𝖜𝖊 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖔𝖒. 🕷

HONESTY HOUR.

“Yes, but also no. I hate being bonded to a murder machine. Waking up with the taste of blood in your mouth, and flashes of gruesome murder scenes is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced. Not to mention the strain he puts on all my relationships. But at the same time, I love him? He protects me, and we’re stronger together. If Venom were stripped away, I’d just be normal again. I wouldn’t even have my original spider powers. So I guess I wouldn’t separate from him, no. We are Venom.”

Gwen asked him if this was his way of forgiving her and he could do nothing but let out a thoughtful hum. “I’m not sure Gwen. How do I know you’ve not already moved on from me? How do I know you’re mine?” He asked her, “Because I won’t put up with disloyalty… It doesn’t matter how much I love you. If I’m going to forgive you, I’m going to need names and a promise…” He said as he lead her in their dance. “Thank you for the apology.” He said, still thinking that it wasn’t him in the wrong for their little fight. 

‎‎

Jeremiah started using words that she didn’t like, making her bite down on her lower lip. Gwen never had and never would belong to anybody but herself, and that was something he needed to understand. “If I’d moved on, I wouldn’t be here, dancing with you, and giving you an apology.” Disloyalty. God, she hated that word. She’d never been disloyal to him. In fact, she was pretty sure that most of her friends would say she loved and trusted him entirely too much. “I can promise you that while we’re together, I will never sleep with or kiss another person. But there’s something you need to be aware of, Jeremiah. I will never belong to you, because I’m not a possession. I’m not a doll that you’re dating and can sit on a shelf when you’re annoyed or bored. I’m a person with feelings -- a person who knows her own mind. My heart and love is yours, but that’s all I can give you. If I gave you anymore, I’d lose myself.” 

Miles nodded understandingly as he put his shirt on, crawling into the bed after her. He laid on his back and stared up at the ceiling. “Yeah I still don’t know if I can get used to that if I’m honest.” He chuckled. “But I would imagine that would probably make things a little shaky. It’s not exactly the easiest situation in the world. The world is a complicated mess that’s been set on fire right now.” 

‎

When Miles crawled into bed and laid down next to her, she shuffled over, resting her head on his chest. It was comforting to hear his heartbeat, and to just be able to relax around him. He knew everything about her and still wanted to be her best friend, and that really meant something to both her and Venom. “Try living with him in your head,” she laughed, tracing patterns over the fabric of Miles’s shirt with her index finger. TELL MILES WE ARE SAD AND THAT YOU WANT TO DIE. Gwen ignored the symbiote, opting to keep things as light as possible. “When I first left my Earth, I was so happy. Things were going well, I found love, and V was peaceful. Then Gotham turned to crap... Maybe I should fix my watch and go back to Earth-65. Would you come with me, if I managed it? There’s nothing left for me here.”

Miles knew Gwen was having a rough time recently so his room had been open to her whenever she needed some company. This time he had just finished his patrolling with Dick and taken a shower. So when he walked in his room he was drying his hair and he saw Gwen sitting on his bed in an overszied shirt of his. “I was gonna put that on, but I think it looks better on you.” He chuckled when he walked over to her and kissed her cheek. “What’s up buttercup?” Miles then went to his closet to grab a shirt.

“I guess you did, but you should have tried to jog some memory. That didn’t exactly give my amnesiac self a lot to work with. I mean! Where’s the context. You know? Where’s the trying to explain to me just who were were to each other. …You see, a river cuts through rock not because of its power, but because of its persistence. Being a little more persistent may have helped your cause.” He said with a dramatic gesture of his arms to go along with his speech. “You think I’m angry about Raven? Pfft. Me?” He paused for a moment before continuing. “Okay, yeah. Maybe I am a little.” 

He let out a soft laugh when he heard her words, like they were funny to him. “I didn’t try hard enough? Gwen, my dear, I didn’t even know who I was!” He retorted. “I was combing my hair back and listening to classical music while hiding out in a cramped, dirty little safehouse. Doing math in my free time!” He watched as her cheeks reddened with anger, like she was Tinkerbell. So small and so angry. Yet the slam of her fist against his stomach still managed to take him by surprise. He bent over a bit when he felt it and partially slumped against her. Moving his hand to grip her arm to hold her back from giving him another one. Erratic giggles began to escape him and he knew if this was anyone else- or even if she didn’t have Venom inside of her, that he would have retaliated. Instead her pulled her into a hug and leaned his head against her shoulder. “That good, huh?” He whispered into her ear.

