Parent/Teacher Conferences
“In all my years teaching I don’t know that I’ve ever had a first grade student as thoughtful and sweet as Lasher is...”
This was the best part of Parent/Teacher Conference Night. Eddie and Venom were listening to the first grade teacher give an absolutely glowing report of how wonderful Lasher is. This is why they always asked about Lash first- everyone always had nothing but good things to say about him. He was just that kind of kid and they were always so proud to be his dads. They’d be a little remiss to deny bragging about him every now and then.
“Your other son Phage is wonderful too, though he can get pretty exuberant.” The man smiled as he flipped through some notes on his desk.
“Is that how humans say ‘out of control’?”
The teacher laughed out loud and grinned.
“I wouldn’t call Phage out of control, Venom. He just gets excited.”
“That is a polite way to put it. Phage’s energy could power the East Coast.”
Everyone at the school knew all about Venom and their relationship, they had to. How else would they explain their kids? Luckily this was a very inclusive elementary school with a significant mutant and inhuman population among the students which is why they picked it in the first place.
“I’ve noticed that Agony and Scream can sometimes get competitive with each other, do they do that at home too?” The teacher asked pausing his paper shuffling to look back up at them.
Eddie and Venom’s shared consciousness drifted to the three separate times the girls had engaged in competition with each other just this week. First was the race to see who could clean their shared room the fastest (they didn’t complain or intervene on that one). Then it was betting on when Sleeper’s naptime would end accompanied by silent anti-nap tactics like Agony blowing on his face and Scream removing his pacifier to get him to wake up, resulting in a very unhappy baby and a time out. Then last night it was who could eat all of their dinner first followed by tummy aches.
“Now that you mention it the girls do have something of a rivalry.” Eddie rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as Venom grinned, very proud of their two daughters and their penchant for not taking shit from anyone including each other.
Sitting down for Carnage’s parent/teacher conference was not unlike sitting in the principal’s office after getting in trouble. The knowledge of forthcoming judgment hanging over your head. Eddie and Venom still both maintained that Carnage was not a bad kid. Carnage was just...Carnage.
“Carnage is definitely...independent.” Is what she decided to start with and Eddie felt himself groan internally. Or maybe that was Venom.
“And by that you mean…?”
“Let’s just say they want to be in charge more often than not. But that’s not always a bad thing. Just an intense thing.” She finished with a good humored laugh. Not everyone was as gracious when it came to dealing with Carnage.
“For instance, yesterday at recess the class was playing Red Light Green Light and Carnage was having a little trouble with the concept. Whenever we said Red Light and the other children stopped, Carnage would keep going with the insistence that not following that rule was the easiest way to win. This of course inspired the other children to ignore the game rule too. It all deteriorated pretty fast after that.”
Eddie’s shoulders slumped very slightly as a shock of even more unexpected pride coursed through him from Venom.
“They’re a good leader, Eddie.”
And the following groan definitely came from him.
Eddie knew that the very bright and colorful rug in the room was stimulating to the babies but it was starting to hurt his eyes so he tried to focus on the pastel colors that covered the walls around the big windows. Minutes later he was trying to decipher the meaning behind an abstract, scribble drawing hung on the wall when he felt the equivalent of a poke in his bond with his spouse.
“Eddie pay attention.”
Oh sorry.
The teacher, a very warm and maternal woman in her early thirties with whom they left their youngest three times a week, was talking to them about Sleeper’s time at daycare and his day to day activities there. It was parent/teacher conference night so this was one of the many obligations that came with the whole having kids thing. They just never knew that even the daycare would want to confer with them. After all, how much could a baby that's not even five months old yet possibly get up to?
“I’m sure you both know that Sleeper is well ahead of the curve cognitively. Already saying his first words at only four months is nothing short of remarkable. His physical development is also right on the fast track. It makes the other parents anxious about their own babies when they see what Sleeper can already do at this age but I’m quick to assure them that most of it can be chalked up to his parentage.” She smiled and winked at that last bit.
“Our son makes other humans feel their young are inferior and I like that.”
Eddie was just thankful Venom only said that in his head.
But they were both very relieved to be hearing positive things about their baby from the daycare teacher this time around. Carnage had gone to a different daycare back before they moved into their current house from their old apartment and was pretty much a mischievous hell raiser from the second they got there. They used to get at least one phone call a day from the teacher about Carnage doing something outside the realm of socially acceptable baby behavior.
“So he’s good when we’re gone? His siblings are all older than him and give him anything he wants and we can tend to dote on him too. We just don’t want him to turn into a brat because of it.” Eddie admitted to her.
“Brat is the last word I’d use to describe Sleeper.” She waved off his concern.
“Except…”
Eddie’s relief was cut short by the additional word.
“Except?”
“Sleeper has a small habit of using his abilities to put the other babies to sleep if they’re playing with a toy he wants or something of that nature.”
“He what?”
“That’s my boy.”
“I get the feeling he’s not used to having to be patient for things.” She smiled knowingly at them.
Eddie flushed because, yeah, Sleeper’s never had to want for anything in his whole very short life.
“We should have saved Lasher for last.” Eddie lamented as they walked across the parking lot towards his motorcycle.
“Yes we should have. That went a lot better than I expected though, I am proud of our children.”
“You’re proud of the kids no matter what they do, V.” He pointed out.
“Come on, so are you.” They nudged him from within.
“Yeah...Yeah okay, that’s fair.” He grinned back.