Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Not much about pregnancy surprised Tim.

All the initial panic and confusion and disgust had run its course during Stephanie’s pregnancy. That was the point at which he was desperately combing through parenting books and learning a horrifying new fact about growing fetuses every day. 

After handling all that at the ripe age of 15, morning sickness and mood swings weren’t particularly daunting. Tim wasn’t caught off guard by Jason’s aching feet or restless sleep or the two weeks he’d spent glowering at Tim over the rim of the toilet seat hissing You did this to me. Sure, the discovery had been…unexpected. But Tim would be lying if he said he hadn’t been fantasizing about knocking Jason up from the moment they met.

The width of Jason’s body hid his condition well. The slow swell of his womb wasn’t yet noticeable to anyone who didn’t already know him. 

Tim knew him, though. Tim was intimately familiar with every microscopic change of his mate’s body: the softening of his edges with the added pregnancy weight, the subtle glow of a thoroughly claimed omega, every half-inch that the circumference of his abdomen grew each week when Tim measured. 

Jason wasn’t the only one going through changes. Sometimes he even thought he might be more affected by the pregnancy than Jason was. Mentally, at least. It made him crazy. 

There was no peace without his darling in his sights. There was no satisfaction like that of an exhaustive scenting. Tim had never been one for PDA, but not being in contact with his partner out in public brought a manic, almost painful, desperation. Everyone needed to know that the gorgeous, honeyed omega was cared for and protected.

It didn’t hurt that Tim loved getting his hands on Jason, anywhere he could reach. His supple tits, his wide hips, and every other part of him that leaned in close when Tim was near.

Tim didn’t think he’d ever get used to it, not if he bred Jason a dozen times - which he would, if Jason would let him.

But really, Tim had always been crazy for Jason, from Day Negative-a-Thousand. The intensity of his urges was overwhelming, but not unforeseen.

The only thing he hadn’t anticipated was how sweet Jason would be. Soft. Warm. Perpetually on the cusp of a light doze in a patch of sunlight. His second trimester had him always in want of a nice rest for the laborious process of person producing. He woke every morning with a long stretch and a happy sigh before going about his day between short naps on the nearest comfortable surface.

The number of overstuffed pillows and fluffy blankets in their household had increased drastically over the past several weeks. Worth it, Tim thought, if it meant getting to see more of Jason in that sweet, sleepy state, his whole body relaxed, dark hair mussed and downy as the surface it was spread upon. Pink cheeks. Plump lips parted just the barest amount to let out rhythmic huffs. Tim could spend forever counting them. He could sit and do nothing but watch until that freckled nose twitched. Until those lips closed and his throat worked. Until a dark fan of eyelashes fluttered up to reveal a seaglass eye peering at him-

“Hey, creeper.”

Tim wanted to roll around in the sleep-rough gravel of Jason’s voice. “Hey.”

“You know, you can join me when I’m napping if you want.”

“I like watching you sleep.” It didn’t matter that Tim was sitting on the living room floor with the edge of the coffee table digging into his back. It didn’t matter if he was hovering by the bathtub or squatting next to the breakfast nook or standing in the corner of the bedroom like a sleep paralysis demon. He liked looking at Jason. It made him a little crazy how much he liked looking at Jason.

Jason had always been obscenely attractive to Tim, but somehow it was harder to ignore now that Jason was his. Safe and cozy, wrapped in a cardigan that Tim had hung up yesterday. Tim was doing all the laundry so he could scent the pieces before Jason wore them. It didn’t have the same effect as if Tim had a proper alpha scent, but it made him feel better.

His own shortcomings razed at his tender instincts. He couldn’t make Jason smell claimed, he didn’t look like a virile alpha with his pupped omega, he wasn’t even able to give his mate the bond mark his fangs ached for. Not while he was pregnant. The risks were low, but doctors didn’t recommend introducing a new bond mark during gestation, so Tim had to make due with a parade of carefully crafted collars that covered Jason’s glands and marked him unavailable.

