Chapter Text
Jason Todd was not avoiding his pack. He had taken one night to himself to fly solo, one night to remind the city the Red Hood wasn’t tame now that he ran with the Bats.
Which of course meant they had immediately gotten themselves into trouble, and on one of the few days Nightwing wasn’t haunting Gotham’s skyline and had actually gone back to patrolling his own city. Batman was off world as well, leaving Jason to pick up the mess that was the Bat pack after they got themselves captured and trussed up like birds in, as always, a fucking warehouse.
Unfortunately for his dumbass family, Jason had been mid patrol when Babs called to inform him Red Robin and Spoiler were caught, a pup on his hip as he carried her to a safe place where a foster parent he actually trusted (and who owed the Red Hood a few favors) lived and could take her for the night. Once she was dropped off, he had hoped to return to continue kicking the shit out of her sire, but Bab’s voice through the comms had informed him Robin and Orphan had also been captured trying to get the other two out.
Which obviously meant it was at least moderately serious, and he should probably hurry to get to them before one of them did something even more stupid.
Jason’s non avoidance of his pack had started, predictably, not long after The Rut Incident. He had been hoping to mitigate the oncoming anxiety over all that changed in such a short period of time by moving into one of the new safe houses Babs found him and setting up his own space again, giving him room to breathe and be alone. He’d even gone so far as to tell no one to bother him for a week unless it was an actual emergency, and his pack had humoured him with the assurance they’d be waiting for him when he was ready.
He lasted two days before he was breaking into the manor to steal scented nesting supplies.
No one had been foolish enough to comment, in fact there seemed to be a silent agreement to just not acknowledge whatever it was the omega was doing as he tried to settle into his new space. It gave him the confidence to swear to himself it would be a one time thing, a momentary lapse in judgement and self control due to coming down off the high of two weeks in Dick’s den.
Over the course of the following months, Jason had kept his promise and only visited the manor a few times and, on each occasion, he’d used the appropriate doors after receiving invites to dinner and finally finding some gaps in his cases that seemed to be piling on ever thicker as the summer heat grew denser and crime grew more rampant. After each dinner, he had scented the pack and left with a few respectable nesting items gifted to him by his siblings or Bruce. Everything was going smoothly, he was seeing his family on his terms, they were barely fighting on patrol and his instincts were coping. Sort of.
At first, he’d thought he might be sick. It was mid summer by now, deep into the nights the only reprieve from Gotham’s cloying heat and, for a while, that had been enough of an excuse for him to explain away his subtly rising temperature. To begin with, in fact, he had barely noticed. His death had changed a lot, including leaving him running on the cooler side and, in combination with his poor circulation, meant his skin was often chilled to the touch.
So when, mid scenting, Damian had commented on his hands feeling warm, Jason had realised something was most definitely wrong. Luckily, no one else had noticed or at least connected the dots with his reaction of aggressively ruffling the pup’s hair and the idea that this might, in some way, be out of his ordinary.
At first, he had considered sickness, the begining of the rare something nasty that managed to creep by the remnants of Lazarus waters in him or whatever they did to his immune system. He was waiting for the onset of other symptoms, or for his fever to ramp up and leave him bedridden. Only they didn’t come.
Instead, he stopped being able to nest.
Well, stopped implied he’d built a nest at all since he’d moved. He’d had the desire to, certainly, and spent many a night dragging his bed or mattress about, testing each new spot to see if it fit with his instincts ever more nonsensical vision. He’d rearranged his furniture so many times that the couple that lived in the apartment next to his had come over to complain, taken one look at him, and started fussing about omegas living without the company of pack or any pups. After that, he’d given up on interior design and run through every nesting material he owned, even contemplated buying new ones because nothing seemed to be working, until he couldn’t even look at the pile of scented clothes and blankets without getting irrationally anxious.
He’d stopped looking, kicked them off and under his bed, and tried not to think about them any more than that.
Jason was knocked from his thoughts by the muffled thump of his boots hitting the warehouse roof. He crept silently to the edge to watch for movements below and found here were two guards. Although they were dressed rather nondescript and likely didn’t work too closely with any of the rogues, if the lack of garish colours was anything to go by.
It also meant they weren’t really prepared for the Red Hood to drop down behind them and crack their skulls together.
