moonstone eyes

Chapter One

eddie's mind flashed images of the past few days. the familiar warmth under his skin disappears when venom used the rest of its strength to form a barrier between eddie and the flames. his other says "goodbye eddie", and disappears as well.

although he had only met venom days earlier, his life changed significantly in that amount of time. before their fight with riot and drake, they said to eddie that he changed their mind about earth. venom's statement took eddie a moment to process especially after they said his name again. god, he loved the way it said his name. the raspy yet smooth tone of their voice echoed in his ears one last time, and the only thing he could say was "venom! no!" before crashing into the icy waves below.

the next few weeks after the events at the life foundation felt lonely, cold, and empty. eddie hadn't realized how much venom meant to him until he lost them. eddie fell back into old habits of staying at the bar through the night, barely eating and staying in bed or on the couch all day. the only things in his fridge were milk and a case of beer. eddie hadn't done laundry or changed clothes for a while and he couldn't bring himself to shower (not that he did often anyway), brush his hair or teeth, cook or even throw trash away.

the depression was hitting him as hard as it did for the 6 months after anne broke up with him. annie tried to call him and text him but he only responded with an "i'm fine annie!" or "don't worry :), i'm okay!". that's the most he could manage in his current state. anne knew he was in a bad place, but eddie refused any help she attempted to throw his way.

it was about 3 pm, 2 weeks after the loss of venom. eddie had only woken up about an hour earlier. he stayed awake at night wishing he could've done something different and saved venom. no matter how much he cried, nothing changed. he had to come to terms with- there was a voice, small, but noticeable, it made eddie shiver with familiarity.

it's nothing, that's impossible. eddie thought, eyes dashing back and forth.

he couldn't believe the next thing he heard in his head.

eddie.

it was them. it was really them. eddie's tear ducts began to overflow. he wrapped himself in his arms, sobbing, smiling, and focusing on the warmth returning under his skin.

"you look like shit" venom said, emerging out of eddie's skin but staying about the size of their host's hand. eddie stares into venom's moonstone eyes with puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks and laughs. venom's eyes light up at the sound of his chuckle.

"we're here. we always will be. we're never leaving you."

venom looked lovingly into eddie's eyes and put their forehead against his host's. his cheeks blushed bright pink, brighter than the red under his eyes. through their telepathic connection, eddie felt the amount of love venom had for him and began crying again. he cried from happiness and relief this time, instead of sorrow and guilt. however, eddie's internal monologue got the best of him:

you're going to fuck this up again, just like you did with anne. i don't deserve happiness, i don't deserve a partner...

"I DON'T DESERVE YOU!" eddie screamed and realized that he said that out loud into venom's face.

venom formed their upper body and hugged eddie tightly. their other pressed his head into their shoulder and sobbed softly. through muffled sobs, eddie finally said something that wasn't a laugh or something he didn't mean. "venom," he sat up "i missed you." eddie looked into venom's glassy eyes and gave them a half-smile.

"i missed you too, eddie," they responded. "i love you."

instead of saying it back, eddie stared into space, dissociating completely from the situation. his mind blankly searched for something to say but nothing revealed itself. venom searched his brain as well, but it looked as though it was wiped, the only thing in his brain was the repeating phrase "say it. say it. say. it. dumbass. say it back. they'll hate you if you don't."

"we could never hate our eddie. never say that about us." venom said. hearing venom say his name again sent shivers up his spine and snapped him back to reality.

they still hadn't let go of eddie and continued to embrace him, running their clawed hand through his other's hair. eddie's arms went limp. thoughts raced through his mind of ways he could tell venom how he felt without 1. crying or 2. stuttering and blushing. so, instead of speaking, eddie cupped venom's silky face in his hands and pressed his lips against theirs.

venom immediately kissed him back. they could feel it happening before so they were prepared to give their lover what they knew he wanted. eddie's heartbeat out of his chest and venom could feel the anxiety building up in his mind. instead of pulling away, venom kissed his lover harder and placed one hand on his face and the other on his hip. eddie's eyes shot open as he realized that venom was looking through his memories of nights like this with annie. he had stopped crying mid-kiss but as soon as he noticed venom searching for ideas in his mind, he started to tear up again. he thought about how much he used to love anne. when they were together, anne would comfort him after he suffered a panic attack whether it be from work or a misgendering incident.

venom noticed that eddie was distracted and pulled away from his plump lips. eddie looked up at his other with teary eyes. "sorry. i started thinking about anne again..." venom only stared into eddie's brown eyes and titled his head to the side, pondering eddie's statement. eddie blushed, put his hands over his face, brought his elbows to his knees, and started sobbing again. "venom, i'm sorry i haven't said it yet. you know i want to, it's just really hard to wo-" eddie was cut off.

"I LOVE YOU, EDDIE!" venom shouted. "see? we can say 'i love you' with such ease. that wasn't so hard, eddie. now it's your turn!"

they smiled a teeth-filled smile. that damn grin, eddie couldn't help but laugh. his tears dissipated. venom sank back into eddie's skin and said, "would it be better if you didn't need to say it to our face?" he smiled and finally felt courage build inside him.

"venom...i love you, too."

eddie anxiously awaited venom's response. silence.

"venom?" he started to feel a bit of panic as he said his other's name. 

"i love you! can you hear me?"

i love you, venom. i love you. i love you. i love you.

eddie repeated in his head, praying venom could hear his words of affirmation.

nothing.

silence.

venom was gone, again.