S is for Scary stories
Big boys are brave and don't get scared about nothing. Big boys can totally stay up past bedtime and watch the movies adults like mom and dad watch even if they're boring and have people kissing, yuck.
And he is a big boy!
Or at least that's what six year old Carnage Venom Brock believes.
Lately he's been on kind of independence kick, wanting to feel like a big boy, doing things on his own and not letting either of his parents help him, Eddie and Venom have noticed, which coincided with him being able to take and maintain an actual human form just in time for him to start first grade. Of course the symbiote-host pair are proud and elated but to say they worry, Eddie more than V, would be an understatement. It's a mom thing, Anne had told them. Eddie, who never knew his mom and had a shitty dad, wouldn't know, but he believed her.
Because he had mastered the art of turning into a perfectly normal and human looking little boy, with his red hair and little freckles all over his cheeks and his blue eyes, courtesy of Eddie, Carnage now enjoyed spending more time looking like his mom, Eddie, than his dad, Venom, which meant that unless he was super tired and turned into a blob like he did at bedtime, he would stay in his human form all day, even as he played with his sibling and even as he used his tendrils to get into the cookie jar and the snack drawer without mom noticing. He was big, and so he was the only one of his siblings who could actually control his tendrils fully. He couldn't do all the cool stuff his dad did but... Someday, for sure! His dad always said that symbiote offspring tended to be stronger than their parents. He didn't care much for stronger, he just wanted to be as cool as his dad.
When it came to school, though he'd only been in first grade for a couple of months, he was quite the popular little guy. He had a lot of friends and would get invited to play dates often, which to both Eddie and Venom was a relief. Not that the past six years hadn't been enough confirmation that absolutely nothing of Cletus Kasady remained in their son, but it was still really nice to see their offspring being the best version of himself. Nature Vs. Nurture, right? Carnage was a bright, extroverted, happy boy without Kasady's influence on him. Nothing like the vengeful, hateful spawn they once fought. Eddie didn't usually feel spiteful towards the people they'd faced as the Lethal Protector, and he often felt guilty about even thinking it but good riddance. Cletus Kasady was a very bad person and an even worst host for the first version of their child, and no amount of childhood trauma and past abuse would ever be excuse enough for the atrocities he committed. Eddie endured the same type of shitty childhood and he turned out fine. For the most part. But that's beside the point.
During one of this play dates was that Carnage became obsessed with the topic of creepy stories and honestly Eddie wasn't surprised because he'd also had a phase like this when he was a child. He loved reading "Scary stories to tell in the dark" and scare himself sleepless, specially as Halloween drew closer. The couple even considered buying the book for little Carnage, after Eddie nostalgically told Venom about it, though they hadn't yet because they knew their son would definitely use it to scare his siblings, who, being only four, had no business having it read to them. And Carnage, being half-symbiote, was ahead of his little classmates and could already read, and they knew he totally would.
One Saturday night, while Eddie and Venom cleaned up the mess that feeding dinner to 5 kids and a baby usually left, Carnage rounded his siblings under a small blanket fort in the middle of the living room. It was a dreadful evening, a storm had been brewing over San Francisco and was currently making the windows of their home rattle with both wind and hail constantly hitting them, the perfect setting for making blanket forts, for sure, but also for scary stories.
"Listen up, I'm gonna tell you all a story! And it's a scary story!" Carnage announced to his siblings who gathered round him to listen.
"You don't know any scary stories, mom doesn't even let you watch scary movies" Lasher retorted with a snort.
"Yes I do! My friend from school told me it!" Carnage argued back as he stuck his tongue out at his brother who just rolled his eyes while the other little hybrids looked amongst themselves. "The story is called "The Whispering Slide" and goes like this: behind the school, there’s an old red slide no one goes near anymore. They say if you slide down alone at sunset, you’ll hear whispers—soft, crackly voices calling your name. But if you look back at the bottom... you’ll see them. A pale hand, cold and bony, will reach up and grab your ankle. The whispers will turn into screams as something yanks you under the slide." Carnage narrated, making his siblings huddle in fear as they imagined being part of the story being told. "No one knows where it takes you, but some kids swear they’ve seen shadows moving underneath—shadows with glowing eyes that watch... and wait. They only come out when the playground’s empty. So don’t slide down. Unless you want them to take you next."
What followed was a small herd of tiny hybrids squealing in fear as they escaped the blanket fort and ran to take cover with their parents, huddling around Eddie's legs and almost making him trip and drop the plates he was holding. "Hey hey stop! What's going on? V! A little help?" Eddie begged his Other who used his tendrils to grab the plates as well as hold their children back. "What's happening? Why are you all screaming?" Eddie asked in concern as he knelt down to be at their kids' level and be able to hug and console them.
"Carnage told us a story, a scary one" Scream confessed as she snuggled into her mom's embrace. "It was really scary mommy..."
Eddie furrowed his brows as he looked at his love who through this all had been holding Sleeper in his tendrils. Venom raised an "eyebrow" as he used his tendrils to rub the children's backs consolingly. "Honey?" Eddie said softly.
"Yeah, on it." Was Venom's reply, who snaked out to the living room to find Carnage all alone inside the blanket fort, pouting, as he held his knees to his chest. "Little one?" He said as he wrapped around their eldest's tiny frame.
"I just wanted to tell them a story, I didn't think they'd get so scared. I don't think it's that scary!" Carnage complained as he melted into his blobby form and let his dad snuggle him.
Venom hummed in understanding. "I see. Perhaps it is not so much that your story was all that scary, but your siblings are only small." He explained, his voice a soft rumble that Eddie could still hear in his mind as he huddled the smaller ones.
Carnage pouted more. "They're babies! I don't get scared because I'm a big boy!"
Venom nuzzled him. "You were their age too not that long ago." He reminded him. "But you're grown now. And they'll grow too, in time. And maybe when they do they won't be scared by your little stories, but until then, let's not tell them any scary stories again. Yes?"
Carnage nodded but his pout didn't go away. Venom sighed. "I know! Why don't we ask mom to make us all some hot chocolate. Would that cheer you up my little narrator?" The adult symbiote asked.
Carnage nodded and smiled softly, his predicament forgotten for the time being as he was carried in his dad's tendrils back to the kitchen where he apologised for scaring his siblings, because hey, even big boys needed dad hugs from time to time.
And of course, how could Eddie say no to such sweet request. He made a huge pot of hot chocolate for everyone, he added marshmallows, whipped cream and all the toppings his little ones and his love asked for. The night was perfect for it.
When Carnage's birthday came, a couple weeks later, he recieved his very own copy of "Scary stories to tell in the dark". And maybe, just maybe, it was thanks to his dad's influence on his mom.
He did get told not to tell any of the stories to his siblings but that was ok. He'd share with his friends at school!
Eddie was called a couple days later because Carnage had scared one of his friends so bad the little boy had an "accident".
Oops.