Zombies and Coffee
“Avengers we have an attack on 32nd street, civilians are reported to be-”
“Avengers there is a collapsing building on the corner of-”
“Time Square is being-”
“Horde on the bridge, civilians evacuating but some are-”
“Sightings at the base of the Statue of Liberty, there’s a field trip from an elementary scho-”
“27 missing in the collapsed rubble-”
“43 deaths attributed to the latest mystery villain-”
“The death count has reached 71, the attacks are becoming more violent, estimated damages are reaching-”
“108 dead, this villain seems hellbent on havoc and-”
“Public and private organizations are aiding the people of New York, our thoughts and prayers extend to-”
“It has been seven months since the attacks started and the end isn’t -”
It never stopped.
The news constantly told the tale of a new attack.
When the Avengers aren't helping to rebuild the city, trying to figure out who it is, or getting the shit beat out of them, they would interact with the people injured in accidents or those who had lost their homes or jobs.
Today you were visiting another hospital but everyone had agreed to stop by the children’s wing regardless of the reason they were in there.
The rest of the Avengers were interacting with dozens of kids, answering questions and playing games. Natasha and Clint were coloring, while a few yards away, Pietro and Sam were putting on some sort of a puppet show.
Your dads had the largest cluster of kids, in a group of maybe twenty or so. Steve had all the kids sitting politely in front of him while Bucky had been deemed a human jungle gym, and thus fair game, with kids climbing all over him. The two of them were still holding hands, finally having gotten their heads out of their asses and started dating after a very loud drunken (Thor's ale was no joke) melodramatic pity party Steve had thrown himself, which Bucky had overheard. Steve hadn't known this and when Bucky turned up with flowers and asking him on a date the next day Captain America had broken into tears.
Wanda and Vision were sitting and chatting politely with some of the calmer, or at least quieter kids while Tony and Spider-Man were building lego structures and block towers, laughing in delight whenever their towers got knocked over. They had managed to design a whole city for the kids to destroy, complete with a functioning draw bridge, which you had no idea how they'd made.
Bruce was off talking to a doctor in another room, he had started using words that sounded more like Latin than English and everyone was very quick to assure him that yes he could ask about one of the new treatment ideas for the hospital, and yes all of you would be fine. He had looked like a kid in a candy store and deep down you knew he still wasn’t fully comfortable with the Hulk being around children yet.
Most of the kids seemed confused by your motorcycle helmet and you had deemed your toothier form a bit too… scary. Your head was pounding from all the smells of cleaning agents and you were just about ready to slip out and go on a patrol when you spotted a little boy that had been playing with some of the rubber toy dinosaurs in one of the far corners of the playroom when the idea struck.
You walked over to him, giving him plenty of options to get away if he chose to, cornering a kid was never good idea. When he didn’t try and leave, when you didn’t smell anything but curiosity and calmness, you took it as an okay to approach him.
Crouching down you gently ruffled the kid's hair, “Hey buddy, what’s your name?”
Big brown eyes looked at you as he responded with a shy smile “I’m Awex” his two front teeth were missing and you almost melted at the way he struggled to pronounce the L in his name. You noticed the almost completely healed burns on his arms and internally winced in sympathy, no wonder he was alone, they were probably still delicate and sensitive, and most of the kids in this particular wing weren't old enough to fully understand how to act around him.
“Nice to meet you, Alex! I’m Venom but you can call me Ven, okay?” you said, pitching your voice up slightly and losing some of your modulations in the helmet in an effort sound more open, more human.
“Ok!” He smiled brightly, smelling like sunlight, cotton candy, and something you couldn’t quite place but was undeniably warm.
“Do you like dinosaurs?” you asked with equal enthusiasm, already knowing the answer.
He nodded his head vigorously causing his hair into his eyes “Yesh! They’re my favoriwe!”
You laughed and helped him to brush it out of his face before asking “Do you want to see one?”
The way he vibrated to life with an enthusiastic “Yesh!” had you chuckling again.
You gently lifted him up and onto you like you were going to give him a piggyback ride, staying mindful of his burns. “Okay, I need you to hold onto my back okay?”
“Okay!” he giggled, wrapping his arms around the base of your helmet.
You let your mutation pool over you, careful to leave a place for him to hold onto and a comfortable safe place to sit.
You were lucky the playroom was big with high ceilings, otherwise, the small black T-Rex with Venom’s white eyes you had turned into would’ve been crushed against the ceiling and Alex would’ve been a pancake.
The shriek of delight that he let out had all the other kids and Avengers turning to you in alarm.
The caretakers looked shocked but quickly recovered, much faster than everyone else at least.
The way your teammates’ jaws dropped open and the way the kids' eyes lit up had you blowing air out of your flared nostrils in a poorly hidden huff of laughter.
You cautiously lowered to the ground laying flat on the ground, letting Alex poke and prod as he climbed all over you. Other kids quickly got over the shock and all but scrambled over to touch the dinosaur.
You remained almost perfectly still except for the steady rise and fall of your back as you breathed and a cautious slow slide of your tail over the floor, something that had a few kids attempting to jump over each time it passed.
Your white eyes appeared unmoving but in reality, they were scanning the room constantly, the rest of the avengers had come over and Spider-Man was sitting next to you radiating awe and delight. He was gesticulating wildly with his hands as he told you a story to which you grunted affirmatives to indicate you were listening, not wanting to scare the kids by opening your mouth and showing all of the very real (and very accurate) teeth that came with the form. Besides you were pretty sure it would have an underlying baritone growl which was scary even to some of the Avengers if it came out unexpectedly.
