7/3 Instance: The D-Word

[puppygirl]

Timeline - Some point after 'A Boy and his Robot' and 'Next it'll be Timmy in the Well'

Screwball bounced nervously on the balls of her feet as she waited outside the milkshake joint, Venom still had five minutes to go ... would he recognise her in her civies? Maybe she should have worn her jumpsuit? Would he like her skirt ... ooooooh she was so nervous!

A sound of something large being dropped in an alley startled a dog across the street. Moments later, a hooded male walked out from the other side of the block, darting across the road and slowing to a walk towards the milkshake vendor, hands still in pockets.

As the male approached, he looked up, eyes just visible below the hood. He looked around himself, turning and looking backwards, too, revealing a spider emblazoned on his jacket. He was looking for someone, and making it very obvious he was, too.

Screwball glanced around at the sound and frowned ... the guy in the hood .. well he had a spider on his back and was looking for someone from the looks of things. She put on her brightest smile and walked up to him, "Umm ... Venom?" she asked him quietly.

He paused, turning slowly to the girl. "Aha, Screwball.", he smirked, taking down his hood. "Yup! It's me! Hey."

"Yay!" She gave him a hug, "I was like ... sooo worried that you might not turn up ... or you might not know me? I'm so happy you're here, shall we go in?" Oh God! It was really happening! She was on a date with Venom the X-Man!

Eddie flushed probably the deepest pink he'd ever done at the hug, and he couldn't even see it. How was she this cute? How was anything in the universe ever this cute? "Ahm...", he shivered a little, feeling much warmer suddenly. "Yes. Yes, lets...", he grinned at her. "A-after you..."

"Okay!" She chirped, leading the way in, should she take his hand? Nooo ... that would probably be too soon right? "They have like ... every flavour you could ever want here!"

With a friendly smile at her, Eddie followed. "Yeah, I Googled the place to get a lay on what'd be good: I have this dream, right? Where you take vanilla and chocolate, add them together and dress it in strawberry sauce...", he mused to himself, following... "It occurs to me I don't know your name..."

"... Well I was gonna order triple chocolate, but that sounds really nice too!" She giggled as they walked up to the bar to order, "And I don't know yours either, huh?" she giggled, "Oh ... you should take the hood down, you're actually drawing more attention to yourself with it up," she whispered to him.

"Huh? Oh...", Eddie smirked, taking it down. "It's actually a very clever plan: nobody'd suspect me to want attention...", he joked, leaning on the bar and turning to the girl. He placed a hand on his chest. "Casius.", he said, the half-heartedness clear in his voice. Was it pointless lying to her? Or was a secret identity still a good idea?

Screwball snorted, "Elektra, pleased to meet you," she giggled, "Am I getting these or are you?"

"Naturally...", Eddie smirked, reaching into his jacket and drawing a 'Pulp Fiction' wallet. "What sort of 'gentleman' would I be?", he waved over a member of staff. "Hey, can I get a chocolate-vanilla shake with strawberry sauce and...a triple chocolate?", he asked, looking to Elektra.

"Heee, you're an old-school kinda guy huh?" Screwball giggled, "I'll go find us a booth then?" She practically skipped off.

Eddie took a moment to sigh to himself, leaning on the bar with both arms and just basking in how awesome his life had become. Only months ago he was struggling with his powers, the issues with Adam etc. And now he was over it. He was a super-hero who everyone loved, he had a fan base, he was on a date with the queen of said fan base!

Life was definitely looking up right now. As he counted his money and did the math for the shakes in his head, Eddie took a moment to consider what to talk about. As he finished getting out exact change, the vendor re-appeared with the shakes. Eddie paid and approached the both where Elektra was sitting.

"For you.", he smiled, placing Elektra's drink on the table and sitting himself down with his own.

"Thank you!" She'd picked a private little booth near the back where they'd be left mostly alone. She slurped her drink, "Mmm ... this is good, you must have a super-genius power as well, huh?"

"And the uncanny ability to make other men feel chronically enfeebled to boot.", Eddie grinned, sampling his mix. It was good - of course it was! Everything was good right now. "Sorry I was late, by the way: had to pick up my pay packet."

"Wow, did you hear all the 'p's in that?", Eddie smirked.

Screwball giggled, "Do you alliterate often? Is it going to be like dating Dr. Seuss?" ... The D-word ... how was he gonna react to this? She watched him shyly from behind her bangs.

"Na-ah, I'm nowhere near that cool...", Eddie smiled. "It's why I find it so impressive when I do. You all right? You look...am I being awkward?", he scratched the back of his head. "I'm sorry, I don't go out often...you know, like this..."

She giggled again, it was a nervous thing, "Oh ... I'm fine, first dates are always a bit ... awkward, at least in my experience-" Oh my God! Why did I just say that? What if he thinks I’m a slut!? "-Not that I've been on too many, mind you!" She said quickly, flushing.

"I suppose so. Sorry.", Eddie shrugged. "I haven't been on a date in...about a year and a half. Awfully busy...", he laughed nervously. What, in between being captured, cloned, shot at and saving the world he didn't have much time on his hands. "...with...things."

'Wait, what if she thinks I'm some kind of recluse?', he thought. "N-not that I don't, you know, go out often. Because I do! Sometimes..."

"Oh yeah ... I mean dating isn't all that important ... well, I mean it is important ... bur relatively speaking, I do a lot at school and stuff and ... umm ..." she trailed off, flushing ever harder and trying to hide it behind slurping her shake.

