 

"It is, Eddie."

Eddie quickly wiggled out from under Rory, making sure she was still asleep. He undid the IV and left the room so that they could have a more private conversation without alerting her. But as he stepped into the hallways it was filled to the brim with busy and frantic people. He went to the men's room just down the hall and stared at himself in the mirror after making sure no one was in the public bathroom.

"I thought you died," Eddie growled, pointing at the mirror where he saw Venom in his reflection, lingering in his eyes. Eddie was torn between thankful and gracious. "Explain."

He could feel Venom moving around he could sense that he was smiling. "It's what your kind might call... a practical joke."

"Except this is not funny, Venom!" Eddie exclaimed. "I thought you died, do you know what that did to me?"

"I'm in your head, of course I do. Your mourned for me, Eddie, I am flattered."

"What am I supposed to do with you?" Eddie asked. "You're killing me by being in me, alright? As much as I-I-I got used to you, you're killing me."

"That was by choice."

"Oh bullshit." Eddie pointed at the mirror again, accusingly. "How can I trust you?"

"As long as you feed me, I won't eat your liver."

"You've got to be kidding me." Eddie leaned against the vanity, hands spread over the faux-granite counters. Someone came in, shuffling on crutches. Eddie glared at him and pointed. "Nope! Occupied!"

"There's five stalls, man," the kid complained. 

Eddie shook his head. "Get out, you'll thank me; I have a hungry parasite."

The kid raised his lip in anger or perhaps even disgust. He shook his  head and muttered something like "asshole" and "hobbled my ass all the way over here" before he left, and Eddie was certain he said it knowingly loud enough for Eddie to hear. He ignored it, he'd be pissed too if someone did that to him. But he needed a clear head.

"What do we tell Rory? What do we tell Anne?" Eddie asked, more himself than Venom, but he still used 'we' with some regret.

"Well, why can't we have both?" 

"Oh man, you have a lot to learn. It doesn't work that way, usually, and it definitely won't work that way. Besides, I'm with Rory, I chose Rory," Eddie explained. "While you were dormant in there, that blissful twelve hour period where you weren't suffocating me, I happened to be sane enough to make my own choices."

"There are two of them, there are two of us, why can't we have both?"

"That is out of the question, Venom, now stay out of it."

"Fine."

Eddie splashed some water over his face and ran his hands down it, stretching the skin, pulling the dark circles under his eyes down. His eyes were bloodshot, and he tuned into everything else; his body didn't hurt like it should have, and he knew he was to thank Venom for that, but he didn't. 

"You're such an asshole," Eddie muttered to himself, then went back to the room where he found Rory awake. 

She was still on the hospital bed, rolled onto her side, eyes just opened. She smiled at him, and he debated in that moment being honest with her, telling her about Venom. He decided no more secrets, no more lies. That's part of whats got them here in the first place, and if he wanted to move things forward with her, he was going to have to be honest with her. 

But she looked so tired and at the same time so well rested. Everything was fine for her; Drake was dead and gone, Venom was gone, she had Eddie; she had what she wanted in that moment. Eddie didn't want to be the one to break it, but he had to.

"I gotta... I gotta tell you something, Ror," Eddie said, rubbing his hands together nervously. He extended a hand, palms up, then withdrew it. 

"What is it, Eddie?" Rory asked, sitting up now, running her hands through her brown hair. He could tell it was sleek, sweaty. He knew all she wanted was to go somewhere that resembled a home for a short while, to shower, to eat, to go back to normal. He knew this because he wanted it too.

He didn't want to break that with the knowledge that Venom was in there.

But then he remembered out on the rocket platform, when he didn't have Venom, when Drake and Riot stabbed him and left him to die. He nearly did, he was only seconds away from death. Venom had reached out to him, Venom had saved his life time and time again; he deserved praise, he deserved to be revealed and hailed as the hero he was. 

"Exactly."

"Venom's not gone."

"What?!" Rory exclaimed. 

"Is... Is it that bad? Rory, he saved my life. I'm alive because of him."

"And you only ever got hurt because of him..."

"Because of Drake."

The words resonated with her, as he knew they would. "He helped me kill Drake, for what he did to me, to Anne, to you... I think he deserves a chance to live because of that. And if it's in my body, so be it."

Rory nibbled her lip. She sat cross-legged on the bed and chewed on these words. He could see her processing every outcome of this. Then, she pointed at him. "Weekly check ups, make sure he's not killing you. That's my ultimatum."

"We can work with that." 

"You're going to refer to yourselves as 'we'? Like Gollum?" Rory raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Precious," he said in Gollum's voice, then climbed on the bed and kissed her as she laughed, unable to be mad or upset with him. 

He decided Rory would understand, but he wouldn't tell Anne about Venom.

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I'm going to attempt to make this 35 chapters, so it's basically just wrapping up now! 

Also the movie never explained how Venom was fine, so this was my attempt at making it up.

Comment your thoughts!