Judge and Jury
Eddie was sitting on the floor and a cramming a cupcake in his mouth at Venom’s (pestering) request when Agony climbed onto his lap, standing on his legs and throwing her arms around his neck to hug him almost painfully tight.
“Hey sweetie, what’s the hug for?”
“Because you’re my favorite parents.”
They were her only parents but it was still somehow flattering.
“What a coincidence, you’re our favorite daughter.”
“You say that to Scream too.” She observed astutely.
”We can have two favorites.
She responded with a huge sharp-fanged smile just like her father’s and hugged even tighter.
“Honey, we love you but you’re gonna squish your brother.” Eddie leaned back a little with Sleeper in their arms about to be eminently crushed.
“Love you!” She said before skipping away apparently done with their interaction.
“Remember we’re leaving in a half hour!” He called after her because none of them were ever ready when it came time to go somewhere.
Turns out they knew their kids very well because they were now pushing a full hour since he said that and they were just barely getting to the door.
They were meeting Anne and Dan for lunch and they’d wanted to go out somewhere, something that made him weary whenever it came up. Being in busy and very public places made him anxious. Not really for himself, he was journalist and a damn good one, he was used to making a ruckus and getting attention. Back when it was just him and Venom things were different, if they didn’t want people to stare at him and the very not human being he was happily with 24/7 they didn’t have to show anybody they were there. A manifested hand holding his inside his pocket, a hidden tendril caressing the skin under his shirt, the smooth and confident voice in his head- all reassurances that his love was always there even away from the eyes of others.
But despite all the weird shit that seemed to happen on a near daily basis in this city some people still reacted with unease, repulsion and morbid curiosity to Venom’s dangerous appearance and reacted the same way to the kids. While these people were the minority in New York, they both understood the reasons behind this group’s discomfort around Venom. He and his other did have a highly publicized checkered past and a well known penchant for killing and devouring criminals who may deserve it but were still of the Earth dwelling homosapien variety.
But their kids have never done a thing to warrant or deserve those same strangers’ scathing looks and their disgusted body language. Eddie had always taken it upon himself to shield them from these behaviors of other people but he was starting realize he was inadvertently submitting to these ignorant opinions and imparting to his kids that they should feel like they need to hide, that they should remove themselves from places they aren’t wanted, that they should be ashamed. If he kept it up it would even start to rub off on Sleeper.
“You’re going to be late to your own funeral aren’t you?” Anne said as soon as they arrived to the chosen restaurant.
“I have six kids with zero collective attention span so yes.” He defended.
“Oh please, you’ve been like this since before kids were even a thought in your head and I would know.” She replied cheekily and without a trace of negativity.
“Annie was late to our first date...and almost our wedding...and our first marriage anniversary date.” Dan supplied leaving Anne looking suspiciously incriminated.
There was a small handful of people that Sleeper was always excited to see and having known them since birth he always became all wiggles and grins seeing his Godparents. His siblings shared the same excitement, Annie and Dan always correlated with cuddles, treats, gifts and being doted on and spoiled to no end (to Eddie and Venom’s slight dismay but powerlessness against). Phage wasted no time climbing onto Anne’s lap and asking for a milkshake knowing she’d undoubtedly say yes.
The waitress came to take their orders and struggled to maintain any kind of steady eye contact due to her gaze darting to the kids every few seconds. Somehow her eyes quick darting back and forth was more annoying than if she’d just stared.
“Do they uh, do the...little ones...do they…” She stammered.
“Are you trying to say eat? Because yeah, they eat.” Dan said bluntly.
Her face scrunched up in offense at Dan’s tone and she wrote down their orders, putting a lot of effort into not looking at the children as they happily told her what they wanted. Except Carnage who gave her a blank look that said they definitely noticed her avoidant attitude, Anne ordered for them.
Maybe the others noticed too but it didn’t deter their usual politeness that they absolutely did not learn from Venom.
As they waited and conversed with each other about everything from work to more insignificant happenings like who exactly is annoying them at work- in Dan’s case a very stubborn Chief of Medicine. A little girl Scream’s age at another table got her attention to give her a grin that showed off her missing baby teeth and an enthusiastic wave. Scream smiled wide and excitedly waved back to her even as the girl’s mother took one side eyed look at Scream, shook her head and took her daughter’s hand to lower it. Scream’s smile didn’t falter at first but she slowly dropped her hand. Looking a second longer before turning to her dads with a confused expression on her face.
It left a pit in Eddie’s stomach and a sharp unnameable feeling in his other. Venom saw and sensed the way these kinds of people felt, Eddie couldn’t possibly catch every single disdainful leer or grimace cast their way (he was only human) but Venom did. Each encounter with these passing yet permanent moments of human cruelty heralded temptation for swift and brutal correction. Unanswerable temptation that lapped at their conscious like waves smacking against rocks. Cruelty that could be aimed even towards someone just days old- which they’d learned with both Carnage and Sleeper.