Someday, Tim would do it. Then he would buy Jason a host of those salacious, hair-thin collars that debutantes wore to show off their unmarked necks. Tim would have them crafted to frame the scars he was going to leave.

Jason yawned, and the way his face scrunched up made devotion beat sharp and aching inside his chest.

“How are you feeling?” Tim asked. “Is your back bothering you? Your feet?”

“If you want to scent me,” Jason replied, “You can just do it. You don’t have to find an excuse and give me massages.”

“Bold of you to assume I don’t just enjoy giving you massages.” There was so much of Jason and Tim could never feel out all of him enough. Nonetheless, Tim crawled right up to the edge of the couch and snuck his hand under Jason’s shirt to drag the inside of his wrist along the expanse of heated skin over his side.

“ Ew, your hands are cold! You’re like a reptile.” Despite his complaints, Jason gathered up Tim’s hands in his own and tucked them under his chin to warm them.

“How’s our baby doing?” Tim asked, captivated by the faint pillow lines on Jason’s cheek.

“Keeps getting the hiccups.”

“Our little hiccup-pup. Hic-pup.”

“Your dad jokes need work.”

“Mm, maybe I need a couple more babies before the puns kick in.”

Jason grinned even as he said, “Fuck off, I haven’t even popped out this one yet.”

“I bet I could put another one in you right now,” Tim ribbed, clambering onto the couch over his mate, careful of his midriff. 

“Oh, whatever-” Jason broke off into shrieking laughter as Tim blew a raspberry into his neck. “Don’t start anything you can’t finish,” he said, shoving playfully at Tim’s chest. “We have to leave for dinner soon.”

“Oh, that reminds me!” Tim scrambled off the couch to his feet. “I have a present for you!”

Jason perked up. “Ooh, I love getting presents.”

Tim zipped to his office and snagged the package he’d stashed in a filing cabinet. When he made it back to the living room, Jason was sitting up, staring expectantly from his small nest.

Tim dropped a kiss on his sweet, soft lips before sitting down, just because he could.

“So I had this designed forever ago, but the guy I commissioned is this artisanal craftsman whose family has been making stuff for a billion years, so it took a while to complete.”

Jason’s gaze zeroed in on the tiny container in his palm, pupils dilating like a cat about to pounce. “Gimme,” he said, making grabby hands for it.

So Tim passed him the small, round, vintage-style ring box. Jason flicked the tiny clasp holding it shut with his thumbnail. The lid rose and Jason’s jaw dropped.

“Holy shit.” 

Tim practically vibrated in place waiting for the verdict. “I know it’s kind of big-”

“ Big?” Jason echoed, breathless. “Tim, this isn’t even a rock, it’s a fucking boulder.” He lifted the ring from its satin bed and held it up to the sun. Fractals of rainbow light danced over his cheekbones. “Jesus Christ. It’s like a paperweight.”

That was intentional. Other than the satisfaction he got from showering his omega in pretty things, Tim wanted him to have something that suited him. Jason had big, strong, thick-fingered hands that he fantasized about during long car rides. Jason also had insecurities about being such a large omega. The ring was elegant and exquisite, but it wasn’t dainty. It was the perfect size for his perfect omega. Massive.

“I’d have given you my mom’s, but she was buried with it.” Tim had briefly considered the idea of exhuming his mother’s corpse to retrieve her engagement ring. He didn’t think she’d mind, but it felt a bit excessive.

“Do I even wanna know how much this thing costs?”

“When you calculate cost per wear, it’s really not that much.”

It was that much. It was a fucking lot. He knew Jason recoiled at good money being spent on anything excessive or unnecessary, but he also knew that Jason loved being spoiled and shown off. His ring was sure to end up on magazine covers and Top 10 lists.

“Do you like it?” Tim finally asked, trying not to chew a hole through his lip.

“Do I- it’s fucking gorgeous.” Jason twisted to face Tim and shoved the ring into his hands. “Put it on me.” He flicked out his left hand, fingers splayed. Tim obediently slid it onto the right finger. It fit flawlessly.

“Hey, Jason?” Tim said, drunk on the citrusy smell of giddy omega.

