Work Text:
Heat was rough. Tim was pretty sure if he asked, Bruce would let Tim nest over at Wayne Manor where the air smelled like actual people instead of just Tim and stale air. Alfred would let Tim eat in bed like he did when Tim broke his ankle, and maybe Bruce would even sit in the room with him. Not nest, because Tim wasn’t Bruce’s kid.
But all that was selfish.
Bruce had an omega kid. Or at least, he had had an omega kid, and Tim knew it was really hard for Bruce to be around Tim sometimes because of it.
Tim always wore scent blockers as a matter of privacy and safety, but one time he had run out of new blockers after his post-patrol shower. He hadn’t really thought anything of it, but when he’d walked back into the cave to ask if Bruce needed anything more before he left, Bruce had caught his scent.
Tim had come terrifyingly close to seeing Batman cry that night, and he wasn’t sure if he could emotionally handle that. He certainly couldn’t handle being the cause of Batman crying, especially during his heat.
So Tim kept his scent blockers well-stocked, never mentioned any omega stuff around Bruce, and made excuses during his heats. Bruce never had to know, so Bruce never had to be reminded that his omega son had died horribly and Tim was the sorry consolation Bruce was left with.
Tim would be fine for the next few days. Sure, heats were miserable with no one around to smell and curl up against, but Tim had suffered through before, and he was through the worst of the brain fog anyway. There wouldn’t be anything different about this one.
The Replacement would pay for what he’d done.
Jason had been dead for a few months, and this little bitch came crawling to Jason’s dad even though Drake had his own dad, and he’d taken Jason’s role, and Jason’s family, and probably even Jason’s nest.
Jason hissed in fury at the thought of Bruce giving Jason’s nesting blankets to some other omega who wasn’t even Bruce’s kid. Drake had a whole ass dad and a whole ass stepmom. Jason had the manners to stick with his own dad and stepmom till they were dead before he went looking for anything else, and he hadn’t even been looking for a pack. He’d been kidnapped!
Oh the betrayal, one day you’re so irresistibly cute that Bruce just has to commit multiple felonies to bring you into his pack, the next day you’re dead and casually replaced by someone who isn’t even cute enough to steal!
Bruce would hear all about this when he came to save Drake from the trap Jason had cooked up. His plan was to beat Drake up, chain him up in a warehouse, and then leave him with a bomb. Of course, the bomb was confetti, but it was about proving a point.
Would Bruce care enough to notice Jason had taken Drake? Probably, since he seemed to like Drake a lot more than he’d liked Jason. From what Jason had heard, everyone liked Tim more than they’d liked Jason. It was damned unfair.
Jason made quick work of the locks and alarm systems, gaining easy entry into Drake’s woefully unsecure house. How did any omega live with such lackluster security? Did his parents not realize that omega kidnappings were not rare in Gotham?
Oh well, that worked out well for Jason.
Jason had watched the house for a couple days to figure out where Drake’s bedroom was. It was pretty easy; the lights in one window went out after all the other lights, so that was probably Drake’s bedroom.
Upstairs, he found himself in a hall that split in two directions. He took the left hand hall and stealthed his way to the last door on the right. Luckily for Jason, the Drake parents seemed to be out of town, so he didn’t have to worry about anyone interrupting.
Jason pushed the door open, the grin on his face dropping when a wave of miserable heat scent crashed into him. What?
Jason blinked and looked around till he found Drake curled up in the stupidest looking nest ever. That was…
Had no one taught him anything? Drake had every opportunity in the world, infinite blanket money, and his nest was just his comforter wadded up? The kid was shivering under the fucking flat sheet.
Drake shifted and raised his head blearily. “Bruce?”
“Try again,” Jason chuckled.
Drake gasped and shot up in bed, staring at Jason with wide, terrified eyes for a long second before his gaze darted to the cellphone charging on his nightstand.
Drake dove for the phone, but Jason was faster and slipped the phone in his pocket before Drake could get free of his stupid nest.
“You,” Jason said, pointing to Drake’s bed, “build bullshit nests. What the hell is this?”
The fear in Drake’s eyes turned to confusion. “…What?”
“You made your whole nest with two blankets,” Jason said, grabbing the flat sheet and shaking it for emphasis. A flat sheet barely even counted as a blanket; Jason was being generous.
“There’s a throw blanket in here!” Drake protested.
“There’s a throw blanket—” Jason repeated in a mocking voice. “Bullshit. Did no one teach you how to make a nest?”
“I don’t think that’s the issue here,” Drake said, but his eyes were glazed in confusion and heat. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“You’re deflecting,” Jason scoffed, or maybe he was too deep in heat to realize how dumb those questions were when his nest looked like that. “Seriously, no one taught you anything? This is bad even for self-taught.”
