Chapter Text
(Y/n) laid back in their chair letting out a big sigh. The work was finally done. Four pages of calculus work, one lesson on chemistry, two hand drawn illustrations, and a paper on bondage. Unfortunately not the fun bondage.
And it was only, they peeked at the clock on their laptop: 4:38 am. They took off their glasses and rubbed their eyes. What’s the use of trying to get any sleep at this point? Instead (Y/n) closed and put away all of their coursework and switched around the tabs on their laptop.
They logged into their anonymous art account. They check their notifications. Even though it’s been a week since they last posted, the likes, favorites, and comments were still going up. For almost the last year they’ve drawn and posted exclusively NSFW Venom art. The most recent one being the Venom ravaging some poor civilian woman from a high-rise.
The Venom started popping up around NYC less than a year ago and (Y/n) had to know everything about it. They read every theory about it. From “Spiderman gone dark” to “New werewolf but for Spiders.” Not to mention the endless artistic inspirations Venom fed them. For every published artwork (Y/n) had dozens more sketches and doodles just sitting in seemingly blank pages on their painting application and at the bottom of their sketchbook stack.
As far as the public knew, the Venom was just another villain in the world who hasn’t offended yet. Not vigilante like Spiderman, but villain. Which didn’t turn (Y/n) off at all.
They opened up a Venom thirst post thread and took their laptop to their bed.
…
In the morning, they changed into a decent outfit. Jeans and their Empire State College sweatshirt. They went to the dining hall to dine and not fall asleep. They made sure to have plenty of water before their first coffee cup.
They ate but grabbed a hand full of snacks before leaving. At 7 am, they had two hours before their first class, that being General Chemistry 2. In the meantime they sat in the quad.
While under the shade a girl walked up to them. “Hey!” she smiled.
“Hi Zoe,” they clapped hands with her. She took a seat next to them and (Y/n) laid down. “Did you finish the chem work?” they asked her.
“That’s what I’m here for now.” She pulled her laptop out of her backpack and went to work to complete an assignment due in a couple hours.
“I’ll be quiet,” (Y/n) promised.
“Ah, don’t sweat it.”
They sat on the grass and (Y/n) enjoyed the rest. They wouldn’t be able to have any until after the next two classes. “Did you see the latest NYPD statement?” Zoe asked (Y/n).
(Y/n) rolled into their side. “No. You think someone like me would pay attention to the NYPD?”
“You might be interested in this one.”
(Y/n) looked it up. It ended up being a response to a possibly real photographed sighting of Venom now with six legs instead of four. The photo was still viral on its’ third day. The NYPD claimed that it was just Spiderman in a new skin and that they were still out to arrest the guy. With the obligatory message to call the NYPD’s number right away if they see the Spider(s).
“So what do you think?” Zoe asked as she was typing away.
“I think the NYPD should list their sources if they want to claim that Spiderman and the Venom are one and the same.” they said and put their phone down.
“Yeah of course. No one knows but hopefully someone will see Spiderman and the Venom in the same place at the same time eventually.” Zoe said. Zoe was a Spiderman fan who liked to call the Venom ‘The goth wannabe Spiderman.’
“You like Spiderman too, do you believe they’re the same person?” she asked.
“Nah. The best sightings of the Venom we have clearly show someone with a different body type.” They would know after drawing Venom’s body over and over again. Both in normal and questioning positions. “Unless the Spiderman grew months worth of muscle mass overnight, there’s no way.”
“That was surprisingly observant.”
Zoe spotted Flash Thompson, another student a year above them walking by. “Maybe he’s the Venom,” she joked with his beefy build.
She made (Y/n) laugh. But then they felt something odd. They sat up and looked around. But nothing was different about the early morning quad.
“Something wrong?” asked Zoe.
“Nothing. Just, just got poked by an extra sharp grass blade.” they excused. But actually they felt like someone was watching them and Zoe. But no one else was out there.
Zoe turned in their chem paper and they got up to walk to class together. (Y/n) told her about their all nighter and their illustration class after general chem. Just before walking into the lecture hall they ran into their TA.
Zoe took it upon herself to do the talking. “Morning, Harry.”
“Morning guys.” Harry replied.
“You too Peter.” she said.
Much like (Y/n) and Zoe, Harry and his best friend Peter always came to class together. Although Peter was just another student, not a TA. He nodded back to her.
