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Did all newborns look so grumpy? Or was it just theirs?
Carnage was only born last month but they seemed to have a permanent tiny scowl and glare. Venom manifested two tendrils to poke their baby’s cheeks and Carnage narrowed their eyes further in annoyance before they started to cry.
Again.
The little thing was less than six weeks old but they’d been crying for the vast majority of that time.
“I knew they’d cry, I just didn’t know they’d cry this much.” Eddie spoke out loud to his other.
“I do not know if this is normal.”
“They’re crying because you poked them.”
“It is okay, Carnage. See?” Venom spread up his neck and over his mouth splitting into their own toothy and sharp grin.
Carnage stopped and blinked. That seemed to do the trick. Venom grinned wider and Carnage actually smiled back. Venom snarled viciously and Carnage smiled bigger and waved their little fists excitedly. Venom extended their long prehensile tongue like a snake about to strike, Carnage clumsily attempted to copy their father and it was very cute to see them try.
Carnage loved Venom very much and their mood immediately lifted whenever they saw their other parent. Venom holding them? Content as could be. Eddie holding them? Fussy, squirmy mess. Playing with Venom? Giggles and smiles. Playing with Eddie? Whining and scratching. It seemed like the only reason Carnage put up with Eddie was because he was The Food Source and nothing else. Needless to say this had been seriously hurting Eddie’s feelings ever since he gave birth last month.
Venom sensed that Eddie was ruminating on this again (he’d been thinking of very little else lately) and purposefully receded back under his skin. Carnage seemed confused when they only found Eddie staring back at them with a terrified on look on his face.
“What are you doing? They were having fun with you.”
“They need to spend time with you.”
“They don’t like me.” He sulked.
“They like you. They just don’t know how to show it.”
“That’s funny because they sure know how with you.”
They put Carnage down to bed (Venom put Carnage down to bed) and crawled into their own bed after another day of complete newborn-induced exhaustion. Their studio apartment was very small and very shitty so when Carnage started crying in the middle of the night, it didn’t take long for their equally shitty neighbor to bang on their wall.
“Shut that brat up!”
Venom snarled and Eddie could feel them prickle and heat up under his skin- they wanted violent retribution on the lowlife next door for calling their precious new child a brat. Eddie groaned and looked at the clock- 4am. Carnage was still wailing and the asshole neighbor was still banging on the wall.
“Its okay, its okay. We’re here.” Eddie assured, still groggy.
Venom slithered over his skin until Eddie was Venom from the neck down. Their clawed hands picking Carnage up and pulling them close. Usually that was enough to stop the crying if it was for attention but they still cried. They must be hungry. They tried to feed them but they writhed and pushed away.
“Great. They don’t even like me for eating anymore.”
Carnage cried louder, getting more upset with each passing moment. The neighbor had moved on from banging on their shared wall to leaving his apartment and banging on their door.
“Hey! Shut that thing up! It’s 4am!”
“That thing?! It is a child, asshole.” Venom growled.
“If you don’t shut that little brat up, I will!”
“Come and try it.”
The man at the door did not realize he was tangling with Venom because he’d only ever seen Eddie come or go from the apartment. The dick next door had some serious anger issues and was probably confident he could take Eddie in a fight but Eddie was willing to bet this guy wouldn’t have such a mad-on if he knew who he was really threatening right now.
Eddie knew this guy was all talk but Venom had been more protective than ever since they got pregnant and that protectiveness only seemed to increase now that Carnage was here. Venom was so defensive of them both that there were times they bordered on paranoid. Eddie started to panic when Venom started pulling away from him, taking their own form to...fight the neighbor? Eat him? Decapitate him and wave his torso around like a trophy? He had no idea what Venom was planning but he did know that Venom leaving would make Carnage absolutely inconsolable.
“V wait don’t-!”
“I will take care of it.”
“I can’t-“
“You can.”
They knew what he meant, that he couldn’t take care of Carnage on his own. That their leaving would make Carnage more hysteric. But they were in full on Lethal Protector mode now- this guy threatened their baby and now, no matter how empty the threat, he was going to pay. There was no stopping Venom when they were like this.
As they slithered and coalesced across the apartment and the last of them separated from him- leaving his skin bare as he was only wearing shorts as pajamas- he could feel the pit in his stomach grow, anticipating Carnage’s total meltdown.
But it didn’t come.
In fact, the crying died down and slowed to a stop.
Eddie slowly untensed and looked down at the tiny infant who (for quite possibly the very first time) was looking back at him with wide and curious opal eyes and not a squint or a glare. They kept staring up at him with their head resting on his bare chest and contentedly stuck their little fist in their mouth.
They looked happy.
“...You’re not crying.” He said it out loud mostly out of disbelief.
Carnage kept staring up at him while not screaming or crying while Eddie stared back in confusion. They stared at each other like that for a few more seconds before both of their attention was drawn to the front door where Venom’s large and intimidating form blocked their view of the neighbor but they could certainly hear the man sniveling in fear. Apparently he wasn’t so tough if he wasn’t threatening a crying baby from behind a closed door. The sound of Venom’s snarls and growling made Carnage wiggle and laugh in Eddie’s arms and he could hear the neighbor sob and whimper out several apologies even as the door closed.
“Next time we eat him.” Venom turned back around and their eyes narrowed in observation.
“I told you they like you. They just needed to be held by you for a minute. Just you.”
“I-I guess so.” Eddie grinned, not keen on putting Carnage down now.