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If Jason could smell it—pup, heat, packless—then a lot of other people would too.
Jason bit his lip. It wasn’t his business. Not really. If some omega was dumb enough to be out in the open when their heat hit, that was their fault. He needed to find some food, or he was going to fall into yet another restless sleep with an empty stomach; he didn’t have time to track down some idiot pup and take them somewhere safe. And “somewhere safe” would have to be his crumbling apartment if he hypothetically did try to help the omega, because all the shelters for omegas were too far away, but taking an omega in heat back to his nest was just asking for trouble. He wouldn’t be able to stop a bunch of grown up alphas trying to break in, and an alpha in rut from the scent of a vulnerable child wouldn’t discriminate between omega and alpha.
Jason huffed angrily and started following his nose. Fine, he’d help, but he didn’t have to be happy about it!
It was only a couple dozen yards until he stopped in his tracks and turned.
Hell, not only was it a pup, it was a puppy, pressed between a dumpster and the wall, barely old enough to have presented. Actually, it was entirely possible that the kid was presenting. The little pup’s breaths came in sharp gasps of pain, and metallic fear crept into his scent.
Jason softened and crouched down a few feet away. “Hey, kid. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“G—go away,” the little boy pleaded with a desperate keen that screamed pack, save me! but it was obvious from the lack of any claiming scent on him that the boy didn’t have a pack to help him out.
“It’s okay,” Jason promised, trying his best for a comforting alpha rumble, but his voice hadn’t dropped yet, so he just sounded like he was choking on rocks. “I don’t want to mate you. Do you gotta safe space I can take ya ‘fore your heat gets any worse?”
The boy keened again, then winced in pain.
Jason held his wrist out, not trying to grab the boy, but projecting calm-kind-safe as strongly as he could to reassure the boy. “My mama was a ‘mega like you. She always liked a nest when she was in heat. If you come with me, I can build you a nest in my apartment. It’ll get ya off the streets, at least, ‘fore the bad alphas come for you.”
There was a small sniffle from behind the dumpster, and the shadows shifted as it looked like the boy swiped his sleeve across his nose. “Y—you promise you’re not going to hurt me?”
“’course not,” Jason promised, thoughts of food forgotten.
The little pup hesitated a moment more, indecision wavering in his scent, before he slowly started to wriggle out of his hiding place. Jason didn’t move.
The boy was younger than Jason, probably only eight or nine. His clothes and the black backpack he was clutching weren’t real nice, but there weren’t any holes in them either, and he looked fairly clean. His accent was more standard Gotham than Crime Alley, leaning toward Bristol.
A foster kid, probably, who’d presented or gone into heat and run from his foster pack to keep from being raped.
Jason stood slowly once the kid was on his feet and held out his hand to the boy. “I’m Jason.”
The boy sniffled and took a wobbling step forward to cautiously place his hand in Jason’s. “I—I’m Tim.”
Jason nodded and closed his hand around Tim’s, careful not to hold too tight and scare the pup. “Okay. Can you walk by yourself, or do you wanna ride on my back?”
“C—can I r—ride on your back?” Tim asked, his voice hitching with silent tears.
Jason turned and crouched down, gesturing for Tim to get on.
Tim wrapped his scrawny little arms around Jason’s neck and held on when Jason stood before wrapping his legs around Jason’s waist. It wasn’t like Jason was that strong, especially with the lack of food, but Tim barely weighed anything. That was good, too, because Tim almost immediately melted, and Jason was a bit worried the kid had passed out.
Jason took a deep breath to steady himself, filling his lungs with the acrid scent of fear and the sweet heat that nearly choked him. It would take them maybe ten minutes to get to the abandoned apartment building Jason was crashing in, but anything could happen to them in those ten minutes.
The longer they were out in the open, though, the longer they were vulnerable, so he had to get moving.
Jason checked every direction before slipping from the alley and walking as fast as he could down the street without running. Running too early would only tire him out in case they had to run later, or it would make him too weak to carry Tim, and Tim wobbling around on heat-shaky legs would only slow them down more.
