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Dick Grayson had a bit of a reputation of putting the ‘over’ in ‘overprotective’.
This was a reputation that was repeatedly asserted by his exes-turned-friends.
Wally still remembered the time he passed out because he ran out of fuel halfway through a mission and still tried to speed through it, Dick spent the next two days hovering over him and making sure he ate an absurd amount of calories. After that the speedster started discovering snack reserves hidden all over the place that nobody knew about, Robin started carrying energy bars with him on every mission and would always double check if Wally had eaten every time they met up.
It was cute but sometimes it got a little overbearing, specially when they started dating because if Dick wasn’t satisfied that Wally was well fed he’d drag him somewhere and pry him with food, sometimes he’d even try to cook and Wally was too polite to turn down Dick’s culinary disasters.
Ok, so it was kind of adorable but still over the top. Wally loved Dick for it and none of it really stopped even after they ended the relationship and decided to just be friends.
Roy remembered Dick being overbearing as hell when they dated. Oh, it was fun and a heck of a thrill most of the time and Dick was the most affectionate boyfriend alive but he was also clingy and tended to get in the way if there was even the slightest threat around Roy, hell, even a mild nuisance put him in shield mode.
He sheltered Roy from everything, even enabled some of his bad habits because he had trouble saying no, and it got a bit irritating because… Well, because they were both omegas and Roy just felt like Dick was trying to play alpha in their relationship with his overprotectiveness.
It wasn’t until years after they broke up and Roy went through his mess with an alpha like Jade and had Lian, that he realized Dick had never been trying to pull any sort of power play, he wasn’t playing alpha at all. It took becoming a parent and gaining a whole new set of instincts for Roy to realize that Dick was just like that, he loved deeply and he couldn’t relax unless he knew he had some control over keeping those precious to him safe.
Kory remembered Dick being a little weird, in a good way. He had a habit of trying to shield her from everything, physically and emotionally, which was jarring because not only was she the alpha, she was also from a species several times stronger and more resilient than him. It was so cute and she loved him to bits for it.
And when Dick found out more details about Kory’s tragic past and how her parents still treated her and tried to use her, he became wildly more protective and more than a bit possessive too, they would have fights about his need to shelter her from everyone and her inability to understand why he kept trying to fix everything for her.
She even remembered how irrationally he acted towards puny little photographers, sometimes they would get handsy during her modelling jobs and while she could snap them like twigs it was always Dick that got the angriest and tried to confront them.
And X’hal forbid anybody make any racist or xenophobic remarks about Starfire, Dick would lose it even though he himself put up with a lot more discrimination on a daily basis than she ever did (she was beautiful and exotic and frightening, that tended to distract people from her origins, Dick didn’t have the same luxury).
All in all, Kory found Dick’s loving but hot-headed protective nature to be one of the most heartwarming things she’d ever found on Earth.
Barbara had known Dick since they were very young and even though she was a year older and far more level-headed he still acted like she was too pure for the world and needed to be kept safe at all times. In a way it as sweet, he always had the utmost respect and was the best listener, when they dated he made her feel seen and validated and strong.
But he also went too far in his defense of her, he endangered missions by trying to shield Batgirl instead of focusing on apprehending criminals, he got into shouting matches with Batman way too much about the risks she took on the field and in turn Bruce accused him of becoming a liability because of his feelings. Dick also glared and postured when anyone tried to flirt with her or make her uncomfortable.
When Dick was with Barbara he was happy but he was also never calm, there was always anxiety hidden under his skin and he never felt like he could drop his guard around her. It didn’t help that when he was with Barbara he was also far too close to the other person he’d always loved and was too afraid to have, Barbara was far nearer and more entangled with Bruce than any of Dick’s other partners.
It didn’t stop with Dick’s exes though, he had a habit of being too protective with everyone he cared about.
Donna loved Dick like a brother and she respected him deeply as a leader but she couldn’t stand how the only member of their team with no superpowers whatsoever always insisted on self-sacrificing for everyone else. He never let anyone take a blow for him and when they did it killed him a little inside and the guilt-ridden gratitude that made him so devoted afterwards was a little painful to watch.
