Decisions
This sucked. They’d been dispatched on a mission by SHIELD and they were partnered with Spider-Man for it. Spider-Man didn’t even work for SHIELD but Hill called him in for this and they had no idea why, it was nothing they couldn’t handle alone. And of course the wall crawler was already off on his usual snobby rapport with them.
“We have to be quiet for this part so try to refrain from your creepy private conversations with each other.” Peter instructed and Eddie glared at the smaller man’s back.
They were supposed to sneak into an A.I.M facility and do some recon, weird that they didn’t send Black Widow or Hawkeye for this but Hill said they were currently short staffed which is why she had to reach out to Spider-Man at all. Eddie assumed the wall crawling ability they both possessed and Venom’s own camouflage ability was the main selling point that put them on this assignment. Not great selling points in his opinion, he and V weren’t really known for stealth.
Venom had altered their usual look for this though, clinging to him in a skintight suit leaving his head uncovered instead of their fully statured muscle bound body. It was considerably more stealthy.
They crawled through the facility’s ventilation system until they reached the catwalk above the R&D laboratory they were looking for.
“Okay, we can talk now.” Peter said.
“I can’t talk to my other but I have to talk to you?” Eddie replied sardonically.
“Fine, we’ll just sit here then.”
Ten minutes of blissful silence passed before Peter spoke up again.
“Hey can I ask you something?”
“Oh good, we’re talking anyways.”
Venom mentally jabbed him for his obvious sarcasm.
“Okay, fine. What is it?” Eddie relented to V’s soft spot for Peter.
“So you know my wife MJ, right?” He started.
“I’m aware, yes.”
“She, uh, she wants to have a baby.”
“And what’s the problem? You don’t how?”
“Shut up Brock. I wouldn’t even be bringing this up if there were literally anyone else I could ask. You guys are the only ones I know who are parents that also do the superhero thing.”
“What about Spider-Woman?”
“Not all us spider people are best friends, you know. And she’s only been a mom for like six months, you have more experience with this.”
Eddie couldn’t see Peter’s face under the mask but his heightened voice told him he was actually really having a hard time with this. Eddie sighed and let up a little, also knowing he’d be hearing it from Venom later if he didn’t.
“I mean, seriously. You have like ten kids.”
“We have six.” Eddie corrected, annoyed again.
“Still a pretty significant amount of kids. Are you going to hear me out on this or what?” Peter almost whined.
“Okay, so what’s the big deal? It’s not like you’ll be doing any real legwork for the first nine months.” Eddie resigned himself to the conversation he was apparently being forced into.
“What’s the big deal? It’s the biggest possible deal! My whole life would change! How the hell are you even supposed to start to balance the whole kids and superheroing thing?”
“Not that hard after a while. Just have to be more conscious of what you’re doing and the potential danger you put yourself in. Realizing that you don’t have to go after every single murderous manic you happen to hear about by yourself. There are tons of heroes around, can’t tell you how many times I’ve dropped Flash a line because there was someone that had to be dealt with on a school night. It gets a lot easier when you let other people help you out. Of course, it definitely helps to have a spouse that can heal most injuries.”
“It’s just, babies are so much work. I don’t know if could handle it on top of everything else. I mean, how much sleep have you even gotten since your new baby came?”
“Total? Well it’s been two and a half months so like 20 hours. But that wouldn’t make me change my mind about having him. And honestly? Even though it sucks sometimes, losing some sleep to make sure my son is okay is a trade I’m willing to make.”
“Ugh, see? I don’t even think of stuff like that!”
“Yeah, you don’t. No one does until you actually have them, Parker.”
“You sound like Flash. He thinks he knows everything about parenting since he signed the papers to legally adopt Andi.” Peter huffed clearly not thrilled with whatever advice he’d gotten from Thompson.
“Knows more than you do.” Eddie supplied helpfully.
“First off, she’s a teenager. Second, Flash knew her before he adopted her. Third, he asked her if she wanted to be adopted and she said yes because neither of them have any family. My child wouldn’t have a choice!”
Peter rattled off the reasons why he felt Flash and Andi’s situation was easier even though Eddie and Venom seriously doubted it because no parent anywhere really has it easy.
