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Dick’s heat had hit him hard and fast, a full week before it was scheduled and with an intensity that left him drowning. The suppressants and birth control that had governed his biology for five years after he figured out a formula that worked for him- precise, measured, predictable- had failed him without warning. His body betrayed him in the predawn darkness, waking him not with the gentle warmth he’d grown accustomed to, but with a desperate clawing need that threatened to tear him apart from the inside.
He found himself settled into a nest he didn’t remember building. Pillows arranged with meticulous care, blankets layered in patterns that spoke to some deeper instinct. His hands moved without conscious thought, adjusting a corner here, tucking fabric there, each movement guided by an ancient Omega wisdom that operated below the level of rational thought.
The realization struck him like a physical blow: this wasn’t the manageable heat he’d engineered for himself. This was something primal, something that reached back to the core of what he was beneath all the careful control he’d built.
From the way his Omega was already clawing at the edges of his consciousness- a frantic desperation that usually didn’t surface until day three- this heat was going to strip him down to his most fundamental self. His Omega didn’t just want to be filled. It wanted to be claimed. Wanted to be bred. Wanted Jason’s pups with a ferocity that made Dick’s rational mind recoil even as his body sang with the rightness of it.
Dick pressed his face into the nest’s soft interior, breathing in the lingering traces of Jason’s scent from the last time he’d been here. Gunpowder and leather and something indefinably Jason that made every cell in Dick’s body sing with recognition. His Alpha. Not officially, not with a bite mark on his throat to prove it, but in every way that mattered.
The thought sent a fresh wave of longing through him, so intense it bordered on physical pain.
Five years. Five years of carefully calibrated hormones that had given him the illusion of control over his biology. Five years of mild, manageable heats that left him functional, professional, able to lead the Titans without the crushing vulnerability that now threatened to consume him.
So what had gone wrong?
The question circled through his mind like a trapped animal, desperate and increasingly frantic. Had he missed doses? Changed something in his routine? His medical records would show nothing irregular. Dick was meticulous about his health, had to be in their line of work. But something had shifted, some invisible tether had snapped, and now he was falling through space with nothing to catch him but instinct and need.
His Omega stirred beneath his skin, a presence both separate and integral to who he was. It whispered of Jason’s hands on his body, of the Alpha’s scent surrounding him, of the bone-deep satisfaction of being filled and claimed and owned in the most fundamental way possible.
Dick’s rational mind recoiled from the word. He’d never wanted to be owned, had fought against every attempt to control or diminish him. But his Omega insisted this wasn’t about power or dominance in the ways that mattered outside the bedroom. This was about trust distilled to its purest essence, about surrendering control to someone who would guard that surrender with their life.
He didn’t know if it was his Omega yielding a precious moment of clarity or if some part of his rational mind was still functioning, but he found himself reaching for his phone with shaking hands. The screen blurred as he tried to focus, heat making his vision swim and his fingers clumsy.
He’s too far gone to know what he sends. A proper explanation of what was going on and a request for assistance? A text just reading ‘send knot now?’ A unintelligible key smash? Later, when coherent thought returned, Jason would tell him it had been a single word: “Please.” Six letters that contained everything Dick couldn’t say. His need, his trust, his complete surrender to whatever was happening to him.
But in the moment, Dick only knew that he’d reached out across the void of his need and hoped Jason would catch him.
The phone slipped from his nerveless fingers as he settled back into his nest, a heartbroken whine escaping him before he could stop it. The sound echoed in the empty apartment, a vocalization of longing so pure it made his chest ache.
The fact that he and Jason weren’t mated yet felt increasingly wrong with each passing hour. They’d spent over a year together, helping each other through heats and ruts, building something that felt like a relationship outside of biology’s demands. But Dick had been careful, so careful, to never push for more.
What if he’d been wrong? What if Jason saw their arrangement as purely practical, a convenient solution to biological needs rather than the foundation of something deeper?
The thought made his Omega writhe with distress, a keening sound building in his throat. He’d been so careful to maintain the illusion of control, to never let Jason see how completely he’d fallen. But now, with his heat burning through him like wildfire, those careful walls were crumbling.
Dick pulled at his sleep shirt, the fabric suddenly too rough against his hypersensitive skin. Everything felt wrong. Too tight, too coarse. He stripped the garment off and immediately began weaving it into his nest, driven by an instinct that operated beyond conscious thought.
The nest had to be perfect. Had to be worthy of his Alpha.
If he came.
The doubt crept in like poison, making Dick’s hands shake as he arranged and rearranged the fabric. What if Jason was busy? What if he’d finally grown tired of Dick’s needs, of the way the Omega clung to him during vulnerable moments? What if-
Stop.