Donna, as an alpha, understood the instinct to protect but she’d never seen anyone take that instinct as far as Dick did and she just wished he’d let her be the one shielding him every once in a while, literally and figuratively.
Raven saw something darker in Dick’s protectiveness. As an empath she could feel what drove him to want to keep everyone safe and happy, and what led him to try to fix everyone that wasn’t- he had a strangely shallow sense of self-worth, he didn’t want anyone to suffer for him even if it was for love and if that meant getting hurt so they wouldn’t then it was a no brainer because in his heart everyone was more worthy than he was.
Dick overcompensated for what he thought were past failures by trying to save everyone and some small part of him saw it as the only way of earning the love he craved. It was the same reason that made him always offer a friendly ear or shoulder to cry on even when he preferred to hide his own pain with a joke and a smile.
It was heartbreaking to Raven but she understood completely. If he needed to put himself in the frontline to feel like the affection and respect others gave him was earned then who was she to fight him on it?
Still, that didn’t stop her from wanting to wrap him in one of her bubbles and keep him from harm, after all he had always accepted her unconditionally even when he shouldn’t have, he gave a real loving family with their team, he was always there to support her in her time of need and always tried to stop people from harassing her when her oddities started creeping people out.
Jason thought Dick was idiot for trying to constantly protect people just as capable as him (and often stronger), he had a heart of gold and more bravery than was healthy but he never looked out for number one (not that Jason really had a leg to stand on with that argument but he’d limp through it anyway).
Jason still didn’t understand why Dick had ever cared for him in the first place, he was a replacement Robin back then and never really lived up to the legend of the original but Dick had been proud, Dick had called him brother and given him a blessing. As Red Hood, he had done so much to wreck the pack but Dick had never really lost faith in him and had helped bring him back into the fold, he’d even risked his relationship with Bruce just to try to get the Bat to mend fences with the stray son.
He’d never admit it, but Jason still saw Dick as an inspiration, still wanted to be able to take care of everyone as well as Dick did and still didn’t think he’d ever live up to the golden boy.
Tim was always in awe of Dick, they both shared the same trait of being fiercely protective but while Tim got in trouble for it for being too paranoid and got called reckless by everyone from Bruce to Conner, Dick got away with it and always managed to look cool doing so.
But Tim knew how hard it could be to feel responsible for everyone else all the time, he shared that burden too. Tim had grown up neglected and found a family in people that hid behind masks, he would die for that family and he understood the pressure and the constant doubt of whether or not his choices were right, he knew the need to keep everyone safe. However, he still leaned on people, he deferred to Bruce and he leaned on Kon, Cassie and Bart when he needed support.
Dick didn’t lean on anyone, he held everyone else up. It wasn’t even pride, he trusted the pack and the Titans with his life, it was just that holding others up came easy to him. He was a natural born-leader, even more so that Bruce who was bad at communicating and only managed to hold any kind of team together out of respect and competence, or Jason that didn’t really lead as much as work side-by-side with others as equals.
Tim envied that ability to boost everyone else and lead but he worried that one day Dick might crack and nobody would notice because they were used to him being the rock.
Damian found Dick’s protectiveness infuriating because it made him feel like a coddled child. He’d grown up learning that one should be strong enough to save oneself and that depending on someone else was weakness, he’d been groomed to handle anything that came his way proudly and stoically, but Dick ruined that stoicism by treating him like a real boy and showing him respect not born from fear, love with no strings attached, and protection just for the sake of caring.
In the early days, Damian thought Dick was weak, that his need to help everyone was some weird ploy for attention or some manipulative scheme to keep people loyal to him. Nowadays, Damian was a little ashamed he’d ever thought that, Dick had ended up being more of a parent to him than Talia or Bruce had ever managed to be, he accepted Damian completely like nobody else ever had and kept the coldness of the world away with his hugs.
