Baby Steps
Over the past few weeks Flash Thompson had made it his own personal mission to teach Sleeper how to walk. Everyone was helping of course but Flash was really the most invested. Possibly even more so than Eddie and Venom. Flash and Andi were visiting the house for the third time this week under the flimsy excuse of Andi needing help with her English homework. It was nothing that Andi couldn’t handle by herself but Eddie and Venom could tell that Sleeper was enjoying all the extra attention from Flash so they decided not to point it out. Flash was leaning forward in his chair and holding Sleeper by the hands as the baby squealed and bounced up and down, apparently pretty darn excited to be upright.
“You think he’ll ever play football?” Flash asked, still grinning at the infant.
“His current favorite things include naps and being held so I would not get my hopes too high.”
Right then it made sense to Eddie and Venom why Flash was so invested in Sleeper’s first steps; because even though there were prosthetics, the time he shared with Venom and then getting his own Anti-Venom symbiote to command, Flash still had a lot of steps taken away from him. Eddie sighed and smiled and put his hand on Flash’s shoulder.
“Go ahead.”
“Thank you, Eddie.” They left a tingling feeling on his cheek- their own version of a kiss.
Venom coalesced from Eddie’s fingertips to Flash and seeped into the top of his spine, twining around it from the inside. The man shivered a little- his usual response to symbiosis. Flash had long since stopped wearing the Anti-Venom suit to their house, unwilling to risk even the slightest possibility of accidentally hurting any of the kids with it. If he wasn’t using it for superheroing he didn’t bring it here.
“Papa! Papa!” Sleeper squirmed with excitement having noticed the transfer.
“Yes my darling.” Venom rumbled and tickled their little one.
Venom completed Flash’s lower half and the soldier stood up out of his wheelchair, Sleeper still hanging onto his hands. Eddie wrung his hands, feeling suddenly awkward without Venom and mildly worried that the spikes decorating Flash’s shins would poke his precious baby.
Sleeper held onto Flash’s hands and squealed and gurgled and shrieked and laughed with every tiny, assisted step he took. And even though they weren’t together Eddie could feel Venom’s own pride and joy. Flash and Sleeper kept giggling like this was the most exciting thing to ever happen to either of them.
It would probably be a while before Sleeper was actually walking unassisted and on his own but Eddie decided that they’d do everything possible to make sure Flash would be there when it happens.