Drake didn’t seem as offended as he should’ve been, but he was scared and confused, which was good. He should be scared, because Jason was going to…
Jason couldn’t bear it. There had to be other beds in this house.
Jason turned around and stormed out of Drake’s room on the hunt for more nesting material. He’d handle this first, then he’d kidnap Drake and go with his plan.
A big room at the end of the hall had a couple blankets and a king-size duvet on top, so that would make a good base. Jason pulled the blankets onto the floor, threw the pillows onto the blankets, and dragged it all back to Drake’s room.
Drake was leaning on the doorframe, weak from his heat, but he wasn’t getting away that easily. Jason easily tossed Drake over his shoulder and pulled the blankets and pillows to the bed with his other hand.
Back at the bed, Jason pulled Drake’s blankets off the bed and set Drake down at the foot of the bed where he’d be out of the way.
“You need to have a base,” Jason told him firmly.
Jason took the king-size duvet, laid it so that half was on the bed and half draped over the edge, then he used the extra pillows he’d pilfered from the other room to make a ring big enough for Drake and maybe one other person. With the walls in place, Jason folded the rest of the duvet over the pillows and tucked it all in on the other side. Once the base was over, he took the next biggest blanket, the bedspread Drake had been using, and laid that over the duvet to make everything nice and cozy.
Oh, there was a throw blanket. Huh. Jason picked Drake up before he could get very far, scruffed him to make his limbs turn to jelly, and laid him in the nest. Drake keened with fright, but Jason just patted him on the head and laid the throw blanket over him.
“There,” Jason said, adding the other blankets from the other room on top of Drake as well. “That is a nest. Do it right next time.”
Jason was supposed to be kidnapping Drake, but Drake was supposed to be learning how nests worked…Jason sighed, he’d just have to come back in a week. Annoying, but them’s the breaks.
With Drake in the nest and scruffed well enough that he wouldn’t leave for a while—heats made the effect of scruffing more intense and longer-lasting—Jason decided to make his exit for now.
As he was walking downstairs, it occurred to him that Drake didn’t have any food or water, and his pack was gone. The heat must’ve surprised him while his parents were gone, ugh. Drake probably was used to everyone doing things for him and didn’t even know how to do anything for himself.
Jason found the kitchen and rummaged around till he found a half-empty bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and three water bottles. That would do for the entitled brat.
Jason took the food and water back upstairs, but Drake back in his nest because he’d somehow managed to roll onto the floor, and laid the chips and bottles on the bed beside the nest.
“Settle down, you’re stressing yourself out,” Jason said. Hm.
There was a tv across the room, so Jason rummaged around till he found the remote. When he typed in omega white noise on YouTube, there was no indication that Drake had listened to any of these.
Jason cut Drake a judging glance. Was Drake one of those guys who just did nothing for their heat? Just sat there and was sad. That was so pathetic.
Jason turned on his favorite white noise for heat, a crackling firepit and thunderstorm soundscape that was perfect for feeling nice and cozy.
“There, you’re welcome,” Jason said, leaving the remote in reach in case Drake needed to skip ads.
With that, Jason left, actually left this time.
Well, at least, he got to his motorcycle out front, then he realized that Drake’s nest had no scent. The scent in his parents’ room had been faint, and the blankets smelled like they’d been washed since the last time anyone had slept in them.
Jason heaved a sigh. Must he do everything?
Bruce hadn’t removed Jason’s security codes, good. Jason got into Wayne Manor easily, but since it was two P.M. on a Tuesday, Alfred would be grocery shopping, and Bruce would be at work.
Starting in the kitchen, Jason took off his helmet so he could actually smell, setting it on the counter. He found Alfred’s favorite apron hanging on the hook where it always hung, except it didn’t smell as strongly of his grandbeta as it used to. Actually, there was a stronger scent on the apron Jason had given Alfred as a Christmas present so he could wear it when Jason stole the favorite apron during his heats.
Jason smiled, pleased with himself. Alfred had liked his present.
Jason had never actually had a heat at the manor after he’d given Alfred the present, so it was nice to know it had still gotten use.
Normally, Jason would’ve stolen Alfred’s driving gloves, but Alfred was using them since he was driving, so Jason found the red potholders instead. Excellent.
Next was Bruce’s room because they needed an alpha scent for the nest so other alphas would know not to bother them while they were napping.
While Drake was napping.
It wasn’t Jason’s nest.
