Chapter Text
“Master Bruce! I highly advise you against going to this… circus,” Alfred was saying from outside his ward’s locked door. “You know as well as I do that this is not more than a foolish attempt to stop you! They practically threatened your life and that of your pup’s!”
“I know!” Bruce yelled from inside the room, looking himself over in the mirror. His pup was bigger every day, and his once small bump was now looking like a beer belly, and his breasts were an uncomfortable weight even if they were pretty small compared to women’s. Bruce wasn’t sure if he liked it or not, he felt fat and unattractive. “Don’t think for even a second that I don’t know they’ll be watching!” He growled. “But I can’t let them think they scare me, because they do not!”
Alfred frowned, glaring at the piece of wood between him and his adoptive son.
“They should, master,” he sighed and turned his back to the door, walking away.
Bruce sighed, too, petting his bump slightly, looking at the anxious face staring back from the mirror.
“Remember to keep the act up,” he told his reflection in a whisper. “You know nothing about the Court of Owls, you know nothing about the Talons, and you know nothing about a threat. It was just a joke. A stupid lullaby to scare you just like it scares children before bed.”
Bruce closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling a few times, feeling the movement of his pup underneath his hand, willing his trepidation to fade away. When he opened his eyes, Bruce Wayne was smirking with mischief back at him from the mirror, ready to mess around with anybody that got close enough and smelled well enough to flirt with, and yet, his eyes wore a calculated cautiousness that would guard his unborn pup against any danger and stranger.
He nodded at his reflection, took his jacket, and walked out of his room, looking for Alfred in his way to the garage. The old Beta was nowhere to be seen. Bruce didn’t blame him, he had tolerated all the things the Omega had gone through, even in his pregnant state. Bruce was sure Alfred would say something like getting older because of him if the butler was one to complain.
As it was, Alfred was waiting for him at the garage. The butler didn’t utter a single word while he opened the door to the limousine and waited for Bruce to climb in, then closed it and rounded the limo to the driver’s side. Neither of them said anything, and when Alfred took Bruce’s hand to help him stepped out, Bruce didn’t mention the comforting squeeze (he wasn’t even sure if Alfred was trying to comfort him or himself).
Bruce waved to the cameras flashing at his arrival, there were less than usual but still very annoying. Haly, the circus owner was supposed to be waiting for him since he sent the personal invite to Bruce’s office, but in his place was a man bigger than Superman. The queue to buy tickets was long, and while some of the people waiting in line glared at him for cutting in before it even opened, others smiled warmly and glanced at his mostly hidden bump.
There were children looking around in excitement, and Bruce’s smile turned warmer, which made one Omega smile knowingly when he caught him smiling at the pups. Bruce winked, trying not to blush at being caught, and followed the large man to the interior of the main tent, there were workers checking the final details. One clown hopped closer to them and Bruce tensed a little, only to relaxed when the clown offered him a bag of peanuts and a gigantic grin.
“Uh, thanks,” he said, taking the offered bag. “What now?”
The clown cackled and shrugged, hopping away.
“You may sit now, mister Wayne,” the big man said. “The show will start shortly. Mister Haly wanted you to sit wherever you wanted. I recommend the high places, tho. Our most famous act looks better up there.”
“Oh, alright…” he trailed off.
Bruce kept his smirk firmly in place even though he felt on edge like at any moment something would happen. It didn’t help that apparently he wasn’t planned on sitting anywhere specific, although he considered the man’s opinion as some kind of order. Probably just his Omega paranoia when an Alpha told him to do something (even as a suggestion).
He looked around and saw as the workers left the tent and people came inside. He spotted a good looking male Omega and sauntered off planning on stealing him for the duration of the show. He was probably two years younger than him and looked a little frightened behind his glasses when pregnant Bruce Wayne took him by the arm and smiled sweetly at him.
The younger Omega’s friends cheered at him and asked Bruce for a selfie, which he obliged happily after they agreed to share their friend with him during the show. It would be harder to target Bruce if was surrounded by that group, even in the higher stands.
Dick Grayson was running from trailer to trailer, somersaulting and rolling and walking on his hands. He was very excited to finally be part of his family’s act. He hadn’t even put on his uniform because he didn’t want to soil it while he fed Zitcka.