“The things I do for this pack,” Jason sighed as he slipped through the unlocked door, fingers on one of his guns (rubber bullets now that he was playing nice) just in case, although the quality of the guard seemed to point to this being an accidental capturing rather than anything well planned.
The inside of the warehouse was, much like the outside, nondescript and clearly unused. If it wasn’t for Oracle’s instructions, he might not have spared it more than a second glance and missed the dregs of greenish vapour swirling through the air. His helmet’s filters thrummed to life as he crept deeper through unused rooms, searching for any sign of guards. Pretty soon, the lack of life was getting to him and he was itching in his skin at how obvious of a trap this would be if he could just find the damn spring. Instead, he found a storage room filled with a shipment of canisters and a scattering of unconscious men.
Slowly, he untensed as he walked past to investigate what was definitely a split open canister, and upon further investigation found that a few of the guards had face masks attached to their belts.
Whatever was in the air had knocked them out cold and Jason suddenly had a much better idea what might have allowed such low level thugs to capture four of his packmates that notably did not wear suitable face coverings. If any of them made fun of his helmet again, he thought smugly as he left to figure out where the other Bats had been dragged off too, he’d be holding this over their heads for months.
It didn’t take much sneaking about for him to find them, dumped in a pile of hastily knocked out vigilantes behind a locked door on the second floor that opened after a short disagreement with the bottom of his boot. The few guards he’d passed had also been unconscious, these ones actually wearing their masks although they were all either cracked or seemingly malfunctioning in some way. Jason stalked to one of the room’s dusty windows to let the last of the gas escape, before going to check his pups were all accounted for.
Thankfully, they seemed unharmed if heavily sedated by the gas. Well, almost all of them were, as when he went to start untying them, he found his hands parting black, red and gold and landing on electric blue.
“What the fuck,” Jason said as Nightwing lifted his head from his ridiculously convincing slump and grinned around his rebreather before pulling it from his mouth with untied hands.
“Heya Little Wing.”
“You’re supposed to be in Bludhaven,” Jason told him.
“I go where the wind takes me,” Dick answered with a shrug and a careless hand wave. He did at least stand up, rolling his shoulders, before leaning down to help Jason gather the pups up.
Jason narrowed his eyes behind his helmet. “Damian called you.”
”Damian called me,” Dick agreed.
They left the warehouse easily, Dick leading the way to the window he’d broken in through whilst carrying Damian and Cass over his shoulders. Jason behind with Tim and Steph, and once outside they lay the pups down and rock-paper-scizzored for who had to call the Batmobile and wait with the pups and who got to go back inside and clear out the warehouse.
To Jason’s delight, and because Dick had never not played scissors in his life, he won and got to sweep the building, guns drawn, and leave a pile of second rate henchmen zip tied together. When he re-emerged, Dick had found a safe rooftop to wait on with their still unconscious siblings and was subtly posturing as he guarded them. Jason laughed in greeting.
“Still haven’t gotten a handle on it, then?” He asked as he went to shamelessly fuss over the pups.
Dick pouted, but did let up on the alpha looming. “My instincts just need time to settle,” he insisted.
He’d been saying as much since his rut, any time anyone caught him following them from a protective distance or trying to scent them in costume or posturing when non pack alphas tried to get too close. It was, as far as the internet was concerned, pretty normal for an alpha coming off suppressants to be a little more hormonal and broody than normal. Jason wasn’t exactly worried either, he’d done his research when he first noticed the behaviours and dismissed it as mostly harmless if a little annoying to realise Nightwing has hovering over Red Hood from a nearby rooftop at least once per week. That didn’t mean he couldn’t take the piss, though.
“Uh-huh, sure Dickie-bird,” he said as disbelievingly as possible.
“Like you aren’t just as bad.” Dick laughed teasingly.
Jason scoffed. ”This isn’t about me, though.”
”Isn’t it?” Dick returned in the voice that drove straight past Jason’s rationality and into every insecure bit of him.
”The fuck’s that supposed to mean?” He snapped, taking a step towards the alpha. Instead of rising to the bait, Dick help his hands up placatingly
”Damian called me about you.” He said softly.
”What because I’m not playing nice?” Jason growled out. “You know what? You’re not even supposed to be here! You’re supposed to be in Bludhaven. You’re literally always in Bludhaven on a Friday!” Towards the end, Jason could feel his instincts slipping and his tone becoming ever closer to a whine.
