Take Care

"Eddie. Wake up."
The voice in his head boomed like a loudspeaker on an average Friday night in San Francisco. Eddie jolted awake, startled by the sudden interruption to his slumber.

"Get us out of bed,"

"...huh?"

"Get us out of bed!" Venom repeated, a little more irritated, "Now!"

"..ok.."

Despite having been awake for less than 10 seconds, Eddie could already tell his condition had worsened. He was now hardly able to lift his head, and his muscles had grown stiff from doing absolutely nothing. He guessed it was the impact of Venoms presence on his immune system, or the fact that he hadn't slept well, or that maybe he was still way too tired to tell what was happening. He assumed it was all three somehow.
He yawned and smacked his lips together, finding that they were quite chapped, and his mouth was uncomfortably dry from dehydration. He rubbed his head absentmindedly, "Yeah ok, I'll get up,". He picked up a glass of water and began to drink from it. It took him a few painfully slow seconds to realize that he was imagining this subconsciously, and that he was still laying there in his semi comatose state.

"I'll do this myself," the symbiote growled with disapproval.

"Hrrk- what?!"

Without warning, Venom hoisted Eddie up on two feet, forcing him to stagger away from the bed and down the hall towards the bathroom. Everything in front of him looked like a giant swirl of nothingness as he tried to steady himself along the wall. He honestly believed he was still hallucinating things, and that he was drifting off again after Venom had come to his senses.
Of course he was wrong.

"Ugh-- What are you trying-"

"The shower, Eddie,"

"What? Why...?"

"We need warmth,"

Eddie was still burning and sweating profusely all over, and a hot shower was the last thing he wanted. He shook his head in disagreement, slapping his face to try and wake himself up to contradict this suggestion.

"No, that's.. actually, not a bad idea..." He gradually realised. Maybe Venom was actually doing something good. It was 50/50, realistically.

Upon navigating his way into the bathroom, Eddie was instantly greeted by his debilitated reflection in the mirror. He looked fucking horrendous, even more so than usual. In fact, he had to admit that he didn't even recognize himself at first. It looked as though someone had raked him through dirt, grease, possibly hell itself, and then told him to get up and go to work.

"Not looking so good," captain obvious pointed out. He wrapped a tendril around Eddie's greasy hair, pulling back a few strands back to reveal red rimmed, sunken eyes. The reporter sighed and ran a shaky hand over his face, which had gone clammy and pale during the night, accompanied by (now) trembling lips. Eddie chuckled at the sight, his chest constricting painfully as the air left his lungs.

"Uhuh, tell me about it," he sniffled, wiping away beads of sweat with the back of his palm. Venom was quick to get frustrated with Eddie's pace and raised an impatient tendril, starting to strip off his clothes for him.

"Woah woah! Calm down!" Eddie exclaimed hoarsely, "I've got it!"

"Move faster!" the alien argued back, zero sympathy.

For the sole purpose of annoying him, Eddie twisted the shower knob sluggishly. He stepped in after an awkward moment of waiting for it to run hot, sighing with satisfying relief when the lavish water hit his skin. He could almost compare it to heaven, but the fact that Venom was there made it feel more like hell than anything. While it was true that it was nice to have him around, it wasn't this way while he was naked... Or using the toilet. Venom didn't seem to care about Eddie's routine in either of these situations, but it was still weird as you could imagine it to be.

"Wash us down," he ordered, using a wafer-thin tendril to gesture towards the soap next to them.

"I know what I'm doing... Give me a break..."

"I let you sleep in until the sun rose, wasn't that a 'break'?"

"Not really, because I couldn't move half the fucking night..."

If Eddie could give anyone in the world a piece of advice at this current moment, it would be to embrace things while you can. He personally wanted to embrace the relaxing sensation of water, but of course Venom didn't let him, and forced an unnecessary downpour of conditioner onto his head.

