Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Man, I can't believe Veronica's still with him," Eddie said, shaking his head at the TV. Him and Venom had started watching this show recently, and they'd already gotten through two seasons in the span of a week.

"Neither can I." Venom shook its head as well. "He's such a dick."

"You can say that twice," Eddie sighed. He'd cheated on her about eighty times, and they were both getting tired of it. "He doesn't deserve her-"

Eddie was cut off by the sound of his phone ringing. Venom growled as he turned the TV off to take the call. He shushed him, answering and putting the phone to his head.

"Hello? Who is this?" Eddie asked, having noticed his phone didn't recognize the number.

"Tony Stark," the number said, radiating confidence. Eddie spit out his non existent drink.

"Oh, uh, really?" He questioned. "Why're you calling me then?" 

"Who is Tony Stark?" Venom asked, being quickly hushed by Eddie again. 

"Well, you're a journalist, right?" Stark stated. It wasn't a question, it wasn't meant to be.

"Yeah," Eddie said in response.

"You're looking for someone to boost you up in fame, right?"

"Yeah," Eddie replied, this time more warily.

"Then I'm your solution to that," Stark declared. Eddie rolled his eyes, and Venom looked at him curiously.

"Okay, sure," Eddie said, not believing that this was actually Tony Stark. "And why should I believe you're actually the Tony Stark?"

"You'll be getting your answer to that in around five minutes." Eddie could hear the smirk through the phone. "Oh and start packing your bags."

Eddie was about to ask why when he heard a knock at the door. He heard Stark hang up, and both him and Venom looked at each other, confused. Venom sunk back into his skin, the black sludge disappearing under it. 

Well, Venom began, annoyance dripping from its voice. Are you going to tell me who that was?

"Tony Stark is a billionaire who does charity work," Eddie began, whispering. "And he also just so happens to be Iron Man."

As he said this, Eddie felt Venom digging through his memories, and when he put his hand on the door knob, it stopped. 

Eddie opened it, only to find a man and women standing outside, looking professional. The woman spoke first.

"Hello, Eddie Brock, correct?" She asked.

"Yes," Eddie said, suddenly unsure of himself. 

Why are you uneasy? Venom questioned. You know you are Eddie. 

"I know, buddy," Eddie whispered. The two outside his door looked at each other, then turned back to him.

"Good," the man spoke. "You'll be coming with us, then."

Eddie's eyes shot across the two faces. Nothing but stone-cold nothingness looked back. It made him nervous.

Venom was silent, waiting for a moment when it would be acceptable to eat them.

"Do you, uh, want me to pack my bags." The two nodded. "Cool, cool, alright, sure. Be back in a minute." He turned, closing the door on them.

"You are actually doing it?" Venom asked, the shock in its voice quickly leaving it. "Why am I surprised. You are a pussy."

Eddie just sighed, deciding to focus on packing as much as he could in the small suitcase he brought out. He ignored the head hovering over him, and after around five minutes, he was finished. Eddie had everything they'd need. Clothes, pajamas, a tooth brush, and chocolate. That last one was for Venom, and Eddie tossed a piece to it, with Venom gratefully catching it.

He wheeled it back to the door, and opened it again just as Venom had returned to under his skin.

"Done," he yawned. It was like 2 AM, and even though Eddie didn't need to sleep nearly as much as he used to - which was very helpful considering he was a journalist - he still needed to.

The man gestured to the stairs with his head, and then both him and the women started walking in that direction. Eddie quickly followed, being led out to a car parked on the side of the road. It was black, shining slightly in the light of the street lights. Its windows were tinted, and he had no idea how this thing was allowed on the road if you couldn't even see inside of it.

The woman stopped, opening a door for him and the man went around the front of the car, presumably to get into the driver's seat.

"Thanks," Eddie mumbled as he got in. The woman didn't respond, only shutting the door when he was fully in. He reached for the seat belt, only for his entire arm to be halted.

Pussy, Venom called him again. We do not need that stupid seat belt. It will only hold us back.

"Yeah, well, you can deal with it." Eddie used his other hand to grab the seat belt. He heard Venom grumble some profanities at him.

Suddenly, they were off, driving through the night. Eddie stared through the window, although he couldn't see much. Correction, he couldn't see at all. Again, he had no idea how this thing was legal.

Ask where we are going, Venom told him. Eddie shook his head.

"Did you not see them earlier? They hardly talk," he whispered, hoping that the two in the front couldn't hear them.

Do it or I will.

Eddie sighed, turning his head towards the woman.

"Hey, where are we going?" 

