#He’s not the one for murder he’s the one with a shovel and zero judgement

[connorsbonez]

DC/DP Crossover #9 where Damien and Danny become friends through their civilian identities and bond through their unhinged adventures, dog parks with their pets, zoos, and eating vegan food together as they chat (and maybe talk shit shoosh shoosh). Their identities aren’t revealed during this time as Damien doesn’t see why he should and Danny just doesn’t ask questions about certain mildly questionable things about his new slightly bloodthirsty friend as he has his own skewed version of what’s normal so a lot of what they do is just an average Tuesday for him.

Maybe Damien makes the guess that Danny’s a meta so he doesn’t question some things that the boy does that isn’t normal for humans. Or socially but Damien probably doesn’t realize.

The thing is that Damien never tells the Batfam where he’s going and doing for several hours.

(Dicks just happy he’s getting sun on him)

So naturally, they try to follow him.

It goes as well as you expect.

Damien manages to loss them a few times before they manage to get to wherever Damien and Danny are planning on meeting up, but they can’t really see Danny as he’s always at an angle where you can’t really see him that well, and no video recordings or pictures of him ever come out right instead going static every-time Danny’s on screen.

Maybe Danny and Damien have a continuous thing where one day either on the weekday or weekend, Danny sneaks up to Damien’s window to get let in and Damien makes the preparations to request that Alfred makes extra cookies so he can bring them up and eat them with Danny.

Duke notices this and brings it up later to the Batfam. Which leads to someone if not a few of them trying to get into Damien’s room when it’s that day and either Damien’s already in the room or they do it when he leaves.

Weird that every-time they go in it seems to be completely empty or just Damien glaring at them annoyed and currently reaching for the sharpest weapon that’s closest.

(Later, Damien asks demands how Danny managed to hide from his brothers, and the boy shows off his invisibility, this is later used for chaos)

The Batfam is tearing their hair out cause they can’t figure out who this motherfucker is and to make things worse, Damien has been missing since Friday and they can’t find him anywhere.

(Damien went to go visit Danny’s home Amity Park for once and decided to stay there for the weekend. Which leads to some ghosty mayhem and a little Phantom reveal)

He comes back and promptly lectured, grounded, and benched from Robin. Damien is super pissed about this but luckily Danny decided to come over again(just straight up flying in at this point)and they hang out a lot during Damien’s period of punishment which makes it more tolerable.

Which makes the Batfam suspicious cause, Damien? Is being rather?? Calm??? About this??? What?? The?? Fuck???? Who is this??

Tim swears he hears two voices talking in the dead of night when he lurking down the halls for another cup of coffee.

The reveal happens when one of the brothers comes down in the early morning to greet Alfred who would be making breakfast and is instead greeted by the sight of Alfred and another boy that’s roughly around Damien’s age but isn’t Damien who’s cautiously helping around with gloves on.

Or alternatively: It’s the middle of the night and they meet a Danny who’s rummaging through the fridge and snaps his head around at an inhuman angle with the fridge light reflecting off his eyes.

Either way they meet Danny in the end.

[windschildfanfictionwriter]

Parenting 101: How personal opinions can unintentionally cause strife.

So I think pretty much everyone knows I’m the oldest with five younger siblings and these kids look at me as if I am a parental figure rather than as their older sister. So time and time again I’m baffled that they all seem hesitant and afraid to come to me with a problem. They are always wary and unsure when they come to me and they seem terrified to tell me what the problem is. 

It hurts because I’ve always tried my best to not be judgemental or to show anger when they do something bad. I try to talk it out with them. 

What I’ve learned now, after years of this, is that they are not afraid that I will be angry with them, they are afraid of disappointing me. They have put me on a pedestal that, quite frankly, I really don’t deserve. 

What really strikes me though is how my opinions can unintentionally cause harm and isolation BECAUSE they hold me in such high regard. Things I’ve never thought twice about speaking on and being passionate about. I’ve always felt that no matter how controversial my opinions are, that I will stand firm behind them. 

What I didn’t realize was that I gave off an air of intolerance. That if you disagreed with me that I would somehow hate you. I’ve been careful in recent years to make sure that even if I disagree with an idea or concept that it doesn’t mean that I am against the person themselves or closed off to discussion. 

As with most things in life, I learned this unfortunate trait about myself through one of my younger siblings: 

One day one of my sisters comes up to me and she looks, honestly? Like she’s about to cry. Confused and worried, I invite her to sit next to me and she starts fiddling with her shirt. 

