Invasive Species
Looking around the kitchen they found that food was becoming scarce. Eddie internally groaned, going grocery shopping was his least favorite chore out of all the chores despite how frequently they had to do it. He'd been putting it off because Anne and Dan had taken the children out for dinner the last four nights in a row. Between their doctor and lawyer salaries they loved spoiling the kids while Eddie and Venom got the night off so it really was a win-win.
They'd have to take the car instead of the bike to be able to haul the groceries home it was always a hassle getting everybody into the backseats and buckled up in anything less than 10 entire minutes. In the store parking lot the kids stuck their little goo bodies on him since it Phage's turn to walk around the store with him. They recently had to switch from a carrier to a sling for Sleeper during grocery runs because last time they went shopping he got so bored that he morphed into his symbiotic goo form and almost slipped through the leg hole.
Phage dropped four different packs of cookies into the cart and avoided eye contact with them.
“Pick just one, Phage.”
“But you always eat all the Oreos.” Phage contested.
“...Fine two. But that's it for cookies.”
Eddie and Venom never gave a shit about the content of their food before but now they read the nutrition labels obsessively. Lasher slowly reached off his shoulder sneakily stretching towards a bag of M&Ms as Eddie examined the merits of some organic fruit snacks while Scream reached under his arm towards the chips on the other side of the aisle. A lady glanced over nervously at the appendages that looked like they were spontaneously growing out of him.
“Kids, right?” He told her a little sheepishly.
The kids really like Pomegranates because Venom said they were like biting into little heads. The sentiment was little unnerving but whatever got them eating fruit had to be a good thing. He was busy telling Phage that he didn't know what a starfruit tasted like but they were definitely different from starfish which he also had never tasted, when out of the corner of his eye he spotted a woman in tight gym clothes looking at him like she needed to start chasing him down for sport. It was something he definitely picked up on after having Carnage, a lot of women (and men) looked at a man with a baby the same way straight men looked at women wearing lingerie. To his great displeasure she was already strutting towards him, eyes locked on her target. Sure she was objectively cute but he was far past that point of his life.
“He's so cute! How old is he?” Her voice was sugary sweet.
“Oh, thanks. He's only a few weeks.” Eddie answered trying not to look interested without being too rude.
She leaned in uncomfortably close and if a baby could look apprehensive Sleeper definitely did. The baby eyed the stranger invading his space briefly before turning his face into Eddie's chest.
“And what's your name?” She asked Phage.
“Phage! I'm six!” Phage loved meeting new people no matter who they were and Eddie realized he and Venom probably needed to institute another stranger danger talk.
“Phage? Is that foreign?” She looked back to Eddie.
“He's named after his grandfather.” Eddie deadpanned.
She didn't get the joke but she leaned forward in a suggestive way anyways.
“Its so nice to see a man so involved as a father.” She purred.
Venom lifted Eddie's hand up to scratch his face and to not-so-subtly bring his wedding ring into the woman's eye-line. He wore a wedding ring to stop people from flirting with him or assuming he was single but it didn't seem to help much when he looked like he was alone. The woman tossed her head back and laughed at something nobody said as she touched his arm, lightly squeezing the muscle underneath the shirt. A trick he recognized from his single days as a way of feeling someone up. In his head Venom snarled at the touch.
“Let's go Eddie. Just walk away. Who cares if she thinks its rude.” Venom huffed.
She was still talking to him, going on about what a great parent he must be, how cute his kids were and how there was a coffee place across the street they could go to. She seriously did not seem to mind the now obvious wedding ring. He was staring to worry she might literally pounce on him.
“But you're so cute when you get possessive.” Eddie thought to his other.
Venom just growled and the woman was somehow still talking.
“I'm really sorry but I have to get the little one home. It was- uh- nice to meet you.” He politely interrupted her nonstop talking.
“Oh, well I'll see you around. I'm Hannah by the way.” She bit her lip and looked up at him through her eyelashes.
“Go away!” Venom hissed in his mind clearly unimpressed by standard human flirting rituals and Eddie tried not laugh.
He really had to go, Venom was one more flirty comment away from biting this woman's head off.
“Nice to meet you.” He smiled as he made his escape.
“We should eat her.” Venom insisted.