"Airport," she replied stiffly.

He tried not to sigh as felt Venom's smug-ass grin. This would be a long night.

Chapter Text

Waking up in the hotel was difficult, especially since it was only 10:30 in the morning. Eddie had confirmed it was really Tony Stark on the phone last night, so that was good.

What wasn't good was the fact that they were meeting with Stark in two hours.

"Venom," Eddie sighed, his ankles tied together and his arms tied to his sides by two strong tentacles. Several long tentacles rose from his waist, where Venom's face materialized out of. 

"No!" It said, going closer to Eddie's face. "We are tired!"

"Yeah, man. Yeah we are," Eddie began, voice sarcastic. "But I kinda have to do this." Venom growled at him, thinking.

"Fine," it spat, glaring at him. "Thirty more minutes."

Eddie smiled softly, glancing at the much smaller, mouth less Venom and its real face crept back into him. He picked it up, placing it gently on his chest, to which he started patting its head. Low purring emanated from it, and Eddie let out a quiet laugh.

"Thirty more minutes," he confirmed as he pulled out his phone.

Thirty minutes flew by, and Venom constantly bugged Eddie to go back to bed, to which Eddie refused every time. 

He quickly brushed his teeth, put on clean clothes, deodorant, and fixed his hair. By the time he was done, it was already 12:00.

"Shit," he grumbled, ready for the most boring day of his - and Venom's - life. Eddie threw on his shoes and grabbed a notepad and pencil, shoving them into his pockets and rushing out the door.

Turning his head to the left, he saw stairs and an elevator, and he pointedly moved to the elevator.

We would be down there faster if you would just let us take over, Venom told him a bit bitterly.

"We've been over this before," Eddie said, stepping into the elevator and pressing the "FLOOR 1" button. "Not in public." Venom dropped it and they talked about trivial things before landing on the ground floor. A car was already waiting for him there, the driver meeting him inside and leading him towards it.

He again sat in the back seat.

They were there by twelve fifteen, and Eddie thanked the driver, heading inside.

A woman manned the front desk of the massive building, and she looked when he stepped in. Eddie glanced through the room, finding that no one else was there. He stepped up, and the woman set down her book. She seemed to be young, 25 maybe, and she had dark brown hair, which matched her eyes. Her skin was pale, and her fingers and long, pink nails. 

"Hello," she greeted cheerfully, "Do you have an appointment?" 

"Uh, yeah." Eddie nodded his head. "I'm Eddie Brock, and I have to meet with someone at 12:30."

She shifted her gaze from him to the computer as she hastily typed in his name. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw who he was to meet with. Eddie didn't blame her. He looks like a hot mess.

You Do. 

She told him the floor number he was supposed to be on, and he groaned internally. Why were they always on the top floor?

By 12:25, they were there, and headed to sit down.

"Eddie!" A far too welcoming voice to be real sounded to his left, and he turned. And what do you know, the man himself, Tony 'Motherfucking' Stark was there.

"Hey." He waved awkwardly and halfheartedly at the man.

Stark gestured for him to come in, and Eddie followed, picking up on Venom's curiosity. Stark sat on a chair a few feet away from the window and gestured to a seat in front of him. Eddie sat down, pulling out his pencil and notepad. He felt Venom shift from curiosity to suspicion as it climbed through his organs, reaching his heart and twining around it.

"So, I think we should get straight to the point," Eddie said, changing his position in the seat slightly, put-off by Venom's unease. "You recently donated a lot of money to a specific charity, why?" Tony smiled.

"Actually, I'll be honest, that isn't actually why I called you here," Stark said, taking what looked to be a remote from out of his pocket.

Knew it, Venom muttered, beginning to encase Eddie's torso in a thin layer of armor. Eddie put a hand over his mouth.

"What's wrong?" He asked, keeping his voice as low as possible. Venom stayed silent, but Eddie could tell it didn't trust Stark at all. "Hey didn't you have an AI thing or what ever that would do that stuff for you?" Eddie took his hand off his mouth and questioned Stark as he fiddled with the controls.

"Oh yeah, it's being updated right now." Stark pulled up a video on a hologram screen. "Watch this."

It showed the fight him and Venom had with Riot and Drake. It had been two years ago at this point, but that didn't make it any easier to watch. 

"Stark, I don't know what you're getting at with this," Eddie said.

"Please, just call me Tony." He pointed at the video. "Watch this."

They had gotten to the point where Eddie had kicked Drake off the edge, and Eddie grimaced. He knew what happened next.

Riot stabbed him in the chest, blood leaking out from both sides as he fell to the floor, passing out. Tony paused on this part.

