Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

   The shadows of old habits looked particularly hostile at night.

   Roy swiped the back of his hand across his mouth, wiping off the cold sweat gathering there. He really really didn’t have much time. His third round of suppressants was wearing off, and if past experience had taught him anything, which it often didn’t, he had about an hour max before a very late heat turned his life into a living hell.

   He tried not to bounce his leg; he didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself. His military-grade scent blockers were barely holding it together as it was. (The damn sweat wasn’t helping.) If that train would just get here already…

   Roy’s every muscle jumped when he felt a vibration in his pocket. He pulled his phone out, cursing under his breath, and lowered the brightness. The tiny part of him that was still holding out for attention, for one of his two pack bonds to open the fuck up, shriveled away when he saw that it was just a text from an associate. That… That was fine. He didn’t need an alpha, anyway. He didn’t need ANYONE, least of all THAT asshole. He’d endured so much worse with so much less.

   Roy shoved the phone back into his pocket, sniffing, then trying not to gag on the cacophony of overwhelming smells. His senses were dialed to fucking eleven; he was already getting the urge to clap his hands over his ears, and the train wasn’t even in the station yet. The idea of standing still for half an hour in a small, brightly lighted box with a smelly mix of strangers was suddenly a very unappealing idea.

   He shoved to his feet, holding the sleeve of his hoodie over his nose as he made his way back back into the city. He’d just come off of a mission--- How far was he from any given safehouse? He had one on the coast. Well… the Drama Queen did. That was over twice the amount of time a train would have taken, but his bike was nearby. If he could just hold it together for sixty minutes of driving…

   Decided, Roy tugged his hood over his baseball cap, keeping his head down as he made for the rental garage. The idea of riding this out in a house with actual mattresses, and probably canned food to boot, was too good to resist. The babysitter would just have to wait a couple days longer.

   Hindsight was 20/20. Freezing wind aside, driving while fighting off an incoming three-months-overdue heat was a special kind of torture. By the time he pulled up at the beach house in the shelter of a cliff, Roy’s every muscle ached, and his palms were slick with sweat. He picked the lock and disabled the timed security and armed every trap he could find an activation switch for before peeling off his damp scent blockers. Stressed-anxious-tense-warm-abandoned-afraid-alone flooded the stale air around him. Ollie hadn’t been here in a while. Neither had anyone else for that matter. Good.

   Roy dropped his bag by the door, snatched his bow and quiver and med kit, and retreated into the back bedroom; the one with bulletproof windows. He made sure every light was off, every curtain drawn, before shucking the outer layer of clothes and perching on the edge of the bed and unzipping the kit with trembling fingers.

   An old ache had crept into his veins on the ride here; a painful emptiness that he couldn’t, wouldn’t give in to. He had learned how to say no a long time ago. Still… it scared him. The knowledge that blissful release, euphoria, was only a few phone calls away if he was that determined to find it.

   Roy picked up the vial, swallowing. Todd, Jason the label read. It wasn’t the same thing, it wasn’t. Besides, the asshole should have been here. It was stale, but it would still probably take the edge off. It wouldn’t hurt to try. He just needed…

   Roy took a handful of deep breaths, filling the tiny sack attached to the retainer. He needed this. It wasn’t the same thing; it wasn’t an addiction, and adverse side effects were nonexistent. He was supposed to be getting this stuff, dammit. It would keep his mind off of old cravings he didn’t wanna think about, the vengeful agony of his body, the perpetual worry for his pup… Everything, just everything. Right?

   He inserted the retainer with a grimace, running his tongue over the fake alpha teeth. Good intimidation factor in the field, and usually he didn’t need to use the venom as a weapon except on the most dangerous of missions. That was why they used to have a store--- To give Roy an extra ace up his sleeve in case their worst enemies tried to get the best of the only omega on the team.

   They hadn’t operated as a team in a good fucking while. At first it had seemed like they might become an actual pack. Then Bat drama had crept in, and alien duties, and suddenly… suddenly Roy was alone again.

   He shook his head to rid himself of the melancholy, curling up on the edge of the bed with one of the pillows tucked in his arms. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do. He needed this. He needed everything to stop.

   One… two… three breaths. Roy placed his wrist in his mouth, situating the fake canines over an artery, and braced himself before biting down. Ow ow ow ow OW---

   The sharp teeth finally broke skin. The venom was slow to move, unnatural, stilted unlike the flow of a living alpha’s biology, but Roy stubbornly held on. He held until his muscles began to grow slack, until his vision was fuzzy and his scent was bottoming out and all he could think about was the sluggish, aching need to submit. He tipped his chin back…

   No one answered his suppressed keens. No one came to scent him or to reassure him that he could give in now, that he was protected and watched and safe. No one massaged the bite mark to help the venom spread and hugged him close and told him that it was alright.

   No one rushed after the venom to fill the emotionless gap. There was just… emptiness… and loneliness… and cold.

   Roy hugged his pillow in a vice grip, sank into the numbness that was all the stale pheromones could offer, and finally shook apart.

Chapter Text

   He jerked awake in a cold sweat. “Roy?”

   Nothing. The safehouse was… empty, of course it was. It had been empty when Jason had arrived half a week ago with three fresh wounds, a road rash, and a really bad fucking attitude. That had been part of the attraction, actually… That no one would bother him while he nursed his injuries in sullen peace.

   Now, though, it felt like someone was here. Or maybe like someone was supposed to be. Like if he opened the door…

   Jason crept into the kitchen, glancing around in the dim light from the stove. Nothing. He searched the living room, then the guest room. Nothing. “…Roy?”

   No one answered, and suddenly Jason felt really fucking stupid. Someone had probably had a nightmare, that was all. Dick, most likely. Dick’s was the only bond of three that Jason didn’t keep locked down, and only because it was so brand new. Hell, they’d only just gotten over their respective bonding ruts; Jason had barely managed to kick the idiot from his apartment before setting off on another string of missions. Not that he’d been able to stay away from Gotham for too long… (There was nothing like a clingy alpha sibling to remind you that you’d been loved all the way to the grave AND back.)

   Jason scrubbed a hand down his face, picking up his phone from the ratty couch. Seven texts from his idiot brother--- Not very surprising. (He tried to ignore the bloom of warmth unfurling behind his ribs. He’d never felt more stable than the moment Dickie had convinced him back into a brother bond. The fiery venom in his veins that reminded him he was loved, he was home, he was here like he hadn’t even left---

   The jagged tenderness of broken pieces searing back together.)

   Fond, and also a little exasperated, Jason tugged on the bright, shining bond in his head. Dick tugged back, concern seeping through. Another text pinged their thread. Jason opened it.

   “Hey,” the first couple read. “U up?” and “Have u heard from Roy lately?” and “I tried to call him last week he never takes this long to respond pls answer”.

   Jason stared at the last text as cold dread flooded his stomach. “Aren’t you his alpha or sum?”

   THAT was what had woken him up. He hadn’t talked to his omega packmate in--- He’d gotten so good at forgetting they had a bond. He hadn’t wanted to affect Roy with the green poison taking over his feral brain. He’d flown off, disappeared to sort himself out on a string of solo missions. And then Dick… and Gotham… and Jason had…

   Jason had ignored his first-after-death packmate for six months, and now something was very, very wrong.

   SOME calls, however unfortunate, had to be made. This necessity became much worse to bear when the asshole on the other end of the line wouldn’t pick up.

   Jason set his helmet on the seat of his bike, sighing, and hurried into the corner store as he hit redial on the phone in his pocket. He didn’t care if this dude was mid-mission saving China. He was going to answer eventually. In the meantime, he grabbed a small basket, filling it with everything that caught his eye as important--- detergent, tourist hoodie, new baseball cap for a football team he knew Roy didn’t like, those chocolates he’d craved during one of two heats Jason had been around for, and the most basic of food essentials. He also grabbed a lighter, a pack of bandages, and maximum strength scent patches. Then he grabbed omegan ibuprofen, bottled water, and charcoal. Just… Just in case. He really had no clue what he’d be walking in on, and he was already packing fully loaded sidearms. It was best to be prepared.

   The line finally picked up. “Who is this?”

   “Hey, Drama Queen; long time no crash your galas.”

   “Ugh. You. Is he hurt?”

   Jason’s eye twitched at the reminder that he was supposed to know better than this bastard. “Two fucking guesses. I’m looking for him. You wouldn’t have happened to get any pings lately, would you?”

   “Kid, if he’s not talking to YOU--- I thought you were his packmate now. Has that changed?” Oliver’s voice lowered into a deep growl. “Did YOU hurt him?”

   Jason’s hackles bristled. He had to take three deep breaths before answering. “Appreciate the sentiment, but I’ve got this, thanks. Just tell me what I need to know an’ I’ll be outta your hair.”

   “Hn. Let me check.” Silence. Then--- “One of my safehouses was entered a few hours ago; I didn’t get a notification because the security code was punched in. Could be him.”

   “Who else would it be?”

   “The fuckin’ cat. Batman, maybe, I dunno.”

   Jason paused in the act of paying for the items, giving the confused graveyard shift worker a raised eyebrow. “Batman breaks into your safehouses?”

   The cashier hurriedly made like he was deaf. On the line, Oliver snorted with no amusement. “He’s arrogant like that.”

   “Game recognizes game, I see.” Jason left a twenty in the tip jar for sanity damages, smirking to himself as he walked back outside and stuffed the grocery haul into the compartment under the seat and the remaining space in his backpack. “Can you check the cams to make sure?”

   “I hate to PRY, but I’m going to. Again. Don’t you have a fucking BOND?”

   Jason bit his tongue as he shoved his helmet on again, transferring the call to coms. Yeah, he did have a bond. A bond he’d kept locked down like Fort Knox for over half a year because he was so desperate to keep the green from poisoning Roy’s mind and so frustrated by his own perceived inadequacies as a packmate and so twisted up about his own skills as a leader that he had been--- and still was--- convinced that having a bond with him, a bond that was supposed to be as strong as soulmates’ in order to build a fucking pack around, was a huge, huge mistake. “It’s complicated.”

   “I know complicated.”

   “I’ll bet you do.”

   “That’s no way to talk to someone who has potential information for you.”

   Jason’s heartbeat skipped. “Is it him? Ollie, don’t fuck with me, I swear to God---”

   “Don’t get your pixie boots in a twist. He went in there alright. He hasn’t come back out; I guess he’s made himself at home for a while. He doesn’t look too beat up--- Has he called you?”

   “This transaction ends here, actually; thanks.” Jason hesitated before hanging up. Something deep down, the same thing that remembered how terrified Bruce had looked the last time Jason had gotten hurt during a team-up in Gotham, made him show the slightest hint of mercy. “Look… I’ll make sure he’s okay. I’ll take care of him. Promise.”

   The silence on the other end filled with a quiet sigh. Oliver hung up.

   Jason ground his teeth together, kicking off. Whatever. The dude had pinged him an address. He had everything he needed to hunt down whatever massive fuckup he’d caused now.

   The beach was way too quiet for this time of night.

   “Aren’t places like this supposed to be filled with rich drunks?” Jason muttered to ward off the prickliness creeping up the back of his neck. He threw up his bike’s kickstand after rolling it onto the expansive porch. The air was heavy with another storm on the way. He didn’t want his potential getaway vehicle being soaked unless absolutely necessary. He shouldered his backpack, grabbed the armful of stuff from the bike’s compartment, and picked the lock to open the door. It only occurred to him that he didn’t know the security code until a quiet beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep filled the front room.

   “Fuck.” Jason grabbed his stuff immediately. The first thing he smelled was fear. “It’s okay, it’s just me!!! Where’s the fuckin’… keypad…”

   The alarm went off with an annoyed chirp before he could touch anything. Jason threw a middle finger to the camera on the front porch--- Thanks, Ollie, whatever--- before slamming the door shut, locking all three deadbolts. Hopefully the dude had thought to re-arm that security, but maybe that was pushing it. “Roy? It’s just Jason, bud. I brought some… some stuff…”

   The safehouse stayed alarmingly quiet. Jason wondered if… but no, the scent was fresh. He hadn’t missed his chance here. The scared-vulnerable-weak-feral-sick smell practically flooding the entire house was unmistakable. It also made him wanna puke. “Roy?”

   No one answered.

   “Shit.” Jason ever so carefully left his stuff on the kitchen counter, drew one pistol, and began clearing rooms. There were three floors in this place. Bedroom… clear. Second bedroom with ensuite bathroom… clear. Kitchen… living room… TV room… back hallway… clear. Third inner bedroom---

   He froze as soon as he saw the shiny tip of an arrow gleaming in the light from the kitchen stove. “Caprisuns.”

   The arrow shivered. Confused-scared-hurt tainted the air. Fuck, but Jason knew that feeling. The sudden anxiety that made you wonder--- Was this real? Or were you hallucinating again?

   “You stole my entire six pack of Caprisuns,” Jason murmured lowly, holstering his gun. He raised his hands above his head, empty, sleeves falling back. Not that that meant much to people like them. “When I got mad at you, you told me I already had a sick pack, and that I wouldn’t for much longer if I kept drinking red-flavored crap. Hypocritical of you, by the way. I’ve never seen you turn down a pizza in your damn life.”

   The creaking of the bow let Jason know that Roy’s muscles were shaking. He couldn’t hold the arrow drawn full like that for much longer. Being zero potential seconds away from a second death, though, was nothing compared to the shiver of horror he felt when he heard the whine. Why he hadn’t noticed it before? Roy was feral.

   “Let---” Jason stepped closer, trying not to let his voice dissolve into pleading. “Roy… it’s me. C’mon.”

   “Stay… the fuck… away from me,” a trembling voice answered. It didn’t sound like Roy Now, but Roy Then; the Roy that had practically gargled alcohol before bed every night and called Jason when he was too close to an overdose and had seemed just as bad of a fixer upper as Jason had been. The Roy who hadn’t gone to therapy and gotten sober and done the fucking work. The Roy who hadn’t healed so much that Jason… Jason felt so, so broken by comparison, and he’d… he’d come to the conclusion that his packmate was better off without him.

   Fuck, what an idiot he’d been.

   “You’re in pain,” Jason tried slowly, even as he winced at his own stupid words when they came out of his stupid mouth. “Let me help.”

   “Oh,” the voice growled, sending shivers down his spine. “Oh, now you wanna help. How did you find me?”

   Jason valued his throat a little bit, so he was definitely not telling the truth about that. “Tracked your scent.”

   “Bullshit. It was Ollie, wasn’t it? You called my fucking mentor. I thought we said we wouldn’t do that shit.”

   “That was before you wouldn’t pick up the fucking phone,” Jason shot back, angry now. “Do you want me to leave? I’ll leave, I fucking will. I brought groceries. Not that that matters or anything---”

   “Is this an apology? Because you’re doin’ fuckin’ great at it.”

   “Fine.” Jason edged back, sick to his stomach and angry up to his ears and please don’t let me go please let me in please your scent is scaring me I just want to make sure you’re okay. “I’ll leave, then.”

   The whine that cut through the air made Jason’s teeth ache. He froze as the arrow snapped loose, taken off the bow with fluid precision just before release. “Wait.”

   Jason took a very deep breath. That proved to be a mistake when everything around him became sharper, every shadow thrown into clear definition. Roy’s abandoned scent was pushing him a little bit. “Please.”

   Roy stepped into the shitty kitchen light, all pale skin and sweating shivers and eye bags, and gave Jason a truly awful smirk. “I knew you were real. That vision shit doesn’t usually come when called.”

   Jason lifted his lip in a silent snarl, trying to ignore the way his every emotion shriveled painfully in his chest. “You look like death warmed over.” You look like my MOM.

   “No fuckin’ way?” Roy leaned against the doorway for support, barking a harsh laugh. “You sound surprised.”

   The laugh made Jason’s self-defense muscles twitch. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t actually gonna pull anything; Roy caught it. He had the arrow drawn again not half a second later, this one much closer to Jason’s chest. He pulled alllllll the way back, putting full draw weight into the shot. His every trembling muscle stilled with the anticipation of a hunter ready for the kill. “Don’t.”

   Jason put his hands behind his head, breathing hard. He’d never been so unsure of whether he would survive the next few seconds. Not like this. Not from him. “Roy.”

   “Don’t---” Roy’s arrow twitched. “SAY that to me. Don’t say my fuckin’ name. You son of an absolute bitch---”

   “Correct.”

   “I trusted you!!!” Roy’s voice rose to a roar. “I TRUSTED YOU an’ you fuckin’ LEFT ME!!!”

   Jason exhaled hard. It felt like getting punched in the gut, and he hadn’t even tried--- He cracked open their bond. “Listen---”

   Something lashed out, something sharp and painful and agonizing, and Jason had hit his knees before he realized that the keen was coming from his own throat. That level of loneliness was a force he’d never wanted to feel again. Now he’d caused it in… in someone else. Roy wasn’t attacking his bond. Roy was just showing him.

   “Yeah,” Roy spat out, trembling again. The arrow had disappeared, and so had the bow. All that remained was a shivering vision of a version of a man that wasn’t supposed to exist anymore. “Yeah, fuck you.”

   “Okay,” Jason said slowly, every word feeling like a frozen slushee in his mouth before he could get it out. “I understand. I don’t know what to say.”

   “How about SORRY?”

   “I’m sorry, Roy.” Tears welled in Jason’s eyes, burning him. He forced himself to open their bond, braving the pain, the rush of pure, feral emotion from a feral packmate, in order to make himself known. To make himself trustworthy again. If only to breathe the same fucking air for five minutes without being attacked for it. “Please. Let me FIX it.”

   Roy watched him for a very long time. He twitched oddly, turned around, and stumbled back into the inner bedroom. “There’s no FIXING this. You’re too late.”

   “No.” Jason shoved to his feet, gasping. The emotion was beginning to retreat, and that--- That was worse. It felt like an absence of life, an absence of anything that Jason could work with. Roy’s bond was going numb just as quickly as it had speared him with loneliness. “No, Roy, please. It’s not too late; it’s never too late.”

   “That’s rich coming from you.”

   “Let me HELP you, dammit!!!”

   “You CAN’T!!!” The feral omega turned on him, angry for real now, fire and fury and something so fierce and cold and sharp that it made Jason’s spine shrink. “Don’t you see? I’m not worth it anymore!!!”

   Jason’s breath stilled. No. “Roy… Are you high?”

   Roy threw his hands out, keening. “NOOOOOOOOO!!! NO you fucking ASSHOLE!!!”

   Jason braced his body against the doorway, gasping, as Roy delved past his emotions, grabbed his consciousness, and yanked it through. His mind was suddenly plunged into reeling terror and doubt and hatred and anger and fear--- and it burned, the aching need for a hit, for euphoria in his veins and clouds in his head and a clarity that came with true, mind-numbing peace--- and the strength. The pure painful strength it took to fight back. To win even a little bit. Constant, never-ending; a war without a single pause for breath.

   He couldn’t breathe.

   “Holy FUCK,” he whispered, slinking weakly back into his own head when Roy let him go. He sagged against the doorway, fighting himself. He shouldn’t keen or cry or even whine about this. Hell, but there was a bloody war going on, and he’d walked in on the losing party with bared teeth for the cornered survivor carrying nothing but a broken stick.

   Roy used to break his bow when he was out of arrows, fist the shattered wood and lash out and stab them into people’s eyes. Anything, anything not to lose.

   Jason wiped the drool trickling down his chin, clicking his slack jaw shut. Even right now, alone and feral and afraid, Roy was powerful. Roy was dangerous. Didn’t Jason deserve it. “Yeah.”