Harry looked to (Y/n), “Someone looks bright-eyed.”
(Y/n) switched their glasses to shades. They knew they had dark circles but really? Harry chuckled. He let Zoe and them in first and they took seats in the front row.
While they were seated and taking out their stuff for class, (Y/n) leaned over and whispered to Zoe. “Is he really your type?”
“Yeah. Come on (Y/n), he wasn’t insulting you. He was just teasing cuz he’s an upperclassman.”
(Y/n) saw Harry and Peter also take front row seats. Thanks to Zoe crushing on Harry Osborn they were on friendly enough terms that he thought he could also joke off to (Y/n). They couldn’t even see what Zoe saw in him. Besides the obvious. He’s clearly smart and successful, not to mention the wealthy background.
But they always shrugged it off. (Y/n)’s taste in men and everyone else was far from vanilla. But why should they judge their vanilla best friend? It wasn't really any of (Y/n)’s business or concern, unless Zoe needed their help.
They took their shades off and the room filled up. It was a notes heavy day and (Y/n) liked to use three different colored pens. In the middle of the lecture, (Y/n) looked away for a moment and accidentally made eye contact with Peter. They looked away immediately. Better him than Harry though.
After chem class (Y/n) had to go back to their dorm. Because they realized that they accidentally brought the wrong sketchbook. This was the nsfw one, “I guess I didn’t have enough coffee," they muttered.
They rushed to stuff their bag and hastily got up. But in their rush they stumbled down the one step from the desk row.
In a stroke of luck someone else caught their free hand and saved them from nose diving into a shoulder. (Y/n) looked up at, Peter. For the second time today. They let go of his hand and thankfully he was chill enough to simply move on and act like it didn’t happen so no one else would notice.
…
(Y/n) crashed in their dorm after their second class. They could finally get some sleep. But after they set their things down and changed clothes Zoe rang their phone. (Y/n) groaned but answered her. “Hello?”
“Good news there’s a dorm party tonight!” Zoe said.
“Yeah?”
“Come with me!”
“Ok, when is it?”
“It’s at 10 tonight but I want you to come to my dorm beforehand. Meaning now.”
“What?!”
“Come on, you’ve done my eye makeup before and it was great!”
“Zoeeeee. Need sleep..”
“You can crash on my bed.” she offered. (Y/n) couldn’t come up with an excuse.
“I’ll be there in a few.”
“Thanks! Love ya!”
“Ditto…” (Y/n) hung up. “You owe me, girl.” (Y/n) snatched up their ESC sweatshirt.
…
(Y/n) couldn’t get any real sleep with Zoe’s lights on. Zoe couldn’t convince them to put on a fresh face of makeup but she did persuade them to dress up for the night using her closet.
They went together arm in arm. Zoe knew the room. This party was being hosted in a Men’s dorm hall. They would be sure to watch over each other and get each other out of a pinch. Especially since (Y/n) was pushing on two all nighters now.
They stood at the dorm with the party sign and the loud music. “We got each other right?” (Y/n) asked.
“Yeah.”
They knocked on the door together. Some guy opened the door and let them in. They went in and there wasn’t very much space. Two beds, two dressers, two desks. One of the desks was being used for drinks, the other was for the speaker and lights. (Y/n) spotted their RA Doreen by the speaker and waved to her.
Harry and Peter were sitting together on one of the beds drinking beer bottles. So Zoe unlinked arms and scurried up to them. (Y/n) walked up to the drink desk. “You got any juice?”
They did not have juice. The party host gave (Y/n) a Gatorade from his personal fridge. They went to the room’s window and cracked it open. This dorm had a view of the quad and they saw a couple other groups out on campus doing their own thing. Dancing, playing live music, smoking, throwing random things at the trees.
They backed away from the open window to crack open their drink. It was Fruit Punch flavored and ice cold. An hour went by and (Y/n) took a seat on the floor. There was nothing to do in this place so they went on their phone. Might as well visit the 18+ Venom fandom.
As they were scrolling the scandalous feeds, they were approached by another party goer. “Got any room?” asked Peter.
(Y/n) scooted over. Peter sat beside them. As they were getting comfortable Flash Thompson crashed the party. He started laughing about and loudly whooping.
“I thought you were hanging with your bestie.” (Y/n) made small talk with Peter.
