9933/We have to stop meeting like this

We have to stop meeting like this
Date of Scene:	06 November 2019
Location:	Arby's, Eastchester
Synopsis:	An awkward scene at Arby's... and not because of the food
Cast of Characters:	Venom, Spider-Man

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Venom has posed:
Arby's is an American quick-service fast-food sandwich restaurant chain with more than 3,300 restaurants system wide, or at least that's what Wikipedia would tell you. For most, it was a last resort. When you were hungry, and for some unholy reason, find yourself unable to find food elsewhere.

But it does have chocolate turnovers, and Eddie, or rather the symbiote, was in desperate need of a chocolate fix. The turnovers, as Eddie had learned through an investigative report, were made by Pepperidge Farm, and the chocolate slop in the middle was made with Hershey's cocoa. All in all, it was fine for an emergency fix.

Venom swung down in the Eastchester area of the Bronx, immediately changing his clothes from black and white to? black and white, except without the spider motif. He now looked like he was wearing black shoes, black jeans, a white t-shirt that had a black Adidas logo, and a black jacket with white zippers, buttons, and otherwise accents. He also wore a black baseball cap with a New York Knicks logo, all in white. Black and white were the easiest colours for the symbiote to emulate, so why strain it?

Walking into the store, not having cared who or what might have seen the transformation, he immediately headed for the queue.

Spider-Man has posed:
Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

Pete is more of an Angelos guy, honestly. Their fresh baked bread is freshly cooked every morning right there in the store and their never frozen sliced cold cuts are local sourced. They've got the finest selection of fresh vegis anywhere!

They are also in Queens and this is the Bronx.

Pete strolls in in early winter wear, which is to say a light brown jacket, blue-jeans, a chemistry meme t-shirt, and his backwards black METS hat. The fact that he spies Eddie aside, they're both fishing from the barrel here, so he desides not to immediately press the issue with Gothy McGoth. "Sup Eddie. Here for an expose on the dreadful amount of horse meat content in the roast beef quote, unquote?"

Venom has posed:
When Peter Parker joins Eddie in the queue, the big, bodybuilding, blond looks down at him. His eyes narrow, his fist clenches. The symbiote is unsettled. Its fondness for the wallcrawler is well known to Eddie, and so is the rejection. There was a time when the mere sight of Peter Parker, or Spider-Man, would drive Venom into a violent rage. Nowadays, it only stirs him into a quiet rage. But the consistent aspect is that Spider-Man provokes them.

The way he draws out his words, especially his early ones, almost make it sound like an Alan Rickman impersonation. "Hello Peter." Was that a tendril that emitted from his hand, before fading back into the clothing. He breathed in, and out, trying to calm himself. "No, I did that months ago. It's chocolate or bust."

Spider-Man has posed:
The feeling is mutual, Symbiote.

Pete stares right back up at the bodybuilding blonde with his mouth twisted off to the side and arms laid across his chest. Smaller he may be, intimidated by that fact he is not. "The turnovers, amirite?" There is no grin, there is no attempt to be friendly, there is however a mutual love for the chocolatey goodness inherent in those delicious processed pastries.

They are, in the words of wiser people, to die for. Hopefully not tonight, but certainly long term. By the Diabetes. "Haven't seen you around in a while." Tendril or not, Pete has to keep his eyes on Brook. He can't sense the symbiote so it takes him immediately out of his naturally calm and cavalier social bubble.

Venom has posed:
Eddie delights in unnerving Peter Parker. In many ways, he was the ultimate bully. Except, it was so out of character for him. Peter Parker, for a number of reasons, brought it out, and Eddie was trying not to fall back into that role. Sometimes he succeeded, sometimes he didn't.

Today was the latter. Reaching around to slip an arm around Peter's shoulder, "come on, turnovers are on us." Peter even brought out the dual nature. Long ago, he and the symbiote had agreed that in public, Eddie could refer to their self as him, in the singular, because it just raised fewer looks, fewer concerns. But in private, as Venom, or in the company of a select few, or one, they bought had something to say. "What'd you say, Petey?" He offered a nice wide smile, showing plenty of pearly white teeth, just, they were far less pronounced than usual.

Spider-Man has posed:
There was something inherently creepy about a fleshy juice box full of black tar alien-delight soft drink. Especially when it turn said juice box into Venom, spoke in the third person, and was a preverbial black hole to Pete's spider senses.

