LAURA

I was cold. Which was very strange from how I usually felt because I was a really warm person. Born with a fever, my mom told me. Eddie loved my warm hands, which was a plus because I adored his cold ones. 

But this was a different kind of chill. It was bitter and uninviting. I minutes, the hot bath that Eddie had run for me had turned cold. I sat there, hours till the end, staring at my reflection in the rippling water. Because it wasn't mine. 

My face was sheathed with a mask of white, cold black triangular shapes that stretched past my temples and dissolved into my hairline. My teeth pierced out of my pink fleshed mouth, a prehensile tongue lolling out like a snake's. The thing that looked back at me was surreal, a monster that ate trash out of a dumpster truck. 

This is the new you, Laura. The new us.

'It's hideous.'

You continue to offend our cover. But, I like you too much to hurt you.

'That's the last thing I need. Feel free to change your host.'

We've accomplished symbiosis. Why would I?

'Because I hate you.'

Like that's going to change anything about how I feel about you.

For an alien thing, it definitely had a mouth. A sharp pain shot up my head, Sin whining at the fresh bruise that bloomed at Eddie's impact, yet to finish healing.

Our male is outside the door.

I stuck my head higher to see the shadow that surfaced between the crack. A small smile lit my face at his adorable actions.

'Can you sense what he's feeling?'

He's lonely. He yearns for lost his symbiote and feels disconnected from us.

Oh, Eddie. And, all I ever cared about for the last two days was myself. Eddie lost Venom and he's probably experiencing pain worse than myself. He had willingly given me space than to urge me with questions. I didn't deserve Eddie Brock.

'Me. Not you.'

Us. Always us.

I let out a sigh of defeat and stepped out of the tub. Pulling the stopper, I let the water drain out and wrapped my warm towel around my body. I let the door creak open to signify my arrival and shut it behind me. We were at my apartment, mostly because May was out for the night and we had the place all to ourselves.

Eddie had taken a certain liking to my room. When I'd asked him he had laughed and told me how the place resembled a microcosm of color and that it looked like it belonged to a disciplined child. 

Speaking of Eddie, he was leaning onto the kitchen counter which was a foot away from the door. He straightened when he saw me.

'How're you feeling?' He asked in a gentle voice. I let my eyes wander on his hesitant frame, his legs shifting weights. Eddie had dressed in his comfy clothes; a large jumper, shorts, and socks.

'Okay.'

Eddie took cautious steps to my stance and stuffed his fists on his pockets, knowing better than not to touch me. I thought differently. His lips twitched weirdly and I knew he was dying to let something out. And, he didn't stop himself.

'Trust me, I know how you feel. I'm not judging you for anything. Whatever happened to you has happened to me. So don't you dare pull that holier-than-thou shit of yours and distance out. Because that's fucking shallow - '

'Eddie,' I said and placed a hand over his shoulder with an obliged smile. 'I get it. Thanks and I promise I won't.'

'Great. Permission to kiss you?'

'Granted.'

He let out a relieved sigh and smoothed his lips against mine when his hands dragged through my damp hair. He moved it softly, urging mine open. His hands went behind my back, grabbing my towel-clad ass and pushing me closer. His playful fingers traversed up, tweaking the edge of my towel and unwrapping it. My eyes went wide when I heard Sin's voice in my head.

Someone's at the door.

'Shit,' I spoke into his lips, forcing us apart and holding my towel in place. Eddie's face held surprise when he shot his head to the unlocking entrance and a frizzy-maned May stepping in. 

She screeched when she saw me in my loosely hanging towel. 'What the fuck, Laura?'

I struggled to secure it in place, Sin coming to the rescue. A tentacle shot out to fasten the towel in place, reeling back into my skin. Eddie watched this with smirking eyes.

'Thankew,' I whispered under my breath. 

You're welcome.

'Now that's in my brain,' she helplessly said to the ceiling. Her gray eyes narrowed down at me when I shifted uncomfortably. 'Gah, you have really weird tits - '

'Oh-kay,' I said in a loud voice to stop her sentence. Eddie tugged his lips, holding back laughter. 'Hi, May. Bye, May.'

'Whatever kinky shit your man likes, best you do it in your own room, Sharp. I did not need to see that.'

'Yeah, sure. G'night.'

Dragging Eddie into my room, I locked the door behind me. Plastering my body against it, I slapped a palm over my eyes to stop the heat that climbed up my cheeks. 