Cass and Alfred shared the same opinion about Dick’s overprotective reputation- the guy had too big a heart for his paper thin self-preserving instincts, but that was exactly why they loved him so much. He was warm and open-hearted, he was the glue the kept the pack together. So they did their best to support him when he needed it, he wouldn’t ask but both Cass and Alfred knew how to read the signs.
Duke was the only one that didn’t get what everyone was talking about. Protecting people was what they did, it was their job, and Nightwing did it better than just about anyone. Duke hadn’t been with the pack long enough to understand what being smothered by Dick’s affection really meant, so far all he’d felt for his packmate was admiration and loyalty and a bit of concern for his recklessness (but then again, he felt that way for all the Robins).
Bruce had been the object of Dick’s protectiveness more so than just about anyone else in the world. He didn’t think he needed it, if anything he should be the one protecting Dick – he was the alpha, the mentor, the partner, the older one. By all accounts he should be the one keeping Dick safe but ever since they met, Dick had been the one rescuing him every day, more often than not from his own destructive urges.
Bruce was very protective himself but he didn’t express it the way Dick did, he barely showed it and it often translated into gruff orders and misunderstandings because in his worry he came off as cold.
Dick was everything Bruce wished he could be. They were very much alike while being the complete opposite at the same time- they had the same sad trauma, the same sense of justice, the same compassion, the same love for the pack; but Bruce was a melancholic disaster, he inspired fear in bad people and pushed everyone away while Dick was bright and sunny and well-adjusted, he made good people feel safe and had a magnetic attraction that drew people in.
Dick was the smooth shiny side of the coin while Bruce was the coarse tarnished one. Batman wouldn’t have it any other way, he didn’t say it enough but was so proud of his mate.
Dick Grayson had a reputation. He was very protective but who protects him? Well, he was going to find out in the next few months.
*
The first hint that people were acting weird around him came in early February.
It was crisp cold winter morning when Dick met up with some of the friends he hadn’t seen in months. Bruce had been away on League business for a couple of weeks and Roy, Wally and Victor needed some help with a case in New York and since Dick had more than enough experience with violent underground death cults, they asked for help.
They met up in a park near the cult’s meeting grounds and sat around casually sipping coffee and trading information incognito on their little stakeout.
Dick was tense, had been for a few days, lately the world felt a bit too sharp- too loud, too bright and smelled too intense, it made him anxious and hyperaware of everything. Apparently, the guys noticed, Dick must have been doing a bad job disguising his discomfort because they kept looking at him weirdly.
Halfway through the conversation, Roy slipped out of the park bench and started rubbing Dick’s shoulders for no discernable reason, it felt good though, he hit little pressure points at the top of his spine that almost made Dick melt into the floor.
“You ok, buddy?” Wally asked, placing a hand over Dick’s on his coffee cup.
“Huh, yeah?” Dick didn’t understand what was going on, shouldn’t they all be focusing on the case?
“You got something you wanna tell us, D?” Vic gave him a smile from under his grey hoodie.
“Leave him alone, Cy.” Wally elbowed his fellow beta.
Dick was about to ask them what the heck they were talking about when a horde of people came gushing through the park, all of them screaming and fighting with blood streaking down their cheeks.
They all got up and into defense position, but Roy shoved Dick behind him before Dick could take point like he always did.
“Vic, call for backup. Wally, can you take Dick back to the safehouse?” Roy took the reins right away, a hand wrapped tightly around Dick’s bicep and the other reaching for the bow under the table.
“What the hell, Roy?” Dick tried to shake his friend off and as the cultists got closer.
“Dick, I get it, jumping right in to help is your thing but look at them.” Roy waved at the snarling masses for emphasis. “They’re pulling a feral zombie thing and bleeding from their eyes, there’s probably some sort of biological agent at work here and we can’t expose you to that.”
“What?” Dick was confused by the choice of words- why him specifically?
“He’s right, Dick. Come on, we can handle this, Rachel and Kory will be here in a minute.” Wally was hoisting Dick onto his back in record time.
“Don’t I get a say in this?”
