Bunker
It had been a week since they returned home from the Life Foundation incident and things were slowly going back to normal. There were nightmares and tears and sleeplessness but it was getting a little better each night. Eddie and Venom of course have been laying awake every night remaining vigilant for any occurrences of sad or scared little symbiotes. This was the first night they were allowing themselves to at least close their eyes. It wasn’t long before Eddie was pulled out of his sleep haze by a little clawed finger poking his scruffy cheek, he squinted open one eye and realized Venom must have let him fall completely asleep. Maybe he needed it.
The source of the poke was Phage who was standing at the side of the couch.
“We need to build the bunker.” He told them urgently.
Focusing his eyes Eddie glanced at his watch and it was already 8pm.
8pm on the Fourth of July.
“Okay, darling. Go get the others.”
Eddie and Venom knew the other kids were around the corner waiting.
The bunker was a structure of great importance which was only constructed in the most dire of circumstances. Like the Fourth of July.
Venom usually wasn’t too bothered by the occasional firecracker but the kids had a much lower tolerance to big, loud noises- especially when there was one night of the year that was absolutely full of them- thus the bunker was created. The bunker was made up of every mattress, pillow, cushion, sheet and blanket in the house for maximum firework noise protection. The very first version of what would eventually become the bunker, which was just a nest of blankets and pillows, was first created when they were pregnant with Carnage.
“No! Sit!”
“But I-! Ugh, okay fine. I’m sitting.” Eddie huffed just giving Venom what they wanted.
Venom was adamant about not letting him help. He was kind of tired and his back hurt but he wasn’t about to admit that out loud.
The celebratory festivities outside lit up the whole tiny apartment about every five seconds followed by pops, whistles and cracks that seemed to shake the whole building. Every time the fireworks boomed outside Venom shuddered involuntarily and the baby flipped and kicked inside him.
“They’re not in pain are they?” He frowned looking down at his bump.
“No, the sound is muffled enough inside you. It’s more like tickling right now. Not painful necessarily but certainly annoying. It will be a much greater concern after they are born.”
Venom dumped every blanket they had on the bed and wrapped all of them and then themselves around him. They told him that the extra layers would block out the rest of the ticklish sound.
The tradition just stuck ever since.
Venom always did the heavy lifting but Carnage, Scream and Agony together had dragged one of their smaller mattresses all the way to the top of the stairs by the time Eddie and his other rounded the corner. Their efforts halted by a loud boom making them all jump and yelp.
The large cavernous construction stood haphazardly in the living room, one side supported by the couch and another side supported by Venom and Eddie’s own large mattress. The whole thing was somewhat of a lean to but it fit all of them which is what mattered the most. The kids all crawled inside the fort filled with pillows, careful not to accidentally tear down the roof made of sheets and blankets. Agony was the first to claim a spot for herself and her cat Malice who always slept in her bed or her lap or literally anywhere near her. Malice let out a happy ‘merp’, flopped into Agony’s lap and purred loudly.
Everyone crawled into the bunker but Lasher who hesitated outside for a while. Calculating if it was safe to be that close to Eddie and Venom. After several minutes another deafening whistle sent him hurrying inside with the others. He nestled himself securely between Phage and Carnage, tucking himself a little further back than he maybe needed to and hugged a big pillow.
Since Sleeper was the youngest and most sensitive Venom curled their shapeless symbiotic self all the way around him, encouraging him to lose his own form which would make things a little less uncomfortable. The two of them were a black lump with a few green streaks accompanied by a pair of white eyes and a pair of smaller red eyes staring out at the rest of them.
“You have to tell a bunker story! You always tell one!” Agony was very quick to remind him once they were settled in.
“Yes Eddie, you have to.”
Despite his stellar history as a writer he actually wasn’t great at making up stories for the kids, they always seemed to turn into strange and nonsensical ramblings.
So using his best imaginative skills he started a gripping tale about a brave princess (named Anne of course) of a galactic kingdom many millions of lightyears away.
“As far away as Dad’s planet?” Scream interrupted.
“Further but the princess visits it sometimes.” Eddie clarified for her and she nodded seriously.
“Okay, so-” He tried to continue.
“What does she do when she visits?” Phage asked,
“She brings lots of food. Anyways-”
“What kind?” Agony interrupted.
“Do you guys want to hear the story or what?” Eddie asked back.
They all nodded excitedly.
As he attempted to continue what was sure to be a thrilling story they stopped him with a new question each time he said anything. After thirty minutes of starting, stopping, answering questions and starting again the kids had tired themselves out and fallen asleep. The noise outside sufficiently quieted enough by the thick walls of puffy insulation.
Soon, after even Venom decided to rest their eyes for a while, Eddie fell asleep too and when he woke up he was terrified to find that he couldn’t move. Afraid to open his eyes and face what could be a horrifying reality he took a deep breath.
“V, what happened? Am I paralyzed?”
He was still afraid that the Life Foundation had done something else while digging around in him.
“Not quite, Eddie.”
It sounded like they were almost laughing.
He hesitantly opened his eyes to sunrise-dyed orange light, softly defused by the sheets making up the bunker roof. Across from him was Venom, still without a humanoid form, though sometime during the night the kids had all lost their own human-like shapes and cuddled in a heap around them. They all looked like the most loving pile of laundry in the world. He struggled to move again but it felt like something was weighing him-
Oh.
“Lasher?”
“Yes. Lasher.” Venom had amusement in their voice still.
Lasher had been afraid to come near them since the Life Foundation incident, afraid of being hurt by his touch again. He never realized how much of his affection was expressed with touch until Lasher started avoiding him. Venom said that just like the first time he was rescued he just needed time- that he’d come around on his own. Lasher was inherently forgiving and kind to fault, surely he’d forgive his own parents eventually, right?
Apparently he did just need some time.
In Eddie’s lap Lasher was clinging to him, his long whips wrapped around him too in what could certainly be interpreted as a Lasher-hug.
“Told you’d he’d come around.”
Eddie grinned and wrapped his arms around Lasher.
“Another Fourth of July down.” He kept grinning.
“Happy Fifth of July, love.”