It was never quiet when they were around.

The sharp slam of the door still echoed in the apartment like a gunshot, rattling picture frames and the brittle peace you’d tried so hard to convince yourself existed. You were trembling, shoulders hunched as you stood in the kitchen—eyes not quite focused, breath ragged. Another argument. Another bruise. This time, on your wrist, fingers still aching from how tightly they'd been grabbed.

Again. Always again.

Venom had watched it all. Felt it all. Through you.

The black, sinewy shimmer of the symbiote slithered along the back of your neck, flickering in agitation, coiling with a tension that bordered on something primal. Protective. Hungry.

"They touched you again," the voice rumbled inside your skull—low, guttural, more felt than heard. "Your body is hurt. Your heart is cracking. I warned you, didn't I?"

You flinched, not at his voice, but at the truth in it. You’d been making excuses for so long. Telling yourself they loved you. That it wasn’t always like this. That things would change.

"They are poison," Venom hissed, surfacing just enough for his reflection to flicker in the window glass. His eyes—large, white, warped with concern and rage—stared into your own. "But you… you let them rot you from the inside. You won’t listen until you break, and I can’t let that happen."

You backed away from the counter, eyes glancing toward the door. You could still hear them shouting from the hallway, the footsteps returning. Heavy. Threatening. The handle jiggled. Then twisted.

Venom surged under your skin. You swallowed hard.

"They will not hurt you again."

The door burst open. Your partner was back. Anger radiated off them like a furnace.

“Don’t you walk away from me when I’m talking to you! You think you can just ignore me now? You think you’re better than me?” they snarled, stepping closer.

Your back hit the fridge. Nowhere to go.

They reached for you again, and that’s when something snapped.

Your pupils dilated. Your hand lifted, but it wasn’t just yours. The veins along your arms turned pitch black, bulging with motion. Teeth—not yours—split your lips as your jaw cracked wide. Your voice was layered, no longer alone.

"You should not have touched what belongs to me."

The scream that followed wasn’t yours. The blood—warm and wet—wasn’t yours either.

It happened fast. Too fast to stop. But not fast enough to forget.

In the aftermath, standing in the red-soaked ruins of a mistake you tried to love, Venom curled around your mind like a shield. He had taken the pain. And given it back tenfold.

"I warned you," he whispered softly now, quieter than before, almost… gentle. "They made you suffer. I will not apologize for ending it."

And though your hands shook—though your stomach turned at the horror of it all—a part of you felt safer than you ever had before.

"Now… we begin again. Just us."