"Hey, don't be nervous. Please.", Eddie said, affectionately. "There'll be no room for me to!", he fiddled with his straws, still looking her in her eyes. "What sort of thing do you get up to at school then? That makes you....in America...like 18?"

She nodded, "Yep ... and I'm on the gymnastics team at my college, and the scrap-booking and parkor clubs," she counted off on her fingers, "when I'm at home I like to breed tropical fish and I can sew as well ... I also like skating in case you couldn't guess," she smiled, "how about you, any hobbies or anything? And how old are you then?"

"What, technically?", Eddie smirked. "I'm 22, coming up to 23 at the end of the year. What's cool is that technically I'm however old I want.", he tapped his nose and winked.

"In my spare time I'm quite artsy...", he went on, "I'm writing and drawing an ongoing comic called 'Anti-Hero', I also play video games often.". Eddie paused. "Wow, I'm so lame(!)"

"And you stop bank robberies in your spare time," Screwball pointed out quietly, "that's not lame at all, and I'm not the only one who thinks that."

"Ok, I have been meaning to ask; just how big is this fan-base?", Eddie asked.

"Well, it's kinda hard to judge, but last I checked there were over 200 groups based on you on facebook and a google search of 'X-Men Venom' brings up ... thousands of results, and there's at least over 50 forums and fansites devoted just to you ... and none of this is including the porn," she giggled again.

Eddie blinked. "Oh, Jesus!", he cringed. "I'm SO sorry for that phone call, I do NOT make a habit of it, I swear!"

"I thought it was cute, and hey, those shirts have been selling like a BOMB! Northstar dropped me an email saying he'd been asked to sign a few of the elephant ones."

"Ah...well, 'every cloud', huh?", Eddie managed a grin at his expense. "I never thought it'd go viral like it did - this whole thing I mean...then again, I never figured a girl'd say my drunken call was 'cute' so...", he shrugged.

"A-and by the way: none of that Porn stuff is based on fact!", Eddie quickly defended. "In what sort of reality I would use my powers for bad bondage porn, I don't know..."

Screwball snickered into her shake, "So what do you do when you're not being a hero then, since you're not doing bad bondage porn? Do you go to university or anything?"

'Ah, inevitable question...', Eddie thought. "Uh...yes! Yes, I do.", he said boldly. "It's a special school for...gifted students. Not to sound too condescending...", he made an awkward face.

Ahh .. private school then, "It's okay, you don't sound condescending, I'm doing journalism at the moment, kinda hoping you guys will be my big break huh?"

"So-o....what you're saying i-is...I'm important to you?", Eddie hinted, sipping at his straw. "I'm not just your 'way-in', am I?"

"Oh no! I like you for you as well!" She said quickly, Oh man, oh man, wrong thing to say! "It's just ... you know? Umm ... I-I mean ..."

"Haha! I'm kidding!", Eddie said, leaning forward. "Really, calm down! At least now I know you like me...", he reached for her hand. "You're really sweet when you panic, odd as that sounds..."

"... That's a little creepy, your real name isn't Edward is it?" She joked, blushing hard, He's touching my haaaaaaand! Need to play it cool!

Eddie's hand came up suddenly, hanging just above hers. "...if it was?"

"Huh? I-I was making a Twilight joke?" She looked at him, "... Your real name is Edward, isn't it?" She breathed.

"How would you know that?", Eddie half whispered, tilting his head a little. 'Did I already say that? Or...?'

"Well ... I think you said 'Ed' when you phoned me up drunk and two ... your reaction just then," she giggled, "I am a journalist after all, but don't worry, your secrets safe with me." And to be honest, Edward was a pretty common name, not much to go on there.

Eddie sighed. "Ye-eah, well...it is. Most call me Eddie. I hope I didn't offend you by lying: I'm relatively new to this 'secret identity' stuff.", he smiled gently. "Strange though, I kinda feel like I can trust you..."

"Eddie, that's a cool name," she smiled, "Mine's Liza, if you're interested." She squeezed his hand, "That's good, 'cos I feel the same."

With a breath, Eddie's smile grew at her increased touch. "Liza...it fits you somehow. It's sweet sounding, gentle...", he looked away. "Sorry if I'm coming off weird here..."

"You're coming off sappy," she ran her thumb over the top of his knuckles, "I like sappy."

"Y-...", Eddie started, eyes dropping to her hand. His other hand found hers and clasped it gently. "Then I think we should do this again soon.", he tried not to beam too wide, but his happiness was clear.

"I think so too, I think I'd like that a lot in fact," Liza had no such compunction towards hiding her big smile.

Eddie laughed. "Seriously, you're just....you're too perfect, I swear to God.", he shook his head, "Nobody has ever showed this much interest in me! Well, nobody as beautiful anyway..."

Liza giggled to herself, "Oh man ... you are just soooo sappy, I love it!"

"It's true!", Eddie laughed, "Come on, the last girl I was even this close to got me drunk out of my mind and ended up waking me up in a stolen car with her and a friend...", he cringed. "Terrible night out!"

"... Yeah, that does sound like a pretty crappy night out ... but way more interesting than anything I've ever done."

"There's a line I imagine...", Eddie explained, "And I try to be over on the side of 'safe' rather than 'interesting'...", he smirked. "See, 'interesting' has almost gotten me killed more times than I care to remember."

"Although, apparently...", he added, "Gorgeous women with sweet smiles are attracted to that...I may have to re-think my life strategy."

Liza giggled, "How about I buy us some more milkshakes and you tell me all about it, strictly off-record, of course."

"I...yeah, sure.", Eddie relaxed some more. "I'd really love to share it."