Work Text:
Tim swears he has the most stubborn alphas in the world.
Oh, he loves that about them, for sure. He admires Dick’s dedication, and Jason’s tenacity. They’re both such passionate people, ruthlessly committed to their ideals. Tim adores them, truly.
But it makes them terrible at being sick.
Tim crosses his arms. “You’re supposed to be in bed.”
Jason coughs into his elbow, leaning heavily on the kitchen counter, but keeps stubbornly stirring the pot of soup. The kitchen smells of chicken broth, onion, and garlic, warm homey delicious smells. But Jason looks pretty terrible, all flushed and clammy, and it’s a wonder he’s even staying on his feet right now. His scent has that weird feverish off-tone of a bad flu, mingled with Jason’s own natural alpha scent like oak and musk, and an overlay of sweat. “Yeah, well. Sick days demand soup, dontcha think?”
Tim sighs, exasperated. “Okay, yes. But you could have asked, Jay. I could have made soup.”
Jason raises an eyebrow at him. It would be a lot more intimidating if he wasn’t shivering from fever.
“I can make soup,” Tim says, frowning. “I know I don’t, usually, but I can. You’re just always volunteering to cook.”
“Never said you couldn’t, baby bird,” and god, Jason sounds awful, all raspy and hoarse. “You’re a damn lil genius, I’m sure you could handle soup.”
Tim’s brow furrows, and he takes a step in closer. “You’re always cooking, always taking care of me,” Tim says softly. “Why won’t you let me help you just this once?”
Jason frowns. “I don’t take care of you so that you’ll take care of me,” and here Jason turns to look directly at Tim. “I do it cause I wanna. And for no other reason.” Jason sighs heavily, setting the wooden spoon on its rest and rubbing his eyes. “You know I like cookin, baby bird. I like seein you well fed.” Jason reaches out a hand, and gently pets the side of Tim’s head. “It’s the best thing in the world, getting to take care of you. So don’t feel like you gotta pay it back.”
Tim swallows hard. “I believe you.” He steps in again, closing the distance between him and Jason, nosing into Jason’s chest. That’s about as high up as Tim goes, without standing on tippy-toes. Jason grunts quietly, and leans back into the counter, his arms coming up to wrap around Tim’s back. Jason’s all feverish-hot and sweaty, but it’s still a nice hug.
“I believe you, alpha.” Tim speaks softly, into Jason’s shirt. “So why is it so hard to believe that I feel the same way?” Tim takes a little breath. “It’s not that I feel like I have to pay you back, for cooking for me, or providing for me. But I want to. Because I love you.”
Jason lets out a shuddering sigh, and his hand comes up to the back of Tim’s head, gently pressing Tim’s face into his chest. “Oh, baby bird.” Jason’s scent flickers, with something like guilt-pain and something like awe-wonder, and a whole lot of mate-affection. “You know I love you, baby bird.”
Tim nuzzles into Jason’s shoulder, firmly. “Then go to bed.”
Jason chuckles softly, and Tim can feel it in Jason’s chest, in his arms wrapped around him. “Yeah, okay. You win.” Jason presses a kiss to Tim’s forehead, humming softly. “Bossy omega.”
Tim wriggles out of his arms. “Bedtime. I’ll take care of the soup.”
Just then, there’s a crash from the living room.
“I’m okay!”
Tim jumps, and rushes to the other room. Dick is in a pile on the floor, having evidently tripped over his own shoes, which were lying in the middle of the living room. Dick is coughing heavily, and reaches up a hand to wave Tim away.
“I’m okay,” Dick rasps once he gets his breath back. He looks about as bad as Jason does, if not worse, and he doesn’t smell great. “I’m okay.” Dick moves to push himself up, but he’s shaky on his arm.
Tim moves to help him up. Dick’s weight he can take, he’s not that much taller than Tim. Dick sighs, but squeezes Tim’s hand in thanks.
“What are you doing up?” Tim asks.
“Oh, we’re out of cough drops. And cough syrup. And tea.”
Tim groans softly. “I can get those, you know.” He starts walking Dick back towards the bedroom. Jason is leaning in the kitchen doorway, watching them, looking amused.
“It’s okay,” Dick says, and he coughs a bit more. “I can go get them, I know you two are working on dinner.”
Tim resists the urge to facepalm. But only because his arms are full of Dick, who’s hot and clammy and leaning heavily on him. “I can do both things, I promise.”
Tim pauses for a moment, and tugs Dick close, nuzzling into Dick’s neck. Dick makes a dark, pleased alpha noise, his hands catching on Tim’s shirt.
Tim reaches up to murmur in Dick’s ear, low and soft. “I can be good, alpha. Won’t you let me be good?”
Dick fairly shudders. His scent spikes suddenly with possessive-alpha.
From across the room, Jason laughs quietly, but his scent is full of alpha pheromones too. “Goddamn, Timmy. He’s got your number, don’t he, Dickie.”
Dick smiles warmly down at Tim. “That was a dirty trick, baby bird.”
Tim only smiles up at him, and raises his eyebrows, giving a shrug. “It worked, didn’t it?”
Dick laughs, and it’s not quite as bright and energetic as his laugh usually is, but it’s still nice to see. “Yeah, it did.”
Tim smiles, pleased with that, and turns his head to look over his shoulder, reaching a hand out to Jason. “Come on, alpha. You too.”
Jason smiles back at him. He steps to turn the stove off with a click, and then slowly follows the others into their bedroom.
Tim gets both alphas set up in the bed, with plenty of pillows and blankets, and only a little bit of grumbling. He’s turning around to leave when Jason suddenly grabs Tim’s wrist and yanks him down onto the bed, pulling him between Jason and Dick.
“Oof!” Tim lets out a noise of surprise, flailing a bit.
Jason gives a low, happy-alpha noise, and pushes him down further, onto the bed. Dick purrs happily, and closes Tim in on the other side, immediately going full octopus mode and wrapping an arm and a leg over Tim. Jason purrs too, a low rumbling thing, and tucks himself in on Tim’s other side, cuddling Tim between them, wrapping him in strong arms from all sides.
“Aren’t I supposed to be getting soup? And cough drops?” Tim’s a little muffled by the pillows and arms around him. Though he does like being pressed in like this, his mates on either side. “Thought you were gonna let me take care of you.”
“It can wait, Timmy,” Dick mumbles, giving Tim a squeeze. “Stay here and let us cuddle you.”
Jason nods. “What he said.” Jason nuzzles into Tim’s hair. “This is you taking care of us, baby bird.” Jason smiles softly. “And I’ll even let you make soup later.”
Tim rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling, and he grabs onto each of his mates, holding them close. “Yeah, okay.”
Really, Tim muses, snuggling between his alphas, he’s got the most stubborn alphas in the whole world. But he likes them that way. Tim purrs happily, as Jason’s eyes drift closed, and Dick yawns, the two stubborn bastards finally willing to get some rest. Tim tucks his head to one side, cuddling his alphas, and slowly drifts off into a deep, contented sleep.