Jason didn’t look away from his finger. “Yeah?”

“Will you marry me?”

That pretty blue gaze lifted to give Tim a fond look. “You already asked me that.”

“I’m just double checking.”

Jason grinned and threw his arms over Tim’s shoulders. “If you think you’re gonna get rid of me now, you’re delusional. I’m gonna marry the shit outta you.”

Chapter Text

“If you stare at those any longer, I think they might spontaneously combust.”

Tim gave a noncommittal hum, continuing to examine the display of collars in the drawer as Jason came up from behind to embrace him. His hands fell automatically over Jason’s where they rested on his stomach. The soft knit of his earlier cardigan had been swapped for a massive thick, black hoodie bearing the tour dates and logo for some gothabilly band, which was a genre of music Tim didn’t even know existed until Jason’s freak shit started popping up on his Stanzify playlists.

Tim hoped their baby turned out to be a total weirdo just like Jason.

“Are you planning on picking one out today or should we drive separate tonight?” Jason teased, resting his chin on top of Tim’s head. The firm swell of his pregnant womb was a gratifying pressure against his back.

“I already picked one out for tonight,” Tim answered, “I’m just trying to decide what kind to buy you next.”

Tim felt Jason’s laugh more than he heard it. “If you keep going like this, I’m gonna end up with more collars than all my other clothes combined.”

“To be fair, you have all of, like, three outfits that you rotate between. You would duct tape over the holes in your underwear if I let you.”

“I think you just like buying me new underwear because you’re a pervert.”

“I mean, yeah, but my point still stands.”

Jason gave him a squeeze and backed away a step, taking all his lovely body heat with him. “Hurry up and give me one so we can get going. Stephanie’ll get hangry if we’re late picking her up.”

Tim wasn’t in the habit of denying his mate anything, let alone a collar, so he plucked up the night's pick from its velvet bed. He had considered selecting a big sparkly one, heavy with diamonds to match Jason’s new ring, but their plans were a bit too lowkey to justify extravagant accessories. Alpha posturing like that around pack would just come across as insecure.

Tim was lucky Jason indulged him as much as he did. Jason’s self-sufficiency and zero-tolerance policy for bullshit were two of his best traits, but for the rest of his life there would always be a part of Tim that wanted his omega in a comfy nest 24/7 to be protected and adored and claimed. If the pregnancy hormones weren’t such a mellowing force, he probably would’ve gotten his dick punched for it already. He had to enjoy it while he could.

“Alright, turn around and let me put it on you.”

Jason amiably turned away and waited. The chosen collar was soft and light in Tim’s hand, made of a flexible material that Jason wouldn’t even feel after a while. Its vivid cerulean color made Jason’s lips seem pinker, curls darker, and eyes brighter. Tim had yet to find a color that didn’t look good on Jason.

Instead of the typical pendant or loop on the front, it had an intricately braided closure at the nape that took steady fingers to fasten properly.

“All done,” Tim said, trying to keep his voice from revealing how desperately he wanted to fall to his knees and beg Jason to have 10 more of his babies. That urge came on quick and often as each day brought them closer to meeting their pup.

The inability to mark his partner with the imprint of his teeth instead of measly necklaces incited a chronic frenzy in him, an urge to cancel all of their plans, cut off all contact with the outside world, barr every exit, and lay flat on top of Jason so predators couldn’t see him.

Tim took a deep breath, trying to ride out the sudden wave of agitation before Jason noticed. It was always irrational and always unhelpful. His doctor suspected the usual expectant-alpha anxiety was exacerbated further by his own stupid body’s lack of distinctive alpha pheromones. There was a bottle of pills in the bathroom he could take as needed, but the thought of being less anxious made Tim more anxious, so he mostly ignored them.

“You’re twitchy today,” Jason said, turning to face him again.

“I’m not twitchy, you’re twitchy,” he shot back.

“I’m literally the least twitchy I’ve been since the day I was born.”

And. Well. Tim couldn’t argue with that. 