'You want to change out of that before . . . ' he raised his eyebrows and moving his gaze down to my exposed legs. I thwacked his shoulder which shook with laughter as I walked to my closet to pull out my the chunkiest sweater I owned and thermal tights.

A reverse strip-show later, we had ended up on my canopy bed with his big arm wrapped around me. Sin went silent in my head, wondering why ET was no longer pestering and invasive.

I'm giving you space with our male.

'Oh,' I murmured lowly. 'That's nice.'

'What is?' Eddie asked.

'Sin's giving me space,' I repeated. Eddie's laugh dissolved into a longing sigh. I dug my chin into his shoulder and looked at him curiously. He was thinking about Venom. I didn't need an alien to explain that to me.

'Are you okay?' I asked softly. 'You look very lost.'

'It's just,' he said. Tapping his temple, he explained. 'It's really quiet up here. And it doesn't feel right without him.'

'You miss him.'

'Too much. Jesus, I never imagined I'd miss that parasite.'

'I'm going to help you get him back,' I promised. 'We have to find something related to Keith Malik. Or whatever he is.'

'Tel-Kar,' he ground out. 'I'm gonna have to go through the private archives in the basement for information on that fucker.'

I smirked. 'No way. Isn't that criminal?'

'I'm getting my symbiote back. Even if it means playing dirty.'

'What about me?' I pouted.

He seemed taken aback with an amusing smile. 'What about you?'

'I want to help, too,' I mused. 'I'm sneaky, y'know. And resourceful.'

'Actually, you can help. Start off by finding a temporary job.'

'Low blow, Debby Downer,' I narrowed my eyes. An involuntary shudder wracked my body, my teeth chattering lightly. Eddie became alert, curling his arm tighter around me.

'You good?'

'Yeah,' I shivered. 'Just freezing.'

'Here,' he mumbled and pulled the covers over me, cocooning us into the thick blanket. Even with my chunky sweater, a layer of blanket and an Eddie - I was freezing. 

'You'll get used to it soon enough. The symbiote is adjusting to your body.'

The way Eddie spoke about symbiotes made me want to retch and feel bad at the same time. There was a certain glint to him with Venom, but of course, there were good days and bad. But, he cared so much about ET.

Me being a person with no mouth-to-brain filter blurted my thoughts unthinkingly.

'Take Sin.'

Eddie's jaw went agape. And, scoffed. 'Laur, you're tired and - '

'Take my symbiote.'

What?!

An alien force pulled me out the bedspread, sending me zooming across the room and binding my back into the wall next to my vanity. Eddie shot up from the bed, not knowing how to react.

I groaned. 'Hey, what the hell!' 

You are not giving me up. You are my host, you are mine!

'Let me go, you neurotic goo!' I whisper-yelled, careful not to attract May's attention. I tried wrenching my hands away from the wall, but strings of Sin's tendrils stuck me down

I am not goo! And, you are mine!

I chuckled with dry humor. 'I am not yours! My body is just a rental until you get to wherever the heck you have to go.'

That is not true. We are one. We cannot be parted.

'You are obviously suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, you sick parasite!'

With a tweak of my neck, my head banged into the wall with immense force. I saw stars for a good two seconds. 

I sniffed in pain. 'Ow.'

I am not a parasite! Or goo, or an alien!

Eddie understood what was happening and pushed himself out of the mattress. Rolling his eyes, he crossed his arms over his chest like an angry dad.

'I'm not going take you away from her,' Eddie spoke directly to the symbiote. 'So, let her go.'

I don't trust this male.

'He doesn't trust you,' I answered with the pain still wracking my head. Eddie flinched when he saw the bruise that started to bloom over the same spot he had knocked me out with.

'My symbiote is out there,' he mused. 'I can't cheat on him.' I made a noise at the back of my throat and he winked. I shook my head. 

Fine. But I have my eyes on him.

My body flopped to the ground like a ragdoll, my hand immediately going to the back of my neck to caress the wound. I rubbed it gently, wondering if it were bleeding. Eddie's warm hand felt good against the bruise as he kneaded it tenderly.

'That's nasty,' he murmured. 'You have an extremely possessive symbiote.'

'He keeps telling me about how I'm his,' I said, the very sentence evoking shudders in my body. Eddie grinned at that, leaning close into my ear. His voice husked darkly, blowing hot breaths into my hair.

'I'm not willing to share you, Sharp. I laid my eyes on you first.'