First Steps
“Ahahahahahaha!” Sleeper is screaming and laughing and running through the house.
Today, Sleeper took his first real steps. All by himself at Flash and Andi’s apartment and everyone was rightfully thrilled. Pictures, videos, cheering. Flash cried more than Eddie did.
Sleeper’s uncertain little steps evolved into excited running within a few hours. The baby was fully mobile now and had absolutely no intention of slowing down.
Well, Sleeper had no intention of slowing down at least. His little 9-month old body however could not stay upright or balanced for any notable amount of time. Right now, Sleeper could walk or run for a sustained three minutes at a time before tripping or slipping or toppling over.
So, they really should be able to catch him.
“Left!” Eddie yells running down the upstairs hallway.
“No, right!” Venom corrects him.
Eddie turns in the direction Venom says and spots Sleeper just as his balance gives out and he dissolves into a slithery goo the second before his body hits the floor.
“Shit!”
Eddie’s world slants sharply forward as he reaches desperately for the baby who races for the top of the stairs. Just as Sleeper’s shapeless symbiote form spills down the top step Eddie manages to wrap his hands around the fluttering black and green blob. Lucky for Eddie, Venom wrapped around him before he went down the stairs himself.
Sleeper regains his humanoid form as he shrieks and giggles uncontrollably. This was so fun!! He runs away Mama and Papa have to catch him!
Sleeper already loved this walking and running stuff but unfortunately for Eddie and Venom his hybrid physiology, while exceedingly unique, did not prevent him from feeling pain. They’d learned their lessons with Carnage first and then with Agony, Phage, Lasher and Scream in quick succession. Now Sleeper would benefit from their tested knowledge that falling down the stairs would in fact, hurt.
“Carnage Edward Brock, I’m serious!” Eddie was desperately hoping their 10-month old, who had not ever listened to him before, might listen to him now.
“Chase! Chase! Chase!” Carnage cried back.
Sweet little rambunctious Carnage didn’t want to be chased, they wanted to chase. Hunt, to be more accurate to their budding natural instincts. Normally, Eddie and Venom wouldn’t mind if they were chasing a dust bunny or a bug or even a piece of New York City’s abundant litter. But Carnage being Carnage, was trying to chase down a rat the size of a small dog- with sharp teeth and claws and innumerable diseases.
Carnage was still very young and Eddie and Venom didn’t yet have a good idea of what would and wouldn’t hurt them. Carnage wasn’t likely to catch a cold or the croup but they didn’t know where rabies or the bubonic plague landed in terms of their unique and uncertain immune system.
“Chase! Chase! Snack! Mine!” Carnage was squealing and reaching excitedly as they ran.
Carnage’s vocabulary was expanding and so was their mobility. A month ago they could tottle and walk a little and now they were chasing potential food.
Dirty, unsanitary, live food.
“Carnage!”
Carnage teetered sideways a little and stopped for a moment. That voice from their father always meant they better listen.
They had brought Carnage up to the secluded roof of their dilapidated apartment building which usually gave the three of them some private playtime away from nosey neighbors. But today when a very large rat skittered across a pipe onto the rooftop Carnage got up and took off faster than they ever have before.
Suddenly, bringing a 10-month old child onto the open roof of a thirteen story building did not seem like a good idea.
Carnage stared at Venom for a brief moment before ultimately deciding that chasing rats was more fun than listening to their parents. What worried Eddie most was their unpredictable shifting between baby-shaped and symbiote-shaped, the latter being marginally faster and easier to control right now.
Both Carnage’s running and slithering were quick and their small size made them incredibly agile- in short, they were hard to catch and harder to hold still. Eddie and Venom each had caught them and locked them in their arms but Carnage managed to slip away every time. It was like trying to catch and hold a current of water.
“Yaaaaaaaah!!” Carnage cheered as they pursued the rodent all the way to very edge of the rooftop.
“Venom!!” Eddie panicked at seeing them run right to the edge without hesitation.
Eddie reached out and Venom reached even further, extending off of Eddie’s own forearms and fingertips. They watched helplessly and terrified as Carnage lost their footing, collapsed into a ball of goop and disappear out of sight off the edge of the building towards the alley below.
“CARNAGE!” They both screamed, leaning far over the edge of the rooftop still reaching out with their hands groping fruitlessly at the air.
Seeing the pool of crimson, easily mistaken for human blood which they weren’t sure if Carnage had or not, stopped Eddie’s heart. His own blood drained from his face completely as he feared the worst.The rat scurried across the metal fire escape they and their baby landed on a foot or two below the roof’s edge. Carnage rippled and quivered before pulling back into their humanoid shape crying.
“WAAAAAAH!” Tears pouring down their little face as Venom stretched down and pulled them up.
Eddie couldn’t even breathe as they gathered the baby snugly against his chest.