The arm around his shoulder goes unaddressed at first, but the natural drop into the plural pronouns, "I say a lot of things, Eddie, you know that." Gingerly, almost politely, plucking the hand from off his shoulder to unwrap and lay it down against Brooks' side. "I'll accept this olive branch in the spirit of it being celebratory White Flag day... also I don't feel like fighting." Also his shoulder still hurt.

"Also, they really are good Turnovers..."

Venom has posed:
How little Peter Parker knew and understood the symbiote. He only saw it as an alien life form, one that sought to bond itself, so that it could derive nourishment from him, using Peter as a host to what was absolutely a parasite, at least scientifically speaking. But it was so much more.

The symbiote was a soft touch. It wanted to make Eddie stronger, healthier, and cared for him. It kept him alive, despite the cancer. It made him better than he had ever been. But Peter Parker was still a proverbial black hole for both Eddie and the symbiote. He always would be.

"Yes, you do, we," he paused, casting a glance in case anyone was listening, "I think you must love the sound of your own voice. A shame you accepted? you could use the training." Even if he had worked out a so-called truce with Spider-Man, it didn't make them friends. It just meant Venom wasn't about to crawl into Peter Parker's apartment and kill him in his sleep, and Spider-Man wasn't going to devote every waking moment to sending Venom back to prison.

Spider-Man has posed:
Truth be told, Pete could forgive the Symbiote for everything, but Spider-Man 3.

Too Meta.

Pete rubs at the back of his neck as the line keeps moving and Eddie fills the void of uncomfortable silence with friendlyish banter. When Parker goes quiet, things are generally pretty fubar, or he thinks that he needs his whole game face.. "I have a wonderfully true voice, Edward." There's a small, tiny, little itsy bitsy spider part of his brain that hopes Eddie hates being called Edward.

"I should have been a lounge singer or a one man monologue act, alas.. we cannot pick our poisons, can we? I got a semi unsuccessful career at like five different places that barely pay for my studio apartment and you got sneezed on by space.." Hands up, hands out, shoulders shrugging.

"Edward, this is our life."

Venom has posed:
Eddie had always been Eddie, but Edward didn't bother him. In fact, he kind of preferred it, but he had learned long ago, if he introduced himself as Edward, they'd shorten it to Ed or Eddie, and he preferred Eddie to Ed. Ed Brock was just too short of a name. If you have a short last surname, you need a decent length given name or it just ruins it...

As they reached the end of the queue, Eddie ordered seven turnovers. "We skipped breakfast," he said to the girl at the counter, "and I'll try the Bambi Burger. I might skip dinner too, anything for you Petey?" He asked. He planned to share the turnovers, but he was eating for two so seven didn't seem that bad between three.

Spider-Man has posed:
It is a well known and unquestionable truth that Peter Parker is a place where all food goes to die. He's no Flash, but his metabolism is something that meer mortals would hardly scoff at, so between himself, Brook, and they Symbiote... Arby's is NOT prepared.

"A Bambi burger..." Squinting at the menu, trying to find said ordered item with a rueful, almost disapproving expression. "Isn't Arby's owned by Disney too?" Doesn't matter, a hand comes up to wave indifferently at the objective lesson in naming convention amongst franchised eateries. "I'll have a Ruben. Two of them, actually, and curly fries because there is literally no other reason to be here if not the curly fries or the turnovers or employment."

That last part was added apologetically at the poor woman behind the counter.

"I'm sure the benefits are nice."

Venom has posed:
The woman looked insulted before the save, though the damage was already done. Eddie, in attempt to smooth things over, slipped arm around Peter, "honestly, I can't take him anywhere, isn't that right love muffin?" Oh yes, Eddie enjoyed messing with Peter. He was making it seem like they were a couple, likely to Peter's everlasting chagrin. Eddie them paid for it and began to move towards the area where they could wait for the food.

Spider-Man has posed:
See, this is where Eddie playing with fire is going to burn him a little.

Peter doubles down.

Both arms close in around the big blondes waist and his head lays against his big strong chest, "But then he remembers how cute I am and wants to show me off to everyone.. You could wash your vintage 'My Chemical Romance from their December 2019 Los Angeles Show' t-shirts on my abs." It is true, he is very fit.

Pete's arms fall from around Brock, "Also, can I get a diet coke?"

