Eddie Brock didn’t mind being seen as crazy.
Not as much as he did in the beginning when he first bonded with Venom, at least. Sure, he occasionally got self conscious from the stares and there was that brief twinge of desire that his symbiote could sit across from him at the table without someone calling every news and paramilitary organization within a 50 mile radius, but that only lasted a half a second before he remembered that he wouldn’t change this relationship for anything in the world.
While he and Venom couldn’t go on traditional dates, he still liked to take the symbiote out to eat. This served the dual purpose of romantic time out and not having to cook the absurd amount of food they both consumed. They had quite a few restaurants they frequented, both for the variety and to give the establishments enough time to hopefully forget that Eddie is the weird guy in the corner talking to himself and eating enough food for six people. He’s not sure that’s worked yet.
One of their more frequent haunts was a small diner close to their apartment that was open until 3am. Perfect for late night pancakes and eating as much as they want without getting stared at. It was in the shadier part of the city so the staff mostly kept to themselves. Over attentive servers always got Venom in a tizzy.
Eddie entered the diner with a ring from the bell above the door, seating the two of them in the back corner by a window. Even before bonding with Venom he’d always found himself doing so. Journalistic habit, he supposed. Had to keep everything in eye shot.
He ordered and within a few minutes the waitress at the diner set down their plates of food, a certifiable feast even if there were two more people at the table. Piles of pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausages. Venom had gotten excited at the liver and onions but that was not on the table for Eddie. Eating human heads was one things, livers was another.
“Could just let me eat it, Eddie. Like we do at other places.”
“Yeah except this diner is two feet wide and there’s no way that could happen without someone seeing you. Half the reason we come here is because it’s quiet and filled with the tame crackheads so we don’t look like the craziest person in here.”
Venom had just grumbled.
“Thank you so much, appreciate it,” he told the waitress as she finished setting down their buffet. They were frequently served by this one, whether it was because the place was so small they always visited during her shift or she was the one best equipped to deal with the customers who were a special kind of crazy. She always did her best to remain carefully neutral when dealing with him, like he was a pile of firecrackers and she was just trying to light a cigarette.
“No problem, hon,” she said. He could tell the words were forced out, like she was trying to treat him like just another customer, use that practiced diner waitress charm, but it just didn’t come out. “Can I get you anything else?” She asked next, just as forced.
Eddie glanced at his half empty coffee mug. “No, I’m all set. Thanks.”
With that, she scurried off at such a speed it was like she just remembered she left the stove on.
“You wanted more coffee,” Venom piped in.
“Yeah, I did,” Eddie answered as he began cutting into one of the many stacks of pancakes.
“Why didn’t you ask her for some?”
“Well, she seems pretty scared shitless, bud. Besides, you whine if I drink anything that’s not a mocha.”
There was a long stretch of silence.
“I don’t whine.”
Eddie scoffed, rolling his eyes as he tore into a strip of bacon.
“Why would she be scared? I am not even visible. It is just you. Your human body, like hers. We could come out. Then she could be really afraid.”
“Nope. Not happening. I like this place, they smoke their own bacon and it’s quiet enough that they don’t try to shove us out the door go turn tables over.” Whether that was because it was quiet or because the staff was scared of Eddie he didn’t say. No need to give the symbiote more ammo.
“…You didn’t answer my question.”
Eddie sighed again, taking a brief pause from his meal. Despite all the chatting it was already a quarter gone and he could see the cook staring at him in terrified awe through the kitchen window. They made a brief moment of eye contact, Eddie giving a shy grin, before she quickly returned to what she was doing. He sighed again, turning to look out the diner window and into the street.
“I told you before people don’t usually talk to themselves.”
“But we have seen it. On TV.”
“Okay, yeah, they talk to themselves but usually not in like…full, one sided conversations.”
“It is not one sided.”
“I know that, but they don’t. They can’t hear you. So I just look like some crazy dude eating enough food for four people and having a conversation with myself.”
“And that scares them?”
“Sometimes.”
“…Why?”
Eddie heaved another sigh as he returned to his food. He didn’t feel equipped to unravel the topic of human fear and the stigmatism behind certain mental health disorders.
“It’s…complicated.”
“Meaning you don’t feel like explaining it.”
“That’s not—“ Eddie groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You know I’m not an expert on humans, right? I can’t explain everything about human fear and why people are afraid of certain things.”
“Try?”
The sincerity in Venom’s deep, booming voice brought a twinge to Eddie’s chest that one could only call heartsick. Fuck. Rarely did Venom ask things of him with such genuineness, without the snark that hid the fact he was upset that he didn't already know something. Venom had quickly grown to love being the exact opposite of a loser on Earth and being reminded of his ignorance seemed to dredge up unpleasant memories.
Leaning back, Eddie twiddled his thumbs as he tried to think of the best way to articulate an explanation for something he didn’t feel equipped to explain.
