07. 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒏

WHEN Eddie screamed, it was a girl's scream.

That's simply how Riley perceived it, as she genuinely thought it was a girl screaming. She might've imagined she herself had screamed, but she knew she didn't.

And with the loud thud that followed, the combination startled her so much that she dropped her phone onto the floor, suddenly on her feet, and ran into the bathroom.

Now she didn't know what the fuck she saw, but for a split second, she could've sworn she saw white eyes, or something along those lines, stitched into her father's face.

No, no. That's crazy--

Quite quickly though, Riley realized that her father was unresponsive, meaning he indeed stayed where he was.

"Dad?" Riley called cautiously, "oh shit- Dad?!"

Again, no response. Instinctively, she just ran to him, not giving two fucks about what she thought she saw. She just wanted her father to be okay.

"Dad-- okay, um-- just wait here, I'm gonna go get help!" She tries to pat her father's shoulder lightly so as not to wake him, yet that's just what she wants to do.

She freezes as she doesn't really have a clue about what she's doing, her mind endlessly looping - frantically - on what the hell to do.

She draws a blank every time.

Slamming her hands down on the tub rim, she just thinks of the easiest possible answer to the situation for her.

Call Peter.

If she saw what she thinks she saw around her Dad's eyes, then her best bet at figuring any of this out is to call Peter, who although might not have had the same experience, still had something happen to him.

Or have some information on what to do when your father screams from the bathroom and
then proceeds to end up in the bathtub, taking the shower curtain down with him.

"C'mon, c'mon, pick up Peter, pick up," she mutters quickly, and then he picks up.

"Riley?"

"Peter, thank God, okay, so um, I need your help, like now!" She relays him rapidly of her panic. 

"Riley? I- what happened?"

"I- my dad, he--" she stutters, not sure how to explain the situation. A groan, however, stops her from spitting anything else out. She spins on her heel, turning to see her dad starting to move from the tub. "Dad? What the hell- are you okay?!" 

Eddie just groans some more, this time quieter as he stumbles to get up. Riley grabs his arm, helping him up slowly, her phone on the bathroom counter. 

"I'm fine-- just fine," Eddie grumbles, starting to fumble towards the door.

Riley lets go of him, wary of his state but knowing he can't go anywhere too quickly without her and turns back to the phone. It's been quiet on Peter's end, as he's just been curiously listening, waiting for Riley to return.

Riley takes a breath in, a thought popping up in her head. "Uh, Peter? Uh, yeah, it's fine, were- I got it covered, uh, I have to go." 

And she hangs up, just before Peter tries to answer. He blinks, sitting on his bed, suddenly pulling the screen away from his ear to stare at it. Weird, he thinks, I mean, I'm sure she's got it under control.

Riley is proud for a moment, as Peter doesn't call back immediately. That meant her reassuring tone made Peter believe her, however it didn't convince her. 

It wasn't meant for her, but she'd half hoped she'd have helped herself.

Her father was now walking around their living room, staring around at the mess he'd made. "Jesus," Eddie muttered, starting to close the open cabinets and freezer door.

Riley followed him slowly, as he stopped by the island, focused on his phone. 

"Dad?" she squeaked out, creeping to see what he was looking at. 

Eddie didn't budge, didn't answer her, nor try to hide what he was looking at. He was flipping through photos of someplace.

To Riley, of course, it was just someplace with some weird-looking people, but to Eddie, it was fresh in his mind.

In the LIFE lab, photos of those experimented on were staring back at him. He stopped at one of a woman with dark hair, her thin frame crumbled in on itself.

Maria.

Eddie knew her, though he couldn't really remember who she was. His brain was fuzzy like there was some sort of buzzing in the back of his head, something keeping him from really feeling or hearing anything.

Riley then watched as Eddie zoomed in, and not a second later Riley realized that was the lady she saw near Ms. Chen's shop. 

