Serendipity

Steven came home to London after the fight with Khonshu. He went to Egypt with questions and came back even more frazzled. Steven met Marc and has yet to meet a potential third alter. They had their suspicions due to the fight on the ground. Neither Steven nor Marc can recall killing those men. Usually, when a span of time isn’t remembered by someone, they are sleeping, or the body has felt some sort of physical exhaustion.

“Do you think we should stay in London, Marc?”

“I think we should. I can’t just uproot your entire life like this by appearing unannounced.” Marc retorted.

“You didn’t, if anything it would be me who changed your entire life. You came to London from America to give me an entirely different life. Besides, it is your body.”

“My body?” Marc sounded shocked.

“Yes, why? Is it not your body? We both saw that I am only but an alter.” Steven refuted.

“Yes you were made, but that does not change the fact that we are a part of a system now. We can live in London for a little while longer and get situated with ourselves first.”

“I guess we can, but that does not change the fact that you moved to London so I can believe a lie.” Steven sounded heartbroken and put out. He was getting teary-eyed at the end of his rant and Marc felt bad.

“How about you drive the body for a little while?” Marc said.

“Alright.” Steven was finished with the small argument.

As a creature of habit, Steven went to the British Museum. Though he didn’t have a job anymore, he would still frequent the museum. The staff paid him no mind and acted as if he never worked there. Steven was a bit hurt over that fact.

While browsing the Egyptian exhibition for three hundredth time, Steven encountered a suspicious-looking man. He was muttering under his breath and looked quite sweaty.

Steven couldn’t judge the poor guy. He probably was dealing with some things and wanted to have a small excursion.

The stranger had short brown hair and a small stubble. The grey-black hoodie he was wearing looked old and worn out.

In a quick second, the man turned around and stared right at Steven. He looked like he was about to run.

Steven started walking up in a second after a decision was made without a certain someone interfering.

“Hello, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Steven said.

There was a long, awkward pause until the stranger started speaking.

“Uh, so, hi. You didn’t scare me; not at all.”

“Are you doing alright? Sorry, I don’t mean to infer that something is inherently wrong it’s just,” Steven was interrupted.

“No, I understand. I look a little out of place. I don’t think I said my name, it’s Eddie Brock.”

“Oh, mine is Steven Grant. I apologize for introducing myself earlier.” Steven said.

Steven could now feel Marc’s interest in Eddie. The looks from the glass in the exhibition were enough to see Marc. He looked angry and critical of the man standing in front of Steven.

The silence after Steven’s words was still lingering and quickly becoming awkward.

Steven walked over to a statue of Anubis. He didn’t look behind to see if Eddie was following.

“Did you know that jackals are signs of the dead and are protectors of the afterlife? Anubis, as you can see had the head of a jackal. He is the god of funerary rites and the protector of graves. He is supposed to be the one who oversees the weighing of the souls in the afterlife, though for me it was Taweret, the goddess of childbirth.”

Eddie raised his eyebrow at the last part.

Steven didn’t see that and kept talking and started walking away.

Eddie quickly followed. If anyone asked why he did, he would say he was interested in the man, platonically of course.

“Not that I have died yet. We all do someday and I hope I keep having a balanced heart. Nothing good ever comes out of having a heavy heart.” Steven said.

“Now that is true.” Eddie chuckled.

Eddie and Venom have been paying close attention to the male. Venom hasn’t said anything uncharacteristic; usually the symbiote chats on about anything and everything.

“How are you doing, V?”

“Sorry?” Steven replied.

Eddie tried to keep the question quiet yet Steven still heard.

“I’m just talking to myself. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“He is hiding something. I can feel something is off, something wrong.” Venom finally said.

Eddie could not answer Venom immediately. He could sometimes send a mental message but that took a great deal of concentration that he couldn’t have now. Instead, he just shrugged a little, something Venom could pick up and perceive as a nod to hearing the answer.

Looking at the time on his phone, Steven realized it had been an hour since meeting Eddie and pulling him around the museum. He felt bad at wasting the man's time.

“Oh, look at the time, it has been an hour. I hope I didn’t keep you from anything important. I lost track and started rambling.” Steven said.

“It’s alright. It was a good tour of the Egyptian mythology. Very informative. You know, you should be a tour guide. You would be very good at it. Eddie replied.

Steven blushed from the embarrassment of the reminder of his old job. He wanted to be a tour guide at the very museum he showed Eddie so badly. It had led to very awkward situations with his ex-boss.

“Thank you, I try. I’m very pleased you enjoyed the small tour. I assume you are leaving?”

They were heading towards the entrance of the large museum and were close to the door.

“Yeah, thanks a lot again, for the tour. If you are interested, want to hang out some other time?”
Eddie suggested.

Eddie took out his notebook that he always carried around, wrote his number down, and handed it to Steven. The aforementioned man looked shocked and a little flustered.

“Oh, sure. That sounds good.” Steven wasn’t used to being given numbers. He couldn’t recall anyone giving him one. Maybe Dylan might’ve but it could have been Marc receiving the number.

“Nice. Alright, I’ll see you around. Text me whenever you want to meet next.” Eddie patted Steven’s shoulder on the way out of the building.

“Bye.” Steven gave a small wave back but Eddie couldn’t see for he was already out the door.