“People get afraid of things they don’t…understand. Things they can’t control or things that might hurt them. Like, the dark. A lot of people are scared of the dark because they have no idea what could be in there. Normal humans can’t see in the dark. They can’t do anything about it, so they get scared.”
“So it is the same as you being afraid of heights."
“Yeah, I can’t fly, as you’ve noticed. And humans aren’t as durable as you. So…” Eddie trailed off, letting him pick up the dots.
“Splat,”Venom put elegantly.
“Splat,” Eddie agreed solemnly.
“But that is not an issue now, Eddie. Not with us.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “No, not really.”
“But you still don’t like us going climbing. Your pulse quickens. And not in a good way."
“Yeah, humans are dumb. Plenty of people are scared of shit even knowing it’s harmless. Like, the amount of people who are scared of sharks despite how rare shark attacks are is insane.”
“So is that why that woman is afraid of us? Are we a shark?”
Eddie found himself a bit taken aback. Venom did have that tendency to be exactly correct without ever knowing just how right he was.
“Yeah, bud. To her, we’re a shark. We’ve been in here dozens of times and haven’t done shit, but she still thinks we might. I talk to myself—I know I’m talking to you but they don’t know—and that’s weird and people don’t like weird. Not to mention the fact that we eat four times as much food as we should be able to. I might have to start pretending to be a competitive eater.”
“They have that?!”
Eddie snorted, his chest suddenly feeling much lighter at the excitement Venom was pouring through him.
“Yeah, competitive eating is a thing.”
“There would be no competition, Eddie. We are the best at everything. Especially eating. We would crush them.”
“Pretty sure having an alien eat all the food in your stomach is cheating, bud.”
“Is that in the rules?”
Fuck.
“Well…it’s supposed to be one person only.”
“We are not two people. You are me and I am you and we are us.”
Venom’s way of describing their bond always made Eddie’s head spin and his heart flutter. None of it made any damn sense yet it made more sense than anything else. Something he could never explain but knew to be true, like trying to tell a blind person the sky was blue.
“Y-Yeah. We are. But I still think it’d probably break some kind of rule. Like having a tapeworm.”
Despite feeling the ripple of anger under his skin like it was his own, Eddie still couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Did you just call me a tapeworm?” Venom asked with barely contained outrage.
“I think it’s a fair comparison.”
“No! Tapeworms are parasites! We are symbiotic! Not to mention they have scolex and strobia and symbiotes are amorphous.”
“Have you been watching National Geographic again?”
“It was Animal Planet. Apologize.”
“I didn’t know Animal Planet was still a thing.”
“Of course it is! How else would we watch the Puppy Bowl? Apologize!”
“When have you seen the Puppy Bowl? It’s on the same time as the Super Bowl and I watch that on the TV.”
“I stream it on your laptop.”
“Yeah, then who won?”
“Team Fluff in overtime.”
Eddie almost face palmed.
“Why the hell are you watching the Puppy Bowl?”
“You watch Food Network.”
“…Gross, man.”
“Apologize.”
“Fine, I’m sorry I called you a tapeworm. Happy?”
“…Order the liver.”
“Not on your life,” Eddie hummed as he finally finished off his food. Though he did sneak a strip of bacon under the table where Venom lunged from his thigh to snatch it up in the blink of an eye.
The waitress looked even more unsettled as she swung by with the check, grabbing as many plates as she could as fast as she could. “How was everything? Good? Great, here’s the check, no rush, have a nice night.”
Eddie watched as she zoomed back into the kitchen and even Venom was impressed by the speed at which she moved carrying fifteen pounds of dishes.
“…You should tip her well, Eddie.”
“Yeah, I probably should. May have to wait a bit before coming back here. Rather not give her a pulmonary,” Eddie muttered as he unloaded his cash.
“IHOP?” Venom suggested.
“I definitely wouldn’t look like the craziest person there,” Eddie chuckled, standing up from the table and heading towards the door.
“People to eat?”
“IHOP isn’t exactly known as a crime hotspot. That’s more Denny’s. Or Waffle House.”
“Waffle House?” Venom asked, voice rapt with curiosity.
“Oh, yeah, you’d love it. People get into fights all the time there. It’s kind of its thing.”
“Yes! Let’s go to Waffle House!”
“Okay, okay. Next time we can go to Waffle House. But if there's any fights you're doing the punching,” Eddie chuckled as the door swung closed behind him.
—
Behind the counter, the waitress watched as her customer finally left. She had only just let out a sigh of relief when the door bell rung again, nearly scaring her out of her skin.
“Whoa. Was that Eddie Brock that just left?" her coworker asked as she walked in. "You should have called me! You always steal the best tables. I wonder what he was doing in this dump. He was probably the most normal person in here, huh?” the waitress chuckled, nudging her coworker and heading to the back to clock in.
The waitress' eyebrow just twitched.