   “Yeah,” Roy echoed hollowly. His jittery frame suddenly slumped onto the bed, like a doll with cut strings, and Jason wondered if he’d ever seen him more exhausted than this. “Yeah.”

   Jason slowly found his feet again. He watched Roy for a minute before deciding that this… this fuckup was too big to attack headfirst. He needed to work his way around it. He could do this dance, this maneuver around taught, agonized emotions too painful to even look at until enough time had passed that it felt safe to sit and watch and breathe. Maybe even apologize. Properly this time. Apologies went best with food. Food. Roy looked half starved an’ Jason didn’t know how to help without fighting this battle himself.

   Food. He’d start there.

Chapter Text

   “I’m sorry.”

   Jason blinked back to reality, stared at the pot he’d been watching, then looked up at the shadowed figure hunched in the doorway. “What?”

   “I mean… your mom.”

   Jason wracked his brain for the joke. It wasn’t clicking for some reason. “I don’t…”

   “Catherine,” Roy clarified quietly, and Jason’s stomach flip-flopped. “I shouldn’t have… done that to you. Showed you what it’s like. I’m sorry.”

   Jason’s lip lifted in an automatic snarl. “You should not be apologizing to me right now.”

   Roy lowered his gaze to the ground, eyelids fluttering. Was that a… a hint of submission?

   Jason moved his attention back to the pot, covered it, and set about lining the meager grocery haul on the counter. There were plenty of cupboards, but something deep in the pit of his stomach eased at seeing the food on display. He put the cold things in the fridge.

   “I hate that team,” Roy said flatly.

   Jason picked up the cap from where it had fallen out of his bag, smirking. He took out the new hoodie, too. He had a couple of his own. Changes of clothes that were big enough, comfy enough, for Roy, and part of him ached to claim his territory that way, but… such a gesture wouldn’t be welcome right now. He held the sterile clothes out instead. “I know. I figured you might wanna take a shower. You smell like a dumpster fire.”

   The joke was a very piss-poor attempt at poking fun, at testing to see if the scabbed emotions would bleed or if it was okay to start making light about this. Roy didn’t laugh, but his lips did tug a little. He accepted the clothes and left the room and closed the bedroom door. A minute later, Jason could hear the shower running.

   He breathed out. Okay. First offering accepted--- Roy was getting clean. He wouldn’t have felt safe enough to shower on his own; this was a big fucking step, and Jason was going to take it. Cleanliness was next to godliness in this kind of situation. Hadn’t he also brought along…? Ah, a hairbrush. Another elite weapon built for Level Twelve… and here he was stuck at Level Two.

   “Better than nothing,” he muttered to himself as he prepared the boxed mac-n’-cheese. He wished he had actual ingredients, but it was hard to shop for two when you were also driving a motorcycle. He’d order in. They were probably gonna be here for a while, and short of constant companionship--- Jason was not leaving Roy’s side for the forseeable future, no matter what the redhead did or didn’t want--- food was the next most important thing.

   In the meantime… powdered cheese.

   When the shower turned off, Jason picked up the chocolates, hesitantly hopeful. It had been hard to get a good read on what exactly was wrong with Roy underneath… the everything… and it would probably be like that until the omega had a chance to calm down, Jason’s heightened senses notwithstanding. Roy’s blood sugar, faint though it was, had smelled kinda crashy. Would a second offering be appreciated? It was sugar. What borderline feral-out-of-their-mind omega turned down sugar?

   He risked a peek into the bedroom. The bathroom door was already open; Roy leaned heavily against the sink, dressed now in Ollie’s sweats along with the convenience store hoodie, and pulled the stupid sports cap over his limp, ratty hair. He also flipped the hood up, then tossed his favorite cap, the one he usually wore but which was probably covered in seven flavors of Bad Vibes by now, in with the dirty laundry. His shoulders eased when he was hidden, unhealthy features concealed beneath clothing that didn’t belong to him.

   Jason’s teeth ached.

   “What?” Roy snapped lowly, rubbing a circle in the foggy bathroom mirror to glare at Jason’s reflection. “I can hear you breathing.”

   Jason decided not to tie those heightened senses back to feral symptoms out loud. He held out the chocolate. No words were probably needed for this, or would at least make it worse.

   Roy turned to look at Jason properly. A hint of surprise flashed across his face. He reached back in acceptance of the peace offering, snatching it lightly from Jason’s fingers, but---

   Jason snapped out, grabbing Roy’s wrist before he could get away. Gentle, so gentle, because he knew--- but Roy hissed at him anyway, pupils dilating in fear, surprise, and shock.

   “Just--- wait a second.” Jason pushed up the hoodie sleeve enough to reveal what he thought he’d caught earlier. Yup--- a fucking bite mark. Anger bubbled on a hair trigger in his gut. “Who hurt you?”

   Roy finally managed to yank away from Jason’s light grip, chuckling darkly. Jason left the obvious answer in the air untouched. Who hurt you BESIDES ME, he wanted to snap, but it was far too soon to make anyone or anything else into a target. He needed this, Roy did. To be angry at Jason. To label everything as Jason’s fault. Maybe it was mostly true, and maybe some of it wasn’t, but Jason deserved the blame, and if nothing else… It was better than the alternative. He could handle Roy’s hatred much, much better than Roy could. Yeah… that’s it. Aim it outward; aim it at me.

   Roy collapsed onto the edge of the bed like he was afraid to actually sit on it. He teetered dizzily for a moment or two, fumbling with the edge of the chocolate packaging. Eventually, he gave up, tearing into it with his teeth. He had eaten two before he bothered with a verbal answer. “I handled it.”

   Jason’s nostrils flared. Now that he knew to look for it--- The faint undercurrent of a need, a painful yearning, for submission. No actual submission, though. Fine. Whoever it was had gotten off lucky; they hadn’t actually bested Roy in combat, and if Jason had been there…

   Roy glared at him with way too much exhaustion behind those dull eyes. Like the green had been leeched out to a sickly gray. “Is that all?”

   Jason ran his tongue over his hurting teeth, backed up, and disappeared. Food. Food was next on the mental list. Granted, that list only got as long as one item at a time. He didn’t know…

   He didn’t know what else to do.

   Mac-n’-cheese… check. Clothes… check. Sugar… check. Jason cleaned up after himself, hefted his bag over his shoulder, and returned to offer the bowl of steaming golden goodness. He set down two of the water bottles on the side table, and four ibuprofen. Not enough to overdose on. Not enough to be afraid that you would. “I’ll be across the hall.”

   Roy didn’t even look up from the food in order to grunt at him. Reminded somewhat fondly of his own mentor, Jason shook his head, retreated, and shut the door. Y’know, before the grief could wrap around his lungs, suffocate him, and strangle his entire chest.

   To no one’s fucking surprise, he couldn’t sleep.

   Jason shoved the covers back, groaning, and sat up to scrub at his sweaty face. It was taking all of his willpower to give Roy some space. If he wasn’t struggling over the need to take over, to bury his packmate in a nest and scruff him silly and bite him until he couldn’t think, he was struggling over the usual lineup of self-flagellating thoughts. Who was he to just forget that Roy existed? Worse, that Roy needed his help? Who had he been to think that Roy, healing, healthy, stronger-by-the-day Roy Harper, was better off without him? Sure, objectively it might have been true, but he hadn’t accounted for that most unpredictable facet of human nature--- Affection. Friendship. Love.

   Far be it from him to copy Batman in this scenario, but Jason wanted to gag. He’d overlooked fucking abandonment issues. That he’d already known about!!! How was that for Batman behavior?!

   He stood up, restless, and started pacing. This was wrong. Everything about it, not just what he’d done in the past or what he could be doing better in the present. This, all of this, him right here in this room away from his vulnerable packmate was wrong. He had half a mind to camp out in the corner of Roy’s room, to curl up on the floor by the window or some shit. Sure, Roy would be even angrier than he was now, but he would be safer. Jason would know he was safe. Wasn’t that the most important thing? Wasn’t that a huge part of what Jason had missed?

   Jason hit his head against the palms of his hands. No, no, Roy didn’t need his protection, he needed his companionship. Protection was an added bonus, and God knew the redhead wasn’t able to rest unless he knew his back was being watched by someone physically stronger than himself, but damn, the friendship thing was what had Jason all tripped up.

   What was he doing here? How could he give friendship all on its own? What was he getting wrong; what wasn’t enough? And if it was enough, was it enough of the right thing?

   This thought pattern was running him in circles. Frustrated, Jason gave in to the impulse to check across the hall. The doors didn’t creak here; all he had to do was peek his head in like a parent worried for their newborn child’s ability to breathe. Then, he convinced himself, he’d try to go back to sleep. Then he’d be able t---

   Roy shot to his feet in the light from the bathroom, whipping his hand away from his face. His snarl was viscerally low. “What are you DOING?”

   “Me?” Jason’s heartbeat started kicking up a racket in his ears. Roy had a strip of cloth tied around his upper arm. Jason couldn’t see a fucking needle yet. Where was it? Where--- “What are YOU doing? I thought you said---”

   Roy threw something at Jason’s head, lips lifted with the force of his grotesque snarl. “Fuck OFF!!!”

   Jason caught the object reflexively before it smacked him in the face. A tiny med kit. No damn needles, no drugs--- but there was a bottle. A bottle with Jason’s name on it.

   And suddenly Jason realized that he’d been wondering this whole time why Roy’s canines were so fucking big.

   “Don’t…” Roy panted furiously. “say… a word.”

   Jason’s heart dropped alllllll the way to his stomach. He felt hot and cold and hot again all over. “Roy. Tell me you haven’t been dropping yourself… while I’m not there.”

   Roy laughed coldly, tearing off the makeshift tourniquet. “Better than heroin.”

   Jason was starting to get used to being unable to breathe. He glanced at the little bottle with his name marching down the side like an accusation, a file listing him at the scene of the crime--- Empty. “Roy.”

   “YOU,” Roy snapped loudly, suddenly wild, and something had changed about him; something had shifted. It took Jason half a second to clock the unnatural shininess in Roy’s bloodshot eyes. “don’t get to abandon me in the middle of a feeding frenzy an’ judge me for how I got to the fucking SHORE!!!”

   “Roy,” Jason snapped back, taking a step forward, and how close could he get without driving his packmate through the window? “You’re still drowning. I’m not judgi--- Why didn’t you call?”

   The obvious answer, as most of the answers had in the past twenty-four, smacked Jason silently across the face. Roy’s answer, however, came from a lowered head, a shaking voice, and trembling lips. “I was ashamed.”

   “Why?” Jason took another step forward, trying desperately to close the gap but keep the ledge from crumbling at the exact same time. “For needing this? For using it as a… as a shield? A substitute, a stand-in?”

   “YES!!!” Roy snapped his head up, and Jason smelled it before he saw it--- Tears, rivers streaming down Roy’s pale face and through his stubble and dripping off his chin. His snarl was token this time. Defensive. “How could I live with myself if you found… if I…”

   Jason swallowed the lump in his throat, shaken to his very core. “I wouldn’t have---”

   “Yes you would’ve, yes---” Roy gulped for air. “you would’ve. You DID. Short of my worst nightmare, reality is what I was most afraid of, and you… you can’t promise that. That it would have been different if I’d… if I’d asked.”

   Jason’s hands felt heavy at his sides. “Roy…”

   Roy wrapped his arms around his middle, jerking with a strangled sound that meant a swallowed sob. He stared at Jason through the streams of tears. Still he snarled. “I could stand just about anything, Jaybird. I couldn’t stand a no.”

   Jason KEENED, and once he’d started, he couldn’t stop. All his anger and hurt and guilt came pouring out, filling the sound with an echoing, visceral pain. A pain that was on a razor’s edge to grab fate by the throat, to shake, to do something about it. The walls echoed, reverberating with the conviction of his cry, and when he was finally able to rein it in…

   Roy was on his knees, sobbing.

   “Roy…” Jason dropped down, grabbing his neglected packmate and hauling him close and squeezing him. “Roy…”

   The omega jerked, trying to put distance between them even as his scent exploded with longing-needing-clinging-feral-afraid. “D… Don’t…”

   “I won’t, I won’t, I…” Jason wrapped his arms around Roy’s back, trying not to let the burning in his eyes overtake his other feral senses. (When had Roy’s desperation pushed Jason’s instincts over the edge?) “I won’t bite you, I won’t put you in submission, just… just let me…”

   Roy stopped struggling with one last weak tremble. He leaned into Jason’s shoulder, still tense, still crackling like a livewire, but real and solid and alive in Jason’s arms, in Jason’s hold, here where it was safe…

   “---afe now,” Jason heard himself as if from behind a closed door. “You’re safe now, I promise, I promise, Roy; I’m not going anywhere, I’m not leaving you…”

   Roy pressed his face into the crook of Jason’s neck, shaking with successive sobs. He was quiet, too quiet, but as his hormone-dense tears soaked into Jason’s skin, Jason’s vision sharpened. Suddenly the bathroom light seemed like the uninhibited sun, the texture on the bed looked prickly, and Roy’s body heat radiated discomfort. It was more than a simple heat, a neglected packmate. It was sickness, a sickness of the mind infecting the body still in its incubation stage, and Jason could smell it.

   He took a very deep breath, focusing until he was able once again to ignore his aching teeth. Then he moved his wrist. He started first in a slow circle, small, gentle, and moved out with increasingly bigger spirals. He methodically covered the store-bought hoodie with his feral, possessive, determined alpha scent.

   Roy shuddered in his hold, tense as ever. “Don’t…”

   “I won’t,” Jason rumbled with the force of his promise, and Roy sagged, spent. “I won’t.”  

   Uninhibited this time by the need to give his packmate space (What on Earth FOR?!), it didn’t take long for Jason to scent Roy’s back. He moved to Roy’s shoulders next, studiously keeping below the bite/scruff line, and then skipped his neck, moving to his hair. He hesitated there, too. It was so… tangled, so dry from lack of care. The ends were all split. He didn’t know---

   Roy took a shuddering breath, a lungful of the scent pouring from Jason’s shoulders, and relaxed a few centimeters more. “It’s ok-kay.”

   A veeeeeeery hesitant rumble kicked to life in Jason’s chest. He rested his hand on Roy’s hair, stroking his wrist from crown to base of skull then back up again. He didn’t try to detangle or bury his fingernails down to Roy’s scalp. He just marked his territory. He sat still… and he scented… and he breathed.

   “Fuck,” Roy whispered shakily, sniffing as his tears began to dry.

   A bitter smile tugged at Jason’s face. He rested his hand back on Roy’s shoulder blade, squeezing him tighter, and sighed all the way from the soles of his feet. “I know it doesn’t really fix anything, but I… I really am sorry.”

   Roy tried to pull away first, scrubbing not so discreetly at his eyes. “I’m not… I don’t…”

   “Shhhhhhhhhhhhh.” Jason dared to rest his hand on Roy’s shoulder, gentle, unobtrusive, and rolled into a crouch. “It’s been a really long night. Let’s get you into a nest, okay? We’ll talk tomorrow. We’ve got time.”

   Roy looked away, rubbing absently at his wrist--- the one with the bite mark. (Jason’s heart sank. How many times? How many times had Roy turned to a shitty stand-in for pack care before Jason had noticed?) “Yeah. Okay. Up… Upstairs.”

   Jason didn’t ask any questions. He opened drawers and closet doors and basket lids instead, gathering up every clean blanket and pillow and throw he could find. Arms completely full, he waited, following Roy’s slow limp to the hallway, the stairs, and up. He understood “up”. Up was safer. Not all the way to the top, because that wasn’t safer, but up enough. Roy paused on the second floor, panting for breath, and gestured vaguely. “The inner bedroom. Most… defensible.”

   Jason hurried forth with only a little restlessness crawling through his veins--- Don’t leave him--- and set to work. This place was way too fancy, but there were no windows, and the ceilings were high. Good for him… Not so good for Roy. Roy preferred the hiding benefits that small spaces tended to provide.

   Jason paused in the act of throwing more nesting materials onto the bed. How did he know that? Sure, he’d nested with the Outlaws before, but not that much, and not for many heats. At least none this dire.

   He shook his head to clear the cobwebs, scented every piece of sterile cloth with his wrists, and stepped back into the hallway with a worried chuff. It was an omega noise; he technically wasn’t supposed to be able to make it. It didn’t sound quite right. He had practiced chuffing to call pups on the street, and then Lian, but he hadn’t used it since.

   Roy dragged himself across the hall, a faint smile pulling at his pale cheeks. He looked stretched reeeeeally thin, like a rag with holes in it from scrubbing the floor too hard. “Still doin’ that, huh?”

   “It works,” Jason defended absently, holding his hand out palm up. He didn’t know… how much. How much was too much, too patronizing, but Roy… Roy took it. Jason added pressure toward the ceiling, creating a platform for Roy to lean against on their slow way into the bedroom. “I didn’t really know what you wanted. I can make it myself if you wanna give directions.”

   Something about Roy’s face seemed to soften--- maybe the skin around his bruised-looking eyes. He climbed into the nest and picked up the Jason-scented blankets and set to work.

   Jason turned around, planting himself in the open doorway, and tried to ignore the lump in his throat. Omegas nested where they felt safe. Roy could have easily flopped onto the top cover an’ called it a day. Instead…

   An eternity later, Jason heard a very soft chuff, a real one. He stepped back into the room, closed the door, and locked it. Then he finally took a look at the nest. Whoa… whoa. It was so… How had Roy created so much plush cushioning, so much supportive structure, with blankets? “That took you… what, fifteen minutes?”

   “It pays to be a parent,” Roy mumbled, but his shoulders eased. He avoided Jason’s gaze as he fussed with a loose blanket.

   Jason blinked rapidly as his brain struggled to catch up. Wait… Had Roy been afraid that Jason wouldn’t like it?

   “Good?” Roy asked gruffly.

   “Good?” Jason approached to press a hand against the side, to test it, then thought better. He hadn’t been invited yet. “It’s insane. How come I don’t get instincts like this?”

   “It comes with a crippling need to fill it with packmates.” Roy licked his cracked lips, finally looking up, and scowled. “You can’t come in like that.”

   Jason looked down, nonplussed. He was still wearing cargo pants along with an undershirt for sleeping in. “Like… what?”

   “You’re not showered.”

   “Oh.” Cue the embarrassed internal wince. “You can probably smell that, huh?”

   “I think most people probably could,” Roy jabbed lightly, settling back into a corner of the nest with a water bottle in hand.

   Jason suddenly found the prospect of leaving his omega’s line of sight an extremely nerve-wracking one. He ran his tongue over his teeth. “You--- I’ll be ten minutes. You good for ten minutes?”

   Roy’s expression flickered, like he was undecided whether to be insulted. Eventually he just settled on exhaustion. “Yeah… ten minutes.”

   Jason wasn’t stupid. Well, not once he knew what to look for. He’d noticed that Roy hadn’t quite managed to dose up again, hadn’t completed the bite to his own wrist before Jason had barged in on him. There was probably still venom in that retainer. Stale… unhealthy, even, because Jason couldn’t remember the last time he’d donated to their weaponry, and venom that long away from an alpha’s system while not preserved with any beta hormones… Shit, the hormones were probably gone or really, really fucked up. Who knew what kind of concoction Roy had been putting into his system?

   Better than heroine, a bitter voice echoed, and Jason hurried into the bathroom before his grimace could give him away. These next few days filled with slow bond re-exposure and reluctant nesting and walls being lowered were gonna suck ass.

   It wasn’t like Jason was proud of his mental headspace, either.

