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Glasses clinked over the sounds of fake laughter. Chitters and nasally high shrieks burrowed their way deep into Dick’s brain, right into the part that was already building into a migraine. Even the soft tones of the string quartet had begun to grate against Dick’s nerves, his skin crawling with the need to get the job done and get out.
Oh how badly he wanted to be home, in bed, with a bucket of mango sorbet and caramel sauce.
He’d been craving it all night, and there was no mango nor anything even mango-esque at this overly pretentious soiree. At least Bruce hadn’t made him wear an earpiece tonight, foregoing the need for direct communication in the face of a simple reconnaissance mission. Dick was here only to gather information.
Dick tried to not let resentment grow at being given a pity mission. He wanted to be out there, on the streets. But no, Bruce had put his foot down, citing Dick’s ‘condition’.
Bruce was lucky all Dick did was shout at him. And really, the book had barely grazed him. Bruce had taken harder hits than that.
“Aww, how precious! How far along are you, dear?” Another one of those high-pitched women approached Dick, dripping in jewels her alpha had drowned her in. She glanced down at his round stomach, big enough that he could no longer hide it.
“7 months,” Dick replied. The older woman wasn’t doing anything wrong, in all honesty. As she got closer as well, her scent grew stronger. Peach, and snickerdoodle cookies, and the feeling of a cozy blanket. Her smile was nearly genuine and her strawberry blonde curls gracefully turning gray fell elegantly along her bare shoulders, the beige glittering strapless dress brushing gently with the floor. Up close Dick found himself relaxing in her presence.
Perhaps the best way to get through this night was by doing so not alone.
“That’s amazing! And how is your alpha handling it? Mine was an absolute dictator when I had my first pup, running about and bossing me around,” she tittered, laying a gentle hand on Dick’s arm holding his sparkling water. Her brown eyes were kind, one omega commiserating with another. “I had to really put him in his place!”
And yet. As much as Dick wanted to fall into comradery, into this easy companionship that would last the night, her words ate at him.
“No alpha,” Dick spit out before taking a sip.
Okay, maybe he should have said that more nicely.
The woman seemed taken aback, her eyes widening for a moment before coughing awkwardly. “Oh! Hmm, uh, well that is a shame, I suppose.”
Taking pity on her, Dick shook himself internally and stuck out a hand. “I’m sorry, the hormones-”
“I understand perfectly. I was a right old…” She looked around, taking Dick’s hand and leaning in close to whisper, “cunt in the last few months.”
Dick couldn’t help being endeared by this woman. Most of the family were alphas or betas, so Dick didn’t have many close omegas to bond with during his pregnancy. Donna had been doing her best to come by but she had her own life, her own duties to take care of. Roy had Lian to take care of, and while Dick enjoyed their visits too, he hadn’t heard from Roy much of late as a long mission had taken Roy’s attention away. Even Harley had sent Dick a bouquet of Pamela’s flowers, showing omega solidarity and sending well wishes in his pregnancy.
He almost wished that he could be truthful with her. Tell her his real name, build some kind of bond that would last past the night. It nearly pained Dick to know he couldn’t, at least not easily. Instead, he shared only what he could. “Martin.”
“Elizabeth, but call me Elie, please.”
After that, Elie stayed near Dick through most of the night. Pointing out some of the other attendees, sharing gossip, taking Dick around.
Really, this was one of the best ways to gather information.
Not that Dick had meant to take advantage of Elie’s sympathy to do so. Honestly, galas and soirees and the like may be drains on his energy, but Dick did love people. He enjoyed being a people person, talking to new folks and learning about the lives of civilians. It helped putting things into perspective, reminding him there was a reason for it all.
But as he sipped his drink and slipped through the crowd next to Elie, more surprisingly kind hands and voices impressing themselves on him, Dick found himself getting stuck on Elie’s earlier question.
His alpha.
Dick nearly scoffed.
What alpha?
The one who knocked him up, left without another word and hadn’t answered any of Dick’s texts in the past 7 months?
How was Dick supposed to know how Jason was handling it? The man probably knew he’d knocked Dick up and simply didn’t care to get in touch. It wasn’t as if Dick had been hiding it, and others that Jason was friends with, like Roy, knew. Surely they told him.
As Dick’s thoughts circled around the alpha who’d been little more than a sperm donor at this point, he became distracted. The voices of Elie and her friends faded away while his mind got away from him. Hell, Dick’s mind was so drenched in thoughts of Jason that he swore he could even smell a wisp of the alpha’s smoky musk-filled scent.
Dick’s inner omega yearned for Jason. Yearned for the alpha to be near him, to scent him, to mate him as he carried Jason’s pup. His heart wanted Jason. He’d thought… he’d assumed a lot of things after their steamy night together, a lot of changes to their relationship that never came to pass. So what if Dick had been excited they’d finally broken through the barrier of sexual tension that had hung thick in the air between them for years. So what if Dick loved the change in their physical relationship that he hoped would also be reflected emotionally.
