Chapter Text
“Tim?!”
Jason flinches.
“Oh my god!” Steph gasps, stumbling away from the med bay towards where Batman and Tim are emerging from the Batmobile. “Oh my god. What? How?”
“Master Timothy?” Alfred breathes, his hand still on the back of Jason’s head.
There’s so much awe and hope in their voices that Jason feels sick. Because it’s Tim. Tim, the Robin who Jason had idolised when he’d been struggling to survive in crime alley. The Robin that Batman had lost. The Robin who’d defined the costume that he’d later torn off of Jason.
Bile surges up his throat and his body jerks as he gags, struggling to pull away from Dick. The pup clings to him, whining, pressing himself close. His skinny arms are wrapped tight around Jason’s ribs. Jason’s chest heaves against the restraint. He gags again, wrenching his head as far away as possible, desperate not to puke all over Dick.
Tim is right there. Tim is probably looking at him, seeing him struggle and panic and lose control. He could touch Jason. He could pin him down and hurt him. Fuck him.
An odd sensation sparks through Jason at that thought - a deep and hollow sense of horror, but, at the same time, a flash of something that’s almost arousal. He gags again.
Alfred’s hand slips away. Jason feels the loss like a knife. He keens. His skin feels electric. If anyone touches him, he’a going to burn up into nothing but ash. At the same time, he thinks he’ll die if he loses that connection. If he’s left bereft.
It hurts. It hurts more than almost anything Jason has experienced. He’s so fucking hot. He’s going to die. He needs someone to help him - touch him - make him better, soothe the agony racing under his skin. He needs… He needs his alpha.
Before he realises what he’s doing, he’s staggered off of the table. Pain shoots up his legs, throbbing in his lower back. His knees give. For a moment, he’s falling. Then a strong arm wraps around him and lifts him up.
“Alpha,” he sobs, struggling against the hold, wanting Tim’s arms around him but, at the same time, terrified of being pinned. Of being hurt.
“It’s okay, pup.” A low, melodic voice. Not his alpha’s but familiar, comforting. “I have you. I’m here.”
Jason sags against Damian. He wants Tim. He wants to be a thousand miles away from Tim. His throat aches, a pain that’s deep and all-encompassing, throbbing in his bones, his veins, his lungs.
He whimpers. His face is wet.
Distantly, he can hear a clamour of voices. Steph is saying something, high and loud and startled. Bruce grumbles something in reply, but Jason can’t hear what over the roar of panic in his ears.
“It’s okay,” Damian croons. “Richard, come here. It’s okay. You don’t need to be here for this.”
Jason is shifted in Damian’s arms, until his head is resting against one broad shoulder, his face tucked into his brother’s neck. He’s too old to be held like this, but Jason knows he’s small for his age, and he fits easily against Damian’s body, an arm wrapped around his back to hold him in place.
It feels good to be held, even as his skin crawls. His body can’t seem to decide what it needs. Whether it feels protected or threatened.
“What’s happening,” Dick asks, voice so small. “Who’s that?”
Damian shushes him. A moment later, Dick’s legs bump against Jason’s as the alpha picks him up. Then they’re moving towards the exit of the cave, Damian’s arms wrapped around them both.
Jason presses his face tighter against Damian. He doesn’t want to have to see the others as they pass close to them - doesn’t want to see Tim - doesn’t want them to be able to see him either.
“You can lock me up if you like,” Tim is saying. Jason tenses at the sound of his voice - at the proximity. He sounds close enough to touch him, to grab him. “It won’t change anything.”
Jason whimpers. He can’t stop himself. Damian’s steps speed up and he lets out a low, rumbling growl, his arm tightening.
“He’s mated now.”
“Stop talking,” Bruce snarls.
Their voices are already getting quieter as Damian takes the steps two at a time. There’s a rush of warm air as the hidden door swings open. Then, silence.
Something twists in Jason’s stomach. He feels all wrong inside - all hot and squirmy and messed up. He can’t tell if the feeling in his chest is relief or panic. His guts ache in a way they never have before, even during some of Jason’s worst heats. Even after - even after some of Jason’s more violent clients. The ones who weren’t even paying, just holding him down and taking what they wanted.
Damian takes them through the manor - ignoring Alfred’s rules to not bring suits upstairs, because Jason is still dressed in his and so is Damian. Jason feels the motion of him climbing more stairs, then he’s pushing the door to the nest room open and gently setting Dick on the bed.
“Wait here, Richard,” he rumbles, voice soft and low. “I will be right back.”
He doesn’t put Jason down. Instead, he carries him through to the bathroom and crouches down by the tub, shifting Jason so he’s resting on one thigh as he puts the plug in and starts filling the bath.
“Dami,” Jason whispers. He presses his head against Damian’s throat, trying to get his scent, although he knows he’s still wearing blockers. “It hurts.”
Damian makes a soft, sympathetic sound at the back of his throat. One arm rubs up Jason’s back. It feels nice, but it makes him shiver. Makes him think of a hand on his hip, tight enough to bruise, fingers in his hair, teeth in his neck.