   Roy was in the exact same position Jason had left him in eight minutes later, eyelids lowered. He looked checked out, but he twitched to semi-awareness when Jason crept back in. Watched through the strengthening heat haze as Jason fussed around the room, setting snacks and water and meds nearby and stashing their weapons within arm’s reach and plugging their phones in on silent. He watched as Jason did what he could to secure their hideaway, and as he did, a very soft purr vibrated to life in his throat.

   Jason worked until he’d run out of work to do. He stilled next to the bed, hands hanging uselessly at his sides, and tried not to let it show how badly the fog of sickly heat scent was messing with his instincts. The glowing slit-pupiled eyes would probably give him away. Can I come in? he wanted to ask, but guilt welled up as soon as he tried, spilling against his will across their partially open bond.

   Roy’s sleepy face screwed up. “Get in here.”

   Like a puppy with its tail between its legs, Jason crawled in, careful about the structure. The clothes still smelled like him, and Roy, of course, but not enough. He itched to make it right.

   Roy tipped his chin up. A soft whine pushed at the back of his throat; a request. Please.

   Jason forced himself to move slow. He scented the sides of Roy’s neck, his jawline, and his collarbone. This wasn’t the same as submission. He had to control himself. Roy’s shoulders twitched into a slump when Jason touched them, so he steadied Roy with one hand and reached under the collar of his hoodie with the other, carefully dragging his scent over his packmate’s shoulder. There were scars there, too many to count, to know what from without seeing them, but one fucking crisis at a time. He scented the other shoulder the same way, then braced himself against the back of the nest with his face turned protectively toward the door. Then he started up a quiet, anxious rumble.

   Roy sat where he was for a few minutes, probably processing. Then, slow-blinking, he flopped over, pillowing his head on Jason’s thigh. It wasn’t a full hug, it wasn’t the cuddling that Roy so desperately needed, but it was something. It was far, far better than an hour ago.

   “You’re in pain,” he whispered.

   Jason blinked glowing green at the red hair in his lap, distracted from his studious observation of the door. “Me?”

   “Yeh… your teeth.”

   Jason grimaced again. They felt too big for his mouth. Clumsy. Uncomfortable. “I’ll live.”

   “Jay…”

   “I’ll live, Roy.” Jason softened his voice from a growl. Gentle, gentle, and he rested his hand on his friend’s arm. “Steady does it… your nest… your heat… your call.”

   Roy let loose a very shaky sigh. He finally eased, giving up rather than relaxing, and nodded. He didn’t move to submit, and Jason didn’t make him. It wasn’t long before the war-weary omega fell asleep.

Chapter Text

   He woke up to a stabbing pain in the roof of his mouth. Dammit.

   Jason shuffled carefully, yanked from sleep by the pressure building behind his teeth an’ the aching pretty much everywhere else. Roy grumbled absently, but he didn’t wake up when Jason managed to extract himself from the not-quite cuddle pile. Floor. Walking. Bathroom…

   Jason opened his mouth in the mirror, grimacing. His canines weren’t exactly discolored, but they were getting there. He eyed the towel next to the sink, but that wouldn’t help; he’d tried before. Venom didn’t release unless you were biting another human being. Like it knew somehow.

   Jason scrubbed his face down with cold water, trying not to bite his tongue in the process, and breathed. He felt like absolute shit. Nesting was supposed to be good for you. Instead, he was coming down with at least three different flavors of pack sickness, burning up an’ shaking with cold at the same damn time, and struggling not to bite everything within reach.

   He was fine. This was fine. Everything was fine.

   A spike of hazy fear across a partially open bond made Jason’s pupils constrict in the mirror. He growled in frustration, trying to keep it down even though feral senses would clue Roy in on the noise anyway, and poked his head out. “I’m still here.”

   Roy breathed out, loosening his death grip on one of the pillows. He didn’t look so hot, either, but he tried for a piss-poor smile. “Hey.”

   Jason switched the light off, huffing, and padded back over. He could still do this. Definitely. What were a few uncomfortable bumps on the road to repairing what he’d almost broken? “Hey.”

   Roy carefully tipped his chin up, slow-blinking as Jason dragged his wrist beneath the omega’s chin. “‘M hungry.”

   “Yeah? You do smell kinda crashy.” Jason clicked his tongue against his sharp teeth. This proved to be a mistake. Ouch. “You probably need to eat. I’ll go make---”

   Roy snagged Jason’s wrist, his scent souring almost immediately. “No.”

   “Hey… whoa.” Jason wrapped his fingers around Roy’s pulse point, steady. “You don’t want to eat? I think there’s some mac-n’-cheese left over.”

   Roy’s pupils looked no better than Jason’s had, but it was the visceral fear that made Jason’s breath seize. He could FEEL it, like now that they had started opening their damaged bond, the lines had blurred. Or maybe that was a side effect of being feral. Y’know, since Jason couldn’t win in that department, either.

   “I’m not leaving you,” he ground out, gently twisting his wrist away. “but you have to let go.”

   “Wait,” Roy pleaded quietly, and his voice trembled. “Why?”

   “To---” Jason coughed when his voice threatened to break. Shit. “To get food, you idiot. You have to let go of me.”

   “Jay---”

   “Roy, I can’t---”

   “Don’t leave me, please don’t leave---”

   “Let GO!!!” Jason yanked back with too much force, too much strength, too much, and jerked Roy halfway out of the nest. He himself had the luxury of falling flat on his ass. He sat there, stunned, and panted through the shivery pain.

   Roy braced his hand on the side of the bed, his faint heat scent suddenly awash with nervous sympathy. “Oh.”

   Jason slowly picked himself up, every muscle thrumming with tension, and made a show of brushing his ass off. The anger was a very poor shield. Roy could probably smell it now, the desperate need to claim, to dominate and guard and possess that had overcome Jason’s fevered system. It was burning him up from the inside out. Literally. “Great. Now if you’ll excuse me---”

   “No.” Roy sat up, shoving his tangled hair from his face. A desperate light had returned to his eyes, but it wasn’t scared now. It was upset. “Don’t walk away from me.”

   Jason’s hackles bristled. “You’re not the boss of---”

   “Jay, you’re hurting.”

   “You’ll be the one hurt---”

   “Dammit!!!” Roy slapped the floor of the nest, making the whole bed shudder, and fixed Jason with a surprising glare. “Look me in the eye an’ tell me the real reason you don’t wanna bite. You jus’ don’t wanna bother, do you? The pain is nothing compared to feeling chained---”

   Jason lunged across the distance, planting his hands on the bed, and growled. “Do NOT presume to know my instincts, omega!!!”

   Roy leaned away from him, panting. His body was primed to fight, but his scent was primed to submit. There was something else here, too… An undertone of sickening need that did not originate from biological wiring. A scent Jason had been used to smelling back before Roy’s self love had become stronger than his demons. “I want you to.”

   “No, you don’t.” Jason straightened up, swallowing, and tried to ignore the pain in the roof of his mouth. “This isn’t trust. This is addiction.”

   Roy’s animalistic focus dissolved immediately. He turned away, hiding behind his tangled hair, and slowly breathed out. Grief spiked in his scent, and something else, too… self hatred. The end-all of his discipline. “Yeah… okay. Fine. Addictive pattern’s active. I wonder who left me that way.”

   Jason’s gut bubbled with furious guilt. He snapped his hurting teeth. “I may have abandoned you, but I do not claim responsibility for your decisions. You’ve been fighting this battle with my venom an’ that’s your choice; that’s on you. You need me. I own that, and I’m fuckin’ here, but I refuse to be an instrument of your destruction any longer. You can’t have me if you’re scared of me at the exact same time.”

   Roy shook his head mournfully, an arrested keen lurking in his words. “I’m not scared of you. I’m scared of you walking away.”

   Jason’s breath fled like he’d been punched under the ribs. He padded quietly back to the bed, climbed into the nest, and wrapped his packmate in a hug. Roy pressed his face into Jason’s shoulder, shaking, and Jason held on until the words started working again.

   It wasn’t black or white, was it? Roy didn’t want his venom… and desperately did want it at the exact same time. He was annoyed by Jason’s presence and terrified that Jason would leave and needed alpha care and was simultaneously addicted to that shit. There weren’t any foolproof ways to solve this; there never would be.

   Jason breathed deeply. It triggered his sympathetic nervous system, calming him down one quick heartbeat at a time. Eventually… slowly… Roy’s rabbity heartbeat began to match. He loosened in Jason’s arms, exhaustion kicking in, and his sour scent continued thickening with heat. He was gonna lose any remaining brain cells pretty fast, but Jason kind of needed permission for this.

   He pressed his hand to the top of Roy’s shoulder, swallowing his guilt. “I can help you. I can help both of us. At least our fucked up health, but… I’m gonna need a yes. I can’t hurt you any more.”

   Roy sighed in fits against Jason’s shoulder, like his body couldn’t decide how much air to release. “I wanna trust you.”

   “I’m not going anywhere.”

   “My instincts know that.”

   “The rest of you doesn’t.”

   “I did say it was earned.”

   Jason squeezed his eyes shut. They would deal with the demons later. Right this moment, their bodies were rebelling against them, sickening and weakening and fighting against their stupid brains to force them down the instinctively easiest path. Nesting was only part of it. Taking care of a submitted packmate… Alphas needed that shit. They got real dangerous otherwise. Feral. Narcissistic. Creepy. The kind of men chased down by the Red Hood for unspeakable crimes that failed to fill the gap.

   Jason had been so scared when he’d presented alpha after returning to life. He didn’t wanna hurt people. He knew he might if he didn’t take care of himself. He used to carry beta sedative even on his nights off, waiting anxiously, high on Pit, for the fuckin’ instincts to turn him feral beyond salvation. For his own designation to drive the humanity straight out of his heart.

   The Outlaws had… helped. Jason wasn’t scared of that anymore. He knew now how easy it was to keep yourself sane, to find someone to claim, someone to protect, and let them care for you in return. He’d also seen a broader sample of humanity in the years since. Not all alphas turned into murderers and serial killers and rapists. Some of them turned those neglected instincts inwards. Some turned them into drive. Some focused their ire on the worst of humanity in the absence of pups to save. He used to know a man who’d been like that.

   No--- Denying intrinsic pack care that his system needed to give was only going to harm them both, and the last thing he wanted was to make this worse. He bent to press his nose against Roy’s shoulder, rumbling nervously. One dumpster fire at a time.

   Roy stiffened enough to be noticeable. “You were right. I shouldn’t… I can’t use you as a tool. You’re not a damn syringe.”

   Jason growled unhappily. The righteous fury surging in his ill scent made Roy’s shoulders drop. “You’re allowed to crave something your body needs.”

   “At what point does the medicine become poison?”

   “We can tackle that later. Right now we’re both sick, we’re both upset, and we could both use some proper nesting right about now.” Jason forced himself not to grind his teeth. “You told me I had to earn that trust. Please… let me.”

   Roy muffled a keen against Jason’s shoulder. It made the pain in Jason’s canines spike, but he held on. Almost, he told himself. Fixing this was not going to be as easy as a bite.

   “Jay,” Roy whispered hoarsely. “I’m so fuckin’ scared.”

   Jason squeezed him, centering all of his focus on the hurting packmate in his arms. The trembling muscles… the nauseating scent… the bleeding need to feel okay. To feel secure. To feel loved. “I am, too. I will not leave you in submission. You have my WORD.”

   Roy slowly tipped his chin back. He breathed in Jason’s scent, purposefully lowering the guards around their bond, and made eye contact. Then he nodded.

   Jason did not give himself a chance to think twice. He tugged aside the collar of Roy’s hoodie, bit down, and stopped when he broke skin. The buzzing in his skull was almost unbearable.

   Then his venom finally released.

   Roy jerked back, keening, but Jason held him still. That would be painful for several reasons. Roy needed this. Not too much, not enough to shock his starved system, just enough. Just…

   Jason’s eyes unfocused. The relief was like stepping into air conditioning on a scorching day. It was like water down a parched throat. It was like HOME. Protect-pounce-possess flooded his scent as he listened to Roy’s heartbeat, fast-fast-fast with the fear that zinged beneath his skin. Jason couldn’t seem to let go, didn’t want to. It was working. His omega’s heartbeat began to slow… and slow… and slow…

   Jason forced himself to release, snapping out of the claiming haze with a frantic jerk. Roy tipped in slow motion, eyes rolling back in his head. Jason had given him an overdose.

   Fuck.

   Jason caught him, lowering Roy’s body carefully into the nest. He couldn’t think beyond the panic. Roy’s scent was bottoming out, his body temperature was rising and his pulse point was so slow and his breath was shaking---

   He was going into shock.

   Traces of Roy’s blood soaked into Jason’s skin as he ran his tongue over his teeth. Just like that… everything slowed. You know what to do, something whispered, something deeper than the magic blades hidden in his soul. You have always known what to do.

   Jason grabbed one of his pistols, ejected the mag to check the contents, then ran his thumb over the safety. He strapped the holster to his hip, armed himself with the weapon, and arranged Roy’s limbs more comfortably in the nest. He left only briefly to grab the standard med kit from his bag. The omegan supplements would be useless now, but he still had that beta sedative just in case, and a shot of adrenaline if Roy’s baseline didn’t level out. He tucked the whole thing under a pillow, pulled some blankets over Roy’s legs, and set about the task of covering his omega in his feral alpha scent. Under Roy’s hoodie, across his scarred arms, over his shoulders, his hair, his neck… even the bite mark. Jason only let up when Roy’s empty scent stopped dropping.

   Next, his instincts pressed, so Jason flopped half on top of his limp packmate’s body, anchoring him to reality. He could feel Roy’s slow heartbeat against his ribs. His own was trying to match. Hm… Was this enough crushing force? Maybe a few more blankets…

   Roy heaved a deeeeeeep sigh as he finally began to come around. His bond was… fuzzy, confused, but active. He was gonna be okay.

   Jason knocked his forehead against Roy’s shoulder, groaning as his instincts finally let up. “There you are. Damn.”

   Roy’s body started up a weak, content purr.

Chapter Text

   Everything was so… cushy.

   He squinted one eye open, confused. Cushy was the right word for reality at the moment. He couldn’t see anything but ceiling. Where was he? Had he died? Did it matter? Maybe it didn’t matter very much. Roy felt SO sleepy… so heavy… so warm…

   The heaviness lifted. He whined his sharp distress; he was gonna float away, float into nothingness…

   “Easy,” someone rumbled, and oh… That was Jason. Roy purred about that. He liked Jason.

   The alpha brushed Roy’s hair from his face, smirking. “Look who’s cooperating all of a sudden.”

   “Shuddup,” Roy said just on principle, because it sounded like he was being made fun of. Oh… Jason’s arm. He grabbed it, nuzzling into Jason’s scent. This was his now.

   Roy’s alpha sighed into his hair. “You need food.”

   “No,” Roy said assuredly, because he definitely knew what he needed, and food was not it. He cracked his eye again, though, as a new thought occurred to him. “Y’ bit me.”

   “You let me.” Jason inched his hand under Roy’s hoodie, gently rubbing his thumb into the bite mark. Roy’s vision went fuzzy as his instincts spiraled back down, blissful euphoria, soft and gentle and everything that drugs weren’t. He tipped his chin up, submitting easily. He could snark at Jason later. This felt so, SO damn good.

   “Your cells are holding onto my venom,” Jason said sadly, scenting under Roy’s chin. “It’s been twelve hours… You should have come up by now. Your body doesn’t think it’ll get more.”

   “So? ‘S good.” Roy yawned widely. It was raining outside. He liked the sound of rain… It reminded him of home. Good play times, good food. Even good cuddles. Except… that was kinda sad to remember. He had Jason to cuddle now. Jason seemed sad, too. Why was Jason sad? Oh… Jason didn’t like the rain. Roy thought very hard about how to fix this for a second. He clumsily dragged his wrist across Jason’s cheek, starting up an obnoxious purr. Yes, that was correct. Roy was doing so good.

   Jason finally smiled. “Goof. Y’re doin’ good. I gotta have you eat, though.”

   “‘M high.” Worry flickered to life in Roy’s gut. “Not th’ bad stuff?”

   “No. You don’t have the bad stuff.” Jason pressed down on Roy’s shoulder, making everything unfocus. “It’s my venom, remember? I bit you.”

   “Oh.”

   “Are you awake?”

   “Mhm. Hungry.”

   “Yeah, I thought so. Open your mouth.”

   Roy opened it, confused… Maybe the food was already here? He couldn’t smell any… but Jason hooked a finger into the roof of his mouth instead of putting food there, tugging gently at the retainer.

   Roy leaned back, trying to close his mouth. He didn’t wanna bite Jason. A pleading whine pushed at his throat. This was his.

   “I know,” Jason rumbled quietly. “It’s a safety blanket, right? You’d have lost your mind without this, maybe lost more. You’ve done SO well. You’re not on your own anymore. I’m gonna take care of you, okay? For fuckin’ good this time.”

   Roy’s eyes stung. He didn’t want to let it go. It didn’t have much venom left… It wasn’t even that effective, the venom; it wasn’t preserved or something. The fresh stuff was soooooo much better. He still felt really good, even though he was upset. His body was healing under a hazy shield of blissful caretaking. Like Jason was cradling his soul.

   “Roy,” his alpha rumbled, and his teal eyes were gentle. “I’ll replenish our medical stores in case of emergency. You don’t need this right now. Please let me have it.”

   Roy’s vision blurred with tears. He opened his jaw the rest of the way, letting Jason unhook the retainer from the roof of his mouth. He smacked his teeth when it left. His canines always felt weirdly small after wearing the thing.

   Jason cupped his hand protectively around Roy’s nape, rumbling against his forehead. Roy zoned out for a second, slumping in relief. Even the faint euphoria of an almost-command was enough to bowl him over backwards. He was so starved for this shit. Command euphoria an’… protective safety… an’ the peace that came from the packmate who’d caused the submission in the first place. Those were not things Roy had been able to replicate.

   Wait… what was he thinking about?

   “You’ll never have to choose between a shitty imitation of pack care an’ drugs ever again,” Jason whispered thickly. It resonated with the force of an alpha growl. A promise. “I’ve got you.”

   Roy nuzzled up under Jason’s chin, happily making himself comfy. This was nice. He would stay like this for a while, thanks.

   “Nuh-uh.” Jason pulled away, why was he leaviiiiiiiing? “Food.”

   “Nuh,” Roy shot back, lunging after Jason to trap him in a hug. “Gettin’… trust.”

   “I’ll earn my trust by feeding you.” Jason avoided Roy’s grip, clearly trying to coax him from the nest. “You said you were hungry, remember?”

   “Don’ want it.”

   “I can stand your ire to make sure you don’t starve. Roy, stand up.”

   That was an actual command. Roy swung his legs out, stood up, and promptly collapsed as the euphoria washed through his brain, making his limbs go numb. He whined as his alpha caught him. Was that bad?

   “Good,” Jason told him, swiping his fond, amused scent over Roy’s messy hair. Oh. Roy was good? He happily purred about that. “C’mon. Let’s go downstairs.”

   Loopy, but eager to please, Roy struggled to walk a straight line. He got nervous when they reached the ground floor. Outside of the nest was No Good. Bad, in fact. It wasn’t safe down here.

   “I’ve got you,” his alpha reminded him, squeezing an arm around his ribs. “You probably need another shower; your body’s flushing out a lot of toxins an’ bad hormones. You want a command or you got it?”

   Roy considered the question with much gravity, staring at the open bathroom door through the back bedroom. “G’nna stay close?”

   Jason’s scent softened. “Do you need help?”

   “No.” Roy wrinkled his nose. “I don’ want you seein’ my parts.”

   “You’d wear a swimsuit, dingbat. Remember when I was high on fear toxin for a week straight an’ you helped me take a bath? Y’know, in clothes.”