The command came from somewhere deeper than rational thought, his Omega refusing to tolerate such destructive spirals. Jason would come. Jason always came when Dick needed him, had never once failed to answer his calls. The Alpha might be gruff and difficult, might push people away with sarcasm and carefully cultivated indifference, but he’d never left Dick to face his heat alone.
Everything is so empty, that place inside of him that he knows Jason can perfectly fill, the nest without the Alpha’s larger and warmer bulk, the silence of his apartment that looms too large and threatening outside of the safety of his nest without his Alpha present to stand guard. Dick burrowed deeper into his nest, trying to block out the world beyond his carefully constructed sanctuary. The silence pressed against him like a physical weight, broken only by the soft whimpers he couldn’t quite suppress.
Time became elastic, stretching and contracting without meaning. Dick dozed fitfully, his body torn between exhaustion and the electric energy of his heat. Dreams and waking blurred together, filled with images of Jason’s hands on his skin, of being surrounded and protected and claimed.
He was drifting in that liminal space between sleep and wakefulness when he heard it. The soft creak of a floorboard, the almost-silent tread of someone moving through his apartment with predatory care. Dick left dreamland behind entirely, every sense sharpening to a razor’s edge.
Then Jason’s scent.
Gunpowder. Smoke. Spiced rum. The dark, woody undertones of Alpha arousal. It wrapped around him like a embrace, drowning him in safety and hunger. His Alpha. Here. Safe.
Dick popped his head up from his nest, a chirp of welcome escaping him before he could stop it. The sound was pure Omega, a vocalization of joy and relief that bypassed his rational mind entirely.
Jason stood in the doorway, perfectly still except for the slight expansion of his chest as he breathed in Dick’s scent. His eyes were already shifting toward Alpha red, pupils dilated with hunger and need. The woody tones of arousal were beginning to overtake his natural scent, mixing with something deeper and more possessive that made Dick’s Omega purr with satisfaction.
“Fuck, pretty bird,” Jason’s voice was rough with want, each word carefully controlled. “You always look like the type of perfection I shouldn’t be allowed to touch.”
The words hit Dick like a physical caress, making him shiver with need. There was reverence in Jason’s tone, a wonder that spoke to something deeper than mere physical attraction. It was the voice of someone who truly saw him, who understood the trust Dick was placing in him by allowing him into this space.
Jason began stripping with economical movements, each piece of clothing removed with the same careful precision he brought to everything else. He started to toss his shirt carelessly toward the floor, only to halt at Dick’s sharp hiss of disapproval.
The Omega made grabby motions at the cloth in Jason’s hand, his nest-building instincts overriding everything else. Understanding dawned in Jason’s eyes, followed by something that looked almost like tenderness.
“Yeah, okay. Need everything to smell right, don’t you?” Jason’s voice was gentler now, the rough edges softened by understanding. He handed over the shirt obediently, watching with fascination as Dick immediately began weaving it into his nest.
The rest of Jason’s clothes followed suit as they were shed, each piece carefully incorporated into the nest’s structure. Only his boots were condemned to the floor, their hard soles too harsh for the soft sanctuary Dick had built.
Dick worked with single-minded focus, his hands moving with the sure knowledge of instinct. The nest needed to be flawless. Not just for his own comfort, but as a gift to his Alpha. A demonstration of his care, his devotion, his worthiness as a partner.
When the important matter of arranging the nest had been accomplished to his satisfaction, Dick made even more grabby hands in Jason’s direction. The Alpha was naked now, his body a map of scars and muscle that told the story of their shared life. Dick’s Omega preened at the sight, pride and possessiveness warring in his chest.
Jason crawled into the nest with careful reverence, his movements slow and deliberate as he settled over Dick. The Alpha was painstakingly careful not to disturb the nest’s arrangement, understanding instinctively that this space was sacred.
“Already this far down you’ve become nonverbal, huh?” Jason murmurs as he settles into the nest, and Dick wants to protest that he’s not that far gone, that he’s still himself, but the words feel too heavy for his tongue. “Fuck, you’re so goddamned adorable like this.”
The kiss Jason presses to his shoulder is soft, almost reverent, and Dick melts into it like he’s been waiting his entire life for this exact moment. Jason’s hand slides down his side, and Dick arches into the touch, chasing the pressure of palm against skin.
When Jason’s fingers find the evidence of Dick’s arousal, the Alpha’s growl of approval vibrates through Dick’s chest like a second heartbeat. Dick whines, high and desperate, because Jason’s touch is perfect but not nearly enough.
More. Now. Please.
The words exist only in the space between thought and feeling, but Jason seems to understand anyway. His fingers move with purpose, and Dick’s world narrows to the sensation of being opened, prepared, cherished.
