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Jason woke slowly, calmly. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever felt so safe or had been so warm.
He was…too warm. He must have been in heat, which was bad. He should get up and do…stuff.
Jason wrinkled his nose and scrubbed at his face with his hand, stirring against whatever he was sleeping on top of. He didn’t want to get up. This pillow was so soft and warm, and—
Jason froze.
He wasn’t snuggled up in his nest in the abandoned apartment building. He was on a soft bed, pressed against the hot body of a huge man with the man’s arm wrapped around his shoulders. The scents of a happy alpha and an in-heat omega pup were the only ones he could smell.
His own scent rapidly turned to fear. What had happened? He tried to claw the memories back, but everything from last night was fuzzy with heat and exhaustion. He’d gone into heat, and there had been a car…
Tears poured down Jason’s cheeks. Had he been kidnapped, or had he gone willingly? Had he been raped, or had he agreed so the alpha would keep him off the streets during his heat? What if he got pregnant with this alpha’s baby? He couldn’t take care of a baby! He was too little! He couldn’t even take care of himself!
The alpha jolted suddenly awake. Jason flinched. He’d made the alpha mad, and no matter why he was in the alpha’s bed, there was no way that was going to go well for him. It was just a matter of how he was going to be punished.
Jason didn’t fight as the alpha sat up and pulled Jason into his lap. He had to be good, submissive, until he could get a chance to escape and get back to Crime Alley.
The alpha crooned gently to Jason, and it wasn’t fair how Jason’s pup and omega instincts were soothed at the kind pack noise. Jason wasn’t pack, he was just this alpha’s bitch until he could get away.
Jason clenched his eyes and tried to block out the noise, but the alpha just crooned again and cupped the side of Jason’s face, brushing away the tears running down his cheeks.
“Shh, puppy, what’s wrong? Are you hungry? Does your stomach hurt?”
Jason whimpered. The alpha’s deep voice vibrated through Jason’s whole body. He was so much bigger than Jason. If he wanted to tie Jason up or hold him down and keep him forever, he could, and Jason would never be able to escape.
Jason tipped his head back to bare his throat. He needed the alpha to think he was good so the alpha would trust him or at least be gentle.
The alpha took Jason’s jaw in his hand. Jason deliberately relaxed, waiting for the alpha to yank his head to the side so the alpha could bite his neck, but instead, the alpha tilted Jason’s head forward till his chin touched his chest.
“It’s alright, puppy. There’s no need for that. I’m still not going to hurt you,” the alpha promised.
I’m not going to hurt you.
Those words, he’d heard them last night. The alpha had said them, but the alpha had been wearing…
Jason’s eyes widened as he looked up at the massive, powerful alpha holding him.
“You’re Batman,” he whispered. Another memory came traipsing along after that horrifying revelation. “I tried to steal your tires.”
Batman chuckled. Laughed. Batman laughing was against, like, the rules of the universe, but Batman didn’t seem to care. Oh, Jason was so fucked. He was going to get mated and bred, and then his babies were all going to run around Gotham, beating up bad guys in their underwear. There was no way he was going to be able to escape Batman.
“Yes, sweetheart, but it’s okay,” Batman assured him, then he paused. When he spoke again, his tone and scent were worried. “Do you remember what happened after that?”
Jason whimpered and shook his head.
“You went into heat, and I couldn’t leave you on the streets like that, so I brought you home. You didn’t want to nest alone—” Nesting alone in heat was the worst; it tore Jason’s soul every time, he just wanted a pack to hold him and love him and keep him safe! “—so you slept in here with me.”
“A—and?” That couldn’t be all. That would mean that a strange, unrelated alpha had held an in heat omega pup who no one would miss all night long without trying to use him. That didn’t happen, especially to Jason.
Batman made a questioning noise. “What do you mean?”
“I—I’m in—in heat,” was all he could choke out.
“I know, sweetheart.”
Jason scowled. “Aren’t you going to…you know!”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me, Jay,” Batman said apologetically.
Jason took a deep, shuddering breath and half-hid his face against Batman’s chest. “You’re an alpha.”
It seemed to take several moments for Batman to realize what Jason meant. When he did, he inhaled sharply and jumped.
“Jason, no, I would never touch a child that way. I brought you here so no one could hurt you, not so I could ra—not so I could sexually abuse you. You are safe,” Batman told him.
That sounded so nice, but people lie all the time, and Batman could easily lie! Finally, he sniffled and smelled the air. It didn’t smell like sex or arousal, and he didn’t feel sore anywhere he shouldn’t, but that didn’t make any sense.
He just wanted to go back to his nest in his apartment, but the thought of dragging himself out of Batman’s arms and back to his lonely, vulnerable nest made him want to cry again.
If Batman had held him all night long and hadn't done anything bad, then he wasn’t going to start doing bad things to Jason now, and if he was a bad alpha, then there wasn’t anything Jason could do to stop him from doing whatever he wanted to Jason. Either way, Batman was Jason’s new pack alpha.
Jason keened and pressed himself further into Batman. He didn’t want to go back to being alone. The alpha responded by hugging him tighter, and Jason could have cried from how safe and warm the embrace felt.
“Okay,” Jason whispered, tangling his fingers in Batman’s sleepshirt.
Batman ran his hand over Jason’s dirty hair, and Jason let himself purr. Even if Batman did want to mate Jason, he was being so nice and gentle, surely it wouldn’t hurt too much.
Batman gave Jason a deep alpha rumble in reply to his purr.
Jason smiled. Everything was going to be at least a little bit okay.