“Are they okay?! Are they okay?!” He couldn’t tell.
“I think so…the fall didn’t seem to bother them but the landing did. They’ve never fallen down like that before without one of us catching them. I believe it hurt but no more than a simple trip and fall any child would experience…It is relative I think. I do not particularly wish to test the theory.”
“Absolutely not.” Eddie agrees wiping the tears off Carnage’s face.
They sniffle and whimper a little before clinging to their parents for cuddles and reassurance- the remedy all babies needed when they took a spill.
“Well…maybe you’ll listen to us from now on.” Eddie sighs before kissing them, relieved.
Four years later Agony, Scream, Lasher and Phage were pretty skilled at walking and running when they discovered the young children in the Life Foundation labs but they had a lot fewer experiences with feeling safe.
One afternoon after lunch, all four of the three year olds were put down for naps which usually wasn’t a big deal. But today there were nothing but tantrums and tears and scratching and biting. After more than two hours the toddlers had more or less exhausted themselves and were corralled into their bunkbeds.
“They haven’t been this difficult all week…I was really hoping we’d finally made a breakthrough.” Eddie frowns and his shoulders sag.
“We cannot expect they will not have setbacks. They have been through so much and they need us to be patient with them.”
Eddie nods because he knows Venom is right and he needs to be patient but he loves their new children so much and he wants to be able to hug and kiss them and play with them and make them feel safe and he just can’t yet. It’s killing him.
Carnage spends their most of their weekdays in preschool this year. They had been yearning for independence and adventure outside of the house and with the overwhelming addition of new and unpredictable younger siblings- Eddie and Venom were glad to give it to them. They were doing very well in preschool, if not a little rebellious and unruly according to their teachers. They had anticipated as much though. Carnage was nothing if not Carnage.
They take the rare opportunity of silence in their house to get a moment’s rest for themselves. Eddie lies on the couch while Venom flips through the TV channels so fast he’s sure they don’t even know what it is they don’t want to watch.
“How long to you think it’ll take…? For them to trust us, I mean.” Eddie asks out loud.
“It is difficult to say. I did not measure time until I met you.”
“...Really?”
“Never needed to. Only needed to know where the next meal was. There are many planets, galaxies and memories where night was too long to measure. There was only darkness before you, Eddie.”
“I…I never knew that.” His voice comes out soft.
“There was only darkness before you for the children as well. They will undoubtedly come to love you as much as Carnage and I do.”
A stubborn lump swelled up in Eddie’s throat, damn parasite always knew exactly what he needed.
Before they could even enjoy their time alone there was a loud pop followed by crashing sound that came from the children’s first floor bedroom down the hall. They were both running down the hall and bursting through the bedroom door within seconds. Agony, Scream and Lasher were quietly watching the bedroom window with wide opal eyes. The window was pushed open and the screen had fallen out.
“What happened??!” Eddie practically jumps through the open window.
Phage is an orange puddle in the grass below the open window and Eddie scoops him up and pulls him back inside.
“What are you doing?! Are you crazy?!” Eddie realizes too late how forceful he sounds.
Phage snaps back into form and looks frightened for a second before he looks angry. The small child crosses his arms and turns around- pointedly ignoring Eddie.
The siblings look expectantly between their brother and their parents.
“Phage…I’m sorry I yelled. Will you tell me what happened?” Eddie tries very gently.
Phage shakes his head and won’t turn around.
“Phage?” Eddie places a hand on the little boy’s shoulder and tries to turn him around but he refuses to budge.
“Phage. Can you tell me what happened?” Venom tries.
“Wanted to play outside.” He replies.
“You climbed out the window to go outside and play?”
Phage nods.
“Did Daddy hurt your feelings when he yelled?”
Phage nods.
“Daddy was loud because he was scared not because he was angry. He thought you were hurt. He worries very much about you and your siblings.”
Phage turns a little a that.
“Did falling out of the window hurt?”
Phage frowns and nods.
“Do you hate Daddy now?”
Phage lowers his eyes and frowns deeper before shaking his head vigorously.
“Would you still like to play outside?”
Phage turns all the way around with a hopeful look on his face and nods.
“Will you let Daddy take you and your siblings outside? I think he would like to.”
Phage nods more excitedly and inches into Eddie’s arms and allows himself to be carried. The others also follow much more closely than before, grabbing onto Eddie’s pantlegs.
Sleeper is making a break for the front door and they’re chasing after him when he starts running across the wall like a gravity defying baby penguin. Their children never cease to amaze and are only getting smarter.
“Mama! Mama! Look!” Sleeper is excitedly laughing and telling Eddie to watch his new trick.
Venom is able to grab him just as his little claws are grasping for the door handle and wraps him up tight in their arms. Sleeper laughs and shrieks and flails gleefully as Eddie blows raspberries on his tummy.