Family Outing
Venom didn't need to sleep but the children were half human so they did. Sleeper's name was becoming slightly more apt as he was starting to sleep a little more predictably. By the time they brought the other children home they were old enough to sleep on their own anyways but Carnage seemed to wake up every five minutes when they were a newborn. Eddie didn't get much rest back then. Apparently he wasn't going to get as much rest as he wanted today either, the sun had barely broken the horizon when he felt his other nudging at his consciousness.
“Eddie, wake up.”
“But 'm tired.” Eddie said out loud.
A slender black tendril materialized out of his collarbone and poked his cheek. Eddie swatted at it but the tendril wrapped around his wrist and smacked him in the face with his own hand.
“Jeez, okay. What?”
“Human children feel left out when a new baby comes.” Venom said.
“How did you know that?”
“Read it on the internet while you were sleeping.”
“Well we don't have human children.” Eddie let his arm fall over his eyes but it only lasted a moment before Venom flung it off to his side.
“Why are you so fixated on this?”
“Don't want them to feel sad.”
“I'm almost positive that they're fine but okay. We'll take them out today and lavish them with attention if that will make you feel better.”
“It will.”
After breakfast Eddie flipped on the TV and to his immense regret The Avengers were on the screen, behind him he heard Carnage excitedly exclaim that the superheroes were on the news and the younger ones came running and firmly planted themselves in front of the living room television utterly entranced by the celebrity super-team. All of their kids absolutely adored The Avengers, whenever they were on TV there was no budging them and whenever Iron Man or Captain Marvel or Thor or whoever flew even remotely near the house the children would trip over themselves hoping to get a glimpse of their favorite heroes. Even Sleeper perked up when Spider-Man was on TV but Eddie had a feeling it was just the resemblance to Venom that the baby recognized. Venom was also annoyed by their offspring's affinity for the superhero team but not nearly as much as Eddie was. Eddie just didn't have the heart to tell them that they knew The Avengers and that The Avengers were assholes sometimes.
“Hey do you guys want to go to the park?” Eddie asked hoping to draw their attention.
“Yes!” Agony, Scream, Carnage and Phage cried while Lasher smiled and nodded.
“Okay, come on then.” Eddie opened his jacket and they stuck their shapeless symbiote selves to his torso.
He zipped the jacket back up and placed Sleeper in the stroller they'd recently bought. They made their way to the park near their house, after having Carnage they actually picked their current house based on it's proximity to this park. It was a popular playground for the city's mutant and inhuman children so their own half symbiote children wouldn't stick out too much or be shunned here. Eddie was always worrying himself sick over the thought of his children feeling out of place or insecure on his planet and among his kind. He did his best to bring them out in their humanoid forms but only ever one at a time, he knew that even though they were nowhere near as threatening looking as Venom they were still alien in appearance and more than one alien at a time was a lot to process for regular people. The kids however loved exploring the world outside their home in their humanoid forms and seemed to pay little attention to what others thought of them. Ever since the day Carnage was born Eddie was fiercely protective of all of them and figured that if people could make themselves accustomed to Spider-People, X-People, Avengers and villains of every type they could sure as hell adjust themselves to his unique but harmless kids.
Eddie pushed Agony on the swings as Venom extended an arm from his side to push Phage. Across the playground Scream played with a child who had huge, black leathery wings while Carnage played on the jungle gym with a teleporting kid. Lasher on the other hand was sitting by himself on a bench kicking his legs back and forth as he watched his siblings play. Eddie frowned when he spotted his son sitting by himself.
“Go. I will watch the others.” Venom told him, materializing another tendril to take his place on swing pushing duty.
Eddie walked over to the bench Lasher was perched on, his other's ethereal black tendrils trailing long behind him. Lasher noticed his father coming towards him and smiled, Eddie knelt down in front of the child.
“Hey champ, what are you doing over here?”
“Nothing.”
“How come you're not playing with your brothers and sisters?”
“They're playing with other kids.”
Lasher had always been shy, he was smart and curious but had a little more trouble putting himself out there like his siblings could.
“I think they'd let you play too, Lash.”
Lasher made a face and squirmed a little. Eddie let out a breathy laugh at his son's response, he had been a shy child too but for entirely different reasons.
“Come over to the swings at least.” Eddie tried.
“Okay.” Lasher conceded.
Eddie held out his hand which Lasher eagerly grabbed and they made their way back over to the swings. They let the kids play long into the afternoon but as the sun started to set it was time to go home. After a healthy dose of complaining the kids did eventually slink onto their father's form except for Lasher who hesitated and fidgeted before asking if he could stay in his humanoid form and walk home, a daring prospect for the shy little boy and of course Eddie couldn't say no.
That night after all the fangs had been brushed, all the bedtime stories had been told and all the kids tucked in Eddie found himself collapsed on their bed gazing heavy-lidded out the window. The hazy glow of the city lights made him feel sleepier with each passing minute. Without the need for preamble a slick ink thread extended up from his chest and traced light circles along his jawline. Eddie let out a happy hum as more blackness seeped out of his forearm to hold his hand. The lazy motion of Venom tickling his jaw was starting to lull him off when a soft hiccup started coming from the crib at the foot of the bed. For the briefest second Eddie hoped that if he ignored it the baby would soothe himself back to sleep but Venom pushed him up into a sitting position before he could test the theory. Eddie leaned over the railing of the crib and peered down at Sleeper as Venom extended a tendril to rub the baby's cheek. As his glowing red eyes stared up at them they knew Sleeper didn't want to be picked up, he just wanted immediate assurance that his parents were indeed still there. As Venom stroked the baby's little cheek Eddie reached down and placed a hand on Sleeper's tummy.
“See your memories, Eddie. Feel your sadness when you think of him.” Venom said in his head.
Eddie didn't even realize he was thinking of his father at that moment.
“You're better than he was. Better father to our children than he was to you. Better man entirely.” His other continued.
Eddie's father had hated him, blamed him for the death of his wife. Eddie made the decision at a very young age to try to be a better person than his father was and now that he had little ones of his own that decision had only further solidified. But he still had his doubts, how could someone with no good parents ever be a good parent? He had spent a lot of time consumed by anger and hatred and worse, he'd used his beloved to further those means.
“You did not use me, Eddie. We have always been partners.”
Eddie just hummed noncommittally as he started rubbing Sleeper's tummy because he'd heard somewhere that it helped newborns sleep.
“We have both made mistakes. We are doing better.”
Well at least they could agree on that part. He could feel his other settling in his chest in a familiar and comforting way. The baby was asleep again, breathing softly as his head lolled to the side. They backed away slowly, careful not to disturb the delicate state. Eddie eased back onto the bed quietly and tucked his arms under the pillows, a black tendril emerged from his shoulder blade and snaked forward to cup the side of his face.
“Pretty cute kids though. Considering one of their parents is a parasite.” Eddie mumbled tiredly.
“And the other is a pussy.”