Eddie knew something was off the moment he woke up.
The last few days he had felt strange already, constantly tired, his muscles and bones had been aching and he could not concentrate at all. Venom had been suspiciously quiet, not even nagging on him for eating too much greens, not even when he turned the TV off in the middle of the night, after he could not find any sleep with the too loud rumble in the background that usually helped him sleep a lot better.
Now adding to his aches and pains he felt a weird weight on his chest that made it hard to breath. That was probably why he had woken up so early in first place.
Opening his eyes he saw his symbiote sitting on his chest, barely moving and looking like he was melting. Eddie noticed alarmed, that he could not even hear the symbiote.
“Venom?”
He cupped him in his hand and sat up, carefully rubbing the space between Venom’s closed eyes.
The milky white eyes of the symbiote opened a small bit and he was sitting heavily on his hand.
Eddie began to think, they were not even connected anymore but he still felt a part of Venom inside of him. Only a thin thread connected them.
Eddie?
The tiny voice nearly broke his heart.
“Venom, oh my… what happened?” Did he eat something poisonous to Venom? Had he not cared well enough for him? Maybe he should have listened to Venom not wanting him to eat any broccoli.
We don’t know... we feel strange…
Knowing he could not provide any medical help, his first reaction was to call Dan. He might not have been an alien doctor but Venom had allowed him to study his body and biology a few times already.
Dan had been able to gain some knowledge about him without hurting him.
After the call he dressed himself and ate some chocolate. The symbiote could not bring himself to eat what his host had offered him, so he simply ate it himself.
Venom would point out every now and then that it did not matter who of them ate to keep his human body nourished, so he just hoped, that it worked the other way around as well.
Now he was sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall and being packed in a nest of blankets and pillows that he had built. He had no clue why he had felt the urge to build something like a nest, but did not give it another thought.
The symbiote rested on one pillow that sat in his lap and did not move at all. They were only connected by a thin thread coming out of Eddie’s wrist. Eddie massaged his mass softly, which seemingly helped Venom to relax a little.
“Eddie? What happened?”
He looked up and saw Dan and Annie opening the door, worry drawn all over their faces.
After Dan had learned, that he suffered from a severe depression, Eddie had given him a key to his dorm flat for any kind of emergency. He trusted him enough not to misuse it.
“Dan! Annie! Thank god… I don’t know, there is something wrong with Venom…”
“Okay, what symptoms did you experience?”
Dan softly touched Venom’s head and put his bag next to them. While he listened to Eddie, he measured his temperature.
“I am not sure, he felt off, when I woke up. Barely moved or talked. He is not hungry, did not even want to eat some chocolate. He feels heavier and warmer than usual.”
“Yes, his temperature is definitely higher… Do you know, if he can catch a cold?”
“What is a cold, Eddie?”
Eddie could feel how much strength it took the symbiote to speak aloud, but he seemed to be aware enough to know it would make things easier with Dan.
“Uh, a cold is when humans get sick… I haven’t catched a cold in a long time, but when I do, I feel weak and my arms and legs hurt. I easily get fever… Most of the time I feel dizzy and tired.”, Eddie explained and looked at Dan who only nodded.
“Fewer, dizzy… we feel too warm, dizzy and tired. Everything hurts, Dan...”
Dan only nodded and looked into his bag, where he got an empty syringe out. Venom immediately caught Eddies distress at the gadget and hissed, curling closer to Eddie’s hand, tangling up himself in Eddie’s fingers and bracelets.
“Hush, Venom, that is not a bad thing… calm down, don’t move that much.” Eddie tried to calm him and rubbed his tendrils, helping Venom to free himself from the bracelets.
Dan prepared a fluid in the syringe and then broke the needle off.
“He is right, I won’t have to poke you. You just have to drink this, okay?”
The black blob on the pillow still seemed scared, but at least he did not try to flee. Eddie nudged against his mouth with his thumb and winced, when Venom bit him, but finally he opened his mouth and let Dan give him the fluid.
Eddie could sense the bitter taste, even if he did not swallow it himself and he made a face.
“Here we go, good boy. This is some solution with phenethylamine I made, that should give you back some strength in no time. Until then I would suggest a lot of rest. Can you retreat back into Eddie’s body? Maybe this will cost you less strength.”
No...
“Thank you so much, Dan, but… he doesn’t really sleep and he doesn’t want to come back inside me because he fears he could make me sick too... “
And Eddie had classes to attend.
Eventually they ended up cutting a hole in the inside of his hoodie bellypocket, so the symbiote could just crawl inside and still be connected with his host, while Eddie was able to go on with his day.
That way Venom lied inside of his hoodie pocket and did not have to move too much, could lazily rest against Eddie’s warm belly.
He still felt bad, that he could not simply stay in his room and rest, but Venom strongly disagreed doing that.
During his classes Eddie made sure to eat as much bars of chocolate as he could without feeling like ruining his own stomach and he permanently had one hand in the front pocket of his hoodie, massaging Venom carefully.
