Take Care

Eddie Brock was sick.

As much as he hated to admit that, it was true. And truth be told, it wasn't unusual for him to feel like shit, but this was significantly worse. Every inch of his body ached with a nagging pain that refused to leave him be.
At least Venom had made it better, even if he claimed to be starving all the time and scared the living daylights out of anyone who saw him.

Laying flat on his back, Eddie stared at the ceiling, eyes lazily observing the fan as it spun and clicked repeatedly. It was still too humid in the room, even when he had kicked all the sheets off of him and discarded his pillow. He glanced over at the clock, squinting as the shine of the street light outside revealed the time: 1:37am.
His symbiote had previously been resting somewhere deep inside of him, but had now begun to move about Eddies midsection, and it was obvious that he was bored. So naturally, Eddie asked the most stupid question in the world.
"Are you awake?"
Pause.

"Always. What other answer would there be?"

It was strange... Talking to Venom in the middle of the night. It was almost like having a sleepover with a friend, except this friend didn't sleep and tried to help your body refresh itself... Despite it being able to do that that naturally. This time though, it seemed that Venom hadn't done anything to help his body push through their sudden illness, and if he had, it didn't work. Albeit it was still nice knowing that he was there, keeping an eye on "themselves."
Eddie sighed and rolled over, facing the wall with crossed arms. He had been tossing and turning for hours now, contemplating whether to get up and take pills for his throbbing headache. He was far to fatigued to think past the idea of standing up, however.

"We can't keep ignoring this, Eddie," Venom insisted, "We're not getting better,"

His eyes flicked to the water leak on the ceiling, where the patch had started to rot and turn an awful shade of brown. Indeed he did feel a little bad for not taking care of himself, but he decided that discussing it with Venom would likely take the rest of the night, and he wasn't bothered.

"We'll talk in the morning, alright buddy?"

Venom despised this idea.

"It IS morning. And we're talking now."

"... Not even just a couple of hours?"

"No!"

"Alright, look," Eddie sighed again, raising his hands in the air.
"I promise that we'll talk about it as soon as I wake up, ok? I can guarantee you,"
Venom was silent, sinking lower into Eddie's body in a huff. Eddie rolled his eyes and gave in. What could be so harmful anyway?

"Fine... What do you want to talk about?"

A few moments passed before a claggy tendril extended itself from his back, revealing Venoms nightmarish face... Which was suddenly hovering above Eddies own. He almost blended in with the the darkness around him, the only give away being the glare of the street light putting his elongated teeth on display.

"There is something wrong with us, Eddie. And you know it," he began, "So why do you continue to act like nothing's there?"

"Uh, well, I figured it would go away on its own.. and maybe... You'd fix it?"

"I'D FIX IT?!"

Several more tendrils came out to wrap around Eddie's limbs, pinning him to his mattress ('kinky', was his one intrusive thought), much like the time when Venom had stuck him to the wall outside after Eddie called him a parasite. The memory brought an unusual tingling sensation to his nerves, and his heart definitely didn't skip a beat.
It did make his headache worse, though.

He coughed. "Yeah, because remember when my leg was broken and you reversed it...?"

Venom scoffed. "Listen very closely, if you're sick, I'm sick. And if you won't take care of us, I will,"

Eddie coughed again in response, his chest constricting painfully. It only seemed to get worse the more he talked.

"If you're really that worried, we can just go and see a doctor-"

"Absolutely not!"

He let out a strangled grunt, a bout of sharp pain in his neck making itself known upon trying to lift it.

"W-why the hell not?"

A final tendril wrapped itself around Eddie's head, gently caressing him as though to pet him. His muscles instantly relaxed, and he felt... Somewhat content at this. Venom was never the affectionate type, but he had recently begun putting in an efffort to be the opposite. It was only small things, like curling himself around Eddies arms and shoulders, or occasionally pulling the sheets over them at night, but it was a definite change in his usual habits.

"If a host can't take care of its guest, bad things will happen," Venom spoke laggardly, "That is why we must cure it ourselves,"

"...Are you sure we don't need a doctor for that..?" Eddie yawned.

"They won't be able to fix it,"

"Ok... Uh, so what exactly happens when things go bad?"

The symbiotes head was inches away from Eddie's, his cloudy eyes widening at the question.
"Many things. First, your bones will break-"

"Oh god--"

"Then your eyes may bleed--"

"Yeahhh ok-"

"And your organs will rupture, and your pancreas will melt--"

"Uhuh, yeah no--"

"And your brain will go soft and expel out of your mouth--"

'Is that even possible--?"

"Your lungs might cook and turn to ash-"

"Ok, ok! I get it..." Eddie jittered, "but you're joking, right?"

Venom just stared at him, long and hard.

"You're not joking... Ah fuck..."

"Are you going to take care of us, or shall I?"

Eddie paused, unsure of his answer. For all he knew, Venoms method of kicking the flu could be by jumping off the golden gate bridge, or setting things on fire, or eating people... The list was just endless.

"Joint effort, perhaps?" he suggested, "Y'know, share ideas?"

Venom thought for a moment, squinting as he made up his mind.

"Deal," he agreed, "But I'm not letting you move anywhere,"

Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, the symbiote leaned in and nuzzled against Eddie's cheek lovingly, just for a moment, before retreating back into his body. Eddie blinked hard several times to validate what had just happened. He didn't like how his cheeks had turned bright red at the soothing gesture. He also didn't believe he had felt this warm since he and Anne were together, and almost wanted to ask for more of it...
This feeling was short lived, however, because upon trying to roll over, he realised that Venom had been dead serious, and he couldn't move at all.

"Venom... Venom? I can't... God dammit,"