   Roy grinned happily. “I ‘member that. Y’ splashed me.”

   “Yeah, well, you looked like the Joker at the time.” Jason huffed grumpily. “D’you want help or not?”

   Roy considered it, nervous. Was it alright to ask? He wanted it so bad… “Don’ wanna fall. I’ll take a command.”

   Jason rewarded Roy’s decision with a dopey grin. “Sure. Roy, go take a shower, take care of yourself, and come back.”

   Roy ambled off, compliant. It was so easy to let the words take over. The anticipation of euphoria at the end combined with the happy purring of his instincts at getting clean again made him purr for real. He got a little bit of soap in his eyes, but that was fine. Everything was fine.

   Except… his alpha’s scent was sorta washing off. He whined as he bent to scrabble at the drain, trying to find it. Rats. He was okay without scent, though; he still had venom. Or… did he? There was no command euphoria. Had he completed the tasks? Taking care of himself was next. That probably meant to use the bathroom and dry off and brush his teeth… oh, and clothes!!! Clothes were important.

   Sufficiently showered an’ taken care of, Roy went back to Jason, trying not to bump into corners on his way. “I did th’--- shit---”

   “Gotcha,” Jason reminded him, catching Roy under the armpits before he could fall against the hot stove. The kitchen smelled really good, but not better than Jason. Roy planted his nose in Jason’s shoulder, sudden panic warring with the euphoria. He needed that scent right the hell now.

   “Easy.” Jason wrapped his arms all the way around, scooting one up Roy’s fresh hoodie--- Jason’s hoodie, because that was just gonna belong to Roy now, and it had been conveniently lying around--- to cover Roy’s back in his scent. “I gotcha.”

   Roy rested his head on Jason’s shoulder, sighing. He felt floaty and heavy and content and heavy and blissed the fuck out all at once. “‘M high.”

   “Yeah, you are.”

   “Bad?”

   “Good. You want two eggs or three?”

   “Three.” Roy considered hopefully. “Bacon?”

   “Yup. I had groceries delivered while you were sleeping. Here…” Jason lead him to the adjoined living room, gently sitting him down. “Stay right there.”

   Roy weakly held on through the sudden spike of panic. “Don’ leave me.”

   “Omega.” Jason knelt down, squeezing Roy’s hand, and stared him directly in the eyes. “I am not leaving you. I’m gonna finish making our food. I’m ten feet away. Alright?”

   Roy breathed out, nodding. Okay… maybe that wasn’t so bad. He had Jason’s scent again, anyway. He would be fine for five minutes, geez.

   Jason swiped his wrist over Roy’s, trying to cover up the sudden wave of guilt with possess-protect-mine. “You need this. Do not feel bad for asking for help.”

   Roy nodded solemnly. He shoved his nose into Jason’s stolen hoodie when Jason left, watching the movie that had somehow come on through heavy eyelids. It was about a girl an’ her huge purple monster. The monster was really fluffy. Also very loud, but mostly fluffy. His pup would probably love that monster.

   Hey… where was Jason? Roy keened softly, calling out, and twisted to look. Had Jason left?

   Jason popped back into his line of sight, spatula in hand. He looked worried. “You all good?”

   Roy settled instantly, something comforting wrapping around his chest. “Yea.”

   Jason gave him a smile, returning to the kitchen. He looked better. His teeth weren’t hurting him anymore; Roy could feel it across their bond. Damn, they were so, so close right now. He was still mad at Jason… but he desperately wanted to stay this way. He didn’t wanna ice his alpha out. He wanted to be mad AND be close.

   “What’s buggin’ you?” Jason asked quietly, emerging from the kitchen with two plates of food. He set them down on the coffee table, going back for tea. His bond stayed wide open, expectant. Attentive. Listening.

   Listening to Roy’s emotions.

   Roy twisted his damp hair between his fingers, trying not to stare at the split ends. “A lotta things, actually.”

   “Go for it.” Jason set the tea down, plopped next to Roy, and gently marked his shoulder. His actions bespoke patient kindness, but his bond was tense with anxiety, focus, and concern. He was trying so hard to do a good job.

   Roy smiled fondly, less anxious now, and leaned over to rest his head on Jason’s shoulder. Jason adjusted to make Roy more comfortable, resting his arms heavily across his back. Warm. Present. Safe.

   “I’m so mad,” Roy whispered thickly, finding words as the venom wore off. “I’m so tired. I don’ wanna stop this… but I don’t…”

   “Anger an’ love aren’t mutually exclusive.” Jason sighed ruefully. “You’re probably so mad because you love me, right? You expected better. I’m also mad, to be honest. You shut yourself off instead of asking for help. That part’s definitely your fault.”

   Roy’s scent soured. “I know. I’m sorry.”

   “Yeah… me too.” Jason’s scent picked up a hint of tired amusement. He scrubbed that scent into the back of Roy’s hoodie. (Jason’s hoodie once upon a time, but Roy’s now.) “It’s okay to be mad an’ happy both at once. We can work through it. We have time.”

   The words warmed Roy from the inside out. We have time. That meant Jason was staying. Not just as a promise… but a fact. He wasn’t making a conscious effort to stay. He just was. That was that.

   Jason handed Roy his plate, rumbling quietly. He was smug about this providing thing. That was fine. Roy was melty about this providing thing. It all worked out. “What else is bugging you?”

   Roy picked eagerly at his food, trying to focus on the taste instead of the nervousness making a comeback in his veins. “Could… Could you cut my hair?”

   Jason’s eyebrows disappeared behind his white bangs. “Yeah… of course. Like a trim?”

   Roy nodded shortly, glancing at the split ends again. His hair had always been a marker for self care. He forgot about that most of the time, how transparent he was being to those who knew him. It had meant a lot in his tribe to have your packmates care for your hair, your cleanliness, even your food. It had been significant to trust someone with that which meant so much. “Just a trim. I don’t want it… y’know.”

   “Taken from you,” Jason murmured quietly, working away at his own plate while he listened.

   Roy slumped with a little nod. He got it; Jason understood.

   “‘Course.” Jason finished his food first, picking up his tea to nurse more slowly. “Then another bite an’ a nap, huh?”

   Roy exhaled slowly. He could already feel it crawling up his arms… the aching need for more that he’d come to associate with approaching battle, future wounds, and lapsing mental stability. He was in no shape to keep fighting that battle himself.

   “Roy.” Jason’s hand rested on his knee. “Listen to me. You need it. There is no shame in craving what you need.”

   “Anything can turn into an addiction,” Roy whispered thickly. He pushed away the last bits of his food. He wasn’t hungry anymore. “I can’t…”

   “I won’t let you go that way, dude. Listen…” Jason’s bond steeled with determination. “I’m not the expert or anything. You know yourself better than I do. Trust me to know what I’m doing here. I don’t, but I’m trying to. Being addicted to venom you’re starved for is a hell of a lot better than the alternatives. Hell, than doomscrolling. This’ll get you closer to balanced. If you’re still addicted after… We’ll tackle that when we get to it. Together. Alright?”

   Roy swallowed past the lump in his throat, picking up his tea. “Why’re you so nice t’ me?”

   Jason shrugged lightly, leaning back. “‘Cause I’m a sap. Watch the damn movie.”

   Roy smiled a little as he returned his attention to the screen. Yeah. Jason was a pretty good guy. He allowed himself to zone out, slowly calming down as his alpha got up, cleaned the dishes, and moved around to tidy. Roy only startled when he felt a towel drape over his shoulders.

   “Just this much, yeah?” Jason took some of Roy’s hair between his fingers, holding it up in front of his face to reveal half an inch at the ends. “Just a trim.”

   Roy tried to ignore his racing heartbeat. “Uhm… yeah. I…”

   “Easy.” Jason sat down, handing Roy another mug of tea. This one was a different flavor. “Turn that way for me. I’ll take it real slow. You still like it parted here?”

   Roy nodded quietly, sipping at the steaming mug as he faced the other downstairs bedroom. “Just… half an inch?”

   “Yup, half an inch.” Jason fluffed Roy’s hair on top of the towel, ran a comb through it, and gently began to work out the tangles. He took his sweet time, giving extra scalp scritches as he went. Roy stopped counting the seconds, zoning out. It was so… so good…

   The quiet snip of scissors brought him back with an unpleasant jolt.

   “Just half an inch off the end,” Jason rumbled soothingly, holding up what he’d just cut for Roy to see.

   Feeling very silly, Roy settled again, patiently listening to the movie in the background as Jason worked. It was a given that Jason wouldn’t hurt him. Trusting him was another matter for Roy’s instincts. He wanted to, though. So he tried.

   “There,” his alpha finally huffed, gathering up the towel with all the clippings to set it aside. “How’s it feel?”

   Roy purred emphatically, collapsing against Jason’s shoulder as soon as he turned around. He felt fresh, and his satisfied instincts overwhelmed every other thought in his head. He was clean, he was fed, he was warm and held and safe, and his hair felt free in a way he didn’t know how to explain.

   Jason leaned back on the couch, letting Roy bowl him over into the many pillows with an amused rumble. Relief tinged his protective scent. He’d been worried he’d mess something up. Roy should really let him know that he was doing a great job at being an alpha, but Jason shoved his fingers into Roy’s clean hair, scratching and scenting and smoothing his scalp, so there went that thought process. “I gotcha.”

   Roy hummed his agreement as he nuzzled into Jason’s collarbone. He could feel Jason beginning to rebraid his hair, little strands coming together behind his ears. He purred louder about it.

   “Do you want another bite?” Jason murmured softly.

   Roy took a deep breath through his nose. Jason was primed for it. He probably needed his teeth not to hurt. “Yeah.”

   “Do you want another bite?”

   Roy reconsidered for a second. His instincts arrived at the same conclusion. “Yea.”

   Jason bent close, nuzzling Roy’s shoulder, and bit down. It only hurt for a second. Then it was pure bliss. From his shoulder to the top of his head, down his arms, torso, legs… everything going limp, every emotion dissipating, all shutting down in the face of euphoric healing. He dropped into submission with the efficiency of practice, giving in to the outside influence without a second thought, and purred with abandon.

   Jason let go before too long, rubbing the bite to help the venom spread, and laughed at him. “You’re so drunk.”

   “Nuh,” Roy disagreed firmly, faceplanting into the skin at the crook of Jason’s neck. It smelled good here.

   “Don’t forget to breathe a little.” Jason shifted to pull Roy out of his shoulder. Roy whined petulantly about that, shoving his head under Jason’s chin instead. Fine. Dumb alphas an’ their dumb warmth that they wouldn’t share with Roy’s dumb cold nose…

   “I gotcha.” Jason rubbed Roy’s scruff. Roy wasn’t a pup anymore… Why did it still work when he was scruffed? He went completely limp with a deeeeeeeep sigh. Maybe healing trust… did that…

   “Sleep,” Jason commanded firmly, so Roy did.

Chapter Text

   Wakefulness arrived with jarring clarity.

   Jason sat up, electrified, and stared at his packmate. Roy was already sitting on the edge of the couch, ridged. His bond was locked down tight, his hands were curled tightly into the blanket, and his eyes were fixed unblinkingly on the front hallway. Jason glanced hence. No one there.

   The silence was unbearably fragile, but he reached out anyway, cupping his hand ever so gently around Roy’s nape. “Nightmare?”

   The most minute of head-shakes. No… Jason hadn’t really thought so. Roy only got this tense when something was actually, genuinely wrong.

   Jason shifted quietly, moving in front of Roy, and pulled his pistol from beneath the cushions. He flicked the safety off as he glanced around the shadowy beach house. Suddenly the rafters, high ceilings, and unnecessary furniture all looked hostile in the faint moonlight. He couldn’t see anything amiss, couldn’t smell anything, couldn’t hear---

   There. A shadow. Something that slunk ever so faintly away from his peripheral, the barest of movements in the corner of his eye. He turned to that window with his pistol raised. He did not put his finger on the trigger--- This house was supposed to be abandoned at this time of year, after all; they could be dealing with kids looking for trouble or lovers looking for privacy. He postured in front of his packmate, hands steady, and uttered a long, low, loud growl. Get out of this territory.

   Roy’s shaking fingers wrapped around his elbow. “Don’t… Don’t antagonize her.”

   “Her---” Jason’s vision flared a poisonous green. “Cheshire.”

   Roy’s whimper caught, like he was afraid to make even that much noise. His heat scent had soured with true fear. Through their bond, Jason could feel his omega’s shoulder burn.

   “Come on out, Chesh,” he called loudly, pressing his finger to the trigger now as he scanned the shadows by the door. “Your little hunt is over.”

   A throaty chuckle issued from the dark hallway. “I wondered how long it would take. Hello, boy wonder. Now which one are you?”

   “The kind that’ll shoot you between the fuckin’ eyes,” Jason bit back, listening to the teasing lilt of Cheshire’s tone for anything with a dangerous edge, any indication that she was about to strike. He outclassed this bitch in almost everything but speed, and haywire alpha senses notwithstanding, it was dark. He had to be careful. No unnecessary risks with a vulnerable omega at his back. “What are you doing here?”

   “Isn’t it obvious?” Cheshire’s silhouette appeared in the doorway, dangling a jacket from her fingers. “I’m here for what’s mine.”

   Jason’s eyes narrowed as he trained his sights very carefully. That looked like Roy’s jacket. He wondered if there was anything important in the pockets or if she was just here to dance on the edges of their sanity, to steal their belongings in challenge. A taunt. Jason wasn’t falling for it; he wasn’t leaving Roy’s side. “I don’t see anything that belongs to you. Get the fuck out.”

   Cheshire cocked her head at him, grotesque grin thrown into sharp definition in the moonlight. “My, a bit aggressive, aren’t we?”

   “You didn’t knock.”

   “I didn’t want to disturb you.” Another throaty chuckle. “You really should do better, Red. I could smell your distress from the three-mile line.”

   Roy’s growl was undercut with a thready whine. “Go fuck yourself.”

   “Later.” Cheshire’s hand disappeared with the jacket in tow, an impatient twitch in her tone now. “Relax. I only wanted to see how desperate you really were. Now I see I needn’t have bothered.”

   “Yeah, you needn’t have.” Jason’s finger itched on the trigger. “So why don’t you get… the fuck… OUT.”

   Nothing. The silence was… eerie. Roy suppressed a noise of helplessness, swallowing it down to the knot of buzzing anxiety tangled in his chest. Jason knew because Jason could smell it, could sense every uneasy hormone and wired nerve and shot of flight response in Roy’s sluggish body. It raised the hairs on the backs of his arms.

   Oh, he realized faintly. Rut. He hadn’t had one in---

   He shook his head as he slowly lowered the gun. He couldn’t smell Cheshire anymore, that faint musky scent that seemed to cling to her clothes no matter how thoroughly she controlled her scent glands, and he couldn’t hear her, either. With how wired his senses were becoming--- His body and mind and emotions all desperate to defend, to keep safe--- it was hard to imagine that she was hanging around.

   But she would definitely come back.

   “Easy,” he murmured, kneeling with one eye still on the door. “That BITCH is gone.”

   Roy leaned into Jason’s space, tense as a coiled spring, and just trembled. The final test revealed nothing, no shift or shing or soft pit-pat of footsteps, so Jason forced himself to move. Bag, weapons, snacks, everything that they ABSOLUTELY needed, and nothing else. He bolted upstairs, grabbed whatever they’d left, and spared a mourning thought to the time he didn’t have. He would have burned the place, washed everything and sterilized every surface and made like they had never been here. Instead, he left the nest and messy bathroom and anything non-essential behind, shoving it all into his stuffed bag. He was back down in record time. Roy was clutching a knife that Jason had never seen before, still staring.

   “Hey.” Jason dropped to one knee again, nostrils flaring as he took in his packmate’s flat, horrified scent. Flashbacks. “Hey, man, come back. I need you here, with me; I gotta question.”

   Roy blinked hard, making a noticeable effort to focus on Jason’s face. “Uh?”
Jason tried to force a smile, stroking his thumb over Roy’s pale cheek. “I’m gonna get us outta here, but it’s gonna be miserable. You okay leaving your nest behind?”

   Roy’s shoulder twitched. “Nuh… mine. Yours.”

   “Yeah.” Jason dropped his hand to Roy’s shoulder, the one with the scar, squeezing it. Possessiveness was starting to cloud his scent. They needed to MOVE before they were both too compromised to string a complete sentence. “Mine.”

   The corners of Roy’s eyes relaxed, still hazy, but more at ease now. Jason drew him gently to his feet, pausing to steady, and grabbed his bag. It was only a few yards out to the porch--- and his waiting bike. He got Roy on first. This was gonna be some major suckage all around.

   “Wait.” Roy’s head jerked up sharply, a flare of awareness. He grabbed Jason’s arm. Tight. “My… my cap.”

   Jason cursed within the privacy of his own head, shoving his sidearm into Roy’s hand. “The safety’s off. If you see her, shoot her.”

   The command mayyyyyybe wasn’t fair, but Roy’s shoulders tightened in recognition as it took. Jason shot back into the house, trying frantically to remember where he’d last seen that stupid cap--- Upstairs? Bathroom. No, no, the downstairs bathroom--- fuck. Jason hopped half the staircase, rolled, and came up sprinting. Bathroom, dirty laundry, cap. Hand slapped to drywall for a quick turnaround, skidding traction, slingshot back. He slid onto the porch with a snarl, already anticipating the raised weapon. “Freeze.”

   Roy froze with his finger on the trigger, trembling. It was pointed straight at Jason’s chest. “I thought you were---”
“I know, I know.” Jason soothed it from his fingers, flipping on the safety, and combed Roy’s hair back from his face. The cap was easy to slide on. Years of weather, battle, and hardship had turned it into another layer of skin. “I gotcha.”

   Roy flipped his hoodie’s hood up, shoulders easing now that the cap was in place and the commands were fulfilled. He wrapped his arms tightly around Jason’s middle as soon as Jason was settled, the space between his ribs and his hips that hid most of his organs. Stupid, really, that such a vulnerable part of the human body was so unprotected. “I’m good. Go.”

   Jason flipped the kickstand with a last commanding growl. “Hang the fuck on until I say drop.”

   The drive was, as predicted, miserable. It was still raining. It also felt way longer than two hours. Jason’s nerves felt completely shot by the time they pulled up to the alley behind his most secure safehouse, an apartment complex filled with people too poor to be nosy but too rich to harbor much criminal trouble. He swung off, triple checked his surroundings, and finally held his arms out for Roy. “Drop.”

   Roy slumped against his shoulder, panting. Fulfilling an order for that long, even under venom, even in heat with the promise of coming euphoria, would have exhausted even the healthiest omega. Roy was in really bad shape, and Jason’s instincts were going feral about it.

   Okay… okay. Focus. Door, stairs, three sets of security. Jason kicked five times on the bottom of the door, disabling the last of the traps, and shouldered it open.

 
    The place was pretty simple. Kitchen, stocked pantry, living room that bled out from the front hall. Two bedrooms opened up to the right; Jason entered the closest one, cleared the corners, and pulled the blackout blinds. Then, finally, he lowered Roy into a clean but longtime neglected nest.

   “Shit,” Roy summarized shakily.

   Jason dropped to one knee again, resting his pistol on the bed, and cupped Roy’s cold face. “Hey. Look at me. You’re FREEZING. If you want a shower, now’s the time.”

   Roy wrapped his arms around his ribs, shaking his head. His hot tears were almost a shock against the chilly pads of Jason’s fingers. “Can’t… Can’t…”

   “Okay.” Jason stood up, heart breaking and instincts clamoring and adrenaline still pulsing uneasily through his arms. He hugged Roy’s head to his chest. “Okay. I’ve got you. I’m not leaving. We’re safe here.”

