A week had past since their triumph over Riot, both Eddie and Venom were recuperating after almost dying a handful of times, over which, the two of them had completely bonded. After Venom almost died, Eddie realised that over the short period of time that they'd known each other, Venom made him feel complete. Although, Venom made their bond sound more like a romance than the symbiotic dependence it really was.

Things were good, not too good, but definitely an improvement. Eddie wasn't getting back together with Anne despite his everlasting love for her, he'd agreed to put these feelings on the back burn so that she could live happily with Dan. Instead, Eddie lived with Venom in his small apartment while saving up money from his new reporter gig, to rent somewhere else. For now he was quite content with his situation.

Venom had been acting weird as of late, weirder than before anyway. Eddie had assumed that Venom was merely becoming domesticated, enjoying the human way of life, experiencing so much all at once. He was constantly hungry, to the point where he'd steal Eddie's food and inhabit his body to go on mid-night food binges. Again, Eddie paid the symbiote no attention, he owed Venom a lot and rather enjoyed the company, so he didn't really care about the odd behaviour.

Like coming down with the flu, Eddie entered into a permanent state of fatigue. It'd been all too convenient that Venom's sketchy ways subdued. If he didn't know any better, he'd panic fearing he'd caught some intergalactic virus from the unruly parasite.

"Eddie, we're hungry." Venom pestered, like a needy cat.

"What do you want to eat?" Eddie asked, searching through the freezer. "Man…not a lot here." Everything he kept stocked was unappetising all of a sudden. Not that it was all too shocking, there had to be a limit on how long a person could consume only tater-tots. "Maybe we should head to the store?"

"Will the butchers be open?" Eddie shook his head with annoyance at Venom's request. He wasn't sure exactly how many times that he'd told his symbiote that shops were generally closed this late at night, but he wasn't prepared to remind him of the fact day-in day-out.

"No. It's nine o'clock." Eddie had come to a compromise with Venom. So long as the symbiote didn't try and eat anybody or rip any heads off, Eddie would buy whatever raw meat Venom preferred. It didn't come close to the taste of human flesh but it meant that Eddie could live free from being hunted by the police. He was tired, deathly tired and had been for a few days. "Want Chinese food again?" Venom was becoming accustomed to the American way of life and appeared to be enjoying it so far. Chinese had been a rather tasty experience and now Venom had a kick for the stuff.

"You're gaming a lot of weight, Eddie." Venom spoke bluntly.

"No I'm not. Why would you say that?" Eddie scoffed, "hold up, you're the one always asking me for all this junk, If anything, you're making me fat." He scolded, the only time he'd asked for something quick and abundantly unhealthy, Venom comes out with this nonsense. "So just shut up, alright?" Eddie retaliated. Venom's mental instability was seeping into his own blood stream, driving him unexplainably crazy.

"Your mood swings are volatile." Bold and brave of him to mention.

"And what, you parasite!" He flinched, ready for Venom to teach him a lesson by throwing him into the stove or yanking him to the floor, "Fuck sake you asshole. I'm so-" Eddie straightened himself up. "That's what I thought."

"I won't hurt you Eddie." He couldn't quite understand why, but his human wasn't acting with full capacity. Eddie had been sleeping during the day and often found himself skipping meals. Eddie had reassured him that the sluggish nature and bouts of nausea were common symptoms of 'coming down with something' or working too much.

"How kind of you. Now quiet, otherwise I won't get any kung pow prawns." Eddie smirked as Venom's laughter faded into a rare blissful silence. He knew the way to Venom's heart and it just so happened to be food, an easy tool for manipulation. Although, he'd been thankful for the sudden drop in Venom's appetite, he was getting fat – not that he'd give Venom the satisfaction.

Eddie spent close to forty dollars on food. Now that he was ordering for two, it was completely normal to spend extortionate amounts. The two became agitated waiting for the delivery, it came just in time. Or else, both he and Venom were about to go on a rampage. With no clean plates, the two ate straight from the containers. Eddie shovelled his food while Venom quite literally inhaled anything and everything – savouring nothing.

"Ugh, that's it. I'm done." Eddie put down the last of his Chinese, worried that finishing the remaining noodles would make him vomit from being so stuffed. He rubbed his stomach soothingly and stretched out to allow the food to travel easier. Eddie paused mid-stretch, the nausea flooded his senses and he became overwhelmed by the need to push back everything he'd just eaten. "No, no no-no-no!" He groaned as he leaped from the sofa. He barely made it to the bathroom before collapsing onto the floor and emptying his stomach. "Bad. Shrimp." He laboured between dry heaving.

"Humans are weak." Venom mocked bitterly, knowing that Eddie had left food sitting on the table that rightfully belonged to him.

"Screw you." He breathed, before returning to the bowl, still chucking up noodles and mushy prawns. He'd been far too hungry and over eaten which had no doubt hurt his stomach and resulted in an angry case of indigestion.

Venom truly cared for Eddie, that was easily considered to be the biggest and most dangerous weakness to have. Which is why Venom couldn't sit idly by. There had to be something that could be done to ease the suffering, which is why Venom went on an exploratory mission. What was found left the Symbiote shocked and dumbfounded. How this went overlooked was beyond reason, "We're not sick, Eddie." Venom began.

"Yeah? This sure feels like it." He glared, spitting out leftover bile and sour saliva.

"Eddie, we're pregnant." Venom blurted, not yet having mastered the art of subtlety.

"You're getting better, I almost laughed at that one." Eddie turned his head, to see Venom looking back at him, hanging from his shoulder. "You can do better than that." He shook his head disapprovingly.