“No!” All tree friends shouted in unison before the world blurred.
They made it back to the New York Titans building in record time because of course they did, and Dick was left alone with an apologetic hug from Wally before the speedster vanished in a blur again. Dick grumbled and settled with running comms and updating the case file on the cult while he watched the situation from afar.
*
A few days after the death cult riot, Dick was still sulking so Kory asked him over to New York again and invited him and Donna for lunch. Rachel tagged along too.
Lunch was actually a lot of fun, they went to this hole-in-the-wall Greek place with great gyros and all three alphas kept trying to feed him from their plates or just nodding in agreement as Dick rambled endlessly about how he could have helped with the cult situation if only the guys hadn’t been so unreasonable. They too kept sharing glances that were starting to make Dick a little suspicious though.
However, he never got to ask what was going on because they were walking through Central Park after lunch so Donna could take photos of them when Dick suddenly felt sick and had to puke his guts out in some bushes with the amazon rubbing his back the whole time and Kory hovering (literally, she was two feet off the ground) nearby like a possessive alpha, scaring any passersby away.
Dick wasn’t sure if it was the food or if maybe Roy had right about biological agents but then Rachel joined Donna, squeezing his shoulder comfortingly and telling him he was fine. Dick relaxed immediately, if Raven said he was alright then he was alright, she’d be able to tell and her touch was grounding and soothing, her alpha scent like violets and incense actually helped calm him down.
Or maybe it was all their scents, really, they all smelled really good and comforting for some reason his brain wasn’t grasping. Starfire’s spice aroma, Troia’s seawater and Raven’s incense just wrapped around him like a safety net.
Kory and Raven ended up flying him home to Gotham while Donna drove his car back. Since Bruce wasn’t around to enforce his no metahumans rule, they stayed for tea under Alfred’s knowing gaze and wouldn’t leave until they were sure he didn’t need anything else.
*
Dick was on patrol as Nightwing a couple of nights later when he got called as backup for a shoot-out in the Narrows. A gang from Red Hood’s area and one from Red Robin’s were having a bit of a turf war and civilians were getting caught in the mix.
The three of them managed to handle everything with minimal collateral damage (though Hood might have broken a record with the number of rubber bullets he went through that night), they were just finished restraining all the shooters and calling the GCPD when Red Robin grabbed Nightwing by the collar and dragged him away down an alley.
“What’s wrong, Red?” Dick had to twist awkwardly out of Tim’s grip and found the other omega glaring through his mask.
“What are you doing here?” Red Robin sounded positively furious.
“You guys called me?” Nightwing frowned, confused.
“Well, yeah, but we didn’t know you’d show up like…” Tim waved at Dick up and down as if pointing out the obvious. “… like this.”
“What are you talking about, Red?” Dick looked down at himself and saw nothing different about his suit.
“Hey, what’s the delay, guys? We gotta roll before the cops get here.” Red Hood popped his head into the alley and then walked up to them, his mask was splattered with some goon’s blood.
“Hood, did you know about this?” Tim pointed at Dick again, sounding angrier by the minute.
“About what?” Jason looked between them, as lost as Dick was.
“Take off the helmet, dumbass.” It was so unusual for Tim to talk so aggressively that Red Hood was immediately taken aback.
“Geez, alright, keep your panties on.” Jason undid the helmet it and slipped it off with the little hiss. He then stood in only his domino and looked around confused. “So what am I supposed to… Oh.” Jason’s nostrils flared lightly and suddenly comprehension seemed to hit. “Shit, Wing, what were you thinking?”
“Can somebody please clue me in on what apparently is wrong with me?” Dick crossed his arms. Was something up with his scent?
It couldn’t be an identity thing, Dick was wearing blockers so nobody should be able to smell him. Although, blockers didn’t work completely on pack members, they could always somewhat pick up on each other’s residual scents and something about his was stressing out his packmates.
The two Red’s traded a long-suffering look and both frowned.
“Come on. I’m taking you home.” Jason suddenly grabbed Dick by the hand and started dragging him away to his bike.