   Roy’s shivers slowly eased from terrified to just… cold. He dug his fingers weakly into the back of Jason’s jacket. “Gotta… change.”

   “Yeah, no kidding.” Jason cupped Roy’s chin with one hand this time, holding his attention. “Eyes on me. Get changed into my clothes, drink a full glass of water, and join me in the kitchen. Do you hurt?”

   Roy wordlessly shook his head, pupils already widening a little from the influx of commands. “Tea?”

   “Yeah.” Jason lifted his cap a little, then… thought better of it. “Can I wash this? And dry it.”

   Roy handed it over with a tiny little sigh. He ambled to Jason’s chest of drawers, strength lent to his movements now as he began to follow orders. It was… hard. To leave him. Jason forced himself to ignore the imploding hole in his chest as he hurried to the kitchen, telling his body to stop being so damn dramatic.

   
   It was only a re-bonding process. It was only addiction and codependence and a heat and a rut and the worst misfortune humanity had to offer. It was fine.

   Jason put on the water for tea, scrubbed the cap with a vengeance, and tossed it with a couple of blankets into the dryer. The water was boiling by then, so he fixed the mugs, adding extra honey to Roy’s, and texted whoever the hell was supposed to have Lian. Just to be absolutely fuckin’ sure. Oliver? Dinah, probably Dinah. Yup--- and she’d run a mission with Garth last week; the Atlantean was staying over. Score. The group kid was thoroughly protected.

   If only her dad could say the same.

   “Sorry,” Roy croaked hoarsely as he finally padded out, fresh hoodie successfully pulled on the right way.

   “Why?” Jason pulled him close in anticipation, supporting Roy’s weight as the completed command sent a wave of euphoria through his body. The redhead rested heavily against Jason’s shoulder, silent for a minute as he just… breathed. This close up, Jason could smell it on him through the dissociation and the edginess and the fear. A distinct ache, a need that he hadn’t smelled on Roy in what felt like years.

   It probably hadn’t been that long, and thank God that this time… This time the ache was for something of actual need. Something Jason couldn’t, wouldn’t feel bad about supplying.


   “Okay,” he whispered, because it felt wrong after hours of frantic, nervy movement to speak any louder. He handed over Roy’s mug, holding it until he was sure the omega had the handle. Damn the burning in his fingerprints. “Okay. Drink this first. Then we can take a fuckin’ nap.”

   Roy’s hand trembled. “Jay…”

   “Roy.” Jason took a deeeeeep breath, smoothing over the pushy instincts throttling his nerves. He rubbed stripes of warm pressure down Roy’s back. “If what you’re about to say is anything other than ‘I’ve got drugs in my back pocket’ or ‘Jason is awesome’, I don’t wanna hear it. You need venom, I need a nesting buddy, and we both need some actual fuckin’ sleep. Capiche?”

   Roy’s lips twitched around the rim of the mug. “Jason is awesome.”

   “Damn fuckin’ straight.” Jason knocked his tea back like shots, reveling in the burn for a couple of minutes. It distracted him from everything he wasn’t doing, everything he was failing at when it came to his packmate’s safety. Roy looked awful. He smelled worse. Jason wanted nothing more than to--- to choke the idiot---

   Roy lowered his empty mug, quirking a fiery eyebrow over a bloodshot eye. “I can hear you vibrating outta your skin.”

   Jason grabbed two water bottles, grunting. “Rut.”

   Both eyebrows now. “Damn.”

   “Yeah.” Jason gestured with a wince. “Can I…?”

   “Dude, go for it. About damn time.”

   Jason circled his fingers around Roy’s wrist, something immeasurably grateful ballooning in his chest. “C’mon. Nest.”

   Roy followed with the faintest of amusement tinging his scent. At least this took attention away from the self-consciousness of receiving venom. Anything for anyone ELSE, right? Jason felt a little bitter about that as they got settled, letting Roy tuck the nest around their bodies in a newly reinforced cocoon. He downed an entire bottle of water while he waited. Best to keep those emotions locked up…

   “Is it good?” Roy whispered uncertainly, fussing with one of the freshly warm blankets.

   “It’s perfect,” Jason rumbled firmly, satisfied at the way it made Roy’s real smile show. He hauled his packmate somewhat roughly into the nest’s depths, delighting in the wash of pure safety as the warm softness closed in around them. He tucked Roy’s clean cap into his hands, setting about the careful task of brushing his hair out.

   Roy made a questioning noise, spine melting as Jason began to rumble.

   “Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Jason said quietly, rumbling louder. He could tell the vibrations had taken over every single one of Roy’s senses when Roy’s clenched fingers began to uncurl. Smug--- and loud about it--- Jason continued his careful brushing. It was… more meaningful this way. To display safety the slow route, to coax submission through care and gentle kindness and loving protection instead of just… forcing it. His aching teeth could wait. All he needed was a few more minutes. Just a few more minutes of gently untangling the wet, weather-worn hair. Just a few more minutes of smooth wisps gliding between his fingers, softly tugging. Grip… pullllll… tug. Release. Grip… puuuuulll… tug. Release.

   Roy’s tears smelled like overwhelmed relief this time. Jason didn’t draw attention to it. He gave the ginger strands a few more passes with his brush, set it aside, and hugged Roy back against his chest with a loud, possessive growl. Mine. Mine to protect, mine to care for, mine to make whole.

   Roy sank into Jason’s delusions with a bone-weary sigh, tipping his chin back. It was an automatic movement, a reflex born of pure trust. No hint of shame or doubt, no fear. Just Roy.

 
   Jason buried his teeth in his packmate’s shoulder, trying not to cry himself as the ache began to abate. He was careful not to hold for too long this time. Just long enough. Long enough for a solid morning’s sleep.

   “M…” Roy tried to mumble as his breathing became deep, body slack. His end of the bond sank in slow motion, heavy. Bliss was a powerful thing. “Love…”

   Jason tucked blankets around his brother’s sick body, breathing out--- Anxious-upset-frantic-insecure-angry--- and in. Gentle-protective-loving-safe-mine. “Yeah. I love you, too.”

   Roy leaned his head back until he found that snug spot under Jason’s chin, nestling into it. Jason rumbled louder, smugly obliging, and watched as the rest of the tension fled Roy’s body when the rumbles flowed from his skull down the entire length of his spine. His omega’s bond was completely under now, fuzzy in a way that meant no emotion, no worry. Just… rest.

   Just something that could maybe heal. For a while.

Chapter Text

   He woke up with full-body trembling.

   “Fuck?” Roy mumbled blearily, jolted awake by Jason’s increasing shakiness.

   “Sorry,” Jason ground out, shivering. He tried to untangle himself from the nest, give his packmate some space, but his instincts shoved a physical growl up his throat. He gagged on the involuntary reflex. “Goin’… feral…”

   “Damn,” Roy said sympathetically, not at all panicked enough for this situation. He tugged on Jason’s sleeve. “Bite me th’n.”

   Jason reared back, horror snapping him up, out, and away from the nest. He wrapped his arms around his vibrating ribs, blinking hard. “I c--- I can’t.”

   Roy sat up, snarling through the last of the submission. It was raining now, dark--- How long had they slept? “Don’ leave me.”

   “I’m not.” Jason breathed out, trying to steady his nerves. “I’m NOT. I’m just…”

   Roy slowly softened, scrubbing sleep grit from one eye. His face was barely visible in the dark. “Afraid.”

   Jason barely suppressed a whine. “Why NOW, why… WHY?”

   “Aftereffects?” Roy made a mournful noise. “‘m pushin’ you too hard. Y’re tryna compensate.”

   “No,” Jason snapped lowly. “Even if that is it, that… That’s worth it. I just… I can’t be… I can’t be feral.”

   “Why? ‘Cause you’ll end up like Willis? Like HIM?”

   Jason snapped his teeth with an audible click. A warning.

   Roy’s answering attack across their bond shot back with startling clarity, breaking through the submission like it was nothing to flatten Jason’s anger. Robbed of an emotional shield, Jason’s fear rose like a flash flood. His knees wobbled. He thought he heard himself whining.

   Roy’s touch gentled, but it didn’t let up on the anger, tamping it ruthlessly under the firmness of an omega who knew what he was doing. “You need a more stable packmate. Someone t’ balance out th’ instincts b’fore my feral ass makes you miserable.”

   Jason glared weakly through the biting shivers. “I should… be able… t’ handle it.”

   “An’ y’ can’t. Because you don’t have practice. Because you left.” Roy curled over his knees, scrubbing both hands down his face. “Mphbl… listen. Sometimes even one feral packmate’s a lot t’ cover. Y’re not weak. Y’ just… call for help. I know y’ got others.”

   “Two,” Jason admitted softly. He laid a mental hand on his closed bond with Dick. It was vibrating with concern, but stable, bright, and strong. “I dunno if… you…”

   Roy finally offered a smile, pale and weak and suddenly sparkling all at once. “I knew ‘im before you did. ‘S okay… call ‘im.”

   Jason took a deep breath of the safe, warm, somewhat relaxing scents still covering the nest. They’d been healing in their sleep, both of them; rut and heat and sicknesses aside, the room smelled like a sanctuary. His instincts were just a little late on the uptake, that was all. “Okay… okay.”

   Roy’s touch eased off of the anger, brushing fondly as it retreated. Jason left for the kitchen, pulled out his phone, and worked through the third breathing exercise Bruce had ever taught him. Then he hit the call button.

   It picked up after two rings. “Little Wing?”

   “I need…” Jason scrubbed a hand into his forehead, growling. “I need help. NO questions.”

   “I don’t do threesomes or dead bodies.”

   “For fuck’s sake, I’m not breaking the law, I’m feral.”

   “What?” Dick’s voice took a turn for the horrified. Why hadn’t he sounded like that when suspecting murder? “Why didn’t you say so? Just hang on, I’m coming.”

   “Don’t---” Jason sighed deeply as Dick hung up. “--- panic.”

   “L,” Roy snickered weakly from the bedroom.

   “Shuddup,” Jason griped back at him, moving mechanically to put water on for tea. “He’s my alpha. Sibling. Whatever.”

   “Issat what you were doing?” Roy asked a little more quietly, subdued. “When you were… were missing?”

   Jason swallowed thickly. The guilt creeping up the back of his tongue was a familiar feeling. “After the missions… the distractions… yeah. That’s what I was doing.”

   Roy was quiet for a while. Then, so gruffly that Jason’s feral senses almost didn’t hear, “I guess that’s okay, then. If it was for Dick.”

   Jason was already halfway back to the bedroom, incensed. He knew his eyes glowed. He knew that Roy could disarm his emotions without trying, but if he got his snappy words out first---

   Roy was just--- staring.

   Jason took a step back from his anger, reevaluating. His instincts were running his brain haywire, but he wasn’t gone yet, and he could still sense something. He had expected to fight about this, or at least to angrily caretake Roy into submission. He had already apologized; how many times were they gonna rub it in Jason’s face? Now that he was paying attention, though…

   “You’re challenging me,” he realized quietly, deflating. “You want me to bite you.”

   Roy glanced away, suddenly stiff. “You wouldn’t if I asked.”

   “You didn’t even TRY.”

   “Fine. Please bite me.”

   “You’re…” Jason breathed out through his nose. Calm… caaaaaaaaaalm. Steady. One fucking communication at a time. “You’re still under the effects of the last one. Your tolerance is getting higher.”

   “You said I needed it.”

   “You DO need it; it’s going to your cells to heal instead of sicking around in your blood as long. Just…” Jason combed a hand through his tangled hair, growling. “It’s a balance.”
   “Because you know soooooo well what’s good for me.” Roy wrapped his arms around his knees, huffing sharply. “No… I get it. Dick’s smell’s at the door.”

   Right on cue… a cacophony of knocking. Jason speedwalked blindly down the hall, disabled the security, and yanked it open, hissing. “Do you have no shame?”

   “What? It was Don’t Stop Believing,” Dick answered innocently, lowering his hand. His nostrils flared, pupils narrowing a little as he took Jason in. “You don’t smell so great.”
   “I don’t feel so great,” Jason stepped aside to let him in, sighing. “Y’know how you texted me about Roy?”

   “Yeah? Like half a week ago. You left me on read.” Dick’s nostrils flared once more, this time with dawning concern. “You found him?”

   “Yeah.” Jason winced at the tea he was preparing. Something to do with his hands. “It’s… complicated.”

   “Gotcha. What d’you need from me?”

   Jason handed over the sweet chai (with oat milk, obviously), frowning. “You… what?”

   “You said you needed help.” Dick shucked his blue biker jacket before beginning to blow on his tea, one dark eyebrow raised. “I assumed by the shake that you weren’t joking.”

   “Damn… you heard that?”

   “I’m your alpha.”

   “Brother. Alpha BROTHER.”

   “That sounded an awful lot like ‘You’re not the boss of me.’”

   “You’re not gonna ask questions?”

   “You said I wasn’t allowed to ask questions.” Dick’s mirth dampened, sobered. A peek of blue steel made itself known beneath the façade of jokes and smiles and niceties. “I know I don’t look it, but I’ve been to therapy. I’m not bad at boundaries.”

   Jason scowled heavily. He hadn’t planned for an emotionally competent Bat. Especially today of all days.

   Yet… then again… wasn’t that why Dick was here?

   “I need advice,” he finally said, leaning against the opposite counter as Dick sipped patiently. “And… maybe cuddling, but more on that later.”

   Dick’s smile almost wrinkled his cheeks. “So what’s on your mind? Besides the everything.”

   “I’m handling it.” Jason paused to scrub at the back of his neck, then stopped when he realized he was giving too much away with the self-soothing motion. “It’s… a lot.”

   “Mhm.”

   “It’s all my damn fault.”

   “Understandable.”

   Jason glanced toward the open bedroom door, biting on his lip. No way the omega wouldn’t hear. He lowered his voice a little anyway. Maybe it would set a good example. Y’know. Asking for help. “I can’t give him too much of my venom.”

   Dick’s eyes saddened. “Ah.”

   “What?”

   “Just… I dunno, I get it. He’s in pain.”

   Jason rubbed his burning eyes, sucking in. “Yeah… yeah.”

   “Hey.” Dick rested one hand on his shoulder. It didn’t feel wrong exactly. Just… achingly familiar. Like an equality they hadn’t had the chance to grow into properly. “Little Wing.”

   Jason looked up, swallowing.

   Dick squeezed his shoulder with a hint of command, but his expression was so, so kind. “You’re overthinking it. Take a deep breath for me.”

   Annoyed, but too desperate to argue, Jason obeyed.

   “You know what he needs,” Dick said simply.

   “But---”

   “You KNOW,” the older alpha interrupted slowly. “what he NEEDS.”

   Jason ran his tongue over his lips, nodding. It was hard to believe, but the way Dick said it… Like it was a fact. Like Jason’s doubt was silly.

   Dick let go of Jason’s shoulder to rub it briskly, then put their mugs in the sink. “Check on him through your bond. How is he?”

   Jason squeezed his eyes shut like that would help, focusing inward. His bond with his omega was tense with anger and regret and lingering submission. Most of all--- and to his surprise--- it felt empty.

   He opened his eyes to Dick’s searching expression, nauseous. “He needs me.”

   “Uhuh.”

   “But I can’t give him another overdose.”

   “Obviously.”

   “What…” Jason felt like he was falling down the last step, expecting ground that wasn’t. “What do I do?”

   Dick sighed patiently. “You are not just your venom, Jay. Go soothe him. Don’t give him what he wants, give him what he needs. I’ll wait.”

   Jason hesitated only a fraction of a second with a spike of anxiety. “I can’t. I called you because I… I can’t be near him. I’ll hurt him.”

   Dick leaned against the counter with an egregiously popped hip, raising an eyebrow. “You’ll hurt him?”

   “I’m… I’m not okay.”

   “Right, I got that part. You just don’t seem particularly unstable to me.” A flicker of a smile. “Check in with yourself, dumbass. What’re you feeling?”

   Jason scowled as a matter of course, but now that Dick had mentioned it… he did feel differently. Grounded. Solid; at home in his own body. Still on edge, still vibrating, but--- focused.

   Dick hadn’t even done anything.

   … had he?

   Jason turned away from his brother’s self-satisfied expression, trying to hide the embarrassment, and crept back into the bedroom. He knocked his foot against the edge of the bed, rumbling hopefully.

   No one answered.

   Hesitant--- This wasn’t his nest, and he really didn’t wanna face this high wire all of a sudden--- the alpha crept toward the other end, reaching out to touch the red hair spread across one of the blankets.

   The omega growled.

   Jason pulled back, stung. “I can’t help you if you won’t work with me.”

   Roy glared over his shoulder. His visible eye was filled with angry tears. “You said it was okay to want it. To need it.”

   Jason breathed deeply. It ached. “Can I sit?”

   Roy turned away, stubborn, but he scooted aside. Jason slowly climbed in past the edge of the nest, sitting crisscross as far from Roy as he still could, and just… breathed. Slowed his heartbeat, his exhales, and his frantic instincts. Calmed.

   His nature wanted the same thing Roy was asking for. His more conscious train of thought, the part of him that hurt whenever he would see his friend tripping out of his mind on three blissful minutes of euphoria, wanted something completely different.

   He had promised to do this. To stay on board with the process, to weather the storm. Together. He was gonna make good on that promise.

   “You SAID,” Roy whispered hoarsely, breaking the still, sad silence.

   “You are allowed to need venom,” Jason answered slowly, and his voice held firm over a crack, a quiver. “I am allowed to say no.”

   Roy’s shoulders shook. It was slight, so gentle that no one else might have noticed--- The moment of a break. Jason saw it. Jason saw it because Jason knew what it looked like to watch his best friend’s pieces crumble apart when all everyone else knew was the mask.

   A smile was such a dangerous thing.

   Jason leaned over, done asking for permission, and wrapped his arms around his packmate’s body. His teeth were killing him, but he locked his jaw, holding firm. Roy didn’t need venom right now; Jason could smell it in his bloodstream. Roy didn’t need to escape through the euphoria. Roy needed to relearn what it was to hold strong. To deny himself.

   The alternative was a very, very slippery slope.

   “I can’t stop it,” Roy whispered through hitching breaths, gasps for air that just wasn’t coming. “I c-can’t stop.”

   Jason tightened his hug, crushing Roy under his weight, and ground his forehead into the omega’s shoulder. He breathed three times. “You can’t stop?”

   “I’m addicted to it.”

   “Better than heroin.”

   One of Roy’s sobs became audible. He tried to swallow it down, but Jason squeezed him hard, kept him from drawing a fortifying inhale. The breath turned from a steadying act to a grieving keen.

   Jason’s instincts were giving him a headache. He held on through the discomfort, lying a solid hand on his impulse to bite, and pulled it down. Steady pressure applied, a tug of war, until the resistance was locked firmly in place.

   No, he told himself. Just like he was hoping Roy would. NO.

   “I know…” Roy whispered hoarsely, gasping through the renewed sobs. Tears dripped off the end of his freckled nose, soaking into one of the blankets. “I know I don’t n-need it. I can’t stop w-wanting it, though. Manipulating---”

   “Look at me.” Jason firmly nudged Roy’s chin, glaring until his stressed omega made eye contact. Only then did he soften. Roy’s pheromones were getting on his skin. That was okay. Dick was waiting just outside; Jason wouldn’t have to restrain himself for much longer. “You are not manipulating me. I said no. I mean no. You’re not evil for tryna get it, but man, look… look. Roy.”

   Roy turned his head again to bury his face, shaking.

