Someone stop me: I'm thinking about how to add Eddie and Venom into the 3Peters!AU
Somewhere on my main blog-- and the search "feature" is not helping me this morning --I had a post written down about this dream I had once, where Curt was in a bad relationship that May sort of pushed him into (to kinda push him out of the house, it's a whole thing), that ended with him being stabbed/ nearly gutted.
What if that's how Curt and Eddie meet in the 3Peters!AU... Eddie is (still) a reporter and wants to interview Curt about the attack.
The thing is, this is (mostly) a no powers!AU, so what about Venom?
Val is a human nurse, so is Venom also human? Is he Eddie's friend/ roommate/ maybe more?
Or is Venom a hallucination, Eddie's "Shadow Man" situation, that only he can hear/ see/ perceive?
Thinking about Eddie interviewing Curt, asking why he stayed in a relationship that was (according to Curt) just two people using each other, and Curt saying it's too complicated and personal to explain for his article, so Eddie writes down "complicated reasons", then sets his notes aside, and asks Curt to tell him anyways, off the record.
Curt, caught off guard, wary and hesitant: It's a very long story...
Eddie, earnestly (since he saw the family leaving earlier and knows there has to be something interesting going on with a group like that) : I'm very curious.
So Curt tells him. All of it -- not in deep detail, but the entire history.
About how he came to America to become a surgeon. About how the war happened before he had finished getting his M.D., but that the army was desperate for any "sawbones" they could get, and how his university was willing to accept his tour as his internship, so he enlisted.
About meeting Peter Parker (Richard's older brother) in the war; how he lost his life and Curt lost his arm. About going back to America afterwards and breaking things off with Martha. About meeting Richard (while looking up soldiers' families, as part of his healing process/ personal atonement) and Mary, and finding a way to continue living, thanks to the Parkers. About how Richard convinced him to go back to school, to specialize in prevention and cure, rather than healing. About how the Parkers practically co-opt'd him into their lives.
About how Ben (Richard's younger brother, already a widower) had died in a tragic subway collapse, leaving their son (Peter 2, aka: Pete) orphaned; how Richard and Mary adopted him, brought him into their home, in sort of the same way they had brought Curt in.
About how he learned the Parker tradition (the first born son inherits the name "Peter") when Mary got pregnant. How they solved the issue of confusion by the use of nicknames (Peter 3, aka: Petey). About Richard's terrible sense of humor and how they had to get him to stop calling his new infant son "Repeat" (re-pete) before the baby began to understand actual words.
About how Otto was a co-founder of OsCorp (not that anyone knows about that fact today, not with Norman's ego always putting him in the spotlight) and had gone to look up his old college buddy. About how he wasn't able to get hired at the lab Richard was working at, so he had taken to teaching at a local community college; about how Otto felt he was "wasting his potential" and convinced him to come work at the newly formed medical research lab instead.
About how he eventually introduced the Parkers to the Octavius family, as part of a way to get Richard hired at OsCorp for genetics, and how they hit it off better than he could have ever imagined. About how Richard got hired and how the boys got an honorary uncle and aunt in Otto and Rosie.
About how one night, the Parkers went out for the evening, leaving him to watch the boys, and then never came back. About the struggle and pain and confusion that followed their disappearance. About how Otto and Rosie helped him, eventually adopting the Parker boys to ease the pressure everyone was feeling.
About how things eventually settled into a shaky stability, almost recovering towards normalcy, until Otto's accident. About how the boys were there for the presentation; about how Rosie died protecting them.
About how Otto almost didn't make it in the days and weeks that followed.
About how he bought a house for the four of them, away from any of the previous homes, so they could band together and recover. About all the sleepless nights, where he sat up with at least one (if not all three) because of pain, or nightmares, or anxiety attacks. About all the time and money he poured into keeping a good relation with the hospital, so that Otto would receive the best (and most humane) care, so that Otto wouldn't have to face the press or the public until he was ready.
About how, eventually, they all found their new "normal", despite the actuators fused to Otto's body.
About how, eventually, things settled down. About how they managed to continue on with their lives, going back to work and getting the boys back to school. About how that was where they met another, completely unrelated Peter Parker (Peter 1) and his Aunt May. About how they had their own set of life/ relationship hardships.
About how Otto found himself falling in love again, something neither of them thought would ever happen after Rosie.
About how things eventually came to pass and both May and the new Peter eventually moved in with the four of them, causing Peter and Petey to share a room (which they didn't mind). About how there was an awkward adjustment period, but how things worked out in the end.
About, as time passed, how May became a bit too used to leaving things to him to take care of, as if he was the live-in nanny, and how that attitude caused frustration and misunderstandings/ miscommunications.
About how, as more time passed, May started to drop hints of wanting "a little more space in the house". About how she felt they were all "too reliant" on his "help". About how he ought to"find someone for himself" or at least be attempting to, and started pushing him on blind dates, setting him up with women she knew through F.E.A.S.T.
About how he actually still has his old apartment (it was rent controlled, and you don't give that up in New York) but had promised it to Pete (and friends) for a place to live while in college (which was just starting), so that wasn't an option to retreat to.
About how he eventually gave in to May's pushy hints, alternating his time between one particular woman's apartment, a suite in a hotel, and his lab. About how he and woman knew their relationship was shallow, knew they were using each other (he was her pity project, her ego boost, and he covered some of her bills; she was his escape, his excuse, his socially acceptable partner), and didn't mind the surface lies. About how the woman started hooking up with her ex behind his back; about how he knew and didn't say anything, how he actually didn't mind, since they weren't emotionally or sexually compatible anyways. About how he was already easing himself out of her life, looking for the right time to end things, but never could.
About how the woman ended up getting pregnant by her ex and expected him to support her and the baby, but that was where Curt finally drew the line. About how she tried to claim he was the father and how he confronted her with knowing the truth. About how she tried to use the fact that he had already raised children that weren't his to convince him; about how he wasn't looking to raise another (esp an infant) at this point in his life.
About how he tried to leave and that was when she had apparently panicked, pulling a knife out of the kitchen block, and accidentally (?) stabbed him in the guts when she pushed him back against the front of the refrigerator.
About how, in her panic and realization of what she had done, she had tried to pull it out; how they fought over the knife at that point, with him trying to keep her from pulling it out, only to end up with him getting cut worse in the struggle, until he finally collapsed to the floor.
About how she ran.
About how she left him there, alone.
Eddie knows this part of the story. The woman's apartment had in-home cameras (which is partly how Curt knew of the affair) so the police had recordings of the event, some of which was shared to the press... but he still find himself on the edge of his seat to hear it from Curt.
