So Call Me Up Tonight
"I'm bored," Venom groaned, Eddie couldn't hold back an eye roll, he was in the middle of writing an article his boss had assigned him on the local MP. Eddie had since moved onto his bed from the desk, he had been sat there for most of the day and by the time it was evening his arse was completely numb. Venom had been mostly silent for the day, they had put on the TV and was watching a rerun of Golden Girls for the best for of an hour.
"I know, buddy," Eddie sighed, rubbing his eyes out of exhaustion, he had been staring at the computer for most of the day, "but work is what keeps us in the flat and more importantly in this country," Eddie had stressed before about how important keeping his job would insure his work visa staying in place and he's not at risk of deportation.
"We aren't meant to be cooped up all day. We need to be free," Venom complained, it wasn't the first time he had busted out the speech of needing to be free, and it probably wasn't the second time and definitely won't be the last know how dramatic Venom can get.
"V, please, let me finish this," Eddie knew he wouldn't be anywhere close to finishing this tonight, it had taken him most of the week to get the information he needed meaning he was out of the flat more than he was in it. He missed seeing Steven during the week, they kept texting back and forth, sharing little bits of information through the other's day or just a silly little thing they found funny between each other. Eddie knew he was fucked twelve ways to hell, the last time he thought about someone like this was Anne and everyone in the world knows how that went. The thought of getting into a relationship with someone was scaring him, he had dealt with Drake, an unstable psychopath who was way too scientifically advanced that humanly allowed and also Kasedy, a serial killer sociopath who related to Eddie based on their shitty childhoods.
Calling Anne last week wasn't the smartest idea at the time, but annoyingly it paid off, now he couldn't stop thinking about what she had said. The two had only texted every once in a while, she was busy with none stop cases and he was caught up in the move and dealing with his boss. Just sharing basic life updates, Eddie called Anne on a whim, hoping she was free that afternoon and thankfully he was. He ended up staying on the phone with her for the next couple hours, they had a full on catch up, somewhere along the way of their conversations, Anne asked if there was anyone in his life.
"Hey, Eds," Anne's voiced had changed, they were laughing about the old lady who lived down the road from them and now she sounded serious, the seriousness being something that made Eddie nervous for the next few moments to some, "Have you got anyone in your life? At least a friend, maybe?"
Taking a breath, Eddie look down at his phone, he had placed it on speaker almost as soon as they started talking, mainly due to the fact that Venom wanted to talk to Anne for a few seconds. Reading over the contact name, amount of time they have been on call, and playing with the strings on one of his bracelets, "I've got a couple friends, yeah," he simply replied.
"That's good, I'm glad. Who are they?" Anne asked.
"Um, Kayla is someone who I work with, you'd like her, she takes the piss out of me a lot. And she was, like, the only person in the office who made an effort with me," Eddie filled her in, "And Steven, he, um, he lives across the hall from me and he's real sweet and, yeah," clearing his throat Eddie could feel the questions bubbling up from Anne's end of the line.
"So, you like him?" she quipped.
"'Course I do, he's my friend," Eddie admitted, his chest tightened at the thought of things only staying the way they are with Steven, as much as he wanted to ask him out on a date, he wasn't sure what he was more afraid of at the point in time.
"Sounds ominous," Anne commented, "OK, Eddie, instead of us doing this whole dancing around the truth thing, just answer me this. Do you want to ask him out on a date?"
Eddie took a pause, his heart rate sped up to an unbearable pace, he could feel Venom moving around somewhere in his organs interested in the current topic of conversation, "Yes," Eddie opened his mouth to try and force the words out, "but..."
"No 'but's Edward," Anne snarked as Eddie groaned at the use of his full name, "What are you so scared of? Because I thought you worked passed your whole commitment thing,"
Eddie cringed, his commitment to most things had gotten better over the years, his long lasting relationship with Anne got him over the overwhelming fear, the forced symbiotic relationship with some wack as all hell alien is a bit of a hit and miss, but somewhere along the way it sort of helped. Gazing around his newly, unpacked flat, he felt a small bit of achievement, if this was him about seven years ago, Eddie for sure wouldn't have committed to moving to a total new country and stick around long enough. He was coming up to the seven month mark, he had also managed to avoid any incidences with him and Venom, hadn't destroyed the side of the building recently nor had he hit the self-destruction button the still hides in the back of his mind.
"Yes, I got over most of it, anyways," he added quickly, "I just don't wanna fuck this up, Anne, Steven is lovely and nice no matter what, he genuinely give a shit about people, and has this hyperfixation on Ancient Egypt and their mythology. He's just so... much better than me in so many different ways and maybe, if he finds out I have a parasite living in me-"
"Not a parasite," Venom practically yelled in Eddie's head.
Ignoring Venom's agonisingly loud interruption, "-he'll get freaked out. On top of other things about me," Eddie muttered.
Assuming Anne wasn't going to catch on what he was implying, Eddie was sorely reminded on how well Anne know's him, "I highly doubt he'll have a problem with Venom for starters,"
"Thank you, Anne," Venom made an appearance from Eddie's shoulder just to bother Eddie.
"No problem," Anne acknowledged, "And secondly, if he is a sweet and lovely as you say, I highly doubt he'll have an issue with you being trans. Eds, if you think there is any chance you think this Steven will feel the same way, go for it, you can't hide away from it forever. You'll never know until you actually do something about it," Eddie stayed quiet, worrying Anne on the other end of the line, "You're keeping up with your meds?"
"Yes, Anne, I'm taking my medication," he said, he knew he sounded like a arsehole for the way he said it, "Look, Annie, it's nearly three in the morning and I've gotta pick up my refill and T in the morning. Night,"
"Look after yourself, Eds, night," Eddie didn't stay on the call any longer than he wanted to after they both said their goodbyes. Knowing fully well that Anne means well and is just looking out for him, Eddie couldn't help but completely shut down at the thought of making a move.
Eddie couldn't help but think over the words Anne had said to him that night, throwing himself into his work whenever he got too far in his head about everything going on. For him, it was so much easier to shove away his feelings, push them to the deepest depths of his mind just to keep one of the closest friends in his life. Maybe hurting himself for the sake of preservation isn't the healthiest thing in the world, yet there wasn't any other option in Eddie's opinion.
"Eddie?" Venom whined, "Eddie? Please can we go out tonight?" they was relentless and consistent on being the world's most annoying symbiotic alien. Eddie eventually cave in that night, they bounced around buildings around the local area. With a few casualties to a fair few roofs, ended up stopping a mugging and a stabbing attempt, Venom seemed to be fairly pleased with how their evening went.
Laying back on his bed, his laptop back open and sat on the article he was working on before Venom decided he wanted to go out and burn off all his energy at once. He felt his phone next to his head, he had attempted to craft a text to Steven on multiple occasions but would give up halfway through. For someone who writes for a living, Eddie somehow gets stuck for words when it comes to text Steven a simple message asking to talk to him when he's next free. They'd both been busy over the past week, work and everything else getting in the way of them seeing each other. He gave up once Venom had called him a 'Pussy' for the fifth time since they had gotten him from being out all night doing Lethal Weapon things, picking his phone back up Eddie wrote a simple text he had sent before but just under different circumstances.
Eddie (23:12):
are you around tomorrow???