"Why don't you pick on someone your own size."

Being normal was something Erika had used to strive to be, the desire not feel stupid or awkward, to feel like she belonged in a world that was torn apart by ruin, to be something she wasn't desperately. Of course, she had still been learning to grow out of such pathetic wants that only served the purpose to be like everyone else, learning to be comfortable in her own skin, in her own ruined flesh, in her grief scarred mind...before she had been possessed by VENOM and then her only concern was making sure she didn't eat the pizza delivery boy every time she ordered.

Which was actually getting more and more difficult with every day that passed, well, it had only been a couple weeks since the whole dying in an alleyway after being stabbed in the gut thing, but still, she was pretty sure it was only a matter of time before she couldn't hold the annoying parasite off for any longer. Seriously, the other day he had leaned in to the apartment to plop the pizza on the side table while her hands had been full of laundry and she had licked his neck...the alien had made her lick his fucking neck with her physical tongue...yeah, definitely no more deliveries from Domino's.

The only sign of normalcy in her otherwise hectic life of being an aliens fucking meat suit was Peter, falling back into their grooves like they'd never been apart. Doing their homework together (which was usually him doing the homework while she fucked around with anything that caught her eye in the mess he called a bedroom) occasionally going out to her favourite cafe for doughnuts...and, of course, walking her home, which was exactly what they were doing now as they strolled along the street with his skateboard in his hand and a hot chocolate in her own.

"It wasn't even that funny, everyone falls over Erika and personally, I'm starting to think you like seeing me in pain and- oh, wait, before I forget Aunt May wanted to know if you wanted to come over for dinner this weekend. Said she'd even make her famous meatloaf if you promise not to, uh, throw up in the bathroom again."

"That was one fucking time! I had food poisoning!" And it didn't exactly help that it was her first time meeting his aunt and being in the Parker home, so of course she was going to be slightly nervous about it all. Then again, she supposed there was a difference between having some kind of stutter or something equally as nerve-wracking to projectile vomiting over every available surface in the bathroom...she always did wonder how they managed to fish out the chunks that had somehow managed to get upon the ceiling...not that she'd ever dare ask considering.

"She cried for like two hours! I had to whip out Michael Bubles greatest hits to make her stop." Peter laughed, grinning down at her, all teeth and blinding sunshine while she wanted the earth to just swallow her whole to save her from the embarrassment of that particular memory that haunted her just as her mournful ghosts did. Honestly, she didn't even know a human being could even throw up that much without dying, and yet she'd learned that day, oh, how she'd learned through a mouth flooded with bile.

"WHO IS MICHAEL AND CAN WE EAT HIM?"

"Shut up!" Erika hissed, jumping as the growling voice came out of nowhere, rumbling around the confines of her mind and almost making her shit herself as for one, blissful, minute, she had been able to pretend that the bane of her existence wasn't listening to their every conversation like the bastard he was. Well, it wasn't like he had much of a choice now that she thought about it, but still, sometimes it would be nice if the symbiote gave her some semblance of privacy considering she was kindly sharing her body with him...once again, not like she had much of a choice in that matter either.

"What? Oh, come on, I'm kidding! It wasn't uh...it wasn't that bad...I mean, the the smell did leave, y'know eventually." But obviously, Peter seemed to think it was him that she was talking to, probably because that would of been the more normal answer to her randomly sprouting words and insults to the voice in her head. His arm wrapped around her shoulder cheerfully, tucking her into his side with his brown eyes warm and fond which made her bleeding heart sing, the starvation of tenderness leaving her a slave to his mere scrap of affection, an absence of grief that welcomed her home.

"I hate you."

"You love me."

More than you will ever know, the thought came swiftly, a longing that burned her with desire as she hungered in silence...and yet just as she was about to say something, to shove him away, to scoff, to laugh, to argue...something flickered and shifted over the Parker boys face suddenly, half a wince, a furrow to his brow, a full body shiver that she could feel with her side pressed against his own as he froze before dragging his gaze down to look at her apologetically, like he was already mentally begging for forgiveness...as if she wouldn't forgive him for every sin he'd ever commit.

He was already unwinding himself from their embrace of his own creation before she could get a word in edge ways, foot already on the skateboard that she hadn't even heard touch the ground and his hands waving around as he frantically coughed out some kind of excuse that was a desperate attempt at making sense. "Hey, I'm really sorry- I just remembered I uh, I left my- I left my books? Yeah my books at school- I'm just gonna- yeah, I'll call you later! Don't wait up!"