So what if Dick wanted to be Jason’s mate.
Clearly Jason hadn’t wanted the same.
It’s fine.
Dick told himself it was fine. He would be fine. He didn’t need Jason, didn’t need the pup’s alpha to raise them. He was over it.
He was over it.
Subconsciously Dick’s head had turned to the right, chasing after the musk that sat deep in his memories and his heart, and even deeper in his womb were his pup grew.
A musk that he’d thought he’d imagined until Dick’s eyes focused again, landing on a set of all-too familiar broad shoulders.
No… that couldn’t be… was that...
It was.
Why was Jason here?
Dick’s breath started to quicken.
He could control his body. He knew how to keep calm in the face of life-threatening, world-ending stress.
But his omega… his inner omega felt betrayed. Between his instincts beginning to go haywire, and the mess of hormones Dick was this far into the pregnancy, no amount of training would have calmed him.
Suddenly there were fingers digging into Dick’s bicep, the tight grip yanking on him hard and leading him through the gathered socialites. Flashes of black and white and red and beige passed him by. None of it mattered, not the faces, not the bodies, not the scents.
Only Jason stood clearly in Dick’s eyes. Only the part of his face Dick could see, only his solid body dressed in a beautiful tux, only the smoke and musk and gentle warmth of his scent.
His back was still facing Dick’s direction. Dick didn’t even think he’d noticed him at the soiree.
Doors slamming shut in front of him cut the ballroom from Dick’s view.
“Martin, Martin!” The hand latched onto Dick’s arm shook him wildly, forcing him to glance down at its own.
Oh. It was Elie.
She snapped her fingers in his face. “Hey!”
That did the trick. Dick slammed back into awareness like a punch to the gut. His eyes clenched shut as he groaned aloud, Dick’s hands coming up to bury his face into.
“What is it dear, what is wrong? Your scent spiked into panic, is it the baby? Is she o-”
“She’s fine, she’s fine, I just…” Dick looked back up into worried brown eyes. His heart was racing and the only thing helped it slow was the constant steady waves of Elie’s motherly scent soothing him. “He’s here.”
“Who is, sweetheart?”
“My- the alpha.”
Elie’s breath caught in her throat. “The one who abandoned you?”
Dick nodded. Stupid, stupid hormones. A knot formed in his throat as Dick fought back tears.
What a way to discover how very much he was not over Jason after all this time.
“Yes, Elie, he’s-”
The sharp inhale had no business being as loud as it did in this empty hallway. Before Dick could even blink Elie was pushing in front of him, making sure to cover as much of Dick’s body with her own.
At the other end of the hallway Jason stood frozen with wide, wide eyes.
“If you know what’s best for you, I suggest you stay right where you are, alpha,” Elie said with a stern voice. It was almost funny, Dick finding himself almost laughing at Elie trying to stand between the two men. Two men trained as vigilantes since they were kids, leagues more dangerous than she ever could be. She had no idea who she stood between.
Yet, her tone, like a mother putting her pups in their place, held them in their place.
Jason looked affronted. How bold of this older, smaller omega to confront him like this. For her to order him around.
He seemed more affronted that it actually worked.
Green eyes flicked up to the teary blue of Dick’s eyes. Despite Jason’s best efforts to hold back, a ripple of concerned alpha rolled through the hallway to the omegas.
“Elie…” Dick took mercy on them both. Neither had the full picture. In fact, neither did Dick, but he couldn’t force this kind woman to deal with the complicated nature of him and Jason. Too many years of a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings were hard enough for him to understand completely, never mind a complete stranger. Although… maybe Elie didn’t need to know it all to understand.
“Martin,” she said, looking back to Dick with a kind face. “You panicked when you saw him. I do not want you or the baby getting hurt because of a surprise.”
“The what?”
Jason’s voice was quiet. So quiet.
Did he… did he not know?
Dick saw him trying to glance down at Dick’s stomach, but he wouldn’t have been able to see anything with Elie in the way. So, instead, Jason took in a deep, deep breath, scenting the air.
The moment Dick’s scent hit him, Jason’s pupils blew out wide. “You’re pregnant?”
A mix of emotions tumbled about Jason’s face and his heavy scent, now uncontrollably filling the hall. Anger and surprise and hurt and jealousy and excitement and hope. But even with his mouth opening as if to speak, gaping while Jason tried to find the words, he just… didn’t.
He took one unreadable glance at Dick, then turned on his heel and disappeared down the hallway.