Shell: Um... I... I know you hate it, but... um...

Me: Spit it out, kid.

Shell: Do you think you could drive me to church tomorrow?

Without hesitation. 

Me: Sure. 

Blinks in surprise and looks genuinely shocked like she’d been prepared to make a case for herself. 

Shell: You will? I mean, I thought you hated Christians and stuff. 

This startles me. 

Me: Listen, I don’t agree with religion or religious practices, but I don’t ‘hate Christians.’ This makes you happy? It gives you hope? Then I will drive you to church. I would never try to stop you from going to church and I will always support you in wanting to improve yourself even if I don’t agree with the institution you want to do it through. I won’t ever go into a church with you, but don’t think, not for a second, that I would think less of you or that my beliefs would stop you from following yours. 

Shell: But you’re always talking about how bad it is. 

Me: That’s how I feel about it, yes, and I won’t lie about those opinions or say that I like you getting into religion, but I will always support you. I don’t like the idea of you getting into the cultist brainwashing that tends to happen, BUT being exposed to all sorts of cultures and people is how you learn and how you make choices for yourself. You have to decide and explore and come to your own conclusions. If you decide this is a life long thing then that’s up to you, but remember that even if I disagree with religion, I still love every bit of you and I still support you. Nothing you decide or believe will ever change that. 

She’s crying now. 

Shell: I was really scared to talk to you about it. Aren’t you mad? Why would you help me? 

Me: When have I ever not helped you? If you murdered the next door neighbor, you best believe I’m going to verbally rake you over the coals, but then I’d get my shovel and roll up my sleeves. 

She laughs. 

Me: Oh, you think I’m kidding, I’ve got a bet going with dad that one of you little bastards are going to come to me in a panic about running someone over in the middle of the night and I’ve got ten different swamps infested with crocodiles to choose from to cover your asses. 

She’s holding her side she’s laughing so hard. 

Me: But seriously, I don’t care if you decide to worship a Zombie or have sex with an eight-limbed guerilla or marry a hot looking hooker as long as you share... 

She spits in surprise through her laughing. 

Me: No matter what you choose to do or who you love or how badly you mess up, don’t you ever be afraid to come to me, okay? I can’t promise I’ll always be chill about it because you guys have all defied my expectations of idiot stunts a person can pull in the middle of the night, but I’ve always come, haven’t I?

She nods, sniffling and laughing. 

Me: But even more seriously, if I have to track your ass down because you got drunk and your phone died and you disappeared with a stranger from a bar, have the common courtesy to do it during the summer, okay? Because jumping fences and falling on ice on the other side is not fun for me and banging on windows of strangers houses at 2 in the morning when it's zero degrees out fucking sucks, okay? 

Shell: I’m not Nikki. 

Me: Yeah, don’t sound so superior, I caught you yelling at your boyfriend last week on the phone because he didn’t get into the shower at the same time as you. 

Ducks her head in shame. 

Me: My point is that you each have your own individual ways of giving me grey hairs and I have an insane amount of back up plans for things you can’t even begin to imagine, so I promise you, I got your back. 

Shell: Thanks. The um... the church session is at 8:00 in the morning. Is that okay? 

Me: Can’t you love God in the afternoon?

She makes a face. 

Me: Okay, okay, crack of dawn it is. 

Shell: Eight is way after dawn. 

Me: Mutters*        Not when you go to bed at Seven. 

Snickers at my expense. 

My point is for all those individuals who feel like they’ve messed up or that they’ve put their foot in their mouth or that they’ve done a horrible parental Fuck up... It’s okay. 

As long as you clarify and try to monitor your behavior and move forward, there is no relationship that cannot be improved through communication. None of us are perfect. The thing we have to remember is that our mistakes are not who we are. 

This moment has really stuck with me because it kind of freaks me out that someone I love so dearly was afraid to approach me for something so important to them. It was a wake-up call to monitor my own opinions, not to tone them down necessarily, but to ensure that people always feel welcome to talk to me about those opinions, that I am ALWAYS open to discussion and that I will ALWAYS listen when people want to share their side and their beliefs. Nothing is closed off to debate. Nothing. 

Even if I 100% disagree with an idea, that in no way means I’m unwilling to talk about it or consider it from another point of view because that is how we grow as people and admitting to mistakes is how we become better. 

I feel like owning up to this flaw is the best way to continue making sure I don’t unintentionally isolate someone else in my life, both privately and publicly.