Even from behind the mask, Jason could see Dick’s raised brow paired with the genuine curl of his lip.
”And how would you know that?” The alpha took a step forwards when Jason failed to react, pressing into his space. They may have both been plastered with scent patches, but Jason could feel the roll of the alpha’s presence. Stubbornly, he turned his helmet away.
Confession time: Jason hadn’t gone cold turkey from the pack scents. But he’d sworn to himself he’d go to the manor only when invited and only to spend actual time with his pack. This had not, as he had hoped, rid him of his instinct’s need for something and instead, they had turned their attention to Bludhaven and the pack alpha’s apartment.
Jason had gotten good at it, keeping track of Nightwing’s patrols and Dick’s schedule. He was never there when his brother was and he never stayed long enough for his own scent to settle much, but once or twice a week (or three or four times if he needed it), he’d find himself breaking into Dick’s apartment and stealing something scented with the pack, or just to press his face into one of the throws draped across the couch or a hoodie forgotten on the floor.
By the look on Dick’s face, he knew that Jason knew he was backed into a corner here. His brother had been kind enough not to mention it, not to even hint at it to their pack, but the past few weeks Jason had come to find the window unlocked and something that smelt of everyone, not just the alpha, waiting for him somewhere conspicuous.
When Jason said nothing, Dick huffed a quiet laugh and nudged his helmet with his forehead. Begrudgingly, Jason tilted his head so the alpha could unlatch it easier and knock their foreheads together without the barrier.
They descended into a playful wrestle and, by the time the car arrived, Cass and Damian were stirring groggily. As always, they argued over who got to drive until they both raised a clenched fist for a rematch. Dick played paper and Jason stared at the back of his head in betrayal from the back seat, squished up under Damian and Tim as the girls leant on either of his arms, all the way back to the cave.
“Can’t believe all four of you got caught,” Jason laughed as he carried Tim, who was by now obviously feigning sleep, up to the manor. The rest of the pack following him like ducklings, with Dick bringing up the rear because although they might have been awake, they were all apparently still groggy from the gas and likely to stumble or wander off if their alpha didn’t herd them back into line.
“Didn’t,” Cass piped up when Jason glanced back to find the rest all turning their faces away guiltily.
Internally, Jason could admit he was a little proud of the forethought that would go into getting safely captured by some low level gang in order to lure either he or Dick into a rescue. Even so, he was going to delight in tattling on them to Bruce as penance for tricking him.
Externally, he barked out a laugh. “Oh you manipulative little shits. You spend too much time with Dickie and B.”
Once they were dispatched into Alfred’s stern care to be checked for adverse effects, Jason dipped to finish his patrol and use this golden opportunity to borrow the car before Dick got to it, caught up in scolding the pups as he was.
…
It was hours later that he crawled in through the unlocked window and landed as quietly as he could in his civilian clothes. The room was shadowy, only dimly lit by the warm light spilling from a crack in the bedroom door. It was enough to illuminate Dick’s figure, laying on the couch. He looked relaxed, not quite asleep, but he hadn’t tensed even at the sounds of Jason breaking into his apartment.
Jason debated turning around and leaving, heading back to Gotham and pretending this didn’t happen, for all of a second before he shrugged to himself and crossed the room. He paused only to toe off his boots before crawling onto the couch and over Dick, tucking his head under his pack alpha’s chin even if his height meant he had to curl into himself slightly to fit.
He was greeted by a pleased rumble and two strong arms curling around him to trap him against Dick’s warmth.
“Still mad at me?” Dick asked quietly, although Jason could hear the humour in it through the soft chuckle reverberating through Dick’s chest and into his.
”Yes.” He said as seriously as he could with his cheek squished into a faded superman shirt.
”Uh-huh.”
Choosing to ignore the obvious disbelief, Jason graciously moved on. ”Pups okay?”
”Mmm, B just got back. They’re very grounded but otherwise fine.” Dick said as he tightened his arms around Jason and made an encouraging croon when the omega lazily scented his shirt with his cheek. Jason could tell his scent patches had been off for a while, had probably come off whilst he was still at the manor to smother their pack in protective alpha musk.
”And Steph?” He asked after a few minutes of rubbing his cheek back and forth like a cat until his skin was tingling from the cotton and his honeyed scent was well ingrained into the fibres.
