Daycare
“I don’t know, V...what if they’re not ready for this?” Eddie shifted his weight.
“How can we know if we do not at least try? I know you are worried but this could be good for them.”
“Or it will traumatize them even further.” Eddie groaned.
Today was the first day of school and Carnage was all ready to go, their other four children on the other hand had never been anywhere but home before and they’ve only been living with Eddie and Venom for the last few months. Day care was a huge step considering everything their younger children have been through. They were only three and it seemed almost cruel to leave them in the hands of strangers for the whole day just so Eddie could go to work.
“I should just call in sick again. That’s what I’ll do.” Eddie said.
“I do not like the idea of day care any more than you do, Eddie but you need to return to work. We depend on your paycheck, the children depend on it.”
Eddie crossed his arms stubbornly, Venom was right. If he lost his job they were thoroughly screwed.
Agony was the last one eating at the kitchen table so they decided to test the waters a little.
“Agony?” Eddie asked.
“Hmm?” She looked up at them.
“How would you like to spend the day somewhere super fun with your brothers and sister?”
“No thank you.” She answered bluntly.
“B-But it’s a really fun place! With toys and snacks and you get to play all day long with other kids who like what you like!”
“No thank you. I like it here the most.”
Eddie sighed, now came the part where they imparted to her that she didn’t really have a choice. When they entered the day care after dropping Carnage off at preschool the four younger children lit up at all the colorful books and toys and games and the big playground outside- it was a three year old’s paradise. Eddie and Venom had of course thoroughly vetted the place ahead of time and the teachers were wonderful and there weren’t so many kids that their own little ones would get lost in the shuffle. Phage excitedly ran for the building blocks while Scream and Agony joined a few other kids at a big dollhouse.
“Look Lash, they have picture books!” Eddie pointed to a large stack of children’s books- Lasher loved picture books.
Lasher smiled and dragged Eddie by the hand over to the books, they sat down together as Lasher picked out an ocean book and started marveling at all the photographs inside. After a few minutes, with all four children sufficiently occupied Eddie stood up and made his way to the door.
“Okay guys, we’ll see you later today.” Eddie smiled and waved.
Suddenly their four small children looked shocked and betrayed.
“You’re leaving?!” Scream cried and ran to hug his legs.
“You can’t leave!” Phage cried too.
“It’s okay, it’s just for a few hours and then we’ll be right back. We have to go to work and then we’ll come and pick you up.” Eddie explained in his calmest voice.
“You can’t leave! You can’t!” Agony grabbed his hand.
Eddie knew this was a bad idea. This was the first time since the kids were rescued that they’d be apart, of course they were terrified.
“We will be back soon, we promise.” Venom patted them each on the head.
As they left the four children pressed up to the windows- Lasher’s eyes even tear filled. Eddie sat in the car and gripped the steering wheel tightly.
“They don’t believe us…” Eddie mumbled.
“What?”
“They don’t believe us that we’ll come back.” He frowned.
“Eddie, they have been through so much. We just have to prove to them that they can always trust us. That kind of thing takes time.”
At the office Eddie was about as good as dead to the world. Every time he started on something his mind would drift back to the kids’ faces as they left and any productivity in him crumpled like a house of cards.
“Eddie, write something! I did not leave my children in the hands of those strangers for you to do nothing all day.”
“I know, I’m trying...it’s just...did you see their faces? They’ll never forgive us.” Eddie let his hands fall in his lap.
Back at the daycare the four young children peeled themselves away from the windows after half an hour of hoping their parents would reappear. A little girl with large, black, leathery wings approached them slowly- there were many children in this daycare group who were apparently a little more than just human. Just like the four of them.
“Do you want to play dollhouse?” She asked shyly.
Scream, ever the social butterfly, grinned her fanged grin and nodded- accepting the invitation. Scream grabbed Agony’s hand and dragged her along too.
Phage fidgeted with his hands a little, eyeing the building blocks he’d so hastily abandoned. Now there was another kid over there playing with them and he was building a tower. Phage wanted to build an even bigger tower! Pretty soon he couldn’t stand it anymore- he had to build the biggest tower! He planted himself on the colorful rug next to the other boy and started building.
“If we combine our blocks I bet we can reach the ceiling!” The other little boy suddenly exclaimed.
And he was right.
“Okay!!” Phage agreed.
“My name’s Thatcher.” The little boy said as he pushed his mop of brown hair out of his blue eyes.
“I’m Phage!” Phage stuck his hand out eagerly because he saw his dad do that when he met new people.
Thatcher grinned and grabbed his hand and they shared a very grown up handshake.
At the dollhouse Agony and Scream played with the other little girl who’d invited them over. They learned her name was Claire and they were each cocooned in one of her wings as they sat on either side of her and played.
“Sorry, my Mommy says I shouldn’t spread my wings so much because its not polite.” Claire said.
“Our Dad says politeness is an inconvenient thorn in the rich tapestry of human behavior.” Agony said back.
“What does that mean?” Claire asked.
“I don’t know!” Agony, being only three, answered.
Lasher inched quietly back towards the books but was disheartened to find another kid with the ocean book he’d been enjoying earlier. The other little boy had soft looking blue fur and claws not unlike Lasher’s own. The little boy also had glowing red eyes and a set of sprouting horns. Lasher had never seen someone so exciting! Part of him didn’t even care about the book anymore.
“Do you want to read this one together?” The exciting boy asked him.
Lasher was a little startled but nodded anyways.
Neither of them could actually read of course but Lasher had lots of fun looking at all the pictures with his exciting new friend. Lasher spent the whole day with the exciting looking boy, whose name he learned was Daniel, and if anyone asked Lasher if he had a crush he would definitely say no.
Back at the office Eddie finally grinded out a piece about police corruption that he was pretty proud of when he decided he’d earned a small break and went to the watercooler. Unfortunately for him a small handful of other coworkers were also milling about at the watercooler in an attempt to avoid work.
“Eddie! Haven’t seen you in awhile.” One of them smiled.
“Ugh. Small talk.” Venom complained inside his head.
“Relax, love. Its just coworkers, we don’t have to say much.” Eddie thought.
“Ugh. Coworkers.”
“Where have you been the last few weeks?” Another asked.
“Oh you know, just spending time with the family.” Eddie smiled back.
“How is the little tyke?” A petite woman he recognized as an editor asked.
“As rambunctious as ever, it’s even crazier now with the four new ones.” Eddie laughed.
His laugh died in his throat when he saw how stunned they all looked.
“You have four new babies at home?”
Oh right, he remembered, suddenly acquiring four new offspring wasn’t exactly how normal families operated.
“Nice, Eddie.”
Eddie just kept laughing nervously until Venom shoved his watch in front of his face- it was four o’clock!
“Is that the time? I gotta go! See you guys later!” Eddie practically vomited the words out and quickly left the office.
They flung open the door of the daycare with a grand gesture.
“We’re back!”
The teachers looked unimpressed but all the three year olds looked confused- even their own.
“Dad, I wanna stay!” Phage pouted.
“Me too!” Scream agreed.
Eddie frowned, this was not the exciting, heartfelt reunion he had been picturing all day.
“Looks like they’ve made some friends, Eddie.”
“But...But its time to go home.” Eddie replied.
“Come now, you can come back tomorrow.” Venom instructed.
“Really?” Lasher asked.
“If you are good. Now, it is time to go home.”
And their kids always listened to Venom.