"Look at that. Fatal stab wound, right?" He stated. "And from the looks of it, some kind of alien."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Eddie started. "Also, that's some really good CGI you've got going there." Tony scoffed, unpausing the video. Venom could be seen now, crawling back to Eddie, and instantly over taking him, covering his body and ripping out the sharp object. It roared, and then the video ended, the hologram screen cutting out as well.

Tony looked back towards Eddie. "Care to explain that?"

"No."

"And why not?" Tony looked puzzled.

"Because I can't." Eddie stated simply, shrugging.

"Mmhmm," Tony said, shaking his head. "Listen, I've got mountains of evidence here, alright? We can't let whatever you've got there back into the world, especially since it was too dark to see what it could do in the video."

"Yeah, well, I don't have anything, okay? You're wasting your time." Eddie grumbled as he got up. Tony made no move to get up, but Eddie quickly realized why.

When he went to open the door, it was locked. No matter how hard he pulled - or how hard he would allow himself to pull - it wouldn't budge.

"You done?" Tony asked behind him, and Eddie turned around to face him.

"Man, I don't have any aliens in here." He gestured up and down his body. "I've got nothing."

"Well, I can't reasonably let you go until we can confirm that."

"We?" Eddie asked, exasperated.

"Me and a few of the other Avengers." Tony said matter-a-factly.

Let me eat him, Venom told him, inching more of itself out. We will be out of here in no time.

"I can't just let you eat somebody, Venom." Eddie whispered, putting his face down. "Remember, only really bad people."

Suddenly, the door opened, and Eddie stepped a few feet back. His mouth dropped open in pure shock.

Steve Rodgers, or Captain America, was right there. Sadly, Venom and him were one hundred percent sure he wasn't there for shits and giggles.

"Steve, meet Eddie Brock," Tony's tone was confirming their original thoughts.

"Hey," Steve greeted, holding out his hand. Eddie took it for a quick shake before letting go. "Anyway, why did you need me here again?"

"I'm gonna need you to fight Eddie for me."

Chapter Text

"What?" Both Steve and Eddie said at the same time. 

"You heard me." Tony stood up, walking toward Steve. "I'll fill you in while we get to the training center."

Tony then gestured for Eddie to follow, and he did. 

It will be fine, Venom started, curling around Eddie's torso. All you have to do is sit there, like you always do, and I'll take care of the rest.

"No, you are not doing that," Eddie scolded. "We'll get caught. We're just gonna dodge for a while until they give up, alright?" 

Do not be a coward, Eddie. Venom did not sound pleased. Besides, do you not want to beat up an Avenger? It asked, clearly trying to rile him up.

"I mean, like, yeah, but-"

Then what is your problem?! Let us do it, please? Venom sounded so sweet at that moment - or at least as sweet as an alien symbiote could get - and Eddie sighed. If he were honest with himself, he actually really wanted to do it. All he needed was that extra push from Venom, and now look at where he is. He's gonna beat the shit out of an Avenger!

"Fine, but I do most of the fighting," he whispered, looking up to see Tony explaining the situation to Steve, who would occasionally give him suspicious glances.

Finally! You aren't being a little bitch anymore. Venom slithered up his spine, stopping at his neck. Eddie just sighed.

Abruptly, the two in front of him stopped, and Eddie almost bumped into them. He saw Tony open the door to a massive training area, with mats, weights, and other stuff everywhere.

"Follow me," Tony said, bringing both of them in. Steve looked at Eddie a little weirdly when he passed him. 

"What did you tell him?" Eddie muttered, glaring at Tony.

They were led to a large rectangular cutout of the room, about 40 ft by 50 ft. Mats lined the floor, and Eddie guessed this was where they practiced fighting.

"Alright," Tony began, spinning to face them. "Steve, I'll be over there with the others." He pointed to what looked to be mini bleachers. Sitting there was Bruce and Thor, and they were looking at Eddie speculatively. "You will stay here, and fight him."

Steve only stared at Tony with the same confusion his face held before. "I don't know, man. I'm not just gonna fight some random civilian because you think he has some weird ass alien in him."

Tony thought about this for a moment, before beckoning Steve to come over, pulling out his phone. Steve shrugged, walking over. Eddie guessed he was showing him the same video he made him watch.

Steve's head shot up to look at him, and Tony put his phone away. He looked awfully smug about it, and Eddie wanted nothing more than to smack it off.

"Fine," Steve sighed, voice stiff. "I'll do it."