Dick hummed happily before he spoke, ”She’s staying at the manor for moral support.”
”For Cass, more like.”
Dick snorted then nudged the top of Jason’s head with his chin in playful reprimand. Jason lifted his head so they could make eye contact and the alpha could see his unrelenting grin.
”You didn’t want to stay?,” the omega asked. “B’s been gone a while, thought you’d want to catch up.”
”I had to finish patrol first.” He came to lay in wait for Jason, more like. “And we’re going to the manor for lunch tomorrow anyway.” Dick said casually, breaking eye contact by using a hand on the back of Jason’s neck to guide his head back down to his chest, before sliding it into his curls to rid him of the helmet hair Jason never seemed to be able to fully tame.
”We?” Jason said questioningly.
”We.” The alpha confirmed.
…
Jason arrived to the manor more than fashionably late the next day. Normally he’d make sure to arrive ten minutes after Bruce told him to when he was being stiffly invited over, long enough to show Bruce held no authority over what he did or when he did it, but also not so late as to earn him Alfred’s ire. However, Dick had apparently grown wise to his routine and had taken to also arriving ten minutes late, usually looking suitably wind swept and spouting apologies about paper work so that no one else could see through his ploy. But Jason knew each time his older brother’s bike came skidding down the manor’s drive just as he was psychic himself up to ring the bell, that he was being played somehow. So, this time, he’d gone all out: turned his alarm off, buried himself under a pile of blankets (still annoyingly not nest shaped) whilst leaving the window open a crack to encourage in some cool night air and taken an extra long shower once he did drag himself out of bed.
He wasn’t actually opposed to showing up at the same time as Dick. In fact, it took a lot of the pressure off him when Dick was there to greet everyone by his side, seamlessly and smoothly guiding everyone through the pack order. But after last night and slinking home to fall asleep in his cold, nestless bed to find that where Dick’s lingering scent on his clothes had worked to settle him only days before, they were now no longer enough, he needed a small act of rebellion to give him some control back.
However, in its typical fashion, whatever higher power hated him specifically, decided today was the day to fuck him over once again.
Jason stumbled when he got out of the shower, a momentary loss of balance as his head swum, that left him bracing himself over the sink and staring at his clouded reflection in the condensation coating the mirror. With a trembling hand, he smeared the water drops to bring it into focus and found his face flushed red beyond what was normal for a shower and the lingering water mixing with sweet smelling sweat, plastering his white streak to his forehead.
“Shit,” he gasped as another tremor ran through him and he staggered out of the bathroom to escape the cloying steam he could scent too much of himself on and into the blissful cool of his bedroom. He made it to the bed and sat heavily, searching for his phone to check the time, only to discover he had less than half an hour until he had planned to arrive. Normally, he’d cancel without second thought. But right then the idea of being surrounded by his pack sounded amazing.
Getting there would be a problem, though.
Reluctantly, he thumbed through his contacts and hit call, waiting only a few moments before the ringing stopped and Dick’s voice filled his ears.
“Hey little wing,” the alpha said over the distant sound of traffic. When Jason didn’t answer though, his voice came back worried, edging on Nightwing levels of concerned. “You okay, Jason? What’s going on? Talk to me.”
“Think ‘m sick, Dickie,” Jason whined with about as much dignity as roadkill.
“Okay Jay, you want me to tell the others you’re not coming?” But Jason was already keening pathetically at the words, shaking his head even though Dick couldn’t see it.
“No? You still want to come?” Dick must have taken his silence as confirmation as he continued. “You sure, little wing? I won’t be angry if you don’t feel up to it.”
”I want to,” Jason insisted. “Can you just… come here and get me?”
”Already on my way,” Dick promised.
Jason hung up after that, intent on getting ready so that he wasn’t sat in his towel, steadily dripping water onto his sheets when his brother arrived, but the longer he tried to, the more his body didn’t want to cooperate. Even getting dressed sounded exhausting and the idea of going to fetch a glass of water seemed a daunting task despite his dry throat.
By the time he heard his door open and the first curls of Dick’s uninhibited scent hit his nose, he hadn’t moved an inch. The alpha came skidding into the room when he let out a pathetic little keen at his own incompetence.