Her eyes widen, and her brain clicks the pieces she has together. Her heart speeds up, she feels it, as a nervous heat starts to spread from her back and into the rest of her body.

She tries to steady her breath, confused as to why her father has those pictures and, more importantly, where he took those pictures. 

She slowly steps back, trying to be as quiet as possible. She believes her father's lost it, somehow.

He wouldn't have those pictures on his phone, although he's seen the worst of what can be shown on the news because of his show, but never has it been about someone they both know. This lets alone the fact that it's not just someone he knows. 

"I gotta go," Eddie puts his phone in his back pocket, then moves to head out the door. 

Riley's fear, which had bloomed from her anxiety, had vanished. How or why she didn't know. If only it worked like that all the time, she joked. But then her feet carried her to the door, quicker than her father. 

Eddie tilted his head, staring at the girl in front of him. His head was still fuzzy, knowing it was his daughter in front of him, but again not remembering really anything about her.

He didn't know what her favorite color was, what her favorite candy was, or what her favorite 80s movie was. He couldn't remember.

But something inside him that was stirring, buzzing, whatever the fuck he would call it, died away suddenly when Riley's voice rang out, loud yet shaky. 

He'd only heard her like that whenever she was about to cry, and he didn't see her cry often. Only a couple of times when she was little, and very rarely when she'd gotten past the age of thirteen. 

"Dad, stop." 

And that was all it took, as Eddie blinked, head clear. Her eyes were wide, redder than before, and glassy.

He blurted, "I'm sorry." 

And then he didn't care what instinct was pulling him a certain direction, as he gently tugged Riley to him and gave her a light hug. He felt her hug him back, and he felt the guilt prick at his throat.

He was supposed to be taking care of Riley as her father, not the other way around. So he planted a light kiss on the top of her head, apologized again, and then kept his hands on her shoulders, pulling out of the hug. 

"But I have to go. I, I gotta go do something for work." Eddie raised his brows in hope of her understanding, but that was quickly wiped out with a tactic he knew well.

Hell, he'd made it.

Whenever he was irritated or angry, his face would scrunch up, eyebrows down with his eyes telling a hell of a story. His head would tilt with his body, arms crossed at his chest. 

And Riley was practically a mirror image of that. 

Eddie sighed heavily, knowing she was a wall. "Kid, you make a better door than a window." 

Riley perked her chin up at that statement, her whole demeanor empty of any anger towards her father's secrecy within the instant.

Her hands had flopped down to her sides, her lips a smirk as she pulled the door open for her father. Her eyes were back to a brighter blue, full of light and curiousity.

"Ha! I think I get some points for that!" She poked at the bear, Eddie rolling his eyes. 

"Mm, nope." 

"What?! No no no no, I-" 

Eddie spins around faster than when a dog hears the word 'treat', "No no no no! Yeah, I win."  He mocks, and Riley groans loudly, rolling her eyes at this.

"Well, I don't care! And by the way, just because I stuttered doesn't mean YOU win all the time, plus it's rude! Are you saying that if someone has a stutter, you're automatically better than them?! Woah, Dad-" 

"That is definitely not what I said, Miss Know-It-All. I never actually said anything about stuttering, that was just you acknowledging the loss!" Eddie fires back playfully, and the two of them headed down the stairs of the apartment. 

Riley scoffs, trying desperately to think of something else to say to him. She draws up a blank, and Eddie chuckles, pride in his step. "I win. Go ahead." Riley clicks her tongue, briskly walking out the gated door. 

A breeze of fresh air hit the pair as they headed out, both quieting down after their one of many games of 'insults'. The quiet brings the bustle and hustle of San Francisco to life, with cars, and people filling the speechless walk.

It also brings on the reality of the situation, that both Brocks don't personally want to access.

They're the same in many ways, Riley and Eddie are, but the biggest being that they both have their ways of escape. 

For Eddie, it was his job. Ironic, yes, but it fits him. For Riley, it's her art.