"Sometimes I think he's even weirder than you are." Erika said slowly, watching as he quickly skated away like hell itself was chasing after him, keeping her gaze trained upon the fluffy mess that was his hair until he finally disappeared from view around the corner, pretending she couldn't hear the symbiote kicking up a fuss inside her mind for being called weird because how dare she insult him? Instead, she simply turned on her heel and got ready to walk to her apartment by herself...which wasn't scary in the slightest, of course, not one bit.

But before her foot could touch the ground there was a sudden stench in the air, a tasty aroma that made her mouth fill with salvia and very sharp teeth that weren't her own, that scraped across the gums that weren't meant to hold them. Blood, thick and heavy with rust, curling through the air like a wicked finger beckoning them forward as fear festered around them, taunting them, welcoming them as VENOM rumbled inside her mortal corpse, forcing her to feel the things he could, trying to make her desire them too, which was really fucking unnecessary and so very disgusting.

"Would you stop that! Behave! We can't act like this every time someone gets a papercut, you Edward Cullen wannabe." She hissed, risking a quick and frantic glance around herself to make sure there wasn't anyone present to see the madness that was quite literally within her and breathing a sigh of relief when there wasn't. She was really going to have to do something about that, maybe buy herself some new headphones to people simply thought she was on the phone? Or she could just start ignoring the symbiote all together, that was definitely the more appealing option, that she could admit.

"THAT IS AN INSULT!"

"Yeah, no shit! Just chill out, we're almost home and I'll make you a hot chocolate." That had been a mistake on her part, it had been a really, really cold day last weekend and she couldn't go to sleep because someone kept her up talking about the consistency of the human brain and how absolutely delicious it was, quite like scrambled eggs while she'd been trying to smother herself with her pillow to shut him out. However, she'd eventually got up and made herself the comfort drink that her father used to make her in the hope it would help her cope...and now the bastard was addicted.

"WITH MARSHMALLOWS!"

God, it was like having a child. A large, homicidal, man-eating child that just craved attention and food constantly. And Erika was pretty sure for that reason alone she'd never be having any of her own, if she got a choice in the matter that was, she didn't exactly know just how long the alien was going to stay around but she didn't dare let herself hope that he'd be fucking off and leaving her alone so she could go back to her shitty life where her only worry had been Peter realising she was completely and utterly infatuated with him...or getting an F in history because she was starting to suspect she was going to fail that subject.

The smell from before was getting stronger to the point it was overpowering as she continued to walk down the street, holding her breath as to not let it breach her symbiote and tempt his self control anymore than they usually did. But with every step she took, it was like lead weights were dragging her down to the fiery depths below as her whole body tensed just as she was about to stroll past another alleyway that had never seemed so ominous until that night, that had never forced goosebumps to dance over her flesh, that had never made her so fucking terrified...and that's when she heard it.

A whimper, a desperate noise, the likes of which that resembled more wounded animal than human as it curled through the darkness, that captured her attention and held it prisoner in the clawed grip of curiosity as the stench of fear increased tenfold, festering through the air like thick smoke as she finally turned her head looked into the shadows...and froze like a deer in headlights as she found herself staring back at her.

Only it wasn't Erika, no, not really, not even close, not even at all as she took a closer look with her breath caught in her throat and her chest feeling like it was about to cave in to the pounding of her heart. The woman was far older than her for one thing, her skin as pale as the moonlight sorrow practically haunting her like a phantom in the night, simply hagged and worn and absolutely petrified by the man pinning her to the wall with a blade to her neck...a familar film of which she most definitely didn't like the ending of as the flashbacks began to hound her, nipping at her heels and biting at her flesh until crimson sins drowned her.

It had been weeks, literal fucking weeks since everything turned to shit, and she still woke up in the middle of the night with a scream upon her lips and fingers clawing at her stomach, expecting to find a wound that she'd rip open, that she'd tear apart to see the pumping of her lungs and the beating of her heart first hand. Every time she closed her eyes it was to feel the kiss of the blade as it punctured her wicked flesh, it was his wet breath on her neck as he put his hands down her pants, it was just agony, agony, agony.