“Oh baby,” Dick breathed, crossing the room to kneel in front of him and croon comfortingly until Jason tilted his head, submitting himself to a gentle scenting over his itchy glands. Carefully, Dick pressed his lips to his forehead to check his temperature, the same way he’d done it when Jason was a pup and for some reason that was enough to make the omega want to cry.
“Have you eaten? Drunk anything?” Dick questioned softly, nudging their forehead’s together in comfort when Jason tried to press further into his touches.
Jason shook his head against Dick’s. “Can’t get up.”
”Okay. Wait here a sec, yeah?” Dick told him, already stripping off his shirt to wrap around Jason’s shoulders before darting out of the room. Jason listened to him opening cupboards in the kitchen, trying to remind himself the alpha hadn’t left him as he pressed his entire fact into the sleeve of the navy blue shirt. The heat had helped in saturating the cloth in Dick’s scent at least, covering up almost all traces of supposedly non-invasive detergent and the same fabric softener Alfred used that normally smelt like home but now made his nose crinkle.
He was distracted from trying to cover the last of the chemical scents by Dick returning, crossing his bedroom in three long strides and pressing a cool glass of water into his hands. As Jason drank greedily, his brother lay a selection of protein bars and plain crackers on the bed next to him before leaving him, this time for the bathroom.
Jason was eyeing them in contemplation when Dick came back and coaxed him into taking something for his fever, talking softly even when Jason growled at the pills, and not flinching when Jason hid his face in his chest after he’d swallowed them. Instead, Dick climbed onto the bed next to him and encouraged Jason to crawl into his lap, rocking them ever so slightly and only nudging Jason back to slip a broken off piece of a protein bar into his hands for him to nibble on.
“How are you feeling?” Dick asked after Jason’s whines ceased.
“I feel like shit,” the omega told him grumpily from against his chest, clutching Dick’s shirt tighter around his shoulders. “But I still want to go,” he insisted before Dick could ask again.
“Okay.”
”Just okay?” Jason sat back enough to get a look at Dick’s careful neutral face.
Dick let out a half sigh, half grumble. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
”I’m not an invalid, Dickie, I’m… you know.”
“I know,” Dick smiled a little. “Alright, tell you what. I’ll get you some clothes, you finish this.” With that, the alpha carefully deposited him back onto the bed and pressed the rest of the protein bar into his hands before hopping up to rummage through Jason’s closet.
Jason busied himself with finishing the food and the water, glad to find his instincts had settled and he could stomach them easily. Once he was finished, Dick brought him a pile of clothes, then left the room to give him some privacy. The omega sorted through them, soft pants, a shirt he abandoned in favour of pulling Dick’s over his head and a pair of heat boxers that he hesitated over for all of a few seconds before giving in and slipping them on. He left the room with a replacement shirt for Dick and, after a brief brush of their cheeks in thanks, they strode out of the apartment together, towards Dick’s car.
…
Lunch was a subdued affair. Bruce greeted them at the door warmly, but that warmth was quickly buried under a general air of disapproval as he led them to the dining room and they found their siblings plus Steph sitting around the table, glowering guiltily at their plates.
Jason’s hips twinged when he went to sit in his usual seat, but he brushed it off as a bruise and made sure to keep his scent even and calm. Dick still shot him a look from his place across the table, but thankfully seemed unwilling to break the tense atmosphere to start a fight.
They ate in silence, and it was only once he’d finished did Jason realise he’d ducked his head to avoid the weight of so many disgruntled scents and subsequently been left with an empty plate and nothing to distract from the glances Tim, who sat next to Dick, kept shooting him, or the riot of scents coming off Damian to his left.
By the time the food was gone, he itching to get out of the room and, despite his earlier insistence, was beginning to think that Dick may have been right. The alpha in question nudged his foot under the table to catch his attention and together they cleared the dishes, carrying them to the kitchen where Jason went to stand by the open window and breath in the floral scents of the garden floating in on the summer breeze.
“Everything alright, master Jason?” Alfred asked from the doorway, brows pinched in concern when Jason nodded weakly back but stayed by the window.
”He’s okay, Alf,” Dick said quietly, crossing the room to speak with the old beta in low tones whilst Jason focused on clearing his head and the itchy feeling under his skin.
It took several more deep lungfuls of air before he was ready to rejoin the family, Dick trailing behind him supportively as they followed Alfred’s direction and headed for the library.
