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Tim knew, like, objectively, that he was being creepy.
But like, his newly awakened omega instincts were also screaming at him to get somewhere safe and under the protection of an alpha he could trust right now. Tim would probably settle for just about any safe pack, but he really had his heart set on alpha.
There were two alphas he knew he could trust, and sure, they didn’t know he existed, but Tim was sure he could get one of them to pay attention to him.
Bruce Wayne, of course, was very dad-coded, but he was also very busy, and intimidating, and he had his own omega pup already. If Jason didn’t like Tim, then Mr. Wayne might kick Tim to the curb.
Given that rejection would probably actually break his heart, Tim decided to go with the safer option. He layered on as many scent blocking patches as he could without them peeling off under their own weight, bought a ticket, and hopped on the next bus to Blüdhaven.
Tim shouldn’t know where Dick Grayson lived, but it was 111 Lovac Avenue, Apartment #6b. Ordinarily, Tim would’ve been shy about this knowledge even in his own head, but today was different.
Tim had known he was going to present omega for about two years now. The disappointed slump of his father’s shoulder and the downward twitch of his mother’s lips were permanently etched in his mind as the alpha doctor gave them the bad news.
Packs weren’t supposed to be able to get that kind of testing done unless there was some kind of horrible disease in your family that only betas got or something, but his parents had either pretended they had a medical reason, or they’d paid the doctor off.
Tim knew now that packs weren’t supposed to know because sometimes the parents decided that meant they didn’t love the puppy anymore. His parents didn’t come home much anymore, and Tim had to register himself for public school instead of going to boarding school again.
Tim had been really worried that meant his parents were going to decide to marry him off as soon as it was legal—sixteen, in New Jersey—but now he was just worried that Dick Grayson would only have orange blankets, because just the thought of orange blankets made Tim want to cry.
The building was easy to find, but the door was locked, so Tim needed someone to go into the building so Tim could very nonchalantly enter behind them. Luckily, it was around dinnertime, so Tim only had to wait about ten minutes for a young beta woman to pull up at the curb and hop out of her car with an insulated bag labeled DoorDash.
Tim walked up behind her calculatingly slowly as she pressed the button to get buzzed in. If he got too close, then she might ask him to unlock the door, which would reveal that he didn’t actually belong there.
Once the door made a small click as the lock disengaged, Tim rushed forward and pulled the now unlocked door open.
“Let me help,” Tim said with a polite smile.
The woman startled but smiled at him once she recovered. “Thank you, that’s very helpful.”
Tim didn’t know how to have conversations with adults or how to accept compliments, so he just smiled a bit more and followed her into the building.
His whole plan was really going super smoothly. Dick Grayson got off work at five, so he’d be home any time now.
Unless he went somewhere for dinner.
Or could smell Tim’s unwanted presence.
Or died.
…Maybe the preheat stress he’d heard about was real. Normally Tim was willing to accept that people were probably alive when he wasn’t looking at them, but it seemed a lot more up in the air today.
Tim walked up the stairs because for some reason taking the elevator felt like the most terrifying thing in the entire world. Maybe he just needed to run out the nervous energy, or maybe he was trying to put off getting to the apartment because he couldn’t be rejected till he was there.
The stairs were only so long, though, and Tim arrived before he was really ready to do so. He checked five times that yes, this was door 6B, the golden 6 and B on the door couldn’t be referring to any other doors on the floor, and yep, this was definitely where Dick Grayson lived…
Tim raised his hand to knock—
And maybe actually he would be fine going home, he’d better hurry to catch the bus unless he wanted to be stuck here overnight.
…But he was so close.
His heat was going to really kick in at any moment, and by that time, Tim needed to be safe somewhere. Even if Dick didn’t want to be Tim’s pack friend, he wouldn’t just toss an abandoned omega puppy in heat out into the streets. He was a hero.
Tim took a deep breath and once again raised his hand—
If he chickened out now, he was going to regret it for the rest of his life…
He inched his knuckled closer to the door…
Tim really wanted this…
…Tim retracted his hand. He couldn’t do it.