Three days after Carnage was born they had to make an emergency outing to the store for a white noise machine or a nightlight or something, anything to get the kid to sleep because what they were currently doing was not cutting it and they were both running on fumes. Dan said a white noise machine might help and they were desperate.
When they got there the sheer amount of things in the baby store was overwhelming. Walls full of stuff they’d never heard of even in all of the extensive and obsessive internet research they’d been doing almost every day for the last three months. They visually sorted through mysterious and largely useless infant care items: diaper alarms, cry analyzers, astronomically expensive strollers with their own built-in sound systems. Staggeringly the list went on.
One of the employees had been watching them like a hawk from the moment they walked in and Venom was automatically defensive and protective of their partner and child.
Carnage was held against Eddie. At only three days old, their new ability to see everything outside the foggy scenery of the womb still had them squinting most of the time. As if all the colors and brightness were too much to fully take in just yet. They were also starting to get unhappy, wanting to be back home where things were quiet and comfortable and starting to get familiar. Not in this annoying new place with fluorescent lights and bad tinny pop music coming from the ceiling.
They weighed the pros and cons of a fancier white noise machine that was also a light projector compared to another one that could sound like a heartbeat which Venom was confident would be more effective because they could always hear his heartbeat and they liked it. As they debated back and forth about the decision the employee who had been eyeing them had finally made his move and come over.
“Excuse me. I’m sorry but this is a store for people with children. Babies mostly.” He started off rather politely.
“Oh, I do have a kid.” He patted Carnage indicatively. “I know I look way too young.” He joked.
The man looked at Carnage and visibly frowned, irking Eddie.
“I don’t think we carry the appropriate products for...your kind of....” He selected his words with a practiced professionalism that thinly veiled the grimace surfacing on his face.
“...My kind of kid?” He finished what the employee was trying to say.
The employee exhaled a short breath, clearly wanting to avoid further elaboration.
“Wait for him to say it, Eddie. I want to hear him say it.”
Then it dawned on Eddie what Venom meant. The store employee was uncomfortably but undoubtedly pointing out that Carnage was pretty visibly not human...at least not fully. And that was a problem.
He’d been so absorbed in how elated they were about Carnage's arrival that everything else was taking a backseat the last few days. It honestly hadn’t occurred to him that anybody wouldn’t be happy about it.
That was the first time but it definitely wasn’t the last.
Sleeper suddenly stiffened up, buried his face in Eddie’s chest and gripped onto his shirt- a familiar ritual of his that always signaled impending doom. Well, if you considered a tantrum to be doom. Venom did.
“What’s wrong, Sleeps?” Eddie asked their almost four month old as if he could answer and they wouldn’t have to solve the mystery on their own.
Sleeper sobbed loudly, clutched tighter to them and sent little green and black tendrils climbing up Eddie’s front, he was steadily becoming a little more adept at manipulating his form and had started using these extra extremities to get their attention when he wanted something.
“Mamamamama...” Sleeper babbled for Eddie and looked up at them with his face scrunched up.
“He’s probably hungry again and for that I blame you.” Eddie told his other, referring to their notoriously ravenous species.
Despite a valiant effort to feed him both a bottle and cereal puffs (a usual favorite lately) Sleeper didn’t want to eat and just pushed them each away while growling his little growl that would probably be as threatening as his dad’s someday but was just cute right now.
“Hey! Shut your brat up!”
Everyone at the table turned around to see a husky but well dressed man at another table scowling at them.
“People don’t want to hear that little sub-human mutie throw a tantrum.”
Sleeper wasn’t a mutant so the derogatory term wasn’t accurate but still humiliating. Every parent everywhere knew the mortification of their kid melting down in public but a hybrid kid drew even more contempt.
Anne suddenly lifted Phage off her lap and stood up so fast her chair almost tipped over. She quickly crossed the space between their two tables and planted herself in front of the man, crossing her arms and taking the same stance she used to command the courtroom.
“What did you call my Godson?” She demanded.
“I didn’t-“
“Yes you did.” She cut the man off.
“The kid just-“
“Are you telling me you’ve never encountered a crying baby before?”
“Look lady-“
She cut him off again but this time by grabbing a glass of water off his table and throwing it his face leaving him stunned in silence.
Eddie watched with his own stunned look while Dan sipped at his drink looking quite proud to get to call Annie his wife.
Anne strode back to them and laid some cash from her purse on the table.
“Let’s go.” And they all did what she told them to knowing better than to question her.
“That was so badass!” Carnage remarked enthusiastically.
“Language, Car….But it was badass.” Eddie added.
When they got back in the car ready to leave the restaurant behind, Dan and Anne following in their car behind them, Agony piped up.
“Can I be Aunt Anne when I grow up?”
“Absolutely.”