Venom curled around his arm and looked at his sleeping host-boyfriend.
Since it was pretty warm, Venom had pushed down the covers and now could shamelessly admire how beautiful his Eddie was.
He played with his black mass forming all kinds of tattoos on the bare skin of Eddie's upper body and chuckled a little bit. Tattoos would look great on him, he really should make him get one.
Eddie had been thinking about tattoos before but never honestly considered it because of the money.
Venom looked down at the hand resting on the pillow and played with the bracelets around his wrist. He knew that each of them had a special meaning to the young boy.
The first one he had stolen from his father. When he had run away he had wanted a reminder of his family. In the years Eddie had to learn that instead of grounding him and telling him that somewhere he still had family, it reminded him of why he had left. Of the pain both physical and emotional. It was a brown leather strip with black stripes on it.
Eddie had never been able to make his father proud of him, no matter how hard he had wished for it and worked for it. The boy had graduated his highschool with superb marks in academics and sport but it was never enough. In college he had decided, that he no longer wanted to succeed for his father but needed to do something, that made himself happy.
So he had switched his major to journalism and studied it since then.
The second one was a dark brown braided one he got for his birthday from Annie and Eddie held it dear and close. She was his first friend in school and the only one who would support him with his major, at least before he had met Dan and Flash, most importantly Venom.
She also was his first love even if he never had felt a physical connection to her, but unfortunately he liked Dan way too much, so he could not mind them getting together, even if he wanted.
And the last one was an expensive mix of black leather and silver elements he got from Dan and Annie for being accepted at the college to study journalism.
Eddie always wore them, even in his PE class. Only for showering he would put them aside so they wouldn't be damaged by the soapy water.
Venom curled two tendrils around his arm and twisted them until they looked like a bracelet. He could not disconnect them from his arm so they would hang down just like the others but with all of them combined one could not tell the difference.
Proud of how it looked like he sank back in his body and waited until Eddie would wake up. He did not want to disturb his peaceful sleep with TV or smartphone games, after he kept him awake way too long the last evening.
Eddie rubbed his face tiredly when he woke up in the morning and scratched his stomach, greeted Venom a yawned good morning.
Good morning, Eddie.
Venom greeted him as every morning, learning that this routine made Eddie feel safe and grounded. But this time he seemed more excited, almost like a child on Christmas morning.
“Had a good night?”
When Eddie got to his wardrobe to pick out the hoodie of the day he saw that something was different about his bracelets. The black tendrils twisted around his wrist were shiny like expensive leather in the light of the morning sun.
“Venom, did you-”
Each bracelet for a special memory or occasion.
“Venom! It's beautiful! Thank you so much, but do you really want to stay like this all day?”
Venom felt caught and Eddie smiled.
If you don’t move your arm around so much, we won’t get dizzy.
“… how about we go to the mall together and you choose one for me? It will of course never be as beautiful as you, V.”
Sounds like a plan! Sometimes you really have good ideas. We will choose the most beautiful bracelet for you!
Venom poked him in the side and grabbed a T-Shirt from the top shelve.
“Good choice, love, but isn't it a bit cold for that?”
Venom crawled out of his skin and formed a jacket over his skin. Eddie laughed and looked at himself in the mirror. It looked amazing.
“What a great taste you have! But isn't it boring to stay like this all day?”
It was the same as with the bracelet, Eddie thought but Venom squeezed him a bit, surprisingly it was not even visible in the mirror.
Not the same. We can hug you all day like this and you won't shake us around like as a bracelet.
Eddie laughed and nodded. He would definitely love to feel his boyfriend hug him all day.
“Okay, if it's really good for you? But no stealing food!”
The lack of sleep was still very noticeable during the whole day but Venoms comments never failed to make him smile and feeling him around him all day long helped Eddie through the day.
In the afternoon he met his friends and together they went to the mall.
“Your jacket is really nice, where is it from?” Annie asked curiously.
“From Klyntar.” The chest pocket of his jacket answered.
Eddie whispered a silent ‘Oh dear’ and hit his palm against his forehead.
The others just laughed and Dan softly pat his shoulder. They all felt comfortable around Venom.
“Really a nice jacket! Is it made from boy-” “I swear, if you finish that sentence, Flash”
They all laughed but suddenly Eddie's body was forced to stand still.
Eddie, look!
They stood in front of a jewelry shop.
“Oh, you want to go in there? I am not sure they have, what we want…”
“Eddie?”, Flash asked and the group came back the few steps they were ahead already.
“Sorry, Venom wants to go in there.”
They went inside and Venom led him directly to the shelf with the male jewelry he had seen from outside.
“This one.”
A black tendril grabbed one of the bracelets and lifted it to Eddie's hand.
“What's the occasion?” Anne asked, knowing Eddie too well.
He blushed extremely before looking away.
“Venom and I… we… we are in a relationship now.”
Instead of laughing she smiled softly and hugged them both. “Finally! We though both of you would never make it!”
They all celebrated this evening but Eddie left early. Nobody seemed to mind or wonder. They could see how exhausted he had been the whole day.
The bracelet is nice but we are prettiest.
Eddie laughed and looked at the black tendrils that formed additionally to his new bracelet.
His new one would forever remind him that he was loved, no matter how much he hated himself sometimes and no matter how hard it was to believe someone could ever love him.
“Thank you so much, V.”
And now you need a tattoo.
“Wait, what?”