Chapter Text
Isla de Huesos
Caribbean Sea
It started with just the two of them, laying on a blanket on an abandoned island, miles from every care in the world, thoughts of long-deceased enemies behind them.
The light pollution was less here, far from the bright fluorescents and dizzying streets of New York City. The seabirds and gulls were the only accompanying sounds as Eddie pointed out the stars; a few constellations he could remember. He didn’t know if it meant anything to his other as he softly spoke, but the symbiote curled up in his chest and around his lungs and his diaphragm, its content washing over him like the ocean waves. They were two; they were one; they had the whole of life beyond them and endless possibilities. For once, they were content and at peace.
Neither of them had felt that for far too long.
And then, along the strands of its biomass, he saw it: gentle strings of light, just a very faint glow along their arm. Fascinated, he surveyed the blues and purples, almost like veins, but it wasn't just another color or even the manufactured fabric he knew the symbiote could create. But it was beautiful; almost ethereal. And with it came a strange warmth, like stepping into a warm home after being out in the cold wind, or the embrace of a loved one.
He asked, "Love, what was—?"
As soon as its attention perked back up, the glow vanished. The strangest sensation of worry pricked at the back of his mind, not quite guilt, but mild concern.
"What is wrong?" Eddie sat up and held his hand out with a frown. The symbiote shivered along it, dark lines in the creases of his palm and wrapping around his fingers. “We felt something, just then. It was…” He turned his hand over, as if he could make it happen again somehow. “It was wonderful. What was it?”
The other fell silent, retreating into the back of Eddie’s mind, leaving him with an odd emptiness. Whatever it felt, it locked that away from him, vanishing beneath his skin.
He laid back down onto the cool sand with a sigh and turned back to the stars.
I hope you’ll tell me someday, dear.
------
Golden Gate Bridge
San Francisco, CA
“Don’t drop me!”
Venom laughed and cradled their charge closer, using tendrils to propel themselves up the tower. “You trust us, don’t you?”
“I do, but—” Beck buried her face into their chest and clung tighter. “Usually when I’ve had to go up the Transamerica it’s in an elevator!”
“The view is worth it. We promise.”
Once they’d scaled the rest of the steel tower, they took a careful seat on the edge and braced themselves against the wind. They were almost reluctant to detach Beck from them, her warmth was nice even through her windbreaker, but they’d promised her a nice night out… as friends . Still, they couldn’t help but gently tip her chin up with a claw and offer what they hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Turn around.”
Beck looked over her shoulder, skeptical at first, but then they saw her eyes widen. “Oh..!” Venom kept a claw and a handful of tendrils around her as she finally climbed off their lap to sit beside them and survey the bright city to the south. “Eddie, it’s amazing!” Then, she shot them a look — half teasing, half scolding — and elbowed them in the ribs. “I can’t believe you were holding out on me with this view!”
“You told us,” they started, and then the symbiote faded away from Eddie’s face, “that you were afraid of heights!”
“And you told me you were afraid of fireworks, so that’s why we stayed in on the Fourth of July!”
“Beck, you know the effect sonics have on us…”
She blew a raspberry at Eddie but leaned up against him. “Well… thank you for taking me with you. Both of you,” she clarified, and he couldn’t help a wide grin at how the symbiote preened in response to her praise. It made them feel warm despite the chill wind and the cold metal of the bridge.
They stayed like that for a little while, just the three of them alone on the tower, pointing out all the things they never noticed about the city before, all the things you could never see from the street or even from the middle of the metropolis. She settled in against them, content and safe in the arms of a friend, and they talked about growing up in San Francisco, and the whole time, the symbiote settled in, too. Happy to be with them. Happy in its belonging.
And then, Beck tilted her head back to stretch her neck and stifled a gasp. “Eddie, you’re glowing!”
“What?”
“Look!” She grabbed their arm and held it out. Sure enough, multicolored strands had appeared along the biomass, like veins. “Are you— are you okay?” She worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “You’re not going to have another moment of…” Beck mimed baring her teeth and curled her hands like claws.
Ah, right. That incident.
“No, no, we’re fine. In fact…” Eddie helped her turn around to sit facing them. “This has happened a few times, when we’re particularly…” He searched for a word. “...pleased?”
She lifted an eyebrow and smirked.
He scoffed. “Not in that manner.”
“Are you sure?”
“Rebecca!”
“I’m just curious!” Beck lifted her hands in mock surrender. “It’s… beautiful, actually.” She ran her fingertips down their chest, across the bright spider symbol. The lights that ran through it were brighter than those on the rest of their mass. “Is it rare?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your, um, other. It’s not the only one of its kind, is it? So do all of them glow like this?”
He consulted it, but just like it had happened on the island, it closed itself off. The glow didn’t fade completely, but it dimmed. It didn’t even lend its voice to him as he responded, “I’m not sure. I think it might be uncommon. But it happens when we feel… together. When it feels like Venom is one.”
She moved her hand to his face, and a smile came to her lips when the symbiote covered Eddie’s eyes and the side of his cheek beneath her palm. The other mirrored in Eddie’s heart the affection that Beck showed them both.
“Then I hope you have many glow-filled nights together.”
And with that, she placed a gentle kiss on their forehead, and re-settled back against them to watch the lights — but she kept Venom’s illuminated claw in her hands.
With her well-wishes, they glowed a little brighter again. But still the symbiote did not offer any further insight to Eddie.
------
Less than a year later, they achieved their brightest illumination yet — but out of necessity, rather than any quiet moment together. There, in the church of their first joining, Venom pushed themselves to their limit, emitting a psychic scream that destroyed the invading force. They had poured every ounce of their grief and anger and righteousness into that moment, and it had worked. The symbiotes from that godforsaken planet had perished all at once.
They had probably saved all of New York.
But like a fire that burns hot and fast, it had taken everything out of them. The effort had left them feeling inseparable but empty. The magnitude of what they had done would not weigh on them yet, but in the coming days and weeks, the thousands of deaths would haunt them in their shared dreams and nightmares. It was worth it, they would tell themselves. A dangerous alien colony that had rejected and abandoned Eddie’s beloved other did not deserve Venom’s sympathy.
They did not glow for many weeks after that night.
------
After Anne Weying died, Venom did not glow again.
------
The symbiote changed hands twice.
Neither Angelo Fortunato nor MacDonald Gargan ever knew their partner was capable of bioluminescence. It told itself this did not matter, that it did not miss the warmth. It told itself it only wanted strength and power.
It told itself it did not miss Eddie Brock; that it did not miss being loved.