He was about to arrive at his Trailer to change when he heard yelling from inside Haly’s own trailer. It was more like an office than a living space like his. Instead of beds, a small table, a basic bathroom, and a kitchen, Haly had lots of desks, a couch, two office chairs, and a small cot behind a curtain just beside the bathroom.
Dick often wondered if Haly didn’t need to sleep.
“You’ll regret this!” A man yelled, slamming the door open. “Gotham is no friend of fools.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Haly pushed the man out of his trailer. “What else is new?”
The man huffed and glared at Haly, then turned and began to walk away. He noticed Dick staring and snarled at the boy, making him cringe and run to Haly.
“Who was that?” He asked in a small voice.
“No one you have to worry about, kid,” Haly answered and ruffled Dick’s hair. “Go get changed, Dick, we start in less than 20 minutes.”
Dick nodded, glaring at the space the man disappeared on.
His parents were waiting behind the curtains, watching the current act while their grand finale was called. Dick sauntered off towards the animals, petting and feeding the small ones, willing himself to not be nervous.
He’d trained his whole life for that day (well, maybe just the last four years, but for a nine-year-old, it felt like practically his whole life).
He was feeding a monkey when he saw a movement at the corner of his eyes.
It was the man. The one that had been yelling with Haly. Dick couldn’t imagine what the man was doing back there. No one was allowed back there. It was where they tied most of their equipment for the show, like the tightrope and the trapezes.
“Dick!” His mom called, waving him over. “Come on, sweetie, that’s our cue.”
“-I present to you,” Haly was yelling on the microphone. “The Flying Graysons!”
The audience cheered and Dick almost forgot about the man.
“Mama,” Dick tried, but his mother just squeezed his hand.
“You’ll do fine, my little robin,” she whispered, leading him after her husband towards the stage and up the trapeze.
Once his parents jumped and found each other in mid-air, Dick forgot about his worries and his nerves and jumped after them.
The next few minutes felt more like hours. Dick felt the excitement of flying. The adrenaline of defying death. The happiness of belonging in the air along with his parents.
Then, suddenly, the atmosphere changed.
Everyone was screaming.
People were fleeing the tent.
His parents were falling.
His dad still grabbed the broken rope with no hope.
His mom was mouthing something.
But he couldn’t hear any of the commotion surrounding him.
Dick was falling.
The Flying Graysons were falling.
Superman felt Bruce’s heartbeat speed up in fear, and in turn, he felt his own do the same.
Was the circus really a trap?
Was Bruce in danger?
He couldn’t think anything else, so, deciding the city he was helping after an earthquake had everything under control, he flew towards Gotham.
Not even his superspeed could prepare him for what he saw.
Three people were free-falling from the very top of the tent, the trapeze. The rope didn’t hold them all, so they were falling to certain death.
Why wasn’t there a safety net?
He didn’t even think about looking for Bruce in the audience still fleeing the tent. He flew to the small kid falling over his parents and grabbed him, ready to turn to the falling adults when a voice stopped him.
“No,” the falling man muttered, looking wide-eyed at Superman. “He must fall.”
Then they hit the ground. The screaming increased at the echo of bones breaking.
Superman realized he was back to normal speed.
He deposited the kid outside the tent, where Haly, after eyeing him with an unreadable expression, hugged the boy close and let him cry all over him.
Just then did Superman looked for Bruce.
He was sitting in an ambulance and a nurse was checking his and the baby’s vitals.
Superman saw the moment Bruce noticed him above the crowd, and before the Omega could glare at him, he flew away, because, even if he did help a little boy, Bruce told him not to listen to his heartbeat or the circus while he was there. He didn’t want anyone thinking that he needed an Alpha to save him, powers or no.
And he didn’t need one. But Clark worried about his friend. A friend he wanted to court. He used to tell himself that he’d listen to any of his friends if he knew they were going to be in a dangerous space, even better, after they were practically threatened.
Lois at least thought he was cute.
Bruce watched with wary eyes as the GCPD took the child in for questioning. The boy kept going about a man fighting with Mr. Haly before the show, and how we saw him before his family’s act.
Haly, on his part, said he was sure the man left after their fight. There was something suspicious about the man, and not only the fact that he kept hugging the boy close, trying to make the GCPD and every witness leave as fast as possible. He didn’t even want them to take the boy in, claiming that his family was the circus and they would take care of him.
While Gordon was talking with Haly and Montoya was leading the boy to a police car, someone tried to grab him. The boy shrieked in fright. Montoya took out her gun. Gordon ran towards the commotion. And Haly stayed in place, watching.