Venom has posed:
This had an unintended side effect. It got a genuine smile out of Brock. He wasn't laughing out loud, but he was on the brink of it. "Oh, all right," Eddie said, despite having already paid, "can we get a diet coke too." His arm remained around Peter is a public display of affection. It wasn't his intention, he still hated Peter, but he wasn't about to lose this particular fight. There was a deep seeded desire in Venom, and the symbiote, that they must beat Peter Parker, no matter the cost. Just, hopefully the cost didn't include something unwholesome. "The day you want to start working out, maybe you could get abs like these too." This was so absurd.

Spider-Man has posed:
Escalation is a hell of a thing, Eddie Brock.

Like Venom, Peter did not intend to lose this fight. There was a line drawn in the sand, now, and it required an ever expanding repository of new and dirtier tricks to redefine the battlefield. That said, wholesome is the name of the Disney Game... and these rules must be abide.

"My big hunk-uh man does gym instructor on the side, ya see." To the lady, since she is now involved in their imaginary love life on an intimate, ney uncomfortable, level.

Venom has posed:
Their food was taking forever, or so it felt like that to Eddie. In truth, very little time had passed, but with their ever increasing attempts to one up each other, time just seemed to be passing more slowly. Eddie slipped a hand into Peter's back pocket, which gave the symbiote the chance to slide a tendril up and under the shirt.

and if that didn't make it uncomfortable, Eddie whispered into Peter's ear, paraphrasing one of his favourite books and films, "you fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous of which is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Symbiote when death is on the line" And then, with the woman's head turned to pick up their food, he licked Peter's ear, large symbiote tongue and all, before reverting back to normal.

Escalation is a hell of a thing, Peter Parker.

Spider-Man has posed:
It is a cold day in hell when Eddie Brock wins the day against Peter Parker in a game of socially awkward t-ball, so everyone should mark that down in their calendar. The hand in his pocket didn't do it, even the big greasy tendril running up his back would have been something he could come back for, but the tongue sliding up the side of his face was enough to run a Saint into the hands of the Devil!

"Oh for fucks sake, Brock.." Hands dragging down his cheeks, he didn't scream it, but it is apparent by no small measuring stick that short of moving in together, there was no way to actually top getting tongued.

"Jesus Herman Christ on a cracker, you made me cuss in public.. I hope you're happy with yourself. I hope you stay up late into the morning wondering what wild things I'll now get into because the final seal has been broken..."

A long, thin finger points up at Eddie, "My seal don't break, so if it's broke, you broke it.."

Venom has posed:
"Language," Eddie said, giving a gentle squeeze of Peter's butt, before withdrawing the tendril and the hand, "we're in public." Yeah, it was a cold day in hell. But which Hell? Lucifer's, Hela's, Hades', or some other variant? Looking at the discomfort Peter was showing, Eddie nodded, and they were finally given their food, "for now," he said, agreeing that they were happy with themselves for having unnerved Peter Parker.

Whether Peter followed or not, Eddie moved to a table, setting the food down. It was a two seater booth, so they wouldn't be sitting beside each other unless Peter tried to somehow squeeze into Eddie's lap, and good luck with the tree trunks that were his thighs. There was precious little space in the booth. They always designed these things for smaller people.

"I haven't broken anything of yours today, though if you'd like, we could fight afterwards and we'll see what we can do to rectify that, hmm?" Yeah, even if they were smiling, Peter and Eddie, they were hardly friends.

Spider-Man has posed:
There was a sick facination to see how this played out.

Pete grabbed his food and considered heading home, telling Kitty the weird adventures in the Arby's with what, until not terribly long ago, could have been described as a serial killer (in so few words anyways, it was certainly complicated). Now, he's watching the big dark dressed blonde head to a booth with curiously narrowed eyes trying to figure out what the angle was.

After a few seconds he does join the other, thankfully much smaller, and doubly so that he doesn't try to squeeze into Brocks lap. "You're breaking my predefined notions of you, for starters." They weren't friends. Peter has never pulled any verbal punches with Eddie, or physical ones for that matter. "What's your game, Eddie? Are you turning over a series of new leaves trying to find the starfish like a game of memory?"

Venom has posed:
By the time Peter joined him, Eddie had already eaten a whole turnover, helping to satisfy the symbiote, and had begun to bite into the Mountain of Meat, better known as the Bambi Burger. After swallowing his morsel, he looked Peter dead in the eye, "Winter does not last forever, spring comes, snows melt." He had killed, many people, though they were all bad people, near as Eddie could tell, and he had eaten them. So, he was more than just a serial killer. He was more like Hannibal Lecter in that way. As he picked up another turnover, making short work of that one.