But his Omega- impatient, desperate, done with waiting- has other ideas.
Dick moves before he thinks, years of acrobatic training translating into fluid motion as he reverses their positions. Jason’s surprise transforms into a groan as Dick takes what he needs, sinking down with a completeness that makes his vision white out at the edges.
Full. The word doesn’t begin to cover it. Dick feels like he’s been walking around with a Jason-shaped hole inside of him for months, and now suddenly he’s whole again, complete, exactly where he belongs.
The orgasm takes him by surprise, crashing over him like a wave he didn’t see coming. His body contracts around Jason’s cock, and he dimly hears himself make a sound that’s half sob, half song.
Through the haze of pleasure, he’s aware of Jason’s hands on his hips, of the Alpha’s breathing gone ragged and desperate. When Dick looks down, Jason’s eyes are bleeding red again, pupils blown wide with want.
Beautiful. Dick has never felt more beautiful than he does right now, perched on Jason’s lap like this is where he was always meant to be.
He starts to move, and it’s like coming home and flying apart at the same time. Each rise and fall builds something between them, something that feels bigger than just physical pleasure. Jason’s hands guide him, encourage him, and Dick lets himself be guided, lets himself be wanted.
The knot forms gradually, a sweet pressure that makes Dick’s movements shorter, more desperate. When Jason finally pulls him down and holds him there, when Dick feels the Alpha’s knot expand inside him, the sensation is so perfect he thinks he might die from it.
This. This is what he’s been missing. This is what his body has been crying out for.
Jason’s release triggers another orgasm, and Dick collapses forward, boneless and shaking. He’s dimly aware that he’s purring, deep and pleased as his Omega’s joy washes through him.
Alpha is going to give us such perfect pups.
The thought drifts through his consciousness like smoke, and Dick is too blissed out to question where it came from or what it means. Later, maybe. When the world feels solid again.
For now, he lets Jason’s arms anchor him, lets himself exist in the space between sleeping and waking where everything is golden and safe and exactly as it should be.
***
Jason watches Dick sleep and feels the weight of what he’s done settling around him like a cloak. The memory of the pills he’d taken and discarded seem to pulse with accusation in the back of his mind, even though he knows Dick won’t ever find them.
It had taken months to perfect the placebo formula. Months of careful research, of trial and error, of matching not just the appearance but the taste and texture of Dick’s suppressants and birth control. He’d told himself it was preparation, just in case, not something he was actually going to use.
But watching Dick with the Titans, seeing him throw himself into danger with the casual disregard of someone who had no one to come home to… Watching the way other Alphas surrounded him, covetous and hungry for what wasn't theirs... It had made something possessive and desperate claw at Jason’s chest.
Dick needed claiming. Dick needed anchoring. Dick needed someone to give him a reason to be careful, to value his own life as much as he valued everyone else’s. And if Dick wouldn’t choose that for himself, well. Jason had simply removed the choice.
His hand smooths over Dick’s side, and he imagines he can feel the change already beginning, the subtle shift in scent that will mean his plan has worked. Too early to tell for certain, but Jason has always been good at reading signs, at noticing the details other people miss.
Seven times. Seven knots in the past day, and Dick’s heat shows no signs of abating. If anything, it seems to be intensifying, Dick’s body responding to the hormonal chaos with a desperation that makes Jason’s chest tight with satisfaction.
By the time Dick’s heat breaks, there will be no question. No choice but to move forward, to make this official, to give Jason the right to keep Dick safe in all the ways that matter. A mating bite. A lifetime.
The guilt is there, a small voice in the back of his mind that sounds suspiciously like Bruce at his most disappointed. But Jason has learned to live with guilt, has learned to weigh it against the alternative and find it wanting.
The alternative is losing Dick. The alternative is Dick finding another Alpha to spend his time with, a prospect that Jason would rather burn the world down to prevent than allow to happen. The alternative is watching Dick burn himself out in service to everyone else’s safety while treating his own life like an acceptable loss. The alternative is Jason spending the rest of his life wondering what might have been if he’d been brave enough to reach for what he wanted.
This way, they both get what they need. Dick gets the family he’s always wanted, the stability and purpose that comes with having something that’s entirely his own. Jason gets the assurance that Dick is his, that he has reasons to come home safe.
It’s not perfect. It’s not the way Jason would have chosen, if he’d been certain Dick would choose him back. But it’s what they have, and Jason has learned to work with the tools available to him.
He presses a kiss to Dick’s shoulder, tasting salt and satisfaction, and settles in to wait. Soon, Dick will wake up, and they’ll have the rest of his heat to get through. Soon, everything will be exactly as it should be.
Mine, Jason thinks, and the word tastes like victory.