To Hate a Word (dpxdc DeadSerious)
Danny has never hated a word before. He's hated a lot of things in his life: Vlad, The GIW, the way artafical sweetener tastes. But a word? Seems kinda dumb.
And yet, there is one word he hates. A word that if Danny had the power to, he would blot out of existence.
Because every time this word comes up, every time it's uttered -be it in lighthearted jest or in insult- it makes his boyfriend's eyes go a little hollow. Makes his shoulders tense, just the slightest bit.
Danny has never hated a word so much in his undead life.
No one else seemed to notice that this word bothered Damian. His family and friends have been calling him some iteration of the word since he arrived at the manor. To most of them it feels like an inside joke they have with Damian, a fond shared rememberance of the past.
But to Damian, that word is a reminder of everything he hates about himself. Everything he wished he could eradicate about who he is, and how he was raised. It's a reminder that no matter how hard he tries -to be better, be good- he will never be anything more than a monsterous creature pretending to be human.
It was the hatred of this word that led Danny to doing something that he he still considers to be his crowning achivement to this day.
Damian is a simple man, he's not overly flowery with his words or petnames. When he wants to get Danny's attantion, he calls his name. If he wants to be affectionate, he tells Danny that he's kind, or beautiful or strong. When he's angry or annoyed he calls him "Daniel".
Danny, on the other hand, loves petnames. He's called Damian almost every petname under the sun. : Baby, honey, Darling, Love, Babypop, sugerplum, cuddly muffin cakes, the list goes on.
But there is one name he's never called Damian. A petname that was actually pretty common, Danny just hadn't gotten to it yet.
And so one bright morning Danny strut his way into Wayne Manor and looked at his boyfriend with a wide smile and said, "Hey, Angel."
And watched transfixed, as his sturn and serious boyfriend stared at him with wide eyes... and blushed as red as a fire engine.