There was no surprise, nor fear for the boy on his face.
Bruce acted as fast as he could with the little extra weight in his abdomen.
He broke the man’s wrist, obliging him to drop the boy’s arm, then kicked him on the back of the knees, and, when the man was on the ground, he hit the back of his head with his elbow.
“Wayne!” He heard Gordon yell, but he ignored it.
Bruce turned to the small child cowering beside the now unconscious man and took him on his arms. The boy hugged him tight, and Bruce couldn’t help a small groan when his pup, in turn, kick his insides. The boy didn’t weigh a lot, so he didn’t worry too much.
“Wayne what were you thinking!” Gordon yelled, taking him by the arm and leading him back to an ambulance. “What are you thinking! You can’t carry him! You can’t just jump in front of a gun like that! Montoya had it all under control!”
“Did she,” he growled, suddenly feeling very exhausted.
Gordon glared at him like a worried dad. It wasn’t as scary as Alfred, though.
“I just- I don’t know,” Bruce said, stroking the hair of the shivering boy in his arms. “I heard him yell, and then I saw the man grabbing him. I didn’t think.”
Gordon sighed.
“This is why Omegas shouldn’t be underestimated when it comes to pups,” he mumbled, and Bruce wasn’t sure if he was supposed to hear it. Gordon walked away, signaling two officers to keep watch on Bruce and the kid.
His pup kicked again, stronger, and this time the older pup jumped in surprise and looked down at Bruce’s bump. His eyes widened and he scrambled to get off Bruce’s lap.
“Sorry, mister,” he said with a broken voice.
Bruce shushed him and put an arm around him. The kid looked at his bump but still returned the hug while the nurse from before checked Bruce.
“What’s your name, chum?” Bruce asked rubbing the boy’s arm.
“Dick,” the boy answered in a small voice.
“Dick?” Bruce smiled at the nurse, who returned with a loving smile of her own. No doubt she’ll tell everyone how cute Omega Wayne was with kids. “Richard, then?”
“I like Dick better,” Dick answered, shrugging his little shoulders.
“Okay, then,” Bruce said. “I’m Bruce.”
“And this?” Dick patted the bump, looking uncertain.
“I don’t know yet,” Bruce explained. “It will depend on whether he’s a boy or a girl.”
“Oh,” Dick mumbled.
“Do you know who was that man that tried to take you?”
Dick shook his head.
Bruce hummed, running his fingers through the boy’s hair. Dick started falling asleep.
Maybe he was wrong and the court didn’t have a Talon ready…
Gordon walked back to him with a furious expression.
“Problems?” Bruce asked.
Gordon huffed.
“Haly won’t let us take the kid because he’s ‘not safe’ with us, but I don’t want him to stay here because, well,” he glanced at the boy under Bruce’s arm watching him with owlish eyes. “He’s in danger either way,” he ended up whispering to Bruce.
Bruce thought for a second. Really there was nothing to think about. The Court wanted the child. The circus was part of the Court. No doubt there were spies in the GCPD.
“He can stay with me,” he decided. His mind was already making plans on how to expose the Court and stop them, meanwhile, the boy needed some sort of protection, even if it was the press camping out of his manor, or following them around the city.
Gordon looked surprised.
“It doesn’t work like that Bruce,” Gordon tried.
“We’ve changed Gotham, Gordon,” Bruce looked up with tired eyes. “We’re doing good. You know I would never hurt a pup. I’ll pay whoever I need to keep him safe, my lawyers will sign me up for fostering. I don’t know if it was an accident or if the man he saw cut the ropes, but I feel that something is very wrong.”
“You’ll be right,” Gordon sighed, but didn’t add anything on the case, Bruce was, after all, a common civilian.
“They want him,” Bruce muttered looking down at the sleeping figure curled up beside him.
Gordon eyed him.
“You know something I don’t?” He asked.
Bruce knew Gordon was good, that’s why the Bat worked with him to clean Gotham, however, he didn’t want anyone knowing he was the hacker.
But he was a detective. The police commissioner.
“I may have been threatened,” Bruce started and then told Gordon all about the letter he found and how Alfred reacted to the lullaby.
Gordon, instead of thinking it as a simple lullaby, nodded and asked for the letter.
“I’ll talk to social services,” he added. “You call your lawyers.”