He gags a little. Damian’s arm tightens.
Once the bath is full, Damian shifts him enough that their eyes can meet. “Will you be okay to take a bath while I prepare the nest? Or would you like me to stay?”
Some small, frightened part of Jason keens at the thought of Damian abandoning him. He wants his pack close - wants the reassurance of a friendly hand and his family’s smells. At the same time, he cringes at the thought of Damian seeing him. He - he’s covered in bruises and blood and - and Tim’s spend. He knows he looks used and filthy and disgusting. He doesn’t want Damian to see him like that - to look at his naked body and see all the ways he’s failed.
Besides, he knows it’s not really Damian he wants. His body wants the closeness of his alpha, even as his mind cringes at the thought of Tim being near enough to touch him. Close enough to hurt him.
“I’ll be okay,” Jason whispers.
Damian shifts him gently to his feet. “I will be just in the other room. If you need me, just call for me.”
“I know,” Jason says. He feels oddly embarrassed. It’s weird to have Damian’s concern so laser focussed on him.
When he’d first joined the pack, not long after Tim’s death, Damian had been stand-offish at best. He hadn’t wanted to be anywhere near Jason, let alone scent him or give any acknowledgement that Jason was pack. It had been a slow and painful process, getting on Damian’s good side, and even now they don’t see each other as often as Jason would like.
He knows that Damian cares about him, but it feels weird to see it so obviously.
Hot tears prickle behind Jason’s eyes. He turns away so Damian can’t see them, towards the bath which is still slowly filling. He can hear Damian straighten, then pad out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him. Normally, Jason wouldn’t be able to hear Damian’s footsteps. More embarrassment burns inside him, knowing that Damian has purposefully made them louder just for him.
He strips himself quickly. He avoids looking at himself. He doesn’t want to see the bruises and blood and…other fluids. This isn’t the first time he’s had to clean himself up after something like this. Back then, he’d usually have to make do with gas station bathrooms unless they’d booked a motel. This is better in almost every way and, yet, Jason feels just as shitty as he had back then. Worse.
His stomach is cramping so badly that he can’t help moaning aloud. His skin is prickling with need. He wants alpha to hold him. His needy little cunt wants alpha inside it. Alpha must be angry to have left him alone in the middle of his heat, but Jason can be good. Jason can make it better.
No. No. The heat and the new bond are making it hard to think straight. Jason doesn’t want…he doesn’t want that. Especially not from Tim. His…not his alpha because Bruce is still his alpha in every way that matters. And Bruce would never dream about hurting him like that.
He steps into the bath and sinks into the water. It’s only lukewarm against his heated skin. He shivers. Then leans forward to increase the flow of hot water, ratcheting the temperature up a notch until it’s warm enough to ease some of the shivering ache inside him. Until it’s hot enough to burn away some of the lingering phantoms of Tim’s touch.
It hurts a little and the heat makes his head swim, but there’s a relief in it. The ache in his guts eases and his skin prickles with the burn rather than the memory of what Tim had done to him.
He scrubs at his skin. He’s had practice at dealing with this, but somehow every time it still feels new. He puts his hand between his legs and scrapes brutally at all the places Tim’s…seed had stained him. Blood curls through the water. Jason feels sick.
He pulls the plug and waits until the water is mostly drained before he heaves himself out of the tub. He towels himself off as roughly as he can considering the plushness of every towel in the manor. They’re a far cry from the tissues he’d used to use to dry himself.
There’s a pile of clean clothes sitting on the floor by the door. Damian must have slipped them in without Jason noticing. The thought sends an odd shiver down Jason’s spine.
First, he goes rooting through the cupboards for a sanitary pad. Alfred keeps them in all of the bathrooms - even Bruce’s en-suite, just in case. And Jason doesn’t want to bleed on any of the clothes. It’ll help with the slick too - if Jason produces enough to need to worry about it.
He finds one and slots it into his underwear, before pulling the rest of the clothes on quickly: soft, heat-friendly pants and an oversized shirt. They smell faintly of Alfred’s mild beta scent and Damian’s protective alpha. Jason presses the collar of his shirt to his nose and inhales deeply. It soothes a little of the ache in his gut, but it doesn’t feel the same as it had for his first heat.
The first time, Damian and Bruce and Dick’s scents had made the cramps stop almost completely. He’d been afraid, then. Of the pain. Of the alphas in his pack. He’d been terrified that his heats would be like his dam’s - lonely and painful. He’d been scared that the alphas in his pack might try to remedy that by forcing themselves on Jason.
None of that had happened. Jason had thought his heats might be like that for the rest of his life - nothing but a mild discomfort and a chance for his normally emotionally-stunted pack to prove they actually care about him.
But he hadn’t even had the chance to have one more good heat.
His stomach clenches painfully, as if in reaction to the thought. Jason groans, pressing a hand hard against his pelvis. His back aches. Sharp pain pulses up his spine.