Tears burned his eyes and he clutched his hand to his chest. The rejection hurt like a wound, even if it came from himself. He knew the Bats would never accept him. He was a stalker, and that was a crime, and they hated criminals.
Even if he was an omega or a kid, that didn’t change the fact that Tim was, at his core, unlikable.
Tim turned, shuffling to the elevator just as it dinged open.
It was Dick Grayson.
Tim burst into tears.
This wasn’t fair! Bad universe! No! It was mean to put Dick on the elevator just when Tim had decided to be reasonable and accept his lot in life!
Dick stepped out of the elevator, setting grocery bags on the floor as he reached out and touched Tim’s shoulder.
“Hey, buddy, are you—”
Tim surged forward and threw his arms around Dick’s waist, spewing the script he’d come up with all in one blur of a lie: “I’mfromanalternateuniverseandI’mstuckheremynameisTimyou’remyfavoritebrotherandI’mreallysad!”
The really sad bit at the end was true, but he hadn’t meant to say it. Tim’s gut dropped as Dick gasped and knelt, searching Tim’s face with a mystified expression before pulling Tim into a hug.
“Everything’s okay, kiddo,” Dick promised, not knowing Tim was lying about everything. “Let’s get you inside.”
Tim nodded with a quick sniffle, trying to collect himself, and picked up some of Dick’s groceries—it was all cereal boxes. All of it. Tim was not judging, because he was currently trying to lie his way into someone else’s family because the blankets at home made him sad, but if Tim had a leg to stand on, he would be standing on that leg and judging hard.
Dick quickly unlocked several locks on his door and ushered Tim inside. To Tim’s relief, Dick had bought milk and a bag of frozen vegetables that he dumped on the counter before immediately turning to Tim with a whistle.
“Okay, let’s start at the beginning,” Dick said. “Where did you come from?”
…Tim hadn’t thought of that. His eyes welled with fresh tears as he realized he’d never made a plan for what to do if Dick actually fell for the lie. He needed to get the attention off his past and quickly, or he’d be kicked to the curb.
Hands trembling slightly, Tim reached up and peeled away one of the mounds of scent blocking patches over the glands on his collarbone.
Dick’s eyes widened as the sweet, milky smell of preheat filled the room. “Oh. Oh. Okay, right, um—” Dick drew in a deep breath. “Do you know what—How about some blankets, let’s get you some blankets.”
“I—I’m sorry,” Tim whispered, but Dick hardly seemed to hear him as he swept past Tim and into the bedroom.
Tim trailed after Dick, stopping in the doorframe as Dick quickly started pulling spare blankets from a shelf in the closet. Tim flinched, Dick did have an orange blanket.
Dick glanced over his shoulder, asking, “Do you normally nest with Jason?”
“Yes.” Just the sight of the orange blanket made him physically ill, but he couldn’t look away. Wait, what had he just agreed to?
Dick noticed the way Tim was looking at the orange blanket, wadded it up, and threw it back in the closet, but Tim couldn’t breathe easy till Dick had closed the closet door behind it.
“I’m not great at making nests,” Dick told him. “Do you want my help, or do you want to do it by yourself?”
Tim fought the reflex to say he’d do it himself just so it wouldn’t bother Dick. He couldn’t ask directly, because that…he was already imposing so much, but he didn’t know what to do.
Wringing the hem of his shirt, Tim whispered, “I don’t know how to build a nest.”
“You don’t know how?” Dick’s brow was knit with concern. “Did Jason never teach you?”
“Huh?” Tim tilted his head in confusion. “Why would Jason…”
“You said that you nested together,” Dick told him, not accusatory but there was definitely concern in his voice. “Remember?”
Tim swallowed hard. “Was that when the orange blanket was out here?”
Dick chuckled a little sadly, but he started piling blankets and pillows on the bed. “Yeah, it was. Did that distract you?”
Tim nodded guiltily. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s no problem at all, Tim. If Jason didn’t nest with you, what did you do for your last heat?” Dick’s eyes widened at the expression Tim must’ve made. “Is this your first heat?!”
Tim shrugged and dropped his gaze, his stomach twisting at Dick’s alarmed tone, but he nodded.