They made it maybe half the way before Jason felt eyes boring into him.
Jason stopped dead in his tracks and looked all around, trying to figure out where his enemy was so he knew which direction to run, but there was no one anywhere he could see, not even in the windows—
As he looked up to the higher windows for leering alphas, his eyes caught on the flapping black cape of the man standing on the roof.
Jason took off running. Shit, shit, shit!
He hadn’t even done anything wrong; why was Batman staring at him like that? What could Jason even do to get away from him? It didn’t matter, because if Batman got them, they were both going back to foster care.
Jason ducked into a narrow alley, hoping desperately that he might be able to shake Batman with the winding backroads and alleys since Batman didn’t usually come in this side of town, but he’d only gotten ten steps before Batman dropped down directly in front of them.
Jason shrieked and stumbled back. Tim whimpered and nuzzled his wet nose against the back of Jason’s neck before going limp again.
“What are you doing with that omega?” Batman growled in a dangerous alpha challenge.
Jason’s blood ran cold.
Batman had been able to smell Tim from all the way on the roof, and he’d chased them down because he was interested.
They were screwed.
“None of your goddamn business!” Jason snarled as fiercely as he could.
Batman’s growl deepened. “Where did you steal him from?”
“He’s my brother,” Jason snapped.
It was a stupid lie; even their clothes made it obvious that they weren’t related and anyone could smell that Tim was packless. Dammit, Jason should have scented him back in the alley. At least that would have covered up Tim’s scent a bit.
“Your brother? Then why did you run? Why doesn’t he smell like you?” Batman demanded, taking a large step toward them.
Jason scrambled back several steps, barely making up the difference. Batman’s legs were so much longer than his, and he was carrying an unconscious little kid.
“We ran because there was a creepy ass alpha staring at us!”
That was the actual truth.
Batman wasn’t buying it, or maybe it was just that he didn’t care what Jason said or what Tim wanted.
“Give him to me,” Batman ordered, holding out his hand.
“No!” Jason snarled, trying to hold the terror back from his scent. Tim groaned in discomfort.
He cast his eyes around quickly. There was no way he was going to be able to outrun the alpha, but maybe he could fight him.
His eyes fell on an old crate, all smashed up and leaned next to a bunch of trash cans only a foot away. Without warning, Jason dropped Tim off his back, and dove for a plank
“Get away from him!” Jason lashed out with the board. Batman was too far away for the board to hit him, but he’d better fucking stay that way.
“I’m not letting you keep him,” Batman warned, taking another step forward.
“NO!” Fury and fear broke out from Jason’s scent, flooding the alley and he swung the board at Batman’s ribs.
Batman grabbed the board and twisted it from Jason’s grip, leaving splinters in his hands and pulling him off balance in the same movement. Jason gasped in shock and stumbled, leaving Tim open for Batman to pounce. Batman, towering above them, stopped.
Jason threw himself backwards, landing almost on top of Tim and holding out his hands in a useless attempt to ward off the giant rutting alpha.
“Leave him alone!” Jason shrieked. “He’s just a little kid! He’s just a puppy, leave him alone!”
Batman couldn’t take Tim. Jason didn’t even know him, but Tim was so tiny and young; he was going to break if an alpha took him. Jason—
Jason clenched his eyes shut tight and tried to hold back the tears. He’d done this before, before he’d presented and no one wanted to pay for him anymore. He could do it again. Even if it killed him.
Jason opened his eyes and stared into the white, soulless lenses of the demon towering above him. His efforts crumbled and the tears started cutting hot trails through the grime on his face.
“T—take me instead,” Jason pleaded. “Please, please, you can take me, you can do whatever you want with me, but he’s just a puppy, please don’t touch him.”
Batman was silent and still for a long moment before he crouched down in front of Jason. Jason shuffled back as far as he could, but his back hit Tim’s foot and he remembered the passed-out little pup he had to save. He swallowed hard and stared right back at Batman.