Most of the Avengers cycled through speaking with you while you acted as the new live jungle gym, asking how you were doing and making sure that the kids weren’t hurting you.
You were a few minutes away from needing to shift back or at least smaller when you felt a gentle tug at the corner of your mouth.
When you looked you saw Alex smiling brightly at you demanding “wet me see” he paused then added a “Pweaseeeee” and you almost caved. Glancing around you tried to catch the eye of another avenger who might be able to come to your rescue but they were all preoccupied.
When you didn’t immediately open your jaws you smelt his scent turning slightly sour, a little sad, and slowly, you began to crack your mouth open.
You held your mouth open just enough for him to see your teeth but still small enough that your teeth were still overlapping, ensuring no one would try and stick their hands in. Holding perfectly still you could sense the apprehension coming from the Avengers, only now were they realizing that you had a curious child waving their fingers just inches from your now colossal and already unnaturally-large-when-normal teeth.
Very cautiously you blew out a gentle puff of air, just enough to ruffle his hair and make him giggle as your exhaustion became too much and you began to shrink slowly, careful not to drop any children letting them slide off your gently smoothing down scales.
When you were just you once more, and finally crouched in front of Alex he reached over and patted where your cheek would be through your helmet “Thank you!” he giggled.
He missed the soft “no problem” as the nurses herded the kids off to naptime. When it was just you and the team in the room you felt your strength begin to fade even more rapidly with your hyper awareness of the children no longer serving as a distraction. The feeling wasn’t strong enough. for your exhaustion to be serious yet, but you needed food.
---- Back at the Tower ----
You were roaming around the kitchen, wolfing down everything with a high sugar or caffeine content.
Thor’s secret stash of pop tarts? Gone.
The coffee? Gone. All of it. Yes, all of it, even the dry powder.
The cupcakes you had brought from the bakery when you were visiting Peter as a civilian? Gone.
Energy drinks? You were currently shotgunning the last one.
“Ummm… Ven?” Sam says carefully as the rest of the avengers stare in shock.
“Yeah?” you manage to mumble around your teeth and yet another mouthful of food, your tentacles floating in loose coils behind you. Wandering through the kitchen raiding the cabinets for anything with sugar.
“Maybe you should slow down a bit? Or eat something healthier?” he prodded gently.
You paused for half a second before your tentacles continued roaming as you replied, “The only thing healthier for me is illegal so I'll pass.”
The look on the avenger’s face was priceless as they processed your words, you could guess what they were thinking based on their faces. Clint’s was the most obvious, practically screaming cocaine and you would have laughed if you weren’t worried about eating or not choking on your food.
“What exactly is healthier for you?” prodded Tony, all the avengers knew of your massive appetite, normally you ate all of the sugary or caffeinated food and drinks in the house but they’d never seen you actively eating them. So no one could really prove it was you. Now that you thought about it the sight of you eating as aggressively as you were, with your massive teeth and long tongue in full use, they were probably a little shocked.
Not sparing a glance you shrugged your shoulders dismissively saying one simple word, “Brains.”
A choked cough came from spider-man, who had accidentally inhaled his Capri sun and Steve gave him a thump on his back that would’ve sent almost anyone else stumbling forward.
“Come again?” Vision said, obvious confusion coloring his voice.
“Did I hear that right?” Pietro asked Wanda in a whisper-shout “because I'm pretty sure Ven just said they ate brains.”
The calm hum you gave them was slightly concerning. “Don’t worry I haven’t really done that since Three Streams.”
“So you’re telling me,” Bruce began slowly, “that you haven’t eaten a proper meal for someone like you in 12 YEARS?!” He ended by throwing his hands in the air in a gesture of exasperation that would normally be expected from just about anyone else or maybe when Tony refused medical again.
“No.” the team seemed relieved, but you continued “It’s been thirteen years, the anniversary was two weeks ago.”
“How are you still alive?” Natasha asked one of the few people in the room who didn’t have infinitely more concern than calmness.
“Sugary and caffeinated foods are a pretty good substitute, but brains have longer-lasting nutrients. They hold way more too, just one brain has more food than this plus all of it lasts longer. Venom ate a lot of people before we merged so I had a lot of reserves, enough to give me a few years to figure out a substitute.” You shrug and swallow the last of the ice cream, you had had a secret stash just in case something like this happened.
Your dad doubled over and began wheezing and laughing. Everyone whirled to look at him in utter bewilderment, even Steve looked shocked. Through heaving shoulders, Bucky pointed at you accusingly but the smile on his face said he wasn’t angry. “This is why you always say you’ll be a zombie without coffee and sweets, isn’t it? You would eat brains if you didn’t!”
“Oh. My. God.” Clint whispered in horror. “Does that mean every time I hid the coffee from you I risked getting our brains eaten?!”
Well no, you could still smell it and you had enough self-control not to, but you weren’t going to tell them that. Smiling devilishly you made your teeth grow a little with a hissed out “Yes.”
“Adding an additional 24 servings to the monthly coffee and pastry deliveries, and an additional 12 pints of ice cream. I have just contacted the nearest Red Bull factories for gallon size containers and 5 to be shipped twice monthly.” Friday piped cheerfully from the ceiling.
“I'll be sure to hide them for you,” Vision offered, “Just to make sure Father doesn’t try to use it for his own caffeine problem.”
The gasped “Betrayed by my own children, how cruel!” from Tony sent the team spiraling into laughter.
As the smells of home mixed with the sound of laughter, you couldn't help but feel you had finally found your family.