Date A Mad Scientist and Other Ways To Disappoint Your Children
is an Invader Zim/Villainous crossover fic by AWildJaxWrites.
Like all "great" men, Professor Membrane struggles to balance his legacy, work, and family life. One day, he sets about trying to be more involved with his kids' lives, but after reconnecting with an old colleague, he sets about building a relationship that proves to be more than just personal.
Date a Mad Scientist and Other Ways to Disappoint Your Children contains the following examples:
- Insufferable Genius: Professor Membrane gets frustrated and disturbed when he is thrown into a location where he isn't automatically feted and treated as divine.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Membrane finds Night Vale deeply unsettling because it is where he isn't treated like the most important person in the world.
- Parental Neglect: Professor Membrane is hardly involved with his kids' lives, to the point that Gaz is simply used to him being absent. Part of the story is him coming to terms with the fact that his kids need more than basic instruction and nutrition to become well-rounded.
- Parents as People: One of the key plot points of the fic is Membrane struggling with trying to maintain both a hectic professional career and being a single father to his two children.
- Perky Goth: Penumbra, despite her dark and foreboding experience, geeks out like a schoolgirl when she gets to see Professor Membrane's artificial hands.
