Here is the next instalment of Pet Peeves. If you have any pet peeves that you would like to see a chapter made out of, let me know in a review. Thanks to WhenUniversesCollide for beta reading the chapter and for coming up with the idea.
Disclaimer: I don't own DC
Damian P.O.V.
The next pet peeve is foot related. Yes, you heard me correctly. Believe it or not, there is plenty of annoyance to go around when it comes to feet. They can cause problems when not used properly.
You would not believe how clumsy people can be when they walk. Well, maybe you can believe it because you have the same problem that I do. I wonder how many people have this problem. I guess it is like most pet peeves, in that the probability of the situation happening to you has to do more with the people that are around you, rather than you yourself. You could have annoying friends that do this on purpose just to annoy you.
I, however, don't have many friends, never mind any that would do this to me, so we will be mostly talking about crowds. I grumble at crowds. Not only crowded crowds, but also crowds like at parks. Why would I of all people know about crowds with feet at parks? Well, I'll answer that question in the first example.
Example #1
Like I earlier said, this example takes place at the park.
Grayson was able to convince Father to to bring him, Drake, and I to the park. We weren't just at the park, though. No, no, noooo. We were having a picnic at the park. I guess Grayson doesn't care about tabloid headlines that are sure to catch up with us, being celebrities. That is going to cause us some problems someday.
Regardless, we are having our picnic at the park, and it is honestly going better than I expected it to. Drake and I are yet to have any main confrontations. It turns out that Grayson doesn't want to take any chances. So when we are done eating, he turns to me and says, "Dami, let's go to the duck pond to watch the birds!" with a huge smile, his blue eyes glittering in the rare Gotham sunshine.
Now would be a proper time to tell you that in Gotham Park, there is a duck pond to feed the ducks, so I shall. In Gotham Park there is a duck pond to feed the ducks. If you can't tell, I am smirking right now, but I am getting off track, so back to my example.
Because Drake and Father are there, I grumble in protest but let him guide me to the pond. Once we are out of earshot of them, Grayson whispers into my ear, "They can't hear us anymore. You can stop grumbling now."
Now that I think about it, it is kind of alarming how much Grayson can see past my defenses. How can my bro- erm, Grayson read people so well? Luckily for me, it seems that he is the only one that can truly read me.
Hm, we are already over two hundred fifty words in, and I still haven't gotten to the problem in this example. Don't worry; we are getting there.
So we are going to the duck pond, Grayson having brought an extra blanket for us to sit down on if we see fit. We set the blanket down on the grass, and walked to the edge of the shore.
All is fine as we feed to ducks, and Grayson is remembering the agreement that we made for if I am to do these types of things. The agreement is that he is not allowed to take pictures or make any evidence of what I am doing. I think it is a nice balance. He gets to make me try stuff, and nothing can be used against me.
I'm getting off topic.
There is a pathway that wraps around the pond that is always about twenty feet from the shoreline. To get to the pond, we walked from the pathway towards the pond for ten feet before placing the blanket on the ground. After that, we walked the last remaining ten feet to feed the ducks some bread. It is a public park so there are people walking about. Slightly humiliating, but fine. I can deal with that. I am Damian Wayne. I have dealt with worse.
The thing that I can't tolerate is what two people did. They were walking by, and they walked right over our sitting blanket like it wasn't even there. What was wrong with those people?! Are they so incompetent that they can't even figure out that there is a paved walkway only three meters away?!
Damn Grayson and his holding my arm when he noticed that I stopped feeding the ducks to glare at those people. I know that Grayson thought it was necessary to grab me to ensure that I would stay in place. But he needn't. I wouldn't have hurt them… physically. I was just going to demand answers as to how they could be so unaware of there surroundings and still be alive, especially in Gotham.
But seriously, they walked on our stuff! It is just so irritating!
Example #2
This example happened while I was on patrol with Grayson.
It is important to note that Grayson was Batman for this night. Why is it important that Grayson was Batman? The answer is simple: if he was out as Nightwing, he would be laughing at the stupidity of the situation, but because he was out as Batman, he had to keep his frown and gravelly voice. I don't know what is more humorous, the situation itself, or Grayson trying to act pissed off while he is laughing inside.
When we land on the building that we parked the Batmobile next to, we see that there are people on the street below us. For obvious reasons, the car is designed so that it is nearly invisible at night-time. This causes the civilians to be unable to see it. Because they couldn't see it, one of the people walked into the Batmobile and fell to the ground.
Grayson had already jumped off of the building when this was happening, so he will have have to react to it in some way, and in a way that is outside of his normal character and befits more of Father. When the guy got up, Batman was standing there in front of him. I knew what was to follow was going to be entertaining.
Grayson started growling to the man, "You think that you can walk into my car and get away with it? Are you looking for trouble? Do you want to get in a fight with me? Is that what you want? If you want a fight, I can give you a fight."
The man stuttered in reply, "No, sir, I don't want a fight. It was an accident; I swear!"
"Then consider this your warning." Grayson brushed past the guy and I took that as my cue to get in the car.
The whole exchange brought a smile to my face. Grayson noticed my happy mood, and asked, "What's got you so happy?"
"You and your performance."
"Oh, you liked that didn't you?"
I merely nod in reply. But still. I can just see where the incompetent man touched our car.
Example #3
This example is going to have to be added to the growing list of examples that takes place at school.
Imagine those classrooms that have the individual desks. I think that we must have all seen a room like this, be it in real life or on the television. Besides, it can't be that hard to look it up on the Internet.
So I am at this desk drawing as I wait for the class to start, when one of those students walks into the corner of my desk. That person disturbed me and my drawing and didn't even offer an apology. The disrespect that it requires to bump into someone's desk, ruin their drawing, and just cast glance at that person is tremendous. That is a line in the sand that even I wouldn't cross. If I was on the other side of the situation and accidentally disturbed a random innocent stranger, I would have done more than just cast a glance to acknowledge that a thing happened. Why can't people just meet my expectations and standards?
Bonus Scene (From Example #2)
Third Person
Jim is standing on the roof of police HQ, waiting for Batman to appear.
"Hello, Commissioner."
"Ah, hello Batman, or rather Nightwing, I suppose. I heard what happened with your car. Quite the performance that you put on there. Don't you think it was a little much?"
Batman replies with a slight smile revealing his Nightwing side: "I had to make sure that I stayed in character."
"Say, what are you doing in that costume again. Is the other guy ok?"
"Yeah, he is."
"Then, if you don't mind me asking, why are you covering for him?" Gordon raised an eyebrow.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me."
"You didn't hear it from me." Batman jabs a finger in emphasize. Jim nods in agreement. "I managed to convince him to go golfing with me. On the eighth hole, he sprained his arm swinging the golf club."
Jim cracks a wry smile and shakes his head saying, "Don't worry. I won't let the criminal underworld find out that Batman got injured playing golf of all things. I know that the fear factor would drop significantly if that news ever got out."