Anyway, even thought Bruce was the worst—oh, actually, his shirts smelled really nice. Jason got two, one for Drake and one for himself. Bruce would live. He had lots of shirts.
Next, Jason poked his head into Dick’s room, annoyed when he realized the scent was stronger than it ever had been when Jason lived there.
Jason chirped angrily even though there was no one there to hear it. Everyone liked Drake more than him.
At least it meant there was stuff with enough scent to be worth stealing. There usually hadn’t been when Jason had sneaked into his room to steal things for his nest, but Drake would be lucky and have two alphas’ scents in his nest.
Jason wrapped up all his other findings and Zitka the stuffed elephant in Dick’s favorite blanket. Zitka didn’t have a very strong smell, but Jason was being petty.
There. Jason put the scent items in the saddlebag of his motorcycle, tossing a couple knives and a gun onto the driveway to make room, then he drove back to Drake’s house.
Jason took his scent items inside, picked Drake up on the stairs, and carried him back to the nest despite Drake’s protests.
Drake stilled when he caught the scents Jason had brought back with him. Good, he should appreciate the trouble Jason went through.
“Why did you bring me these?” Drake whispered, but he sounded more horrified than grateful.
Jason frowned. “Pack.”
He shook open the blanket and laid the apron in the center of the nest so it would all smell calmingly of beta, then he took the oven mitts and put them on opposite sides of where Drake’s head would be.
“They—they aren’t my pack, I don’t know whose scents you’ve collected, but I don’t know who these people are,” Drake started lying anxiously, like he thought Jason didn’t know.
“Shush, Robin.” Jason picked up Drake, put him back in the nest, then put Zitka in his arms.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Drake yelped anxiously, clutching Zitka to his chest, but Jason was too busy laying Bruce’s shirts down, one at the head of the bed and one at the foot.
Yes, yes, perfect. Finally, Jason laid Dick’s blanket over Drake, so now the scent of alpha would cover the whole nest, and intruders would be able to smell it and know better than to mess with Jason and Drake.
Drake. Just Drake.
“Who are you?” Drake asked.
Jason frowned, realizing he’d just used up all the scent items even though some of them were supposed to be for him. “Jason.”
“Jason…” Drake gasped. “Jason Todd?”
Drake was clearly focusing on the wrong thing, because Jason couldn’t ruin the perfect nest he’d made but also the manor was so far away, too far. Jason nodded absently, remembering Drake had asked him a question, then he decided that he’d built the nest, so Drake would just have to share.
Jason shrugged off his jacket, too bulky, and his weapons belt, then he climbed over Drake to curl up in the nest. Man, I’m so good at building nests, he thought as Drake slowly laid down next to him.
“Hey, um, Jason?” Drake asked gently. “Can I…do you mind if I call Bruce?”
Jason hissed in displeasure at the thought. Drake hesitated, then slowly ran his hand through Jason’s hair just like Bruce used to when he was scenting Jason. Drake’s scent was soft and sweet, still milky like a pups but he also kind of smelled like a cinnamon roll, which just made Jason hungry.
“If we don’t call Bruce, who will protect our nest?” Drake asked.
Jason pushed himself up on his elbows, giving Drake an offended look. Jason was protecting the nest, obviously.
Drake nodded. “Yes, you’re very good at protecting me, but you’re also going into a sympathy heat. You know that, right?”
Jason frowned. Oh, he was, wasn’t he.
“Fine,” Jason huffed, fishing Drake’s phone out of his pocket and passing it over.
Drake could call Bruce, but Jason curled up in the blankets and the comfort of the nest he’d built, the first nest with a packmate since he’d left the League. Thunder rolled and the fireplace crackled on his white noise track.
“Hey, Bruce. Oh, you’ve had a break in? Um, yes, I do know something about that…”
Jason didn’t hear any more of Tim’s conversation with Bruce, fast asleep in seconds.
“The DNA from the helmet confirms it,” Bruce said. Had he been crying? It sounded like he’d been crying. “It’s him.”
Jason yawned and lifted his head just enough to look at Bruce. He was mad at Bruce because…because Bruce hadn’t helped him build his nest. That was it, wasn’t it? Bruce always helped him, but he’d been late, so Jason had to build the nest all by himself.
Jason patted the nest beside him emphatically. Bruce inhaled sharply, then slowly walked around the bed so he could sit on the bed next to Jason.
Jason laid his head on Bruce’s leg and curled up against his alpha. It did hurt his feelings that he had to build the nest alone, but Bruce was busy.
Jason yawned. “I forgive you.”
Bruce started crying—weird—but maybe he’d had a long day. Jason reached up, scented Bruce’s head, then went back to sleep.