   Jason curled around his brother’s back, throat thick with grief. “Roy, you’re stronger than this. I’m not tryna encourage you or some shit. It’s fact.”

   “I relapsed.”

   “Into VENOM. Roy, that’s HUGE.” A bitter smirk pulled at Jason’s mouth. “It’s not a narcotic, it won’t be as hard to find a balance an’ you don’t even need to go clean like you would for something else. Besides, this time your plug isn’t an enabler. What’s good for you right now, that’s what I’m on board with. No more an’ no less. You don’t NEED more.”

   “I want more.” Roy curled tightly, becoming very small under Jason’s weight. His bond curdled with burning self-hatred. “I want more. It’s disgusting.”

   “It’s not.” Jason breathed out, rubbing one of Roy’s stressed scent glands. “It’s not. It’s human. Someday… you’ll believe me. For right now… let me take care of you. Trust me for a little while. A few days. A week.”

   Roy’s shaking was slowing to sniffles. He had given Jason his full attention. Communication was working.

   Jay nuzzled into his packmate’s ginger hair, almost choking from the influx of demanding impulses, but his mental grip stayed steady. Twisting. Holding. “Say no to drugs for one week. Let me ration out the venom. I won’t let you get sick like that. I won’t deprive you. I won’t leave. After a week… we renegotiate. Just for now… trust me. Trust me to find that balance for you. Trust me to handle the moderation. For one week.”

   Roy’s muscles slowly unwound as he listened, tension melting beneath heavy, defeating exhaustion. He nodded wordlessly, leaning back into Jason’s warmth. Hiding.

   They were quiet for a few minutes as the new promises sank in. Seven long days… Jason could handle that. Jason could hold steady for seven days.

   “You’re in pain,” Roy finally whispered, words slurring.

   “Dick’s waiting outside for me.” Jason combed a hand through Roy’s hair, pushing it back from his tear-streaked face. “Do you need anything before I get you to sleep? Water? Bathroom?”

   “I already did.” Roy’s shoulders hitched, and his voice suddenly took a turn for the vulnerable. “I want…”

   Jason kept stroking his hair back, attentive. Waiting. Whatever Roy was about to ask for… it was big. It was important. “Yeah?”

   Roy’s voice wavered. “I want my pup.”

   Jason sat up a little, surprised. Roy hated to show himself like this. It was bad enough Jason or Kori had to see, but Lian? His PUP? He never wanted her around for these kinds of lows. Usually for very good reason, but… if he was asking…

   “Sure,” Jason whispered softly, taking out his phone to shoot a text to Dinah. A new mission has come in for Princess Lian, priority one. Her dad requires the bestest of cuddles. The address shall follow forthwith.

   Roy sighed shakily as the text sent off. “Y’ll make sure… I won’t fuck up.”

   “Yeah,” Jason agreed easily, tucking his packmate into blankets. “You won’t fuck anything up, though.”

   “Tryna… not to.” Roy yawned widely, one last tear dripping from his drying nose. “Don’ wanna be… a bad father.”

   Jason squeezed his burning eyes shut. “You’re… you’re not. You won’t be.”

   Roy’s breathing deepened. After another moment of pensive silence… a whisper. “You don’t hate me yet.”

   Jason leaned over, placing one hand on Roy’s shoulder to massage his last bite. The alpha’s vision was sharp and unfriendly and painful, spikes of agony from ignored instincts digging into his skull. He held steady, rubbing Roy’s most recent bite with all the patience in the world. “Nevah.”

   Roy’s scent lifted, tired and feral and unwell, but at ease now. Calm. Submissive.

   “I gotchu. Take a nap.” Jason rumbled loudly, deeply, and projected as much fond command as he could manage. “Submit.”

   The venom still in Roy’s system drained every vestige of upset from his body, unspooling every limb, every breath until he was nothing but disarmed. Everything he was left trustingly in Jason’s hands.

   Jason leaned down, pressing a kiss to the back of Roy’s head, and applied pressure over the faint bite mark. His throat was too thick now for words, but his bond, he thought, open and grieved and so full of love, probably said it all. When he finally backed off, Roy was asleep.

   Dick looked up from his phone when Jason closed the bedroom door to a crack. His quiet smile and casual lean against the counter and crossed legs all made Jason weirdly emotional. It was wild. Sure, he’d spent several days seeing nothing but this idiot while they had re-bonded, but… to see him like this? Patiently hanging out in the kitchen in his civvies with one bouncing knee and his phone in his hand and a kind smile that didn’t expect anything in return…

   It was just… a lot.

   “I’m gonna change,” Jason muttered grumpily, because that was the only thing that made sense right now. “Jus’ make yourself at home; the couch pulls out.”

   “Oh, because of the one-bed apartment?” Dick pursed his lips as he shoved his phone into his pocket, moving to inspect the couch. “Why didn’t you just bring him to the place we were staying before?”

   Jason paused blankly, new hoodie in hand. (He needed Roy’s scent to be a little bit… less. Stat.) “I didn’t know if he… if he’d be comfortable.”

   “Oh, with my scent.” Dick’s face popped up over the partially unfolded bed, an impish look. “Or--- You just didn’t wanna share. Are you selfish?”

   “No.” Jason shucked his hoodie with a vengeance, face heating. “Shuddup.”

   “I mean, if I had a hurt omega packmate, I wouldn’t wanna share him, either. Especially with another darn alpha. Those territorial instincts, dadgummit---”

   “Dick, if you don’t shut up an’ make a good nest---”

   “I’m going, Dad. Well,” Dick stood back with a handful of blankets, staring at the couch bed thoughtfully. “Good being a relative demand in these parts, but I can make it cozy…”

   “You do that.” Jason combed a restless hand through his hair, going to the kitchen for some water bottles. Also maybe some pain meds for his headache. “D’you think I’ll be able to feel him?”

   “I have no doubt. You left him with a weapon?”

   “His an’ mine.”

   “What if we get broken in on? What’ll we defend ourselves with?”

   “Your rapier wit.”

   “Hardy har har.” Sounds of fluffing and/or pillow tossing (Jason didn’t wanna know) finally stopped. “Is this good?”

   The younger alpha walked back in with an insult ready to fire on his tongue. Instead, he found himself relaxing just at the sight of the open, warm-looking, lounge-worthy nest waiting on the couch bed.

   “What the fuck?” he said indignantly.

   Dick flopped down sans shoes an’ overshirt, smirking proudly. “I’ve made quite a few nests for younger teammates in my day.”

   “Where’d you learn? Bruce?!”

   “Tsh, no, have you seen his nests? Veritable Pentagons of blankets---”

   “Alfred?”

   “Donna, actually, is very good. I’m pretty sure she also taught Roy.”

   “Roy’s an omega.”

   “You still have to learn, Jay. Instinct doesn’t cover everything.” Dick’s smile took a twist for the bittersweet as he folded his hands behind his head. “Especially when you’re a frazzled teenage dad.”

   Jason sniffed moodily, tossing over one of the water bottles. “I’m gonna bite you.”

   “I know.” Dick took a hearty pull, sighing contentedly. “I got nowhere else to be tonight.”

   “Li’s getting dropped off in the morning. You might have to stay for one more night. Extra protection an’ all that.”

   “Fine with me.”

   “Seriously? You’re not mad or jealous or some shit?”

   Dick sat up, staring seriously into Jason’s eyes. “I’m not unstable, Jason. What’s there to be jealous about? You’re two of my closest friends; I’m honored to be included.”

   Jason felt something traitorously warm in his chest. “‘Course.”

   “‘Course.” Dick flopped over into Jason’s personal space with a hopeful grin. “This’s what I’m here for, anyway, isn’t it? A little advice an’ a chew toy.”

   Jason winced as he grabbed his brother’s nape, shaking him. “Please never say that again.”

   Dick willingly unspooled with a gentle sigh, slumping against Jason’s shoulder. It wasn’t strong submission, but he didn’t need convincing. He was so ready to put himself in Jason’s care.

   Jason hesitated as he nuzzled into his brother’s trap, swallowing.

   “It’s okay,” Dick whispered softly, scenting Jason’s back in that signature clingy kind of way that let you know, beneath the irritation, that you were cherished. He was here, all of him, all the way. “Y’re okay. Go f’r it.”

   Go for it, Roy had said not that long ago.

   Why do you people trust me so much? Jason didn’t ask. He buried his teeth in his packmate’s shoulder, clamping down more sharply than he needed to, and growled.

   The older alpha didn’t mind the roughness. He went limp.

   Jason held for a long time--- His venom wouldn’t overwhelm a healthy alpha like it would a sick omega--- and only let go when his teeth stopped hurting. The mark was a little bit bloody. He scented it with a sigh, massaging so the venom would dull the pain. “Sorry.”

   Dick slow-blinked at him, pupils blown, and rumbled softly. His grip was slight now, weakened, but his bond was just as strong as he relaxed in Jason’s arms. Overwhelmed-trusting-loved-soothed-yours.

   Jason buried his face in Dick’s hair, sobbing as quietly as he could. Dick nuzzled into him with those gentle rumbles, settling in. He was going nowhere for the night.

   It was unconditional. Like there was nowhere else he would rather be.

   The younger alpha’s calming instincts seconded that.

Chapter Text

   He woke up to a piercing ray of sunlight in his face.

   Jason smacked his mouth grumpily, yaaaaaaaawning. He could feel the warmth of the irritating beam on the back of his throat. He shifted his head away, burying his face back into cool, clean-smelling sheets, and listened to the old air conditioner hum to life. This building had installed modern air ducts a while back, but a lot of the apartments still retained their ancient window units for the more humid days. Dark thunderclouds rumbled on the horizon, but right here… right now… everything was too damn bright.

   Sleepy fondness flooded Jason’s mind, big-brother-flavored. He automatically tipped his chin up, slow-blinking, and tried to make sense of it all as his alpha nuzzled aggressively under his chin.

   Oh. Backup. Right.

   “Hi,” Dick sighed heavily, his weight settling against the right side of Jason’s torso as his scenting instinct was apparently satisfied.

   Jason slid his hand around the back of Dick’s neck, rumbling sleepily. He could smell the venom in Dick’s bloodstream. A bit faint now, as it should be; wearing off right on time. Wakeful, playful submission tinged with overwhelmed joy blanketed the couch nest.

   It was… Damn. It was really… really grounding.

   Jason yawned again, acutely aware of the lack of pain in the roof of his mouth. He rubbed Dick’s scruff a bit. Dick’s weight grew more solid, more languidly relaxed. He was going absolutely nowhere.

   “Softie,” Jason mumbled slowly, smirking at the ceiling as Dick nosed like a pup against his neck. “What’re you ‘nyway, twelve? Why’s scruffing still work ‘n you?”

   “Works f’r ‘nyone… who…” Dick yawned too, a fresh wave of submission washing through his scent. “‘nyone y’ really trust like that. Mentors ‘n parents. Siblings.”

   “Protectors.” Jason’s eyes burned. “People who make you feel safe.”

   “Y’ could scruff Bruce ‘f he trusted you enough.”

   “Tsh. As IF.”

   “I think Clark scruffed ‘im once.”

   “I call cap.”

   “You don’ believe me? Jayyyyyyyyy.”

   “No one could scruff Bruce, you kiddin’ me? Prob’ly trained himself out of it at age ten.”

   “Mmm. ‘r lost th’ ability ‘cuz of trauma, maybe.”

   Jason scowled now. He didn’t like where his empathy was going. “You want pancakes?”

   “Mno.” Dick pressed closer, whining. “Y’ still got me ‘n submission. ‘m vulnerable.”

   “Oh my God. Does Bruce know what a needy baby you are? Is that why he kicked you out?” Jason massaged Dick’s scruff as he said it, though, just in case Dick really was carrying around that insecurity. Vulnerability was a loaded bag of complicated shit when it came to people like them. “We’re safe here. I’m gonna make you pancakes, okay? You can sit at the island an’ watch me.”

   “‘Kay.” Dick yawned again, ending the jaw-splitting motion by nomming comfortably on Jason’s shoulder. Not very hard, not hard enough to break skin. To reflect an earlier sentiment, Jason thought with exasperated fondness… very pup-like. He tugged on Dick’s scruff until Dick unspooled enough to let go. “Come with me.”

   Dick sat up, scrubbing at his eyes, and tumbled out of the nest after Jason. He rumbled happily like he hadn’t just hit his head on at least two corners, ambling toward the kitchen, pulling out a bench with his foot, and sinking down with the fluidity of a puddle. He tracked Jason with his sleepy eyes, slow-blinking. Jason didn’t know what to do with so much adoration--- It was overwhelming enough to feel in their bond, let alone look at--- so he turned away, trying to ignore how good his muscles felt. How… How balanced everything was beneath the surface of his skin. He could feel it seeping into his cells; bright, soft, sunshiny joy that just infused every space Dick felt safe.

   The older alpha’s pheromones had always contaminated the spaces he was allowed or allowed himself to shine. That, Jason thought, was why team after team of young heroes flocked to his side, learned to nuzzle up under his arm and accept his hugs and take his hair-ruffles with grace. That atmosphere his scent created, his very existence, would sink into your bones if you weren’t careful.

   Maybe even make one feel happiness again.

   Jason shook his head as he mixed the ingredients for breakfast, glancing over his shoulder every couple of minutes to be sure Dick hadn’t keeled over. “Stay in your seat.”

   Dick straightened a little bit, relaxing into the stool now that didn’t have to struggle to stay upright, and yawned again. His jaw was turning yellow. Jason wondered for the first time what he’d been doing before answering Jason’s call for help.

   Had Jason asked?

   Uncomfortable with the overwhelming reminders of their fairly new bond, reminders that he was still loved, still wanted, still needed, Jason plated up a couple of pancakes, doused them in an ungodly amount of syrup, and topped it all off with a sprinkling of blueberries right as he felt a spike of fear from Roy’s bond. That was his damn cue. “Eat. I’m gonna check on my omega.”

   Dick hummed his eager agreement, shoving half a pancake into his mouth with an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Rolling his eyes, Jason gave him a light slap on the back as he scuffed his way to Roy’s bedroom door. It was still cracked open, but he knocked.

   “Jay?” Roy’s voice called, quiet and thin and wavery with suppressed panic.

   “Me,” Jason intoned quietly, pushing the door open with his foot so he could raise both hands. Sure enough, Roy held Jason’s pistol in his dominant palm, aiming it to the right of Jason’s head. He dropped it as soon as he saw Jason’s face, breathing out. He was so damn pale.

   “Hey,” Jason murmured as he pressed back on the anxiety, approaching the nest. “May I?”

   Roy nodded mutely, dull green eyes shifting toward the window. When Jason reached out to touch him, his skin was clammy, shining with cold sweat. A bad one.

   “Nightmare?” he asked when Roy neglected to fill the silence.

   Roy’s exhale shuddered. “Jay.”

   “Yeah?”

   “Jay.”

   “Yeah.” Jason settled closer, breathing evenly, and realized for the first time that he couldn’t pick up on Roy’s scent. He carefully opened his arms, moving slow. He didn’t want---

   Roy burrowed in, pressing himself into Jason’s hold and hiding his face and shaking. Jason wrapped his brother in an all-encompassing hug, sinking back in the nest, and closed his eyes. He breathed slowly through the panic. Roy was scared. There was no threat to punch--- No tormentor to shoot between the eyes--- but he could still do something about it.

   “Sorry,” Roy whispered tightly, pressing his closed eyes into the juncture of Jason’s shoulder. His breath trembled against Jason’s skin.

   The alpha squeezed a little tighter. “I’ve got you.”

   “Jay…”

   “Roy, I’ve got you.”

   The omega slowly unspooled in Jason’s arms, exhales slowing. His spine smoothed out under the crushing pressure of his alpha’s hold. His fingers relaxed in Jason’s shirt.

   “Yeah,” Jason hummed soothingly. He slid his hand up under Roy’s sweaty hair, ruffling it from his clammy skin, and scratched gently at the base of his scalp. “I’m here. I’m sorry you woke up without me. I should’ve…”

   “‘S okay,” Roy slurred in a whisper. “Y’ needed it. Time away fr’m---”

   Jason pressed his palm flat against Roy’s nape with a low rumbling growl. Roy went limp in voluntary submission. He’d been ready for it.

   “I needed Dickie boy,” Jason finally admitted, forcing his instincts to drink a 7-Up. “but that is not the same as needing a break from you. I’m here, Roy; I promised. All the way.”

   Roy’s chest hitched. “I can’t breathe.”

   “I know.” Jason squeezed his eyes more tightly shut. “I know you’re scared. You’ve been a little too long without venom. Try to match my breathing.”

   Roy struggled to follow along. It wasn’t so difficult, Jason knew, when their heartbeats had synced. When they touched, every human being’s did.

   “I can’t,” Roy slurred when he’d come back down from the spike of panic. “Li.”

   Jason wriggled around until he could reach his phone, pulling it out. A text had come through just ten minutes ago. “She’s on her way right now. Kori’s bringing her. I know you would rather wait, but you’ll go into withdrawal. I promised you I wouldn’t let that happen.”

   Roy’s spine shuddered. “Just… a little one, maybe?”

   “Sure.” Jason gently massaged Roy’s nape, trying to convey the desperate wave of affection without also passing along the fear. He tangled his fingers in his brother’s hair, hugging him closer, and listened intently to his slowing heartbeat. All you are, all you CAN be, placed so willingly under my authority.

   Roy’s breath shifted in a weak chuckle. “Y’ feelin’ hormony?”

   Jason pressed his nose into Roy’s coppery strands, making a face. It wasn’t like he had forgotten that he was in rut. He just thought… He thought he had wrestled his impulses under control. The urge to shelter and protect and physically crush his omega, however, was resurging stronger than ever, and the aggression scared him a little.

   He couldn’t be like Willis Todd. He just couldn’t.

   Roy tipped back into Jason’s hold, nestling into his arms so perfectly, and relaxed once he was more cradled than squished. He pressed his ear over Jason’s heartbeat. His arms were pinned between them, pistol forgotten in the nest. Vulnerable. Willingly.

   Jason pressed his forehead against Roy’s skull, choking. “I’m gonna take care of you. I’m gonna take care of you, Roy, I swear…”

   Roy’s exhales deepened. He reached up with one arm, resting his hand over Jason’s ear, Jason’s hair. A clumsy gesture of affection to anyone else, but Jason sucked in sharply, because the movement exposed Roy’s inner forearm to Jason’s direct line of sight.

   I trust you, Roy didn’t need to say, with all my heart.

   Jason carefully wrapped his fingers around Roy’s arm, stroking a feather-light touch over faded track marks. A shiver traveled down Roy’s spine, but other than that, he stayed relaxed, eyes closed, shoulders slouched. Cradled. Kept.

   Jason squeezed a little tighter, enough to convey dominant affection, and rubbed the pads of his fingers very gently down the length of Roy’s arm to scent him. To scent that part of him. He noticed for the first time that not only had his own scent leveled out, rut hormones soothed by the promise of protecting, but Roy’s scent had lifted out of suppressed panic as well. Nervous-vulnerable-guilty-shameful-yours. Stronger than all of that, though, was submission.

   Jason hadn’t even done anything yet.

   Swallowing past the stupid lump in his throat, Jason lowered Roy’s arm, tucking it back against his chest with one last brush over his scars. I see you. I accept you. I am here.

   Roy’s closed eyes were welling with tears.

   Jason stroked one thumb over Roy’s pale cheek, cradling his face, and just… sat there. Let it settle. The mutual promise of I can try.

   They could try.