Jason didn’t wait for Tim to find a comeback. He reached past him and plucked a pair of bracelets from the back corner of the collar drawer. They were a set of ‘natural healing’ cuffs designed to apply pressure around the scent glands in his wrists and organically balance out off-cycle hormones. Tim thought they were ridiculous. What was worse was that they did actually help for reasons he hadn’t found scientific studies to support.

Jason had done some impressive soldering work attaching a J to one bracelet and a T to the other though, so Tim didn’t mind as much.

(Whether the T stood for Todd or Tim was a subject of ongoing debate.)

That small symbol of Jason’s mirrored possessive urges put him at ease more than anything else.

Jason rubbed his own wrist gland against each of Tim’s in turn before sliding the cuffs on. Tim watched the way his new ring glittered as he fastened the clasps, even in the low light.

“Ready?” Jason asked. His golden band rested over the polished steel of Tim’s bracelet, right next to the T. He liked to think it stood for Todd, to complete the initials of his partner that guarded his pulse points.

“Ready.”

***

Tim took the driver’s seat on the way to the manor, mostly because having something to focus on kept him calm, but also so that when Stephanie bounded out of her apartment and jumped into their backseat Jason could swivel around, stick his hand out, and say, “Look at what Tim got me.”

Stephanie’s appropriately amazed gasp had Tim preening. “Oh my god, it’s huge!”

“Right?!” Jason replied. The note of pride in his voice was something Tim could feed off for weeks. “This whole ‘Trophy Omega’ thing is pretty sweet.”

“What is that, like a million carats?” Jason was still turned in his seat, their extra passenger presumably holding his hand hostage to examine the rock.

Not quite a million, but definitely double digits, Tim thought.

“Don’t you love it?” Jason asked her.

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you jealous?”

“ Yes, you asshole.”

Jason laughed and turned back to the front. Tim had to reel himself in before the smell of smug alpha omega stunk up the car.

“Hey, can we pick up Duke on the way?” Stephanie asked. “He says a really aggressive pigeon is nesting on his bike.”

“Duke’s coming?” Tim asked, already adjusting course. Duke could often be found at the manor, but not generally for group gatherings. Their wildly differing sleep schedules made get-togethers a hassle.

“Um, everyone’s coming.”

Jason and Tim shared a look. “Is there some kind of special occasion I forgot about?” Tim asked.

“It’s you guys,” she said, like it was obvious. “Everybody is taking the opportunity while they can.”

“What do you mean? Why would us coming to dinner be a big deal?” It wasn’t like they were hard to get ahold of. Visitors were hardly a rarity in the Todd-Drake household.

“Let me rephrase,” Stephanie said. “Everyone is coming because Jason is gonna be there.” Then a glitter-nail-polished hand appeared in the corner of his eye to fiddle with the radio.

Jason twisted in his seat again, throwing a suspicious, “Are you wearing your seatbelt?” at her.

“Yeah.”

“It doesn’t count if you don’t have the chest strap on!”

“Oh my god, fine, mom.” And the glitter nail polish disappeared from his field of vision.

“When did I get so popular, anyway?” Jason asked.

“Well, it’s not really you. It’s more that you being knocked up has made Bruce all soft so it’s prime time to emotionally manipulate him.”

“Soft?”

“Oh yeah. If you’re there for him to make big, wet ‘My Baby’s Having a Baby’ eyes at, you can get whatever the hell you want out of him.”

“Hmm.” Jason tapped his fingers against the door. “I kind of love that, actually. If you can get something out of this, might as well. Especially if it means swindling B.”

“Just try not to be freaked out by the hoard,” Stephanie advised.

“I don’t think it’ll be that bad, will it?” Tim said, waving aside her warning. “I mean, how many people can there even be?”

***

A lot of fucking people.

The first clue was that Alfred couldn’t even answer the door. Claire was the one to welcome them inside and usher them towards the dining room, a mischievous glint in her eye.

What was weird was that everyone was on time. Every seat at the table was filled, save for four, and all in time for the first course, plates of which were being shuttled in by Damian and Cullen. Even Haley was there, scrambling around underneath chairs to beg for scraps and scratches.

