Chapter Text
As horrible as it is, Roy sometimes forgets that Jason is an omega. It’s not that it’s really a lapse of memory, it’s more that Jason has always, for as long as Roy has known him, violently rejected anything that runs along the lines of omegan.
That makes walking into the apartment to find a large nest on the floor of the living room just that much sweeter. Knowing Jason’s nesting habits, the haphazard pile of blankets and laundry was once well organized with thick walls. The destructor of those walls now lays curled up against Jason’s swollen belly, sucking her thumb and watching cartoons.
Lian puts her finger to her lips to shush Roy as he approaches. “Hush, Daddy. Jay Jay said it’s nap time.”
“Did he?” Roy asks, crouching down outside the nest to boop her nose. His coveralls are still grimy with grease from working in the shop, so he refrains from crawling into the nest like he really wants. The french braid Jason twisted Roy’s hair into this morning has come mostly loose and slips down over his eyes. “Something tells me you’re the one supposed to be sleeping.”
“I’m not sleepy.” Lian wiggles closer to Jason happily, petting his rounded stomach. Thankfully the omega doesn’t wake. “I was talking to Sparkles.”
“Yeah?” Roy holds out his arms and Lian happily runs into them so he can hoist her up onto his hip. “What did you and Sparkles talk about today?”
“I told him, how come it’s not fair that he’s not here yet?” Lian’s little fist tangles in Roy’s hair as they make their way to the bathroom so he can wash up. Her pout is far too serious for such a tiny face. Roy wants to eat her up. “Uncle Kon got Layla out of his tummy. How come JayJay can’t take out Sparkles?”
“Sparkles is growing. He’s still just teeeny tiny.” Roy sets Lian on the sink and drops his trucker hat on her head so he can strip off the heavy green coveralls. They’re well insulated against the cold, and heavy duty enough not to tear, but ugly as all git out and not what he wants to greet his mate in.
Lian shakes her head with all the worldly wisdom of a toddler. “Sparkles ain’t tiny, JayJay’s belly is big.”
“It might look big, but Sparkles is still tiny. You remember how big Uncle Kon’s tummy got?” He pokes her belly. “JayJay’s gonna get so big he has to waddle.”
“I’m gonna what now?” Jason’s demand is sleepy as he stumbles into the bathroom and drapes himself across Roy. He doesn’t seem to care yet that his clothes are picking up all the dirty grease smeared across Roy. With a happy hum, Jason noses at Roy’s neck. “You better watch it. I’ve half a mind to get offended and make you sleep on the couch.”
“You’d never. You like cuddles too much.” Roy says.
Proving his point, Jason has pretty much insinuated himself into Roy’s arms and is relying on Roy to hold him up as his eyelids drop to half mast. Roy runs one hand up and down Jason’s back and gets a happy omega coo and soft purr as reward.
Jason’s hands fist in Roy’s shirt and he gives a light tug even as he starts covering Roy in his scent. Always possessive for an omega, Jason’s pregnancy has made him downright obsessive about making sure everyone can scent his claim. “Slander and libel. I’ll have Bruce sue you for such untruths.”
“You already have access to all my money, darling.” Roy nuzzles the top of Jason’s head. If Jason wouldn’t kill him for getting the nest dirty, Roy would be bundling his mate back to bed. “In fact, I think you have more access to my money than I do.”
“Tha’s ‘cause you’d spend it all on somethin’ dumb like a billboard.” Jason’s words slur together as soon as Roy starts rubbing over the baby bump.
Deciding to risk Jason’s wrath, Roy sweeps Jay up into a bridal carry. His mate just settles in and nuzzles against his chest. Pausing only long enough for Lian to get a piggy back hold, Roy heads for their bedroom. “One time. I’ve grown since then, matured even.”
“Tried to spend three hunner’ on slime stuff two weeks ago.” Jason says. He’s barely conscious in Roy’s arms, whining and flailing one arm towards Roy when he’s set down. Lian immediately snuggles up to his side.
Roy pulls off his wife beater and scrubs it briefly over his hands and face to get the worst of the grime off before climbing in alongside Jay dressed only in his boxers. “Details. Lian wanted to start a YouTube channel.”
“YouTube is a nightmare and no pup of mine will be on a site that just hands out personal data like after dinner mints.” Jason opens one eye to make sure his lecture is hitting properly. “Do you know how long it would take Tim to find out where the least popular YouTuber lives?”
Despite having heard this lecture a hundred times over, Roy humors him. “How long?”
“Ten seconds, max.” Jason huffs and nips Roy’s scent gland before lapping at it. Once he seems satisfied that it’s been properly stimulated, he starts rubbing his nose and jaw against the sensitive gland. Roy has to fight down a shiver of arousal. Lian is curled between them and Jason just wants the protection of Roy’s scent.
Happy content omega and pup curls around him and it doesn’t take long for Roy’s family to fall asleep and the quiet to set in.
Silence is the worst. It lets Roy’s thoughts seep through without distractions to give him peace. It draws his mind away from how content he is to lay there with his mate and pup in a nest. It lets him focus on the bottle of vodka hidden in the back of the closet.