   The purple haze of sleep was finally beginning to blanket the shivery heat creeping into Roy’s veins. He decided that he should ask for that quick bite before he actually passed out. That, obviously, was the moment someone decided to knock on the door.

   Something clattered loudly in the kitchen, startling him from the edge of sleep. Dick’s voice raised through the wall. “I got it, I got it!!!”

   Jason sighed deeply, sarcastic, but his zen scent was already inching back into the not-so-confident weakness that wreaked havoc on ruts, both his an’ Dick’s alike. Roy tipped his chin up, purring softly. Jason could still bite him. They had decided on a little one, right? Jay needed it, too. Even a noisy pizza guy couldn’t ruin the blissful trust Roy was holding onto with a white-knuckled…

   His alpha’s gentle scenting effectively snuffed out the rest of his thought process. He smelled amused for some damn reason. “I can bite you after. Don’t you want to see your pup?”

   Roy squinted blearily, struggling to compute, and wondered if it would be worth it to think up a verbal answer. Then his eyes flew open, anticipation zinging through his sparkling brain. His PUP.

   Jason laughed as Roy stumbled clumsily from the nest. “Want some help?”

   “No,” Roy growled irritably, anxious impatience crowding out the excitement. How was she? Had she eaten? Did she even wanna see him? Was she hurt? Was she upset? Was she disappointed or lonely or scared?

   Was she safe?

   Those questions silenced as he stepped out into the hallway, wavery, and was immediately knocked onto his ass by a projectile of four-foot-nothing. “DAD!!!”

   Roy plopped down, winded, and automatically wrapped his arms around the wriggling bundle of joy trying to burrow into his chest. He could feel his pupils blowing as the full realization hit his nose, finally entering his system. Pup-happy-excited-love-love-love-MINE.

   “I missed you,” she whined eagerly, squeezing all the air from his neck. This was it. Roy was going to die happy.

   A tower seven-foot-nothing stepped through the doorway, complete with an inconspicuous snapback that did not, in fact, snap. She set down an armful of bags, smiling with all the radiance of a post-battle sun. “I do hope we aren’t interrupting.”

   “Kori,” Dick said happily, reaching her at the same moment Jason did. They struggled a little for real estate to hug, Jason with grumpy shoves, Dick with excited ones until Kori wrapped her hands around their napes, scruffing them both. The group hug became a collective rumble that vibrated all the way up Roy’s spine, short-circuiting the few coherent thoughts he had left.

   “I am happy to see all of you,” Kori was saying serenely in the distance, extracting herself from the clingy brothers to make her way toward Roy. She crouched at his feet, staying far enough that she couldn’t grab his pup even if she had wanted to, and cocked her head at him. Her green eyes shone with soft affection, sentiment that Roy didn’t need a bond to sense. Her warm aura, colorless and scentless and solid, enveloped him like a gentle hug.

   Roy purred with a lump in his throat. “Kori.”

   “Hai’ishti.” She reached out, cupping his chin with a palm that radiated lovingkindness. Her native word for “Loved One; Cherished” made Roy’s eyes well. “You appear much more settled with yourself.”

   Roy slow-blinked, resting his stubbled jaw in her hand. “I feel settled.”

   “Good.” Kori glanced over her shoulder, giving Jason some kind of look. Roy didn’t have time to get anxious about it before she was combing through his tangled hair, shuffling close enough to press her lips to his forehead. She didn’t have scent or pheromones like they did, but her aura was palpable; it spread outward from the kiss like a spiraling star with a million points of goodness, sinking into his bones, golden and warm and invasively joyful. Roy hung his head against Li’s hair, jerking with a swallowed sob.

   “Good,” she repeated softly, massaging the sore headache spot behind his ears before gently pulling away. “I trust we are staying together this time.”

   “Definitely,” Jason’s voice hurried in the distance, and Roy suddenly had an inkling about the kind of look Kori had given the alpha a second ago. He rubbed circles into Li’s back, trying to ignore the way she was already sinking into voluntary pup submission just from hugging him, and slowed his breaths. It was a lot. A lot of goodness. A lot of love.

   The insidious you don’t deserve it was cut short by a new figure crouching in his personal space, an alpha that wasn’t his. He lifted his head with a snarl before realizing who it was. That snarl withered into heated embarrassment immediately.

   Dick balanced on the balls of his feet, smiling with that damn empathy of his, and raised empty hands. “I won’t take her.”

   “I know.” Roy busied himself with checking on his pup, stroking her hair from her face and massaging her little scruff to help her down and scenting her skin with fond approval. She sighed happily, scrubbing her cheek against his collarbone. He was close to crying again.

   “She loves you,” Dick said quietly, a sad smile in his voice. “She trusts you.”

   “I dunno why---”

   “Yes you do. Yes… you do.” Dick reached out, telegraphing, and rested his knuckles against Roy’s warm forehead. He hummed sympathetically. “Heat?”

   Roy tried desperately to focus. “Dunno. Ev’rything’s… fucked up.”

   “Yeah… yeah. I guess pack sickness makes it hard to notice anything else. You could be running a fever AND in heat. We won’t know until you’re a little more stable.”

   “Ughm… we?”

   Dick tapped his knuckles against Roy’s collarbone now, close enough to his pup’s face that Roy would have snapped if he didn’t trust this idiot with his whole heart. They had never needed a bond to be that close. Not for lack of trying, but… the time had never been right.

   Dick’s body language was more than a test. It was a gentle foray into Roy’s space; a quiet request; a silent offer. I’m here if you want me.

   “Yeah,” Dick answered aloud, still gently tapping. “We. I’m here if you want me.”

   Roy glanced over Dick’s shoulder toward the kitchen, watching his two closest, kindest, most overwhelming friends talk to each other over pancakes like they weren’t eavesdropping. The realization that he had a vulnerable pup in his arms hit him smack between the eyes. He would always be able to draw a bow for her, find strength for her, but he was exposed. He needed his back to a wall.

   “I hear you,” Dick soothed before Roy could say anything. He shuffled out of sight, gently looping his arms around Roy’s body until Roy’s armpits were cradled in his bent elbows. “Lock your legs.”

   Roy obeyed easily, even though it wasn’t a command. Dick lifted him with no apparent effort, setting him on his feet. The quiet alpha stayed there for a minute, letting Roy lean back against his chest for balance. His breath ghosted gently through Roy’s hair. When it became obvious that Roy wasn’t taking his own weight as quickly as he wanted to, Dick wrapped his arms around both Harpers, squeezing, and rocked them gently side to side.

   It was enough. It had always been enough.

   “Ready to get back to your nest?” Dick intoned eventually.

   Roy swallowed past the stupid lump in his throat. “Please.”

   Slowly… Like he had all the time in the world, like he wanted to move at a snail’s pace… Dick supported Roy back to his nest. He stayed just outside the perimeter, fluffing up a few pillows without spreading any scent. Roy bundled his pup into the softest blanket he could find, cradling her snugly against his chest, and scruffed her properly this time. She went completely limp with a blissful sigh.

   Not squeezing her as hard as he could was a challenge that tested the very limits of Roy’s willpower.

   “I’ll be here all day,” Dick said quietly, heading for the door, “so let me know if you need anything.”

   “Dick,” Roy tried hoarsely. He smiled when Dick stopped, even though his lips trembled. “Thanks.”

   Dick gave a dramatic salute, grinning, and disappeared. A moment later, Kori appeared in his place. Roy dissolved into urgent purring. Pack.

   “I do hope you don’t mind,” she said politely, stepping into the nest like he would ever say no. Her long legs folded beneath her as she sat, combing her hair over one shoulder. She kept her hands to herself, but the way she stared at Lian made Roy’s throat start aching again. This pup was damn lucky to have so many loving people in her life. People who would die for her. People who would live for her.

   “You will nap,” Kori said firmly. It wasn’t a question. She tossed her mane back over her shoulder with a flourish; it floated vaguely like it always did when she was happy. “Your energy is very convoluted. Nesting will help to clear it.”

   Convoluted, Roy mouthed in bewilderment, sliding down into the soft depths until he was curled around his warm sleepy pup. She loved Dad Cuddles; she was already out. “Jay said he’d… He’d bite me…”

   “Mmm, I heard.” Kori rested her heated hand over his nape. She didn’t scruff or rub. She just cupped his skin, fondly protective, and waited in silence as his muscles unwound. “…You are so close to peace.”

   Roy couldn’t help a snort. He didn’t know why he felt bitter all of a sudden. “What… Like that’s supposed to make me feel better?”

   “I only left when I had to, Roy. Jason was young; he still is. He has much to learn. I have confidence that he will do better this time. As our leader. As our friend.” Kori bent over, pressing a gentle kiss to Roy’s ear. His anger dissipated, threading apart as he tried to keep tears from welling in his eyes. “You deserve a pack who will not leave. Let us prove ourselves one more time.”

   Roy swallowed hard, nuzzling Li’s hair. She smelled like baby and love-my-dad and safe. “You didn’ do ‘nything, Kori. I know you had stuff to do, people t’ save. Couldn’ drag you down with me.”

   “Nor could I save you when you would not allow yourself to be pulled up.” Kori sighed dramatically, put-upon. “This planet is so full of complicated boys.”

   Roy laughed wetly. “Dick started it.”

   “Hey, what’s all this?” Jason entered the room with a frown, setting water bottles on the bedside table. “I leave you alone for five minutes an’ Roy’s already crying? What’d you say?”

   “I’m not crying,” Roy rejoined grouchily, tightening his hold around his pup. It wasn’t like Jason would take her from him, but. Just in case.

   “It is alright to cry,” Kori said earnestly, suddenly worried. “If you must cry, Roy---”

   “Oh my God, I’m not crying.” Roy lifted his head to give Jason a tearful glare. “Get in here an’ bite me.”

   “Okay, okay,” Jason chuckled merrily, crawling into the nest to flop carefully at Roy’s side. He bracketed Lian, squeezing the two of them close. “Let’s make that…”

   Roy glanced up, edgy as Jason trailed off. “What?”

   The alpha pulled back enough to make eye contact, concern etched across his skin. “Are you sure you want that?”

   Roy checked in with himself. Yes, he wanted to snap, but his body was suddenly coiled like a spring, knees up, shoulders cinched tight. Something felt wrong about this, about giving in, and it wasn’t just self-deprecation talking.

   His focus narrowed on the soft pup in his arms. …Oh.

   “Roy?” Jason brushed Roy’s bangs from his forehead, leaning back. “I can go if---”

   “No.” Roy snatched Jason’s arm, holding on with an iron grip as wild electricity shot through him. “Please. Please.”

   “Roy, hey, hey.” Jason leaned in again to cup the sides of Roy’s neck, pressing protectively over old bite marks. He breathed slowly. “Heyyyyy. I’m right here. Tell me what you need.”

   The words stuck in Roy’s throat like sticky sweet rice. He had wanted this for hours, wanted it to distraction. He was addicted. Or… he was supposed to be. The idea of slipping under a heavy blanket of submission… It suddenly felt worse than going without. Leaving defensive consciousness behind. Leaving his pup.

   When Jason’s expression softened into sympathetic pride, Roy realized that their bond was still wide open. “You’re such a good dad.”

   “Yes,” Kori agreed before Roy could stammer in protest. She stroked his hair behind his ear, tucking it neatly into place. “You are our cherished omega. These are your young pup, your pack. It is our privilege to care for your needs, whatever they may be.”

   Roy hugged his baby girl tight, drawing a shaky breath. “I can’t. I just… I need… to hide.”

   His friends closed in at once, wrapping their bodies around either side of his like a shield. Jason tucked them in light blankets while Kori nuzzled into the back of Roy’s neck, throwing her leg over his to trap him more thoroughly. A little air hole was left open for Li, and the cocoon, glowing a soft orange, immediately began to fill with alien heat.

   Roy, squished snugly on all sides, was not long for this world. Everything was so… so comfortable… so held…

   He passed out before he could start to cry.

Chapter Text

   He woke up with his heart in his throat. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t breathe.

   “Whoa,” a voice rang loudly, and the restriction lifted. “Eas---”

   Roy shot up, gasping for air that wouldn’t come. He fumbled for his pup. Li--- Lian was safe. He squeezed her, caved around her body, and checked her for wounds. She was breathing, but he---

   HE was the monster. He was losing. He could not protect her from himself.

   A large hand rested on the top of his spine, applying gentle pressure. “Hey.”

   Roy shot a glare over his shoulder, defensive. His fingers itched for a weapon. His veins ached for euphoria. His instincts screamed for protection. “WHAT?”

   “Breathe.”

   “Ass---”

   “I know it’s hard. Just… listen to me. Breathe.”

   Roy tried to hear something beyond the ringing in his ears. It meant pressing back against the fire in his body. He didn’t have the strength. His heartbeat thundered faster, throttling his lungs, and he thought selfishly… If he just gave in, would the fight end?

   He hated himself.

   “ROY.” The alpha wrapped crushing arms around Roy’s body, squeezing him tight. Righteous fury overtook his fear, flattening it. The show of force actually startled Roy’s instincts into taking a real breath. Then a second… and a third.

   “Roy,” Jason repeated more quietly as he drew up a blanket to cover Roy’s trembling pup. “Look. You’re still good.”

   “You don’t kn---”

   “You… are still… good.” Jason’s hand cupped Roy’s wrist, a steady thumb stroking over his skin. “Don’t… run from this. It’s my fault; I let you go too long without venom. I’ll fix it.”

   Roy nearly gagged. “I don’t… I can’t give in, I can’t…”

   “You need this.”

   “It’s not LIKE that!!!”

   Jason’s hand disappeared. He leaned back against the wall, breathing deeply, and kept Roy crushed to his chest. “I hear you.”

   Roy clenched his teeth until it hurt. What was Jason’s play? This was supposed to be the moment that he doubled down. That… or leave.

   Jason brushed a steady touch over Roy’s angry confusion, radiating cold fury. Not at Roy, though. At… something else. Something Roy couldn’t see. “Breathe.”

   “I am,” Roy snapped bitterly, but he wasn’t, and he knew it. He curled over his pup’s body, shaking. Damn--- He was probably scaring her so bad. He didn’t know what to ask for. He didn’t know what he needed.

   A warm hand rested on his back. Roy listened to the thundering of his own heartbeat. He listened to Jason’s exhales over his ear. Slowly… painfully… he began again to breathe.

   “You’re going into withdrawal,” Jason finally murmured, and his words stayed a thousand times softer than the steel across his bond… “because your body is still healing. This is NOT that. Do you understand?”

   Roy squeezed his eyes shut. Jason wasn’t telling him anything new. He was just saying it out loud. Sometimes they needed that grace… to hear it out loud.

   It didn’t FEEL right, though, and wasn’t that the problem? It was ruin. It was a sin, the fire in his veins. His pain felt like the worst kind of failure.

   Roy only realized he had zoned out when he started to come back. His breathing was even now. His hand was stroking Li’s hair of its own accord. His body had slowly relaxed, settled. It was sore. Sore from what? Probably just fighting. He was so damn tired of fighting.

   Jason’s knuckles brushed his forehead. Someone else was here now, someone aside from the glowing princess guarding their nest. He sat on the edge of the bed, conversing lowly with the rumble in the alpha’s chest. Roy stretched out, dazed, and brushed the stranger’s shoulder. He couldn’t see, couldn’t smell, but he needed that. Something about the man’s balance… the man’s peace. He wanted it.

   A gentle hand caught his, palm up, and squeezed. “There he is.”

   Roy’s eyes rolled. He couldn’t focus. The fire raged on beneath his skin, but he was too weak to worry about it now. Jason wouldn’t let him ruin what he’d rebuilt. Jason had promised. “Y’ okay?”

   “Yeah.” The hand squeezed a little tighter. A thumb stroked across sensitive marks in Roy’s skin. He realized faintly that he didn’t mind. “Yeah, Roy; we’re okay, we’re all okay. This is a good nest you’ve got here. Defensible.”

   Roy purred about that somewhere beneath the ache. Yeah… it was a pretty good nest. His pup was falling asleep again against his collarbone, drooling on his skin, and he could sense it, the young pheromones sinking into his system that signaled safe and loved and held.

   His precious kiddo was happy with him. Just like this, just as he was, stuck and dissociative and wrapped in a burning need that he wouldn’t satisfy. A sob caught in his throat. He swallowed it.

   “She loves you very much,” the stranger murmured. Except… he wasn’t a stranger, but Roy couldn’t put a name to the face. That was embarrassing. He trusted that face with his life.

   “I love her, too,” he finally croaked, cupping her nape with one hand. She was so damn small. He wondered if he had ever been that small. Something loosened in his chest.

   “Yeah,” the stranger repeated, stroking a thumb over Roy’s scarred wrist. “I know you do.”

   Roy’s nostrils flared. He could smell it now, the alpha scent that wasn’t Jason’s. Steadiness and concern and empathy. Joy. The kind of joy that had grown through pain. Sharp… and expansive… and far too bright. It was a baseline he knew so well. Why couldn’t he remember the name? “I don’t…”

   “Yeah?”

   “I don’t want… Please don’t leave. Please.”

   The smaller alpha crawled into the nest, settling lightly at Jason’s side without a hint of challenge, and rested his head against Roy’s. He smelled exactly… exactly right. A deep sigh escaped from Roy’s body, cleansing. His spirit unwound. Everything was suddenly a little more okay. The horrible sensation that meant FIGHT, FIGHT HARDER, DO NOT GIVE IN wasn’t feeding panic anymore.

   A pleased rumble crept up through the back of Roy’s torso, vibrating around every bone, and he melted on the spot. Alpha was happy? Why? What had Roy done other than wait himself out?

   Alpha nuzzled into his shoulder, holding him tight. “Ready?”

   Roy’s heavy eyelids slid shut. He was so damn tired. “Catch’m?”

   “Yeah… we’ll catch you.”

   The exhausted omega tipped his head aside, giving in before he’d even felt it. The ease made him sick to his stomach, knowing just… how good he was… at letting go… to a high…

   The venom pulled him back into quiet bliss. Down… and down… and down.

   He woke again with a soft gasp. Marked lack of pain was weird. Surely he hadn’t done it.

   Someone else’s thumbs rubbed at his eyelids, gently clearing away the gunk. “Hey. Welcome to the land of the living.”

   Roy scowled lightly, trying to twist away, but it was no use. The image of a wriggling kitten trapped under a mother cat’s paw came to mind. “W’ happen’?”

   “I bit you.” The scrubbing finally eased off, a gentle rumble taking its place. Roy could feel it in his skull. He was having a very hard time staying awake. “I’m gonna bite you again; you’re still in heat.”

   Roy forced his eyes to peel open, grunting. He probably should have been worried about that. “How long’ve been?”

   “The whole time, I think. It’s been coming an’ going.” Jason’s fingers threaded through Roy’s hair, combing it away from his face. Light trails of pressure traveled across Roy’s scalp. He hummed happily.

   A rolling chuckle activated submissive instincts. Something… clicked into place. His alpha was taking care of him. His alpha had been taking care of him. The whole time, twenty-four seven, Jason had been taking care of him.

   The alpha gasped sharply as something flared across their bond, hot and bright and strong. “What the fuck?”

   Roy went loose, tipping his chin back, and PURRED. That was the SHIT.

   Jason cupped Roy’s head with a quiet laugh, awe washing across their bond. He felt so much more open now. So much of him was right there. “Damn… a re-bonding. So this’s what trust’ll get you.”

   Roy tipped his chin aside, still purring. His request was answered immediately. Jason’s teeth sank into his shoulder, breaking skin, and held. The euphoria of restful submission was soft this time. The venom was different, too. Rosy. Laced with affection, with devotion, with got-your-back.