“Patrol barely just started.” Dick argued, even more confused.
“Yeah, and B will murder us if he finds out we called you to a shoot-out like this.” Jason grumbled.
“Like what?!” Dick snapped, deeply frustrated.
“I’m not going to say out in the open. Come on.” Jason rolled his eyes as if the security issue was obvious, then he slipped his helmet back on.
“Robin, Bat, can you keep a lookout on Nightwing’s turf tonight too? Or do you need Batgirl and Signal?” Tim was already coordinating on the comms, Damian and Cass were working together in Batman’s absence.
“Why? What’s wrong with Nightwing?” Damian’s voice crackled to life on the comms immediately, sounding stern and snippy in a way Dick knew was hiding concern.
“He’s fine. We’ll talk later.” Tim answered and proceeded to rant out a new patrol route for each person.
“I’m getting really tired of people shielding me without letting me have a say in it.” Dick complained as he held on to Jason and they drove off.
“Ah, the irony!” Red Hood’s filtered voice sounded full of glee over the deafening rush of the wind.
When they got back to the cave things just got even more weird. Instead of going back to work, Hood took off his helmet and badgered Dick to take off the suit, which Dick assumed was his way of making sure Nightwing would slip out again that night, but then Jason insisted on checking Dick over for injuries and sighed in relief when he found none.
“Why is everyone acting like I’m glass all of the sudden?” Dick huffed as he sat at the computer, intent on at least doing desk work.
“You seriously haven’t figured it out yet, Goldie?” Jason leaned on his chair, still hovering protectively.
“Jay, I swear to god, if you don’t spit it out right now…”
“You’re carrying precious cargo, Dickiebird.” Jason poked Dick’s stomach for emphasis.
“I… Wait.” He paused as the puzzle pieces all started to click into place. “I am?”
“I thought you guys were trying, aren’t you supposed to be paying attention to the changes?”
“We were. I mean, we are. I mean…” Dick trailed off a little dazed, he lifted his wrist to his nose and tried to scent himself. “Is it that obvious?”
“That you smell like you’re pregnant? Huh, yeah!” Jason nosed under the older omega’s jaw and scented him himself for added confirmation.
“Well, I can’t exactly pick up on that myself, can I?” He really couldn’t, most people had trouble perceiving their own scent, their brains just ignored it the same way they ignored the nose on their faces. Dick rolled his eyes but a grin was stretching his lips.
“How did you not see the signs? Don’t you feel different?”
“Huh… Now that you mention it, I kinda do?” He chuckled sheepishly. “This totally explains the nausea a few days ago.”
The thing was, Dick’s heat been weeks ago and he had taken the test before Bruce left but it had been negative, so they assumed they needed to keep trying with the next heat. It was obvious now that the result had been a false negative but to avoid feeling disappointment Dick had been trying very hard not to think about it, specially while Bruce wasn’t around.
“Jesus, you’re a disaster when it comes to your own wellbeing, you know that?” Jason sulked but propped his chin over Dick’s head, still leaning over the back of the chair and still not leaving.
“Look who’s talking.” Dick snickered playfully.
“Please be careful from now on, ok?” Jason sounded truly concerned rather than his usual snarky brain of humor and it warmed Dick’s heart.
“Ah, Jay, you worried about your new little sibling?”
“I just don’t want Batman on my ass because I endangered the new pack member…Again.” Jason looked away sheepishly himself, he refused to admit it but he still felt bad for his past mistakes even years later.
“I… We’re not going to break, little wing.” Dick promised with a smile, it was odd to start thinking in plural all of the sudden but just knowing there was a little piece of Bruce growing inside him gave a lot of new fuzzy feelings.
“Can I ask a favor?” Jason spoke up after a small pensive silence. “Can you record B’s reaction when he finds out? I’m dying to see it.”
Dick laughed and pulled Jason in a hug, he was pretty sure the whole pack shared that sentiment so he agreed to record Bruce’s whole reaction… Or, well, enough to satisfy their curiosity, but not enough to scar anyone for life.