"Ve?...Are you still hungry?" Her voice trembled as she forced the question out from sudden dry lips, but it wasn't out of fear, or pain, or even mourning...no, the time for being all those things were long gone as she fell into the emotion that cradled her, that warmed her, that comforted her like an embrace. Hatred would be her salvation because it was the only thing that made her feel alive in the dying light of the world around her, a bitter rebirth that tasted like blood and rot.

"ALWAYS."

Erika could feel the very word like it was a purr in her chest as he answered her slowly, that unutterable growl in their throat, that devastating voice that was bestial in nature and just as hungry as it floated around in her mind, sensing the darkness rising in her like a tidal wave, like a tsunami about to swallow everything whole...before she let her eyes flutter shut, absorbing the feeling of that fullness beneath her skin, cutting the fear that was no longer hers to own as she thinned her lips and held it tightly as to not start sobbing as she said goodbye to her dignity and sanity.

"Have at it then."

That awful fullness that had become a comfort began to blossom, clogging her veins, pressing out from every crevice of her skin until it felt like slime was oozing out of her mortal corpse through every pore and crevice in the most disgusting of ways, an embrace of chaos and strife as everything turned cold...and then the dirty pavement that had lay beneath them cracked like shattering glass, holding the sudden weight that bared down on it as VENOM came out to play, licking at the air with a sharp and wicked grin splitting his mouth in two halves. "WITH PLEASURE."

Obviously, the little pussy hadn't stood a chance when he came into the alleyway, larger than life and absolutely terrifying. And the symbiote didn't even give him the pleasure of a sarcastic quip before wrapping ever sharp teeth around his head and beginning to swallow him down as his would be victim screamed in horror, running away as fast as her trembling legs could carry her without as much as a thankyou while VENOM focused on digesting his delicious meal and ignoring the puddle of bloodied drool that was staining the floor below him...seemingly just content to finally have some good fucking food when his host wasn't being a coward about it.

And then there was a sudden noise, a strange thwat kind of sound that finally tore his attention away from his meal...just before something kicked him in the side and sent the symbiote soaring as he crashed to the floor with a rippling roar that made the alleyway shake and tremble like the sky was talking, long talons digging into the pavement to force their body to a stop as he slowly stood up and growled dangerously at the stanger, their attacker that was dressed in red and blue, sticking high upon a wall and staring down at the alien with their eyes narrowed in contemplation.

"WHO IS THIS ASSHOLE?"

"Spider-man. That's Spider-man, Ve. The bastard who broke my camera." Erika's voice was a rage filled whisper, pulled deep with hatred as it echoed in the symbiote's mind, as loud as the rumbling thunder and just as furious as he felt her anger as if it were his own, getting louder and louder as it drowned out everything else. This was the pussy who broke his hosts camera? The one who made her cry? The one who made her sick to her stomach whenever she'd look at the broken pieces of what was once her memories and all she had left of love?

But it seemed that the so called hero Spiderman couldn't see the sudden danger he was in as the alien grew taller while rage bloomed and blossomed, glaring up at the asshole who broke his Erika's camera and didn't even apologise for such a crime. Because obviously the Spiderman was too good for that as he dropped to the floor, crouching down low as he gasped dramatically, so very cheerful for someone who was about to be eaten for his crimes. "Someone better call pest control...looks like sea world's ugliest eel is taking a stroll and eating the neighbourhood. Naughty, naughty."

"UGLY!?"

VENOM screeched, slamming his fist to the ground as cracks appeared upon the surface before lunging at his colourful foe, teeth bared and dripping with drool only for the quick bastard to slip through his grasp, kicking him in the back of the head to add insult to injury as he landed behind the alien with an aura of smug that they could practically taste...obviously not expecting for a thick strand of black mass to unleash itself from the symbiote's back, wrapping around Spiderman's neck and then flinging him into a wall as he gagged dramatically.

"Oh that is disgusting, what are you made of, slime?"

However, it was his host that seemed strangely desperate to answer that question for him, her voice forcing its it's way to the front of his mind, battling against the rage and hunger, almost giddy with excitement as he heard that grin in her trembling voice, reminding him of the small little humans they'd see scurrying around with their clumsy little feet and big heads and annoying squealing as they wobbled after their carers, children, kids, babies she said they were called...little snacks he liked to refer to them instead. "Say your mom! Ve! Do it, say your mom! Do it, do it, do it, do it!"