"Great," Tony drew the word out a bit, beginning to walk towards the makeshift bleachers. "Just so you know, once you start, you can't stop until it's over!" 

That hardly seems fair, Venom's voice rang in his head.

"What? I thought we were gonna beat the shit out of him." Eddie whispered.

Oh, we are, Venom said. I meant for him. 

"Oh, and don't kill each other!" Tony called, sitting down.

Steve turned to look at Eddie, sighing again. His stance was apologetic, before shifting into a more defensive one.

Eddie did nothing.

Steve, trying to catch Eddie by surprise, rushed him, quickly throwing punch after punch. 

Eddie sidestepped him, grabbing onto his left wrist. He yanked Steve back and lifted him up into the air, throwing him around 15 ft away. Steve recovered almost immediately, rolling off his back and back onto his feet. 

Eddie walked toward him, pulling his hands out of his jacket, balling them into fists. Steve made direct eye contact with him.

His eyes flashed a milky white, completely covering the pupils. Steve's eyes widened in shock, and just as quickly as it happened, Eddie's eye returned to normal, his irises and pupils returning.

Let me come out! Venom sounded excited. At least let me cover your hands! I want to get in on the action too.

"They'll know that you're here then, bud." Eddie jumped back to avoid a kick from Steve.

Yes, Venom continued, but we will be caught with style.

Eddie sighed, sweeping his foot. Steve dodged it with ease, backing up about 5 ft. 

I will take that as a yes.

Venom covered his hands and most of his forearms, tendrils interlocking and forming into one object. Steve looked on in what seemed to be abject horror, and he didn't blame him. Eddie's hands grew almost twice as big, the black substance encasing part of his jacket. Venom flexed its clawed hands, and Eddie felt it grin.

Eddie looked down as Venom formed its feet as well, trapping his shoes in the black inky liquid. He spared a glance at the three sitting in the bleachers. Bruce was fascinated, Tony was smug, and Thor had recognition written all over his face. Even from here it was easy to see his tensed muscles, and he was white knuckling his hands into fists. Electric blue lightning flowed and pasted through them, as if he were getting ready for a fight.

"You know what?" Eddie said, not bothering to whisper anymore. "You can take over now."

We are glad you have come to your senses, Venom filtered through his body and out his skin, turning him into, well, Venom, the nine foot ten monster.

"The fuck!?" Steve said, turning his head toward Tony while backing up. "I think we got our answer, man!" 

"I think we did, too." Bruce stared at both him and Venom with obvious interest.

"Okay, I'm taking back what I said earlier, you guys can stop now!" Venom was incredibly disappointed, but Eddie promised it lots of chocolate later, which cheered it up.

"That," Thor started, and everyone's eyes went to him. "That thing is a Klyntar." 

"A what?" Tony asked, seemingly happy that the god knew what Venom was.

"A Klyntar." Thor repeated, keeping his eyes directly on Eddie. "They concur worlds by taking over the creatures there, hosts as they like to call them, and eat everything. In just a month, they can destroy the entire planet, leaving only the 'hosts' left."

All eyes were suddenly on Eddie again, and he did not like it. 

"I know what you're gonna say next, Thor, and no, we aren't going to it," Tony said, still staring a hole into Eddie's face. "That Klyntar has been here for over two years. I don't think it's gonna do anything now."

"Didn't the Life Foundation report that the rest were dead, anyway?" Bruce added.

Thor looked at the two of them like they were crazy, but then his gaze went distant, and he sat back in his seat, thinking. Steve gestured over to the bleachers, and Eddie nodded, following him. 

About 5 ft away from them, Thor's head snapped up and glared at Eddie, who put his hands up.

You are making up look bad, Venom observed.

"No, no I'm not." Eddie responded.

"Who are you talking to?" Bruce inquired. 

"The alien you guys are so worried about."

"You can talk to it?" Thor seemed genuinely surprised. 

"Yeah," Eddie said, shifting his feet. "It freaked me the hell out the first time it talked to me, but now it's normal." Thor again thought for fifteen seconds.

"I've never heard of a Klyntar staying with a single host for so long," he observed, standing. "Have you domesticated it or something?"

"I am NOT domesticated!" Venom roared, bursting out of Eddie's left shoulder. Everyone but Thor flinched away.

"It's a bit sensitive." Eddie said, indifferent. A thick tendril shot out of his chest and smacked him, before going back inside. "That was uncalled for." Eddie looked at Venom.

"No, no it was not!" Venom hissed, turning to Thor. "Fuck you." 

Tony snorted, Steve looked to be holding back a laugh, Bruce was still incredibly intrigued, and Thor was incredibly offended.  

