Creature comforts

As Venom melted back into Eddie for nap time with Daddy, he began to do something that he hadn’t done in a long time. Venom began to dream. It all started with Venom hurtling towards the Earth in glass case. It was beautiful seeing the masses of crystal blue and lively green all broken up by wispy whites. The glass case cracked open when he crashed to Earth. Venom crawled out of it and solidified to stand on two legs like a human he spied in the streets. The neighborhood was a bad one. There was yelling and shooting and sirens everywhere as the symbiote walked towards the streets from a dark alley. He felt a primal hunger pierce through him like a screeching tire to an eardrum. It was time to feed. He ate gangsters, cheap hookers, handicapped elderly humans, and a tired young woman exiting a beat up sedan. Once he consumed the last part of the woman, he heard it. There was shrill cry sounding from the car. He crouched with one hand on top of the car and used the other to rip the door off. He pulled a baby from a car seat and studied it before biting its head off and swallowing all parts at once.

Venom jolted out of Eddie completely. His mass forming a humanesque figure as he screamed and curled into himself. He’d never had such complete control over his form before. He wasn’t sure how long he could last outside of Eddie. It was terrifying, confusing and amazing all at once. He looked around the living room to see Daddy tucking a sobbing Eddie into what looked like a mesh crib nearby.

“Daddy…” Venom called, uncertain of anything. Since the fire, his overall mass was depleted. Though he could regenerate, it was at a frustratingly slow pace. He was about the size of an elementary school kid.

“It’s okay, Baby Inks,” Wade soothed, hoisting Venom into his arms and swaying. “You’re gonna be just fine. Do you think you can stay outside of Eddie or do you want back in? Tell Daddy what you need, okay, Sweets?”

“I want to be out for a bit please,” Venom requested, clinging to Daddy.

“Can Daddy dress you then?” Wade requested, unsure of whether Venom’s biology was anything like a humans. He didn’t want to risk any accidents.

“Okay…” Venom murmured, trying to understand each new sensation as Daddy rubbed his back and kissed his cheek.

“Do you wanna try a paci?” Wade prompted as he pulled out the basket of changing supplies which he made sure to stock with extra outfits as well.

Receiving a nod, Wade dug out a soother and slipped it into Venom’s mouth, which was noticeably smaller. The mercenary supposed that was a result of the symbiote’s mass being distributed differently and there for some features were altered. He watched with a smile as Venom started to find a rhythm with the comfort object while he laid him on their snuggle blanket. He was gentle but quick in securing a diaper and charcoal romper on Venom. He was doubly grateful now that Fury had blackmailed him into doing the Juniors version of the Program for the agency’s kids, in addition to the abused kids that needed a safe transition to a happy life. Something about seeing Wade’s disfigured face made him seem more relatable to those poor broken kids. It was eating at him that Eddie was still sitting alone and scared in the playpen.

“How’s that, Baby Inks?” Wade cooed, rubbing Venom’s tummy in soothing circles. He only received a nod so he figured it was safe to step away and grab Eddie. “Okay, Little Moonbeam, Daddy’s gotta grab Eddie, okay?”

Venom nodded and Wade swore he saw a shimmer of tears on the symbiote’s face. He hurried over to the playpen, tripping and catching himself along the way. When Wade reached Eddie, his alarm was in full swing as he watched Eddie spit up what had to be a second round blood.

“Jarvis, send an SOS to Banner ASAP.” Wade demanded, carefully lifting Eddie out of the playpen and carrying him back to where he left Venom. “Tell him code CSU!”

“I’ve sent the SOS, Master Wilson.” Jarvis confirmed. “ETA is five minutes.”

“Daddy?!” Venom cried, sitting up and watching Wade situate Eddie in his lap and clean the blood from his face. “Eddie!”

“It’s gonna be okay, Baby Boys,” Wade promised, hefting Venom onto the other side of his lap and hugging them close. “Daddy will make sure you’re both okay.”

Eddie wailed and choked, coughing up more blood. The more Venom watched, the more upset he became. This was all his fault. If he had controlled himself more, he could’ve stayed put and then Eddie wouldn’t be upset and in pain. Better yet, if Venom hadn’t come back to Eddie at all, his favorite human and only friend would be healthy and happy… The trio was startled from their thoughts as Bruce rushed into the suite with Steve hot on his heels. The three men stopped dead in their tracks as they saw Venom separated from his host- sobbing his inky heart out- and Eddie spitting up blood and wailing his lungs out.

“So help me Gods, if you don’t do something to help my baby in two seconds, I will reach down your throat and start ripping your organs out one by one,” Wade hissed, glaring at the men before him.

“I’m sorry, Wade,” Bruce apologized, snapping out of his shocked state. “Tell me what happened.”

“We were all napping and then suddenly Venom seemed to spasm inside Eddie and before I knew it, he hurtled himself out of Eddie altogether,” Wade answered, watching as Bruce palpated Eddie’s torso. “When I checked on Eddie afterwards, I found him spitting up blood.”

“I think he has some cracked ribs,” Bruce diagnosed. “It’s possible that one cracked or splintered just right to poke into his lungs, which would explain the bloody spit up. It’s just like getting mucus stuck in the bronchial tubes. If your body feels that foreign substance, it will find a way to get rid of it, like coughing it up.”

“What do we do?” Wade demanded.