“It’s totally different! Andi even has a symbiote so she can protect herself if she has to, a baby can’t defend itself at all! They’re just soft and floppy! I don’t even feel like I’m old enough to be a new dad yet.” He dropped his face in his hands.
“You’re 29. I was only a year older than you when we had Carnage.” Eddie said a little incredulously.
“But how did you know you were ready?”
“Didn’t. V spawns involuntarily.”
“What? You didn’t even have a choice? They just sprung it on you?!”
“Well...yeah, I guess.” He’d never really thought of it that way.
“Man...How were you okay with that?”
“Because I love them. I wasn't even mad. Not for a second.” He shrugged.
“You weren't? Not at all?”
“Nope. It took some time to warm up to or even understand but after taking it in I was really excited. And you’d be having a baby with someone of your own species so you’d at least know what to expect. We sure as hell didn’t.”
Peter groaned and scrubbed his eyes with his hands and as the other hero had a small existential crisis next to them Eddie’s phone buzzed. Another handy thing about having an alien symbiote hubby? Infinite pockets.
“Hey Miles.” He answered.
“Hi, Mr. Brock.”
“You gotta stop calling me that, it’s just Eddie.”
“Sorry Eddie, we’re out of bottles. Are there any more somewhere?”
“Oh! Yeah, there’s more milk in the freezer. Just make sure to warm it up.”
“Awesome, thanks Eddie! Also the kids wanted to say goodnight, can I put them on?”
“Yeah of course, put ‘em on.” He chuckled.
Eddie turned on FaceTime and Venom covered one side of his face so they both could be on the screen. They were met with four of their kids practically climbing on top of each other to make sure they were in the frame, Carnage of course was in the background paying little attention. They were all talking over each other, showering them through the speaker with ‘good nights’ and ‘love yous’.
“Can Sleeper be in my bed until you come back? He’ll be lonely.” Agony asked.
“No darling, he’s too little for that. He will be okay.”
Scream grabbed the phone and kissed the camera lens making them smile.
“No sneaking out of bed for snacks either. Don’t give Miles a hard time, okay?”
“We’ll be home soon, we love you.”
Eddie slipped the phone back into his impromptu pocket and turned his head to see Peter watching them, slightly recovered from his previous fit of stress.
“It is so weird to see Venom be all loving and fatherly like that.”
“I don’t know know if that was a compliment or not.” Eddie narrowed his eyes at the statement.
“You guys really do a lot for your kids don’t you?”
“It comes a lot more naturally than you’d think.” Eddie shrugged.
“So you think it’s worth it? The whole family thing? Even though it’s exhausting, expensive and potentially dangerous?”
“Don't regret a thing.”
“But what if I’m bad at it?” He asked more quietly.
“Oh you definitely will be. Everyone is at first. It takes time to get the hang of things. We lost our first child in our own apartment four days in, terrified our middle children two days in and I was convinced our baby didn’t love me after a few hours.”
“Does it at least stop when they aren’t babies anymore?”
“Last week we ate our daughter’s candy bar and then convinced her she lost it because we didn’t want to take the blame. So no.”
Peter laughed out loud.
“Okay so I guess you’re not the amazing parents I thought you were a second ago.”
“Neither of us can tell you what the right thing is. No one can. It’s something only you can decide to do or not.” He told their once nemesis.
Peter was quiet.
“But the first time you hold your kid? Nothing beats it, Parker.”
“Aw, Eddie. You’re such a sap.”
“Come on V, I’m having a moment here.” He playfully scolded his other.
“As much as I hate to admit it, I guess I’m starting to start to maybe understand a little how someone could fall for an alien that lives inside them. Just a little. Still pretty weird.”
They wrapped up their reconnaissance, snuck their way back out of the building and got ready to go home for the night.
“We’re a few blocks down. Where are you parked?” Eddie asked pulling out his keys.
“Parked?”
“Yeah….Did...Did you swing all the way here?”
“Yeah how did you get here?”
“I have a motorcycle.” He held up his keys.
“That does sound a lot easier. But why do you still have a motorcycle if you’re a soccer mom now?”
“I’m gonna fuckin’ punch you.”