“How is Alfred even managing to feed all these people?” Tim murmured, taking in the bustle. 

Cass, breezing by, caught his question and answered, “He isn’t. A private chef came earlier.”

“Three, actually,” Dick chimed in.

That was when Bruce, at the head of the table, noticed their entrance. The moment he laid eyes on Jason in all his pregnant glory, he shot to his feet. The two chairs to his right were conspicuously available.

“Hey, Bruce?” Stephanie said, not wasting a second. “Where’s your wallet?”

“By the garage door,” Bruce answered without taking his eyes off Jason. He didn’t even bother asking what she wanted with it.

Tim could see every person in the room shifting, each primed and waiting for the best moments to strike. He couldn’t imagine what all of them could possibly want that would require this emotional distraction, but so long as they didn’t bother Jason too much, he didn’t really care. 

“You’re here,” Bruce said in all his awkward, unpracticed vulnerability. 

“Yup,” Jason replied, unconcerned with the unusual display. 

Without actually doing anything, Bruce’s body language screamed his desire for Jason to take the seat closest to him. Most days, pissing Bruce off, yelling at Bruce, and making sure Bruce didn’t get the things he wanted were Jason’s favorite hobbies. According to Jason, it was too much damn work while I’m peeing every five seconds. I’ll go back to blowing up his shit after the baby comes.

As it was, Jason took the seat next to Bruce’s without complaint. So long as his mate was happy and healthy, Tim didn’t care. He took his place next to Jason after pulling out the chair for him.

Dinner proceeded as normally as it usually did, which was to say in the most bizarre fashion possible. There was lots of ooh ing and ahh ing over the new wedding ring and Tim tried to explain the design without giving away just how expensive it was. Every few minutes someone would take advantage of Bruce’s preoccupation to extract unthinking permission or promises or information from him. Bruce kept asking Jason questions with the most constipated look on his face, all of which Jason gave nonchalant answers to. 

At one point, the hairs on the back of Tim’s neck stood on end and he locked onto Jason asking if he was alright, which made Bruce’s blood pressure spike and he demanded to know what was wrong. Jason rolled his eyes and said I’m fine, you dorks, it’s just the baby kicking. Then he asked if Bruce wanted to feel and, without waiting for an answer, grabbed his dad’s hand and placed it low on his belly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Damian procure a stack of legal documents.

Being surrounded by so many pack members eased and irritated Tim in equal measure, but anytime he got too twitchy, a hand would appear to rub circles on his knee under the table.

By the time dessert was brought out, Jason was slumped in his chair and yawning. His long, dark lashes fluttered in an effort to stay awake. Ignoring a number of pleading looks from those who had yet to shoot their shots, Tim made the executive decision to bow out, guiding Jason up from the table and out of the dining room.

He was warm and lax against Tim’s side, not bothering to ask where they were going. He didn’t have to. Not with Tim there.

“What’s this?” he did ask when Tim led him into one of the guest rooms near the front hall.

“I knew dinner would wear you out, so I asked Alfred to prep a room for us. I have an overnight bag in the trunk if you want to stay, or we can go home after you’ve rested a bit. Whatever you want.”

Jason made a happy noise and crawled onto a giant bed loaded with pillows. He did the minimal amount of shuffling required to make it a nest and flopped down with another yawn. God, Tim could already imagine their tiny little pup making the exact same sleepy face.

He climbed in next, positioning himself as the little spoon facing the door. Acting as sentry with their unborn child sheltered between Tim and Jason’s bodies made it easier to enjoy his mate’s loving embrace. He wouldn’t be able to fall asleep outside his own territory, but it was nice to sink into the blankets and soak up the delicious powdery smell of slumber.

“How long do y’think we got until B tracks us down and does his weird staring from the hallway?” Jason mumbled into the back of his neck.

“Ten minutes?” Tim guessed. “Don’t worry. If he annoys you I’ll chase him off. You’re my omega.”

“Yes I am.” Jason nuzzled into his hair. Tim squeezed his hands where they rested on his stomach. “Yes I am.”