❰𝟰.𝟰.𝟮❱➣ 𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐒 {𝕙•𝕓}❘ [𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖙 𝖆𝖙𝖘𝖛 𝖝 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗]

｡:*•.─── 𝟮 : 𝑪𝒉𝒐𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑮𝒐𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 ───.•*:｡

"C'mon, don't be rude. He's being loving! Show him some love!" Venom chided you.

"What do you know about love, you're just a parasite," you mumbled back to him, low enough for only him to hear you.

"Parasite?!" Venom gasped in offense.

"D'you say somethin'?" Hobie frowned at your back in confusion, leaning forward to hear you better.

"Nope," you opened the doors of the cooler and grabbed a pack of frozen chicken. You held them up for Venom to pick, let him choose what he wanted.

"Not that one,"  Venom declined, No, No,"

You went through different packs of meat, letting the symbiote tell his pick. Hobie watched, perplexed by your actions, and wasn't really sure what you were trying to do.

"Yes!" Venom sighed when you reached his choice, "That one!"

"Goat brain?" Hobie raised his brows in question as you dumped the frozen meat onto your shopping basket.

You suddenly remembered he was right next to you, "I'm, er, picking it up for my neighbor. She said she wanted to try her grandma's recipe and didn't have enough time to come and fetch it for herself.

"Your neighbor is Mrs. Chen," He pointed out, watching you in a scrutinizing manner.

"I have other neighbors, Hobie," you rolled your eyes at him, hoping that he'd buy it.

But he still wasn't convinced, "Right," he dragged on, "Oh, I've got it," he grabbed the basket from your arms, carrying it for you.

"Oh, thanks," you smiled at him and you both began to walk towards the billing counter.

"Such a gentleman," Venom lauded.

"So, we're still on for tonight, right?" Hobie questioned hopefully, "I could help you study for your exams with those flashcards you made, and then later on we can cuddle up and watch a movie or somethin',"

After the event where you got shot, Hobie had been nearly clinging to your side, wanting to make it up to you in whatever way possible. When he heard the news that you were shot in the crossfire of a protest, his face paled, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't troubled.

From that instant, he promised you that he'd be spending time with you and make up for lost time. And that he'd tell you the truth about everything, no filters this time. For another shot at making things work. To rekindle the spark of love once again.

"Yeah, um, sure," you agreed with a shy smile.

"Tonight we raid the main office to get information about the trafficking of my kind, Y/N," Venom reminded you.

You mentally cursed yourself. When Venom bonded with your body, you were frightened, scared to death, that an alien had invaded your mind, and were almost sure that you'd end up being a zombie. But Venom called you 'stupid' and told you all about how the government had brought him and his kind from an alien planet and were running trials on people to test if co-existence was possible. Several died in the process.

"I'll try to make it," you rephrased your initial answer. 

Mrs. Chen had yelled 'Next!' and Hobie set the basket on the counter, turning back to you. 

His expression had dropped lightly, "You'll try? Did something come up?" his shoulders slumped in gloom.

"Yeah, some stuff I have to handle," you cleared your throat. When you didn't disclose any further, Hobie nodded in understanding.

"That's alright," Hobie chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, "We can raincheck that, yeah?"

"Yeah,"

"Cool,"

Several seconds passed by and you and Hobie stood there, not knowing what to say or do. 

"That would be 150 dollars," Mrs. Chen said, breaking the awkward silence between you both. 

"I got it," Hobie reached into the back pocket of his wallet.

"No, Hobie," you tried to decline, "You really don't have to—"

"No, no, I can't let my best girl pay, now can I?" Hobie slid the dollar notes over to the woman and she slipped it into the cashier.

"Wait a minute," he blinked as though something had popped into his mind, "I've been wanting to get my lower lip pierced. Mind givin' me a hand in that? You're the only one I trust enough to gimme one. We can call it even that way if it helps,"

"Sure," you answered, jerking your head to the side, the movement causing a strand of hair to fall across your face. Hobie restrained himself from brushing it away.

You grabbed the cover with all the things you had purchased, carrying it with a bit of ease, given the strength bonding with Venom had given you.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later," he smiled, leaning in to peck your cheek in farewell. 

Before you could respond, he bolted out of the door, pulling his Spiderman mask over his face. He shot a web at the nearby building and swung away through the streets of London.

You grinned to yourself like an idiot, fingers reaching up to graze the spot where he had kissed you.

"Your heart is doing something weird,"  Venom spoke, "Like you're all lovey. And hurting at the same time. Wait. Did he hurt you?"

"Shut up," you deadpanned, dropping your hand to your side, "Stop looking into my head."

"I can't help it. I'm curious,"

"Goodbye, Mrs. Chen," you waved at the lady in farewell and she reciprocated it absentmindedly, too fixated on the crossword puzzle on the counter in her grasp.

You pushed the doors open, stepping into the city as you walked down the street, "Friends respect each other's personal boundaries, you know?" you told Venom.

Venom pondered in thought, "We are friends? I have never had any of that before,"

"Yeah well, join the club,"

✩｡:*•.───── ❁ ❁ ─────.•*:｡✩