“I’m sorry, alpha,” Tim whispered.
“Sorry—pup, no.”
Dick swept across the floor and pulled Tim up into his arms with no warning. Tim yelped but immediately melted into the embrace. Even the guilt of lying and stealing this kindness couldn’t overcome just how right it felt to lay his head on a strong alpha’s shoulder and let himself be protected and scented.
“You haven’t done anything wrong…I didn’t quite catch your name earlier,” Dick said, but Tim’s brain was too fuzzy with contentment and Dick’s calming scent to realize what Dick wanted till he added, “What’s your name, pup?”
“Tim,” he mumbled.
“You haven’t done anything wrong, Tim, I just didn’t realize we were both flying blind,” Dick promised as he set Tim down on a pile of blankets, but if Tim hadn’t done anything wrong, why was Dick abandoning him?
Tim whimpered, hurt, but Dick started using the hands that had been holding Tim to pull the blankets into a loose nest around Tim.
“Just getting you settled,” Dick promised. “I’m not leaving you, okay?”
Tim nodded sadly as Dick finished the nest. It wasn’t a very good nest, but fixing it might offend Dick, and if he was offended, he might leave Tim all alone.
“Are you thirsty? Hungry?” Dick asked, gently pushing Tim’s hair back from his face, lightly scenting Tim.
Tim was, but he shook his head and risked a small pack call, a sound he’d heard countless times on TV but only ever tried once with his own parents.
Dick smiled and sat down on the nest to sit beside Tim, which definitely wasn’t how nests were supposed to work. You were supposed to be in the nests so the nests could protect you! But maybe Tim was wrong, because there weren’t any omegas in his family and Dick at least had Jason.
Even if it stressed Tim out, an alpha sitting on the nest he’d built for Tim was better than no alpha and no nest, which was what he’d have at home. Tim could live with pretty much anything if it meant he didn’t have to be alone.
Tentatively, Tim laid his head against Dick’s leg, just enough to be touching while maintaining the barest level of plausible deniability.
Dick began to card his fingers through Tim’s hair, and Tim was pretty sure he’d died and gone to heaven. Was this what he’d been missing out on his whole life? Was this what having a pack was really like?
A weird sound came from Tim’s throat, something stutterry and loud, so surprising that Tim shot up in bed with wide eyes.
Dick grinned. “Did you just get scared by your own purr?”
Purr? Was that what it was? Without any omega packmates, Tim had never heard a purr in real life before, but the purrs in movies always sounded more…less like a strangled blender.
“You’ll get the hang of it,” Dick told him, ruffling the hair he’d just combed down.
Tim’s nose wrinkled, but he laid his head back down, this time pillowing his head on Dick’s leg. He waited, tensely, for the moment of rejection, but once Dick had his laugh, he went back to petting Tim’s head.
Tim yawned and closed his eyes, settling down as Dick pulled out his phone and made a call. He wasn’t really tracking till Dick tapped him on the shoulder and put the phone to Tim’s ear.
“Say hi to Bruce,” Dick said gently.
If he talked to Batman for one second, Tim was sure the jig would be up, so Tim just kept his eyes closed and tried for another purr. It was surprisingly easy, but it still felt weird and sounded off.
“Okay, baby bird is too sleepy to say hi apparently,” Dick said. After a pause, Dick added, “Yeah. Mhmm. Alright, see you in a little bit. Bye.”
Dick hung up and set the phone to the side, letting Tim know Bruce would be coming to the apartment as soon as he could get Jason from school. Tim guessed that it would be at least an hour.
Tim yawned, so so tired all the sudden. He didn’t want to sleep through however much longer he had of the kind, gentle time before Bruce Wayne took him away to Batjail for knowing who Batman was, but he was so tired, and for the moment, he was being scented and cared for.
He couldn’t be interrogated if he was sleeping…and if he was going to Batjail or back to the bus station, he’d need all the rest he could get.
Even if he did get in trouble, he’d at least get to meet Batman and Robin up close while covered in Nightwing’s scent, and oh! At that thought, his purr finally sounded just right.