It was a really bad day at work. The kind that grinds him down to dust and wears away his patience. Usually he doesn’t mind messing around with cars, fixing them up until there’s no choice but to scrap them. Usually though, he’s not forced to train a newbie who thinks his engineering degree means anything in an auto shop.
Usually he doesn’t have to listen to some puffed up alpha degrade him for his tats, or his hair, or his accent.
Usually he doesn’t have to listen to a pup barely out of diapers remark on how shocked he is that Roy could manage to snag an omega he didn’t pay for, much less knock one up.
Usually, even if he did have to deal with all of that, the new alpha wasn’t his boss.
It doesn’t have to be much, Roy’s mind coaxes, just a few sips. Surely you’ve lost enough tolerance that a few sips will just take the edge off. It’s damnably tempting.
He starts to slip Jason's arm off his waist and the omega holds tighter. He glances down to see the omega frowning back up at him drowsily. Before he can say anything, Jason beats him to the punch. “Give me a color, Roy.”
So Jason found the vodka.
The stoplight system is usually used for bdsm, letting a dom know where their sub is at. For Jason and Roy, it’s more of a gauge of mental space. Green is doing fine, yellow is tempted, red is... red is the last chance before a disaster.
For Jason the temptation is for self harm, usually of a more subtle kind. Self-inflicted starvation, careless accidents that result in a few too many bruises, deliberately picking fights with no intention to win. That sort of thing.
For Roy... his temptations are more carnal, the allure of escaping the pain of existence more tempting than he can bear to cope with sometimes. Counting back from ten, there’s no need to be annoyed at Jason and his mate is only doing what they agreed upon, Roy lets his muscles relax.
After another moment, another swallow, Roy says, “Red.”
“Okay.” Jason sucks in a breath and releases it. One hand comes up to scrub over his face and Roy hates himself for putting that look of exhaustion on Jason.
He’s the alpha, right? Jason’s growing a whole baby, he doesn’t need to be babysitting his husband.
Jason presses a kiss to Roy’s neck with a quiet rumble. “No. No bad thoughts, Roy. It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m not mad. Do you know what triggered this?”
Slowly, bit by bit, Jason coaxes the story from him. Roy really doesn’t deserve this blessing of a human being. Despite all of his own issues with addiction, Jason hasn’t left him yet. The opposite in fact, since Jason keeps promising that he’s not going to leave.
“Can you dump it out?” Jason asks. He keeps his words so soft, but still firm.
Roy can’t answer verbally. The words stick in his throat as he shakes his head.
Jason kisses his cheek and then gently nudges Lian until she’s replacing him in Roy’s arms. “Cuddle your girl then. She missed you today.”
“Not as much as I missed you guys.”
Jason smiles softly and then presses a kiss over the tattoo on Roy’s shoulder. “I don’t know about that. I won’t be long.”
True to his word, Jason is quick and efficient. Even with his cute little waddle, Jason moves like a bat.
Just a few more months and they’ll be able to meet their new little one. They’ll get to know whether it’s a boy or girl, alpha, beta, or omega.
And then they’ll finally get to pick a name, because Sparkles isn’t going to cut it once they’re old enough for school.
Jason crawls back into bed and Roy hums happily. He cups his mate’s belly and strokes the swell of it with his thumbs. “Lian said she asked Sparkle’s about their eta.”
“Tim was over with Layla and Kon this morning. I was supposed to babysit, but then they decided they couldn’t leave her so we visited.” Jason mumbles through a yawn, arching his back. “Tim‘s already talking about college funds.”
“isn’t that boy a millionaire?”
“He’s such a trust fund baby.” Jason says, like he isn’t one himself. Jay has always been insistent about the fact that he’s the only one of Wayne’s four adopted boys to understand poverty, even though he’s been the son of a millionaire for almost as long as he was the son of a poor man. The one time Roy tried to point that out, he had a sleepover with Lian in her room. “He’s already worried they won’t have enough to send her to Yale.”
The teasing smile creeps across his face before he can stop it. “Will we have enough to send Sparkles to Yale?”
“Please, it doesn’t matter. Bruce will pay for Sparkles and Lian to go wherever they want before we get the chance.” Jason mutters and says something else about nepotism under his breath. It’s betrayed by the warm pleased tones to his scent.
“I see.” One of Roy’s hands creeps up to stroke over the back of Jason’s neck while the other drops to Jason’s delicious thighs. “What’s your color?”
“Yellow.” Jason shifts so he can lay back down. His nose traces lines over Roy’s chest as he takes in deep breaths. “Kon’s such a good omega. He’s just... he’s the perfect new mom and—“
“Shh, baby.” Roy nips at Jason’s cheek as he pulls his omega closer. A little of the possessiveness he always feels is allowed to slip into his scent as he rubs it over Jason’s skin. “You’re perfect for our family, Jaybird. You’re such a good momma for Lian and I’ll know you’ll be equally as good with Sparkles. You’ve just got to give yourself a chance, babe.”