“Jason, Dick,” Bruce greeted them with a nod as they arrived to find the rest of the pack sitting in various states of sulking on the comfortable chairs arranged in the centre of the library.
“What’re we doing in here, B?” Jason questioned, standing his ground even when Dick started towards Damian, who had his knees pulled up to his chest and an expression terrifyingly reminiscent of a pissed off Talia.
“I figured it would be best to have this conversation somewhere more comfortable,” Bruce said with a sigh, finally taking his own seat on the armchair opposite the couch Tim, Steph and Cass had claimed. Jason deliberated heading for one of the free arm chairs across the loose circle of seats before Dick wrapped a hand around his wrist and yanked him down to sit with the pack alpha and youngest pup. The omega scoffed at him, but turned back to face Bruce quickly.
“So?” He said expectantly. “What have we done this time?”
Bruce sighed. “It’s not you, Jason. Or Dick.” The older alpha then turned his steely gaze on the pups who shifted, grumbled or whined but did not in anyway make eye contact when Jason followed Bruce’s gaze over.
Tim was the first to crack. “I’m sorry!” He blurted out to the ceiling.
”Uh… okay?” Jason said when no one else spoke.
“Okay?” Tim echoed back, this time looking straight at him with big, surprised eyes like a raccoon in headlights. “You’re okay with it?”
Bruce coughed pointedly and suddenly Steph and Cass were also blurting out apologies, whilst Damian maintained some dignity and waited for the rush of overlapping voices to end before he spoke.
“Todd, I… apologise.”
”It’s all good?” Jason replied, glancing at Dick who looked about three seconds away from busting out in laughter. Of course, to the untrained eye he looked composed and very solemn but Jason had been pulling pranks with the alpha since he was still sporting a disco theme.
Another pointed cough and they all fell silent. “And to Dick,” Bruce ground out when they looked at him expectantly.
“We’re really sorry, Dick!” Steph yelped and this time, Dick did crack a smile before waving his hand as if to clear the air.
“It’s fine, you all apologised yesterday when you came around and stopped running into walls.”
”Wait, this was about yesterday!?” Jason blurted out.
…
Jason managed an hour in the library before he needed to be… somewhere else. His instincts were confusing themselves with how many different things they wanted and when Dick stretched an arm out casually across the back of the couch, Jason’s control broke and he had to scurry out of the room before things got embarrassing.
Of course, that meant Damian found him trying to make a hasty exit via the cave and the first bike he could steal.
“You left before any of us could speak with you,” Damian said accusingly as he stepped out from the shadows. Something told Jason he probably wasn’t talking about today.
”Probably shouldn’t have gotten yourselves drugged, then.” The omega shrugged as he stepped through the hidden entrance and began the descent into the cave proper.
”There was an… oversight on our end. It won’t happen again.” Damian said as he followed, not yet trying to stop him but already reeking of disapproval. The kid had grown into his scent well over the past few months and it had grown almost as bold as Dick’s, when it wasn’t smothered under pack scents.
”Good to hear.”
”But neither will you be able to slip away again.” This time, Damian caught Jason’s wrist but the omega was quick to shake him off and stride towards the bikes.
”What can I say, demon brat, I go where the wind takes me.” He threw over his shoulder with a lazy shrug.
A hand in the back of his borrowed shirt made him go still. That and the forehead pressed between his shoulder blades.
”Stop playing the fool. Please.” His pup murmured into the cotton fabric.
After a long minute, he replied softly. ”… you can talk to me now.”
Damian pulled his head back and Jason did them both the courtesy of turning around so he could meet burning green eyes.
”You’re in preheat.” Damian told him. He couldn’t suppress a tiny wince, no matter how much he’d hoped they wouldn’t notice, he knew realistically his pack had been onto him for weeks. Probably longer than he had known his heat was approaching, even.
”Yes.”
The young alpha’s eyes bore into him. ”But you haven’t been making preparations.”
”I have-”
”You haven’t asked a single one of us for anything!” Damian interrupted, voice louder than Jason had heard it in a long time and crackling with rapidly rising emotion.
”I’ve… I’ve been getting things from Dick.” He replied, but it sounded weak even to his ears.
”Are we not all your pack?” Damian snapped. “Richard may be our pack alpha but… we are all your alphas. You’re our pack omega.”
