Doubt
“Up!”
It was all that little voice seemed to be saying today. A very little, very new voice in their lives.
“Up! Up!”
But they were glad that these new little voices were finally saying anything at all. Phage was impatiently jumping up and down- evidently trying to get as up as he could. The three year old then attempting to climb Eddie’s person.
“Okay, okay. Up you go.” Eddie hoisted the toddler onto his hip.
Carnage then raced across the room to grab onto his free hand, apparently not totally okay with Phage getting all the attention.
Carnage was doing surprisingly well for having four new little siblings so suddenly sprung on them but there was a little bit of jealousy sometimes. Agony, Lasher, Scream and Phage had just barely begun coming out of their shells and talking to them so they were getting a lot of Eddie and Venom’s attention right now. Carnage was having a little bit of trouble adjusting to having to share their parents for the first time ever.
Little Scream toddled over to them and lifted her hands up too.
“Me too!” She requested to be picked up as well.
Eddie moved to pick her up but Carnage grabbed on tighter to his one free hand rendering it useless. Luckily, Venom was able to scoop her up and settle her on his other hip and then Agony wanted to ride on his shoulders. Their four new young children went from avoiding them like the plague to clinging to them like glue. They couldn’t take three steps without someone wanting a hug or a story or to play. They weren’t complaining of course, they were thrilled that the three year olds were making progress and warming up to them- it was just that having four toddlers dropped into your lap with no warning was kind of...a lot.
At the same time that Eddie and Venom were balancing Carnage, Agony, Phage and Scream on Eddie’s body, Lasher knocked over his cup of juice spilling it across the carpet in a big blotchy stain.
“I’m sorry!” Lasher flinched and apologized desperately.
“It is okay, Lasher. You do not need to be afraid of us.”
“Made a mess.” Lasher pointed at the stain like he was explaining why they should be mad.
“You’re in trouble!” Carnage yelled unhelpfully.
“Carnage!” Eddie scolded. “No one’s in trouble. It was an accident.”
“We will clean the mess. It is okay.”
Lasher looked up at them with big tear filled eyes before hugging Eddie’s leg and pressing his face into Eddie’s jeans. Now all five kids were pretty desperately clutched onto them. Eddie sat down on the couch to give his back a break and all the toddlers shifted to pile onto him. Venom extending a mess of tendrils to keep them from tumbling off.
“TV!” Agony chirped excitedly.
The Life Foundation obviously never let them do anything fun so storytime, television and movies had become a big hit these last few weeks. Eddie sighed half heartedly and turned on something toddler appropriate for all of them to watch.
“Eddie, you are distracted.” Venom pointed out inside his head as the children were fully engrossed in Sesame Street.
“Are you not having fun learning your ABC’s?”
He was quiet, still thinking.
“Beloved, what is wrong?”
“I don’t know, V...It's just...We never even discussed having a second kid and now we have a second, third, fourth and fifth.”
That fact was suddenly hitting him very hard as they conversed silently in his head.
“I mean, do you think we can do this?” He asked them within himself.
“Well, it is not like we can return them.”
“No! I know. I don’t want to. I love them...I love them so much. I couldn’t be without them. But Carnage is already a little bit of handful. Can we really handle four more?”
“I think we are doing alright so far. Everyone is still alive.”
“That’s...a low bar, Venom. I’m just so terrified.” He admitted for the first time.
“Of what?”
“I don’t know. Screwing them up, I guess.” He shrugged, his sudden movement with no accompanying sound making Scream look up at him with big iridescent eyes.
“If these children are even a little bit like you they will be fine...and I can already tell that they are a lot like you.”
He flushed red and suddenly had to clear his throat.
Without warning Scream leapt up, took Agony’s hand and dashed out of the room as fast as her short little three year old legs would take her, dragging Agony along. Because of the other kids on top of them they couldn’t exactly get up and follow so they just waited in strained anticipation for them to come back with the hope that they weren’t causing too much trouble.
A lot of rustling sounds and a little while later the girls returned with a pair of his winter gloves and his thick knit scarf (also a winter item) that if he recalled correctly had been living deep in the recesses of the hallway closet because it was the middle of summer and he didn’t have much use for his cold weather accessories right now.
Agony took his hands in hers and pulled each of the gloves on them while Scream was gingerly wrapping the thick wool scarf around his neck and the lower half of his face.
“What’s all this for?” Eddie finally asked.
“You’re cold! We’re warming you up!” Scream explained.
“Cold?”
“You were shivering!” Scream told him.
“Shiv-? Oh! Honey, I was just shrugging. I was talking to your Dad.” He explained to her and Agony.
Their little faces dropped into frowns.
“Not cold?” Agony finally asked.
Eddie and Venom could both tell the girls were sad that their rescue was deemed unnecessary.
“I mean, now I’m not cold. You warmed me up!” Eddie amended his previous statement.
“Yes. All better now.”
They both perked up again and snuggled back into place feeling quite accomplished. They all sat cuddled up together and the scarf and gloves were starting to make Eddie sweat but he still just couldn’t bring himself to take them off.
“They appear to be taking care of us. I think we are going to be alright.”
Eddie just smiled, careful not to make any more misleading movements.