His voice dropped to a whisper, even if people were around, none seemed close enough to hear them, or interested for that matter. When he spoke, it seemed more like Venom, a deadly seriousness to it. "We are convinced that you deserve to live, for now. On the whole, you are better for the innocent, than without you... barely. That's why we agreed our truce." And then, adopting more of an Eddie tone and mindset, "but you can't expect us not to have our way with you. So long as you continue to be a boon, rather than a burden, you're safe, at least from us." And after a pause, "though you really should hit the gym. You're so weak and so thin. I bet you're banged up." And then he nodded, "that shoulder. What happened?" Eddie was a student of the human body. He knew when someone was favouring some muscles.

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter was a very smart man and it was a fact he went out of his way, unintentionally as it might be, to hide, but it changes nothing at all about his general accumen. Further, he'd learned a lot about people behind the Spider-Man mask... learned to watch them and trust his instincts about them. He had to, and he wasn't always right, but usually he got the jist of a person pretty quickly...

Except Brock.

He was still an enigma wrapped in a mystery.

"I'll sleep better at night knowing I'm safe from you." Pete unwraps his ruben and takes a bite from the side, then uses it as a pointer in whatever it is he says following the bite, "Spear. Neurotoxin. Nasty stuff, still don't know who made it, but he's hunting spiders." He glances at his shoulder, then up at Eddie, "Doesn't hurt bad enough to keep me from embarassing you infront of all these people though.. so don't get no ideas about the weak and feeble Peter."

"You'll be wrong."

Venom has posed:
Still whispering, Eddie asked "did you ever seriously think that I would open your living room window, which you leave unlocked," crawl along the ceiling, into your bedroom, and kill you while you slept?" The fact he knew it was the living room window, and it was left unlocked, could have been chilling. That Eddie would share it so willingly all the more so.

With a shake of his head, "that is not our style. When we challenge you, you will know it." It was interesting that he said when and not if. "We know you, maybe better than anyone. For now, you are not our concern. But if you would ever like us to train you, we would consider it." Talk about the brass on this one. Except the tone didn't suggest bragging. There was an oddly sympathetic tone in there. "As good as Steph Curry was, no one would put money on a healthy Curry playing iso against a healthy Kevin Durant."

Spider-Man has posed:
"This guy." Peter says around another bite of Ruben when Brock comes right out with the window talk, "It's a studio apartment, they're all the living room.." It's a jest, done as intended, because Eddie is a little unnerving when he goes all Venomish. Thankfully, it doesn't last long because Pete is still Pete.

"I appreciate your concern, but I've been doing this since you were still a kid and the thing inside of you was still a space-sickle.." Pointy, wiggly finger at Brock and ride hitcher, "If you want to tag along on some of my misadventures, we can work something out though." The Ruben is gone and thousand island dressing is being sucked from each of his fingertips when his phone beeps, which he grabs and glances at.

"But I need to get before I draw some serious girlfriend aggro. You know how it is, straping fella such as yourself, must be beating the ladies off with a rubbery symbiotic whip.." Wiggling his arm like a noodle. He is also very quiet, he doesn't want to out Eddie anymore than he wants Eddie to out him... they're both playing the secret identity game here.

Venom has posed:
Eddie was older than Peter, but Peter had been a metahuman for years before Eddie got the symbiote. Eddie continued to eat, not rising to any of the jibes, though the girlfriend aggravation hit a little closer to home than Eddie would have cared for. "Oh, yeah, right," he said, doing his best to fake it, but it was clear by his body language and tone of voice that had been something of a hole in his life ever since he had gained the symbiote. It wasn't exactly great for his love life. First he gets cancer, terminal, with limited time left to live. So he broke up with his fiancé. The symbiote's kept him alive, and healthier than he was in years, but makes it hard to date. Not that being a convicted felon helps either.

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter inwardly wonders if that was too deep a gash.

Then he remembers who he's talking to...

Then he feels bad for having felt bad, but feels bad for having done it as well, so there's just a whole lot of guilt.

"As odd as this is for me to say... It was kind of nice... this I mean." motioning around the Arby's, "This is going to always be our spot, Eddie." Grabbing one of the five remaining turnovers, held up like a trophy, "And this, dessert." A pause, "Just desserts."

"Seeya around Spooky."