Brooklyn, New York, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent training base, 1:00pm.
At the front of the spacious lecture hall, a bespectacled man set down his coffee cup and made a gesture with one hand, silencing the classroom.
"Alright, through these few lessons, you should understand that these gooey little creatures are not the disgusting slime you imagined, they are primarily composed of the Symbiotic Factor."
"Think of them as kind of doughy. Alright, I admit, it does sound a bit disgusting, like a mud ball."
"You're the mud! Apologies now!!!"
Seeing their teacher's stunned expression, the students began to chuckle. They knew that their teacher's own 'muddy' companion was probably complaining in his head again.
The last time they saw him? Even the most gossiping student couldn't find a good adjective to describe their relationship. If they had to describe it, it might be "frienemies".
Eddie cleared his throat, ignored Venom's howling in his mind, and began to tidy the books on the table. To his surprise, the teacher for the next class, Doctor Schiller, who was holding the "Interstellar Sociology" textbook, walked into the room early.
The students cheered, clearly Schiller was popular. What comforted them even more was that Doctor Schiller was also a partner of a symbiont, which made them less repulsed about their future cohabitation with these gooey alien creatures.
Despite no student having seen Schiller's symbiont, nor seen the incessant bickering between Schiller and his symbiont like Eddie and Venom, they believed that the doctor must also have a thrilling story with his own symbiont, just like Eddie's neverending tales of him and Venom.
"Good afternoon, Eddie. How was your lunch break?"
"Not bad. How about you, Doctor?"
"I'm fine too, do you have any classes this afternoon?"
"There's one more in the next class. What's up?"
"Would you like to go to the sanatorium tonight for a chat? I'm glad that you and Venom have made amends. If you don't mind, I'd like to update the status of your relationship."
Eddie asked with a smile, "What can be updated about a loser and his mud?"
"I believe your current situation is more like a 'honeymoon period after a brief separation'." Schiller said with his arms folded, looking at Eddie. "I'm completely serious about this, especially just now when I heard the cleaner complaining outside about who ate all seven tubs of chocolate balls during lunch... Let's just say that's settled."
Eddie fled in chaos.
Still, in the evening, he made it to the Arkham Sanatorium, and once more sat down in the same spot on the upper second floor waiting area where he had previously received his first psychological consultation.
Schiller, writing on a case report placed on his lap, didn't look up as he said, "I can tell you liked my choice of words in the daytime, but I can't possibly be that frank in my report to Nick."
"Oh of course, don't ever write like that!" Eddie covered his forehead as he complained, "He's been excited all afternoon. Please, doctor, I have to feed the dog today. I can't let him eat my dog!"
"You have a dog?" Schiller looked up and asked.
"Is that really important?" Eddie answered a bit distractedly. Clearly, Venom was shouting in his head again.
"Having a pet can stabilize one's emotions. Considering the fact that you already carry a pet... alright, alright, Venom, I didn't say you were a pet, stop pestering him."
Schiller calmed Venom, who was controlling Eddie's erratic movements, and said, "Considering the fact that you are always carrying an intelligent life form around, I believe this is a major concession on his part. After all, you can't expect an alien newborn to understand why humans need another sharp-toothed creature for companionship."
Venom suddenly calmed down, and Eddie muttered, "Alright, I know how tolerant you are, but it's not my dog, and I didn't get with that girl. We're neighbors. I didn't want to sleep with her...."
When Eddie regained his senses, Schiller handed him the report he was holding and said, "You can take a look to see if there's any problem with what I've written."
"No, didn't you say that a patient can't look at their own psychiatric evaluation report?"
"You're not a patient. Rather than wanting you to stay in the psychiatric hospital, Nick would probably prefer you get back to work as soon as possible. You know what he's like."
Eddie laughed wearily and then nodded, "Alright, doctor, I trust you. Write it as such, just as long as you don't use words like 'honeymoon period after a brief separation'. He's already been too smug about this."
"Well then, the official business is done." Schiller put the report aside and said, "I mainly asked you to come here to update your mental health evaluation report for Nick. But there's also a small personal matter."
Schiller poured Eddie a glass of sparkling water. Actually, Venom was fond of sparkling water. Eddie, on the other hand, was just as addicted to American coffee as any American journalist. In fact, Schiller believed that Venom had better taste in this regard.
Eddie picked up the glass and asked Schiller, "Is there anything I can help with?"
"Specifically Venom, do you remember his grand dream?"
"What?"
"To eat his creator."