"I'm sorry for asking questions," Thor said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Venom just growled at him in response.

They glared at each other for a few minutes, before Bruce broke the silence. 

"So, what can you do?"

Chapter Text

"What do you mean?" Eddie asked, turning towards Bruce. His gaze was locked on Venom looking it up and down. Bruce's eyes flicked back to Eddie.

"Well, what abilities do you have?" Bruce asked, stepping closer to them both. "Can you, for example, go up and down walls?"

"Like Spiderman?" Eddie scoffed. They'd met the kid a few times, and it was always a pleasant experience. It had even gotten to the point where they knew each other out of costume, and every once in a while they'd meet up for coffee. Eddie turned to face Venom. "Want to show them?"

"Yes," Venom said, tendrils bursting out of every part of Eddie - and Venom's - body and wrapping around him. Venom merged its face with Eddie's, and to everyone that wasn't Eddie, it looked fucking horrifying.

Venom watched in obvious satisfaction as Thor stumbled back a bit, and Eddie could feel the glee. He'd have to talk to it about that later.

Not right now, though, as now Venom had 'taken over' his body, and was elongating an arm to the top of a well lit wall. 

It practically jolted to it, quickly latching onto whatever textures were there. It spread a bit, getting as much leverage as possible before hurling their body forward. Venom swung them to the next wall over, digging its claws into the wall and disconnecting its other limb from the wall to their right.

"We are quite good at climbing walls." Venom jumped back down, not caring about any 'thump' that could alert other people to their presence.

Venom allowed half of Eddie's face to be shown, parting in order for him to be able to speak.

"Yeah, we are bud." If he could've, he would pat Venom on the head. "Any other questions?"

Steve nodded in slightly hesitant approval. Having the jacked, nearly ten foot monster of an alien swing above you with such ease when you just spared with it must be a weird experience.

Bruce studied them both, eyes wide with fascination. "What are the properties of-"

"Holy shit!"

Everyone froze for a spilt second, even if it was for different reasons. They all knew who had just spoken, and Steve looked as if he didn't acknowledge the presence, that maybe, just maybe, they would go away.

Both Tony and Thor looked like they'd seen a ghost, and Bruce had quickly gone back to studying them after a momentary flash of surprise.

Venom whipped them both around, and Eddie smiled softly at the person before them.

Peter's face was chock-full of shock, his brown eyes widened to their fullest extent, and his mouth was dropped to the floor. His legs were spaced out as wide as his elbows, and his hands were at his head, creating two roughly 90 degree angles.

"Spiderchild!" Venom cried happily, rushing over to great him.

Peter's slightly performative shock disappeared from his face as it was replaced with a goofy smile. The kid liked Venom, more than a lot of other people did (as if that wasn't obvious already).

"What are you guys doing here?" Peter asked, although not unkindly.

Venom turned them around to glare at Tony, then turning them around again. Eddie felt a rush of satisfaction from it. Probably from seeing his terrified face.

"Tony basically kidnapped us." Eddie shrugged. He knew that that should probably warrant more of a reaction, but this wasn't even close to the strangest thing to happen to him.

Peter sighed, taking in this information. "Yeah, that sounds about right." He, too, glared at Tony for a second. "But, like, that doesn't explain why you're here," he emphasized, gesturing to the room around them. "You know, like, the sparring-training room?" For a reporter, Peter sure used a lot of filler words in regular conversation.

"Tony tried to make Steve over here fight us." Venom created a tendril that waggled in Steve's general direction. "I guess he thought it would bring Venom out."

"I'm guessing he was right?" Peter tilted his head.

"Yeah," Eddie sighed. "Venom took over pretty quickly."

A voice broke into their conversation. "Do you two know each other?" Bruce asked.

"Yes," Venom responded, turning their body around a bit to be able to look at him. "Once, when we were in New York, we aided Spiderchild in a fight." Peter nodded, only reluctantly allowing Venom's large hand to lay on his head.

This seemed to - mostly - calm everyone down. That is, except for Tony. "And how long ago was this?" He asked, seemingly incapable of taking his eyes off Venom's hand.

"I don't know, a year ago?" Eddie answered, both feet touching the floor as Venom seeped back into him. He was a few inches taller than the teen like this. It was nice, not towering over him.

His hand moved down to Peter's shoulder, gently resting it there.

"Hey Eddie?" Peter asked, looking up at him.

"Hm?"

"Could you proof-read one of my articles?"

"Sure, kid." Eddie patted his shoulder, urging him along. "Sure."