Jason could feel his mouth open, silent words of comfort spilling out as his glands ached and throbbed with the onset of pheromone oils dribbling down his neck and wrists. At the scent of distress-help-please, a mixture of both omega and alpha, the fight left Damian like cut strings and he hung his head before he spoke again.
“Can’t we at least repay what you did for us? Can’t we at least take care of you?”
Jason was probably still soft from the incident with Dick earlier and that was why he found himself pulling the kid into his arms before he knew he was moving. In turn, Damian pressed his face into Jason’s chest and chirped softly until the omega pulled him in tighter, one hand going to his hair, as he rumbled out a steady purr.
“So, we’re not leaving yet then?” Dick said brightly from somewhere behind them. Jason would have jumped if he wasn’t busy petting at Damian’s hair and cooing under his breath.
“We?” He called back gruffly.
“We.” Dick lifted a finger, twirling his car keys around it gracefully. They caught the light and drew Jason’s eyes over, which was when he realised that Tim was also standing there with an uncertain smile and Bruce, lurking a little ways back.
“Fine. We can stay here until patrol,” he huffed, disentangling himself from Damian to brush past Dick and head up into the manor again, the other four trailing behind him.
“Wait, patrol?” Tim’s voice broke the semi-comfortable quiet just as they reached the study. “You can’t be serious.”
”Why wouldn’t I be?” Jason crossed his arms and raised a brow, leaning on the desk and ignoring the twinge it sent through his hips and lower spine, as Tim gaped at him in outrage.
“Because you’re literally in preheat! You shouldn’t be going on patrol! Tell him Dick-”
”I absolutely can, right Dickie?” Jason cut him off.
”Jason’s still in early preheat,” Dick explained in that calm way that meant he wasn’t at all happy about it but knew he couldn’t do anything to change it. “He’s still… capable of patrol no matter what our first instincts may be.”
”That’s bullshit!”
Surprisingly, it was Damian who came to his defence. “Todd is more than capable of patrolling in far worse states. Do not suggest our pack omega is at all weak, Drake.”
Tim left the room with a grumble, Dick following behind after giving Jason a beseeching look. The omega made to trail them when Damian spoke again.
“You will be careful, right?”
”Thought I was more than capable,” Jason joked.
“You know what I mean,” the kid scoffed, avoiding eye contact even as he leaned closer.
“I will, habibi.”
”Jason,” Bruce’s voice cut through the air and Jason did jump a little, having forgotten the older alpha was there. “If you are intent on patrolling tonight, then the others are no longer grounded. They will patrol with you. For safety.”
Jason opened his mouth, ready to argue back, when Damian pressed into his side again, looking up at him beseechingly. The omega sighed.
“Fair enough, old man.”
…
They were an hour into patrol and Jason’s hips were aching, his gut twisting and tensing in that foreboding way that meant cramps were coming soon.
“Fuck,” he mumbled into the privacy of his helmet and ignored Tim when the alpha’s head whipped around to face him, obvious worry under his mask. Jason had shaken Dick and Damian’s fussing by sticking to Tim and although he’d traded well meaning hovering for obvious disapproval, Red Robin at least knew better than to get in his way.
Jason was starting to regret his decision as he smoothed over his scent patches, checking once again that they hadn’t lifted or peeled at all. Of course, they hadn’t, his suit was designed to reinforce the area around them, holding them tight to his glands even if they were to become slippery enough with oil for the adhesive to fail. But he checked them again, just to be safe.
“-Hood?” Jason caught the tail end of Oracle’s words and, cursing himself, looked back at Tim only to find the alpha was already grappling away through the city. With no other choice, he followed with a final swear.
Luckily, they didn’t go far before Tim landed on a fire escape and swung down into an alley, as the ache in his hips was spreading to his lower back and he was already biting down fussy little whines at every uncomfortable movement. Resolving himself to just get through patrol before he gave in and begged his pack for preening, Jason dropped down into the middle of the alley.
His first instinct was to snarl furiously at the sight of a young omega cowering away from two alphas and, to his dismay, an all too omegan noise slipped out as he and Red Robin threw themselves into apprehending the alphas. Once they were sufficiently beaten down and tied up, the omega slipped by, pausing at Jason’s side to chirp out a skittish thanks.