“We need to do an x-ray of Eddie’s chest. If there’s a puncture point, we’ll need to get in there and set the rib back in place.” Bruce answered. “Otherwise, there’s nothing we can do but wait it out and give him pain meds. He’ll likely regress even further. Do you think you can handle a newborn?”

“Of course I can, four eyes.” Wade snapped, sighing as he realized how much of a dick he was being to the man that dropped everything to help him. “I’m sorry, that was fucked up.”

“I understand, Wade,” Bruce forgave. “Let’s get him down to the infirmary.”

With Eddie in Steve’s arms wailing for Dada and Venom sobbing in Wade’s arms, the group made their way down to the lower level infirmary. The x-ray confirmed Bruce’s suspicions and they began to prep for surgery. It was while Wade and Venom were waiting just outside the doors that the ink baby spoke up.

“I have to go back, Daddy,” Venom stated, tears trickling down his face. “All my fault… I hurt him…”

“Baby, you couldn’t help it.” Wade disagreed. “How were you supposed to know that you’d go soaring out of Eddie like that?”

“I promised I’d never hurt him!” Venom lamented. “I need to fix him.”

“Baby, Uncle Bruce said it’s too risky for you to bond with him until we’re sure he’s stable.” Wade reminded. “You’re only supposed to bond sooner if you’re at risk of dying.”

“I don’t care!” Venom snapped, weakly pushing and hitting Daddy.

“Enough,” Wade warned with a harsh smack to Venom’s diapered rear. “If you keep up this tantrum, Daddy’s going to spank you. You’ll be able to bond with Eddie once he’s on the mend.”

“NO! I’M BONDING NOW!” Venom growled, trying to squirm out of the mercenary’s strong grip. He could have broke free easily, but he was afraid to hurt anyone else that he cared about.

“Alright, I warned you,” Wade simply responded, flipping Venom onto his stomach over his own lap. He undid the snaps on the romper’s crotch, moved the garment out of the way and untaped Venom’s diaper. “You’re getting ten smacks for growling at Daddy, hitting, pushing, and not listening.”

Before Venom cold argue, Daddy’s hand was raining down surprisingly hard smacks across his bottom. He barely made it through the first three before he broke down into body racking wails. He was even more embarrassed when Daddy gave him a surprised look after he thoroughly wet the diaper that was between his private area and Daddy’s lap. After a few more excruciating smacks- that hurt more emotionally since he knew Daddy was mad at him, it was over and Daddy cleaned and diapered him.

“Daddy didn’t like that, Moonbeam,” Wade confessed, lifting Venom back into his lap for snuggling. “Daddy hates punishing you, but you were lashing out and that’s not okay. You seemed to feel bad that you couldn’t punish yourself so I did it for you.”

“Sorry, Daddy,” Venom sniffled, clinging to Daddy.

“It’s okay, Moonbeam,” Wade forgave, kissing Venom’s cheeks and forehead. “Why don’t you tell Daddy what scared you out of Eddie? Did you have a bad dream?

“Uh-huh, Daddy,” Venom murmured. “I was on a killing spree. Most of them were bad people… But there was one that wasn’t…”

“What happened to the one that wasn’t?”

“I ate her anyway and… and…” Venom hiccuped, the tears coming back.

“It’s okay, Baby Inks,” Wade assured him.

“She had a tiny baby and I killed and ate it!” Venom cried, burying his face in Daddy’s chest.

“Well, here’s the good news about dreams, Moonbeam,” Wade qualified. “They’re not real and they never will be.”

“I did eat a baby, Daddy!” Venom confessed. “That’s what got us in prison! I ate bad people and then I ate a Mommy and her baby!”

Wade rubbed Venom’s back and thought it over. That was pretty bad and he understood why Venom was so broken up about it. He had crossed a line that he never meant to cross. Now, he was just a murderous alien to anyone who knew about the incident. Wade sighed and kissed his baby’s temple. There wasn’t much he could do other than console his child. So they sat there cuddling while Wade reassured Venom that he was just a baby in a new world and didn’t know it was wrong or bad. After some time, Bruce came out to say that they could go back into the infirmary and wait for Eddie to wake up. Wade thanked him and carried Venom in. They were taken to a curtained off section where Steve was situating a light and soft blanket over Eddie, who was tucked into a well-padded, see through, adult-sized bassinet supported by a stainless steel frame with a small cabinet set on the bottom. There was an IV in Eddie’s foot and a pacifier bobbing in his mouth. He was just barely awake as they came over.

“Hi, Sweet Boy,” Wade greeted, fighting back tears at the sight of his baby in such bad shape. He cracked a smile as Eddie cooed and reached for them. “Venom’s with Daddy too. See, Baby?”

Wade shifted Venom more into Eddie’s view. The doped up and happy baby sleepily squealed and spastically flailed his arms and legs against the mattress of the bassinet. As much as Wade hated what Eddie had to go through, he had to admit that Eddie made the cutest infant the program had seen since Tony Stark. Wade sat in the chair that Steve offered before he departed. He situated Venom in his lap and told Eddie all about the fun things they would do once he was all better. It wasn’t long before the baby was passed out and tucked in by Daddy. Venom felt an awful feeling in his core as he watched Eddie lay sleeping in the bassinet. He had to make it right and he had to bond with Eddie again. He just needed Daddy to fall asleep or get distracted first...