"YOUR MOM!"

He didn't give the the spiderman time to reply before he was driving a hammer-shaped fist into his colourful stomach, and then into his masked face, a symphony of punches that left the scent of blood in their wake, thick and rich and all so appealing as the symbiote snarled, the sound rippling through the air like a deadly omen as he grew angrier and hungrier...but it seemed that the hero truly had no idea just how close he was coming to damnation as he flirted with death and rage. "So, what are you? Science experiment gone wrong? Some kind of mutant eel? Cause I'll tell you, you're one of the weirdest things I've ever seen-"

VENOM simply roared his reply, sharp teeth mere inches away from enclosing around his foe'a throat as he lunged forward again, barreling his shoulder into the Spiderman and watching as the human went flying, crashing into the alleyway wall with a crack that didn't bode well...and yet still, he merely grunted before he was standing back up on trembling legs, desperately grasping at said wall with his breath choked and wet. "Not much of a talker, that's okay, we still have plenty of time to bond when I'm kicking your ass."

But the symbiote was done playing games with the little spider, and all it took was a thick strand of the black abyss of his flesh to wind around the masked hero's leg...and then he bashed his against the ground like the mere insect he was, again and again and again until he stopped struggling and moving, hanging limply in the air, unconscious and almost dead to the world as VENOM grinned, pulling him closer to his large mass, wrapping his body around the immobilized man and letting his jaw drop open, ready to swallow him whole...only to feel something seize his face and jerk it back swiftly.

"Wait! Wait! No! Don't eat him! Venom, don't eat him for fucks sake!"

"YOU ARE GOING TO SPARE THIS ASSHOLE!?"

"Yes! Yes we are, okay? He doesn't deserve to die, Ve...he's a hero or whatever. Let's just go home and I'll make you some hot chocolate. Please, I just want to go home." There was a desperation in Erika's voice, an exhaustion even though she hadn't been the one fighting for their honour, for their integrity and vengeance that they deserved. However...hot chocolate did sound very nice, and the alien would be lying if he said that human tasted better, and so with that in mind he let out a groan, licking a stripe up the Spiderman's face before stuffing him into a nearby bin with a grumble.

"I WANT A WHOLE BAG OF MARSHMALLOWS."

"How did I know that was coming?"
_________________________________________________

In the end she gave him two bags of marshmallows as a reward for not eating the hero, one bag for the hot chocolate and another that she simply fed him over her shoulder as she made it, putting the milk to a boil and soaking pieces of the coca in and stirring it every so often, humming a song under her breath as VENOM'S rather insufferable chewing echoed loudly in her ears with his levitating face so very close to her own as he watched her every move carefully, a weirdly domestic picture of a girl and her alien...good god, it was like she was in the genderbent version of ET.

Thankfully, her uncle was at work, doing the night shift at the hospital which just meant that her symbiote pretty much had free rein to annoy her outside of her body instead of inside it like he usually did, which truly was all kinds of strange. But Erika was nothing if not adaptable as she tottered around the kitchen, letting the noises of the street outside and the low buzz from the tv wash over her, teasing away the tensions of the straining day that had made like she was about to fall victim to her own ruination as she finally took a moment to breathe.

"Upsetting scenes today when New York's friendly neighbourhood vigilante, Spiderman, was seen losing to some kind of large villainous mutant-"

And then that breath turned into a gasp as Erika choked on her own spit, spinning around on her heel to look over towards the television with her heart in her throat and her eyes as wide as saucers, filled with pure and unbridled horror. Because sure enough, upon the screen was VENOM beating the absolute shit out of the masked hero in front of the terrified and hiding onlookers who they definitely hadn't seen, not pulling their punches in the slightest while some crying child was smothered into his mothers chest, sobbing about watching spiderman being beaten within an inch of his life.

Which, okay, she could see how that would make them the villain...but it's not like they killed him. And they'd saved that woman! How come no one was filming that? Oh no, of course not, they just happened to whip out the camera when they were doing something bad...god she hated the fucking media, it was just a fucking pain in the ass...and now they were the bad guys apparently, how perfectly splendid, that's just what she needed on her conscious as she whimpered in the quiet of the room, wincing as the video zoomed in on the symbiote going to eat the hero as everyone screamed.

"Well, we're completely and utterly fucked."