‎

Gwen gritted her teeth together. Had he always been like this, or was it a side effect of whatever had happened to him? She was starting to see him in a whole new light -- one that she wasn’t sure she liked. “No, a river cuts through rock because of erosion. Don’t go overthinking it.” Venom chuckled inside her head, and she had to smile. The symbiote made her want to jump out of a moving train 80% of the time, but sometimes she really enjoyed having him around. “If I’d cheated on you, I could understand it, Jeremiah. But I didn’t. We weren’t together. I loved you, but you didn’t love me. And that’s fine, because you weren’t, well, you... I wasn’t going to push myself onto you and make you feel worse and increase your paranoia..”

Her foot tapped against the pavement -- a product of both her anxiety and irritation. “Okay! You didn’t know who you were! I didn’t know who you were! I’m glad we have that established.” As soon as her fist slammed into his abs, she felt the slightest bit of guilt. Resorting to violence was never something she wanted to do if things could be resolved peacefully, but she’d done it now. There was no taking it back, and she definitely wasn’t going to apologise for it right now. Jeremiah grabbed her arm, and she used her own strength combined with Venom’s to rip it away from him, black tendrils twisting around her shoulder and extending down her arm. “Do that again and he’ll bite,” she warned. She allowed him to hug her, but stood perfectly rigid. At his question, she shrugged the shoulder he was resting his head against. “Yeah, actually.” She’d had enough of his questions and tantrum. “We can either try and move past it, or we can keep this going for a few more minutes until I walk away. It’s up to you, Jer. I love you, but I’m not going to stick around if all you want to do is make me feel like shit for a one time thing that was supposed to make me feel something other than upset and alone for five minutes.”

“Oh it’s not? Here I was, thinking it must be your type. Because you didn’t try very hard when I was Mr. Prim and Proper.” He took the glasses out of his pocket and held them up a bit in front of his face like he was going to put them on before he tossed them aside. Not caring where they flung to. His brows furrowed and his lip stuck out some. Pouting. “I was gone for months, you’re right. …And I was miserable the whole time.” 

“Now, Gwen…” Jeremiah tutted when she tried to turn it back on him. “Wouldn’t you say that’s different? Dick and myself are best friends. I never kissed him. Only you -and Venom.” He said, reaching to touch her face as she stepped back. His fingertips brushing against her soft skin. “Hmn.” He hummed, “I suppose I understand the jealousy. He was there since the beginning and you didn’t get to be. Next time Haley’s comes into town, we can reenact the fun little tidbits of my childhood. Like uh- have you ever walked on a tightrope or shovelled Elephant shit?” He joked before placing a finger to his lips and tapping it a bit. “Oh, wait. The bridges have all blown to smithereens. There goes that fun little date night idea! What was I talking about… before…” He had gone off in a bit of a tangent and it took him a moment before he remembered. “Oh yeah! Rachel. Was she at least good?” 

‎

Gwen had never really been an angry person before Venom had bonded with her, but now he and her shared a temper. Whatever angered her, angered him, and vice versa. And right now, Jeremiah was making both of them extremely annoyed. “What the hell are you talking about, Jer? I told you I loved you, cried on you, held you... All while you weren’t the same man I fell in love with. Don’t try and lie to my face because you’re angry about Raven.” He was miserable the whole time? What did he think she’d been feeling? Euphoric joy over her boyfriend ditching her, then believing he was dead for months, only for him to come back having no recollection of who she was? He was being impossibly selfish.

His fingertips touched her face, and she bit down on the inside of her cheek. She wanted to bat his hand away from her, but it’d only make the fight more heated. WHY IS HE BEING MEAN TO US? Gwen wished she had an answer for the symbiote, but she didn’t. “I’m not jealous of you having a friend, Jeremiah. I’m annoyed that you’re trying to call me out for Raven when you didn’t exactly try your best with me, either.” He started spewing words about the circus, and she rolled her eyes at the shoving elephant shit part. She didn’t enjoy this bratty side of Jeremiah. When he asked if Rachel was good, she felt heat rising to her cheeks, and anger bubbling inside her chest. How dare he even ask that. Without thinking about the consequences, and letting herself be blinded by her rage, she moved closer and swung at him, her fist connecting with his stomach. “Does that answer your question?!”