Painting anything from the same sunsets of San Francisco to Peter in his suit calms her, and lets her imagination run wild. Though the same sinsets are frusterating her, she believes she might be able to get out of this rut.

And now neither of them can have that, not right now. Eddie's mind wanders, and the crowds of chatter and the cars rumbling start to quiet without his permission.

He swallows, his breath becoming slightly shallower. He doesn't like this feeling, as his pace speeds up as he rounds a corner, the buzzing in the back of his head reappearing louder than before.

Riley only tries to keep up with his pace, one of his steps being two of hers. She brushes it off, seeing it as normal. She doesn't notice her father's growing anxious panic himself, not until he whips out his phone. 

He dials a number, as his mind reverts to the number, quieter one, "Hi, can I speak to Anne Weying, please? Uh, yeah can you tell her it's an emergency please.." Eddie starts, his walk becoming less combobulated than before.

Now Riley starts to see this, and a frown appears. 

"Dad?" She asks, tapping his arm, but he doesn't notice. Riley knows Anne was a friend of his, something like that. What she doesn't know is that suddenly, Eddie's real panic blooms. 

FOOD.  

Eddie lets out a small yell, which in turn makes Riley let out a small yell too, suddenly turning wildly to see what he's trying to look at.

Riley sees nothing that could be threatening: just people walking by, and the usual cars driving on the road. Nothing out of the ordinary. 

But Eddie would care to disagree. "Who said that?" He asks aloud, eyes wide. 

Riley looks back, listening to her father as she scans the area further. "Wha- no I'm not talking to you-- can you just tell me where she is?" Eddie practically spits, his panic now shared with Riley.

She doesn't know what to do or say, as her father seems to be in the same state he was when he got up from the bathroom, except now allowing advanced body movements. 

Almost like it was alien before, moving seems incredibly human to him now. 

So Riley follows him, listening to him give a thanks to the person, suddenly hanging up. She doesn't see the contact on his text message list almost right after, from Dora Skirth to BE CAREFUL.

Of course, if she had seen that, she would've made them turn back around and used her instincts to go home, where they probably have a better chance of BEING CAREFUL. 

She wouldn't have followed Eddie blindly, right to Anne Weying at the fancy restaurant with the tank of lobsters. 

"Excuse me- yeah I know-" Eddie pushes his way through the waiter and hostess in the front, Riley suddenly stopping, staring at where she is. 

"Oh shit-" she mumbles to herself, jaw dropped open. "Uh-- I'm with him? Um- excuse me.." 

Eddie kneels to a blonde woman at a table with another man,  startling the pair. Riley comes up to them as Eddie has his phone out, showing Anne the photos he was staring at in the kitchen earlier. 

Riley's eyes widen even more, suddenly grabbing his phone from his hands, exclaiming, "Dad!" Then she sees Anne staring at her, all while Eddie tried to explain what he was seeing.

Anne frowns, sharing Riley's confused glance as the tables closer to them start to stare. Out of the blue, Eddie snatches his phone back, earning a Hey! from Riley.

"Okay, Dad that's-!"

"Are you drunk Eddie?" 

"Wha- no no no, its, I broke into the LIFE foundation and-" 

Eddie looked like shit, as Anne placed a hand on his forehead, "I think he's burning up."

The man across from her starts to speak, as Riley looks around at the people staring, panic clouding her senses. She doesn't know what the hell to do. 

"He's not sick- I, well he might be but-" She stutters, interrupted by Anne's friend.

"Hey, Eddie you look like your in a bad way right now-"

Eddie shoots upright, Riley stumbling back, "Yeah, I am in a bad way right now-" 

Riley can't stop Eddie as a second later he's grabbed a piece of lobster, biting the head off and chewing it. She lets out a low gasp, alongside most of the others in the restaurant, all eyes on them.

Eddie spins around, slamming the lobster back on the plate, the waiter almost dropping it, just after Eddie spits the lobster across the room. 