   It was everything he had forgotten about. He didn’t have the strength to keep his eyes from welling with tears. If he had given in any sooner… if he had lost that fight… he would have missed this. This… and so much more.

   Alpha’s thumbs stroked away his tears. “You’re still thinking too hard. Submit.”

   It turned out that feeling safe was hard to stay awake for. Who would’a knew.

   He woke up slowly this time. This… however many times it was now. He had a vague recollection of waking before this, but he couldn’t remember what he’d done or why. Everything just felt really good.

   Roy lifted his head a little, squinting at the storm outside. It was dark. Inside was dark, too, so it was probably night. His head was blissfully clear of thoughts. Two shining bonds took up the entirety of his focus, one muted with gentle-dependent-sleep, the other thrumming with fond-protect-serene. That one was stronger than before. Brighter. Like the manifestation of glancing left in the trenches to lock eyes with someone else, someone who’d saved your life before; someone who would save you again. Someone you’d saved, too.

   Roy only realized he was purring when an amused rumble joined in. Gentle fingers stroked down his scalp, combing through his soft-by-now hair. It was trimmed. He remembered that because he could feel it, the lightness. The lack of split ends.

   “Hey,” Jason rumbled seriously. “Are you awake? Are you thirsty?”

   Roy reached out, only fumbling twice before his hand connected with the metal water bottle Jason had offered. He glared at the raised eyebrow. “Don’ judge me. Heat.”

   “I know. You took everyone down with you pretty hard. Your body locked in when you started to feel safer, I guess. Consistently. You should be coming out of it soon.”

   “Is he awake?” Kori poked her head back into the room, smiling brightly. “You should tell him soon.”

   Roy blinked accusingly at his alpha, who suddenly looked very uncomfortable. “Tell me what?”

   Jason raised his empty hands. “It’s nothing bad, I swear. Just… a reminder. I was perfectly content to let you do your thing, honestly, but Kori…”

   Roy gathered his sleeping nestmates closer, upper lip curling. “Get to the fuckin’ point.”

   Jason’s shoulders slumped. “You’re claiming him. You do mean to be doing that, right? Because if not, if this is an impulse thing…”

   Roy blinked rapidly, glancing down. The words didn’t make sense at first. Lian’s soft breaths against his collarbone… Dick’s back expanding beneath his hand… What was the prob---

   A soft glimmer in his head, spiderweb-thin, pulled everything into sharp focus. Ohhhhhhhhh.

   “If---”

   “Shhhhhhhhh,” Roy interrupted quickly, trying to soften his overwhelming heat scent just in case… just in case. He brushed some hair out of Dick’s face, checking to be sure the alpha was still asleep. Drool an’ all. “Don’t wake him.”

   Jason’s scent eased. “You want him, then. Not just as your friend, but your brother.”

   Roy’s throat hurt. “I’ve always wanted him, I just…”

   “We were never stable enough to bond with anyone but each other for a while there.” Jason settled with his back against the wall, smiling crookedly. “Amazing what kinds of options better mental health’ll get you.”

   Roy swallowed hard, resting his palm flat on Dick’s spine. He could feel the alpha’s heartbeat if he concentrated hard enough. Steady. Quiet. Tired. “I don’t know if…”

   Jason stayed where he was, settled. “If…?”

   Roy shook his head against the mounting frustration. “He’s been through enough.”

   “I’ve been through enough. Not that it’s a competition, but you’re bonded with me. I don’t see a problem.”

   “Jay, c’mon, he’s not like us.”

   Jason’s bond flashed with edgy anger. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

   “He’s---” Roy almost snarled, gesturing sharply. “He’s LIGHT. Not like we fight to be, not like we ever could be. He’s wrestled with the worst kind of evil and come out smiling and I only know one other damn hero who’s been able to do that.”

   Jason crossed his arms tightly, anger muted. He glanced at Dick with some… regret? Or guilt maybe. “Perfect golden boy, right?”

   Roy’s hackles bristled. “It’s not a privilege to laugh in the face of darkness, Jason. It’s a Goddamn survival skill; one of the hardest.”

   “That’s the p--- Okay, Oh Wise One, if he’s strong enough to cope with light---”

   Dick stirred fitfully, roused by all the sharp whispering. Roy pressed his hand over the alpha’s nape, rubbing with his thumb, and eased him back down. He watched for a while as Dick’s breathing deepened, lost in thought.

   “Just because he’s made himself into something different,” Jason finally murmured, “does not mean he can’t handle us. You just said it yourself. After everything he’s survived with a smile on his face, you really think being bonded to you is gonna make a difference?”

   Roy scowled heavily. “I don’t know whether to be insulted at the implication that I’m too insignificant to make a negative impact on his quality of life or the implication that my shit just wasn’t that difficult to survive.”

   Jason scoffed quietly. “Your argument is running in circles. You want a bond with him. On PURPOSE. That’s all I needed to know.”

   “What?”

   “Dumbass--- you’re nesting with him. You’re an omega in heat. That’s gonna create a bond.”

   Roy glanced at his almost-packmate, guilty. He could feel it still… the thin thread of consciousness between them; the beginnings of a bond. Nesting with an omega was the second fastest way to family. Feeling that safe, that relaxed, it did something to you.

   Dick knew that. Dick had to have known that. Before he’d entered the room, entered the nest.

   Roy could have stopped it now. He laid a mental touch to the shimmering thread, barely breathing. He could have spared Dick the pain of being bonded to another so broken, so damaged, with nothing left to give. He could have snapped the bond.

   Dick’s spine slowly expanded beneath his palm, skin sliding over bone. Then… the exhale. In… and out. Slow… and gentle… and steady.

   Roy squirmed down into the nest, tucking the walls more firmly around Dick’s body, and wrapped the alpha in a desperate hug. He buried his nose in fluffy hair that smelled like fond-sleepy-dazed-vulnerable-safe, squeezing his eyes shut. He owed an apology for what he was about to do. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

   Lian squeaked a sleepy yawn as Jason, by the sounds of it, gathered her up into a proper cuddle. “Finally. I thought I’d never get some cuddle bug time, y’ lil’ squishy. Y’r dad’s gonna be occupied for a little while.”

   Roy tucked his oldest friend close, breathing deeply. There was no turning back now. Already he could feel the bond building in on itself; layering with fondness and safety and belonging like only nesting-forged bonds could. It would snap into place all at once in a bit, but for now… for now… there was a process. Sleepy warmth began to wrap around them, covering the nest in a cocoon. Dick’s heartbeat slowed.

   They would be vulnerable while they did this. Roy would have to rely on Jason… and Kori… to protect them. He would have to trust.

   If he hadn’t been so busy zoning in on his senseless packmate, Roy might have noticed that the flare behind his ribs felt a little bit like hope.

Chapter Text

   “I think I’m broken.”

   “There’s a huge gap between ‘okay’ an’ ‘miserable’, Roy. G’morning to you, too.”

   Roy cracked his eyes open, staring blearily at the ceiling for a while. It was almost more uncomfortable to wake up feeling dizzy and nauseous and vaguely uncomfortable than to wake up with fire in his veins. At least one had been fixable a while back. What was he supposed to do about the in-between of healing? Claw his fuckin’ skin off?

   A heavy palm rested over his eyes, placing that confident-calm-content-protect-mine alpha scent close to Roy’s face. His stomach loosened almost immediately as whatever venom was left in his system did its job, coaxing him down. He sank back into the haze with an addict’s precision, letting go of everything in the way of the high, and just… breathed.

   “Easy,” Alpha’s voice murmured, distant. “Take it slow. You’ve got time.”

   Roy’s jaw popped as he yawned. He took it slow this time. Steady. Counted his breathing; listened to his heartbeat. Combed his fingers through his pup’s hair, trailing his weak heat scent over her scalp, and held his new alpha packmate close. The bonds were so STRONG, so alive and grounded and everything… everything Roy Harper just wasn’t.

   One of those bonds twinged with annoyance. Roy tipped his chin up, submissive, and purred in relief when Jason marked him beneath his stubbly chin. Some apologies didn’t need to be said out loud.

   “You’re comin’ outta step-from-death sickness,” the alpha murmured. He sounded so tired all of a sudden. “Counseling is a good next step.”

   Roy’s stomach twisted. So much for sinking back into the haze of Future Roy’s Problem. “Mmm. Think about it.”

   “I thought about it for you. Dinah, Esther, or someone new; you choose.”

   Roy cracked his eyes open to glare. He was too submitted to shield the vulnerability, the stinging shame slinking across their bond. This asshole fuckin’ knew that. “What if I don’t wanna talk about this right now?”

   “Then we won’t talk about it right now.” Jason rested his hand over Roy’s collarbone, protective and dominant and testing all at once. His teal eyes seemed to flash. “We will talk about it, though. Relapse isn’t the root problem, you know it’s not. Maybe it’s me. Maybe this’ll be fixed with a little family counseling, but I don’t think so. I think it’s gonna take more than some pep talks an’ a couple bandaids to put us back together.”

   Roy glanced away, eyes stinging. The careful dance of “It’s not your problem to fix, it’s OURS,” was gonna make him cry, and he viscerally wanted to keep his head this morning. He twisted his back to Jason, tucking himself close to Dickie instead. Dick was easier to exist with right now. He rumbled gently, waking just enough to scoot his hand up Roy’s hoodie an’ scent his back. Loopy-happy-friendly-playful-brother-cheeky-mine.

   Roy’s face ached like it wasn’t used to smiling anymore. “If you try to wrestle me right now, I will put your head through the drywall.”

   Dick chuckled sleepily, relaxed weight settling back into a heavy calm against Roy’s side. He was such a touchy bastard. Someday very soon, when he was done bein’ all hazy from bonding with an in-heat omega, he was gonna recover enough energy for his favorite type of nesting activity--- wrestling death matches. That, Roy thought, would be his reckoning.

   Dick was stronger than him. In a very real sense, Dick had always been stronger than him.

   Roy buried his nose in his new packmate’s hair, breathing deeply, and just… waited. He waited for Jason to snap or pull on their bond. He waited for the inevitable anger, the fury that tended to disguise that alpha’s bleeding fear.

   Instead… Jason got up. Shuffled out of the nest, pulled on a shirt, and left the room. A moment later, Roy heard the stove starting.

   Jason was letting him be avoidant. Jason was letting him run away from this. From his own damn self.

   This SUCKED.

   Dick squeezed tighter, hissing quietly against Roy’s collarbone. “Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

   Roy pressed the bridge of his nose against Dick’s skull, trying not to shake. Where was that submission from a few minutes ago? He needed to be bitten again, dammit. Except that was part of the problem, wasn’t it? The root cause. Avoidance. A way to numb the pain, to shut it out. Just another tick in the growing column of fatal flaws.

   He had addressed it once… he thought. The anxiety or depression or whatever the hell else you were supposed to call it. The stains on his soul that made it difficult to move through the day without some kind of substance distancing self-awareness. Maybe he hadn’t, though. Or maybe he’d just slid back a few steps.

   In all fairness… he’d been pushed. Or bulldozed. It felt like he’d been bulldozed a little.

   Dick shifted upward, switching their positions, and tucked Roy against his collarbone. His chin dug commandingly into the omega’s hair. He didn’t even need to use words this time; the loud rumble was clear. Stop thinking so damn hard.

   Roy gave it up with a sigh, curling close. Smaller; easier to hold. “Sorry. I guess I’m still… I’m not used t’…”

   “Hey,” Dick said quietly, filling the taut stillness with something safe. “Hey. It’s just me.”

   Roy’s body started unspooling without his conscious input. He tried to ignore the damning itch beneath his skin. He tried to focus on the alpha’s steady rumbling. He tried to breathe.

   “You’re not evil for trying to numb it all out, y’know,” Dick murmured levelly. His grip tightened around Roy’s shoulders, present. Crushing. “I know that’s a hard sell.”

   Roy snorted wryly. Try IMPOSSIBLE, but he was used to hearing these things. They didn’t mean anything anymore except I’m here, I’m trying, and I want you to win. Those sentiments were more important, really.

   It took more than platitudes to fight off the voices in his head, the ones that made unfortunate levels of sense, and he knew that by now. He still couldn’t help whispering some of his bullshit aloud. “What kind of father…?”

   “Turns to a superficial but harmless stand-in for pack care instead of narcotics while feral out of his mind? Gee, I wonder.”

   “You’re not helping.”

   “I’m not trying to help.”

   “I stepped back, Dick. No matter what form that took. I’ve just… I’m over this shit, I’ve done it before.”

   “Then you’ll know what it’s like this time around.” Dick’s words edged on a growl. “You’ll recover faster.”

   Roy sighed deeply. He was so unbearably tired. Dick was right, as usual, and it was pissing him off. “So I choose.”

   “Jay’s not gonna try forcing it. He knows you can’t make someone care enough to get better. That’s on you. He’s just worried.” Dick’s tone softened as he tucked some of Roy’s hair behind his ear, gently scratching. “Maybe he deserves that a little, but either way…”

   Roy counted his exhales as Dick’s blunt fingernails worked at his scalp. The sensory input distracted him from… everything else. Everything… not.

   If he ever did lose that battle… If he ever did go looking… he had two alphas who would get in his way, stop him, stall his own demons until he got a grip on the reins again. He hadn’t really thought about that. “Hey.”

   “Mm?”

   “Sorry.”

   “Mmm.”

   “For the bond, I mean. I didn’t… I wasn’t thinking. By the time I remembered about the… the nesting shit, I…”

   A wave of pure affection, almost childlike in its boldness, washed across their new still-strengthening bond. “I knew what I was in for, Harper. I was hoping you’d ask me in. I didn’t wanna put that decision on you, but I couldn’t say no.”

   “You planned this?”

   “I watched for the best possible outcome. You… bonded with me… bonded with Jay. One big mismatched troublemaking family.”

   “Mmm, I dunno. You an’ Jay match.”

   “So do you an’ Kori.”

   “Do you see six foot six on me?”

   “That would be pretty freaky. Maybe you’d actually win in a wrestling match against Jay for once.”

   “Hardy har har. I have won fifty-five percent of all matches, thank you very much, and I see that segue. Don’t you even think about it.”

   “Whaaaaat? I would neverrrrrr.”

   “Mhm.”

   “I have an unfair advantage.”

   “Mmm, what’s that?”

   “I’m not sick.”

   Roy was not going to bite Dick’s trachea an’ shake. He was thinking about it, though. “I will still kick your ass. I’ve fought through worse.”

   “I know you have.” Dick smoothed a firm hand down Roy’s spine, then up again, giving him a little bit of that skin contact with a scent that Roy could only associate with gotcha. Like the bouncing catch of a safety net, slow motion. “I know. Maybe stop fighting, though. Just for a little while. It’s okay to be fucked up here.”

   Roy’s mouth twitched. It was hard to think of words now, at least in English. The steady rumbling an’ reassuring alpha contact were doing things to his weak excuse for a braincell. “Yeah?”

   “Yeah. I mean, your leader is a zombie. It’s kinda hard to get more fucked up than that.” Dick’s hand stilled on Roy’s back. “Can I ask you something? And… no pressure. Just because I want---”

   “What?”

   “May I bite you?” Dick pressed his nose against Roy’s crown, sighing ruefully. “I wanna claim you back. I know I’m not… Jay… You need his venom right now; I’m okay to wait, I just…”

   “Dick.” Roy sat up just enough to wrap his arms under Dick’s shoulders, squeezing. His chest felt too tight. “Yeah… of course.”

   Dick returned the hug just as tightly, maybe tighter, and their bond flooded with bittersweet sunshine. Roy blinked rapidly, unseeing, as all of his focus shifted inward. There was no other way to describe it. The affection was… blinding.

   The sharp sting of teeth burying into his shoulder barely registered. By the time his nervous system decided that he should be afraid--- Was he losing a challenge; was he overdosing?!--- it was too late. Rosy warm venom spidered through his veins, creeping toward his heart; he could feel it moving because it was bold, fierce in a way no one else’s had ever been. Joyful.

   Roy’s body slumped when the hormone-dense substance reached his heart, flooding him with vulnerable ecstasy. He purred quickly, trying to self-soothe. It was a lot.

   “Shhhhhhhhh,” a distant voice hummed, steady an’ mellow. A commanding grip covered the bite site, squeezing. The resulting wave of submission made the room spin. “I’ve got you.”

   Roy tried to growl in annoyance, but the whine that escaped bordered sibling petulance. “Holy SHIT.”

   “I’ll take care of you, Roy.” Dick’s voice was filled with laughter, the little shit, and still his venom weighed down the ache in Roy’s veins. “Submit.”

   Roy tipped his chin back, gritting his teeth as the sensory storm began to settle. He couldn’t feel the impulse now to slide a needle under his skin. He could feel the tears trickling back into his hairline. He didn’t wanna think about that.

   His new alpha picked up his body, rumbling, and sorta wriggled underneath. Now he was cuddled into a corner of the nest, hugging Roy back-to-chest with Roy’s skull pressed against his sternum. This was a tactically sound position. When he started rumbling again, Roy lost all hope of staying awake.

   “Waylon.”

   Across the room, Jason glanced up, squinting over his book. “What?”

   Roy lounged back against Dick’s stomach, slow-blinking. Jason had been keeping his distance for a couple of days while they bonded, but he’d still been showering the nest with food, and when he wasn’t entertaining Lian, he was reading in a little old rocking chair that should not have been able to bear his weight. He was rocking there now, one tired pup sacked out over his shoulder, one mug of tea in his hand.

   It looked good on him. Good for him. He would never willingly admit that, though. (Well… not until at least thirty.)

   “Waylon,” Roy said again, shifting to get more comfortable. He ignored Dick’s grunting behind him. Good pillows weren’t supposed to complain. “You said I get to choose.”

   Jason’s eyes sparked with understanding. He slowly lowered his book. “I did.”

   “Then I choose Waylon.”

   Jason considered him for a very long time. Roy could practically see the wheels turning, coming to the same conclusions that Roy had. Dinah knew a little too much. A complete stranger would know too little. An old sponsor…

   “I dunno if he does that anymore,” Jason finally tried.

   Roy smirked to cover up the stinging vulnerability of anticipatory rejection. He had worked up a lotta courage to make this request, dammit. He was admitting it ALOUD. I need help. “You just don’t wanna make the trek through the sewers.”

   “Bingo.” Jason made a tired finger-gun, sighing. “I’ll find him.”

   Roy’s chest lightened. It felt like a freefall, the emotional whiplash, and he was almost relieved to see his pup stir with a squeaky yawn. He held his arms out.

   Jason… hesitated.

   Roy’s stomach dropped. Oh God. Jason wasn’t going to give her back. Was he right for that? Roy had fucked up one too many times; Jason just wanted to protect her, there was NO OTHER REASON---

   “Do you need to piss first?” Jason asked distantly, standing. “I know you’re not gonna move once she gets settled.”

   “No,” Roy breathed out, trying desperately to hold the dizzy fear at bay. His arms ached. “No… I…”

   Jason’s bond sharpened, observant as ever. He didn’t say a single word. He just crossed the room, lowered the bundle of pup with slow strength too much for its task, and placed her very deliberately in Roy’s outstretched arms.

   Only once she was buried in blankets, chirping happily and cuddling sleepily and nuzzling up against Roy’s chest, did he feel like he could breathe again. He pressed his lips to her hair, throat thick. She released a high-pitched pup purr, drifting back toward sleep. Dick draped himself over Roy’s back, covering his vulnerability, and started rumbling.

   “Waylon,” Jason repeated incredulously. (He didn’t say anything about the way he combed Roy’s hair back from his forehead to check his teary eyes.) “I’ll see what I can do.”