“What’s-”
“Elie.” Dick’s blood pressure was rising, fear of Jason running away again coursing through his veins. But this time Dick wasn’t going to let Jason escape without at least an answer. Grabbing onto Elie’s shoulders, Dick looked into her eyes, hoping to get across everything he didn’t have time to explain. “Thank you. But I need to go now.”
As he moved to walk past her, Elie grabbed his hand quickly. “Come back after. I hope you get what you’re searching for.”
With a nod Dick ran down the hall after Jason’s thundering footsteps.
“Wait! Jase, I swear to god, if you run from me again-”
“Run from you?” Jason stopped abruptly, turning in Dick’s direction, eyes still a fury of emotions. “When have I ever done that?”
Dick scoffed. “Please. Don’t tell me I was so forgettable that you don’t remember dipping out after knotting me.”
“Dipping out, hah! Does your alpha know you’re here? Chasing after your one night stand, when you have their pup in you?” Jason’s fury was sharp, his sarcasm biting.
Too bad Dick could bite harder.
“I don’t know, next time you look in a mirror ask him yourself,” Dick said, crossing his arms. His tears had swiftly become just as angry as he was, frustration bleeding out of every part of him.
“Look- what?” Fury melted into confusion. Looking down at Dick’s stomach, Dick could almost see the gears turning in Jason’s head. See the examination of Dick’s size, the possible trimester he must be in, calculating the timeframes. The sound of the switch flicking on in Jason’s brain and the light bulb illuminating was nearly audible to Dick.
He inhaled slowly, taking a deep, deep breath. Allowing Dick’s full scent to entirely fill his senses, to rest heavy on Jason’s tongue, to parse every part of it as best as he could.
Yes, Dick was pregnant.
But crucially he was pregnant with Jason’s pup.
Without another second wasted Jason crowded up against Dick, pushing him back to the wall of the hall way, his nose immediately burrowing into Dick’s gland to get more of that delicious smell. Dick’s body sang with delight. His alpha was close, his alpha was scenting him! He wanted to revel in this feeling, to soak it in and live within Jason’s arms as they came up on either side of Dick.
“Jay… Jason!” Dick pushed back on Jason’s chest as soon as his mind gathered some sense of thought again.
Jason didn’t even bother to form his growl into proper words, too busy letting his alpha take over.
“We have some things to discuss. Like how you walked out on me and ignored my phone calls for 7 months!” Dick said.
At that, Jason finally stepped back, a hardness returning to his gaze. “And you were the one who told me to get out. All I was doing was listening to your instructions,” he responded in a huff.
Dick thought back to that night from months ago. They’d had some of the most amazing sex Dick had ever experienced in his life, and then they’d been lounging in bed until nature called and Dick got up to go to the washroom. Jason had gone to the kitchen to grab refreshments, when Dick got a sudden craving for mango sorbet.
He had shouted across his apartment to Jason, asking Jason if he could go out and pick some up for Dick, as Dick was all out. Jason had yelled back, barely intelligibly, and with a laugh Dick had told him to get out and not come back without the sorbet.
Cold realization poured over Dick.
“I had asked you... to go out and get me mango sorbet.”
It seemed the same realization hit Jason too.
“That’s… that’s not what I thought I’d heard.”
“You thought, what, that I was kicking you out? After I’d finally gotten my hands on you, after years of pining?”
Jason’s red face was all Dick needed to see to know how true it was.
Stupid. How stupid.
But wait, there was still- “Well, why didn’t you answer any of my calls?”
The red deepened. “I thought you were telling me you didn’t want me, that all it had been was the one night. Plus I,” Jason rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “I broke my phone.”
“Well,” Dick tried to gather himself up after feeling so silly. “I guess I’m glad we cleared that up.”
Jason looked back up into Dick’s face, careful hope dawning again on it. “Did we?”
Dick gulped. “I mean… I hope we did? I never wanted you to leave, you know. And after I found out about her…”
It was quiet for a long moment as Dick looked down at his stomach, rubbing it gently. He felt his pup kick against his hand, glee overcoming the other confusing emotions in his scent.
That glee was suddenly doubled by the alpha’s growing excitement.
“Her?” Jason’s cautious, quiet voice was barely loud enough for Dick to hear. But he did. His head snapped back up to look at Jason who was staring down at Dick’s stomach with pure awe.
“Her.” Dick smiled. “Would you like to feel? She’s kicking right now, I think she knows her Papa is near.”
Jason’s smile was the most beautiful thing Dick had ever seen. As he laid a soft, slightly shaking hand on Dick’s stomach, mouth dropping open in a gasp as he felt the small kicks, Dick knew.
He knew that it would have always been this for him, if he could choose. Jason, as his mate, as the father of his pups.
As their lips met again for the first time in months, Dick’s heart sang. Finally things were clear. Dick could see his long happy future stretching out in front of him, with Jason by his side.
Dick wondered if he should send Elie a thank you card. He’s sure she would appreciate it.