"That was not an attempt at humour. Eddie, I am certain that we're pregnant." Venom hadn't brought up the idea before, because the possibility was inconceivable. The Life Foundation had removed most – apparently not all of the seeds meaning that reproducing wasn't previously on the table. Sure enough, the trace DNA that every host is gifted with had given Eddie the ability to become pregnant with Venom's last seed. Really, Venom should have guessed, the mini-heat that'd ended a few days ago should have been telling.

"I know that you're new to this planet so I'll cut you some slack. I'm a man, men can't have babies." Eddie flushed the chain and sat back against the bathroom wall, content for now that his body had settled but he hardly trusted the false calm.

"You are the host to my child – or our child. We're going to have a baby, Eddie. I can see it growing." Eddie remained silent, his mind pondering over the absurd possibility. "Eddie?"

"You didn't think to ask me first before you knocked me up?" A hand lunged for Venom's shape, ready to throttle it's neck. Venom manipulated it's being to avoid Eddie's rage fuelled vengeance.

"This may be my last spawn. It must survive." Venom's children died one-by one at the hands of the medical team at the Life Foundation. If any had survived, it would be an astounding miracle.

"So you think it'd be a good idea to use me?" Eddie felt victimised. He trusted Venom, and had no reason to resent him after the ordeal they'd been through together. "It'll be me looking after a baby, I'll be changing diapers and feeding it." So many things were running through his mind. One of which being his inability to be at all responsible, he couldn't even remember to feed the damn cat without Anne begging him to every few hours.

"Eddie! That is enough!" Venom growled.

"What have you done?" He stroked his midsection gingerly over his sweatshirt. Disgusted by the idea of what could very well be living under his skin.

"Eddie, we will give birth regardless of your insecurities." Venom knew how things worked on his world; when the time came and the individual had taken in enough nutrients, they'd split in two or lay an egg which should hatch into an independent being. From what could be seen growing inside Eddie, and from what had learnt from this planet, it would likely be that this child would be nothing like the 'children' birthed on his planet.

"Here you go with this 'we', I'll be giving birth to a baby – God knows how. Perfect. Just when I thought life was turning around." It was true, since Venom had come into his life he'd begun to move past his earlier set backs and even gotten back into work.

"This is bigger than us, we have created an entirely new species." A human hybrid, capable of unknown power. Venom could see the life growing within and it was magnificent already, growing quickly but perfectly like his own kind.

"How did you manage this?" Not only was this whole situation gravely a violation of his autonomy but also physically impossible. Even if cross speciation was possible, surely the basics of humanity would rule that men still can't bare children. Surely no alien influence could make that happen. So Eddie was rather perplexed.

"We have fused DNA. You now possess my ability to bare children and together we have made life." Venom explained, through their unbreakable bond, life has been created. No matter what was said, Venom struggled to convince Eddie of this beauty.

"This is fucked up. So what, is it gonna come out lookin like you or me?" He threw himself down onto the sofa with anguish. If Venom were to turn around and say 'haha I got you' now would be a perfect time, before he took the initiative and jumped out of the window – not that it'd do anything. Thinking about it clearly, he wouldn't be able to do anything about this.

"It is human Eddie, just fused with my abilities. My spawn is growing it's own host within us." Eddie sneered contemptuously.

"Will it eat people?" If he had to teach Venom that eating people was wrong, then the child of Venom would undeniably be as childish and stubborn. Even if it took after himself and his own traits prevailed, the kid would ultimately be screwed – a confused ball of weird. Venom's silence was unsettling. "Then how do you know that it's safe?" Death by pregnancy; death during labour; eaten by his own child. So many possibilities, all of which made Eddie entirely paranoid. Venom was not at all helpful, failing to dispel any qualms.

"No harm will ever come to us." That was a promise. All the while bound by their bond, Venom would protect Eddie Brock with everything it took. Eddie would not die from having their baby, even if things took a turn for the worse. Eddie was untouchable by death so long as Venom lived.

"Great. Fantastic….should I tell Dan? Anne?" The only two who knew of Venom would surely be in for another gigantic shock, of which would unavoidably pull them back into unwanted trouble.

"If you would like. So long as Dan does not hurt us or the baby." The two could only be trusted to a limited extent. Anne would definitely rid Eddie of any dangers to life without any hesitation.

"He's a good guy, he wouldn't do anything on purpose." Eddie's hand reached for his mouth, feeling his insides burn and mouth water. He waited to see if the uncomfortable sensation would pass before springing into action.

"Perhaps we should leave in the morning, when you are feeling better." Venom retreated back into his comfort zone, fearing his presence was not very welcome anymore.

Bile was all that was left to throw up, but still his body brought it up anyway, "So this is morning sickness, hu?" Eddie pitted himself.

"Yes, Eddie. It is just one of many symptoms we will experience." Not that he knew much about human pregnancies, he assumed that all species must share some common experiences. It would probably be of worth prompting Eddie to do some research – when he wasn't still so furious.

"Enough with the WE, I don't see you with your head down a toilet." He moaned.

"We are in this together." Venom repeated ardently.

"Leave me alone!" The symbiote daren't speak another word.

As Venom slowly fed on Eddie's humanity, the symbiote absorbed some of Eddie's best qualities. Some of those included guilt and sympathy, whilst this wasn't something that was avoidable, Venom felt bad about bringing this upon his host. It'd only been a few days but Venom was incredibly attached to Eddie and couldn't imagine a life on Earth without him. In some ways Venom enjoyed the idea of having a child of which will bond them further. Venom knew that with Eddie's DNA and influence, this spawn would change the world. It was selfish and wildly unpredictable but Venom would try and protect Eddie throughout the pregnancy and ultimately forever after.