“Well uh,” Peter pointed towards the bed. When (Y/n) turned their head, Zoe was sitting on Harry’s lap and they were making out.
“Oh,” they said.
“Yeah.”
(Y/n) could see why he left. He was third wheeled and (Y/n) too kinda. “Could I uh? Share some of the ‘ade?” Peter pointed to their Gatorade. “Might help me sober up.”
“You’re drunk?”
“No. Tipsy maybe,” said Peter. He had a red solo cup and (Y/n) poured him half the large bottle. “Thanks.”
“No worries.” They clacked drinks and continued chatting. “You and Harry?”
“Friends since childhood.” Peter said. “We went to high school together with—“ he gestured to Flash arm wrestling with another guy. “The big guy.”
“Hm. So you’re all from around here?”
“Yep. Queens. What about yourself? You strike me as a Bronx person. Or are you just from Manhattan?”
“DC.” said (Y/n).
“Oh.” Peter chuckled at his guess.
“Manhattan’s not half bad though.” (Y/n) took another gulp of Gatorade.
The room went up in cheers for Flash who won his arm wrestling match. Flash saw them and Peter looking his way. He smooched his lips at (Y/n). They scowled and turned to the wall. Peter downed the last of his red cup and stood up. He placed it on the window sill and went up to Flash’s coffee table.
(Y/n)’s eyebrows raised as Peter took off his jacket and sat in the challenger’s seat. They clasped hands and Peter’s arm didn’t stand a chance to Flash Thompson’s. (Y/n) assumed that Peter was still tipsy. But he looked straight and focused.
Flash and Peter were counted off, and right away Flash was close to winning. Peter’s hand gradually got closer and closer to the table surface. (Y/n) shook their head. But then an inch away from the table Peter’s hand wouldn’t budge. Peter started to recover some ground and attracted more people’s attention. Including Harry and Zoe. Then Peter’s arm jerked and Flash slipped and his hand bounced off the table. He grabbed his wrist.
(Y/n) almost felt concerned for him but the room cheered for Peter. Everyone was almost shocked that he won against Flash. (Y/n) was surprised too and got up to congratulate him. They knew he had reflexes on his side after this morning, but apparently he was also stronger than he looked too.
“That was pretty cool, Parker.” (Y/n) said.
“I-I’m sorry if that was a little asshatted-“ he stuttered.
“It’s fine, Peter. Harry’s proud of you.” They both saw Harry and Zoe acknowledge Peter from the bed.
Flash was a little too proud however. He boldly challenged Peter to a rematch in the form of a drinking game. There were still two unopened bottles of whiskey left. Flash took one and pressured Peter to take the other. He grabbed it as if he wasn't just trying to sober up. (Y/n) got between them and whispered to Peter.
“Bro, don’t try to get blackout drunk. Not like this.”
“Relax (Y/n), I can hold my liquor.” he reassured them.
“Weren’t you just drinking beers?”
“Oh that was nothing.” He swerved around them. Flash and Peter picked up their bottles. (Y/n) saw them pop open their whiskeys and they started chugging on 3. They were cheered on and some people started to get their phones out to capture the moment.
Flash ended up finishing his whiskey first. As he was wiping his mouth Peter swallowed the last of his drink. Flash tried setting down the glass bottle and missed the desk. He dropped it on the floor and gagged. Peter leaned out of the way just on time and narrowly dodged Flash’s regurgitation before he started really vomiting into a nearby wastebin.
But the initial splatter hit (Y/n), in the face. They took off their glasses and wiped their cheek. Peter turned around and reached out to try to help but (Y/n) recoiled.
(Y/n) left the dorm in a hurry. No goodbyes, no hesitation, but Peter was second out of the door. “(Y/n)! I’m sorry!”
“Whatever.” they said angrily. Doreen chased after them. (Y/n) stopped for her, she offered to walk with them back to their dorm. (Y/n) nodded and glanced back at Peter. He leaned against the door. They did believe his apology was genuine but it was too soon to face him again. So they walked away.
Doreen saw them to their room. The minute their door closed they kicked off their shoes and took off their slacks. They had slop in their hair and needed a shower. But the bed looked very comfortable and lying down felt very nice.
“Just a quick nap…” they said to the ceiling. “A quick nap, and I’ll clean up…”