"What the fu-" 

"Jesus Eddie!" Anne exclaims, just as shocked as Riley. 

"This is dead- dead!" Eddie growls, his eyes low as he moves on instinct.

Of course, it's not his instinct, no. It's someone else, something else's instinct. And it's stronger than any human reaction, even stronger than fear. And fear is the most dangerous instinct humans are capable of wielding.

Anne shouts, "Eddie, snap out of it!" She's standing now, reeling towards Eddie as he made his way to a nearby table, trying to find a live creature to eat, however, is pulled back by Anne's friend.

"Dad, stop it!" Riley steps in the middle, just as Anne slaps Eddie, and Eddie doesn't seem to mind. He grabs Anne's friend's face, making some inhuman sound, then grunting and letting go harshly.

Riley's heartbeat is thumping in her blood, clouding her judgment, as she whips her head around to see the room staring and mumbling things when she sees it. 

A tank. The tank she passed earlier, with live lobsters in it. But a hand grabs her violently, and she spins to see Eddie had grabbed her, inspecting her face. "Dad-??" she exclaims, suddenly getting pulled another way, backward.

It was by a stranger, a random man whose food was thrown by Eddie, and Eddie didn't particularly like that. He yanked Riley harder, away from the man and behind - she almost fell into Anne who caught her - just as Eddie slammed the man's face into the table, breaking his nose. 

Anne's friend, M.D. Dan Lewis, grabbed Eddie and reeled him back abruptly, immediately heading to the man to apologize despite Eddie's wild, even dangerous, state. 

Breathing shaky, eyes wide, Riley doesn't waste a second as Dan follows Eddie, and she pushes past the both of them, trying to get to that tank before Eddie does. 

Instead of stopping Eddie by blocking the tank, she accidentally drew his attention to it, as he runs around and starts to climb into it. Anne rushes near, as Riley steps back behind the woman, watching in dreadful awe at her father's crazy actions. 

"No, Eddie don't you dare-!"

It's too late, as Eddie plopped himself into the tank, smiling away. The hostess, angry at this crazy man ruining her restaurant and disturbing the peace, threatens to call the police on him, and his daughter too, but Dan stops her, reaching a handout. 

He thinks quickly, blurting out the first thing that comes to his head, "No no, don't call the police, call an ambulance- I-I'm a doctor and he's my- my patient.." 

Anne runs back up, "You are insane!" Riley won't disagree, however, her father's words catch her attention too, suddenly steps up to the tank.

"Killing people!" Eddie whisper-yells, "He's killing people!"

"Who, Dad, who?!" Riley tries to make him relax slightly, trying to drag his attention to her, to a conversation he believes he can control. If he can control a conversation, or believe he is, then she might just be able to get him to relax until the ambulance gets here. 

"Carlton Drake!" He spits out, and Anne rolls her eyes.

"Oh God Eddie, not this again-"

"Carlton Drake is- and I have proof!!" They start to whisper and argue and Riley scoffs angrily as she feels overwhelmed.

But being his daughter, she deals with overwhelming stress as he does. She outbursts, letting out emotions instead of bottling them up. She becomes acute to his eyes, how red the veins become, and she moves to grab Dan's sleeve, just as Eddie slams down on the water, grabbing a live lobster. 

"Help him, now!" She shouts, shoving him towards her father. Dan complies, rushing to Eddie and laying a hand on his arm to steady him, but it ultimately fails and places it on the tank edge timidly.

"Hey, Eddie..."

AUTHORS NOTE - SO SORRY for not uploading in so long, my apologies!

i just wanted to get this out before finals start (i have them wednesday through friday this week- ugh) and then i can try to get a more regular schedule lmao!

ALSO i can watch the venom movie -without it being dubbed as piracy and/or illegal- because i have made an account on vudu with both venom and venom 2! woop woop!

anywho, another big thanks for sticking in here with me, i appreciate it! love you all <333

ALSO HAPPY PRIDE MONTH^^^