This actually seemed to help, even if Venom was not getting much stronger, the pain seemed to go away.
By lunchtime he sat with his friends, eating the sushi they had ordered. It was the closest to raw meat he could stomach without making himself sick. Suddenly a snoring sound came from his belly.
“Still so hungry?” Flash laughed, but Eddie only looked down slid his hand in his pocket.
“That’s not me... “
Venom was snoring soundly, when Eddie concentrated he could even sense some pictures coming over their bond. Was Venom dreaming? But the symbiote had said, he would not sleep?
He carefully touched Venom, only to feel how his little finger was being sucked into the tiny mouth. The tiny teeth could not hurt him, so it only tickled when Venom unconsciously bit and sucked his finger in his - what seemed to be - sleep.
Smiling he closed his eyes and saw pictures of some beautiful environments that seemed out of this world. Each one unique and astonishing, but suddenly it was, as time stood still and Eddie saw himself, cuddled inside of his blanket and sleeping peacefully. Black tendrils caressed his face, until his attention was back on Eddie’s notebook, searching for some cartoons to watch.
The snoring stopped, but even with his eyes open now, Eddie could still feel the symbiote dreaming happily.
“Everything alright? Your face is all red.”, Dan asked and Eddie looked up, as his face was covered by a warm hand. “But you don’t seem to have a fever at last.”
“Nah, I’m fine… I think Venom is dreaming.” Eddie smiled and moved carefully as they went on to their next classes.
The rest of the day he did his best to avoid anything too exhausting, saving all his energy for the symbiote to use. Still he was horribly tired, when he arrived his dorm room in the evening.
Eddie… what happened? Why are we in your room?
“Oh, awake, darling?”, Eddie said softly and smiled. “We just finished our last class, so until dinner, I stay here.”
Venom seemed awfully confused by the fact, that he had missed a huge part of the day being unconscious. “Well, that’s how sleep works, darling…”
But we were walking through the forest…
“That’s what you call a dream. I could see a few of the impressions… it felt peaceful”
Instead of going to his desk, he rested on his bed, writing his homework with Venom lying next to him on a pillow, connected by his wrist again. He almost seemed ashamed, that Eddie saw his dreams.
“Are you feeling any better by now?”, he asked when he had finished his most urgent papers.
We are still so exhausted… sorry for being so useless, Eddie.
“Oh, don’t even think of apologising. You always take such good care of me, when I am not feeling well. Let me care for you now, V.”
He softly kissed the forehead of the semi-solid mass next to him.
“Let me spoil you rotten, yes?” Venom’s eyes expanded alarmed and he clung to Eddie’s wrist.
We don’t want to rot, Eddie!
“What? Nooo, it means, I will do anything to make you feel better! I got an idea!”
He collected the symbiote in his hand and went to the bathroom, where he plugged the sink and filled it with warm water, adding Venom’s favourite body soap.
Eddie, what are you doing?
“When I am sick, I usually take a long bath and then I feel so refreshed. Wanna try that?”
We love bathing with you, Eddie! But you won’t fit inside of the sink…
“Because I am only bathing you now.”
The stream of water combined with the soap formed a lot of foam in which Eddie carefully put Venom, after getting himself a chair next to the sink.
He took a soft sponge and began rubbing over the black skin.
Venom purred in his mind, even if his voice was way more quiet than usual, he enjoyed the massage a lot. The tiny voice in his head begged happily.
More! Yes, Eddie, please a bit to the left! Mmmm, feels so good.
Eddie had problems collecting him back, after the bath because he was all slippery, but he eventually just dropped him into a soft towel and continued to dry him.
Small tendrils curled around his hand and the symbiote pulled himself up until he hang down Eddie’s fingers like a puppet.
“Hey there, little one.”
He lifted his hand and held the other under the symbiote, so he could catch him if Venom dropped.
The alien managed to held himself until they were back in the bedroom and Eddie let him sit on his shoulder.
Losing his grip, Venom lost his balance and fell right into the hood of his pullover.
In the mirror Eddie could see the fight for grip until Venom just fell over and dropped into the hood. It looked so adorable, he had a hard time not to laugh at his friends misery.
As fast as he could he built the blanket and pillow nest again, that Venom had made him do earlier and then got some bars of chocolate from his drawer until they got into the nest, Eddie putting Venom on his now bare chest and turning the TV on.
He switched to a movie that Venom claimed to be his favourite and fed him small pieces of chocolate.
They not really gave any attention to the show, while Venom explained him that building a nest in times of being sick would provide him the feeling of safety and warmth that he needed to get better. Eddie only understood that it was some kind of instinct and he was glad to be able to help him with such a small thing.
He remembered the times, when Venom had grabbed all the blankets he could reach to throw onto Eddie, when he had had a panic attack before and how it had helped him calm down way faster.
Eddie eventually fell asleep in the middle of the night, the tiny creature next to him buried in his soft touch.
When he woke up, the symbiote was greeting him happily and way more active than the day before. Eddie could feel that he still was tired, but already so much better than before.
Good morning, Eddie!