“What do you mean, take you?” Batman growled, sounding even angrier than before.
Jason wanted to throw up. “Y—you can take me, you can fuck me, but please, please, please don’t touch him.”
Something in Batman’s posture loosened, and Jason flinched.
“I won’t,” Batman promised, and Jason was torn between relief and sickening dread before Batman’s next words turned him to terror. “I won’t touch him. I’m just trying to take him back to his home.”
Jason inhaled sharply and wrapped his fingers tightly over Tim’s ankle. Tim whined and tried to shake him off, but Jason wouldn’t let him.
“No,” Jason argued, his voice thick. “No, please, he’s too little!”
Batman was trying to get rid of Jason so he could have Tim all to himself, a helpless little omega pup without a pack to find him. The police would never even believe Jason that Batman had stolen and raped a little puppy.
Batman shook his head. “I would never sexually touch a pup. I just want to get him safe. I can take you both somewhere safe. His scent is going to attract a lot of dangerous people unless we move very fast, but there’s a heathouse a few—”
“You’re not touching him!” Jason snapped. His terror was sharp and tearing in his throat, but he wasn’t ever going to be alone with Tim. “Leave him here! I’ll come with you, just leave him alone!”
“I don’t want to sleep with you, son, but we have to move qui—”
“Please!”
Batman sighed more heavily because Jason was throwing a fit about his plans for raping a kid. He just stared at Jason for a long moment before he held out his hand, a slight slump in his shoulders. “If I don’t touch him, will you come willingly?”
Jason flinched hard. No.
“Yes,” he whispered.
Batman nodded and stood. “Alright. Come with me.”
Batman extended a hand to help Jason up. Jason hesitated, but he had to submit himself to the alpha. He had no real way to stop the alpha from hurting Tim except placating him and doing what he wanted.
Jason lay his hand on Batman’s and let Batman pull him to his shaky feet.
“Do you want to carry him, or should I?”
Jason gasped and snatched his hand back from Batman. “You said—”
“Yes,” Batman agreed. “I’m not going to mate with him, but if we leave him in this alley, someone else will. He has to come with us. You can’t protect him if he’s all alone.”
Jason’s eyes welled with tears. That was why Batman had agreed, wasn’t it? He knew that Jason wasn’t going to be able to leave Tim to die like that, so he could have two toys instead of just one.
Batman was right, though. If they left Tim, he was going to die. He had to come with them.
“I’ll carry him,” Jason whispered around the lump in his throat.
His fingers hurt, still cut and splintered from the wood, as he scooped Tim’s limp body up into his grasp again. Tim whined in fear and wrapped his arms and legs around Jason.
“W…wus goin’…” Tim whimpered into Jason’s neck.
“It’s okay,” Jason promised him, then slowly raised his head to Batman.
Batman ushered Jason to follow him down the alley.
In a cruel twist of irony, Batman had parked his car directly across from Jason’s apartment. They’d been so close to safety, and now they’d be lucky to live through the night.
Batman opened the side door and gestured for Jason to get inside.
It was the last moment to try to run.
Jason crawled himself into the passenger seat, clutching Tim tighter, and tried to stop crying when Batman closed the door. Tim whimpered and tucked his head into the crook of Jason’s neck, but he was clearly mostly asleep.
A few moments later, Batman opened the driver’s door and climbed inside. Even sitting, he loomed over Jason, dominating the space with his physical form if not his scent.
Jason sniffed hard and scrubbed at his eyes.
“You’re alright,” Batman promised gently. His voice didn’t sound all rough anymore. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just going to take you and your friend somewhere safe.”
Jason turned his face away and lay his head on the cool glass. He wanted to die, but if he died, then there wasn’t anyone to protect Tim.
“I don’t mate with pups, ever,” Batman lied again. He was going to go for Tim as soon as he could. “I’m not going to touch either one of you, okay?
But he had to keep Batman happy.
“O—okay,” he whispered.