"Eddie's here! Come, come, try a taste of this fine liquor from the East."
The Mandarin lit up the moment he spotted Eddie. With a casual flick of his fingers, the Ten Rings' power swirled in the air—emptying Eddie's glass in an instant and refilling it with a brimming measure of strong, clear baijiu. "I guarantee, once you drink this, you'll fall in love with the flavor."
"Ugh—!" Eddie downed the glass in one gulp. His face instantly twisted into a tortured grimace. He had never tasted anything so harsh in his life.
"Sh*t… What is this? This is that 'Eastern baijiu' you guys keep talking about?"
Grabbing a bottle of mineral water, he unscrewed it and chugged it in desperate gulps before asking again.
"Hahaha!"
The three "old-timers" burst into hearty laughter at Eddie's misery. Within the Sharp Blade Squad, apart from them, there had once been one more drinking companion—the proud and aloof Doctor Doom. Whenever there was downtime, Doom would join them for baijiu. But ever since Doom left to seek his "destiny," the trio had been down a drinking partner. They had been itching to recruit a new one, and had already tried to rope in Spider-Man, Jessica, and now Eddie through various schemes.
"Young man, your inner strength just isn't up to par yet."
Captain Supreme gave Eddie's shoulder a hearty slap that nearly knocked him off balance. "I say you ought to build yourself some proper muscle."
"I'd like to," Eddie groaned, "but no matter how much I train, it never seems to work."
"That's because you don't drink baijiu," the Winter Soldier said with deadpan seriousness—the kind of straight-faced nonsense he had perfected ever since joining the Sharp Blade Squad.
"Hahahaha!"
The Mandarin laughed so hard that tears welled in his eyes. "Forget that kid who can't handle his liquor—come on, brothers, let's drink!"
He raised his cup high, and the three men clinked their glasses together with a crisp, ringing ding-ding-ding.
"That's terrifying, isn't it? Watching a bunch of old men go to war with their livers."
Eddie set down his empty glass and plopped himself down next to Jessica.
She subtly scooted her chair away.
"Stay back," the private investigator muttered after a big swig of whiskey. "Last thing I need is somebody trying to bite my head off."
"Hey, that was Venom, not me… and besides, that was ages ago."
"I don't care!" Jessica shot back without hesitation. "If you'd almost had your head eaten twice by some disgusting monster, you'd never forget it either."
"But you know we were being mind-controlled at the time… Fine." Eddie glanced at her expression and immediately folded. "Alright, on behalf of my buddy Venom, I apologize."
"No! I am NOT apologizing!" Venom roared indignantly in Eddie's head.
"Yes, that's exactly what he said," Eddie told Jessica with mock sincerity. "Venom just asked me to convey his most heartfelt apology, and hopes you'll give him another chance to—oh, wait—'be'… a better symbiote."
"Bullsh*t! Eddie! Let me out! You're making me sound so pathetic I'll never live it down!" Venom's voice thundered in his mind.
Jessica eyed Eddie's "sincere" expression, arched a perfect eyebrow, then tossed back the rest of her whiskey in one go. "Fine, I'll accept his apology. Let's say he was too young to know better at the time. But you tell him this—he's hideous. Even by parasite standards, he's ugly."
"Rrraaagh! How dare she say that about me! Eddie, let me out! I'll make her regret ever existing! Let me out right now! Why won't you— You coward! How am I supposed to show my face after this?!" Venom's furious tirade was met with complete indifference. Eddie had long since mastered the art of tuning him out.
He refilled his glass with golden whiskey, gently clinked it against Jessica's empty one, and said, "I'll pass the message along."
Jessica chuckled softly, topped up her own drink, and raised her glass to him.
"Tell me, doesn't drinking that much get you drunk?" Eddie asked after finishing his whiskey.
"Please," Jessica scoffed. "I don't go down that easily."
"So what, you planning to drink here until you pass out?"
"…What else would I do? You have a better idea?" she asked, unimpressed.
"Maybe… you could join them." Eddie nodded toward the group in the middle of an all-out pillow fight.
"No thanks. That's kid stuff."
Whap!
A snow-white pillow came whistling toward Jessica's back. The detective reacted instantly—yanking her chair aside, catching the pillow mid-air with surgical precision, and then hurling it back with full force.
It sailed past Daisy's nose by a hair and smacked into the wall behind her.
"Whoa! That was close!" Daisy patted her chest in relief.
"Who threw that?!" Jessica rolled up her sleeves, revealing two pale, slender arms as she stalked forward with fiery intent.
Seeing Jessica jump into the fray left Eddie momentarily stunned.
"You see, Eddie," Venom's smug voice echoed in his head, "that's a woman for you. Still not as reliable as your good buddy."
"Shut up," Eddie muttered helplessly.
The pillow fight was now in full swing, the battle lines chaotic and shifting. Daisy grabbed a pillow and hurled it at Wanda, who sidestepped gracefully. The pillow arced like a boomerang—straight toward the door, which, at that very moment, swung open.
Above the doorway, the disco ball flared to life, casting rainbow light across the room as Christmas music poured out.
Daisy's eyes went wide. She had just recognized the man stepping through the entrance—a tall figure in a black trench coat.
Gene.
He tilted slightly to one side, letting the pillow sail past him. It drifted out the open door and landed softly on the snow outside.
Silence fell instantly. The only movement was the twinkling light above Gene's head, and the only sound was the cheerful jing-jing-jingle of the Christmas tune still playing.
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T/N:
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