"Agh! God, you do know shampoo comes first, right?" he shrieked.

"I said wash!"

"Why do you have to be so demanding..?"

"Because I want us to get better!"

"Yeah well you're a moron,"

"You're a loser,"

"Asshole,"

"Pussy,"

-----

"We have an incredibly wide range of selections here... Any of them fancy you..?"
Venom hummed deeply, surveying the box of hot chocolate sachets with great interest, and the box of chamomile tea with patent disgust.

"Hot chocolate," he easily settled on, wincing at the muffled sound Eddie made as he harshly blew his nose.

At this rate, Eddie had lost count of how many tissues he had used to clear his sinuses. If he had some, he would bet money that Venom trying to help him was the reason why. Over the last year or so, it had become obvious to him that while living with an extra terrestrial was a guarantee on lowering your chances of dying, it wasn't exactly going to make you feel good inside. And to Eddie, feeling his entire body aching with sickness was just another painful example of this.
It was clear that Venom had taken notice of Eddie's state, as he had started to avoid moving anywhere above his abused ribcage.

"We must get rid of this mucus. It's becoming uncomfortable," he groaned.

"-snrk- that's what I'm trying to do,"

"Sure."

Eddie rolled his eyes and stirred their beverage languidly, weary eyes becoming lost in its creamy texture. He stifled a yawn and raised the mug to his lips, shaky hands threatening to let it drop under his crumbling strength. He took a lengthy sip, and instantly spat it out, spraying it all over the wall. There was only one thing that crossed his mind.. He didn't do that.

"W-what the hell as that for?!" He sputtered, lungs heaving with every choked breath. "Jesus christ..."

"It tastes like flames!" Venom yelled back, his booming voice thudding around in Eddies skull like a soccer ball, "It hurts!"

Eddie gradually collected himself and stared down at the now half empty mug. He was pissed, but he was also struck with the fact that the drink hadn't actually been hot at all. In fact, it had only been just above lukewarm.
He furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Too hot? You've never had any beef with this stuff before, why now?" He questioned.

"Our taste has altered," Venom retorted, "Too hot..."

"Buts it's freezing in here.. and we need to warm up,"

"Its nearly 90 degrees outside, Eddie,"

"Oh... So is that how fucked up this is...?"

"No shit sherlock,"

Eddie fumbled about the 'medicine' cabinet, which consisted of just a couple of bandaids and half a blister pack of painkillers. He popped two of them open and leaned back against the counter, limbs shivering from an abrupt chill. He could say with confidence that he hadn't felt this bad since things with Anne ended. Although, feeling bad in this context was just him being sick, not depressed.
Yet, he couldn't deny the fact that he felt both at some point.
Overtime it had become a blur, thanks to Venom's neediness, but he could still vaguely remember what it felt like. He often compared his memories of those six awful months to raindrops rolling down a car window... In the sense that they were quick to come and go.

He remembered waking up every morning, and his first thought would be about Anne. At first, he spent every minute of every day thinking about her, always checking his phone to see if he had missed calls from her... Or a message. But nothing was ever there. After that period came an immense feeling of wanting to die, and not caring about how it would occur. He remembered not being able to walk past the golden gate bridge without having the urge to jump off it. He didn't see, or rather have, a reason to live. All he saw for months was the end approaching, and never once did he tell anyone about his feelings (except for maybe Maria... And Ms Chen if she could be bothered to ask). Nobody really needed to ask about his mental state at the time, though. All you had to do was take one look at him, and you'd have all the answers.

The symbiote reached out a tendril to lightly brush across Eddie's cheek, tickling him slightly. Eddie smiled softly at the (again) unexpected gesture. He absentmindedly reached out to hold Venom close, legs threatening to give way beneath him as he let himself relax.

"You're acting weird. We need rest." Venom urged, sensing the amount of protest Eddie's muscles were holding.

For God's sake, Eddie thought, did he just realise this now?