When he shuffles out of the bathroom, Damian is still fussing with the nest he’s setting up on the bed. Dick is sitting in the middle of a collection of blankets, pillows, and seemingly random articles of clothing. Damian glances up, a dark silk pillow Jason recognises from Bruce’s room in his hands, which he drops into the nest when he notices Jason.
“Are you feeling any better?” he asks, awkwardly.
Jason shrugs. He does feel a little better with the blood and filth washed off, but he still feels so awful in the grand scheme of things that he hardly thinks it matters.
“Do you want to get into the nest?”
Jason shrugs again, but obediently makes his way to the edge of the bed. Alfred had made the nest up for his last heat and it has been immaculately neat and filled with items that Jason hadn’t even realised he would want. His dam’s nests had been ragged, threadbare things, made up mostly of their bedsheets, one of Willis’ dirty shirts, and Jason himself.
Damian’s nest is not like either of those. It’s a jumbled mess of different fabric, not threadbare, but definitely not neat.
Jason climbs up into it, trying not to let the pain of the movement show on his face. Dick immediately clamps himself to Jason’s side, making a soft, puppy chirp. He smells warm and milky, although there’s a faint, sour tang of anxiety. Jason feels an odd pang in his chest at that. It’s his fault the pup is worried.
“Are you okay?” Dick whispers. His hands are clenched in the back of Jason’s shirt.
Jason rubs his back and tries to work the words out of his throat. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Dick whimpers. He presses his face into Jason’s neck. It’s wet.
“You don’t smell okay.”
Jason smiles faintly. “Well, that’s because I haven’t been in the nest, but Dami made me one, so I’m all good now.”
He can feel Dick frown against his skin. “I don’t like it when you don’t feel good.”
Jason’s upsetting the pup. Some deep, biological instinct sparks in his gut, twisting it painfully. His arm tightens around Dick. The nest smells of sour milk. Jason can’t help the anxious, omega noise that escapes him.
“Jason.” Damian’s voice. It’s a low comforting rumble. He’s kneeling by the bed, a questioning look on his face.
Tears prickle hot at the back of Jason’s eyes. He whines. His head tilts back without his permission, exposing his neck to Damian.
Dick whines softly in an odd echo of Jason. He shifts against him. Then his hot little mouth is on Jason’s neck, his tongue against the sore bite mark stamped over his scent gland. Jason jolts. There’s a little zap of pain but, worse, a wrenching sensation in his chest. It feels wrong, even though what Dick’s doing is perfectly natural - even though he’s trying to help, to clean the blood and soothe the wound.
A hand lands on Jason’s head. Dick’s mouth disappears. Jason whines again, afraid. Dick is gone and he hurts and there’s an alpha’s hand on him. An alpha leaning over him in the nest.
An arm slides around his back and gently lifts him away from the pillows. His head lolls forward against the alpha’s broad chest. He doesn’t smell like Jason’s mate, but he still smells good. And when his hand comes up and gently squeezes Jason’s scruff, that feels good too.
Some of the tension eases out of him. He snuffles at the alpha’s shirt. A low rumble vibrates through him, a comforting alpha sound.
“You are okay, Jason. You are in your nest. I have you. You are okay.”
“Alpha,” Jason whimpers. He tries to spread his legs invitingly. He’s a good boy. A good omega. He knows how to please an alpha. Even if this isn’t his mate, he’s in a nest, on a bed, and he knows what that means.
“Don’t.” The alpha’s voice is harsh enough that Jason flinches, but he’s gentle when he eases Jason’s legs shut. “You do not have to do that sweetheart.”
Panic tightens Jason’s throat. He’s done something wrong. The alpha doesn’t want him and neither does his mate because he’s not here and Jason can’t ease this all-consuming ache inside him by himself.
He tries. He slides one hand down his body and under the loose waistband of the pants he’s wearing. The alpha doesn’t stop him. He doesn’t ease himself into it - he’s too desperate. He shoves three fingers into his aching pussy at once. It hurts, a terrible, wrenching pain. He cries out but can’t seem to stop. Hot tears streak over his face.
A gentle hand closes over his wrist. Distantly, he can hear someone crying. A pup crying.
“Calm down, Jason,” the alpha rumbles. “You are hurting yourself.”
“Please,” Jason gasps, scrabbling at the alpha’s fingers with his free hand. “Alpha please.”
The alpha tucks Jason’s face more firmly against his neck. “I am here, Jason. Your pack is here.”
“Please,” Jason sobs into his throat. “Please, please.”
The alpha rumbles. His hand tightens almost painfully on Jason’s scruff and Jason’s whole body goes limp. Floaty waves of submission crash across his brain. He doesn’t need to beg. He doesn’t need to cry or whine. All he needs to do is lie perfectly limp and the alpha will take care of everything.
The alpha’s strong arm squeezes him tightly against his chest. That perfect, deep rumble shudders through Jason’s body. Vaguely, he’s aware that something’s still wrong. That something - someone - is missing. That the pup is still crying from somewhere nearby. But that seems unimportant here, wrapped up in the alpha’s arms.
All he needs to do is relax. The alpha will take care of him now.