Fic: recovery (Comfortember)

[csi_sanders1129]

Title: recovery
Chapters: 1/1
Author:csi_sanders1129
Genre: Hurt/Comfort.
Ratings: T
Word Count: 893
Pairings/Characters: Eddie Brock, Venom
Synopsis: In which Eddie finds the empty space Venom left behind hard to ignore.
Comments: Written for my last prompt for Comfortember 2020, Prompt: Recovery. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!

Eddie feels… numb.

Empty.

As weird as it had been, sharing his mind and his body with a very hungry symbiotic alien, Eddie finds the void Venom leaves him with after the fight with Riot and Drake hard to ignore.

He doesn't remember swimming back to shore, but he must have, because that's where Anne finds him, soaked through and sitting there in the sand with his arms curled around his knees, shaking in the chill of the night air, staring, unblinking at the water, waiting for some sign that Venom survived.

She asks him questions, but he doesn't have the words to answer, doesn't even know the answers to some of them. Eventually, she coaxes him into her car as countless crews from a multitude of government organizations arrive to deal with the explosion of the shuttle. No doubt Drake's corruption comes out now, but after the last few days, Eddie can't bring himself to care about that the way he did before.

She takes him back to her place, where Dan is waiting. They talk him into a shower – mostly he just stands under the steady stream of too hot water trying to feel something until they talk him back out – and then into some borrowed clothes. Dan looks him over somewhere in that process (likely alarmed by the clear indications of very serious wounds evident in his shirt), but Venom hadn't left a trace of the fight on his body. When it's clear that he's not up to talking (hell, he's barely up to existing), they let him sleep.

That's strange enough on its own. Being back in this place, this room, on the sofa he helped drag up the stairs when he and Anne first moved in, settled under the blanket Anne had brought with her from her childhood home. Strangely, he finds that he can't make himself care about that in this weird aftermath either - for the first time since his interview with Drake got Anne fired, he doesn't think of trying to win Anne back. He just wants Venom.

Somehow, in his near catatonia, he manages to drift off to sleep long enough for Anne and Dan to finally head to bed themselves, but when he jolts awake again, it's to the feeling of ravenous hunger.

"Venom?" he mumbles, still half-asleep.

No response comes, but somehow Eddie is sure that his symbiote is still there, after all. Just… small and weak and fragile. Healing. Unfortunately, Eddie can't do that for Venom, not the way Venom can put his broken body back together, at least. But, he can ensure that Venom has whatever he needs to get better.

He gets off the sofa, locates his shoes (still very squishy) and quietly takes his leave, using his knowledge of this place to avoid the squeaky floorboards and the creaky door to keep from waking Anne and Dan.

There's an all-night chain grocery store a few blocks down from Anne and Dan's place. He hates shopping there – but tonight he has no choice. They are open and they'll have what he needs. He buys an obscene amount of meat. He adds a couple bags of tater tots and a wide array of chocolate to his purchases, bags it all up and heads for the closest hotel.

The night clerk doesn't bat an eye at his appearance (disheveled, ill-fitting cloths) or his odd groceries, which Eddie appreciates as he trades the last of his cash for a room.

"Whatever you want, buddy," he tells Venom, when he's safely locked away from the world. "Eat up. I got you."

Venom doesn't respond, not in words, but he can feel a low rumble of appreciation somewhere in the depths of his mind and Eddie feels such a sense of relief, knowing that Venom really is still with him, that it hadn't just been his imagination. He clings to that little flicker of hope. For now, it seems, Eddie has to do the eating, so he dives in, eats until he can't stand to anymore, and passes out on the hotel bed.

The next time he wakes, Venom's a little more present. "Eddieeeee…" he croons, and even his voice sounds exhausted, "Soo… Hungryyyyy…" Eddie can take a hint, so he gets up and makes himself eat more. The combination of raw meat, barely-thawed tater tots and chocolates is not terribly appetizing, but if it helps Venom…

"Feeling any better?" Eddie asks, some considerable amount of time later, when he has to stop again.

Slowly, black ooze creeps its way off of his skin, and Venom's head forms from it, looking at him. "Yes," he manages, even though he probably shouldn't be expending whatever energy is needed to form like this. Still, he devours an entire bag of tater tots in one gulp (which Eddie is grateful for, because he'd be quite happy if he never saw another tater tot again, thank you very much).

"That really did a number on you, huh?" Eddie says. He knows Venom was already feeling it when Riot ripped them away from each other, but then Venom had shielded him from the shuttle explosion as it burned him away. Venom had said goodbye. Venom had thought he wouldn't make it. "Glad you're still with me, buddy."

"No one will pull us apart again, Eddie," Venom assures him. "Never again."