Jason found himself chirping back after them, then flushed as red as his hood at the sound. Red Hood didn’t chirp. Red Hood wasn’t an omega. He was like all the Bats, dynamicless but assumed to be an alpha by the virtue of stereotype. Well, apart from Nightwing and Red Robin who were now notoriously alphas. But, it felt kind of… nice, to indulge in his instincts. So, carefully, he offered his gloved hand and they held it, wrist to covered wrist, as he walked them silently home.
Tim made a move to follow them, but Jason shook his head when he felt the omega go tense at his side, so he kept watch from the rooftops until Jason had seen them into their apartment. Then, Jason grappled up to meet him, scrambled to pull his helmet off, then pressed his face into Tim’s shoulder with a soft whine.
“Hood?” Tim asked nervously when Jason hadn’t moved for a good five minutes. The position wasn’t even that comfortable, too much of a height difference, but Jason was happy soaking in the presence of his packmate all the same.
He hummed in response.
”You’re uh… really flushed. And you’re making noises?”
Now that Tim mentioned it, Jason could hear the string of huffy whines, chirps and coos he was making at the alpha. Meaningless instinctual babble, really, but it was nice to make the sounds and even nicer when a deep, answering croon reached him from behind.
“Hey Dickie,” he mumbled as Nightwing slid up to press a gloveless hand to the nape of his neck, then nudge his head up enough to check his temperature.
“Hey little wing. It came on fast, huh?” His pack alpha didn’t sound upset, but he was frowning, hidden eyes roving over Jason as he assessed everything. “Ready to go back to the manor?”
Jason shook his head.
“No?” Dick tilted his head.
“What about somewhere else?” Tim piped up. “Like Dick’s?”
Dick’s apartment with its never ending supply of well worn, well scented clothes and cosy, lived in feel did sound more appealing than the manor. But again, Jason shook his head.
“Your safe house, then,” Damian said from somewhere nearby.
Jason only whined unhappily.
“Oh Little wing,” Dick murmured empathetically, his fingers sweeping back and forth on Jason’s nape comfortingly. “What do you need, sweetheart?”
”I don’t know,” Jason’s admitted into the fabric covering Tim’s shoulder. Unfortunately, everyone still heard and looked at him pityingly. “I just… I don’t know. I don’t feel ready.”
”Maybe you’re not fully in heat yet?” Tim offered, but Dick only shook his head and loathe as he was to admit it, Jason knew the pack alpha was right. He was in heat, no longer teetering on the brink as he had been for weeks as he stubbornly pushed aside all thoughts of preparation for fear of… what? That his pack wouldn't be there when the time came?
”Can you…” Jason trailed off, already regretting his line of thought. It was embarrassing as hell to admit, even to himself, that after everything he was still somehow afraid they didn’t want him around.
Damian was the one who answered. “We can do anything, if you ask.”
Jason swallowed his pride and maybe a small whine. “Can you promise you’ll be there? The um… the whole time?”
“Of course.”
”Obviously.”
“Where else would we be?”
”I can prove it right now,” Dick said. When Jason looked, the alpha had the kind of wicked smile that meant he’d found a solution to any problem and, as always, it flooded Jason with relief. “Trust us?”
”Yeah,” he breathed out when Dick pinched his fingers into his scruff and dragged him out of his hiding spot.
“Good.” Dick grinned, all his alpha fangs on display. “You know what a run is?”
The omega could feel his instincts coiling in excitement from the word alone, the adrenaline making his limbs buzz and dampening his oncoming cramps as his whole body prepared to run and be chased. Pack runs were rarer in the modern age, when alphas didn’t need to prove they could protect their omegas from predators, but the instinct was still hardwired into most people. An omega ran and their pack gave chase, to prove they were faster and stronger and protection enough for their heat.
”Oh shit,” Tim said before his fingers went to his ear, activating his comm. “Get ready to chase.”
Jason couldn’t hear the response without his helmet, but one look at the alphas matching grins and he could guess what the next question was. Sure enough, Tim pressed his finger to his comm again.
”We’re hunting Hood.”
Something electric ran down his spine, endorphins from the half scruff Dick held him in mixing with the tsunami of excitement-anticipation-heat flooding his system.
”Ready, little wing?”
He nodded and Dick gave his nape one last reassuring squeeze before he let go.
“Run.”